Dimasalang: The Masonic Life of Dr. Jose Rizal

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Article by:  Fred Lamar Pearson, Jr., 33°

The life and death of Brother Jose Rizal were central to his fame as the "George Washington of the Philippines."

Dr. Jose P. Rizal, a Philippine national born on June 19, 1861, died before a firing squad on December 30, 1896. Thus came to an inglorious end the life of a remarkable man and Mason. Martyr, patriot, poet, novelist, physician, Mason’he was all of these and more. In fact, he squeezed into a very few years, 35, an incredible array of activities. Further, he traveled extensively and affected profoundly lives far removed from his native land. As is often the case with great men, controversy surrounded his life and continues to surface today. In this article for the Journal, I am pleased to comment on a biography of Bro. Rizal by Reynold S. Fajardo. Titled Dimasalang: The Masonic Life of Dr. Jose Rizal, this book will be more thoroughly reviewed and excerpted from in a future issue of Heredom, the transactions of the Scottish Rite Research Society.

The Sovereign Grand Commander of the Philippine Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite, Ill. Rudyardo V. Bunda, 33°, writes in the preface to Dimasalang: "Most Filipinos know that Rizal was a Mason, but very few are familiar with the extent of his involvement in the Fraternity." The Grand Commander goes on to note that his Supreme Council "considers this book as a meaningful contribution to the scholarship on Rizal and is proud to publish it as its share in the commemoration of the Centennial [1996] of Rizal’s martyrdom."

The 1800s were tumultuous years for the Spanish monarchy. Napoleon had invaded the Iberian Peninsula earlier in the century taking the royal family into exile and installing a puppet on the throne. Revolution had racked her western hemisphere possessions, and Spain lost all of them, except Cuba and Puerto Rico, by the end of 1824. Then she lost Cuba and Puerto Rico in 1898. The economic life of Spain and her empire had been little changed by the industrial revolution. Intellectually, a sterility existed and did not change significantly until the Generation of 1898 writers and thinkers appeared.

Also, scandal tore at the very heart of the homeland when Generals Prim and Serrano removed Queen Isabel II from the throne for, among other things, gross immorality. They provided a military junta arrangement until the monarchy could be reestablished under more capable hands.

The 19th century produced volatility at home and abroad. Cuba experienced a ten-year civil war in the middle part of the century. Cuban expatriates as well as non-Cuban adventurers sought to wrest the island from the control of what they considered a fossilized monarchy and an absolutist church. Their efforts intensified in 1895 when José Martí returned to the island, losing his life but setting off a current of events which ultimately included an invasion by the United States and which resulted in Cuban independence. The Philippine Islands shared much in common with Cuba during the 19th century. It was in this environment that Jose Rizal made his appearance in 1861.

The Philippine hero was born to affluent parents in Calamba. He showed early academic promise and eventually obtained a licentiate in medicine specializing in ophthalmology. Few Masonic Lodges existed in the Philippines during Rizal’s adolescence, and Lodge membership consisted primarily of European Spaniards with only a sprinkling of Philippine nationals. Rizal’s uncle, Jose Alberto Alonzo, a Knight Commander of the Spanish Orders of Isabel the Catholic and Carlos III, had joined the Masonic Fraternity, possibly in Spain, certainly in Manila. Rizal lived in his uncle’s home during part of his student days. Whether his uncle exercised a Masonic influence on Rizal is not clear; what is certain is that Rizal acquired a lasting positive memory of Masonry which was enhanced when he visited Naples in 1882. There he saw a multitude of posters and signs announcing the death of the great Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi, a 33°Scottish Rite Mason who had served as Grand Master. This impressed Rizal greatly for he wrote about this Masonic encounter in a letter to his family.

In Spain the young and highly impressionable Rizal encountered an intellectual environment with far fewer restraints than the one in his native land. Here he came under the influence of a host of outstanding thinkers, many of them Freemasons. For example, Grand Master Miguel Morayta helped to expand Rizal’s historical mind-set, and ex-President Francisco Pi y Margal exerted a profound influence on Rizal’s political evolution. Further, these republican liberals were staunch advocates of Philippine independence. Not surprisingly, Rizal petitioned Acacia Lodge No. 9, Gran Oriente de España, the very Lodge in which Morayta and Pi y Margal held membership. When initiated, Rizal selected Dimasalang as his symbolic name within the Craft, a custom prevalent at the time among Spanish Masons.

Rizal quickly became involved in Filipino expatriate circles in Spain and revealed a remarkable ability to write both poetry and prose. He soon commenced work on his famous novel Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not). In this seminal work, Rizal dissected the Philippine colonial government and placed particular blame for its repressive nature on certain religious elements. Rizal was convinced that conditions in the Philippines existed not because of Spain or the Catholic Church but because of the practices of certain regular clergy, namely Dominicans and Recollects. Spanish newspapers ran stories about the exciting Philippine firebrand, stories which soon made their way to Manila. There, government and religious authorities immediately took note and did not hesitate to label Rizal a subversive.

Bro. Rizal departed Spain in July 1885 to further his ophthalmology studies in France and Germany. For the next two years, he met and associated with the leading minds of Paris, Leipzig, Berlin, and Heidelberg. It was a heady atmosphere for the young Brother, and Masons in Germany, Dr. Rudolf Virchow and Dr. Feodor Jagor, were instrumental in his becoming a member of the Berlin Ethnological and Anthropological Societies. While in Germany, Rizal acquired additional Masonic Degrees.

When his novel Noli Me Tangere, came off the press in Europe, Rizal sent copies to, among others, the Governor-General of the Philippines and the Archbishop of Manila. The Governor-General, Emilio Terrero y Perinat, a 33°Mason, represented no problem, and he protected Rizal upon his return to the islands and for as long as he held the Governor-Generalship. The Archbishop, however, presented a problem which did not go away. Rizal had become increasingly convinced of his need to campaign in person for reform in the Philippines as opposed to propagandizing from afar. His friends cautioned him not to return but failed to dissuade the idealist. On August 5, 1887, Dr. Rizal stepped ashore in Manila. 

Almost immediately, serious problems emerged. The Manila Archbishop put pressure on Governor-General Terrero to ban Rizal’s book. Terrero, who had a real liking for Rizal, hesitated to suppress the book which rapidly circulated in the capital. The church authorities did not delay in publishing a condemnation of the work, but, to their chagrin, the condemnation only enhanced sales. Rizal also involved himself in a sticky matter which concerned a Dominican hacienda in Calamba. According to critics of the Dominicans, their hacienda holdings were excessive, and the friars had not paid their fair share of taxes. Rizal, when requested by the town council of Calamba, got involved in an investigation of the matter, and his report during a public meeting was highly critical of the Dominicans.

The church hierarchy did not take long to react. The Archbishop increased pressure on the Governor-General to suppress Noli Me Tangere as an inflammatory book and to arrest its author. Accordingly, Governor-General Terrero, fearing he might not be able to protect him, put pressure on Rizal to depart the country. Rizal heeded the advice and traveled to Hong Kong. Meanwhile, the religious authorities carried out reprisals against Rizal’s family which included the arrest of his mother.

After a short stay in Hong Kong, Rizal traveled to Japan and then the United States where he enjoyed the experience of a coast-to-coast visit. New York, in particular, impressed him, and cryptic evidence in his diary suggests he may have visited the Grand Lodge of New York. From New York City, Rizal journeyed to England and then on to the continent. While in Paris, Rizal published, with annotations, Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (Events in the Philippine Islands). Financial pressure forced him to relocate from Paris to Belgium. There, he worked hard on his second novel, El Filibusterismo (The Subversives), in which he sounded clearly the tocsin for Philippine revolution.

During a visit to Spain, Dr. Rizal affiliated with an all-Filipino Masonic Lodge, Solidaridad (Solidarity) No. 53. At their annual communication, the Brethren elected him to a minor office, Supervising Architect. Before his departure from Spain, the Gran Oriente Español designated Rizal as its Grand Representative with authority to represent the Body in France and Germany. This was a distinct honor, for Rizal apparently had never served as Worshipful Master of a constituent Lodge.

Rizal’s El Filibusterismo was published in September 1891, and in October he departed for Hong Kong. There he enjoyed a delightful reunion with family members. He wanted to return to Manila but desisted in view of the controversy his books had generated, especially his second, El Filibusterismo. While in Hong Kong, Rizal developed an extensive and lucrative medical practice. Meanwhile, a Lodge for Filipinos, Nilad No. 144, had been established in Manila. The Lodge membership honored Rizal in absentia by electing him "Honorable Venerable Master" and had the Secretary inform him by letter of his preferment. Soon after formation of Nilad Lodge, Masonic growth in the Philippines mushroomed, and when Rizal returned in 1892, Masonry was well established.

