Department of History, National University of Singapore

Dr. Jose Rizal, Father of Filipino Nationalism

Author(s): Estaban A. de Ocampo
Source: Journal of Southeast Asian History, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Mar., 1962), pp. 44-55
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of Department of History, National University
of Singapore
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20067366 .
Accessed: 12/06/2014 06:47

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Cambridge University Press and Department of History, National University of Singapore are collaborating
with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Southeast Asian History.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 185.44.79.102 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 06:47:10 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 DR. JOSE RIZAL, FATHER OF FILIPINO
NATIONALISM
Estaban A. de Ocampo

For this International Conference

of South-East Asian Historians,
it is my honour a paper on
to contribute "Dr. Jose Rizal, Father of

Filipino Nationalism," for several reasons. First, Dr. Rizal himself

was very much interested in the history of this part of the world.1
Second, this year 1961 has been proclaimed by the President of the
as the Rizal Year, for our hero was born in
Philippines Centenary
1861.6 Third, if Rizal were alive today, he would have been happy

1. Dr. in a letter written from Brussels,

Jose Rizal, Belgium (May 26, 1890) to his
friend, Prof. Ferdinand Blumentritt, said: "I am now dedicating with ardour
to all studies that refer to the Far East. Here I bought various books about
voyages, histories, etc...I have History of Sumatra by Marsden; Around
Voyage
the World Around the World
by Pages; Picturesque Voyage by Dumont
d'Urville; Picturesque Voyage Around the World by Bougainville; Voyage to
Africa and Asia (Java and Japan) by Thumberg; Malacca, Indo China, China,
Malabar Kniitkoff, etc. by Thompson; besides, 16 volumes of History of Voyages
Until 1760. There is much about the Philippines in this work; I also have
Malaisie, the Universe by Rienzi; China by Panthier and the an
Gesantschappen
de Kaisaren van Japan." Rizalino; Manila: Bureau of Printing,
{Epistolario
1938; Vol. V, Part 2, p 556)
In a subsequent letter dated May 26, 1890, Dr. Rizal again informed Prof.
Blumentritt: "Recently I acquired the following works: Java Raffles and
by
Voyage Around the World by Beauvoir...I also have the Works of
Complete
Herder.. .38 volumes." (Ibid., p. 564)
Three years before, while he was
Berlin, Dr. inRizal wrote to Prof.
Blumentritt, thus: "I have the great honor
of being nominated associate (or
member) of the Ethnographic Society. I was present at the ordinary session
of the same and also in the extraordinary Sometime ago Dr. Donitz gave an

interesting conference about Japanese pre-historic tombs with decorated plates

found in them. It was the best lecture I heard in the two sessions." (Ibid.,
Vol. V, Part 1, p. 68)
From London Dr. Reinhold Rost, Orientalist friend of Rizal, wrote to him,

saying: "I am glad you are doing a lot of philological work. Would you not
send some contributions of articles to the Asiatic Society of Singapore, or to the
R. Asiatic here, or to the Shanghai or to the one at
Society Society, Wellington
in New Zealand?...
"I enclose a few notices of books
may that
interest you. are from
They
Luzac's Monthly Oriental List, for which
I supply all the notices. The forth
number will bring something about an
coming English-Sulu-Malay vocabulary,
letter of Dr. Rost was dated 5, 1894, and was
just published." (The January
sent to Dr. Rizal in Dapitan, northern Mindanao where the hero was exiled
since July, 1892. Ibid., Vol.
by the Spanish authorities IV, p. 185)
Dr. Rizal to establish a Filipino agricultural in Sandakan,
planned colony
British North Borneo. As a matter of fact, he visited Sandakan early in 1892
after making negotiations with Mr. W. B. Pryer.
preliminary

44

This content downloaded from 185.44.79.102 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 06:47:10 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 RIZAL

to receive an invitation to attend our Conference because our hero

was the organizer of the International Association of Filipinists in

Europe in 1889.3 Fourth, Dr. Rizal has been ranked by his bn>
both and foreigners, as one of the great intel
graphers, Filipinos
lectual leaders of Asia, together with Mahatma Gandhi of India
and Dr. Sun Yat-sen of China.4 Lastly, Dr. Rizal visited this city
of no less than three times in the course of his many
Singapore
travels to foreign lands.5
Dr. Jose Rizal is the greatest Filipino hero and martyr that has
ever lived. He is far greater than the late President Manuel

President Carlos P. Garcia of the Philippines issued on December 12, 1960

'Proclamation No. 724 authorizing the Philippines International Fair, Inc. to
hold an International Fair in the Sunken Gardens... City of Manila, Philippines,
from February 1 to March 31, 1961, in celebration of Rizal's Centenary Birthday
Anniversary in 1961 which has been declared as JOSE RIZAL YEAR with the
"VISIT - SEE THE
slogan THE PHILIPPINES ORIENT".

