Teacher Education Department

BSED ENGLISH 2nd Semester 2023-2024

COURSE: THE LIFE AND WORKS OF RIZAL (GE12)

Chapter 5|| Rizal’s Life: Exile, Trial, And Death

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

At the end of Chapter 3, the students should be able to:

1. Analyze the factors that led to Jose Rizal's execution;

2. Explain the community project Rizal initiated while in exile in Dapitan;
3. Analyze the effects of Jose Rizal's execution on Spanish Colonial rule and the Philippine
Revolution.
A. Arrival in Manila
● Rizal's daring return to Manila in June, 1892 was his second homecoming because of his
firm belief that the battleground is in the Philippines.
● Rizal and his sister Lucia arrived in Manila on June 26, 1892, at 12:00 noon, and in the
afternoon, at 4:00 o'clock, he went to Malacanang Palace to seek an audience with the
Spanish governor general, General Eulogio Despujol.
● Rizal boarded a train in Tutuban Station at 6:00 pm. on June 27, 1892, to visit friends in
Malolos (Bulacan), San Fernando (Pampanga), Tarlac (Tarlac), and Bacolor (Pampanga).
Rizal returned to Manila by train the following day, June 28, at 5 o'clock in the afternoon.

B. Founding of La Liga Filipina

● Rizal's founding the La Liga Filipina upon his return to the Philippines in July 1892
represented a step forward in the reformist ideas of the time, as the new group sought to
involve the people directly in the reform movement.
● The founding of the "Liga Filipina," a league or association sought to unite all Filipinos of
good character for concerted action toward the economic advancement of their country, for
a higher standard of manhood and to ensure opportunities for education and development
for talented Filipino youth, was almost Rizal's last act while at liberty.
● Resistance to oppression through legal means was also encouraged, as Rizal believed that
no one could fairly complain about bad government until he had exhausted and found
ineffective all of the legal resources available to him.
● Many members of society seeking change were drawn to the Liga, including
● Andres Bonifacio, who became one of the organization's founders. The Liga's goals, as
stated in the constitution Rizal drafted, were as follows:
To consolidate the entire archipelago into a single compact, vigorous, and homogeneous
body;
mutual protection in all times of need;
defense against all forms of violence and injustice;
encouragement of education, agriculture and commerce and research and implementation
of reforms.
● The league, as Rizal envisioned it, would be a sort of mutual aid and self-help society,
dispensing scholarship funds and legal aid, lending capital and establishing cooperatives.
● The Spanish authorities were so alarmed that they arrested Rizal on July 6, 1892, just four
days after the Liga was formed.
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● On July 3, 1892, following his morning interview with Governor General Despujol, Rizal
attended a meeting with patriots at the home of the Chinese- Filipino mestizo, Doroteo
Ongjunco, on Ylaya Street, Tondo, Manila, on the evening of Sunday.
● The following officers were elected to the new league: President Ambrosio Salvador,
Deodato Arellano (Secretary), Agustin de la Rosa (Treasurer) and Bonifacio Arevalo
(Fiscal).
● The Liga Filipina's motto is Unus Instar Omnium (One Like All). The Supreme Council was
the league's governing body, with jurisdiction over the entire country. It was made up of a
president, a secretary, a treasurer, and a fiscal. There was a Provincial Council in each
province and a Popular Council in each own.
● The Liga members' responsibilities are as follows:
to obey the Supreme Council's orders;
to assist in recruiting new members
to keep the Liga authorities' decisions strictly confidential
to have a symbolic name that he cannot change until he becomes president of his council
to report to the fiscal anything he hears that affects the Liga
to behave well as befits a good Filipino
to help fellow members in any way.
● During Rizal's last and final meeting with the Governor General, he was asked if he still
supported his plan for a Filipino colony in British North Borneo Rizal wrote Despujol when
he was in Hongkong that he should be allowed to build a Filipino colony in British North
Borneo.
● Despujol had previously stated that with so much Philippine land lying idle due to lack of
cultivation, it did not seem patriotic to divert labor needed at home to the development of a
foreign land.
● The General then took five small sheets of the "Poor Friars" handbill from his desk, claiming
they had been discovered in the roll of bedding sent with Rizal's baggage to the Gustom
house, and asked who they could be. Rizal responded that the General was well aware that
the bedding belonged to his sister Lucia, but she was no fool and would not have hidden
five small papers in a place where they were certain to be discovered, whether hidden
within her camisa or stuffed into her stocking (Craig 1913, p 187).
● Rizal was arrested and exiled to Dapitan three days after the organization was founded but
the Liga would soon be overshadowed by another organization, The Kataas-taasang
Kagalang-galang na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan, which was formally established a
day after Rizal's arrest, July 7, 1892, by people who were members of the Liga, led by
Andres Bonifacio, a society they had planned to organize since January 1892.

