LIFE AND WORKS OF RIZAL

Exile in Dapitan
Last Homecoming and Trial
Martyrdom at Bagumbayan

GROUP 4 - BEED 1B
 Members
Bacia, Jay Ann A.
Buates, Rea A.
De Dios, Jessie Dave - Leader
Galvez, Christian S.
Perez, Michelle A.
San Andres, Jenel E.
Sarmiento, Kiana Euler
Sendicco, Jade Kasandra S.
Sibulo, Rona Mae L.
Solaiman, Najima B.
Sumayao, Dhana Mae B. - Assistant Leader
Exile in Dapitan
• On 17 July 1892, Dr. Jose Rizal arrived in Dapitan, exiled by the
Spanish government on suspicion of his involvement in the
rebellion.
• Rizal bought a 16-hectare abandoned farm by the shore of
Talisay, a barrio near Dapitan, where he built a permanent home.
• He did research and collected specimens of the biodiversity in
the area.
• With his students and some labourers, he cleared the area and
planted cacao, coffee, coconuts, and fruit trees.
• Later, he bought more lands in other areas that he also planted
with the same crops, including abaca.
• Rizal introduced modern agriculture and encouraged Dapitan
farmers in the use of fertilisers, crop rotation, and farm
machines.
• The forest in Talisay is still a forest today due to government and
local protection.
• A bigger project of Rizal was in an area near Sindangan Bay, in the
sitio of Ponot, where he explored the idea of setting up an
agricultural colony. Towards the shore, it is a vast valley of several
thousand hectares. Rizal came up with a proposal to develop the area
that would build on the biodiversity of the place, through integrated
farming set up to benefit the displaced families in his home town of
Calamba in Laguna. He believed that the area could accommodate
5,000 head of cattle and 40,000 coconut trees, and where coffee,
cacao, and sugar cane could be cultivated. The Spanish government,
however, rejected this proposal.
• It was also in Talisay where he wrote “Mi Retiro” (My Retreat), in
which he speaks of his home of exile in Dapitan and the forest
around him.
• According to George Aseniero one of the interviewees, Rizal wrote
“Mi Retiro” when his mother requested him to write a poem, for it
had been some time since he wrote one.
• “Mi Retiro” is about the forest in Dapitan. He pays homage to the
forests and talks about the big birds. Rizal lived in the forest and it
was behind him. His house was at the foot of the hill. Where he came
from, Rizal grew up next to Mount Makiling in Calamba. When he
got to Dapitan, he was again near the forest.
• George prefers the free verse translation of this poem into English by
the late National Artist Nick Joaquin, even though it doesn’t conform
to the strict verse and rhythmic form followed by Rizal in composing
the poem. It’s an ode to nature, the forest and the sea, which is the
world of Dapitan – and the consolation that nature brings to this lonely
man in exile and through it, memories of people and places now gone.
• Four years later, he left Dapitan on 31 July 1896 and sailed back to
Manila, where he was executed by musketry five months later.
• His martyrdom sparked the revolution that ended Spanish rule in the
Philippines after 400 years.
• However, George notes that “the English translation of “Un
Recuerdo A Mi Pueblo” is not as good as the “Mi Retiro”
translation. Perhaps the translator imposed upon himself the
formal structure of the original and the poem comes out
sounding cramped, with none of the freshness of the 15-year-
old Rizal’s expression.
• Rizal's "Mi Pueblo" and "Mi Retiro" form one continuous
piece, representing nature as a cradle and home.
• Rizal re-told myths and folklore to communicate the truth that
people exist in the forest, reflecting their own sad fate.
• Another literary work that Rizal wrote was “Un Recuerdo,” an
unfinished short story, or perhaps a fragment of an abandoned novel.
The story tells of a young man who by chance meets an alluring girl
in the forest. The forest is the setting, very much in the style of
Romantic literature.
• George’s admiration of Rizal and the impact of Rizal’s legacy in
Dapitan will always inspire him as he works on the development
planning of Dapitan. My youthful experience of the forest was
always that of Rizal’s home, and I consider this sacred because of
the man who had lived there. For me, the forest always had a human
face to it. And it was always ‘Rizal’s Forest.
• For Rizal, life in Dapitan was life in the forest. People call Rizal an
ilustrado the enlightened that had access to education during the
Spanish times.
• But in his four years in Dapitan, he was away from civilization. There
were times he was depressed because he felt he did not fit in there.
His years in the forest were experiences that not many of his
contemporaries had.
• One of his descendants, a most revered patriarch, Francisco Lopez,
asked us on his birthday to read poems and excerpts from “Mi
Retiro.” He told, ‘One thing from the Scenarios of Dapitan, that
together we keep alive the sound of the brook, let us just keep that
sound going.
Last Homecoming and Trial
A MARTYR'S LAST HOMECOMING

