A.

NOLI ME TANGERE

 Noli Me Tangere is a novel by Filipino polymath and national hero José Rizal first published in
1887 in Berlin. Early English translations used titles like An Eagle Flight (1900) and The Social
Cancer (1912), but more recent translations have been published using the original Latin title.

 Though originally written in Spanish, it is more commonly published and read in the Philippines in
either Filipino or English. Together with its sequel, El Filibusterismo, the reading of Noli is
obligatory for junior high school students throughout the archipelago.

Publication of the Noli

 Rizal finished the novel on December 1886. At first, according to one of Rizal's biographers, Rizal
feared the novel might not be printed, and that it would remain unread. He was struggling with
financial constraints at the time and thought it would be hard to pursue printing the novel. A
financial aid came from a friend named Máximo Viola which helped him print his book at a fine print
media in Berlin named Berliner Buchdruckerei-Actiengesellschaft. Rizal at first, however, hesitated
but Viola insisted and ended up lending Rizal P300 for 2,000 copies; Noli was eventually printed in
Berlin, Germany. The printing was finished earlier than the estimated five months. Viola arrived in
Berlin in December 1886, and by March 21, 1887, Rizal had sent a copy of the novel to his friend
Blumentritt.

Major Characters

 Juan Crisóstomo Ibarra y Magsalin, commonly referred to the novel as Ibarra or Crisóstomo, is the
protagonist in the story. Son of a Filipino businessman, Don Rafael Ibarra, he studied in Europe for
seven years. Ibarra is also María Clara's fiancé. Several sources claim that Ibarra is also Rizal's
reflection: both studied in Europe and both persons believe in the same ideas. Upon his return,
Ibarra requested the local government of San Diego to construct a public school to promote
education in the town.

 In the sequel of Noli, El Filibusterismo, Ibarra returned with different character and name: he called
himself as Simoun, the English mestizo.

 María Clara de los Santos y Alba, commonly referred to as María Clara, is Ibarra's fiancée. She
was raised by Capitán Tiago, San Diego's cabeza de barangay and is the most beautiful and
widely celebrated girl in San Diego. In the later parts of the novel, María Clara's identity was
revealed as an illegitimate daughter of Father Dámaso, former parish curate of the town, and Doña
Pía Alba, wife of Capitán Tiago. In the end she entered local covenant for nuns Beaterio de Santa
Clara. In the epilogue dealing with the fate of the characters, Rizal stated that it is unknown if María
Clara is still living within the walls of the covenant or she is already dead.

 The character of María Clara was patterned after Leonor Rivera, Rizal's first cousin and childhood
sweetheart.
  Don Santiago de los Santos, known by his nickname Tiago and political title Capitán Tiago is a
Filipino businessman and the cabeza de barangay or head of barangay of the town of San Diego.
He is also the known father of María Clara.

 In the novel, it is said that Capitán Tiago is the richest man in the region of Binondo and he
possessed real properties in Pampanga and Laguna de Bay. He is also said to be a good Catholic,
friend of the Spanish government and was considered as a Spanish by colonialists. Capitán Tiago
never attended school, so he became a domestic helper of a Dominican friar who taught him
informal education. He married Pía Alba from Santa Cruz.

 Dámaso Verdolagas, or Padre Dámaso is a Franciscan friar and the former parish curate of San
Diego. He is best known as a notorious character that speaks with harsh words and has been a
cruel priest during his stay in the town. He is the real father of María Clara and an enemy of
Crisóstomo's father, Rafael Ibarra. Later, he and María Clara had bitter arguments whether she
would marry Alfonso Linares or go to a convent. At the end of the novel, he is again re-assigned to
a distant town and is found dead one day.

 In popular culture, when a priest was said to be like Padre Dámaso, it means that he is a cruel but
respectable individual. When one says a child is "Anak ni Padre Damaso" (child of Padre Dámaso),
it means that the child's father's identity is unknown.

 Elías is Ibarra's mysterious friend and ally. Elías made his first appearance as a pilot during a
picnic of Ibarra and María Clara and her friends. He wants to revolutionize the country and to be
freed from Spanish oppression.

 Filosofo Tacio, known by his Filipinized name Pilosopo Tasyo is another major character in the
story. Seeking for reforms from the government, he expresses his ideals in paper written in a
cryptographic alphabet similar from hieroglyphs and Coptic figures hoping "that the future
generations may be able to decipher it" and realized the abuse and oppression done by the
conquerors.

His full name is only known as Don Anastacio. The educated inhabitants of San Diego labeled him as
Filosofo Tacio (Tacio the Sage) while others called him as Tacio el Loco (Insane Tacio) due to his
exceptional talent for reasoning.