Exile in Dapitan

(1892- 1896)

The reason behind Rizal's Exile:

Four days after the civic organization's foundation, Jose Rizal was arrested by the Spanish
authorities on four grounds:
1. for publishing anti-Catholic and anti-friar books and articles;
2. for having in possession, a bundle of handbills, the Pobres Frailes, in which advocacies were in
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violation of the Spanish orders;

3. for dedicating his novel, El Filibusterismo to the three "traitors" (Gomez, Burgos and Zamora)
and for emphasizing on the novel's title page that "the only salvation for the Philippines was
separation from the mother country (referring to Spain)".
4. for simply criticizing the religion and aiming for its exclusion from the Filipino culture.
● July 17, 1892 Rizal, together with his guard Captain Ricardo Carnicero, arrived in Dapitan.
● Rizal was given the choice to live in the house of the parish priest, Fr. Antonio Obach or at
Carnicero's house.
He could live in the priest's quarters only if:
● He publicly retracted his Masonic and antichurch beliefs.
● He regularly participates in church rites.
● He conducts himself as a good Spanish subject and a man of religion.
● Rizal made him a bust and composed a poem in his honor, A Don Ricardo Carnicero on his
birthday on August 26, 1892.
● Both men betted on the lottery and won 20,000 pesos Lottery Ticket Number: 9736
● He used his money to build an octagonal house made up of bamboo and nipa in Talisay.
● Rizal built a school and accepted students with no tuition.
● The other part was used for his eye clinic.
● He also built a house for the ladies in his family who were free to visit him in Dapitan.
● Carnicero also wrote a letter to the Governor General to allow his mother and sisters to join
him in Dapitan.
● May 4, 1893 - Carnicero was replaced by Captain Juan Sitges.
● He did not want to live with a deportee.
● He assigned Rizal to live in a house near the headquarters.
● The Jesuits sent his old professor at the Ateneo, Fr. Francisco de Paula Sanchez to entice
him back to the Church.
● He helped clean up the plaza of Dapitan and lit it up at night with coconut oil lamps.
● Rizal stayed there for four years and his life was monotonous, but he had accomplished a
lot. While practicing medicine and pursuing scientific studies, Rizal continued his artistic
and literary works.
● It has also assisted him in improving his language skills, establishing a boys' school and
supporting community development projects. He had invented a wooden machine for
making bricks, in addition to farming and commerce. Despite his many activities, fellow
reformers, as well as eminent scientists and scholars from all over Europe, have praised
him. Jose led a very peaceful, happy and enjoyable life in Dapitan, and the way he lived it
was admirable and worthy of imitation.
● He made the most of his time in Dapitan by participating in a variety of activities. Word of
his exceptional medical abilities spread like wildfire in Dapitan.His medical practice
attracted a large number of low-income patients. He put the curative properties of the
Philippine medicinal plants he studied to good use, dispensing them to his poor patients
who couldn't afford imported medicine.
● Both wealthy and impoverished patients were welcomed. He usually charged them less, if
not for nothing and accepted any in-kind payments from those with little or no money.
Father Francisco Sanchez, Jose's former Jesuit teacher, assisted him in getting to work. He
improved the town plaza by incorporating a large relief map of Mindanao, which is still
visible today.
● One of Jose's most impressive projects was his water system, which he designed and built
so that the people of Dapitan could have access to clean water. Despite lack of funds.
Limited resources and no government assistance, he was able to build it with nothing more
than his Ateneo Education, engineering textbook readings and sheer determination and
ingenuity.
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Plan of the waterworks for Dapitan constructed by Dr. Rizal and the Jesuit lay brother Juan
Costa. Rizal's name was omitted for political reasons.

Water System in Talisay

Specimens collected by Rizal and Father Sanchez, now in the Jesuit Museum.