The Filipino Masons seized every opportunity to honor Rizal after his return, and the Spanish authorities, in turn, monitored his every movement. Worried about revolution, the authorities, constantly encouraged by Rizal’s enemies among the friars, had him arrested and deported to Dapitan on July 6, 1892. Further, the authorities began to close Lodges and deport active Masons.

The Jesuits made a determined effort to influence Rizal in his Dapitan exile, even enlisting former college professors. Their effort failed. Rizal enjoyed family visits in Dapitan, and friends of his sought to arrange a flight to safety. Rizal, however, did not want to embrace the safety net of a fugitive. When José Martí and his compatriots launched the Cuban Revolution in 1895, Dr. Rizal offered his services to the Governor-General as a volunteer physician. Governor-General Blanco seized the opportunity to send Rizal out of the country and, hopefully, save his life. In fact, Blanco wrote to cabinet ministers in Spain requesting the Spanish government to pardon Rizal. When Rizal departed for Spain, he was unaware of the doom which awaited him. When Rizal’s ship reached Spain, the authorities returned him to the Philippines to stand trial for treason, and he was executed on December 30, 1896. The story however does not end there. The subsequent Philippine Revolution proved successful and removed European Spaniards from all positions of authority. The scales of justice not only righted but tipped in favor of such revolutionaries as Bro. Jose Rizal. Recognized as the "George Washington of the Philippines," Bro. Rizal endures today as a national and Masonic hero.

Jose Rizal: A Freemason

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One of the least known facets of  the life of national hero Dr. Jose Rizal, whose 111th death anniversary is being commemorated today, was his being a member of a worldwide fraternity called Freemasonry.

According to Filipino historian Reynold Fajardo, in his book “Dimasalang: The Masonic Life of Dr. Jose Rizal,” Rizal was not only a mason, he was the only one among the leaders of the revolutionary movement during the Spanish era who “deserved to be called an international Mason since he was a member of various Masonic lodges in Spain, Germany,  France and possibly, England.”

Born to educated and middle-class parents— Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonso Realonda—in June 19, 1861 in Calamba, Laguna, Rizal was seventh of 11 children. He started  his schooling in the neighboring town of Biñan.

He later went to Manila and attended the Ateneo Municipal de Manila where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1877, after which he enrolled in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Faculty of Medicine and Surgery and then in the university’s Faculty of Philosophy and Letters until 1882.

Rizal then traveled alone to Madrid, Spain where he studied Medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid, earning the degree of Licentiate in Medicine. He also studied at the University of Paris and earned a second doctorate at the University  of Heidelberg.

According to Fajardo, at the time Rizal was studying in Biñan and Manila, Masonry was relatively unknown in the Philippines. Masonic lodges were very few and most of their members were Spaniards.

However, Rizal’s half-uncle, Jose Alberto Alonzo was a Mason and lived in Spain. Alonzo was made a Knight of the Order of Carlos III and later King Amadeo, also a Mason, made him to Knight Commander of the Order of Isabel the Catholic.

Rizal’s elder brother, Paciano, also has several links with Spanish Masons in the Philippines during the latter’s  student  days in Manila.

The first documented  exposure of Rizal to Masonry was in 1882, Fajardo said. 

At that time, he had already completed his fourth year as a medical student at UST and needed just one more year to graduate “but the urge to study abroad proved overwhelming.”

On his way to Madrid, his ship docked at Naples on June 11, 1882. He took a coach for a tour and he saw numerous posters put up by Masons announcing the death of Giuseppe Garibaldi, their Grand Master.

“Rizal must have been impressed because he later wrote about what he saw in a letter to his parents and brothers. That letter marked the first time Rizal made a written mention of Masonry, but it would not be the last,” Fajardo said.

Rizal joined the Acacia Lodge No. 9 in Madrid under the Gran Oriente de España. So far, there is no exact date as to when Rizal was initiated but based on a photograph of him wearing the habiliments of the Mason, historians deduced that he must have been around 23 years old then.

“In accordance with Masonic practices then observed in Spain, Rizal selected a symbolic name  by which he was to be known - Hechose “Dimasalang,” Fajardo said.

“Christianity, the essence and sum total of all religions, reflected in her virtues all the merits of the others and sanctified humility, stoicism, purity, adding to these, like a true Oriental, charity—a virtue that later Mohammedanism elevated to a sublime height,” a portion of Rizal’s Masonic speech  in Spanish read.

After completing his studies in Madrid, he proceeded to France in 1885 to specialize in Ophthalmology. He then moved to Heildelberg in Germany for further studies.

In 1889, he also joined the all-Filipino Solidaridad Lodge No. 53 in Madrid founded by Marcelo del Pilar, Julio Llorente, Antonio Luna, Teodoro Sandico and others.

In 1891, as his second novel, El Filibusterismo was being printed in Ghent, Belgium, he applied for admission in the Temple de L’Honneur et de L’Union, a lodge in Paris, France that had Dr. Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, Valentin Ventura and Dr. Ariston Baustista as among its members,  Fajardo said.

Who Made Rizal Our Foremost National Hero, and Why?

BY: ESTEBAN A. DE OCAMPO

Dr. Jose Rizal Mercado y Alonso, or simply Jose Rizal (1861-1896), is unquestionably the greatest hero & martyr of our nation. The day of his birth & the day of his execution are fittingly commemorated by all classes of our people throughout the length & breadth of this country & even by Filipinos & their friends abroad. His name is a byword in every Filipino home while his picture adorns the postage stamp & paper money of widest circulation. No other Filipino hero can surpass Rizal in the number of towns, barrios, & streets named after him; in the number of educational institutions, societies, & trade names that bear his name; in the number of persons, both Filipinos & foreigners, who were named "Rizal" or "Rizalina" because of their parents’ admiration for the Great Malayan; & in the number of laws, Executive Orders & Proclamations of the Chief Executive, & bulletins, memoranda, & circulars of both the bureaus of public & private schools. Who is the Filipino writer & thinker whose teachings & noble thoughts have been frequently invoked & quoted by authors & public speakers on almost all occasions? None but Rizal. And why is this so? Because as biographer Rafael Palma (1) said, "The doctrines of Rizal are not for one epoch but for all epochs. They are as valid today as they were yesterday. It cannot be said that because the political ideals of Rizal have been achieved, because of the change in the institutions, the wisdom of his counsels or the value of his doctrines have ceased to be opportune. They have not."

Unfortunately, however, there are still some Filipinos who entertain the belief that Rizal is a "made-to-order" national hero, & that the maker or manufacturer in this case were the Americans, particularly Civil Governor William Howard Taft. This was done allegedly, in the following manner:

"And now, gentlemen, you must have a national hero". These were supposed to be the words addressed by Gov. Taft to Mssrs. Pardo de Tavera, Legarda & Luzurriaga, Filipino members of the Philippine Commission, of which Taft was the chairman. It was further reported that "in the subsequent discussion in which the rival merits of the revolutionary heroes (M. H. del Pilar, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Gen. Antonio Luna, Emilio Jacinto, & Andres Bonifacio—O.) were considered, the final choice—now universally acclaimed a wise one—was Rizal. And so history was made."(2)

This article will attempt to answer two questions: 1) Who made Rizal the foremost national hero & 2) Why is Rizal our greatest national hero? Before proceeding to answer these queries, it will be better if we first know the meaning of the term hero. According to Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language, a hero is "a prominent or central personage taking admirable part in any remarkable action or event". Also, "a person of distinguished valor or enterprise in danger". And finally, he is a man "honored after death by public worship, because of exceptional service to mankind".

Why is Rizal a hero, nay, our foremost national hero? He is our greatest hero because as a towering figure in the Propaganda Campaign, he took an "admirable part" in that movement w/c roughly covered the period from 1882-1896. If we were asked to pick out a single work by a Filipino writer during this period, more than any writer writing, contributed tremendously to the formation of Filipino nationality, we shall have no hesitation tin choosing Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere (Berlin, 1887). It is true that Pedro Paterno published his novel, Ninay, in Madrid in 1885; M. H. del Pilar his La Soberania Monacal in Barcelona in 1889, Graciano Lopez Jaena, his Discursos y Articulos Varios, also in Barcelona in 1891; & Antonio Luna, his Impresiones in Madrid in 1893, but none of these books had evoked such favorable & unfavorable comments from friends & foes alike as did Rizal’s Noli.

