A Course Module for the Final Term

LORD IVAN A. PANCHO

09266462905 | FB: Vanito Swabe
Email: [email protected]

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 FINAL PRIMER

SUBJECT: THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL LEGACY OF RIZAL

Term Outcomes:
 Examine Noli me Tangere and its contemporary social reflections
 Elucidate the political ideologies embedded in El Filibusterismo
 Discuss the impacts of political violence, terrorism, and revolution
 Expound the political philosophy of Rizal as evident in his revolutionary involvement
 Critique today’s education system in the light of Rizal’s thoughts on education
 Trace the significant events and realities that led to the martyrdom of Jose Rizal

TOPICS:
1. The Sociology of Noli me Tangere and Political Reflections in El Filibusterismo
2. Rizal in Dapitan: An Educator for the Masses
3. Rizal’s Martyrdom, Exile, and Execution

PERFORMANCE TASK: SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT

Goal : To exhibit high order thinking skills through critical analysis.

Skill/s Required : Investigation, Effective Communication, Community Engagement
Integral Values : Values Formation, Social Empathy, and Service Orientedness

Service-learning is a “course-based, credit bearing educational experience in which students (a)

participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs, and (b) reflect on
the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content, a broader
appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of personal values and civic responsibility”
(Bringle and Hatcher, 1995). In short, students “serve to learn” and “learn to serve”.

Methods:
1. Have a virtual meeting with your permanent study group and agree on the following matters:
a) What specific concern in the community that we can respond to?
b) What specific action can we do in response to that concern?
2. Identify the required items in the project proposal format provided in the preceding page.
3. Present your proposal on the date to be set by your instructor and seek approval for actual conduct.
4. Conduct your project while observing basic health protocols. There is no need to be physically
present during the conduct of the project provided that you have done your part through the process.
5. At the end of the project, individually compile the following documents for final submission:
a) Copy of Approved Proposal
b) Pictures of all undertakings
c) Tables and/or figures presenting the following aspects:
i. Budget Plan and actual expenditures
ii. Input-Process-Output (IPO) design
d) Reflection paper of members incorporating the specific knowledge gained in Rizal course and
the actual experience in the project implementation.
e) Further recommendations for the Community

PROJECT PROPOSAL

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PROJECT TITLE
AREA OF
PROPONENTS IMPLEMENTATION(S)
BENEFICIARIES
EMAIL PHONE NUMBER
PROJECTTED
ADOVCACY
BUDGETARY
FOCUS
REQUIREMENT(S)

PROJECT
ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES

ACTIVITIES
AND TIMELINE

BUDGETARY
REQUIREMENTS

MONITORING
AND
EVALUATION

PERSONS-IN-
CHARGE

MODULE 7

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 THE SOCIOLOGY OF NOLI ME TANGERE
AND POLITICS OF EL FILIBUSTERISMO
Most Essential Learning Outcomes
At the end of this module, the learners are expected to:
1. Understand the different basic approaches and techniques in critical reading and literary
theories and criticism.
2. Draw out social, political, and philosophical messages from Noli and Fili using reading
techniques.
3. Describe greed for power as the theme of the two novels.

INTRODUCTION
Reading is defined as understanding the meaning of words, symbols, or signs by looking at
them mentally. More than deciphering what the words convey, reading is an interaction between the
reader and the written language, through which the reader attempts to reconstruct a message from the
writer. A book may be interpreted in many ways, depending upon the perspective it is read. The book
may be read in the author’s context, in the readers context, or in the light of different disciplines such
as philosophy, sociology, law, politics, economics, arts, science, and literature.

LESSON INPUTS

Reading and Textual Comprehension

By and large, there are two ways of reading a text: “cursory reading” which is light reading and
“close reading” which involves analysis and synthesis for a reader to appreciate and thoroughly
understand scholarly works, classic, or mind-boggling books. By reading and thinking, a reader may
comprehend the message of a book. Reading comprehension consists of four levels; namely,
a. Literal comprehension is reading the texts/words to answer the questions who, what, when,
where, and when.
b. Reading between lines involves combining information and drawing out inferences to
answer the how and why questions.
c. Reading beyond or above lines is using information to form opinion and ideas by
application, analysis, and synthesis to respond to a question as to what the reader will do if here were
the one in focus.
d. Evaluative reading focuses on the characters, the plot, and style of presentation in a story
to answer questions regarding behavior of major and minor characters. It also includes analysis of the
style of presentation.

Literary Theories
Literary theories is a distinct discipline influenced by philosophy. This is anchored on a
proposition that philosophy inheres in all intellectual undertakings. It includes philosophical
consciousness of textual studies. Based on this theory, a book may be analyzed based through
fallacies:
A. Affective and Intentional Fallacies
i. Affective Fallacy is synonymous with semiotics. It excludes the author’s biography and
focuses on rhetoric, style, form, structure, and the text itself.
ii. Intentional Fallacy is the discovery of the author;s intention or motives in writing a
particular text.