● To reduce the occurrence of malaria, he drained the marshes where mosquitos thrived. One
five-hundred-peso fee from a rich Englishman was devoted by Rizal to lighting the town and
the community benefited in this way by his charity in addition to the free treatment given its
poor (Craig 1913, p 199).
● Jose, who had been taught the importance of education since childhood, realized his
childhood dream of opening his own school, where he would implement the educational
system he had learned abroad. The school, including the house servants, numbered about
twenty and was taught without books by Rizal, who conducted his recitations from a
hammock.
● Considerable importance was given to mathematics and in languages. English was taught
as well as Spanish, the entire waking period being devoted to the language allotted for the
day, and whoever so far forgot to utter a word in any other tongue was punished by having
to wear a rattan handcuff. The use and meaning of this modern police device had to be
explained to the boys, for Spain still tied her prisoners with rope.
● Nature study consisted in helping the Doctor gather specimens of flowers, shells, insects
and reptiles which were prepared and shipped to German museums. Rizal was paid for
these specimens by scientific books and material. The director of the Royal Zoological and
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Anthropological Museum in Dresden Saxony, Doctor Karl von Heller, was a great friend and
admirer of Doctor Rizal .
● Doctor Heller's father was tutor to the late King Alfonso XII and had many friends at the
Court of Spain. Evidently Doctor Heller and other of his European friends did not consider
Rizal a Spanish insurrectionary, but treated him rather as a reformer seeking progress by
peaceful means (Craig 1913, p 202).
● Jose conducted scientific research and collected animal and plant specimens in Dapitan's
rich virgin field. In exchange for scientific books and surgical instruments, he sent these
specimens to the European Museum in Dresden. He has amassed an impressive collection
of 346 shells from 203 different species as a result of his research. Some of the rare
specimens named after him include Draco rizali (a flying dragon), Apogonia rizali (a small
beetle), and Rhacophorus rizali (a small beetle) (a rare frog).
● While in Dapitan, Jose studied the Bisayan, Subanum, and Malayan languages and wrote
Tagalog grammar. Some of his poems include A Don Ricardo Carnicero, Himno A Talisay
(Hymn to the Talisay Tree), Mi Retiro (My Retreat), El Canto del Viajero (The Traveler's
Song) and Josephine. He also made some drawings and sculptures of people and objects
he found interesting.
● Jose bought 70 hectares of land in Dapitan and built a house, school and hospital on it, as
well as planted fruit trees, corn, coffee, cacao, sugarcane and hemp. He also drew and
sculpted people and objects of interest to him.
● With the assistance of Ramon Carreon, a Dapitan merchant, Jose was successful in his
business ventures in fishing, copra and hemp. He established the Cooperative Association
of Dapitan Farmers to break the Chinese monopoly in Dapitan. The confederation's goal,
according to Rizal, was to "Improve farm products, obtain better outlets for them, collect
funds for their purchases, and assist producers and workers by establishing a store where
they can buy prime commodities at moderate prices.
● He invented the "sulpukan," a wooden cigarette lighter that worked on the principle of
compressed air. Blumentritt then received it as a gift.
● Despite his achievements in Dapitan, Jose felt empty. He longed to be with his family,
relatives and friends. He had the impression that he needed someone to re-energize him.
As Josephine Bracken arrived in Dapitan, Jose found his answer. She arrived in Dapitan
like a ray of sunshine to cheer him up.
● Josephine Bracken was a sweet eighteen-year-old Irish girl who was slim, had blond hair,
blue eyes and dressed elegantly in a light gayety atmosphere. Her parents are both Irish.
On October 3, 1876, her Irish parents, James Bracken, a corporal in the British garrison
and Elizabeth Jane MacBride, gave birth to her in Hong Kong.
● Because her mother died after giving birth to her and because her father, being a military
man, was always on the move, Josephine was adopted by her American godfather George
Edward Taufer.
● Rizal and Josephine tried to have themselves married in Catholic rites but Fr. Obach
required that Rizal retract his beliefs.
● Rizal's relatives and friends looked at Josephine with suspicion and condescension.
● Even without the blessing of the church, Jose and Josephine joyfully shared each other's
lives in Dapitan. His joy was multiplied when he learned that Josephine was expecting a
child. Due to a twist of fate,the baby only lived for three hours. He named his son
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"Francisco" in honor of his father.

● July 7, 1892- Andres Bonifacio established the Kataas Taasang Kagalang-galangang
Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan, a revolutionary society, and staged an armed revolt in
1896.
● Pio Valenzuela - He was given the task of informing Jose Rizal of their plans. To keep his
assignment a secret, Dr. Pio was accompanied by Raymundo Mata, a blind man, to seek
Jose's medical advice.
● Rizal objected to the projected revolution. He said that the revolutionaries must have
enough arms and weapons.
● He also declined Katipuneros's offer to save him.
● Several months before the Katipuneros contacted Jose, Blumentritt informed him of the dire
health situation in war-torn Cuba, specifically the yellow fever epidemic and encouraged
him to volunteer as an army doctor there to end his exile.
● On the advice of a friend, Jose sent a letter to Governor General Ramon Blanco on
December 17, 1895, offering his medical services in Cuba. When he hadn't heard back
after months, he was about to give up hope. However, on July 30, 1896, he received a letter
from the Spanish Governor informing him of his proposal, which surprised him. According to
the letter, he would also be allowed to travel to Manila, where he would be given safe
passage to Spain and then to Cuba.
● Jose Rizal emotionally left a town he had grown to love on July 31, 1896. Many teary-eyed
Dapitan residents gathered on the beach to say their final goodbyes to a man who gave his
all for his hometown. Jose saluted the town's devoted and friendly residents with a weeping
heart filled with nostalgic tears.

