III.

Jose Rizal in Europe

 Jose Rizal identified himself as José Mercado, a native of Sta. Cruz in his passport when he
boarded the steamer ‘Salvadora’ bound for Singapore.
 On May 03, 1882, Jose Rizal left with seven hundred pesos from Paciano and a diamond ring
given by his sister Saturnina which he could use in times of emergency.
 Rizal observed the people and the things on the ship. Among the sixteen passengers, he
was the only ‘indio’ and the rest were Spaniards, Englishmen and Indian negroes.
 Rizal noted the low standards of the ship and how the Spanish passengers narrated their
experiences and criticisms of the Philippines especially the way it was governed.
 After reaching and visiting Singapore, he boarded the French mail steamer Djemnah to continue
his trip to Spain.
 On June 12, 1882, Jose Rizal reached Marseilles, France.
 While in Barcelona, Spain, he wrote the ‘El Amor Patrio’ under the pseudo name ‘Laong-laan.’
 The essay is about love for one’s country. It contains “political ideas and patriotic
sentiments which had been percolating in the young Rizal while still on Philippine soil”.
 Rizal was able to explain his views through this essay indicating that the Philippines is
the country for Filipinos.
 His essay was sent to the Philippines and was translated to Tagalog by Marcelo H. Del
Pilar to be published in the local newspaper of Manila called Diariong Tagalog which was
published by Basilio Teodoro in August 20, 1882. It was reprinted in La Solidaridad in
October 31, 1890.
 Rizal continued writing articles for this magazine during the short time it lived.
 From Barcelona, he went to Madrid and enrolled at Universidad Central de Madrid in Spain and
took a course leading to a licentiate in medicine. He also took up a course in Philosophy and
Letters. He also studied painting and sculpture in the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando and
took lessons in French, German, and English under private instructors.
 Jose became a member of Circulo Hispano-Filipino. It is an organization of Filipino students in
Madrid which aims to expose the conditions in the Philippines under the Spanish rule. The
Circulo was short-lived and Jose Rizal in his diaries noted the reasons for this – lack of funds to
continue publication, too much individualism and lack of unity in purpose.
 The Filipino students in Spain knew Rizal by reputation, many of them had been his schoolmates,
and they enthusiastically welcomed him, but in their gaiety he took no part. The affectation and
love of display of some of his countrymen disgusted him.
 Rizal was actively involved in the Propaganda movement composed of Filipinos in Spain who
sought to direct the attention of Spaniards to the concerns of the Spanish colony in the
Philippines. He wrote articles for publications in Manila and abroad; convened with overseas
Filipinos to discuss their duty to the country; and called on Spanish authorities to institute
reforms in the Philippines, such as granting freedom of the press and Filipino representation in
the Spanish Cortes.
 In a year or two, Rizal’s money dwindled because his father was having a hard time sending him
money for the fear of being questioned by the Dominican friars. Jose struggled to make both
ends meet by cutting expenses in food and daily needs.
  Jose Rizal devoted his time in reading and studying as a way of relieving himself from
homesickness.
 While studying, he encountered books that had left deep imprint on his philosophies and ideals:
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher’s Stowe
- The Wandering Jew by Eugene Sue
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
- Other stories were “Picturesque America", "Lives of the Presidents of the United States", "The
Anglo-Saxons", "The English Revolution” which were stories of ‘free people’ that interested him.
 In 1884, he received the degree of Licentiate in Medicine and in 1885, on his twenty-fourth
birthday; he finished his degree in Philosophy and Letters with highest honors.
 Also in 1884, Juan Luna’s Spoliarium and Felix Resurrecion Hidalgo’s Las Virgenes Cristianas
Expuestas al Populacho (The Christian Virgins Exposed to the Populace) won in the prestigious
Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes de Madrid (Madrid Art Exposition, May 1884). Jose Rizal was
asked to give a congratulatory toast (brindis) for the two artists.
 This speech reached Manila and was interpreted as an open challenge to the Spanish regime in
the Philippines.

Other studies:

 June, 1885: He went to Paris to study under Dr. Louis de Wecker and mastered the technique of
eye operations.
 February 1886: he went to Germany to attend lectures at the University of Heidelberg.
 April 22, 1886: Jose Rizal wrote the poem "A Las Flores de Heidelberg" which shows his feeling of
nostalgia for his parents and his country.
 August, 1886: Jose Rizal transferred to the University of Leipzig to study psychology and history.

