Reporters: Annabel Caldo Judylyn Divina Clares Apolinario • Jose Rizal arrival in Manila on June 26, 1892 had become very sensational among the Filipinos. His popularity feared the Spaniards, and such paid careful attention to his every move – all houses where he had been were searched and the Filipinos seen in his company were suspected. • As he had planned on July 3, 1892 he founded the La Liga Filipina in the house of Doroteo Ongjunco in Tondo, Manila. CALDO Rizal was arrested by Spanish authorities on four grounds: 1. For publishing anti-catholic ang anti-friar books and articles 2. For having possession, a bundle of handbills, the Pobres Frailes in which advocacies where in violation of the Spanish orders 3. For dedicating his novel, El Filibusterismo to the three traitors (Gomez, Burgos and Zamora) 4. For simply criticizing the religion and aiming for its exclusion from the Filipino culture. Rizal’s exile in Dapitan • July 17, 1892- Rizal together with his guard Captain Carnicero, arrived in Dapitan. • Rizal was given the choice to live in the house of the parish priest, Fr. Antonio Obach or at Carnicero’s house. • Rizal made him a bust and composed a poem in his honor A Don Carnicero on his birthday on August 26, 1892. • In September 1892, Rizal and Carnicero won in a lottery. Rizal used some part of his share in pocuring a parcel of land near the coast of Talisay, a barrio near Dapitan. • He build three houses made of bamboo, wo o d a nd ni pa : a s q ua r e i n s ha pe, a hexagonal shape where he kept his chickens, and an octagonal house where his pupils lived. Daily Life as an Exile • During his exile, Rizal practiced medicine, taught s o me pu pils a n d en ga ged in fa r min g a n d horticulture. The school he founded in 1893 started with only 3 pupils and had about more than 20 students at the time his exile ended. • He teaches his pupils in the afternoon that begins at about 2pm and would end at 4 or 5pm. Rizal then would spend the night reading and writing. Rizal and the Jesuits • The Jesuits sent his old and favorite teacher in Ateneo, Fr. Francisco de Paula Sanchez, to entice him back to the church. • But though Rizal appreciated his mentor's efforts, he could not be convinced to change his mind. Nevertheless, their differences in belief did not get in the way of their good friendship. • The priest Pablo Pastells made some attempts by correspondence to win over to Catholicism the exiled physician. Four times they exchanged letters from September 1892 to April 1893. • The debate was none less than scholarly, and it m anifested Rizal's knowledge of the Holy Scriptures for he quoted verses from it. Though Rizal consistently attended mass in Dapitan, he refused to espouse the conventional type of Catholicism. Achievements in Dapitan • Riz al imp rov e d t h e tow n's d rain ag e an d constructing better water system using empty bottles and bamboo joints. He also taught the town folks about health and sanitation to avoid the spread of diseases. • He invented a wooden machine for the mass production of bricks and built a water dam for the community with the help of his students. • Rizal equally treated all patients regardless of t h e i r e c o n o m i c a n d so c i a l st a t u s. He accepted as "fees" things like poultry and crops and at times, even gave his services to poor folks for free. • His specialization was ophthalmology, but he also offered treatments to almost all kinds of diseases, like fever, sprain, broken bones, typhoid, tuberculosis, and even leprosy. • Rizal also helped in the livelihood of the abaca farmers in Dapitan by trading their crops in Manila. He gave them lessons in abaca-weaving to produce hammocks. He tau g h t th e m b e tte r te c h n i qu e s , l i ke weaving and using better fishing nets. As a Scientist and Philologist • Rizal sent various biological specimens to scientists in Europe in return to sent him books and some other academic reading materials. • From the collections he sent to European scholars, at least three species were named after him: a Dapitan frog (Rhacophorus rizali), a type of beetle (Apogonia rizali), and a f ly ing dragon (Draco rizali). The Spies and Secret Emissary • In March 1895, a man introduced himself to Rizal as Pablo Mercado claiming to be Rizal’s relative but he was Florencio Namaan of Cagayan de Misamis, paid as a secret agent by the Recollect friars. • Pio