The Trial and Martyrdom of Rizal

The Trial and Martyrdom of
Rizal
The Trial of Rizal
• An eloquent proof of Spanish injustice and
misrule
• A mistrial
• He was considered guilty before the actual
trial
• December 26, 1896 – the court martial started
at 8:00 am in the Military building known as
Cuartel de España.
• There are Seven Members of the Military
Court:
– Lt. Col. Jose Togores Arjona – president
– Capt. Ricardo Muñoz Arias
– Capt. Manuel Reguera
– Capt. Santiago Izquierdo Osorio
• There are Seven Members of the Military
Court:
– Lt. Col. Jose Togores Arjona – president
– Capt. Ricardo Muñoz Arias
– Capt. Manuel Reguera
– Capt. Santiago Izquierdo Osorio
– Capt. Braulio Rodriguez
– Capt. Manuel Diaz Escribano
– Capt. Fermin Perez Rodriguez
• Lt. Enrique Alcocer – Prosecuting Attorney
• Rizal sat on a bench between two soldiers, his

arms were tied behind, elbow to elbow.
– He wore a black woolen suit with white vest and
black tie
– Rizal proved his innocence by twelve points.
• He could not be guilty of rebellion, for he
advised Dr. Pio Valenzuela in Dapitan not to
rise in revolution.
• He did not correspond with the radical,
revolutionary elements.
• The revolutionists used his name without his
knowledge. If he were guilty he could have
escaped in Singapore.
• If he had a hand in the revolution, he could
have escaped in a Moro vinta and would not
have built a home, a hospital, and bought
lands in Dapitan.
• If he were the chief of the revolution, why was
he not consulted by the revolutionists?
• It was true he wrote the by-laws of the La Liga
Filipina, but this is only a civic association, not
a revolutionary society.
• The La Liga Filipina did not live long, for after
the first meeting he was banished to Dapitan
and it died out.
• If the La Liga Filipina was reorganized nine
months later, he did not know about it.
• The La Liga Filipina did not serve the purpose
of the revolutionists, otherwise they would
not have supplanted it with the Katipunan.
• If it were true that there were some bitter
comments in Rizal’s letters, it was because
they were written in 1890 when his family was
being persecuted, being dispossessed of
houses, warehouses, lands, etc. and his
brother and all his brothers-in-law were
deported.
• His life in Dapitan had been exemplary as the
politico-military commanders and missionary
priests could attest.
• It was not true that the revolution was
inspired by his one speech at the house of
Doroteo Ongjungco, as alleged by witnesses
whom he would like to confront. His friends
knew his opposition to armed rebellion. Why
did the Katipunan send an emissary to Dapitan
who was unknown to him? Because those
who knew him were aware that he would
never sanction any violent movement.
• The military court, prejudiced as it was,
remained indifferent to Rizal’s pleading.
• After a short deliberation, the military court
unanimously voted for the sentence of DEATH.
• On the same day, the court decision was

submitted to Gov. Gen. Polavieja.
Polavieja signs Rizal’s EXECUTION
• December 28 – Polavieja approved the
decision of the court-martial and ordered Rizal
to be shot at 7:00 o’clock in the morning of
December 30, 1896.
Martyrdom at Bagumbayan
Last Hours of Rizal
• 6:00 am – (December 29) – Captain Rafael
Dominguez – designated by Gov. Gen.
Polavieja to take charge of all arrangements
for the execution of the condemned prisoner,
read the death sentence to Rizal
• To be shot by a firing squad at 7:00 am in