Typical of the encomiums that the hero received for his novel were those received from Antonio Ma. Regidor & Prof. Ferdinand Blumentritt. Regidor, a Filipino exile of 1872 in London, said that "the book was superior" & that if "don Quixote has made its author immortal because he exposed to the world the sufferings of Spain, your Noli Me Tangere will bring you equal glory…" (3) Blumentritt, after reading Rizal’s Noli, wrote & congratulated its author, saying among other things: "Your work, as we Germans say, has been written w/ the blood of the heart... Your work has exceeded my hopes & I consider myself happy to have been honored by your friendship. Not only I, but also your country, may feel happy for having in you a patriotic & loyal son. If you continue so, you will be to your people one of those great men who will exercise a determinative influence over the progress of their spiritual life." (4)

If Rizal’s friends & admirers praised w/ justifiable pride the Noli & its author, his enemies were equally loud & bitter in attacking & condemning the same. Perhaps no other work has, up to this day, aroused as much acrimonious debate not only among our people but also among reactionary foreigners as the Noli of Rizal. In the Philippines the hero’s novel was attacked & condemned by a faculty committee of a Manila university (UST) & by the permanent censorship commission in 1887. the committee said that it found the book "heretical, impious, & scandalous to the religious order, & unpatriotic & subversive to the public order, libelous to the govt. of Spain & to its political policies in these islands", while the commission recommended that "the importation, reproduction, & circulation of this pernicious book in the islands be absolutely prohibited." (5) Coming down to our time, during the congressional discussions & hearings on the Rizal (Noili-Fili) in 1956, the proponents & opponents of the bill also engaged themselves in a bitter & long drawn-out debate the finally resulted in the enactment of a compromise measure, now known as RA 1425.

The attacks on Rizal’s 1^stnovel were not only confined in the Philippines but were also staged in the Spanish capital. There, Sen. Vida, Deputy (& ex-general) Luis de Pando & Premier Praxedes Mateo Sagasta were among those who unjustly lambasted & criticized Rizal & his Noli in the 2 chambers of the Spanish Cortes in 1888 & 1889. (6) it is comforting to learn however, that about 13 years later, Cong. Henry Allen Cooper of Wisconsin delivered an eulogy of Rizal & even recited the martyr’s Ultimo Pensamiento on the floor of the U. S. House of Representatives in order to prove the capacity of the Filipinos for self- government. He said in part: "It has been said that, if American institutions had done nothing else to furnish to the world the character of George Washington, that alone would entitle them to the respect of mankind. So Sir, I say to all those who denounces the Filipinos indiscriminately as barbarians & savages, w/o possibility of a civilized future, that this despised race proved itself entitled to their respect & to the respect of mankind when it furnished to the world the character of Jose Rizal."(7) The result of this appeal was the approval of what is popularly known as the Philippine Bill of 1902.

The preceding paragraphs have shown that by the Noli alone Rizal, among his contemporaries, had become the most prominent/ the central figure of the Propaganda Movement.

Again, we ask the question: why did Rizal, become the greatest Filipino hero? Because in this writer’s humble opinion, no Filipino has yet been born who could equal or surpass Rizal as a "person of distinguished valor/enterprise in danger, fortitude in suffering." Of these traits of our hero, let us see what a Filipino & an American biographer said:

"What is most admirable in Rizal," wrote Rafael Palma, is his complete self-denial, his complete abandonment of his personal interests to think only of those of his country. He could have been whatever he wished to be, considering his natural endowmwnts; he could have earned considerable sums of money from his profession; he could have lived relatively rich, happy, prosperous, had he not dedicated himself to public matters. But in him, the voice of the species was stronger than the voice of personal progress or of private fortune, & he preferred to live far from his family & to sacrifice his personal affections for an ideal he had dreamed of. He heeded not his brother, not even his parents, beings whom he respected & venerated so much, in order to follow the road his conscience had traced for him.

He did not have great means at his disposal to carry out his campaign, but that did not discouraged him; he contented himself w/ what he had. He suffered the rigors of the cold winter of Europe, he suffered hunger, privation, & misery; but when he raised his eyes to heaven & saw his ideal, his hope was reborn. He complained of his countrymen, he complained of some of those who had promosed him help & did not help him, until at times, profoundly disillusioned, he wanted to renounce his campaign forever, giving up everything. But such moments are evanescent, he soon felt comforted & resumed the task of bearing the cross of his suffering." (8)

Dr. Frank C. Laubach, an American biographer of Rizal, spoke of the hero’s coueage in the following words:

His consuming life purpose was the secret of his moral courage. Physical courage, it is true, was one of his inherited traits. But that high courage to die loving his murderers, w/c he at last achieved--that cannot be inherited. It must be forged out in the fires of suffering & temptation. As we read through his life, we can see how the moral sinew & fiber grew year by year as he faced new perils & was forced to make fearful decisions. It required courage to write his 2 great novels telling nothing that no otherman has ventured to say before, standing almost alone against the powerful interests in the country & in Spain, & knowing full well that despotism would strike back. He had reached another loftier plateau of heroism when he wrote those letters to Hong Kong, "To be opened after my death", & sailed to the "trap" in Manila w/o any illusions. Then in his Dapitan exile when he was tempted to escape, & said "No", not once but hundreds of times for 4 long years, & when, on the way to Cuba, Pedro Roxas pleaded w/ him to step off the boat of Singapore upon British territory & save his life, what an inner struggle it must have caused him to answer over & over again, "No, no, no!" When the sentence of death & the fateful morning of his execution brought the final test, 30 Dec 1896, he walked w/ perfect calm to the firing line as though by his own choice, the only heroic figure in that sordid scene." (9)

To the bigoted Spaniards in Spain & in the Philippines, Rizal was the most intelligent, most courageous, & most dangerous enemy of the reactionaries & the tyrants; therefore he should be shot publicly to serve as an example & a warning to those of his kind. This was the reason why Rizal, after a brief mock trial, was sentenced to death & made to face the firing squad at Bagumbayan Field, now Luneta, in the early morning of 30 Dec 1896.

And for the 3^rd & the last time, we repeat the question: Why is Rizal the greatest Filipino hero that ever lived? Because "he is a man honored after death by public worship, because of exceptional service to mankind". We can say that even before his execution, Rizal was the already acclaimed by both Filipinos & foreigners as the foremost leader of his people". Writing from Barcelona to the Great Malayan on 10 Mar 1889, M. H. del Pilar said: "Rizal no tiene aun derecho a morir: su nombre constituye la mas pura e immaculada bandera de aspirationes y Plaridel los suyos no son otra causa ma que immaculada unos voluntarios que militan bajo esa bandera."(10) Fernando Acevedo, who called Rizal his distinguido amigo, compañero y paisano", wrote the letter from Zaragoza, Spain, on 25 Oct 1889: "I see in you the model Filipino; your application to study & you talents have placed on a height w/c I revere & admire." (11) The Bicolano Dr. Tomas Arejola wrote Rizal in Madrid, 9 Feb 1891, saying: "Your moral influence over us is indisputable." (12) And Guillermo Puatu of Bulacan wrote this tribute to Rizal, saying: "Vd. a quien se le puede (llamar) con razon, cabeza tutelary de los Filipinos, aunque la comparacion parezca algo ridicula, porque posee la virtud la atraer consigo enconadas voluntades, zanjar las discordias y enemistades renorosasnreuniren fiestas a hombres que no querian verse ni en la calle… (12a)

Among the foreigners who recognized Rizal as the leading Filipino of his time were Blumentritt, Napoleon M. Kheil, Dr. Rheinhold Rost, & Vicente Barrantes. Prof. Blumentritt told Dr. Maximo Viola in May 1887 that "Rizal was the greatest product of the Philippines & that his coming to the world was like the appearance of a rare comet, whose rare brilliance appears only every other century." (13) napoleon Kheil of Prague, Austria, wrote to Rizal & said: "admiro en Vd. a un noble representante de la España colonial." (13a) Dr. Rost, distinguished Malayologist & librarian of the India office of London, called Rizal "una perla hombre" (14) , while don Vicente Barrantes had to admit that Rizal was ‘the first among the Filipinos" (14)

Even before the outbreak of the revolution against Spain in 1896, many instances can be cited to prove that his country here & abroad recognized Rizal’s leadership. In the early part of 1899 he was unanimously elected by the Filipinos in Barcelona & Madrid as honorary pres. of la Solidaridad. (17) Some months later in Paris, he organized & became chief of the Indios Bravos. In Jan 1891, Rizal was again unanimously chosen Responsable (chief) of the Spanish-Filipino Association. (18) He was also the founder & moving spirit in the founding of la Liga Filipina on Manila in 3 Jul 1892.