Valenzuela was sent to Dapitan by Andres Bonifacio and was able to discreetly deliver the Katipunan's message for Rizal to assist him in escaping from Dapitan. Visited by loved ones • Rizal was in Dapitan when he learned that his true love Leonor Rivera had died. In August 1893, Doña Teodora, along with daughter Trinidad, joined Rizal in Dapitan and resided with him in his casa cuadrada. • Jose Rizal successfully operated on his mother's cataract. • Josephine Bracken came to Jose's life. Josephine was an orphan with Irish blood and the stepdaughter of Jose's patient (George Tuffer) from Hong Kong. Rizal and Bracken were unable to obtain a church wedding because Jose would not retract his anti-Catholic views. • Before the year ended in 1895, the couple had a child who was born prematurely. The son who was named after Rizal's father (Francisco) died a few hours after birth. Goodbye Dapitan • In 1895, Blumentritt informed Rizal that the revolution-ridden Cuba was raged by a yellow- fever epidemic. Because there was a shortage of physicians to attend to war victims and disease- stricken people, Rizal wrote to the Governor- General Ramon Blanco volunteering to provide medical services in Cuba. • But on July 30, 1896, Rizal received a letter from the governor-general sanctioning his petition to serve as volunteer physician in Cuba. • At the midnight of that day, he left aboard the steamer Espanya. • The towns people of Dapitan wept because they considered Rizal as a good neighbor. • Rizal later wrote in his diary onboard the ship , "I have been in that district four years, thirteen days, and a few hours” From Dapitan to Trial in Fort Santiago Rizal's journey from Dapitan to Manila on July 31, 1 8 9 6 t he st e a m e r E sp a na w i t h R i z a l a s a passenger involved stops in Dumaguete, Cebu, Iloilo, Capiz, Romblon, and Manila. He visited friends, cured a Guardia Civil Captain in Cebu he c a rri e d o ut f o ur o p e ra t i o ns a nd g av e o ut perceptions to many patients and visited Mactan Island, shopping, and the Molo church. DIVINA In Manila Rizal was rescued by katipuneros as a steamer approached Luzon. Katipunero Emilio Jacinto and Guillermo Masankay attempted to rescue him, but Rizal refused. He arrived in Manila on August 6, 1896, and requested isolation from the governor general. The government transferred him to the cruiser Castilla docked at Cavite, ensuring Rizal's safety and fulfilling his mission in Cuba. On August 19, the katipunan plot to revolt against Spanish authorities was discovered through the confession of a certain Teodoro Patino to Mariano Gil leading to the arrest of many katipuneros. The katipunan, led by Bonifacio, convened and began the revolt. Major assaults occurred on August 29 and 30, killing 150 katipuneros and taking over 200 prisoners. The governor general declared a state of war in Manila and nearby provinces. Blanco recommended Rizal to the Spanish, and he was transported to Isla de Panay on September 2. Going to Spain The steamer Isla de Panay left Manila for Barcelona, arriving in Singapore on September 7. Rizal was urged by Filipinos to stay in British controlled territory. As the uprising in the Philippines worsened, Rizal felt associated wi t h t he Fi l i pi no re v o l ut i o n. He wro t e a l e t t e r to Blumentritt, revealing that Blanco had information to arrest him. Rizal was placed under heavy guard by General Eulogio Despujol, who had deported him to Dapitan in 1892. He was transported to Monjuich prison and ordered to return to Manila. Eulogio Despujol: The general who deported Rizal to Dapitan in 1892 also placed under heavy guard in Barcelona in 1896. Last Homecoming In 1896, Rizal was detained in Fort Santiago, where he had been imprisoned four years earlier. To gather evidence against him, Rizal was tortured and forcibly questioned by friends, acquaintances, La Liga members, and his brother Paciano. He underwent interrogations by colonel Francisco Olive, who led the troops that forced the Rizal family to vacate their Calamba home in 1890. Rizal admitted knowing most of those questioned, but denied knowing Andres Bonifacio or Apolinario Mabini. Documentary evidence included letters, poems, Masonic documents, and oral testimonies from 13 Filipinos. Olive submitted the reports to Blanco on November 26 and captain Rafael Dominguez was assigned as special Judge Advocate in Rizal's case