B. Reception Theory is similar to symptomatic approach. It deals with the readers’

expectations in every phase of reading which are either fulfilled or unfulfilled. This empty space is to be

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“filled in” by the reader by imagining what follows next. The reader supplements what is missing
through his own imagination or skills.
In Noli Me Tangere, for example, a void is left when Crispin was presented in a dream. Having
been murdered could be presumed, but as to what exactly happened to him, the reader has to theorize
or make some guesses. The seduction and death of Juli in El Filibusterismo, likewise ended with
numerous unanswered questions. Why did Juli jump to her death? What was witnessed by Hermana
Pule that made her shout like a mad woman? Another intrigue is whether or not Maria Clara was the
woman at the top of the roof. These situations are examples of “blanks” to be filled in by the readers.

C. Symptomatic Approach Theory is similar to reception theory. The message is inferred

from the clues found between or beyond the lines of the text. Here, the reader has to fill in the vacuum,
let the silence speak, discover the secret of the text, theorize, and draw out his own conclusion.
Allegorical symbols, satirical expressions, simile or metaphors, or there combination serve as mind
teasers.
A reader may also derive ideas from different ideologies which pertain to logical ideas or a
closely organized system of beliefs, values, and ideas forming the basis of social or political philosophy
or program. Ideologies contain the reasons why the present set up must be retained, reformed, or
changed.
To understand a socio-historico, political novel, a reader has to know the prevailing situation
when the book was written, as follows:
I. The general mode of production
II. The general ideology
III. The author’s ideology
IV. The aesthetic ideology
V. The textual ideology
VI. The reader’s ideology

Gothicism and Greed: Themes of Rizalian Novels

Gothicism or Gothic Fiction refers to a style of writing that is characterized by elements of fear,
horror, death, and gloom, as well as romantic elements, such as nature, individuality, and very high
emotion. These emotions can include fear and suspense.
This style of fiction began in the mid 1700s with a story titled, The Castle of Otranto (in 1764),
by Horace Walpole. This story was about a doomed family and is filled with death, desire, and intrigue.
This story is considered to be the first of the Gothic fiction tales, since it encompassed many of the
characteristics of the genre.
The settings were often old, dilapidated buildings or houses in gloomy, lifeless, fear-inducing
landscapes. Much of the literature involved monsters, such as vampires, who brought suffering and
death to the forefront. There were also stories that simply displayed these elements of fear and
suffering in the settings themselves.

Fiction as tool for Social Analysis

Like biography, fiction can be a form of social analysis. Both view the social process from the
life position of the individual, focusing on individual consciousness and experience. Unlike scientific
social analysis, both explore a purely local world. In that world, they see different people and groups,
each in its complex particularity, each from a particular and inevitably limited point of view that is itself
within the flow of interaction. By contrast, scientific social analysis generally sees abstractions—
properties of social beings—and from a position outside the flow of interaction. Even its models of
action imagine abstract beings making isolated and formalized decisions in formal structures, not
particular beings struggling in a loosely woven mesh of possibility and constraint.
The individual standpoint makes fiction and biography very persuasive to readers, who after all
are particular individuals themselves. But it can hide the social forces and implicit connections that are

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so often invisible to individuals. Explicitly scientific social analysis has precisely the opposite virtue. By
looking at social categories, or social groups, or even social properties, it easily finds the hidden forces
and structural constraints so invisible to actors. But it does so at the price of irreality. The social
process does not happen in abstractions, but in complex experiences. Abstractions do not act.

Social Realities behind Noli Me Tangere

Among the most politically successful examples of fictional work that can be used as
tool for social analysis are the novels of José Rizal. As what we have explored in the previous
modules, there is continuing debate about Rizal’s brief, complicated, and much-mythologized
life. Analyzing his works, however, is barely a question of who, but of how and why.
In Noli me Tangere, the Ibarra character is in fact little more than a projection of José
Rizal into a series of possible events—family matters, romantic relationships, political life—that
are used to examine the internal structure of Philippine society from the illustrado point of view.
Ibarra returns to his homeland seeking to help it develop and to marry his beloved Maria Clara,
but is on the one hand thwarted by malevolent friars and corrupt merchants and on the other
aided by dispossessed poor people and fallen illustrados. Although he radicalizes slowly, he is
hounded by the authorities for the tame reformism that he has in fact left behind, and in the end
barely escapes with his life. Around this simple plot swirls a gothic melodrama, complete with
madwomen, imprisoned maidens, devilish villains, elaborate tortures, and incredible
coincidences. The tone of the text varies between gothicism, didacticism, parody, allegory, and
—occasionally—straight narration. The book is extremely rich in local references (almost
enough as to be unreadable for a non local without notes), but also has a surprising number of
biblical allusions, chief among them the Christlike character of the hero, which itself follows a
long-standing tradition of Philippine interest in Christ’s Passion (see The Deification of Jose
Rizal).