Bagumbayan.
• 7: 00 am – Rizal was moved to the prison
chapel where he spent his last moments
– He was visited by:
• Father Miguel Saderra – Rector of Ateneo
• Father Luis Viza – Jesuit teacher
• 7:15 am – Rizal reminded Father Viza of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus which he had carved
with his pen knife as an Ateneo student.
– Father Viza brought it and gave it to Rizal
• 8:00 am – Fr. Antonio Rosell arrived to relieve
Fr. Viza. Rizal and Fr. Rosell ate breakfast
together
– Lt. Luis Taviel de Andrade arrived and Rizal
thanked him for his gallant services
• 9:00 Father Federico Faura arrived. Rizal
reminded him of what he said that he would
someday lose his head for writing the Noli.
• 10:00 am – Fathers Jose Vilaclara (Rizal’s
teacher in Ateneo) and Vicente Balaguer
(Jesuit missionary in Dapitan who had
befriended Rizal during the latter’s exile)
visited him.
• Santiago Mataix – a Spanish journalist
interviewde Rizal for his newspaper El Heraldo
de Madrid.
• 12:00 noon to 3:30 pm – Rizal was left alone
• He wrote his farewell poem and hid it inside
his alcohol cooking stove (not lamp) which
was given by Paz Pardo de Tavera during his
visit in Paris.
• He wrote his last letter to his best friend in
German
• 3:30 pm – Father Balaguer returned and
discussed with Rizal about his retraction of the
anti-Catholic ideas in his writings and
membership in Masonry.
• 4:00 pm – Rizal’s mother arrived.
– Rizal knelt before her and kissed her hands,
begging her to forgive him.
– Trinidad entered the cell to fetch her mother
• Rizal gave her the alcohol cooking stove, whispering in
English that something is inside.
• Fathers Vilaclara and Estanislao March
entered the cell, followed by Fr. Rosell.
• 6:00 pm – Rizal received a new visitor, Don
Silvino Lopez Tuñon – dean of the Manila
Cathedral
• 8:00 pm – Rizal had his last supper.
• Informed Captain Dominguez that he forgave
his enemies including military judges who
condemned him to death.
• 9:30 pm – Rizal was visited by Don Gaspar
Cestaño – the fiscal of the Royal Audiencia of
Manila.
• 10:00 pm – the draft of the retraction letter
sent by the anti-Filipino Archbishop
Bernardino Nozaleda was submitted by Fr.
Balaguer to Rizal for signature, but the latter
rejected because it was too long.
• Father Balaguer showed a shorter retraction
which was prepared by Father Pio Pi –
Superior of the Jesuit Society in the
Philippines, which was acceptable to Rizal.
• 3:00 am (December 30) – Rizal heard Mass,
confessed his sins, and took Holy Communion.
• 5:30 am – he took his last breakfast on earth
• Rizal wrote two letters, first addressed to his
family and second to his only brother Paciano.
• First Letter:
– Rizal was asking for forgiveness for all the pain
that he has cause his family
– A message to his sisters to love their parents so as
to be treated the same by their children in time.
– He wanted to be buried in the ground, with a
stone and a cross over it, with his name, birth and
death.
– Have pity on Josephine
• Second Letter
– He told his brother how much he misses him. Not
seeing him for 4 years and a half.
– He was sorry for leaving his brother burdened
with the weight of the family and their old
parents.
– His gratefulness on how hard his brother worked
to give him a career, believing that he tried not to
waste time.
• He knows that his brother suffered much on his
behalf
• He assured his brother that his innocent of the crime
of rebellion.
• 5:30 am – Josephine Bracken accompanied by

Josefa arrived.
– With tears in her eyes, she bid farewell to Jose.
• Rizal gave Josephine a religious book Imitation
of Christ by Father Thomas a Kempis, which he
signed “to my dearest unhappy wife,
Josephine”
• 6:00 am – the soldiers were getting ready for

the death march to Bagumbayan.
– Rizal wrote his last letters to his parents.
Death March to Bagumbayan
• 6:30 am – a trumpet sounded at Fort Santiago,
a signal to begin the death march to
Bagumbayan, the designated place for the
execution.
• The advance guard of four soldiers with
bayoneted rifles moved.
• Rizal walked calmly, with his defense counsel
(Andrade), and two Jesuit priests (Fathers
March and Vilaclara) on his side.
• Rizal was dressed elegantly in a black suit,
black derby hat, black shoes, white shirt, and
black tie.
• His arms tied from elbow to elbow
• There was a handful of spectators lining the
street of the Manila Cathedral
Martyrdom of a Hero
• Rizal bade farewell to Fathers March and
Vilaclara and his counsel Luis Taviel de
Andrade.
• He was blessed by one of the priests blessed
him and offered him a crucifix to kiss.
• Rizal reverently bowed his head and kissed it.
• He requested the commander of the firing
squad that he be shot facing them. He was
denied.
• Dr. Felipe Ruiz Castillo – a Spanish military
physician asked his permission to feel his
pulse.
– It was normal.
• Rizal died at exactly 7:03 am aged 35 years,
five months and 11 days.
• He predicted 14 years ago that he would die

on December 30th. He was still a student in
Madrid then.
• After he was executed, the Spanish spectators
shouted “Long Live Spain! Death to the
Traitors!” and the Spanish military Band
joining the jubilance over Rizal’s death, played
the Marcha de Cadiz.

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The Trial and Martyrdom of

• Rizal sat on a bench between two soldiers, his

• On the same day, the court decision was

• To be shot by a firing squad at 7:00 am in

• 5:30 am – Josephine Bracken accompanied by

• 6:00 am – the soldiers were getting ready for

• He predicted 14 years ago that he would die

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