Dominguez made a summary of the case and delivered it to Blanco who subsequently sent the papers to judge Advocate General Don Nicolas dela pena. After examining the case pena recommended that: A. Rizal be instantly brought to trial B. He be kept in jail C. An order of attachment be issued against his property and D. A Spanish army officer not a civilian lawyer be permitted to defend him in Court. On December 8, Rizal was given the right to choose his lawyer, Lt. Luis Taviel de Andrade, from a list of 100 Spanish army of fic ers. He was accused of being the main organizer of the revolution and founding illegal organizations. Rizal pleaded not guilty to rebellion and explained La Liga as a civic organization. On December 15, he wrote a manifesto urging revolutionaries to pursue liberty through education and labor, but De la Pena interpreted it as advocating rebellion. The Rat in the Kangaroo Court On December 26, Jose Rizal, a Filipino patriot, was tried in the Kangaroo Court by seven military members, including Lt. Col. Jose Togares Arjona. Attorney Enrique de Alcocer presented Rizal's criminal case, describing him as a "typical oriental" who hoped to rise to power. Rizal's defense counsel, Lt. Andrade, tried to save his client by presenting his defense, which includ ed logical proofs that he could not have participated in the revolution and that La Liga was distinct from the Katipunan. Lt.Col. Arjuna declared the trial over, and Rizal's mock trial was disregarded, leading to the death sentence. Rizal was found guilty and sentenced to death by firing squad. Camilo polavieja the Governor General who decreed Rizal's execution On December 28 Governor General polavieja signed the court decision and decreed that guilty be executed by f iring squad at 7 am of December 30, 1896 at Bagumbayan (Luneta). Because Rizal was also required to sign the verdict he stoically signed his own death sentence. Rizal's Last 25 hours What happened in Rizal's life from 6 a.m. of December 29, 1896 until his execution was perhaps the most controversial in his biography, for the divisive claims-like his supposed retraction and Catholic marriage with Bracken-allegedly occurred within this time frame.
From 6 am to 12 noon 6 am of December 29, Judge advocate Dominguez formally read the death sentence to Rizal. APOLINARIO 7 am He was transferred. •"Death cell" or "Prison Chapel" •He was visited by Jesuit priest Miguel Sanderra Mata and Luis Viza. •They Brought the Medal of " Ateneo's Marian Congregation" and the "Wooden statue of sacred Heart of Jesus" he had carved in the school. •Rizal rejected the medal saying "I'm little of a Marian". At 8 am •Priest Antonio Rosell •Lt. Andrade
9 a.m •Santiago Matalx of the Spanish newspaper El Heraldo de Madrid interviewed
10 a.m •Priest Federico Faura •The two had a heated discussion about religion as witnessed by Rosell. 11 a.m •Priests Jose Vilaclara and Vicente Balaguer (missionary in Dapitan). •The Jesuits tried to convince Rizal to write a retraction. • "Look, Fathers, if I should assent to all you say and sign all you want me to just to please you, neither believing nor feeling. I would be a hypocrite and would then be offending God" From Noon to 7pm
At noon. Rizal was left alone in his cell. He had his lunch read the Bible, and meditated. About this time. Balaguer reported to the Archbishop that only a little hope remained that Rizal would retract.
•Refusing to receive visitors for the meantime. Rizal probably
finished his. last poem at this moment. • the Austrian scholar "my best, my dearest friend" (Letter for blumentritt) 2 pm •Priests Estanislao March and Vilaclara
3:30 pm •Balaguer then returned to Rizal's cell •Rizal wrote letters and dedications and rested shortly •the sorrowful 4 pm •Doña Teodora and Jose's sisters went to see the sentenced Rizal The mother was not allowed a last embrace by the guard, but her beloved son in quiet grief, managed to press a kiss on her hand. •Dominguez was said to have been moved with compassion at the sight of Rizal's kneeling before his mother and asking for forgiveness.
•Rizal gives to Trinidad "alcohol Lamp"
•a gift from the Pardo de Taveras •"There is something in it" That "something" was Rizal's elegy now known as Mi Ultimo Adios. 5:30 pm •The Dean of the Manila Cathedral. Don Silvino Lopez Tuñon. •Balaguer and March then left, leaving Vilaclara and Tuñon in Rizal's cell.
