CHAPTER 16

IN BELGIAN BRUSSELS (1890)

REPORTERS:
• JADE GIL
• SELWYN GABRIEL LARODA
• January 28, 1890, Rizal left Paris for Brussels for two reasons:
• 1. The cost of living in Paris was very expensive
• 2. The gay social life of the city hampered this literary works, especially
the writings of his second novel El Filibusterismo
 Life in Brussels
• He was accompanied by Jose Albert when he moved to Brussels
• They lived in a modest boarding house run by two Jacoby sisters, Suzanne and Marie.
• Albert left the city, replaced by Jose Alejandrino
• He was busy writing his second novel
• Wrote articles for La Solidaridad and letters to his family and friends
• He spent part of his time in the medical clinic.
• He had gymnastics, target practice and fencing.
• Jose Alejandrino narrated, “In Brussels, we look our meals in a house and Rizal on one occasion
suggested that we eat pansit.
 1. New Orthography of the Tagalog
Language
• He was the first to advocate the Filipinization of its orthography
• The tagalog letters K and W should be used instead of C and O
• Example. Salacot – salakot; arao- araw
• While in Brussels, his article was published in La Solidaridad entitled, Sobre la Nueva
Ortografia de la Lengua Tagala (The New Orthography of the Tagalog Language).
• In this article, he laid down the rules of the new Tagalog orthography
• Rizal gave the credit for the adoption of his new orthography to Dr.Trinidad H. Pardo
de Tavera
 2. Rizal Criticizes Madrid Filipinos for
Gambling
• Rizal received news from Juan Luna and Valentin Ventura that the
Filipinos in spain were destroying good name of their nation by gambling
too much
• Rizal wrote to MH del Pilar to remind Filipinos in Madrid that they did
not come to Europe to gamble, but to work for their fatherland’s freedom
• The gambling Filipinos in Madrid were angry when they learned of
Rizal’s moralizing
• They called him Papa (Pope) instead of Pepe
 3. Bad News from Home
• The Calamba agrarian trouble was getting worse
• Don Francisco refused to pay higher rents imposed by the Dominican
Landlords
• Dominican Order filed cases to dispossess Rizal family of their land in
Calamba
• Relatives were deported – Paciano, Antonio Lopez (husband of Narcisa),
Silvestre Ubaldo (husband of Olimpia, Manuel Hidalgo (husband of
Saturnina)
 4. Presentiments of His Death
• He had bad dreams during the nights in Brussels
• He feared he would not live long
• He was not afraid to die, not until he finished his second novel
• In a letter to MH Del Pilar, Rizal wrote “sad presentiments assaults me
though I do not give them entire credence, In my childhood I had a strange
belief that I would not reach thirty years of age. I am preparing myself for
death. Laong Laan (Ever Ready) is my true name.
 Preparation to go Home
• “We have only once to die, and if we do not die well, we lose the
opportunity which will not again be presented to us” - Rizal
 Decision to Go to Madrid
• Paciano wrote to Rizal about their cases against the Dominicans
• Cases were appealed to the Supreme Court in Spain
• He wrote to Del Pilar, getting him as their counsel and notified that he
will be going to Madrid to supervise the handling of their cases
 To my muse
• It was against the background of mental anguish in Brussels, during those
sad days when he was worried by family disasters, that he wrote his
pathetic poem, “A mi”
 Romance with Petite Susanne Jacoby
• Two things brought some measures of cheers to the despondent Rizal as he was preparing to
leave.
1. Summer time Festival of Belgium which was celebrated in carnival style, with colorful
costumes, fantastic floats, and many days of merriment
2. Romance with Susanne of Jacoby
• Rizal was so charming and dignified a gentleman that Petite Susanne was attracted to him
• He was lonely in a strange country and Leonor was so far away
• Like other women, Suzanne fell in love with Rizal
• She cried when he left toward the end of July, 1890 for Madrid