Political Realities behind El Filibusterismo

Did you remember the popular TV drama, Wildflower starring Maja Salvador? If you
were an avid viewer, you may realize that the story of Lily Cruz/Ivy Aguas is very much similar
to Crisostomo Ibarra, who was, in this sequel, named himself Simoun.
In El Filibusterismo, which is modeled more or less directly on Alexandre Dumas’ The
Count of Monte Cristo, the Ibarra who fled at the end of Noli returns as a fabulously wealthy
merchant determined to lure the Spanish colonialists toward destruction by encouraging and
exacerbating their evils. Inwardly corrupted by his own vengefulness, he foments hatred on
both sides and plans a spectacular bombing to ignite a revolution. But the bombing is thwarted
by one of his student acquaintances, who has retained the purity of soul that Ibarra has lost.
Ibarra flees, is injured, and dies, reconciled to death by a retired and godly priest. The Fili is a
more disciplined novel, shorter and less meandering than the Noli. Its tone is more consistent
as well, although the earlier parody and gothicism do recur occasionally.

All these tells us what is already automatic in the genre of fiction as tools for social analysis:
Rizal’s novels are intensely positioned. Not only do they portray the social process from only one point
of view, their young and inexperienced author has not the ability of a Bâ or a Tanizaki to see the
complexities of others’ worlds. So the novels become almost explicit representations of their author’s
immediate perceptions of the social process around him. They are thus doubly ethnographic—first in
their own would be ethnography of the Philippines of their day and second in their exposition of that
ethnography from a particular point of view. But if we locate these novels as analyses of the social
history of their time, we see that Rizal has analyzed one of the many versions of agricultural
commercialization characteristic of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Landlordism spread
worldwide in this period. The process through which commercial agriculture replaced subsiste

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 nce throughout most of the world took several human lifetimes and obliterated many lives. In the
Philippines, the friar orders were among the chief landholders who emerged in this transformation, and
their tenants—often illustrado families like the Mercados—bore the brunt of their attempts to maximize
output as the Philippines moved away not only from subsistence, but also from local commercial
agriculture, toward an export economy based on tobacco and sugar.
Karl Marx and Adam Smith would both have thought that this worldwide process was in some
sense grand and inevitable, although they would have differed on the reasons for the inevitability. But
the great political and moral question is really less about the process’s inevitability than about whether
it could have occurred in some way that would not have ruined millions of human lives. By presenting
his analysis of the capitalist transformation of agriculture in a pair of allegorical novels, Rizal poses that
question much more effectively than can an abstract treatise.For whatever the abstract analyses may
tell us, history is always experienced in a particular place and time, by particular people and groups.
For Rizal, the most important force in this history is organized religion.Yet there is in his novels
a profound ambivalence about this central phenomenon in human experience. Some of the most comic
passages in the books concern the economies of salvation: the exact cost of a dispensation to
purchase eternal rest for a husband or parents (Noli, chap. 16) or the precise number of plenary
indulgences to free one’s husband from purgatory (Noli, chap. 18). And the friars are relentlessly
portrayed as corrupt, worldly, lustful, and simply evil. Yet Ibarra in the Noli continually admires real
faith, and the Simoun of the Fili has become corrupted in part because he has lost such a faith.
Moreover, the Noli is clearly organized around the Christlike Ibarra, and the Fili ends with a passionate
exposition of God’s justice as understood by Catholic theology and with an explicit warning against
daring to question God’s motives or acting as God oneself. Rizal surely had no illusions that this
orthodox peroration would gainsay the incendiary quality of his books, so it is clear that he meant this
as a personal statement—perhaps a Hamlet-like confession of his own Christ complex as mere
vainglory.
To be sure, one has only to say such a thing to know that millions of people will dispute it. For
interpreting Rizal eventually became a way of talking about the nature of the Philippines. His near
deification in the decades after his death eventually culminated in a law requiring that his books be
taught in every high school in the nation. But that inevitably meant that widely differing views had to be
accommodated within his writings. People do not forget their differences because of the facts they
read, but rather read their differences into those facts themselves.
In this lies the danger of fiction as a mode of social analysis. On the one hand, fiction can
present the real experience of individuals with a level of detail and a penetration of insight that can
come only in the rarest ethnographies and microsociologies. Fiction takes us inside experience, giving
us the emotions of the actors themselves—their anger or amusement, joy or sadness. And this can be
coupled with the separate judgments and emotions of an author who stands slightly apart. On the other
hand, a reader cannot check the insights and data of the fiction writer, nor easily correct for his or her
own biases. Perhaps more important, the writing of fiction is itself a difficult art. Steering a complex
narrative between the dangers of repetitiveness and vagueness is a hard-won perfection, as the more
compact and stylized Fili shows. Yet in the end it is the Noli that persuades, with its exuberance, its
flaws, its uncontrolled and even narcissistic passion. A nation that produced such a book was indeed a
nation.