History tells us tat the revolutionary society known as Katipunan likewise acknowledged Rizal’s leadership & greatness by making him its honorary President & by using his family name Rizal as the password for the 3^rd-degree members. (19)

A year after Rizal’s execution, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo & the other revolutionary chiefs exiled to Hong Kong held a commemorative program there on 29 Dec 1897 on the occasion of the 1^stanniversary of the hero’s execution & martyrdom. (20)

Of utmost significance in the public’s appreciation for Rizal’s patriotic labors in behalf of his people were the tributes paid by the revolutionary government to his memory. In his opening address at the congress assembled at Malolos, Bulacan on 15 Sep 1898, Pres. Aguinaldo invoked the spirits of the departed heroes of the fatherland, thus:

Illustrious spirits of RIZAL, Lopez Jaena, of Marcelo del Pilar! August shades of Burgos, Pelaez & Panganiban! Warlike geniuses of Aguinaldo! (Crispulo---O.), & Tirona, of Natividad & Evangelista! Arise a moment from your unknown graves! (21)

Then on 20 Dec 1898 at the revolutionary capital of Malolos, Pres. Aguinaldo issued the 1^st official proclamation making 30 Dec of that year as "Rizal Day". The same proclamation ordered the hoisting the Filipino flags at half-mast "from 12:00 noon on 30 Dec 1898" and the closing of "all offices of the government" during the whole day of 30 Dec. actually, the impressive Rizal Day program, sponsored by the Club Filipino, was held in Manila on 30 Dec 1898. (22a)

It should be further noted that both the La Independencia, edited by Gen. Antonio Luna, & the El Heraldo de la Revolucion, official organ of the revolutionary government, issued a special supplement in honor of Rizal in one of their December issues in 1898.

Two of the greatest of Filipino poets in the Spanish language paid glowing tributes to the martyr of Bagumbayan in acknowledgement of the hero’s labors & sacrifices for his people. Fernando Ma. Guerrero wrote on 25 Sep 1898, thus:

"No has muerto, no. La Gloria es tu destino; tu corona los fuegos de la aurora, y tu inviolable altar nuestra conciencia." (23)

And Cecilio Apostol, on 30 Dec of the same year, wrote these lines:

"!Duerme en paz las sombras de la nada,

Redentor de una Patria esclavizada!

!No llores de la tumba en el misterio

Del español el triunfo momentaneo:

Que si Una bala destrozo tu craneo,

Tambien tu idea destrozo un emperio! (24)

The Filipinos were not alone in grieving the untimely death of their hero & idol, for the intellectual & scientific circles of the world felt keenly the loss of Rizal, who was their esteemed colleague & friend. Dr. Camilo Osias & Wenceslao E. Retaña both spoke of the universal homage accorded to Rizal immediately after his death. Dr. Osias wrote thus:

Expressions of deep sympathy came from Blumentritt & many others such as Dr. Renward Braustetter of Lucerne, a scholar on things Malay; Dr. Feodor Jagor, a German author of Philippine Travels; Dr. Friedrich Ratzel, an emeinent German geographer & ethnographer; Señor Ricardo Palma, a distinguished man of letters from Peru; Prof. M Buchner, director of the Ethnographic Museum of Munich & a noted Malayologist; Monsieur Edmont Planchut, a French Orientalist, author of various works & writer on Philippine subjects; Dr. W. Joest, eminent German geographer & professor at the University of Berlin; Dr. H. Kern, professor of Sanskrit in the University of Leiden & celebrated authority on Malay affairs; Dr. J. Montano, a distinguished French linguist & anthropologist & author of a Memoria on the Philippines; Dr. F. Mueller, professor of the University of Vienna & a great philologist; a noted Dutch literary woman who signed H. D. Teenk Willink, author of a touching & conscientious biography of Rizal; Herr Manfred Wittich, writer of Leipzig; Dr. Betances, Cuban political leader; Dr. Boettger, a noted German naturalist & author of works on the fauna of the Philippines; Dr. A. B. Meyer, director of the Museum of Ethnography at Dresden & eminent Filipinologist; M. Odekerchen of Leige, director of l’Express, a newspaper where Rizal wrote articles; Dr. Ed Seler, translator in German of Rizal’s My Last Farewell; Mr. H. W. Bray, a distinguished English writer; Mr. John Foreman, author of works on the Philippines & Rizal; Herr C. m. Heller, a German naturalist; Dr. H. Stolpe, a Swedish savant who spoke & published on the Philippines & Rizal; Mr. Armand Lelinsky, Austrian engineer & writer; Dr. J. M. Podhovsky, a notable Czech write, author of various works on the Philippines & Dr. Rizal. (25)

Among the scientific necrological services held especially to honor Rizal, the one sponsored by the Anthropological Society of Berlin in 20 Nov 1897 at the initiative of Dr. Rudolph Virchow, its president, was the most important & significant. Dr. Ed Seler recited the German translation of Rizal’s "My Last Farewell" on that occasion. (26)

The newspapers, magazines, & other periodicals throughout the civilized world – in Germany, Austria, France, Holland, London, the US, Japan, Hong Kong & Macao, Singapore, Switzerland, & in Latin American countries—published accounts of Rizal’s martyrdom in order to render homage to his greatness. (27)

Did the Americans, especially Gov. W. H. Taft, really choose Rizal out of several Filipino patriots as the No. 1 hero of his people? Nothing could be farther from the truth. In the preceding pages, we have shown beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Great Malayan, by his own efforts & sacrifices for his oppressed countrymen, had projected himself as the foremost leader of the Philippines until the moment of his immolation, & this fact was spontaneously acknowledged not only by his own people but also the elite of other lands who intimately knew his patriotic labors. We have likewise shown that immediately after his execution, his own people had justly acclaimed him as their foremost hero & martyr. The intellectual & scientific world, as we have also demonstrated, was not slow in according him signal honors as a hero of humanity & as an apostle of freedom.

Mr. Taft, as chairman of the 2^ndPhilippine Commission, arrived in the Philippines in June 1900. This commission began its legislative functions on 1^st September of the same year. On June 11 of the ensuing year the Philippine commission approved Act no. 137, w/c organized the "politico-military district of Morong" into the "Province of Rizal". This was the 1^st official step taken by the Taft commission to honor our greatest hero & martyr. It should be borne in mind that 6 days before the passage of Act no. 137, the Taft commission held a meeting at the town of Pasig for the purpose of organizing the province. In that meeting attended by the leading citizens of both Manila & Morong, a plan was presented to combine the 2 districts into one, but this proposal met w/ determined & vigorous objections from the leaders of Morong.

"At this point", reads the ‘Minutes of Proceedings’ of the Taft commission, "Dr. Tavera, of the Federal Party, who accompanied the commission, asked that he might make a suggestion w/ reference to the proposed union of Manila & Morong provinces. It was his opinion that in case of union neither the name of Morong nor Manila ought to be retained. He then stated the custom w/c prevailed in th US & other countries of naming important localities/districts in memory of some illustrious citizen of the country. In line w/ this he suggested that the united provinces be named ‘Rizal’ in memory & honor of the most illustrious Filipino & the most illustrious Tagalog the islands had ever known. The president (Taft—O.) stated that the commission, not less than the Filipinos, felt proud to do honor to the name of Rizal, & if, after consideration, it decided to unite the 2 provinces, it would have the pleasure, if such action met the desires of the people, in giving the new province the name of Rizal". (28)

It is obvious then that the idea of naming the district of Morong after Rizal came from Dr. Pardo de Tavera, a Filipino, & not from Judge Taft, an American. It is interesting to know that 2 countrymen of Mr. Taft—Justice George A. Malcolm & Dr. Frank C. Laubach—who both resided in the Philippines for many years & who were very familiar w/ the history & lives of great Filipinos—do not subscribe to the view that Jose Rizal is an American-made hero. Justice Malcolm has this to say:

In those early days (of the American occupation—O.), it was bruited about that the Americans had ‘made’ Rizal a hero to serve their purposes. That was indeed a sinister interpretation of voluntary American action designed to pay tribute to a great man. (29)

Dr. Laubach’s view about the question is as follows:

