VOL.

1 Rizal’s plans of coming back home ISSUE 1

As early as 1884, Rizal wanted to go back to the Philippines for the

following reasons:

1. Financial difficulties in Calamba

2. Dissatisfaction with his studies in
Madrid
3. Desire to prove that there is no
reason to fear going home.
4. His belief that the Spanish regime
will not punish the innocent
VOL. 1 ISSUE 1

Rizal was determined to come back to the Philippines

for the following reasons:

To operate his mother’s eyes

To serve his people who had long been oppressed by
Spanish tyrants.
To find out for himself how the Noli Me Tangere and his
other writings were affecting Filipinos and Spaniards.
 To inquire why Leonor Rivera remained silent.
VOL. 1 Decision to return home ISSUE 1

After five years of his memorable sojourn in Europe, Rizal returned to the Philippines.
However, Rizal was warned by the following not to return to the Philippines
because his Noli Me Tangere angered the friars:

1. Paciano Mercado
 Rizal’s adviser and only brother.
2. Silvestre Ubaldo
 Rizal’s brother in law; husband of
Olimpia.
3. Jose M. Cecilio (Chenggoy)
 one of Rizal’s closest friends.
VOL. 1 ISSUE 1
Rizal arrives in Manila

 He returned to the East in the same liner that had brought him to
Europe-the Djemnah ,bound for Saigon.
 Three day later he took a smaller Eastern-run steamer, the Haiphong.
 Rizal landed in Manila after dark on August 5.He spent his time there
seeing friends and finding out how Noli Me Tangere was faring.
VOL. 1 ISSUE 1

When Rizal arrived in Calamba, rumors spread that he was a:

German spy
An agent of Otto Von Bismarck
the liberator of Germany.
A Protestant
A Mason
A soul halfway to damnation
• Paciano – did not leave him during the first days after arrival to protect him
from any enemy assault.
• Don Francisco – did not permit him to go out alone
VOL. 1
Happy Homecoming ISSUE 1

In Calamba
 Rizal established a medical clinic.
 Doña Teodora – was Rizal’s first patient
 Gymnasium – was opened by Rizal for the young people
 • He introduced European sports fencing and shooting to discourage them from
cockfighting and gambling.
 He painted several beautiful landscapes in Calamba.
 He translated German poems of Von Wildernath in Tagalog.
 Doctor Uliman – Rizal was called this name because he came from Germany.
VOL. 1 ISSUE 1

Sad moments while Rizal was in Calamba

 Leonor Rivera
 Rizal tried to visit her in Tarlac but his parents forbade him to go
because Leonor’s mother did not like him for a son-in- law.
 Olimpia Mercado-Ubaldo
 died because of child birth.
VOL. 1 Storm over the Noli Me Tangere ISSUE 1

As Rizal was peacefully living in Calamba, his enemies plotted his

doom.
 Governor General Emilio Terrero – wrote to Rizal requesting to come to Malacañang
Palace.
1. Somebody had whispered to his ear that the Noli contains subversive ideas.
2. Rizal explained to him that he merely exposed the truth, but did not advocate
subversive ideas.
3. He was pleased by Rizal’s explanation and curious about the book, he asked for a
copy of the novel.
4. Rizal had no copy that time but promised to send one.
VOL. 1 Rizal visited the Jesuits ISSUE 1

1. Fr. Francisco de Paula Sanchez

 Rizal visited the
2. Fr. Jose Bech
3. Fr. Federico Faura – told Rizal that Jesuit fathers to
everything in the novel was the truth and ask for their
warned him that he may lose his head feedback on the
because of it. novel.
 Governor-General Emilio Terrero – a liberal  He was gladly
minded Spaniard who knew that Rizal’s life welcomed by the
was in jeopardy because the friars were following friars:
powerful. – Because of this he gave Rizal a
bodyguard (Jose Taviel De Andrade) to
protect him.
 Attackers of the Noli
Archbishop Pedro Payo

 a Dominican
 Archbishop of Manila
 Sent a copy of the Noli to Fr. Gregorio
Echevarria, Rector of the University of Santo
Tomas to examine the novel.
VOL. 1
Attackers of the Noli ISSUE 1

 UST and Rizal

• The committee that examined the Noli Me Tangere were composed of Dominican professors.
• The report of the faculty members from UST about the Noli states that the novel was:
• Heretical, impious and scandalous in the religious orders, and anti-patriotic, subversive of pubic
order, injurious to the government of Spain and its function in the Philippine Islands in the
political order.
 Governor-General Terrero
• was not satisfied with the report so he sent the novel to the Permanent Commission of Censorship
which was composed of priests and lawyers.
 Fr. Salvador Font
• Augustinian friar curate of Tondo was the head of the commission.
• The group found that the novel contain subversive ideas against the Church and Spain and
recommended that the importation, reproduction and circulation of the pernicious book in the
islands be absolutely prohibited.
VOL. 1
Attackers of the Noli ISSUE 1