 Doña Victorina de los Reyes de Espadaña, commonly known as Doña Victorina, is an ambitious
Filipina who classifies herself as Spanish and mimics Spanish ladies by putting on heavy make-up.
The novel narrates Doña Victorina's younger days: she had lots of admirers, but she did not
choose any of them because nobody was a Spaniard. Later on, she met and married Don Tiburcio
de Espadaña, an official of the customs bureau who is about ten years her junior. However, their
marriage is childless.
  Her husband assumes the title of medical doctor even though he never attended medical school;
using fake documents and certificates, Tiburcio practices illegal medicine. Tiburcio's usage of the
title Dr. consequently makes Victorina assume the title Dra. (doctora, female doctor). Apparently,
she uses the whole name Doña Victorina de los Reyes de Espadaña, with double de to emphasize
her marriage surname. She seems to feel that this awkward titling makes her more "sophisticated."

 Sisa, Crispín, and Basilio represent a Filipino family persecuted by the Spanish authorities. Narcisa
or Sisa is the deranged mother of Basilio and Crispín. Described as beautiful and young, although
she loves her children very much, she cannot protect them from the beatings of her husband,
Pedro.

 Crispín is Sisa's 7-year-old son. An altar boy, he was unjustly accused of stealing money from the
church. After failing to force Crispín to return the money he allegedly stole, Father Salví and the
head sacristan killed him. It is not directly stated that he was killed, but the dream of Basilio
suggests that Crispín died during his encounter with Padre Salvi and his minion.

 Basilio is Sisa's 10-year-old son. An acolyte tasked to ring the church bells for the Angelus, he
faced the dread of losing his younger brother and the descent of his mother into insanity. At the
end of the novel, Elías wished Basilio to bury him by burning in exchange of chest of gold located
on his death ground. He will later play a major role in El Filibusterismo.

Due to their tragic but endearing story, these characters are often parodied in modern Filipino popular
culture.

There are a number of secondary and minor characters in Noli Me Tangere. Items indicated inside the
parenthesis are the standard Filipinization of the Spanish names in the novel.

 Padre Hernando de la Sibyla is a Dominican friar. He is described as short and has fair skin. He is
instructed by an old priest in his order to watch Crisóstomo Ibarra.

 Padre Bernardo Salví is the Franciscan curate of San Diego, secretly harboring lust for María
Clara. He is described to be very thin and sickly. It is also hinted that his last name, "Salvi" is the
shorter form of "Salvi" meaning Salvation, or "Salvi" is short for "Salvaje" meaning bad hinting to
the fact that he is willing to kill an innocent child, Crispin, just to get his money back, though there
was not enough evidence that it was Crispin who has stolen his 2 onzas.

 El Alférez or Alperes is the chief of the Guardia Civil; mortal enemy of the priests for power in San
Diego and husband of Doña Consolacion.

 Doña Consolacíon is the wife of the Alférez, nicknamed as la musa de los guardias civiles (The
muse of the Civil Guards) or la Alféreza, was a former laundrywoman who passes herself as a
Peninsular; best remembered for her abusive treatment of Sisa.
  Don Tiburcio de Espadaña is a Spanish Quack Doctor who is limp and submissive to his wife,
Doña Victorina.

Teniente Guevara is a close friend of Don Rafael Ibarra. He reveals to Crisóstomo how Don Rafael Ibarra's
death came about.

Alfonso Linares is a distant nephew of Tiburcio de Espanada, the would-be fiancé of María Clara. Although
he presented himself as a practitioner of law, it was later revealed that he, just like Don Tiburcio, is a fraud.
He later died due to given medications of Don Tiburcio.

Tía Isabel is Capitán Tiago's cousin, who raised Maria Clara.

Governor General (Gobernador Heneral) is the Unnamed person in the novel, he is the most powerful
official in the Philippines. He has great disdain for the friars and corrupt officials, and sympathizes with
Ibarra.

Don Filipo Lino is the vice mayor of the town of San Diego, leader of the liberals.

Padre Manuel Martín is the linguist curate of a nearby town who delivers the sermon during San Diego's
fiesta.

Don Rafael Ibarra is the father of Crisóstomo Ibarra. Though he is the richest man in San Diego, he is also
the most virtuous and generous.

Doña Pía Alba is the wife of Capitan Tiago and mother of María Clara, she died giving birth to her daughter.
In reality, she was raped by Dámaso so she could bear a child.

These characters were mentioned in the novel, appeared once, mentioned many times or have no major
contribution to the storyline.

Don Pedro Y Barramendia is the great-grandfather of Crisóstomo Ibarra who came from the Basque area
of Spain. He started the misfortunes of Elias' family. His descendants abbreviated their surname to Ibarra.
He died of unknown reasons, but was seen as a decaying corpse on a Balite Tree.