• Rizal's homecoming was 1896

• Rizal left Barcelona, Spain in October 6,1896
• On October 8, 1896, a friendly officer told Rizal that the
Madrid newspapers were full of stories about the bloody
revolution in the Philippines and were to blame for it.
CONFISCATION OF RIZAL'S DIARY

• On October 11 before reaching Port Said, Rizal's diary was

taken away and was critically scrutinised by the
authorities.
• On November 2, the diary was returned to him
• He wasn't able to record the events from October 12 -
November 1
UNSUCCESSFUL RESCUE IN SINGAPORE

• News of Rizal's predicament reached his friends in Europe

and Singapore. From London, Dr. Antonia Ma. Regidor and
Sixto Lopez dispatched frantic telegrams to an English
lawyer in Singapore named Huge Fort to rescue Rizal from
Spain steamer by means of writ of habeas corpus
ARRIVAL IN MANILA

• In November 3, Colon reached Manila

• Meanwhile, the Spanish authorities fished for evidence against
Rizal. Many Filipino patriots, including Deodato Arellano, Dr. Pio
Valenzuela, Moises Salvador, Jose Dizon, Domingo Prasco,
Temoteo Perez, and Pedro Soriano, were brutally arrested and
cruelly tortured. He suffered all pains inflicted by Spain's diabolical
tourists but he never signed any damaging statement incriminating
his younger brother.
PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION

• On November 20, the preliminary investigation began.

Rizal, the accused, appeared before the judge advocate,
Colonel Francisco Olive.
RIZAL CHOOSES HIS DEFENDER

• On December 8, feast day of the Immaculate Conception, a

loss of 100 first and second lieutenant in the Spanish Army
was presented to Rizal. One name Don Luis Travel de
Andrade, struck his fancy and he chose the lieutenant to
defend him in court
• The lieutenant proved to be the brother of Lt. Jose Tavel de
Andrade, Rizal's " bodyguard " in Calamba in 1887.
Martyrdom at
Bagumbayan
• Upon hearing the court's decision, Rizal already
knew that there's no way that his destiny would
be changed.
• During his last 24 hours on earth -from 6:00
AM of December 29 to 6:00 AM of December
30, 1896 he was busy meeting visitors which
includes his family and friends
• He was able to write his last poem, final
contribution for the emancipation of the
Filipino people.
 LAST HOUR OF DR. JOSE RIZAL
December 29, 1896

6:00 AM
Rizal knew it was his end,
and had accepted his fate.
Captain Rafael Dominguez
read before him the official
notice of his execution,
scheduled the next day.
7:00 AM 7: 15 AM
Rizal was immediately Rizal reminded Fr. Luis
transferred to the prison Viza the statuette of the
chapel where he spent Sacred Heart of Jesus
his last hours on earth. whom he carved as a
student in Ateneo.
 LAST HOUR OF DR. JOSE RIZAL
December 29, 1896

8:00 AM 9:00 AM 10: 00 AM

Rizal had breakfast with Fr.
Antonio Rosell. After
breakfast, his attorney, Lt.
Luis Tavie de Andrade
Came.
Fr. Federico Faura More Jesuit priests have
arrived. Rizal reminded visited him. After then, he
the priest of his earlier was interviewed by
‘prophecy’ about Rizal. Santiago Mataix for the
newspaper El Heraldo de
Madrid.
 LAST HOUR OF DR. JOSE RIZAL
December 29, 1896

12:00 - 3:30 PM 3:30 PM 4: 00 PM

Rizal stayed in his cell. He
was busy writing poems on
an alcohol cooking stove.
Teodora Alonzo visited
Fr. Jose Villaclara and Fr.
Vicente Balaguer visited him. They had a very
emotional encounter.
Rizal then discussed with
Rizal gave the alcohol
him his retraction letter.
cooking stove to Trinidad
which contains his
farewell poem.
 LAST HOUR OF DR. JOSE RIZAL
December 29, 1896

6:00 PM 8:00 PM 9:30 PM

Rizal was visited by Don
Don Silvino Lopez, the Rizal had his last supper.
He told Captain Gaspar Cestano, fiscal of
Dean of the Manila
the Royal Audience de
Cathedral visited Rizal. Dominguez that he
Manila.
forgave his enemies
including the military
judges.
 LAST HOUR OF DR. JOSE RIZAL
December 29, 1896
• Upon Rizal's death, his supposedly 'retraction letter' become
10:00 PM
one of the most controversial documents in our history.
The draft of the retraction
letter sent by the anti- • This 'retraction letter' allegedly contains his renunciation of
Filipino Archbishop the Masonry and his Anti-Catholic religious ideas.
Bernardo Nozaledawas • Depending on whose side you are on, some claims that it is
given by Fr. Balaguer to
fake while some believe it to be genuine.
Rizal for his signatures. He
rejected it.
• There had been some evidences but so far these had only
heated up the debate between the two factions.
 LAST HOUR OF DR. JOSE RIZAL
December 30, 1896

3: 00 AM 5:30 AM
“Now I am about to die, and it is
Rizal heard Mass, he He had his last to you I dedicate my last lines, to
confessed his sins and breakfast. After which tell you how sad I am to leave you
took Holy he wrote his letters for alone in life, burdened with the
Communion his family and his weight of the family and our old
brother, Paciano. parents.”
 LAST HOUR OF DR. JOSE RIZAL
December 30, 1896

“My beloved Father, pardon me for

5:30 AM 6: 00 AM the pain with which I repay you, for
Josephine Bracken arrived Soldiers were getting sorrows and sacrifices for my
together with Rizal’s ready for the death education. I did not want it nor did I
sisters, Josefa with tears in march of Bagumbayan, prefer it. Goodbye Father, goodbye.”
her eyes, bade him Rizal wrote his last letter
farewell. to his beloved parents. To my very dear Mother, Sra Dona
Teodora Alonso, 6 o’clock in the
morning.”
• At about 6:30 PM - A trumpet sounded at Fort Santiago to signal the death
march to Bagumbayan.
• Rizal walked calmly with his defence counsel and two Jesuit priests at his
sides.
• As Rizal went through the narrow Postigo Gate, Rizal looked at the sky and
said to one of the priest; “ How beautiful it is today, Father. What morning
could be more serene! How clear is Corregidor and the mountains of
Cavite! On mornings like this, I used to take a walk with my sweetheart.
• A Spanish military physician, Dr. Felipe Ruiz Castillo, asked his permission
to feel his pulse.
• Exactly 7:30 in the morning the death ruffles of the drums filled the air.
Above the drum beats, the sharp command “Fire” was heard, and the guns of
the firing squad barked.
• Rizal, with supreme effort, turned his bullet riddled body to the right, and fell
on the ground dead-with face upward facing the morning sun.
• 14 years before his execution Rizal predicted that he would die on December
30. He was then a medical student in Madrid, Spain.
Any questions?
 References:
Admin, E. (2015, November 25). Talisay forest home - Institute of Environmental Science for Social Change.
Institute of Environmental Science for Social Change. https://essc.org.ph/content/archives/7683/

A. (2001, March 1). Last Homecoming of Rizal. Last Homecoming of Rizal.

https://www.slideshare.net/AthensGreece/last-homecoming-of-rizal

MARTYRDOM AT BAGUMBAYAN. (2014, July 21). JOSE RIZAL: TRIAL, EXECUTION AND
MARTYRDOM. http://rizalgroup9.weebly.com/1/post/2014/07/martyrdom-at-bagumbayan.html