SUMMARY:
1. What is already automatic in the genre of fiction as tools for social analysis: Rizal’s novels are
intensely positioned.
2. It is the Noli that persuades, with its exuberance, its flaws, its uncontrolled and even narcissistic
passion. A nation that produced such a book was indeed a nation.

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 MODULE 8
RIZAL IN DAPITAN: AN EDUCATOR OF MASSES
Most Essential Learning Outcomes
1. Narrate how Rizal was arrested, detained, and deported to Dapitan;
2. Summarize the activities of Jose Rizal in his place of exile;
3. Explain Rizal’s offer to serve as a medical doctor in Cuba as the only legitimate way for Rizal
to free himself from isolation.

We are our own project: we become what we choose to be, by what we do to ourselves, and by what
we do for others.
Rene Descartes
Existentialist, Philosopher

The name Dapitan originated from a Visayan term “dapit” meaning, “to invite”. The small town is
situated in western Mindanao at Dapitan Bay of Sulu Sea. It is protected from the monsoon winds by
Togolo Point and its north is a safe anchorage for boats coming from eastern Visayan islands,
proceeding to Zamboanga, Basilan, and the Sulu Archipelago. Today, Dapitan is also known as the
Shrine City famous for its rustic beauty and serenity.
Rizal described Dapitan as “situated by a handsome bay that faces West, on some sort of
island formed expressly for her, as if in order to isolate her from the vulgar world, by a lovely river
which to this end has graciously consented to split itself into two, thus to embrace her with two silvery
arms and carry her towards the sea as an offering, the most beautiful that it has found in its tortuous
and eventful pilgrimage over mountains and valleys, through forests and plain.”
Community Development at Dapitan

What Rizal learned from his studies in the Philippines and in Europe, he would put a practice in
Dapitan. He wanted to recreate Calamba and since it was denied in Sandakan, it could be at Dapitan.
As soon as he settled himself there, he asked the military officers’ permission for him to cultivate land
from the town square to the seashore, and set about planting fruit trees. Pleased by his initial tree
planting activities, the Jesuit fathers requested him to sketch a plan to improve Dapitan.
Education is the primordial concern of Jose Rizal. Education has been his life-long concern in
preparation for the attainment of freedom and subsequently, independence. He advocated education
as a necessary condition in a free society, necessary in the pursuance of liberty. In El Filibusterismo,
Rizal stated:
“With Spain or without Spain they would always be the same, and perhaps worst!
Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow?
And that they will be such is not to be doubted, for he who submits to tyranny loves it.”
Rizal believed in the effectiveness of education as a solution to the social, political, and
economic problems of the country. Without education, Rizal said, “the soil and the sun of mankind - no
reform is possible, no measure can give the desired result.”

Rizal’s Place in Dapitan

Rizal initially stayed in the house of the governor and military commandant near the town’s
plaza. Later, he was allowed to move to the coastal barangay of Talisay where he bought a 16-hectare
piece of land using his lottery earnings. He said in another letter to his friend that “Talisay is the proper
name of the piece of land I have bought.” Although the place is named after the talisay tree, Rizal said

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in a letter to Manuel Hidalgo on 8 February 1893 that there was no talisay tree in the area. So, he
thought of calling his farm Balunò (Baunò) after the trees that were found there.
As soon as he settled down, Rizal cleared the land, planted rice and corn, and built a house, a
clinic and a school. In another letter to Hildalgo on 7 March 1893, he said:
“My house will be finished either tomorrow or after tomorrow. It is very pretty for its price (40
pesos) and it turned out better than what I wanted. My lot cannot be better and I am improving it every
day... I have plenty of land to accommodate at least five families with houses and orchards."
 In another letter to Blumentritt on 19 December 1893, Rizal described how he lived:
 “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 whom 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, guayabanos, baluno, nangka, 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, I 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 P.M. and devote the after-noon to
agriculture. I spend the night reading and studying.”
In his poem, My Retreat, Rizal shared a glimpse of his new home:
Beside a spacious beach of fine and delicate sand
and at the foot of a mountain greener than a leaf,
I planted my humble hut beneath a pleasant orchard,
seeking in the still serenity of the woods
repose to my intellect and silence to my grief.
The barking of the dog, the twittering of the birds,
the hoarse voice of the kalaw are all that I hear;
there is no boastful man, no nuisance of a neighbor
to impose himself on my mind or to disturb my passage;
only the forests and the sea do I have near.

