LIFE AND WORKS OF RIZAL

5 Rizal’s Life: Exile, Trial, and

Death
OVERVIEW
Rizal lived in exile in far-away Dapitan, a remote town in Mindanao which was under the
missionary jurisdiction of the Jesuits, from 1892 to 1896. This four-year inter regnum in his life was
tediously unexciting, but was abundantly fruitful with varied achievements. He practiced medicine,
pursued scientific studies, continued his artistic and literary works, widened his knowledge of
languages, established a school for boys, promoted community development projects, invented a
wooden machine for making bricks, and engaged in farming and commerce. Despite his multifarious
activities, he kept an extensive correspondence with his family, relatives, fellow reformists, and
eminent scientists and scholars of Europe, including Blumentritt

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Specifically, after learning the module, you are expected to:

 Analyze the factors that led to Rizal‟s execution.

 Analyze the effects of Rizal‟s execution on Spanish colonial rule and the Philippine
Revolution.
 Analyze Rizal‟s ideas on how to rewrite Philippines history.
 Compare and contrast Rizal and Morga‟s about Filipinos and Philippine culture.

Learning Task 1

Make a pictorial timeline of the Life of Rizal and events before his execution

1.1 Rizal in Dapitan

On July 17, 1892, together with his guard Captain Ricardo Carnicero, Rizal arrived in Dapitan.
In his first night, he viewed Dapitan as a place full of darkness and it ended his career. The first
problem which he encountered in Dapitan was the place where he would stay. He was not allowed to
stay in the Jesuit house because according to Fr. Pastels he needed to retract all the things that
he wrote against the church and because he did not want to retract his writings he chose to
live in the house of Capitan Ricardo Carnicero.

Captain Ricardo, Jose Rizal and the other guard decide to bet on a lottery and luckily they
20,000 pesos. They divided the money among themselves and Jose Rizal used the money

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 LIFE AND WORKS OF RIZAL

that he received to purchase land which was one kilometer away from Dapitan, the place of
Talisay. His guard allowed him to put up a house in Talisay on the condition that he would
report to Captain Ricardo three times a day. And because he earned the trust of Captain
Ricardo he was able to live in Talisay in his in Dapitan.

Contribution to Dapitan

1. He opened an eye clinic for the poor, some of his patients came from the different
parts of the country and from Hongkong.
2. He developed waterways so that the people in Talisay, Dapitan could have a clean
water.
3. He developed a system for the lighting and cleaning of the areas to avoid mosquitos.
4. He established a school that catered to education of the young people for free.
5. He taught the more advance system of farming.
6. He initiated the founding of a cooperative for the fishermen in Talisay.
7. He developed studies about the different species that could be found in Dapitan.
8. He invented “sulpukan” lighter and the machinery in making bricks.
9. He initiated the foundation of the cooperative for the farmers.
10. He worked for the development of the sugar, abaca and lumber trading.

In Dapitan, he also wrote a letter to Fr. Pastells to defend himself against the accusation of the

Learning Task 2

1. What were Rizal's activities in Dapitan and its impact?

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2. What were the reasons why Rizal exiled in Dapitan?

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The Lovelife of Rizal in Dapitan

His busy life in Dapitan did not become a hindrance for Rizal to have an affair. On this far
Island came his dulce estragera Josephine Bracken. She went to Dapitan with Mr. George

Tauffer, a blind man who adapted Josephine. Because Rizal was known as an eye specialist in Hong

Kong Mr. Tauffer decide to go to Dapitan to consult his condition with Jose Rizal. While staying in
Dapitan, Josephine fell in love with Jose }Jose Rizal} while Rizal was also attracted to the charming

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face and kind behavior of Josephine. Rizal mother objected to their relationship because Josephine
had mysterious origin. She had a modest education and worked in a restaurant in Hong Kong. But
Jose Rizal ask his parents and sisters to accept Josephine because according to Rizal, Josephine
tried her best to make him happy. And this was evident on the letter written by Rizal to his mother.

Dapitan, 15 January 1896

My very dear mother

I received your affectionate letter and im very sorry about the troubles you had had.

I‟m very much surprised that you have given 40 pesos to my brother Paciano because
it seems to me doesn‟t need them. I gave him the balance that cost me 18 pesos and for you
and my father the 44 pesos as a Christmas gift. If my brother took it because of necessity, it is
all right. I place at his disposal all that I have, though I don‟t have much. I know he will devote
it to a useful purpose.