"Evidently inspired by his Philippine research studies in the British Museum

and impelled by the urge to attract the attention of Europe's scholars to his
rich historical lore, Rizal conceived the idea of establishing an Inter
country's
national Association of Filipinologists. He broached this idea to Blumentritt in
a letter dated at London, January 14, 1889, with an inclosed prospectus written
by him. According to this prospectus, the object of the association was "to
study the Philippines from the scientific and historical point of view.' The
officers were Professor F. Blumentritt, President; Mr. Edmund Planchut (French),
Vice-President; Dr. Reinhold Rost (Anglo-German) and Dr. Antonio Ma. Regidor
Counsellors; and Dr. Jose Rizal Secretary. Among the
(Filipino), (Filipino),
renowned scholars invited to become members of the association were:
by Rizal
Dr. Henry Yule of England, Drs. A. B. Meyer and Feodor Jagor of Germany; and
Dr. H. Kern of Holland; and Dr. Czepelack of Poland." (Dr. Gregorio F. Zaide,
Rizal as Historian; Manila, 1953, pp. 5-6; Letter of Rizal to Prof. Blumentritt
dated at London, 14, 1889; in Epistolario Rizalino, Vol. V, Part 2,
January
pp. 381-391).
Dr. Austin Craig, "Many Nations of the World Paid Dr. Jose Rizal Tribute,"
in The Tribune December 30, 1933, p, 14.
(Manila),
Dr. Jose Rizal visited these periods: on May 9-11, 1882, while
Singapore during
on his first trip to Europe; on July 27, 1887, while on his return trip to Manila;
on November 10, 1891, while on his second return voyage to the Philippines;
on 8, 1896, while on his trip to Cuba via Barcelona; and in October,
September
1896, on his way back to Manila aboard the Spanish warship, S.S. Colon.
Travel 1882 in Bulletin of the Philippine Historical Associa
(Dr. Rizal's Diary,
tion, No. 2 (December, 100-105; Rizal's for 1887
1957), pp. Diary (unpublished);
Rizal's for 1891 and Rizal's Diary for 1896 in the Bulletin
Diary (unpublished);
of the Philippine Historical Association, No. 1 (July, 1957), p. 57.
Portions of Rizal's 1882 Travel to his brief sojourn in
Diary pertaining
"We see more
Singapore, ? follow: clearly vessels, houses, vegetation, highways,
that an active The came later. We
chimneys all city has. port pilot stop.
A crowd of Indians, and Englishmen flocked to the boat, offering in a
Malays,
alone can understand carriages, changing gold for silver, etc.,
language they
etc.. .At last I disembark and hire a carriage to take me to La Paz Hotel (now
the Adelphi Hotel-O.).
"I'm in my room which overlooks a patio adjoining the Hotel Europa (the
Court now the site). I hear English spoken every
Supreme building occupies
where ..."
"Two large coal warehouses, but large ones, stand at the landing; then, well
built streets; on the sides: Chinese-style houses; crowds of Indians of
plants
Herculean Chinese; a few Europeans; and very, very few Chinese women.
figures;
with advertisements in English and Chinese; most lively
Shops everywhere
men...We pass before the Malabar the Muslim, and the Chinese. We
temple,
saw the police headquarters, and returning to the hotel, I saw the Protestant
church in Gothic style..."

45

This content downloaded from 185.44.79.102 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 06:47:10 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 RIZAL

L. Quezon, first President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines;

greater also than the late popular President Ramon Magsaysay; and
he is also greater than our incumbent President, Mr. Carlos P.
Garcia.