Rizal as Teacher
Rizal dreamed of founding a school with Blumetritt as school director so that he could focus in
studying science and in writing history. In Talisay, he built a school and taught local children (16 high
school level boys in 1896), as well as children entrusted to him by his kins (elementary level), how to
catch insects, gather shells, dive for rare fish, speak and write languages like Spanish, English, French
and German, as well as “practical lessons in botany and zoology,” physical fitness and martial arts. As
a teacher, Rizal developed his own practical teaching method, learning aids and learning
management.”  His poem, Hymn to Talisay, depicts the style and content of his instruction:

At Dapitan, the sandy shore That we from childhood days have

And rocks aloft on mountain crest known.
Form thy throne, O refuge blest, In your vales that flowers adorn

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 And your fruitful leafy shade, balm.
Our thinking power are being made, In fights that wait for every man,
And soul with body being grown. In sorrow and adversity,
Thy memory a charm will be,
We are youth not long on earth And in the tomb, thy name, thy
But our souls are free from sorrow; calm.
Calm, strong men we’ll be
tomorrow, CHORUS
Who can guard our families’ right. Hail, O Talisay! Firm and untiring
Lads are we whom naught can Ever aspiring, Stately thy gait.
frighten, Things, everywhere, In sea, land
Whether thunder, waves, or rain and air
Swift of arm, serene of mien Shalt thou dominate
In peril, shall we wage our fights.

With our games we churn the sand,

Through the caves and crags we
roam,
On the rocks  we make our home,
Everywhere our arms can reach.
Neither dark nor night obscure
Cause us fear, nor fierce torment
That even Satan can invent
Life or death? We must face each!

“Talisayans”, people call us!

Mighty souls in bodies small
O’er Dapitan’s district all
No Talisay like this towers.
None can march our reservoir.
Our diving pool the sea profound!
No rowing boat the world around
For the moment can pass ours.

We study science exact;

The history of our motherland;
Three languages or four command;
Bring faith and reason in accord.
Our hands can manage at one time
The sail and working spade and
pen,
The mason’s maul – for virile men
Companions – and the gun and
sword.

Live, live, O leafy green Talisay!

Our voices sing thy praise in chorus
Clear star, precious treasure for us.
Our childhood’s wisdom and its

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0
In another letter to his friend on 15 January 1895, he said: 
“My life now is quiet, peaceful, retired and without glory, but I think it is useful too. I teach
here the poor but intelligent boys reading, Spanish, English, mathematics, and geometry;
moreover I teach them to behave like men. I taught the men here how to get a better way of
earning their living and they think I am right. We have begun and success crowned our
trials.”

Josephine Bracken, his partner, supervised the school when Rizal was away. In a letter to his
mother on 12 March 1896, Rizal intimated:  “She bathes them, and washes and mends their clothes,
so that, poor girl, she is never at rest, but she does it willingly for she has a great love for the boys, and
they love her more than they love me!”

Rizal as Farmer
Rizal’s farm had fruit trees (mangoes, lanzone, guayabanos, baluno, nanka, etc.), rabbits, dogs,
cats, chickens, rice, corn, ferns and flowers like roses and sampaguita. In another letter to his mother,
Rizal said:
“My land has 6,000 abaca plants. If you want to come here, I shall build a house where we
can all live together until we die…My land is beautiful; it is in the interior, far from the sea,
about a half-hour’s walk; it is in a very picturesque place. The land is very fertile. In addition
to the abaca plantation there is land for planting two cavanes [150 liters] of corn. Little by

FOR EVALUATION DO NOT

little we can buy the remaining lands near mine. There are plenty of dalag [mudfish], pakò
[ferns] and little round stones.”

REPORODUCE
When Rizal found out that that the local fisherfolk used an inefficient fishing technique, he
looked for ways to address this problem. This can be gleaned from his letter to Hildalgo on 19 January
1893:
“Here I have formed a partnership with a Spaniard to supply the town with fish of which it
lacks. In Dapitan alone there are six thousand inhabitants and in the interior some two or
three thousands more and for so many people there is nothing but small sakag that catches
little fish of the size of the talaisá. Aquilino told me that with one pukútan [net] alone like
yours, the whole town could be supplied with fish, because here there is a good beach and
fish abound a little distance away from the shore. If you wish to sell me your pukútan at an
agreed price, and if it is still in good condition, I would buy it. If not, I would appreciate it if
you would buy me a pukútan in the same condition, good, strong, etc. Here nobody knows
how to weave the mesh of a net.”

Rizal also formed the Sociedad de Agricultores Dapitanos in 1895 to “improve/promote

agricultural products, obtain better profits for them, provide capital for the purchase of these goods,
and help to the extent possible the harvesters and labourers by means of a store (co-op) where articles
of basic necessity are sold at moderate prices.”

Rizal as Surgeon
Rizal’s fame as an exiled surgeon began seven days after his arrival in Dapitan and while he
was staying in the house of the governor and military commandant. This was made possible by an
incident that occurred during a celebration of the town’s fiesta on 24 July 1892. A local resident was
hurt by a firecracker that exploded in his hands. He squirmed in pain, but the local folks could not help

11
him. An unknown Rizal came into the picture and treated his first patient. In a few months, the townfolk
would call him “Dr. Rizal” and “greeted him with more reverence than they did the comandante and the
parish priest.”
On 15 January 1895, Rizal wrote to Blumentritt that he was “overwhelmed with patients” who were
“so numerous that I have to turn away some for not being able to attend to them.” He operated on “three or
five patients a week. Many are poor but some pay.” In the same letter, he also told his friend about a good
news: “I got operated my dear Mother of cataract. Thank God she is perfectly well now and can write and
read with easy.”