Don Saturnino Ibarra is the son of Don Pedro, father of Don Rafael and grandfather of Crisóstomo Ibarra.
He was the one who developed the town of San Diego. He was described as a cruel man but was very
clever.

Sinang is Maria Clara's friend. Because Crisóstomo Ibarra offered half of the school he was building to
Sinang, he gained Capitan Basilio's support.

Iday, Neneng and Victoria are Maria Clara's other friends.

Capitán Basilio is Sinang's father, leader of the conservatives.

Pedro is the abusive husband of Sisa who loves cockfighting.

Tandáng Pablo is the leader of the tulisanes (bandits), whose family was destroyed because of the
Spaniards.

El hombre amarillo (apparently means "yellowish person", named as Taong Madilaw) is one of Crisostomo
Ibarra's would-be assassins. He is not named in the novel, and only described as such. In the novel, he
carved the cornerstone for Ibarra's school. Instead of killing Ibarra, he was killed by his cornerstone.

Lucas is the brother of the taong madilaw. He planned a revolution against the government with Ibarra as
the leader after he was turned down by Ibarra. He was said to have a scar on his left cheek. He would later
be killed by the Sakristan Mayor.

Bruno and Tarsilo are a pair of brothers whose father was killed by the Spaniards.

Ñor Juan (Ñol Juan) is the appointed as foreman of the school to be built by Ibarra

Capitana Tika is Sinang's mother and wife of Capitan Basilio.

Albino - a former seminarian who joined the picnic with Ibarra and María Clara. He was later captured
during the revolution.

Capitana María Elena is a nationalist woman who defends Ibarra of the memory of his father.

Capitán Tinong and Capitán Valentín are other known people from the town of San Diego.

Sacristán Mayor is the one who governs the altar boys and killed Crispín for his accusation.

B. EL FILIBUSTERISMO
El Filibusterismo ( Spanish for "The Filibustering"), also known by its English alternate title The Reign
of Greed,  is the second novel written by Philippine national hero José Rizal.

It is the sequel to Noli Me Tangere and like the first book was written in Spanish.
It was first published in 1891 in Ghent, Belgium

CHARACTERS:
• Simoun 
A powerful man who has a great influence over the Kapitan Heneral. Using this, he plans to destroy
the Spaniards as his vendetta for the sufferings of Crisostomo Ibarra.
• Basilio 
The eldest of Sisa's two sons, now an aspiring doctor whose medical education was being financed
by Capitan Tiago. He is now at the point of graduation during the events in the novel.

• ISAGANI 
 Poet and Basilio's best friend; portrayed as emotional and reactive; Paulita Gómez' boyfriend
before being dumped for fellow student Juanito Peláez
• KABESANG TALES 
Cabeza Telesforo Juan de Dios, a former cabeza de barangay  of Sagpang, a barangay in San
Diego's neighboring town Tiani, who resurfaced as the feared Luzón bandit Matanglawin
• DON CUSTODIO
Custodio de Salazar y Sánchez de Monteredondo, a famous "journalist" who was asked by the
students about his decision for the Academia de Castellano.

• PAULITA GOMEZ 
The girlfriend of Isagani and the niece of Doña Victorina. In the end, she and Juanito Peláez are
wed, and she dumps Isagani
• MACARAIG 
One of Isagani's classmates at the University of Santo Tomas. He is a rich student and serves as the
leader of the students yearning to build the Academia de Castellano.
• FATHER FLORENTINO 
Isagani's godfather, and a secular priest; was engaged to be married, but chose to be a priest after
being pressured by his mother
• JULI/HULI 
Juliana de Dios, the girlfriend of Basilio, and the youngest daughter of Kabesang Tales. To claim
her father from the bandits, she had to work as a maid under the supervision of Hermana Penchang
• JUANITO PELAEZ 
The son of Don Timoteo Pelaez, a Spanish businessman, he is also one of the members of
Macaraig's gang who wish to have the Academia de Castellano built.

• MARIA CLARA 
Introduced in Dr. Rizal's first novel "Noli Me Tangere". She was once the girlfriend of Crisostomo
Ibarra but chose to became a nun despite Father Damaso's (her real father) arguments. She eventually
committed suicide, as witnessed by Basilio when he visited the convent of Santa Clara.

• FATHER BERNARDO SALVI

Former parish priest of San Diego, now the director and chaplain of the Santa Clara convent.

• CAPTAIN TIAGO 
Santiago delos Santos, although making a cameo appearance, Captain Tiago is Maria Clara's
stepfather and the foster-father to Basilio.