Rizal was a doctor of medicine like Dr. Sun Yat-sen of China and
he had saintly qualities like Mahatma Gandhi of India. He was
more versatile than either Gandhi or Dr. Sun, for Rizal was not
a and an but he was also a poet,
only physician ophthalmologist
novelist, linguist, essayist, anthropologist, philologist, painter,
teacher and educator, translator, farmer, traveler, and a
sculptor,
great historian besides.0 juncture,At maythis permitted I be
to quote what two noted
European scholars who knew our hero

intimately said. Dr. Adolph B. Meyer, Director of the Royal Zoolo

gical and Anthropological Museum in Dresden, Germany, admitted
that "Rizal's many sidedness was Prof. Ferdinand
stupendous."7
Blumentritt, Austrian savant, wrote of our thus: "Not
martyr-hero,
is RIZAL the most man of his own but the
only prominent people,
greatest man the Malayan race has His memory will
produced.
never perish in his fatherland, and future generations of Spaniards
will yet learn to utter his name with respect and reverence/'8
Dr. Rizal was born into a well-to-do
family and he obtained the
best education in Manila and in several countries of Europe. In
that continent he became a member of a number of scientific socie

6. Dr. Frank C. Laubach, American biographer of the hero, wrote in his

Filipino
book: "When one records the wide range of activities in which Rizal shone, the
list is rather staggering:
"Poet ? perhaps the foremost in his race.
"Painter and who won
sculptor gold medals.
"Novelist ? was
"Noli Me Tangere the greatest novel in fifty years/ said
William Dean Howells.
"Dramatist; Historian; Sociologist; Physician, ophthalmologist, and surgeon;
Educator; Economist; Ethnologist; Naturalist; Psychologist; Theologian; Sanitary
engineer; Scientific farmer;
? who
"Philologist spoke Spanish, Latin, French, Italian, English, German,
Japanese, Dutch, Catalan, Tagalog, Visayan, Ilocano, Cebuano, Subano and
Malayan. Translated Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Sanscrit, and Chinese. Could
read Russian, Swedish, and Portuguese. Twenty-two languages in all." (Rizal:
Man and Martyr; Manila: Community Publishers, Inc., 1936, pp. 395-396;
Sr. Javier Gomez de la Serna, in his "Prologue" to Retan's Life, and Writings
of Dr. Jose Rizal, wrote: "La figura humana de Rizal es digna de profunda
estudio. Vivi? treinta y cinco anos; a los veintisiete habia dado la vuelta al
mundo; fue medico, novelista, poeta, politico, fil?logo, pedagogo, agricultor,,
mas de diez escultor, naturalista,
tip?grafo, poliglota (hablaba lenguas), pintor,
miembro de celebres Centros cient?ficos europeos, que dieron su nombre a espe
cies nuevas por el descubiertas; vivi? y estudio en las grandes de Europa
capitales
el indice de sus libros y escritos varios no pocas de
y America; ocupa paginas
este volumen. Dedicaron a su muerte veladas y recuerdos necrol?gicos varias
Sociedades cientificas, y la Prensa de todo el mundo Ese fue el hombre que
fusilamos." E. Retana, Vida y Escritos del Dr. Jose Rizal; Madrid:
(Wenceslao
Librer?a General de Victoriano Suarez, 1907, p. VIII).
7. Quoted by Dr. Jose P. Bantug in his Rizal: Scholar and Scientist; Manila: Bureau
of Printing, 1946, p. 5.
8. Prof. Ferdinand Blumentritt, "Rizal on Race Differences," in Dr. Austin Craig,
Rizal's Political Manila: Oriental Commercial Company, 1933, p. 56.
Writings;

46

This content downloaded from 185.44.79.102 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 06:47:10 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 RIZAL

ties, like the Anthropological and Ethnographical Society of Berlin.9

He was a good friend of many outstanding scholars and scientists of
Europe, among whom may be mentioned Dr. Rudolf Virchow,
"Father of Cellular Pathology,"; Dr. Feodor Jagor, German writer
and traveller; Dr. H. Kern, Dutch Sanskrit scholar and a great philo