As a surgeon, Rizal offered free services to the local people, but charged the visitors based on
their capacity to pay. From his earnings, he helped the town by building a hospital, donating funds for
public lighting, etc. But he was conscious of the difficulty he was facing as a physician. In his letter to
Jose Basa on 18 December 1894, he said:
“This town of Dapitan is very good. I’m in good terms with everyone. I live peacefully, but the
town is very poor, very poor. Life in it is not unpleasant to me because it is isolated and
lonesome; but I am sorry to see so many twisted things and not be able to remedy them, for
there is no money or means to buy instruments and medicine. Here a man fell from a
coconut tree and perhaps I could have saved him if I had instruments and chloroform on
hand. I perform operations with the little that I have. I treat lameless and hernias with reeds
and canes. I do the funniest cures with the means available. I cannot order anything, for the
patients cannot pay; at times I even give medicine gratis.”

FOR EVALUATION DO NOT

Rizal as an Engineer

REPORODUCE On 15 January 1895, Rizal wrote to Blumentritt that he was

“going to build a water-tank on my land. I have 14 boys
whom I teach languages, mathematics, and how to work, and
as we have no work I have decided to construct a dike of stone,
brick, and mortar so that they may learn.”
On 20 November of the same year, he wrote that he
“made a wooden machine for making bricks” and that
he could “make at least 6,000 a day”.
He eventually built an oven for the bricks. Outside his land, Rizal helped the town by developing
its first park, with street lamps and a garden/flower relief map of the whole island of Mindanao. With
support of the local authorities and the residents, he constructed Dapitan’s aqueduct with a length of
several kilometers using clay tiles and lime. He also initiated plaza beautification and clean-up to
improve health and sanitation.

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 MODULE 8.8
THE MARTYRDOM AND EXILE OF RIZAL
Most Essential Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this module, the learners are expected to:
 Discuss significant events leading to the execution of Rizal
 Evaluate the claims pertaining to the legality of Rizal’s death
 Justify the death of Rizal as a turning point in Philippine history

Thought to Ponder: From the day of Socrates, who was put to death by the citizens of Athens for
teaching the young men to think for themselves, down to that morning in December 30, 1896, when
Rizal was done to death by the firing squad at Bagumbayan; the pages of history have run red with the
murder of men of science.

INTRODUCTION
The completion of Rizal’s novel El Filibusterismo, paved way to his final road to martyrdom.
However, Rizal reminded his friend, Prof. Bluementritt that the said novel was not an attempt to
“revenge against my enemies” but Spanish didn’t hold a similar opinion.
The El Fili was dedicated to the three friars who were executed in the aftermath of Cavite
massacre. In the two decades since the unfortunate event, public opinions still ran high about the

FOR EVALUATION DO NOT

event. So it was not surprising that the friars and Spanish government officials attacked the Fili. The
result was that it prompted the Spanish government to banish Rizal from the Philippines for his alleged
political radicalism.
The road to martyrdom began for Rizal in the late 1880’s. His studies in Europe popularized his

REPORODUCE
ideas not only among Filipinos but with a select group of Europeans. This eventually led to some
serious struggles within the European Filipino community.

RIZAL’S FINAL ROAD TO MARTYRDOM : THE FINAL WORDS

His Last Words to his family expresses innocence and his desire to save them from further
suffering, and he was willing to risk his life.

To his Family: I know that I have made you suffer greatly but I am not repenting for what I
have done, and if I had to begin anew, I would again do the same thing I did, because that is my duty.
Man ought to die for his duty and his convictions. I maintain all the ideas that I have expressed
concerning the state and the future of my country, and I will die gladly for her, and to obtain justice and
tranquility for you.
To his Brother: My dear Brother, When you receive this letter, I shall be dead by then.
Tomorrow at seven, I shall be shot; but I am innocent of the crime of rebellion. I am going to die with a
tranquil conscience. (This has not confirmed if he meant Paciano or Bluementritt, his best friend)

RIZAL’S FINAL ROAD TO MARTYRDOM : THE TRIAL

On 20th December, 1896, Rizal together with his counsel, Lt. Taviel de Andrade of the Spanish
Artillery, prepared for his defense.
Five days later, on 25th December, Christmas Day, Rizal was informed that on the following
day, at 10:00 am, the Council of War would convene. Rizal wrote his counsel Taviel, asking for a
conference prior to appearing before the Council. However, it was not known whether such pre-trial
conference between Rizal and his counsel took place.