The tradition that every American hears when he reaches the Philippine Islands is that W. H. Taft, feeling that the Filipinos needed a hero, made one out of Rizal. We trust this book (Rizal: Man & Martyr—O.) will serve to show how empty that statement is. it speaks well for Taft that he was sufficiently free from racial prejudice to appreciate in some measure the stature of a great Filipino. It was a Spaniard who did more than any other to save Rizal for posterity—Retaña whose work (Vida Escritos del Dr. Jose Rizal, Madrid, 1907), is by far the most complete & scholarly than we have(in1936—O.). like Rizal, he lost all his money in the cause of the Filipinos, & died a poor man. (30)

Granting for the sake of argument that the Taft commission chose Rizal out of several great Filipinos as the No. 1 hero of his people, still we can say that what the commission did was merely to confirm a sort of fait accompli, & that was that Jose Rizal had already been acclaimed by his countrymen & the scientific world as the foremost hero & martyr of the land of his birth. Nay, we can go even farther & concur w/ Prof. Blumentritt, who said in 1897:

Not only is Rizal THE MOST PROMINENT MAN OF HIS OWN PEOPLE but THE GREATEST MAN THE MALAYAN RACE HAS PRODUCED. His memor ywill never perish in his fatherland, & future generations of Spaniards will yet toutter his name w/ respect & reverence. (31) (capitalization supplied)

Perhaps the following quotation from the late William Cameron Forbes, an ardent admirer of Rizal & the governor-general of the Philippines during the construction of the Rizal Mausoleum on the Luneta, is appropriate at this point. He said:

It is eminently proper that Rizal should have become the acknowledged national hero of the Philippine people. The American administration has lent every assistance to this recognition, setting aside the anniversary of his death to be a day of his observance, placing his picture on the postage stamp most commonly used in the Islands, & on the currency, cooperating w/ the Filipinos in making the site of his school in Dapitan a national park, & encouraging the erection by public subscription of a monument in his honor on the Luneta in Manila near the place where he met his death. One of the longest & most important street in Manila has been named in his memory—Rizal Avenue. The Filipinos in many cities & towns have erected monuments to his name, & throughout the Islands the public schools teach the young Filipinos to revere his memory as the greatest of Filipino patriots. (32)

Now and then we come across some Filipinos who venture the opinion that Andres Bonifacio, & not Jose Rizal, deserves to be acknowledged & canonized as our first national hero. They maintain that Rizal never held a gun, a rifle, or a sword in fighting for the liberty & independence of our country in the battlefield. They further assert that while the foremost national heroes of other countries are soldier-generals, like George Washington of US, Napoleon I & Joan of Arc of France, simon Bolivar of Venezuela, Jose de San Martin of Argentina, Bernardo O’Higgins of Chile, Jimmu Tenno of Japan, etc., our greatest hero was a pacifist & a civilian whose weapon was his quill. However, our people in exercising their good sense, independent judgment, & unusual discernment, have not followed the examples of other nations in selecting & acknowledging a military leader for their greatest hero. Rafael Palma has very well stated the case of Rizal versus Bonifacio in these words:

It should be a source of pride & satisfaction to the Filipinos to have among their national heroes one of such excellent qualities & merits w/c may be equaled but not surpassed by any other man. Whereas generally the heroes of occidental nations are warriors & generals who serve their cause w/ the sword, distilling blood & tears, the hero of the Filipinos served his cause w/ the pen, demonstrating that the pen is as mighty as the sword to redeem a people from their political slavery. It is true that in our case the sword of Bonifacio was after all needed to shake off the yoke of a foreign power; but the revolution prepared by Bonifacio was only the effect, the consequence of the spiritual redemption wrought by the pen of Rizal. Hence not only in the chronological order but also in the point of importancethe previous works of Rizal seems to us superior to that of Bonicacio, because although that of Bonifacio was of immediate results, that of Rizal will have more durable & permanent effects. (33)

And let us note further what other great men said about the pen being mightier & more powerful than the sword. Napoleon I himself, who was a great conqueror & ruler, said: "There are only two powers in the world; the sword & the pen; and in the end the former is always conquered by the latter". (34) The following statement of Sir Thomas Browne is more applicable to the role played by Rizal in our libertarian struggle: "Scholars are men of peace; they bear no arms; but their tongues are sharper than the sword; their pens carry further & give a louder report than thunder. I had rather stand in the shock of a basilisk than in the fury of a merciless pen". (35) And finally, let us quote from Bulwer: "take away the sword; states can be saved w/o it; bring the pen!

For those who may still doubt & question the fact that Rizal is greater, far greater than Bonifacio, or any other Filipino hero, the following observation by Retaña will be sufficient:

Todos los paises tienen su idolo mas ninguno tiene un mayor idolo; que Filipinas. Antes desaparecera de los Estados Unidos---!y ya decir!---la memoria de Washington, que de Filipinas la memoria de RIZAL. No fue rizal, como medico, un Mariani, ni como dibujante un Gustavo Dore, ni como antropologo un Virchow, ni como poeta un Goethe, ni como filipinista un Blumentritt, ni como historiador un Macaulay, ni como pensador un Hervas, ni como malayologo un Kern, ni como filiosofo un Descartes, ni como novelista un Zola, ni como literato un Menendez y Pelayon in como escultor un Querol, ni como geografo un Reclus, ni como tirador un Pini…Distinguiose en muchas disciplinas; pero en ninguna de ellas alcanzo ese grado supremo que asegura la inmortalidad. Fue patriota; fue martir del amor a su pais. Pero en caso de Rizal hay otros Filipinos; y ?en que consiste que rizal esta a miles de cudos sobre todos ellos? Sencillamente, en la finura exquisita de su espiritu, en la nobleza quijotesca de su corazon, en su psicologia toda, romantica, soñadora, buena, adorable, psicologia que sintelizo todos los sentimientos y aspiraciones de un pueblo que sufria viendose victima de un regimen oprobioso…El espiritu de la Revolucion tagala se juzga por este solo hecho; Fue, como es sabido, el brazo armado de aquel movimiento Andres Bonifacio; he ahi el hombre que dio el primer grito contra tirania el que acaudillo las primeras huestes el que murio en la brecha…Y a ese hombre apenas se le recuerda; no se la eregido ningun monumento; los vates populares no le han cantado…Mientras que a RIZAL, enemigo de le Revolucion, que califico de salvaje y deshonrosa, le glorifica el pueblo deificarle…?No se ve en esto un pueblo eminentamente espiritual, que tuvo en RIZAL un resumen viviente? Todo Filipino lleva dentro de si algo del demagogo Bonifacio.

La inmortalidad de RIZAL esta asegurada de cien maneras. Pero como mas asegurada esta es poque los millones de Filipinos de hoy, de mañana y de siempre beben y beberan espiritu de RIZAL; no se nutren de otra cosa. (37)

In the preceding pages we have tried to show that Rizal was not only a great hero, but the greatest among the Filipinos. As a matter of fact, the Austrian savant Prof. Blumentritt judged him as "the most prominent man of his own people" and "the greatest man the Malayan race has produced". We have also shown during his lifetime, Rizal was already acclaimed by both Filipinos & foreigners as the foremost leader of his people & that this admiration for him has increased w/ the passing of time since his dramatic death on the Luneta that fateful morning of 30 December 1896. Likewise, we attempted to disprove the claim made by some quarters that Rizal is an American-made hero, & we also tried to explain why Rizal is greater than any other Filipino hero, including Andres Bonifacio.

Who made Rizal the foremost hero of the Philippines? The answer is: no single person or groups of persons were responsible for making the Greatest Malayan the No. 1 Hero of his people. Rizal himself, his own people, & the foreigners all together contributed to make him the greatest hero & martyr of his people. No amount of adulation & canonization by both Filipinos & foreigners could convert Rizal into a great hero if he did not possess in himself what Palma calls "excellent qualities & merits" or what Retaña calls "la finura exquisite de su espiritu,…la nobleza quijotesca de su corazon,… su psicologia toda, romantica, soñadora, buena, adorable, psicologia que sintetizo todos los entimientos y aspiraciones de un pueblo que sufria, viendose victima de su regimen oprobioso…."

Source: Gregorio F. Zaide; JOSE RIZAL: Life, Works & Writings of a Genius, Writer, Scientist & National Hero 1984 ed., pp. 271-286.

Jose Rizal as Farm Entrepreneur

By BERNARDO M. VILLEGAS

December 19, 2011, 12:16am

Disclaimer: This is a repost.  To view the original article, click here.

MANILA, Philippines — As my small contribution to celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of our National Hero Jose Rizal, let me speculate on what could have happened if he had not been executed on December 30, 1896 and had lived long enough to influence the development policies adopted by the American regime in the first three decades of the twentieth century.