RIZAL’S WRITINGS
 1. The Indolence of the Filipinos

La Indolencia de los Filipinos, more popularly known in its English version, "The Indolence of the Filipinos,"
is an exploratory essay written by Philippine national hero Dr. Jose Rizal, to explain the alleged idleness of
his people during the Spanish colonization.
SUMMARY
            The Indolence of the Filipinos is a study of the causes why the people did not, as was said, work
hard during the Spanish regime.  Rizal pointed out that long before the coming of the Spaniards, the
Filipinos were industrious and hardworking.  The Spanish reign brought about a decline in economic
activities because of certain causes:
1. establishment of the Galleon Trade cut off all previous associations of the Philippines with other
countries in Asia and the Middle East
2. Spain also extinguished the natives’ love of work because of the implementation of forced labor
3. Spain did not protect the people against foreign invaders and pirates. 
4. the Spanish rulers were a bad example to despise manual labor. 
5. gambling was established and widely propagated during those times. 
6. there was a crooked system of religion
7. the taxes were extremely high , so much so that a huge portion of what they earned went to the
government or to the friars.  When the object of their labor was removed and they were exploited,
they were reduced to inaction.

2. THE PHILIPPINE WITHIN A CENTURY

“The Philippines a Century Hence” is an essay written by Philippine national hero Jose Rizal to forecast
the future of the country within a hundred years. Rizal felt that it was time to remind Spain that the
circumstances that ushered in the French Revolution could have a telling effect for her in the
Philippines.

This essay presents a radical prophesy of Rizal of how the Philippines would be through the century.
Rizal presented a clear idea of how our Motherland will end up centuries later proposing that our
country will end up in either of the three ways:
1. That the Philippines will remain to be a colony of Spain but will be in good terms with it’s captors
2. That the Philippines will try to cut the ties of our Motherland from it’s captors through violent means
3. And lastly that we will be colonized by another country

This essay, published in La Solidaridad in Madrid between September 30, 1889 and February 1, 1890
starts by analyzing the various causes of the miseries suffered by the Filipino people:

1. Spain’s implementation of her military policies – because of such laws, the Philippine population
decreased dramatically.
2. Deterioration and disappearance of Filipino indigenous culture – when Spain came with the sword
and the cross, it began the gradual destruction of the native Philippine culture.
3. Passivity and submissiveness to the Spanish colonizers – one of the most powerful forces that
influenced a culture of silence among the natives were the Spanish friars.
 Key points in the essay or several issues that concern our country:
1. Abuse of human rights
2. Lack of freedom of speech
3. Lack of representation in the Spanish Cortes

ANNOTATIONS OF MORGA’S “SUCESOS DE LAS ISLAS FILIPINAS”

Jose Rizal’s annotations of Antonio Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas has been recognized as the first
Philippine history penned from a Filipino’s viewpoint.

Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas which was published in Mexico in 1609 is made up of eight chapters.
The first seven of which documented the tenures of the governor-generals that served in the Philippines
from Miguel Lopez de Legazpi’s term in 1565 to Pedro de Acuña in 1606. Its chapter 8 called “An Account
of the Philippine Islands” offered substantial depictions of the natives during the Spaniards arrival in the
Philippines in the 16th century.

Among all the other early Spanish accounts of the Philippines, Rizal opted to annotate Morga’s  Sucesos de
las Islas Filipinas for five reasons according to Ambeth Ocampo:
1. Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas was rare.
2. Morga was a government officer.
3. A secular version is more credible.
4. Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas was more sympathetic towards the natives.
5. Morga was an eyewitness to historical events.

Morga shows that the ancient Filipinos had army and navy with artillery and other implements of
warfare called krises and kampilans.

Morga called CEBU "The City of the Most Holy Name of Jesus," was at first called "The village of San
Miguel."

Of the native Manila rulers at the coming of the Spaniards, Raja Soliman was called "Rahangmura", or
young king, in distinction from the old king, "Rahangmatanda.

DR. JOSE P. RIZAL, PHILIPPINE NATIONAL HERO

Dr. José Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines, is not only admired for possessing
intellectual brilliance but also for taking a stand and resisting the Spanish colonial
government. While his death sparked a revolution to overthrow the tyranny, Rizal will
always be remembered for his compassion towards the Filipino people and the country.

Days before his execution, Rizal bid farewell to his motherland and countrymen through
one of his final letters, entitled MiÚltimoAdiós or My Last Farewell. Dr. José Rizal was
executed on the morning of December 30, 1896, in what was then called Bagumbayan
(now referred to as Luneta). Upon hearing the command to shoot him, he faced the
squad and uttered in his final breath: “Consummatum est” (It is finished). According
to historical accounts, only one bullet ended the life of the Filipino martyr and hero.