13
 On 26th December, at the Cuartel General de Espana, a soldier’s dormitory was converted into
an improvised courtroom.
The trial proceeded with the reading of the accusations against Rizal “as principal organizer”
and “moving spirit of the Philippine insurrection, founder of societies, of newspapers and [who] has
written books designed to foment and propagate ideas of rebellion and sedition among the people, as
well as the principal leader of the anti-government in the country.”
Taviel de Andrade, Rizal’s defense counsel, argued that in the law applying the Penal Code of
Spain in the Philippines, none exists to establish the guilt of the accused; he likewise challenged the
veracity and impartiality of those who had given statements incriminating Rizal; he closed his defense
requesting the court to reject the images of war, for they could only provoke ideas of vengeance, and
that judges should not be vengeful but fair and just.
The following were also inquired by the council for their alleged knowledge about Rizal’s plan:
 Moises Salvadro- a fellow in Madrid
 Arcadio Del Rosario - also a fellow in Madrid
 Deodato Arellano - a supporter before but later became hostile saying that it was
good that Rizal was deported to Dapitan
 Pedro Serrano - also a supporter before but later became hostile as well
 Timoteo Paez - introduced Serrano to him

It was also noted that he has a “dilemma” of defence for he was fighting for his life this time,
and he cannot avoid but to deny any support to the revolution. The following were the lies Rizal spoke
to the council:

FOR EVALUATION DO NOT

 On La Solidaridad: “It is false that I founded the association; this was in existence befor I went to
Madrid. When I was there I criticized the actions of La Solidaridad.”
 On Masonry: “It is false that I gave Serrano orders to introduce masonry in the Philippines.
Masonry has nothing to do good to the Filipinos”

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 On La Liga Filipina: “The La Liga never became active. It died after the first meeting. If it was re-
organized, i knew nothing about it”
 On Katipunan: “I knew nothing about the Katipunan and had no relations with them. I don't know
who is Andres Bonifacio, even by name.”

It cannot be denied that Rizal's defense is more sufficient to raise reasonable doubt as to his
guilt. He was fighting for his life, convinced of his own innocence.
After giving Rizal an opportunity to speak in his defense, the Court after deliberations rendered
its decision finding Rizal the author of rebellion and sentenced him to death.
On 28th December, Governor General Polavieja approved the sentence of the Council of War
after knowing that none of the members of the Council of Authorities recommended the commutation of
the sentence against Rizal.
On 29th December, Judge Dominguez went to Fort Santiago to notify Rizal officially of the
sentence. Rizal read the report or verdict but refused to sign it, stating that he was innocent. He also
alleged that he was not a Chinese mestizo as stated by the auditor in the report but a pure Indio. Rizal
was informed that no modifications were allowed in the text of the judgment.
In the morning of 30 December, 1896, Rizal was executed at Bagumbayan field by musketry.

RIZAL’S FINAL ROAD TO MARTYRDOM : THE EXECUTION

At 6:30 a.m. on 30 December 1896, Jose Rizal, bound elbow-to-elbow, left Fort Santiago by
foot for Bagumbayan field, accompanied by a bugler, a drummer and two Jesuit priests, Fr. Estanislao
March and Fr. Jose Villaclara. They took the Paseo de Maria Cristina, now called Bonifacio Drive.
Behind Rizal was his defense counsel Lt. Luis Taviel de Andrade. A squad of soldiers surrounded them
as they walked slowly. Upon reaching Bagumbayan field, Rizal placed himself in the middle of the
square, filled with 400 men, with a band playing.

14
 Eight native soldiers composed the firing squad. Behind them were eight Spanish soldiers with
Mauser rifles, ready to shoot the native soldiers if they refused to shoot Rizal.
Rizal refused to be shot in the back, saying he had not been a traitor to the country or to Spain.
But the Spanish captain in charge of the execution told him that he had orders to shoot him in the back.
Rizal reluctantly agreed, but he firmly refused to kneel or be blindfolded. One last request of Rizal was
that the soldiers spare his head and instead shoot him in the back near the heart. The captain agreed.
Rizal then shook hands with his defense counsel, Lt. Taviel de Andrade and thanked him for his
efforts in defending him. A military doctor came to take his pulse; it was normal. The Jesuits raised a
crucifix for him to kiss, but Rizal had already turned away silently and prepared himself for death.
The order to fire was given. Before the shots rang out, Rizal shouted,“Consumatum est!” (It is
finished!). When the bullets hit their mark, Rizal made a last effort to turn around, thus, falling lifeless
with his back on the ground, his face to the sky. Another soldier gave the body a “tiro de gracia” -- one
last shot to make sure Rizal was dead. Shouts of “VivaEspana!” rent the air. The band of the regiment
struck the first chords of “Marcha de Cadiz.” By 7:03 a.m. the execution was over.
It is said that a dog (mascot) ran around the lifeless body, whining. Whose mascot was it?
Nobody knows, or nothing was written about it except that it was captured by the camera’s eye as
being among the crowd that witnessed the execution that morning.