What you write me about telegram petitioning for my freedom that Maneng saw can be
true; but I‟m already so disappointed with all the hope they have given me that in truth I just
smile. I have so many enemies! And my very compatriots and friends who are at Madrid are
working so that I may not get out of here! They tell mehat those who prevented my transfer to
Vigan were my “friends” at Malolos I don‟t know who they are but may God reward them.

I bought here a piece of land beside a river that has great resemblance to the calamba
River with the only difference that his there is wider and its stream is more abodant and
crystalline. How it has remind me of Calamba! My land has 6,000 abaca plants. If you want to
come here, I will build a house where we can all live together until you die. I am going to
persuade my farther to come and beside me I hope he will always be guy. My land is beautiful,
it is in the enter ior, 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 (1) of corn .Little by little we can buy the remaining lands near mine. There are plenty
of dalag (mudfish), pako (ferns), and little round stones. Hydraulic machines can be installed.

I have employed the energies of my youth serving my country, though my compatriots

do not want to acknowledge it. However, it cannot be denied my compatriots do not want to
acknowledge it. However, it cannot be denied that we have succeeded that in Spain they pay
attention to the Philippines, for this was what was lacking. God and Spain will do the rest ; so I
hope. My service are now useless and all I wish is to serve you and my father and help my
sisters. If you come and they grant me freedom to establish myself there, we are going to
revive our old town, without friars or civil guards, without bandits. It I true that this river and
my land have no memories for me as Calamba has; but we cannot have everything nor can we
obtain everything that we wish. I would like to be God and I am not even a sacristan, which,
according to some, is the first step to be near God.

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 LIFE AND WORKS OF RIZAL

I don‟t want you to give me the bicycle as a gift, but I want to buy it with my own money. At
Ullmann‟s they sell new and good ones for 175 pesos, but I want one that is less expensive,
sturdy, second-hand, for use in these very rough place so harmful to metal objects.

If they let me live on my land (2) I intend to plant coconut trees.

Training and Pangoy want to come with some nephews. I say that they consult you.

You will received a small quantity of salted fish prepared by the person who lives at my
home. She is good, obedient, and meek. All that we lack is to be married; but as you yourself
say, „‟It is better to be in the grace of God than married in mortal sin”. Until now we have not
quarreled and when I lecture to her, she does not answer back. If you come and live with her, I
hope you will get along with her. Moreover, she has nobody else in the world but me. I‟m all
her kindred.

With nothing more, my dear mother, I hope we meet soon.

Your son who adores you,

Jose Rizal

Even if he loved Josephine, he could not marry her because during those time there was no civil
wedding. The only way to wed was through the church and it Rizal wanted to marry Josephine, he
need to retract the content of his novels and Rizal could not do that. So he and Josephine went inside
the church and while facing the crucifix, promised that they would love each other like married couple.

Josephine got pregnant and Jose Rizal was excited to finally have a child but unfortunately
because of the still unknown reasons although there were a lot of speculations, Josephine had a
miscarriage. To relieve the sadness of Josephine, they adopted a child named Maria, but then the
parents of Maria took their child back.

When Rizal was imprisoned in Fort Santiago, Josephine lived with the family of Rizal but because
Teodora Alonso did not want her, she decided to live with her friend Manuela, a known mistress of a
friar. After the death of Rizal, Josephine said that Rizal married her so she was entitled to an
inheritance. She was said to be the source of the issue of Rizal‟s retraction . When she could not get
anything from the family of Rizal, she stole some of the paintings and documents of Rizal and sold
those paintings in Hong Kong and one of them was the painting of Juan Luna entitled “The Parisian
Life” .

Literary Works in Dapitan

 Hymn to Talisay
 My Retreat

Imprisonment and Trial in Fort Santiago

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Rizal‟s deportation to Dapitan only listed four years 1892-1896 . He asked Governor General
blangko if he could serve as a doctor under the Spanish flag in Cuba. The governor general granted
his request, however, because of the influential people who wanted execute hem, Governor General
Blanco was pressured to follow the order. On July 31, 1896, his exile to Dapitan ended. On August 6,
1896 he rode a ship name Castilla and waited for the start of his strip going to Spain and then to
Spain to Cuba. On August 26, 1896, the uprising against the Spaniards started and on August 30,
1896, Governor General Blanco declared the state of war against the eight provinces in the
Philippines. On September 2, 1896, Rizal‟s trip going to Spain started and he was not aware that he
was being accused as the leader of the said uprising On September 28 1896, Rizal was able to know
the plan of Blanco against him. On October 3, 1896, Rizal reached Barcelona but he was not allowed
to go down the ship and he was under the watch of General Eulogio Despujol the same person who
signed his deportation to Dapitan four years ago. On November 3, 1896, he reached Manila and was
imprisoned in Fort Santiago.