logist; Dr. Adolf B. Meyer, noted anthropologist; Dr. Reinhold Rost,

philologist, Orientalist, and Librarian of the India Office in London;
etc.10

In order to better
appreciate why Rizal became the Father of
Filipino Nationalism, it is important to recall the conditions prevail
ing in Asia, including the Philippines, during the lifetime of our
hero. With the exception of China, Japan, and Thailand, all the
rest of Asia or the Far East were dominated by the Western Powers.
The Filipinos under Spain did not enjoy the basic human rights;
they were denied the freedom of speech, of the press, of religion,
of association, and of the other blessings that are the concomitants
'
of the democratic regime. were merely the 'hewers of wood
They
and drawers of water" in their own country. Church and State were
united with the Spanish more power and influence
clergy exercising
than the civil officials over practically all affairs of life. The Fili
under the administration were so that
pino people Spanish unhappy
there occurred no less than a hundred revolts against their Spanish
master during their rule of more than three centuries.
While still very young Rizal became keenly aware of the
deplor
able conditions of his unfortunate country and the oppressive rule
of their Spanish masters. Originally our hero to take up
planned
the priesthood and become a father, but when he was
Jesuit only
eleven years old and heard of the unjust execution of three innocent
native ? Fathers Mariano
clergymen Gomez, Jose A. Burgos, and
Zamora ? he his mind and swore to dedicate his life
Jacinto changed
to avenge one day such victims and to fight for the legitimate rights
of his down-trodden countrymen. This is what he said:
...Without 1872 we would not now have Plaridel Jaena,
Sanciano, nor would the valiant and generous colo
Filipino
nies in Europe exist; without 1872, Rizal would now be a
Jesuit and instead of writing Noli Me Tangere, he would have
victims, and with this idea I have been studying. This can be
those injustices and cruelties, my imagination was awakened
and I swore to dedicate myself in avenging some
day so many
victims, and with this idea I ha?e been studying. This can be

9. From Berlin Dr. Rizal wrote to Blumentritt among other things: "He
saying,
tenido el gran honor de ser nombrado socio de la Sociedad Etnogr?fica." (Letter
dated Jan. 26, 1887; Epistolario Rizalino, Vol. V, Part 1, p. 68) In another letter
dated at Berlin on 7, 1887, Rizal again informed Blumentritt: "Ya
February
me aceptaron en la Sociedad en la Soc. Geogr?fica me
Antropol?gica; propusieron
como socio..." p. 73).
(Ibid.,
10. Please see "Note No. 3", supra.

47

This content downloaded from 185.44.79.102 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 06:47:10 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 RIZAL

read in all my works and books: God will give me the chance
some day to fulfill my Good ? let them commit
promise.
let them execute victims ? ?
abuses, imprison, exile, very well
may destiny be fulfilled! The day in which they lay hands on
us, the day when they martyrize our innocent families because
of us ? farewell to government by the friars, and possibly, fare
well to
Spanishthe government!...11
On another
occasion Dr. Rizal told his friend Dr. Maximo Viola
of his mission on earth. As recorded by the latter, he wrote:
"That God had given him his way of being and thinking. And
that to act contrary to these things would constitute rebellion
against His wish. He said that as a doctor he had studied the
manner of preventing, curing, or alleviating the physical diseases
of man, and in the same way he was convinced of his obligation
to remedy the moral diseases of his country. Besides, he doubted
how his countrymen would respond to the preachings of his novel,
if he himself would not set the example in his own land. For

surely they would not think that he had dared to say what he
because he was in a where he was safe."12
pleased only place
Unlike the majority of his countrymen of his time, Dr. Rizal
did not accept the teaching of the Spaniards that the white people
was superior to the colored races simply because of their fair com

plexion and high noses. During his student days at the Spanish
and university in Manila, he studied very hard in order to
college
outshine his white and mestizo classmates, and he was successful
in obtaining the highest ratings in his class. In literary competi
tions, like poetry and the drama, Rizal participated in order to
match his ability with his white competitors. In one contest his
entry was adjudged the best among those submitted but when the
of the literary joust learned that the first prize would
Spanish judges
our hero
go to an Indio (Filipino) competitor, they awarded only
second place.13
Rizal did not stay long in the University of Santo Tomas in
Manila, where he was
pursuing the medical course, because of the

rampant discrimination
racial against the Filipino students and be
cause of the unpedagogic methods of instruction in that university.
At the age of twenty-one, he set sail for Spain in order to finish his
studies there and to observe the conditions of the life of the people
in Europe.
after his arrival in Barcelona, the first article Rizal wrote
Shortly
11. From Dr. Rizal's letter to Mr. Mariano Ponce, etc. dated at Paris, April 18, 1889
in Epistolario Rizalino, Vol. II, p. 166.
with in The Manila
12. Dr. Maximo Viola, "My Travels Jose Rizal," Times,
January 2, 1951, p. 3.
Own of His Life, Manila: National Book Com
13. Dr. Austin Craig, Rizal's Story
103; Dr. and Tears," in Juan Collas,.
pany, 1918, p. Jose Rizal, "Laughter
Rizal's Unknown Writings; Manila, cl953, p. 99.