RIZAL’S FINAL ROAD TO MARTYRDOM : THE BURIAL

After the execution of Rizal his body was placed in a van and with utmost secrecy buried in the
old Paco Cemetery. Sra. Teodora, the mother of Rizal, wanted to comply with the last wish of her son,
that the family take charge of his remains. After several objections on the part of some Spanish

FOR EVALUATION DO NOT

officials, Civil Governor Manuel Luengo agreed to her petition. However, when the funeral coach left,
they had already secretly taken the body away, and Rizal's sister, Narcisa, went to all the cemeteries of
Manila looking for the remains in vain.
On the way back, she saw, through the open gate of the Paco Cemetery, some guardia civil.

REPORODUCE
This gave her a hint. She entered the cemetery and after much searching found a freshly dug grave.
She gave the gravedigger some money and placed a plaque with the initials of her brother in reverse,
R.P.J., which means Rizal, Protacio Jose.
A few days after the Americans occupied Manila in August 1898, Rizal's sister Narcisa asked
permission from the new authorities to exhume the remains of Rizal. Permission was granted. When
the body was exhumed, it was discovered that Rizal's body had not even been placed in a coffin. The
shoes were identified, but whatever had been hidden inside them had already disintegrated
In 1911, Rizal’s remains were transferred from the Paco Cemetery to the base of the monument
which had earlier been erected at the Luneta (now Rizal Park). His aged, beloved mother was still able
to attend the ceremonies of the transfer. A few weeks later Sra. Teodora Alonso Quintos died. It
appears she made the effort to survive her son, to go on living until such time that her son’s memory
would be officially vindicated.

15
 ----------------------------------------------SELF-ASSESSMENT----------------------------------------------
Read and analyze the following questions below. This will test the basic knowledge that you have
gained this semester. THIS IS NOT RECORDED AND ONLY FOR SELF-STUDY. Thus, the answer
key is provided at the references page.
SET A. Multiple Choice
1. Rizal used comedy in presenting his two novels (El Fili and Noli).
a) Absolutely True c) Partly True, Partly False
b) Absolutely False d) Neither True nor False

2. Philippines was economically depressed during the Spanish era.

a) Absolutely True c) Partly True, Partly False
b) Absolutely False d) Neither True nor False

3. Jose Rizal died before Aguinaldo’s declaration of Philippine Independence.

a) Absolutely True c) Partly True, Partly False
b) Absolutely False d) Neither True nor False

4. The Red color in the Philippine flag symbolizes Rizal’s blood.

a) Absolutely True c) Partly True, Partly False

FOR EVALUATION DO NOT

b) Absolutely False d) Neither True nor False

5. Musketry is the means of Rizal’s death sentence.

a) Absolutely True c) Partly True, Partly False

REPORODUCE
b) Absolutely False d) Neither True nor False

SET B. True or False

1. In Noli Me Tangere, San Martin represents a typical town in the Philippines.
____TRUE ____FALSE
2. Rizal affirms that tolerance is the only remedy for corrupt government.
____TRUE ____FALSE
3. Affective fallacy applies when a reader presupposes what Rizal wanted the people to do on
Revolution.
____TRUE ____FALSE
4. Noli me Tangere is a contemplation on revolution.
____TRUE ____FALSE
5. Jose Rizal was the inspiration of Bonifacio’s revolution.
____TRUE ____FALSE
6. Revolution is the only way to make people better
____TRUE ____FALSE
7. Ibarra was the desperate Rizal in El Filibusterismo
____TRUE ____FALSE
8. Conservatism was the ideology upheld by Simoun
____TRUE ____FALSE
9. Rizal disapproved revolution in order to please Spain.
____TRUE ____FALSE
10. Government reflect the kind of its people.
____TRUE ____FALSE

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 THE LIFE AND WORKS OF RIZAL
FINAL

References and Resources:

Daquila S., The Seeds of Revolution. Brainbow Essentials, 2009

Zaide S., The History of Filipino People. Rex Bookstore, 2001
Articulo & Florendo. Values and Work Ethics. Trinitas Publishing, Inc., 200
Cruz, Corazon L. Contemporary Ethics, National Book Store, 1993.
Fromm, Erick. Escape from Freedom, 1941
Holy Bible. The Gideons International.
Horney, Karen. Neurosis & Human Growth. 1950

FOR EVALUATION DO NOT

REPORODUCE
Reviewed and Approved by:

MARILYN T. ALCALA, LPT, Ph. D.

Dean

***********************************************************************************************************

ANSWER KEY (SET

ANSWER KEY (SET B):
A):
6. FALSE 6. FALSE
1. B
7. FALSE 7. FALSE
2. C
8. FALSE 8. TRUE
3. A
9. FALSE 9. FALSE
4. B
10. TRUE 10. TRUE
5. A
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