Revealing my bias for rural and agricultural development, I would venture to say that he would have been very active in bringing development to the small farmers and to the rural dwellers. We would have avoided the lack of inclusive growth (to use today's parlance) and the technological dualism in which advanced technology was employed in the large plantations for export-oriented crops while the rest of the agricultural sector (especially rice, corn and coconut) stagnated at the carabao-and-plow stage.

On what do I base this speculation? First, on my personal knowledge of the history of the Rizal family. From childhood, I had always heard of how the Rizal family was very much involved in farming and trading of agricultural commodities. The eldest brother of my mother, Bernabe, married a daughter of Soledad, the youngest sister of Rizal. My maternal grandfather, General Miguel Malvar, was a close business associate of the Rizal family in a number of agricultural undertakings.

As I had written several times in this newspaper, Miguel Malvar was a consummate farmer before the revolution and after the revolution. After he surrendered to the Americans in 1901, he spent the rest of his life developing orchards in the Sto. Tomas, Batangas and Calamba areas. One of the orange varieties for which Batangas was famous until a blight destroyed the industry was named after my grandfather. I had always heard of the great interest of Jose Rizal in agricultural endeavors.

That is why I am not surprised that the newest and thoroughly researched book on Jose Rizal just published in 2010 by Luis Lisa and Javier de Pedro, entitled Romance and Revolution, showed documentary evidence of the passion that Rizal had for agriculture. The book is a "look into the lives and times of Jose Rizal and Josephine Bracken", exploding all sorts of myths about the British girl that Rizal married.

For those interested they will find all the strongest evidences from original documents that the authors found in Barcelona and Hong Kong that, contrary to calumnies that have circulated like urban legends for decades, Josephine Bracken was not a mistress of her adopted father nor a bar girl nor a spy of the friars. The book also mustered sufficiently strong evidences that Rizal married Josephine before he was executed and that she was recognized as "Rizal's widow" by both members of the Rizal family and the revolutionaries after the death of Rizal. But I am digressing from my original intention to write this essay.

On page 124 of the book Romance and Revolution, we can read a testimony to Rizal's penchant for agriculture which reached a peak during his four years of exile in Dapitan. Let me quote: "The most compelling proof that Rizal wished to stay in Dapitan with Josephine was his immediate purchase of a piece of land in a barrio in Dapitan. He rhapsodized on his new acquisition trying to lure his mother and father to come south. In one of his Letters to the Family, dated January 15, 1896, Rizal wrote: "I bought here a piece of land close to a river that reminds me much of one of Kalamba but broader and with greater and more transparent flow of water.

How much it reminds me of Kalamba! The land has 6,000 plants of abaca and if father and other would like to come here, I will build a big house for us to live together until we die. I'll convince father to come, and by my side he will always be cheerful. My beautiful property is towards the interior, separated from the sea for around half an hour walk. The place is truly scenic and the land very fertile. Aside from the abacas, there is enough space to plant 2 cavans of maize. Gradually we could buy the surrounding lands. There is plenty of dalag (fresh water fish), pako (edible ferns) and small rounded stones: The river bed is all pebbles."

Unfortunately, this dream of Jose Rizal never came true because shortly after he wrote this letter, the Spanish authorities tried to send him back to Spain and then summarily recalled him to Manila in order to face the charge of rebellion which culminated in his execution at what is now the Luneta. If things had turned out otherwise and his "agribusiness plan" had been realized, Rizal could have been, like the King of Thailand, a rallying point for agricultural development.

His creating another "Kalamba" in very primitive Dapitan would have been a model of the development of Mindanao. Through Rizal's example, inclusive growth would have been more possible in the decades that followed. Farming would have been the choice of more people from the middle class instead of being considered a lowly occupation. The State would have devoted more resources to building farm-to-market roads, irrigation systems, post-harvest facilities and other infrastructures direly needed by the small farmers to be more productive.

Rizal would have become a hero in another way: Redeeming the rural folks from abject poverty. He would have been true to the name adopted by his family whose real surname was Mercado but who added the name Rizal at the suggestion of a provincial governor who was a family friend. As Leon Maria Guerrero wrote in his biography of Jose Rizal entitled "The First Filipino," "Rizal" in Spanish means a field where wheat, cut while still green, sprouts again.

If our leaders had committed themselves to creating new "Kalambas" in remote areas like Dapitan very early on in our development efforts, even the political threats of the muslim rebellion and the NPA would have not been an insurmountable obstacle to eradicating rural poverty. The plants that would have been cut while still green would have sprouted again and again. In fact, true agricultural development would have actually minimized these political threats since it is poverty that mainly explains social unrest. For comments, my email address is bernardo.villelgas@uap.asia.

On the Confiscation of His Diary

November 2, 1896

Monday, 2 November -- Today, they returned to me this notebook which they took away on the 11th of last month before reaching Port Said.  For this reason my diary was interrupted. They searched me and inspected thoroughly my luggage.  They took away all my papers and afterward they put me behind bars and they did not take me out until we reached the Red Sea.  That was what they did to me in 16 hours before our arrival.  Also twice they put me in four or six hours before and they take me out when we are already in the high seas.  However, at Singapore they put me in 16 hours before our arrival. Also twice they put handcuffs on me.

On Life in Dapitan

December 19, 1893

I shall tell you how we live here.  I have three houses: one square, another hexagonal, and a third octagonal, all of bamboo, wood, and nipa.  In the square house we live, my mother, sister Trinidad, a nephew and I; in the octagonal live my boys or some good youngsters whim I teach arithmetic, Spanish and English; and in the hexagonal live my chickens.  From my house I hear the murmur of a crystal, clear brook which comes from the high rocks; I see the seashore, the sea where I have small boats, two canoes or barotos, as they say here.  I have many fruit trees, mangoes, lanzones, guyabanos, baluno, nanka, etc.  I have rabbits, dogs, cats, etc. I rise early -- at five -- visit my plants, feed the chickens, awaken my people and put them in movement.  At half-past seven we breakfast with tea, pastries, cheese, sweetmeats, etc.  Later I treat my poor patients who come to my land; I dress, go to the town in my baroto, treat the people there, and return at 12, when my luncheon awaits me.  Then I teach the boys until 4 PM and devote the afternoon to agriculture.  I spend the night reading and studying.

On His Arrest in Fort Santiago

July 6, 1892

They assigned me a fairly furnished room with a bed, a dozen chairs, one table, a wash basin, and a mirror. The room had three windows; one without grill which opens on a patio, another with grills which looks out on the city walls and the beach and another which was the door closed with a padlock.  Two artillery men as sentinels guarded it. They had orders to fire on anyone who might signal from the beach.  I could not write nor speak with anyone except the officer on duty.

El Fili Manuscript: The Unpublished Warning

Not all of the text contained in the original manuscript of the El Filibusterismo was included in the printed book.  Two such texts are the Foreword and the Warning.  These portions of the book were eliminated to save on printing cost.

The Warning reads:

They are going to waste their time who would attack this book by holding on to trifles, or who from other motives, would try to discover in it more or less known physiognomies.  True to its purpose of exposing the disease, of the patient, and, in order not to divert himself nor divert the reader, whilst he narrates only real facts which happened recently and are absolutely authentic in substance, he has disfigured his characters so that they may not turn to be the typical pictures some readers found in his first book.  Man passes; his vices remain, and to accentuate or show their effects, the pen of the writer aspires.

El Fili Manuscript: The Unpublished Foreword

Not all of the text contained in the original manuscript of the El Filibusterismo was included in the printed book.  Two such texts are the Foreword and the Warning.  These portions of the book were eliminated to save on printing cost.

The Foreword reads:

We have so often been frightened by the phantom of filibusterism that from only a nurse's narration it has become a positive and real being whose name alone (in depriving us of our serenity) makes us commit the greatest myths in order not to meet the feared reality.  Instead of fleeing, we shall look at its face, and with determined, if inexpert, hand we shall raise the veil to uncover before the multitude the mechanism of its skeleton.

If, upon seeing it, our country and its government reflect, we shall consider ourselves happy no matter whether they censure us for the audacity, no matter whether we pay for it like the young student of Sais who wished to penetrate the secret of the priestly imposure.  (On the other hand, if in the face of reality, instead of being soothed, one's fear is increased and the trepidation of another is aggravated, then they will have to be left in the hands of time which educates the living, in the hands of fatality which weaves the destinies of peoples and their governments with the faults and errors that they are committing every day. )

Europe, 1891

The Author

Rizal's Dedication of the El Fili to GomBurZa

To the memory of the priests, Don Mariano Gomez (85 years old), Don Jose Burgos (30 years old), and Don Jacinto Zamora (35 years old).  Executed in Bagumbayan Field on the 28th of February, 1872.