The Trial

Upon his return in Manila, he imprisoned in Fort Santiago while the Spanish authorities were
investigating his case. On November 20, 1896, the Spanish authorities discussed the nature of his
case. They used the different poems, novels and letters of Rizal against him. Among the writing which
were used against him were the Hymn for Talisay , Noli Me Tngere , El Filibusterismo, his speeches
and letters to his friends which and government. He was accused as to encourage rebellion against
the church and government. He was accused as the leader of the uprising and the founder of KKK
since some of the KKK were present in the establishment of La Liga Filipinas. They also found the
photograph of Rizal in the headquarters of KKK and his name was also used as the password of KKK.

On December 8, 1896, Rizal choose from among the names given to him, the person who
could be his legal counsel. And he choose Luise Taviel de Andrade, the brother of his former guard.

On December 25, 1896, Rizal presented the letter to his countrymen stating that the leaders
of the uprising only used his name to collect funds and he was not connected to the uprising.

On December 16, 1896, trial against Rizal started. And to defend himself, he wrote the
following statement:

1. Starting in July 1892, he had no political affiliation or any participation in any political acts. And
when the Katipuneros asked Pio Valenzuela to talk to him about the plan, he tried to convince him
that they Valenzuela to talk to him about the plan, he tried to convince him that they should go back
on the side of the government and cooperate.

2. It was not true that he had conversation or correspondence to the rebels and there was no letter
that could prove his communications to the leader of KKK.

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3. His decision to become a volunteer doctor to Cuba was the evidence that he wanted to reconcile
with ther Spanish government. And if he had intention to escape, he could have done it while he was
in Singapore.

4. In Dapitan, he had a small boat or kayak which he could use if he really had intention to escape or
join the rebel group.

5. If he was the leader of the uprising, he should know all the plans and the other members should
constantly ask for his advice.

6. The truth was that he only established the La Liga Filipina , a civic society which aimed for the
reform of the government.

7. The aims of La Liga Filipina was not realized because of his deportation to Dapitan.

8. He was not aware of the continuous establishment of La Liga Filipina after his deportation to
Dapitan.

9. The La Liga Filipina had no connection to the KKK since their aims were in contrast.

10. The time when he wrote his novel should be considered because the injustices that he discussed
in his works were based on the injustices that his family had experienced.

11. In his four years of deportation in Dapitan, he followed all the rules and this could be attested by
his guards and other missionaries who had contact with him during his deportation.

12. All the things that the authorities accused him of were baseless and there was no one who could
testify to his direct involvement to the uprising.

The Decision

Governor General Despujol reviewed all things related to the case of Rizal and the friars were
not happy .with the way Despujol was handling the case of Rizal so using their influence, they
replaced Despujol and appointed Governor General Camilio Polavieja.

On December 26, 1896, the trial was held and all of the evidence were presented to
Governor General Camilio Polavieja. Then Polavieja presented the documents to Lt. Col. Togores
Arjona. On December 29, 1896, then Governor General signed the decision that Jose Rizal would be
executed at 7:00 AM in Bagumbayan.

On December 29, 1896, Rizal was informed about the decision and he was not surprised. On
his remaining time, he wrote letters to his family and friends.

To my family,

I ask you for forgiveness for the pain I cause you, but someday I shall
have to die and it is better that I die now in the plenitude of my conscience.

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 LIFE AND WORKS OF RIZAL

Dear parents and brothers: give thanks to God that I may preserve my
tranquility before my death. I die resigned, hoping that with my death you will be left
in peace. Ah! It is better to die than to live suffering. Console yourselves.

I enjoin you to forgive one another the little meanness of lifr and try to
live united in peace and good harmony. Treat your old parents as you would like to be
treated by your children later. Love them very much in my memory.

Bury me in the ground. Place a stone and cross over it. My name, the
date of my birth and of my death . Nothing more. If later you wish to surround my
grace with a fence, you can do it. No anniversaries. I prefer Paang Bundok.
Have pity on poor Josephine.

Jose Rizal

Aside from the letters to his friends and family, he also wrote a poem stating his last farewell
to his countrymen.