 The newspaper published Font’s written report

• The banning of the Noli Me Tangere served to make it popular
• The masses supported the book.
 Fr. Jose Rodriguez
• Augustinian Prior of Guadalupe
• Published a series of eight pamphlets under the heading Questions of Supreme Interest to blast the Noli and
other anti-Spanish writing.
• Copies of anti-Rizal pamphlets were sold after mass
• Many Filipinos were forced to buy them in order not to displease the friars.
Noli Me Tangere in Spain
 The novel was fiercely attacked in the session hall of the Senate of the Spanish Cortes.
 Senators:
• General Jose de Salamanca
• General Luis de Pando
• Sr. Fernando Vida
 Vicente Barantes – Spanish academician of Madrid who formerly occupied high government position in the Philippines
bitterly criticized the novel in an article published in the Madrid newspaper, La España Moderna.
VOL. 1 Defenders of the Noli Me Tangere ISSUE 1

 Propagandists such as Marcelo H. del Pilar, Graciano Lopez-Jaena, Antonio Ma. Regidor, Mariano Ponce rushed
to uphold the truths of the Noli.
 Father Francisco de Paul Sanchez
 Rizal’s favorite teacher in Ateneo defended and praised the novel in public.
 Don Segismundo Moret
 former Minister of the Crown.
 Prof. Miguel Morayta
 historian and stateman
 Prof. Ferdinand Blumentritt
 Rizal’s best friend
 Rev. Fr. Vicente Garcia
 a Filipino Catholic priest-scholar, a theologian of the Manila Cathedral and a Tagalog translator of the
famous Imitation of Christ by Thomas Kempis.
 Under the pen name Justo Desiderio Magalang he wrote a defense of the novel published in Singapore.
 Rizal cried because of his gratitude to his defenders especially to Fr. Garcia who defended him unexpectedly.
 He attacked Barantes by exposing his ignorance of Philippine affairs and mental dishonesty which is unworthy of an
academician.
 Because of the interest of both enemies and protectors of the Noli the price of the book increased from five pesetas per
copy to 50 pesetas per copy.
VOL. 1 Friars Reaction ISSUE 1

 Rizal’s exposure to the deplorable condition angered the friars.

 The friars exerted pressure to Malacañang to eliminate Rizal.
 They asked Gov. Gen. Terrero to deport Rizal but the latter refused for there is lack
of charges against Rizal in court.
 Anonymous threats in Rizal’s life alarmed his parents, siblings, Andrade his
bodyguard, friends, and even Terrero, thus they all advised him to leave the country.
Rizal’s reasons for leaving the Philippines

 His presence in Calamba was jeopardizing the safety and happiness of his family and
friends.
 He could not fight better his enemies and serve his country’s cause with greater
efficacy by writing in foreign countries.
VOL. 1 Agrarian Problem in Calamba ISSUE 1

 Influenced by the novel, Governor-General Emilio Terrero ordered a government investigation of the friar
estates to remedy whatever inequities might have been present in connection with land taxes and with
tenant relations.
 One of the friar estates affected was the Calamba hacienda by the Dominican order since 1883.
 Upon hearing about the investigation, the people of Calamba asked helped from Rizal to gather facts and
list the grievances so that the government might institute certain agrarian reforms.
Findings submitted by Rizal
 The hacienda of the Dominican Order comprised not only the lands around Calamba, but the whole town of Calamba.
 The profits of the Dominican Order continually increased because of the arbitrary increase of he rentals paid by the
tenants.
 The hacienda owner never contributed a single centavo for the celebration of the town fiesta, for the education of the
children, and for the improvement of agriculture.
 Tenants who spent much labor in clearing the lands were dispossessed of the said lands for flimsy reasons
 High rates of interest were arbitrarily charged the tenants for delayed payment of rentals
 When the rentals could not be paid, the hacienda management confiscated the work animals, tools, and farm implements
of the tenants.
VOL. 1 Himno Al Trabajo ISSUE 1

 A poem for Lipa

 shortly before Rizal left in 1888, he was asked by a friend to write
a poem in commemoration of the town’s cityhood.
 Himno Al Trabajo (Hymn To Labor)
 title of the poem dedicated to the industrious people of Lipa.

Farewell Philippines
 On February 3, 1888 Rizal left his country with a heavy heart. • But this is for
his own good and the safety of his family and friends.