Trial and Execution of Dr. Jose Rizal

● Dec. 1985 - Rizal sent a letter to Gov. Gen. Blanco to be a volunteer in Cuba
● July 30, 1896 - Rizal received a letter from Blanco, accepting his offer
● Sept. 2, 1896 - He left Manila for Barcelona, Spain
● Oct. 3, 1896 Rizal was arrested. It was an order from Gov. Gen. Blanco.
● Oct. 6, 1896 - He aboard the steamer Colon going back to Manila
● There was an attempt to rescue Rizal by means of a writ of habeas corpus but it did not
materialize and he was still held as a prisoner.
● Nov. 3. 1896 - Colon reached Manila and Rizal was transferred to Fort Santiago. His
brother (Paciano) was tortured to go against his brother but he refused to.

Preliminary Investigation

Nov. 20, 1896 - Nov. 26, 1896

Preliminary Investigation
Judge Advocate Colonel Francisco Olive
Documentary and testimonial evidences were presented
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After the preliminary investigation, Judge Advocate General Don Nicolas de la Pena recommended that:

The accused be immediately put to trial

The accused must be kept in prison
An order of attachment be issued against his property as an indemnity
The accused should be defended in court by an army officer
● Dec. 8, 1896 From a list given to Rizal, he chose Lt. Luis Taviel de Andrade to defend him
in court. He was the brother of Jose Taviel de Andrade who was the bodyguard of Rizal in
Calamba.
● Dec. 11, 1896 - Rizal was read the charges against him. He was accused of being the
principal figure behind the revolution.
● Dec. 13, 1896 - Governor General Ramon Blanco was replaced by Camilo de Polavieja
● Dec. 15, 1896 - Rizal wrote a manifesto government suppressed it.. calling to end the
rebellion. The
● Dec. 26, 2896 - Rizal was tried by a military court at the Cuartel de Espana. He was found
guilty of rebellion, sedition, and conspiracy. The court ordered that Rizal be executed by
firing squad at 7:00 in the morning of Dec. 30, 1896 at Bagumbayan (Luneta).

Execution

● Dec. 28, 1896 - Gov. Gen, Polavieja signed the death verdict.
● Dec. 29, 1896

• Rizal was read his verdict by Captain Rafael Dominguez.

• Fr. Miguel Saddera and Fr. Luis Viza visited him. Rizal asked for the Sacred Heart
statuette that he carved when he was in Ateneo.

• Fr. Federico Faura, who once said that Rizal would lose his head for writing the Noli Me
Tangere, arrived. Rizal told him, "Father you are indeed a prophet."

• Rizal wrote an untitled poem. It was later known as Mi Ultimo Adios (My Last Farewell)

• In the afternoon, Rizal's family visited him and gave an alcohol stove saying "There is
something inside".

● Dec. 30, 1896

• Rizal gave Josephine Bracken the book Imitations of Christ in which he wrote "To my
dear and unhappy wife, Josephine, December 30, 1896, Jose Rizal.

• The walk from Fort Santiago to Bagumbayan started at 6:30 am. The firing squad was
composed of Filipino soliders of the Spanish army.

• At exactly 7:00, they arrived on the site and Rizal's pulse was checked by Dr.

• Felipe Ruiz Castillo. Surprisingly, it was normal.

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• Before he was shot, Rizal shouted his last words, "Consummatum est" (It is finished)

• Rizal died at exactly 7:03 in the morning.

• The family did not get the body. Narcisa searched for it and found it in the Paco Cemetery.
She asked to place a marble plaque containing Rizal's intials in revers 'RPJ'.

● After 1896

• Aug. 17, 1898 - Rizal's remains were exhumed and were brought to Narcisa's house. It
stayed there until 1912.

•Dec. 29, 1912 - The urn containing Rizal's remains was transferred from Binondo to the
marble hall of the Ayuntamiento de Manila where it was gurarded by the Knights of Rizal.

•Dec. 30, 1912 - In a solemn procession, Rizal's remains were brought to its resting place,
the soon-to-rise monument of him in Luneta.

•Dec. 30, 1913 - The Motto Stella (Guiding Star) was inaugurated. It was made by Swiss
sculptor. Dr. Richard Keisling.

Prepared by:
Merced, Cindy Rose A.
Osonero, Pearl Joy A.
Tolosa, Yie Shahana Marie S.