48

This content downloaded from 185.44.79.102 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 06:47:10 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 RIZAL

for a Manila periodical was entitled Love of Country (Amor Patrio)

in which he urged his fellow-countrymen to love their native land,
the Philippines. Two years later, in Madrid, he delivered a well
applauded speech at the Luna-Hidalgo banquet in the presence of
prominent Spanish artists, men of letters, and leaders.
political
Though he stressed the necessity of enhancing the fraternal bonds
that bound Spain and the Philippines, yet he vigorously expounded
on the urgency of instituting some reforms in the administration of
the Spaniards in his native land so that the of his
loyalty people
to the mother would not be .
country impired14
While Rizal advocated
strongly for the amelioration
of the pitiful
conditions in his country, he likewise insisted that his people should
try to improve themselves through industry and education so that
they would deserve the respect and admiration of the foreigners.

"My countrymen," he wrote, "I have given proofs that I am one

most anxious for liberties of our country, and I am still desirous
of them. But I place as a prior condition the education of the peo
ple, that by means of instruction and industry our country may have
an of its own and make itself worthy of these liberties.
individuality
I have recommended in my writings the study of the civic virtues,
without which thereis no redemption. I have written likewise

(and I repeat my words) that reforms, to be beneficial, must come

from above, that those which come from below are
irregularly
gained and uncertain."13
Our hero also worked hard in order to bring about the unity
of all the Filipinos then residing or studying in Europe so that

they could effectively demand for the rights of their people. He

told them to forget their personal jealousies and petty rivalries and
to labor only for the common cause of their country. "Union,
goodwill, and harmony, ? these are what we need so much" ? he
wrote to Graciano Lopez Jaena in March, 1889. In May of the
same year, he also said in a letter to Mariano Ponce that it was
necessary to "preserve union above all". Also in the same year,
he again wrote to friends in Barcelona stressing the need for har
mony and among the He said: "I am confident
unity Filipinos.
that we shall go forward, always united, with our hands outstretched
in friendship, to one another mutual an counsel. . ."16
giving help
Later, when he learned that some of the Filipino young men in

Spain practically neglected their studies because they spent most

14. at the in Madrid, 25, 1884,
Jose Rizal, "Speech" Luna-Hidalgo banquet June
in Dr. Austin Craig, Rizal's Political Writings, pp. 238-243.
15. Rizal's "Manifesto to Some Filipinos" written at his Fort Santiago prison, Manila,
December 15, 1896, in Dr. Camilo Osias, Jose Rizal: His Life and Times
(Manila: Oscol Educational Publishers, Inc., 1938), p. 370.
16. Rizal's letter to his Filipino friends at Barcelona dated at London, early 1889,
in Epistolario Rizalino, Vol. II, p. 98.

49

This content downloaded from 185.44.79.102 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 06:47:10 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 RIZAL

of their time in gambling and in having a time, Rizal from

good
Brussels wrote to Marcelo H. del
Pilar that
stating
The Filipino comes to not to gamble or amuse him
Europe
self but to work for the liberty of his race and to uphold the
dignity of his people. In order to gamble, it is not necessary
to leave the for there is too much there
Philippines gambling
as it is. If we who are young and are expected by our poor
people to do something for them should waste our time in use
less activities, I fear that instead of being worthy of liberty
we would befit ourselves for slavery.
I appeal to the of all the Filipinos that they may
patriotism
the Spanish nation one that we can rise
give tangible proof
over our misfortunes, that we are not brutalized, and that our
noble sentiments cannot be put to sleep by the corruption of
their customs.17

as the
Dr. Rizal
has been justly acclaimed by his own people
"Father of Filipino Nationalism'' because he was the first Filipino
leader that advocated the idea of nationhood for his countrymen.
In his prize-winning poem, To the Filipino Youth (A La Juventud
Filipina), written in 1879, he emphasized the notion that the Philip
not was the motherland of the Filipinos. "This new
pines, Spain,
inspiration, which was to burn in his soul all his life," observed
Dr. Rafael Palma, "was reflected in whatever he wrote subsequently.
The idea of a motherland of his own was the result of his
reflection ?he did not receive it from others."18
In his
second novel, El Filibusterismo (Ghent, 1891), Rizal
(through the mouth of Simoun talking to Basilio) again spoke of
the formation of a nation, thus: "You ask for equal rights
Filipino
the ? the of customs, and
(with Spaniards O.), Hispanization your
you don't see that what you are begging for is suicide, the destruc
tion of your nationality, the annihilation of your fatherland, the
consecration of tyranny! What will you be in the future? A peo
a nation ?
ple without character, without liberty everything you
have will be borrowed, even your very defects!. . .19
"Are they unwilling that you be assimilated with the Spanish
Good Distinguish yourselves then by revealing
people? enough!
in your own character, try to lay the foundations of the
yourselves
fatherland!"20 And in a letter to the Rev. Vicente
Philippine
Garcia, an old Rizal once more expressed the
Filipino theologian,