My Last Farewell

by Jose Rizal

Farewell, dear Fatherland, clime of the Pour'd out at need for thy dear sake
sun caressed To dye with its crimson the waking ray.
Pearl of the Orient seas, our Eden lost!,
Gladly now I go to give thee this faded My dreams, when life first opened to me,
life's best, My dreams, when the hopes of youth beat
And were it brighter, fresher, or more blest high,
Still would I give it thee, nor count the Were to see thy lov'd face, O gem of the
cost. Orient sea
From gloom and grief, from care and
On the field of battle, 'mid the frenzy of sorrow free;
fight, No blush on thy brow, no tear in thine eye.
Others have given their lives, without
doubt or heed; Dream of my life, my living and burning
The place matters not-cypress or laurel or desire,
lily white, All hail ! cries the soul that is now to take
Scaffold or open plain, combat or flight;
martyrdom's plight, All hail ! And sweet it is for thee to expire ;
T is ever the same, to serve our home and To die for thy sake, that thou mays aspire;
country's need. And sleep in thy bosom eternity's long
night.
I die just when I see the dawn break,
Through the gloom of night, to herald the If over my grave someday thou sees grow,
day; In the grassy sod, a humble flower,
And if color is lacking my blood thou shalt Draw it to thy lips and kiss my soul so,
take,

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 LIFE AND WORKS OF RIZAL

While I may feel on my brow in the cold 'T is I, O my country, raising a song unto
tomb below thee.
The touch of thy tenderness, thy breath's
warm power. And even my grave is remembered no
more
Let the moon beam over me soft and Unmark'd by never a cross nor a stone
serene, Let the plow sweep through it, the spade
Let the dawn shed over me its radiant turn it o'er
flashes, That my ashes may carpet earthly floor,
Let the wind with sad lament over me Before into nothingness at last they are
keen ; blown.
And if on my cross a bird should be seen,
Let it trill there its hymn of peace to my Then will oblivion bring to me no care
ashes. As over thy vales and plains I sweep;
Throbbing and cleansed in thy space and
Let the sun draw the vapors up to the sky, air
And heavenward in purity bear my tardy With color and light, with song and lament
protest I fare,
Let some kind soul o 'er my untimely fate Ever repeating the faith that I keep.
sigh,
And in the still evening a prayer be lifted My Fatherland ador'd, that sadness to my
on high sorrow lends
From thee, 0 my country, that in God I Beloved Filipinas, hear now my last good-
may rest. by!
I give thee all: parents and kindred and
Pray for all those that hapless have died, friends
For all who have suffered the unmeasured For I go where no slave before the
pain; oppressor bends,
For our mothers that bitterly their woes Where faith can never kill, and God reigns
have cried, e'er on high!
For widows and orphans, for captives by
torture tried Farewell to you all, from my soul torn
And then for thyself that redemption thou away,
mays gain. Friends of my childhood in the home
dispossessed !
And when the dark night wraps the Give thanks that I rest from the wearisome
graveyard around day !
With only the dead in their vigil to see Farewell to thee, too, sweet friend that
Break not my repose or the mystery lightened my way;
profound Beloved creatures all, farewell! In death
And perchance thou mayst hear a sad there is rest !
hymn resound
Translated by Charles Derbyshire

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 LIFE AND WORKS OF RIZAL

The Execution

On December 30, 1896, at 6: 30 AM, Jose Rizal Taviel de Andrade, Fr. March and Fr.
Villaclara left Fort Santiago to Face the execution of Rizal. According to physician who
examined Rizal, his heartbeat was normal at the time of the execution. Before he was shot,
he asked the guards to spare his head and if he could face the firing squad during the
execution. But the second request was not granted since he was considered as a traitor. At
7:00 in the morning he was executed in Bagumbayan.

Assessment 2
1. What were the charges against Rizal before his execution ?
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2. Why did Rizal wrote my last farewell?
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3. What is the message of the last farewell of Rizal?
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 LIFE AND WORKS OF RIZAL

1.2 Annotation of Antonio Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas

THREE PURPOSES FOR

RIZAL’S ANNOTATION:

1. Awaken the unconsciousness of the

Filipinos of their glorious ways of the
past.
2. Correct what has been distorted
about the Philippines due to Spanish
conquest.
3. Proved that Filipinos are civilized even
before the coming of the Spaniards.

FERDINAND BLUMENTRITT WROTE THE PREFACE OF THE ANNOTATION

IMPORTANT POINTS OF THE PREFACE:

 Spaniards have to correct their wrong idea of the Filipinos as children of limited intelligence.
 Rizal‟s comments were unique for it is from the point of view of victims of Spanish colonialism.