The Church, by refusing to degrade you, has placed in doubt the crime that has been imputed to you; the Government, by surrounding your trials with mystery and shadows, causes the belief that there was some error, committed in fatal moments; and all the Philippines, by worshiping your memory and calling you martyrs, in no sense recognizes your culpability. In so far, therefore, as your complicity in the Cavite mutiny is not clearly proved, as you may or may not have been patriots, and as you may or may not have cherished sentiments for justice and for liberty, I have the right to dedicate my work to you as victims of the evil which I undertake to combat.  And while we wait expectantly upon Spain some day to restore your good name and cease to be answerable for your death, let these pages serve as a tardy wreath of dried leaves over your unknown tombs, and let it be understood that every one who without clear proofs attacks your memory stains his hands in your blood!

On Finishing the El Filibusterismo

I have finished my book! Oh no, I have not written it in my idea of revenge against my enemies by only what is for the good of those who are suffering, for the rights of the Tagalog race, though brown and may not have good features!

Surely I will leave tomorrow for Paris, and from there I don't know where I am going.

On Madrid

Madrid is one of the gayest cities of the world which combines the spirit of Europe and the East, which has adopted the orderliness, the convenience, the bon ton of civilized Europe without disdaining, without repelling, the brilliant colors, the ardent passions, the primitive customs of the African tribes, of the chivalrous Arabs whose traces are still recognizable everywhere, in the look, feelings, and prejudices of the people, and even in their laws.

On Preparing to Go Home

July 18, 1890

I want to go back to the Philippines, and although I know it would be daring and imprudent, what does that matter? The Filipinos are all very prudent, and that is why our country is going the way she is.  As it seems to me that we are not making any progress by following prudence, I am going to look for another pathway! The only thing that can detain me is a doubt whether my parents agree. I am afraid to disturb their last years.  In case they should object to my homecoming, I would work for a livelihood in some other part of the world.

On Gambling Filipinos in Madrid

May 28, 1890

Luna in Paris complains of the gambling of the Filipinos in Madrid, so does Ventura. They say that, according to news from the Philippines, the parents are very much disgusted... I am afraid we are serving the friars' scheme. There is nothing at home to remind them that the Filipino does not come to Europe to gamble or amuse himself, but to work for his liberty and for the dignity of his race. It is not necessary to leave the Philippines to gamble, for there they already gamble very much. If we who are called upon to do something, if we in whom the poor people place their modest hopes, spend our time in these things precisely when the years of youth should be employed in something more noble and lofty for the reason that youth is noble and lofty, I fear much that we are fighting for a useless illusion and that, instead of being worthy of liberty, we are worthy of slavery.

Rizal's Dedication of the Noli to the Filipinos

To The Filipinos

In the Noli Me Tangere I started to sketch the present state of our Fatherland: the effect which my attempt produced made me realize, before proceeding to develop before your eyes other pictures to follow, the necessity of first giving an understanding of the past in order the better to judge the present and measure the path traversed during the tree centuries.

Born and reared in ignorance of our past like almost all of you: without voice nor authority to speak of what we have not seen nor studied I deemed it necessary to invoke the testimony of an illustrious Spaniard who controlled the destinies of the Philippines at the beginning of its new era and personally witnessed the last days of our ancient nationality. It is, therefore, the shadow of our ancestors' civilization which the author now shall call before you. I transmit to you faithfully his words without changing them nor mutilating them, adapting, only in so far as possible, to modern orthography and introducing greater clearness in the rather defective punctuations of the original, to facilitate its reading.  The office, the nationality, and the virtues of Morga, together with the date and testimonies of his contemporaries, Spaniards for the most part, commend the work to your serious consideration.

If the book succeeds in awakening in you, the consciousness of our past blotted from memory, and in rectifying what has been falsified and calumniated then I shall not have labored in vain, and with this basis, slight though it be, we can all devote ourselves to the study of the future.

On Paris

May 16, 1889


My daily life in Paris is spent in the following manner: one or two hours in the gymnasium and in fencing, three or four hours in the library, the rest I use up in writing and visiting friends... Every other night from 8:00 to 11:00 we meet in a cafe where we play chess. On Saturdays I am invited to eat at Luna's house, on Sundays at Mrs. Juliana's, and on Fridays I visit the family of Boustead (also a Filipino) where sometimes I take tea.

On America

Monday, May 7. I saw an Indian attired in semi-European suit, and semi-Indian suit, leaning against a wall.  Wide deserts without plants nor trees. Unpopulated. Lonely place. Bare mountains. Sands. A big extension of white land, like chalk. Far from this desert can be seen some blue mountains. It was a fine day. It was warm, and there was still snow on the top of some mountains.

Tuesday, May 8. This is a beautiful morning.  We stop from place to place.  We are near Ogden. I believe with a good system of irrigation this place could be cultivated.  We are at Utah state, the 3rd state we passed over.  In approaching Ogden the fields are seen with horses, oxen, and trees.  Some small houses are seen from a distance. From Ogden to Denver. The clock is set one hour ahead of time. We are now beginning to see flowers with yellow color on the way. The mountains at a distance are covered with snow. The banks of Salt Lake are more beautiful than other things we saw. The mules are very big. There are mountains in the middle of the lake like the island of Talim in Laguna de Bay. We saw three Mormon boys at Farminton. There were sheep, cows, and horses in the meadows. This region is not thickly populated. A flock of ducks in the lake... Children greeted us at Salt Lake City. In Utah, the women serve at the table... We changed train at Ogden, and we still not have any change until Denver. In Provo I ate much for 75 cents.  We are passing between two mountains through a narrow channel.

Wednesday, May 9. We are passing through the mountains and rocks along a river; the river is noisy and its noise gives life to the lifeless territory. We woke up at Colorado, the 5th state we crossed over. At 10:30 we climb up a certain height, and this is why snow is seen along the way. There are many pines.  We passed through tunnels made of wood to protect the road against snow. Icicles in these tunnels are very bright which gave majestic effect. The porter of the Pullman Care, an American, is sort of thief. Colorado has more trees than the three states we passed over. There are many horses.

Thursday, May 10. We woke up in Nebraska. The country is a plain. We reached Omaha, a big city -- the biggest since we left San Francisco. The Missouri River is twice as wide as the Pasig River in its widest part. It is marshy... The train passed over the Missouri bridge for 2 and 1/2 minutes; the train goes slowly. We are now in Illinois.


Friday, May 11. We woke up near Chicago. The country is cultivated. It shows our nearness to Chicago. We left Chicago at 8:14 Friday night. What I observed in Chicago is that every cigar store has an Indian figure, and always different.


Saturday, May 12.  A good Wagner Car -- we were proceeding in a fine day. The country is beautiful and well populated. We shall arrive at the English territory in the afternoon, and we shall soon see Niagara Falls. We stop for some time to see the points that are beautiful; we went to the side below the Falls; I was between two rocks and this is the greatest cascade I ever saw.  It is not so beautiful nor so fine as the falls at Los Banos; but much bigger, more imposing... The cascade has various falls, various parts. We left the place at night. There is a mysterious sound and persistent echo.

Sunday, May 13. We woke up near Albany. This is a big city. the Hudson River which runs along carries many boats.  We crossed over a bridge. The landscape is beautiful; and it is not inferior to the best in Europe. We are going along the banks of the Hudson. They are very beautiful although a little more solitary than those of the Pasig... The Hudson is wide. Beautiful ships. Sliced granite rocks were paved along the railroads... There were beautiful houses between trees. Day fine. Our grand transcontinental trip ended on Sunday, May 13, at 11:10 A.am.

On O-Sei-San

Japan has enchanted me.  The beautiful scenery, the flowers, the trees, the inhabitants -- so peaceful, so courteous, and so pleasant.  O-Sei-San, Sayonara, Sayonara! I have spent a happy golden month; I do not know if I can have another one like that in all my life.  Love, money, friendship, appreciation, honors -- these have not been wanting.


To think that I am leaving this life for the uncertain, the unknown. There I was offered an easy way to life, beloved and esteemed...


To you I dedicate the final chapter of these memoirs of my youth. No woman, like you, has ever loved me.  No woman, like you has ever sacrificed for me.  Like the flower of the chodji that falls from the stem fresh and whole without falling leaves or without withering -- with poetry still despite its fall -- thus you fell.  Neither have you lost your purity nor have the delicate petals of your innocence faded -- Sayonara, Sayonara!