17. From Dr. Rizal's letter to Sr. Marcelo H. del Pilar dated at Brussels, May 28,
1890,in Epistolario Rizalino, Vol. Ill, pp. 39-40.
18. Rafael Palma, The Pride of the Malay Race (New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc.,

1949), p. 35.
19. The Reign of Greed Education Company, 1927),
Jose Rizal, (Manila: Philippine
book is the English translation of his second novel, El Filibusterismo
p. 60. This
(Ghent, Belgium, 1891).
20. Ibid., p. 62.

50

This content downloaded from 185.44.79.102 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 06:47:10 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 RIZAL

same "Ours is a tremendous task. We young

thought: Filipinos
are trying to make over a nation and must not halt in our onward
march, but from time to time turn our gaze upon our elders."21
Dr. Rizal was convinced that the best weapon he could wield
in combatting the enemies of his people and in upholding the
rights of the Filipinos was the pen. For this reason, he thought of
a novel in the manner of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle
writing
Tom's Cabin in which he would portray the abuses and atrocities
committed by the Spanish and religious
civil officials in the Philip
pines. At the same time also wantedhe to expose the ignorance,
superstitions, and vices of his people in the same work. The result
of his labors along this line was the publication in Berlin, 1887, of
his novel entitled Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not). When this
book was read by his friends in Europe and in the Philippines, they
at once hailed the author as a courageous and intelligent leader for
exposing the social cancer that afflicted his country.
If I were asked to pick out a a
single work by Filipino writer
during the period from 1882 to 1896 which, more than any other
writing, contributed tremendously to the formation of Filipino
nationality, I shall have no hesitation in choosing Rizal's Noli Me
Tangere. It is true that Pedro A. Paterno his novel
published
Ninay in Madrid in 1885; Marcelo H. del Pilar, his La Soberan?a
Monacal (Monastic in Barcelona, 1889; Graciano
Sovereignty)
Lopez Jaena, his Discursos y Art?culos Various (Speeches and
Various Articles) also in Barcelona, 1891; and Antonio Luna, his
Impresiones (Impressions) in Madrid, 1893, but none of these books
had evoked such favorable and unfavorable comments from friends
and foes alike as did Rizal's Noli.

Typical of the encomiums that the hero received for his novel
wTere those he received from Antonio Maria and Prof.
Regidor
Ferdinand Blumentritt. Regidor, a exile of 1872 in
Filipino
London, said that "the book was and that "if Don
superior" Quijote
has made its author immortal because he exposed to the world the
sufferings of Spain, your Noli Me Tangere will bring you equal
. ."22 Blumentritt, after reading Rizal's Noli, wrote and con
glory.
gratulated its author, saying among other things: "Your work, as
we Germans say, has been written with the blood of the heart. . .
Your work has exceeded my hopes and I consider myself fortunate
and happy to have been honored with your Not
friendship. only I,
but also your country, may feel happy for having in you a patriotic
and loyal son. If you continue so, you will be to your people one

21. From Rizal's letter to Rev. Vicente Garcia dated at Madrid, 7, 1891, in
Jan.
Epistolario Rizalino, Vol. Ill, pp. 136-137; Dr. Austin Rizal's Political
Craig,
Writings, p. 244.
22. From Antonio Ma. Regidor's letter to Dr. Jose Rizal dated at London, 3,
May
1887, in Epistolario Rizalino, Vol. II, p. 5).

51

This content downloaded from 185.44.79.102 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 06:47:10 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 RIZAL

of those great men who will exercise a determinative influence

over the progress of their spiritual life."23
If Rizal's friends and admirers praised with justifiable pride the
Noli and its author, his enemies were loud and bitter in
equally
and condemning the same. no other work or
attacking Perhaps
of to as
writing another Filipino author has, up this day, aroused
much acrimonious debate not only among our people but also
among the reactionary foreigners as the Noli of Rizal. In the
the hero's novel was attacked and condemned a
Philippines by
Committee of a Manila and by the Permanent
Faculty University
Commission of Censorship in 1887. The Committee said that it
found the book "heretical, impious, and scandalous to the religious
order, and unpatriotic and subversive to public order, libelous to
the Government of Spain and to its political policies in these
Islands", while the Commission recommended "that the importa
tion, reproduction, and circulation of this pernicious book in the
Islands be absolutely down to our time,
prohibited.24 Coming
the Congressional discussions and hearings on the Rizal
during (or
bill in 1956, the proponents and opponents of the measure
Noli-Fili)
also engaged themselves in a bitter and long-drawn-out debate that
resulted in the enactment of a bill, now known
finally compromise
as Republic Act No. 1425.25
The attacks on Rizal's first novel were not only confined in the

