CHAPTER 21

Second Home Coming

AND THE LIGA
FILIPINA
 JUNE 1982
 Rizal bold return in Manila
was his second homecoming
 He said that “The battlefield
is in the Philippines, there is
where we should meet…
There we will help one
another”, Rizal told in his
countrymen in Europe 2
December 31,1891
- Rizal
reiterated this belief in his letter to
Blumentritt.
“I believe that La Solidaridad is no
longer our battlefield; now it is a new
struggle… the fight is no longer in
Madrid”
3
 ARRIVAL IN MANILA WITH HIS SISTER

▪ June 26, 1892- Rizal and his widowed sister Lucia

(wife of late Mariano Herbosa) arrived in Manila
▪ Rizal describe his second homecoming as follows:
“I arrived at Manila on 26 June (1892), Sunday, at 12:00
noon. I was met by many carabineers headed by a major. There
were in addition one captain and one sergeant of the Veteran Civil
Guard. I came down with my luggage and they inspected me at the
customhouse. From there I went to Hotel de Oriente where I
occupied room No. 22, facing the church of Binondo.”
4
 Governor General Eulogio Despujol- agreed
to pardon Rizal’s Father but not the rest of his
family.
 After meeting the Governor General, he visited
Narcisa (Sisa, wife of Antonio Lopez) and later
Neneng (Saturnina, wife of Mauel T. Hidalgo)
in the city
 Visiting Friends in Central
Luzon
▪ June 27, 1892- Rizal boarded a train in
Tutuban Station and visited his friends in
Malolos, Bulacan; San Fernando,
Pampanga; Tarlac; and Bacolor, Pampanga
▪ June 28, 1892- Rizal returned in Manila by
train
▪ Whether Rizal knew it or not, he was
shadowed by government spies who
watched carefully his every movement 6
Other interviews with Despujol
 This interviews were vividly recorded in his
diary as follows:
 On Wednesday (June 29) at 7:30, I saw his
Excellency. I did not succeed to have the
penalty of exile lifted, but he gave me hope
with regards to my sisters. As it was the feast of
St. Peter and St. Paul our interview ended at
9:15. I was to come again the following day at 7
 The following day, Thursday (June 30), we talked
about the question of Borneo. The general was
opposed to it, very much opposed. He told me to
comeback Sunday
 On Sunday (July 3) I returned. We talked about sundry
things and I thanked him for having lifted the exile of
my sisters. I told him that my father and brother would
arrive on the first boat. He asked me if I would like to
go abroad to Hong Kong. I told him yes. He told me to
return on Wednesday.
FOUNDING THE LIGA FILIPINA

 July 3, 1892- Rizal attended a meeting of the patriots

at the home of Chinese-Filipino mestizo, Doroteo
Ongjunco in Tondo, Manila
 Rizal explained the objectives of the Liga Filipina, a
civic league of Filipinos, which he desired to establish
and its role in the socio-economic life of the people

9
 OFFICERS OF THE NEW
LEAGUE WERE ELECTED AS
FOLLOWS:
• President: Ambrosio
Salvador
• Secretary: Deodato
Arellano
• Treasurer: Bonifacio
Arevallo
• Fiscal: Augustin de la
 Constitution of the Liga Filipina
• The aims of the Liga Filipina, as embodied in its Constitution,
were the following:
1. To unite the whole archipelago into one compact and
homogenous body
2. Mutual protection in every want and necessity
3. Defense against all violence and injustice
4. Encouragement of education, agriculture and commerce
5. Study and application of reforms
11
 The motto of the Liga Filipina was: Unus Instar Omnium
(One Like All)
 The governing body of the league was the Supreme Council
which had the jurisdiction over the whole country
 There was a Provincial Council in every province and a
Popular Council in every town
 All Filipinos who have at heart the welfare of their fatherland
are qualified for membership
 Every member pays an entrance fee of two(2) pesos and a
monthly due of ten (10) centavos
12
 The duties of the Liga members are as follows:

1. Obey the orders of the Supreme Council;

2. To help in recruiting new members;
3. To keep in strictest secrecy the decisions of the Liga
authorities;
4. To have a symbolic name which he cannot change until
he becomes president of his council;
5. To report to the fiscal anything he may hear which
affects the Liga; 13
 RIZAL ARRESTED AND JAILED AT FORT SANTIAGO

 July 6, 1892- Rizal went to Malacanang Palace to

resume his series of interviews with Governor
General Despujol
 The incriminatory leaflets were entitled Pobres
Frailes (Poor Friars) under the authorship of Fr.
Jacinto. They were a satire against Dominican
friars who amassed fabulous riches contrary to
their monastic view of poverty
• Rizal vigorously denied having those leaflets in either his of Lucia’s
baggage
• Despite his denial, he was placed under arrest and escorted to Fort
Santiago by Ramon Despujol, nephew and aide of Governor General
Despujol
• In Fort Santiago he was kept incommunicado, as he related in his
diary:
“They assigned me a fairly furnished room with a bed, a dozen chairs, one
table, a wash basin and a mirror. The room had three windows; one
without grills which opens on a patio, another one with grills which looks
out on the city walls and the beach and another which was the door closed
with a padlock. Two artillery men15 as sentinels guarded it. They had orders
to fire at anyone who might signal from the beach. I could not write nor
▪ July 7, 1892- Graceta de Manila
published the story of Rizal’s arrest
which produced indignant commotion
among the Filipino people, particularly
the members of the newly organized
Liga Filipina.

16
Arbitrary Deportation to Dapitan
 In the same issue published by Graceta de Manila on
July 7, 1892 contained Governor General Despujol’s
decree deporting Rizal to “one islands in the South”
 The gubernatorial decree gave the reasons for Rizal’s
deportation, as follows:
1. Rizal had published books and articles abroad
which showed disloyalty to Spain and which are
“frankly anti-catholic” and “imprudently anti- 17
2. A few hours after his arrival in Manila “there was found
in one of the packages… a bundle of handbills entitled
Pobres Friales in which the patient and humble
generosity of the Filipino’s is stirized, and which
accusation is published against the customs of the
religious orders”.
3. His novel El Filibusterismo was dedicated to the
memory of the “traitors” (Burgos,Gomez and Zamora)
and on the title page he wrote that in view of the vices
and errors of the Spanish administration, “the only
revelation for the Philippines was separation from the 18
 July 14, 1892- Rizal was bought under heavy
guard to the steamer Cebu which was sailing
for Dapitan.
 July 17, 1892- This steamer under Captain
Delgras reached Dapitan
 Capitan Delgras went ashore and handed Rizal
over to Capitan Ricardo Carnicero, a spanish
commandant of Dapitan
 July 17,1892- Rizal began
19
his exile in lonely