You shall never return to know that I have once more thought of you and that your image lives in my memory; and undoubtedly, I am always thinking of you.  Your name lives in the sight of my lips, your image accompanies and animates all my thoughts.  When shall I return to pass another divine afternoon like that in the temple of Meguro? When shall the sweet hours I spent with you return? When shall I find them sweeter, more tranquil, more pleasing?  You the color of the camellia, its freshness, its elegance...


Ah! Last descendant of a noble family, faithful to an unfortunate vengeance, you are lovely like... everything has ended!  Sayonara, Sayonara!

On Rome

June 27, 1887

I am in Rome! Everything I step on is the dust of heroes.  Here I breathe the same air which the Roman heroes have breathed.  I salute every statue with reverence, and to me, a humble native of a small island, it seems that I am in a sanctuary.  I have already seen the Capitolium, the Tarpeian Rock, the Palatinum, the Forum Romanum, the Amphitheatre, etc.  Everything here is glorious except the cafes and the cafe singers.  I do not enter these [cafes] because I loathe to hear their French songs or see modern industries.  My favorite places are the Amphitheatre and the Roman Forum; there I remain seated for hours, contemplating everything and restoring life to the ruins... I have also visited some churches and museums, like the Capitoline Museum and the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, which is also grandiose.

On Heidelberg University

August 6, 1886

For its fifth centenary the famous University of Heidelberg celebrated its Festung this morning, and we attended.  I liked the picture better than the original itself.  There were, however, many elegant and brilliant costumes; Bugmuller, the famous student of Heidelberg, was dressed as Frederick the Victorious; Lieberman, as a gentleman of the seventeenth century; Gregoire, wolf of Schwahen, etc.  Last night was Schlorsfest.  When will these gaieties enjoyed in this poetic and beautiful city come back?  When will the foreigners return there?  When shall I return after I shall have left?  Inquire the fate of the molecules of water that the sun evaporates..  Some fall as dew on the bosoms of the flowers; others are converted to ice and snow; others into mud or swamp or torrential cascade -- they are not lost but continue to live in nature.  Will my soul have the fate of water -- never being lost into nothingness?

On the Tumultuous Riotings to His Family

When the new Rector went to assume office next day [November 21,1884], feelings were much irritated, we were still seeing red, it was resolved not to return to classes as long as they did not give us satisfaction, and remove the Rector.  There were repeated shouts of "Down with Creus!" I was there also.  On that day there were new encounters, new fights, wounded, cane blows, imprisonment, etc.  It was on this same day, the 21st, when a police lieutenant and a secret service man wanted to seize Ventura and me, but he and I escaped.  Two Filipinos were taken prisoners.

On the third day, Saturday, the 22nd, the new Rector Creus called the police to occupy the University, to the great disgust of the professors and the great indignation of the students.  On this day, because the agent of the law were staring very much at me, and I do not know why, I had to disguise myself three times.  None entered the classes.  More blows, wounded, etc.  More than 80 guards occupied the University up and down; they had their guns and bugles in the lecture hall.  The boulevard Del Prado was occupied by the cavalry, cannons, and soldiers.  On this day we swore not to return to this dishonored University, whose Rector was imposed on it by force and threat, and in which we are treated as persons without dignity; and we have sworn not to go back until they give us complete satisfaction, and reinstate the old Rector, remove Creus who is a disgrace to the physicians who wanted to expel him from the Academy [of Medicine and Surgery] for lacking in dignity and self-respect... This Rector; to avoid the catcalls and insults of the students, leaves and enters the University though a secret door in the garden.  All the papers of Madrid and in the provinces, except those of the Ministry, are in our favor, severely accusing the Government; the people also are on our side, and the students of the provinces are adhering to us.  A rich banker offered ten thousand duros to the ex-Rector to bail out the imprisoned students, so much so that they take our cause as theirs.  I had the luck of not having received even a cane blow, nor taken prisoner, nor arrested despite my two roles as student of medicine and of philosophy and letters... Whether it was luck or not, the case is that there were wounded old men, women, children, soldiers, strangers; I did not even have to run... No Filipino was wounded, but Cubans and Spaniards, many.

On Leaving for Spain

But as God has not made anything useless in this world, as all beings fulfill obligations or a role in the sublime drama of Creation, I cannot exempt myself from this duty, and small though it be, I too have a mission to fulfill, as for example: alleviating the sufferings of my fellow-men. I realize that all this means sacrifices, and terrible ones.  I imagine the pain which I must give you (parents), but I feel something that obliges and impels me to leave.  I shall strive with fate, and I shall win or lose... God's will be done.

On the Martyrdom of GomBurZa

Without 1872 there would not be now either a Plaridel or Jaena, or Sanciangco, nor would there exist brave and generous Filipino colonies in Europe; without 1872 Rizal would be a Jesuit now and, instead of writing Noli Me Tangere, would have written the opposite.  At the sight of those injustices and cruelties while still a child my imagination was awakened and I swore to devote myself to avenge one day so many victims and with this idea in mind I have been studying, and this can be read in all my works and writings.  God will someday give me an opportunity to carry out my promise.

Education

Education in Binan

• During the time of Rizal, education was characterized by the 4Rs: reading writing, arithmetic, and religion.
• Rizal, although he was born a physical weakling, became an intellectual giant.
• His first teacher was his mother.
• At the age of 3, Rizal learned to recite the alphabet and prayers.
• Jose had private tutors to teach him lessons at home:  Maestro Celestino, then Maestro Lucas Padua.
• Leon Monroy, who as a former classmate of Jose's father, taught the young boy Spanish and Latin.
• When Leon Monroy died, Jose's parents decided to send him to a private school in Binan.
• When Jose left for Binan, he was accompanied by his brother Paciano.
• Jose lodged at his aunt's house in Binan.
• Rizal's school in Binan was in the house of his teacher, Maestro Justiniano Aquino Cruz.
• Pedro, the teacher's son, was not very fond of Jose.  He bullied Rizal, and this led to Jose's first school brawl.
• Jose also took painting lessons in Binan, and was taught by an old painter named Juancho, his schoolteacher's father-in-law.
• He was the best student in school, beating all the Binan boys.
• His schooling in Binan lasted for a year and a half.

 Education in the Ateneo de Manila

• Jose was sent to Manila four months after the friars Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora were martyred.
• He studied in the Ateneo Municipal, which was under the supervision of the Spanish Jesuit priests.
• The Ateneo Municipal was later named Ateneo de Manila.
• Jose's father had intended him to study at Letran, but changed his mind and sent him to the Ateneo instead.
• At first, the college registrar, Fr. Magin Ferrando, refused Jose's admission because the boy had registered late and he was sickly and small for his age.
• Rizal was nonetheless admitted to the Ateneo with the help and intercession of Manuel Xeres Burgos, a nephew of the martyred priest.
• Jose adopted the name Rizal to escape suspicion.  His brother Paciano had used the name Mercado, and was now known to the authorities as Jose Burgos' favorite student.
• The quality of education in the Ateneo was more advanced.
• Students were divided into two groups: the "Roman Empire" (boarders) and the "Carthaginian Empire" (non-boarders).
• The best student in each empire was the emperor, followed by the tribune, then the decurion, the centurion, and the fifth best was the standard-bearer.
• The Romans had red banners, and the Carthaginians had blue.
• Jose's first professor at the Ateneo was Fr. Jose Bech.
• To improve his Spanish, Jose took private lessons in Santa Isabel College at noon breaks.
• Rizal's first favorite novel was The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas.
• He won a medal in Latin.
• Jose considered Fr. Sanchez as his best professor in the Ateneo.
• He obtained the highest grades in all subjects and graduated with the highest honors.
• When Rizal was 16 years old he had his first romance with Segunda Katigbak.  Unfortunately, the lady was already engaged to be married.  Rizal, as a shy and timid lover, failed to propose despite her encouragement.

Medical Studies at the University of Santo Tomas

• After finishing one year in Philosophy and Letters, Jose transferred to the medical course.
• He enrolled in UST for two reasons: (1) to appease his father, and (2) because he was still unsure of what career he should pursue.
• Rizal took up medicine following the advice of Fr. Pablo Ramon, the Rector of the Ateneo.  He also did so to be able to cure his mother's growing blindness.
• He finished a surveying course in the Ateneo, but was not given the title of Surveyor because he was still 17 and underage.
• After finishing four years in the medical course, Rizal decided to study in Spain.  He did not seek his parents' permission for this, because he knew they would not allow it.