Philippines but were also staged in the Spanish capital. There,

Senator Fernando Vida, Deputy Luis M. de Pando, and Premier
Pr?xedes Mateo Sagasta were among those who unjustly lambasted
and criticized Rizal and his Noli in the two chambers of the Spanish
Cortes in 1888 and 1889.26 It is comforting to learn, however, that
about thirteen years later, Congressman Henry Allen Cooper of
Wisconsin delivered an of Rizal and even recited the
eulogy
on the floor of
martyr's Ultimo Pensamiento (My Last Farewell)
the United States House of Representatives in order to prove the
of the Filipinos for self-government. He said in part: "It
capacity
has been said that, if American institutions had done nothing else
than furnish to the world the character of George Washington,
that alone would entitle them to the respect of mankind. So, Sir,
I say to all those who denounce the Filipinos as
indiscriminately
barbarians and savages, without of a civilized future, that
possibility
23. Letter of Prof. Ferdinand Blumentritt to Rizal written at Leitmeritz, Austria

Hungary, March, 27, 1887; Ibid., Vol. I, pp. 258-259.

24. Dr. Austin Rizal's Political pp. 281-305; Rafael Palma, The
Craig, Writings,
Pride of the Malay Race, pp. 93-95.
25. Act No. on June 12, 1956, is entitled "An Act to include
Republic 1425, approved
in the curricula of all public and schools, colleges and universities
private
Courses on the Life, Works and Writings of Jose Rizal, his novels
particularly
Noli Me and El Filibusterismo, authorizing the printing and distri
Tangere
bution thereof, and for other purposes".
26. Wenceslao E. Retana, Vida y Escritos del Dr. Jose Rizal, pp. 131-133.

52

This content downloaded from 185.44.79.102 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 06:47:10 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 RIZAL

this despised race proved itself entitled to their respect and to the
respect of mankind when it furnished to the world the character
of Jose Rizal."27 The result of this appeal of Representative
Cooper was the of what is popularly known as the
approval Philip
Bill of 1902 which a
pine gave the Filipinos larger measure of
home-rule.

Rizal's unselfish sacrifices and constant

to form the
campaign
nation was his friends, and
Filipino deeply appreciated by they
hailed him as the most outstanding fighter for freedom.
Filipino
Writing from Barcelona to the Great Malayan on March 10, 1889,
Marcelo H. del Pilar said: "Rizal no tiene aun derecho a morir:
su nombre constituye la mas pura e inmaculada bandera de aspira
ciones, y Plaridel y los suyos no son otra cosa mas que unos volun
tarios que militan bajo esa bandera."28 Don Fernando Acevedo,
who called Rizal his "distinguido amigo, compa?ero y paisano",
wrote the latter from Zaragoza, Spain, on October 25, 1889: "I see
in you the model Filipino; your application to study and your
talents have placed you on a which I revere and admire."29
height
The Bicolano Dr. Tomas Arejola wrote Rizal in Madrid, February
9, 1891, saying: "Your moral influence over as is
indisputable."30
And Guillermo Puatu of Bulacan wrote this tribute to Rizal, say
a se con raz?n, cabeza
ing: "Vd. quien le puede (llamar) titular de
los filipinos, aunque la comparaci?n parezca algo ridicula, porque
posee la virtud de atraer consigo enconadas voluntades, zanjar las
discordias y enemistades rencorosas, reunir en fiestas a hombres que
no verse ni en la calle. . ."31
querian

Among the foreigners who recognized Rizal as the Fili

leading
pino of his time were Blumentritt, M. Kheil, Dr. Rein
Napoleon
hold Rost, and Vicente Barrantes. Prof. Blumentritt told Dr.
Maximo Viola in May, 1887, that "Rizal was the greatest product
of the Philippines and that his coming to the world was like the
appearance of a rare comet, whose rare brilliance appears only
every other century".32 Napoleon M. Kheil of Prague, Austria,
wrote to Rizal and said: "admiro en Vd. a un noble representante
de la Espa?a colonial".33 Dr. Rost, distinguished and
Malayologist
Librarian of the India Office in London, called Rizal "una perla de