THERE ARE THREE KINDS OF SPANISH DELUSIONS ABOUT THE PHILIPPINES:

(1) Filipinos were an inferior race;

(2) Filipinos were not ready for reforms;

(3) denial of equal rights cannot be repaid by strict dispensation of justice.- Spain had to learn
Philippine realities from Rizal‟s new edition of Morga‟s Sucesos.- If Spanish authorities will not listen
to the Filipinos, the Philippines will be lost through their own fault.

RIZAL’S ANNOTATION OF MORGA’S SUCESOS DE LAS ISLAS FILIPINAS

 Rizal took 4 months for research and writing and 1 year to have his manuscript
printed
 The annotation consisted of 8 chapters
 First 7 chapters were on the events during the time of the first 11 governor-generals
in the Philippines.
 Last chapter was focused on customs of the Filipinos.
 His notes were of three categories: anti-clerical, sociological and historical.

THREE MAIN PROPOSITIONS IN RIZAL’S NEW EDITION OF MORGA’S SUCESOS:

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1. The people of the Philippines had a culture of their own before the coming of the Spaniards
2. The Filipinos were decimated, demoralized, exploited and ruined by Spanish colonization
3. The present state of the Philippines was not necessarily superior to its past.
4.
IMPORTANCE OF RIZAL’S ANNOTATION TO THE PRESENT GENERATION
 To awake in the Filipinos the consciousness of our past
 To devote ourselves to studying the future
 To first lay bare the past, in order to better judge the present and to survey the road
trodden during three centuries
 To prove Filipinos had a culture of their own prior to colonization, that the Filipinos
were NOT INFERIOR to the white man.
 To shatter the myth of the so-called ‘’Indolence of the Filipinos’’
 To reduce those Filipinos who denied their native tongue into rotten fish
 To seriously study study Tagalog and produce a comprehensive Tagalog discovery
 To embrace the generic term „‟Indio‟‟, or in in today‟s case, Filipino, with all its
negative connotations, and turn it into one of dignity and nobility

Assessment 2
1. Why did Rizal annotate the book of Antonio Morga's Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas?
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2. What Rizal emphasized in annotating Morga's Sucesos Islas de Filipinas?
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3. Compare and contrast Rizal and Morga‟s different views about Philippine culture.
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Summary

Rizal was executed by the Spanish colonial government for the crime of rebellion after the
Philippine Revolution, inspired in part by his writings, broke out. Though he was not actively involved
in its planning or conduct, he ultimately approved of its goals which eventually led to Philippine
independence.

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 LIFE AND WORKS OF RIZAL

By publishing Rizal annotated version of de Morga's Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (Events of the
Philippine Islands, originally published in 1609), Rizal's intent was not only to provide the Filipino
people their early history, a pre-Spanish history, but to present to them their own authentic culture and
identity. Aware of most of the books written about the Philippines, he selected the Sucesos because
he "considered it necessary to invoke the testimony of an illustrous Spaniard who governed the
destinies of the Philippines in the beginning of her new era and witnessed the last moments of our
ancient nationality." His annotations included clarifications and amplifications of details, refutations of
statements where necessary, and confirmations when checked against other sources.

Rizal offered the annotated Sucesos to the Filipinos with the wise counsel that "to foretell the destiny
of a nation, it is necessary to open the books that tell of her past."

Required Readings:

• Zaide, Gregorio F. JOSE RIZAL: Life, Works and Writings of a Genius, Writer, Scientist, and
National Hero, Second Edition. Quezon City: All-Nations Publishing Co, .Inc. 2008

• Rev. Msgr. Gaspar D. Balerite, H.P., S. Th.D. JOSE RIZAL: HUMAN AND CATHOLIC, 1302 Pasay
City, Philippines. Published Paulines

 Virlyn Francisco, Paul Micah Francisco, Rex Oliver T. Papel, MAT., Rizal: A Modular Approach
Bsed On The New Ched Curriculum ., Rm. 108, ICP Bldg., Recoletos St., Intramuros, Manila:
Mindshapers Co., Inc

References:

 Virlyn Francisco, Paul Micah Francisco, Rex Oliver T. Papel, MAT., Rizal A Modular
Approach Bsed On The New Ched Curriculum., Rm. 108, ICP Bldg., Recoletos St.,
Intramuros, Manila: Mindshapers Co., Inc
 https://www.univie.ac.at/Voelkerkunde/apsis/aufi/rizal/rzpoem2.htm
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Rizal
 https://www.coursehero.com/file/p3ol523/o-RIZALS-ANNOTATION-OF-MORGAS-
SUCESOS-DE-LAS-ISLAS-FILIPINAS-Three-purposes-for/
 https://www.univie.ac.at/Voelkerkunde/apsis/aufi/rizal/hall03.htm

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