Jose Rizal Liberator of the Philippines by Raul J. Bonoan, S.

J Summary: On December 30, 1896 Rizal was 35years old that time; he was executed at exactly 7:03am. Rizal was born on June 19, 1861 at Calamba, Laguna. He studied under the Jesuits and then at the Dominican University of Santo Tomas. He left the Philippines for his medical studies on 1882. Rizal was trained by some specialist in Paris, Heidelberg and Berlin as an ophthalmic surgeon. He was also an artist, poet, scholar, historian, researcher and writer. He can write various languages such as Spanish, Tagalog, German, French, English and Italian and also spoke few other languages he even knew Latin, Greek and Hebrew. His references in writing are Cervantes, Schiller, Shakespeare and Dante. Rizal was considered as a leader by the Filipino students in University of Madrid who work for reforms in their country. Rizals first political advocacy was for the assimilation of the Philippines as a province of Spain. Rizal called Spain and Philippines dos pueblos means two peoples, of equal standing and equal rights in 1884. Spanish was angered by Rizal ad was marked as a filibuster. Rizal frequently attacks friars, he accused these religious of encouraging superstition and of turning mercantile in their ministry. He exercised control on government officials and had stopped progress and the intrusion of every liberal idea. Rizal thought that the only solution independence of the Philippines from Spain. These ideas of Rizal build up his two novels. In 1887 is when Noli Me Tangere was published in Berlin and then returned to the Philippines his reputation was subversive and heretic. After 6 months of fearfulness of his parents for him he returned to London. In London he did historical research for 8 months in the library of the British Museum. Rizal found Antonio de Morgas Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (1609), an eyewitness account of the 16th century Philippines. Rizal added his own notes and commentary. In 1891 in Ghent, Belgium he published El Filibusterismo, the sequel to his first novel. In an article The Philippines a Century Hence, he turned the eyes of Filipinos to the future and forced them to look to the day when they have shaken off Spanish rule. Rizal warned of separation and independence and alluded to the great law of history. While Rizal didnt join the violent revolution, he articulated in his second novel a philosophy of non-violence. Rizal had conflict with Marcelo H. del Pilar. Del Pilars strategy was to pressure Spanish officialdom in Madrid; Rizal believed it was time to work directly with his people and decided to go back home. In 1892, he entrust a letter to a friend for the Filipinos to be opened in the event of his death, he left Hongkong for Manila. He formed a new association, the Liga Filipina. At Rizals subsequent trial the prosecution the Liga sought the violent overthrow of the Spanish government. Rizal was arrested later in 1892 and sent off into exile in Dapitan. Rizals exile in Dapitan ended after four years, Rizal accepted as a volunteer physician to work with the Spanish army in Cuba. When Rizal was in Barcelona, he was brought back to Manila to stand trial by a court martial. He was accused of instigating and leading the rebellion.

Rizals execution strengthened the resolve of the revolutionaries. They declared independence on June 12, 1898. Philippines was the first country in Asia to stage a national revolution, declare independence, form a republic and, thereby, send a discomforting message to the colonial powers in that vast area. The execution of Rizal and its aftermath awakened the peoples of the rest of Asia to the essential fragility of colonial rule and their own capacity to form themselves into modern nations.