6 pm •As Rosell was leaving •Josephine Bracken arrived in Fort Santiago. The Night of December 29 7 pm •Faura returned and convinced Rizal to trust him and some other Ateneo professors.
8 pm •Rizal took his last supper and attended to his personal needs. •He told Dominguez that he had forgiven his enemies and the military judges. A sketch of Ferdinand Blumentritt by Juan Luna: both are Rizal's good friends, the former was called by the hero a s "my best my dearest friend". At about 9 or 9.30 p.m. •Manila's Royal Audiencia Fiscal Don Gaspar Cestaño 10 pm •Historians Gregorio and Sonia Zaide alleged. •Balaguer brought to Rizal a retraction draft made by Archbishop Bernardino Nozaleda. •made by Jesuit Pio Pi was then offered to Rizal, which he allegedly liked. December 30 Rizal then spent the night resting until the crack of dawn of . perhaps praying and meditating once in a while.
The Early Morning of December 30
3 am Rizal heard Mass, confessed sins, and took Communion 4 am Rizal picked up the book Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, read, and meditated.
5 am •he washed up. attended to his personal needs, read the Bible, and contemplated. •three boiled eggs. •Rizal's grandniece Asuncion Lopez-Rizal Bantug mention "three soft-boiled eggs and narrated that Rizal ate two of them Historian Ambeth R. Ocampo, on the other hand, wrote "three hard- boiled eggs" and related that Rizal "did not have any breakfast. Both historians nevertheless wrote that Rizal placed the boiled eggs to a cell corner, saying in effect. "This is for the rats, let them celebrate likewisel Afterward. • Rizal wrote letters, one addressed to his family and another to Paciano. • To h i s f a m i l y, h e w r o t e . " I a s k y o u f o r forgiveness for th e pain I cau se you I die resigned, hoping that with my death you will be left in peace." • He also left this message to his sisters. "I enjoin you to forgive one another. Treat your old parents as you would like to be treated by your children later. Love them very much in my memory." •To Paciano, he wrote, "I am thinking now how hard you have worked to give me a career - I know that you have suffered much on my account, and I am sorry". 5:30 a.m •Josephine and Rizal's sister Josefa came. •Rizal gave to Josephine the book Imitation of Christ on which he wrote the dedication: “To my dear and unhappy wife, Josephine/ December 30th, 1896/ Jose Rizal.”
Before Rizal made his death march to
Bagumbayan, he managed to pen his last letters to his beloved parents. •To Don Francisco, he wrote, “Pardon me for the pain which I repay you - Good bye, Father, goodbye..” •Rizal managed to write only the following to his mother. •To my very dear Mother, •Sra. Dña. Teodora Alonso 6 o'clock in the morning, December 30, 1896. Jose Rizal Jose Rizal's Slow Walk to Death 6:30 a.m •Rizal in black suit and black bowler hat, tied elbow to elbow. •He walked along with his defense lawyer, Andrade, and two Jesuit priests, March and Vilaclara. •dvance guards of armed soldiers and behind them was another group of military men. •trumpet signaled the start of the death march. •muf fle d sound of drums served as the musical score of the walk. •Rizal kept keenly looking around, and "it was believed that his family or the Katipuneros would make a last-minute effort to spring him from the trap"
•"What a beautiful morning! On days like this, I
used to take a walk here with my sweetheart“
•Filipino soldiers were deliberately chosen to
compose the firing squad. •Riz al refu sed to kn eel an d dec lin ed t h e traditional blindfold. •Maintaining that he was not a traitor to his country and to Spain, he even requested to face the firing squad. •After some sweet-talk, Rizal f in ally agreed to turn his back to the firing squad on the condition that he would be shot not in the head-but in the small of the back instead. • Rizal th an kfu lly sh ook th e h an d of h is defense lawyer. •The military physician then asked permission to feel the pulse of the man who had only a few minutes to live. The curious doctor was startled to f in d Rizal's pulse normal. Before leaving Rizal in his appointed place, the priests offered him a crucifix to kiss "but he turned his head away and silently prepared for his death". • Riz al ye lle d C h r ist 's t w o last w o rd s "Consummatum est!" (It is finished!) •Facing the sky. •Jose Rizal fell on the ground dead at exactly 7:03 on the morning of December 30, 1896.