27. Osias, op. cit., p. 444.

28. Epistolario Rizalino, Vol. II, p. 145.
29. Ibid., Vol. II, p. 233.
30. Ibid., Vol. III, p. 159.
31. From Guillermo Puatu's letter to Rizal dated at Pontevedra, November 2,
Spain,
1890; Ibid., Vol. Ill, p. 120.
32. Viola, op. cit., January 4, 1951, p. 3.
33. Napoleon M. Kheil's letter to Rizal dated at Prague, November
Austria-Hungary,
3, 1894; Epistolario Rizalino, Vol. IV, p. 217.
34. Ibid., Vol. IV, p. 275.

53

This content downloaded from 185.44.79.102 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 06:47:10 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 RIZAL

hombre",34 while Don Vicente Barrantes had to admit that Rizal

was "the first among the Filipinos".35
That the labors of Rizal and his contemporaries in the formation
of a Filipino nation had been successful was amply shown by the
national uprising against Spain in 1896. "This event," in the
words of Dr. Leandro H. Fernandez, "clearly demonstrated that at
that timeFilipino nationality already existed. The existence of
this sentiment was brought out more during the
emphatically
troublous days of war against States."
the United Elaborating fur
ther on this point, historian Fernandez wrote: ". . .in spite of its

Tagalog beginning, the Revolution about the middle of 1898 was;

national in its more still, in its aims. . .
truly scope and, important
Not a single for the establishment of a sectional govern
thought
ment ever crossed the mind of Aguinaldo or Mabini. They were
not fighting for the emancipation of Cavit? or for Batangas or for
Luzon, but for the whole It was natural, therefore,
Philippines.
that the activities of the Revolutionary Government as well as of
the Republic should be truly national. And so it came about that
a Tagalog or a of Luzon was not established
Republic Republic
but a Philippine Republic. They did not draw up an Ilocano
Constitution, but a Constitution for the whole they
Philippines;
did not create a Pampangan but a flag symbolizing
flag, Filipino
not only Luzon, but also the Bisayas and Mindanao; and the hymn
that was one of the bards of the Revolution was
composed by
written and addressed not to any portion of the Archipelago, but
to the whole Adored Fatherland."26
The one hundred years since the birth of Dr. Jose Rizal witness
ed many fundamental changes in the life of the peoples of the
earth. The caught in the vortex of world politics and
Philippines,
their masters from Spanish to American
power struggle, changed
at the turn of the present century. Rizal became the foremost
leader of his people in their nationalist movement during the last
two decades of the nineteenth century, and the principles and ideals
which he espoused became engrained in the heart and mind
deeply
of his countrymen. He gave his people a sense of dignity and a
that propelled them on the road of progress and
spirit of unity
Rizal is not dead: he lives immortal in the conscience
prosperity.
of his countrymen to serve as their guide and inspiration in their
march towards Destiny.
The worked hard and to
Filipinos, inspired by Rizal, long
achieve their independence in 1946, the first in Asia to win free
dom from external control without bloodshed. Subsequently, the

35. Ibid., Vol. II, p. 285.

36. Leandro H. Fernandez, "The Formation of Filipino Nationality," in Eliseo
and Vicente F. Hilario, for Ourselves (Manila: Oriental
Quirino Thinking
Commercial Company, 1924), pp. 212-214.

54

This content downloaded from 185.44.79.102 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 06:47:10 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 RIZAL

Hindus, the Pakistans, the Indonesians, the Burmese,

the Ceylonese,
and other Asian peoples also realized their dream
of becoming
independent nations, thanks to the of Rizal's beloved
example
During his lifetime, Rizal was looked upon by the Spanish re
actionaries as the greatest enemy and traitor of Spain and they did
not stop persecuting him until he was executed on December 30,
1896; now, Rizal is generally acclaimed as the greatest hero and
martyr of his country, and the "Father of Filipino Nationalism".
It was Prof. Blumentritt who said: "Not only is Rizal the most
man of his own but the greatest man the
prominent people,
Malayan race has His memory will never in his
produced. perish
fatherland, and future generations of Spaniards will yet learn to
utter his name with respect and reverence.
"An enemy of Spain he has never been."37

37. Blumentritt, op. cit., p. 56.

55

This content downloaded from 185.44.79.102 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 06:47:10 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions