EXILE IN DAPITAN | 1892-96

Rizal in Manila
June 26, 1892 - Rizal arrived in Manila
July 3, 1892 - He founded La Liga Filipina at Doroteo Onjungco’s house in Tondo, Manila
July 7, 1892 - Rizal was arrested and exiled to Dapitan

Governor-General Eulogio Despujol - made the public order of the deportation of rizal to dapitan

Beginning of Exile in Dapitan

● Cebu - steamer which brought Rizal to dapitan

July 17, 1892 - Rizal arrived in Dapitan with Captain Ricardo Carnicero
Father Pablo Pastells Father Antonio Obach

Father Superior Pastells informed Father Obach that Rizal could live at the parish convent on
the following conditions:
● “That Rizal publically retract his errors concerning religion and make statements that were clearly
pro-Spanish against revolution.
● “That he perform the church rites and make a general confession of his past life.
● “That henceforth he conduct himself in an exemplary manner as a Spanish Subject and a man of
religion”.
Beginning of Exile in Dapitan
● A Don Ricardo Carnicero | August 26, 1892
● poem which Rizal wrote for Captain Carnicero on the occasion of captain’s birthday August 26,1892

WINS IN MANILA LOTTERY

September 21, 1892
● Butuan – mail boat which brought the news about Rizal’s winning in the lottery.

Lottery Ticket No. 9736

● P20,000 – lottery prize
● P6,200 of it was given to Rizal
● P2,000 of his share he gave to his father and
● P200 to Basa in Hong Kong,
● P4,000 allocated for investment
● The rest he invested thru purchasing agricultural lands from the coast of Talisay about kilometer
away from Dapitan

● Three (3) pesetas – amount Rizal allotted for lottery tickets every month
● “This was his first Vice” – commented Wenceslao E. Retana, his first Spanish biographer and
former enemy
● Peseta - the currency of Spain between 1869 - 2002

RIZAL - PASTELLS DEBATE ON RELIGION

The debate started when Father Pastells sent Rizal a book by Sarda along with an advice that Rizal
should desist from his majaderas (foolishness) in viewing religion from the perspective of individual judgment
and self-esteem
 The debate can be read in four (4) letters.
Rizal was bitter against the friars because they commit abuses under the cloak of religion.

Father Pastells tried to bring back to Catholicism Rizal by telling him that human intelligence is limited,
thus he needs the guidance of God.

Behind the debate, Pastells and Rizal were friends as evidently pictured when:
● Pastells gave Rizal a copy of Imitacion De Cristo by Fr. Thomas a Kempis
● Rizal gave Pastells a bust of St. Paul which he had made Rizal continued to hear mass and celebrate
religious events

Rizal Challenges a Frenchman to a Duel

Mr. Juan Lardet – a French businessman whom Rizal had a conflict

Rizal and Father Sanchez

In his aspiration to reconcile Rizal with the Church, Father Pastells sent to Dapitan:
1. Father Obach, Cura of Dapitan
2. Fr. Jose Vilaclara, Cura of Dipolog
3. Fr. Francisco Paula de Sanchez, Rizal’s favorite teacher at Ateneo de Manila

Estudios sobre la lengua tagala – manuscript which Rizal gave to Sanchez on his birthday (study of the
tagalog language)

Idyllic Life in Dapitan

Among his family members who visited Rizal were:
1. His mother
2. His sisters Trinidad, Maria and Narcisa
3. Nephews Teodosio, Estanislao, Mauricio and Prudencio
4.
Rizal built a house by the seashore of Talisay surrounded by fruit trees, a school for boys, and a hospital for his
patients.

Rizal’s Encounter with the Friar’s Spy

Pablo Mercado – assumed name of the spy who visited Rizal at his house and pretended to be a
relative by showing a photo of Rizal and a pair of buttons with the initials P.M. as evidence of kinship.

The spy offered to be Rizal’s courier of letters for the patriots in Manila. Rizal became suspicious and
wanted to throw the spy outside but considering his values and late hour of the night, he offered the spy to
spend the night at his house. The next day, he sent the spy away.

The spy stayed in Dapitan and spread talks among the people that he was a relative to Rizal.

Rizal went to the comandancia and reported the impostor to Captain Juan Sitges (successor of
Carnicero)

Sitges ordered Pablo Mercado’s arrest and told Anastacio Adriatico to investigate him immediately.

Florencio Namanan a.k.a Pablo Mercado, single and about 30 years old who was hired by the
Recollect friars to spy on Rizal’s activities
The secret mission of Pablo Mercado was not an assassination attempt but espionage only.
AS PHYSICIAN IN DAPITAN
Dona Teodora and Maria lived with Rizal for a year and a half. It is here when Rizal operated his
mother’s right eye. Though the operation was successful, his mother had a wound infection after ignoring
Rizal’s instruction of not removing the bandages. However, the infection was immediately treated
Don Ignacio Tumarong, Rizal’s patient who was able to see again after his operation; -he paid Rizal
P3,000

Don Florencio Azcarraga, rich haciendero of Aklan who was cured of eye ailment, in return he gave
Rizal a cargo of sugar.

Rizal prescribed medicinal plants to his poor patients.

WATER SYSTEM FOR DAPITAN

As a perito agrimensor (expert surveyor), Rizal applied his engineering knowledge by constructing a
system of waterworks to furnish clean water to the townspeople

Mr. H.F. Cameron – American engineer who praised Rizal for his engineering ingenuity.

COMMUNITY PROJECTS FOR DAPITAN

Rizal had
1. Drained the marshes to get rid of malaria that was infesting Dapitan
2. Equipped the town with lighting system using P500 one of his patients paid him. The lighting system
consisted of a Coconut oil lamps
3. Beautified the town of Dapitan by remodeling the town plaza and making a huge relief map of
Mindanao out of earth, stones and grass

RIZAL AS TEACHER
Rizal established a school in Dapitan. It began with 3 pupils who increased to 16 and eventually 21.
16 of his pupils did not pay tuition. Instead of charging them fees, Rizal made them work in his gardens
and construction projects.

Formal classes were between 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. He also applied the “emperor” system like that of
Ateneo

During recess, pupils built fires to drive away insects, pruned fruit trees and fertilizing the soil.

Outside class hours, students had gymnastics, boxing, wrestling, stone- throwing, swimming, arnis and
boating

Hymn to Talisay - A poem Rizal wrote in honor of Talisay which he made his pupils sing

Contributions to Science
Rizal sent specimens he found to the museum of Europe, especially the Dresden Museum. In turn, he
received scientific books and surgical instruments
He had
1. Built up a rich collection of concology (consisting of 346 shells of 203 species)
2. Discovered rare specimens like:
 a. Draco rizali(a flying dragon)
b. Apogonia rizali(a small beetle)
c. Rhacophorus rizali(a rare frog)
3. Conducted anthropological, ethnographical, archaeological, geological and geographical studies.

Linguistic Studies
Continuing his study of languages, Rizal learned in Dapitan:
1. Bisayan
2. Subanum
3. Malay languages

He knew by that time 22 languages as follows:

Tagalog, Malay, Ilokano, Hebrew, Bisayan, Sanskrit, Subanum, Dutch, Spanish, Catalan Latin, Italian Greek,
Chinese, English, Japanese, French, Portuguese, German, Swedish, Arabic, Russian

Artistic Works in Dapitan

To pursue his artistic activities, Rizal
1. Contributed paintings to the Sisters of Charity who were preparing the sanctuary of the Holy Virgin
2. Made sketches of persons and things that attracted him in Dapitan
3. Modeled a statuette called “The Mother’s Revenge” to stress the moral of the incident where a puppy of
his dog, Syria, was eaten by a crocodile
4. Constructed a statue of a girl called “The Dapitan Girl”, a woodcarving of Josephine Bracken (Rizal’s
wife)
5. Made a bust of St. Paul for Father Pastells

RIZAL AS FARMER
Rizal acquired total land holdings of 70 hectares where 6,000 hemp plants, 1,000 coconut trees and
numerous fruit trees, sugarcane, corn, coffee and cacao were planted.
He planned to establish an agricultural colony in Sitio Ponot because it was ideal for raising cacao,
coffee, coconuts and cattle. However, this did not materialize due to lack of support from the government

RIZAL AS BUSINESSMAN
Ramon Carreon – Rizal’s business partner in Dapitan Rizal made profitable business ventures in
fishing, copra and hemp industries.
Hemp industry – Rizal’s most profitable business
Once he shipped 150 bales of hemp to Manila. He purchased hemp in Dapitan at P7 and 4 reales per
picul and he sold it to Manila at P10 and 4 reales.
Rizal also engaged in lime manufacturing. Their lime burner had a monthly capacity of more than400
bags of lime
He organized the Cooperative Association of Dapitan Farmers to break Chinese monopoly

Rizal’s Inventive Ability

Among Rizal’s inventions were:
1. Cigarette lighter which he sent as a gift to Blumentritt called “sulpukan”
2. A wooden machine for making bricks

“My Retreat”
Upon restoring her eyesight, Dona Teodora returned to Manila. Seeing how busy Rizal is, she regretted
neglecting her muses. She requested Rizal to write poetry. As a response, Rizal wrote “Mi Retiro” relating his
serene life as an exile in Dapitan
Rizal and Josephine Bracken
The death of Leonor Rivera left a poignant void in Rizal’s heart. In his loneliness, he met Josephine

Josephine Bracken – Irish girl of sweet eighteen who was born on Hong Kong.

James Bracken and Elizabeth Jane MacBride – Josephine’s parents who are both Irish in citizenship

Mr. George Taufer – man who adopted Josephine after her mother died of childbirth

Mr. Taufer became blind so he sought for an ophthalmic specialist. This is how Josephine and Rizal met.

Manuela Orlac – Filipina companion who accompanied Josephine Bracken to Dapitan.

Rizal and Josephine Bracken decided to get married but Father Obach refused to marry them without
the permission of Bishop of Cebu.
Hearing of the planned marriage and unable to endure the thought of losing Josephine, Mr. Taufer tried
to commit suicide by cutting off his throat with a razor but Rizal was able to prevent this.

To avoid a tragedy, Josephine accompanied Mr. Taufer back to Manila. Mr. Taufer returned to Hong
Kong alone while Josephine stayed with the Rizals in Manila.

Having no priests to marry them, Rizal and Josephine married themselves before the eyes of God
The two were happy because they were expecting a baby. However, Rizal played a prank on Josephine,
making her give birth to an eight-month baby boy. The baby lived for only three hours. He was named
“Francisco” in honor of Rizal’s father.

Rizal and the Katipunan

Pio Valenzuela – emissary to Dapitan in order to inform Rizal of the plan of Katipunan during the meeting at
a little river called Bitukang Manok.

An emissary of Andres Bonifacio. He visited Rizal for advice for their upcoming revolution. He also
offered Rizal to have the katipunan escape him in Dapitan. Rizal opposed the revolution and the offer but still
gave some advices
Venus – steamer Valenzuela boarded to reach Dapitan
Raymundo Mata – blind man who came with Valenzuela to camouflage his mission

Rizal objected Bonifacio’s project because:

1. The people are not ready for a revolution
2. Arms and funds must first be collected before raising the cry of revolution.\

Volunteers as Military Doctor in Cuba

When Cuba was under revolution and raging yellow fever epidemic, Rizal wrote to Governor General
Ramon Blanco offering his services as military doctor.
Governor Blanco later notified Rizal of the acceptance of the offer. The notification came along with an
instruction of acquiring first a pass for Manila from the politico-military commander of Dapitan.
“The Song of the Traveler”
Upon receiving the acceptance of his offer to go to Europe then to Cuba to help in the curing of patients
suffering yellow fever, he wrote a poem “El Canto del Viajero”
Adios, Dapitan
España – steamer which brought Rizal to Manila from Dapitan
Rizal was accompanied by Josephine, Narcisa, Angelica (Narcisa’s daughter), his three nephews and six
pupils.
As farewell, the town brass of Dapitan played the dolorous Funeral March of Chopin.
He stayed in Dapitan for four years, thirteen days and a few hours.

August 6 - September 2, 1896 - Rizal arrived at Manila Bay and then waited for his ship to Cuba.

August 19, 1896 - the katipunan plot of revolution was discovered by Fr. Mariano Gil due to the revelation
of Teodoro Patino.

August 26, 1896 - Bonifacio and the Katipuneros raised the cry of revolution in the hills of Balintawak,
North of Manila.