He completed the writing of the Noli Me Tangere on February 22, 1887 in Berlin, Germany. Because of
lack of funds, he was disheartened and discouraged to publish the book. However, his friend Maximo
Viola, a Filipino doctor from a wealthy family in Bulacan lent money to Rizal in order to publish the book.
Bound copies were sent to Barcelona and Madrid. Some copies also reached the Philippines but were
later banned and confiscated.

 Jose Rizal and Maximo Viola went on trips to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy before he
went back to the Philippines.
 He arrived in Manila in August, 1887.

Life and Works of Rizal in Europe (1888 – 1892)

I. Jose Rizal’s First Homecoming

  August, 1887: Rizal arrived in the Philippines from Europe
 Prior to his homecoming, Jose Rizal was advised by his friends not to go back to the country due
to the impact created by the Noli Me Tangere that has made him more popular even to the
authorities.
 While in Calamba, Laguna he operated his mother’s cataracts. It is the first time that such
operation was done in the Philippines at that time. He also put up a clinic for eye
operations/surgery and was successful in his operations on people with cataracts. People
flocked to Calamba and he became famous.
 Jose Rizal was summoned to Malacañan Palace by the governor-general regarding the Noli Me
Tangere. The governor-general appointed a committee that will review the novel. In attempt to
spy on Jose Rizal, the governor general assigned Jose Taviel de Andrade a young Spanish official
of the Civil Guard to serve as Rizal’s personal escort.
 The committee’s review of the Noli concluded that the novel is:
 “impious, heretical, or scandalous”
 it is against the doctrine, against the church and the religious orders
 It is against the institutions, civil, military, social and political which the Government of
Spain implanted in the Philippines
 it aims to inspire among the loyal and submissive sons of Spain in these distant islands,
profound, and furious hate to the mother country…"

 In January 1888, Jose Rizal wrote a petition to the Administrator of Public Islands of Laguna
about the Haciendas of the friars in Calamba. He cited all the grievances of the Calamba folks
and tenants against the supposed owner of the hacienda. He said the owner didn’t help in the
improvement of agriculture, in the celebration of the town fiesta, in the education of the
children, and that the profit of the hacienda increased due to the increased rentals

 In March 1888, a manifesto was sent to the governor-general to petition the ouster of Spanish
friars from the Philippines. It was considered as the first public reaction to the Noli Me, Tangere.
The manifesto was regarded by Spanish authorities as subversive and anti-clerical and the 28
people who signed it were jailed and punished. The manifesto was also debated in the Senate of
Spain and all of the legislators agreed to the action done by the Spanish authorities in the
Philippines.

II. Reasons of Jose Rizal’s travel to Europe

The friars became furious to Jose Rizal because of the Noli Me Tangere and his petition regarding
the grievances of Calamba people and tenants. They lobbied for the confiscation and prohibition of
the Noli and the consequent arrest of Jose Rizal. In order to avoid persecution, Paciano and Narcisa
Rizal convinced Jose to go out of the country. Through the help of some of his family members, Rizal
left the Philippines in February, 1888.

III. Jose Rizal in Hong Kong, Macau and Japan

 Jose Rizal reached Hong Kong on February 08, 1888 and boarded in the house of Jose Maria
Basa. After visiting Hong Kong, he left and visited Macau then left for Japan. In Japan, Rizal studied
the habits and customs of the Japanese people, their language, theaters and commerce. He wrote
Blumentritt about the honesty, courtesy, cleanliness and industry of the Japanese people. However,
he also expressed his disgust on the use of the man drawn jinrikisha. Rizal met Usui Seiko [O Sei-san]
They had love affair but it was short lived. On April 13, 1888, Rizal left Yokohama for San Francisco,
on board the Belgic.

IV. Jose Rizal in U.S.A.

Jose Rizal allotted three weeks to tour around U.S. but it was not followed because he was
quarantined for eight days in San Francisco for the custom officials refused to admit the 800 Chinese
on board the ship. He was not greatly impressed of the U.S. and he noted the prevalence of rampant
discrimination especially to the Chinese and ‘negro’. From New York, he boarded the ship City of
Rome and reached Liverpool, on May, 24, 1888. From there, he went to England.

IV. Jose Rizal in England

While in England, Jose Rizal started to work in the British Museum Library for the annotation of
Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas [Events in the Philipines 1609] wherein he refuted
the accusations of prejudiced Spanish writers against Filipinos Presented the 16th century Filipino
culture and showed that Filipinos had developed culture even before the coming of the Spaniards.

While completing his annotation to the Sucesos, he also began writing the El Filibusterismo, the
sequel of the Noli Me Tangere.

On December 1888, Filipinos in Barcelona, Spain organized and founded the La Solidaridad. The
publication of the newspaper started on Feb 1889. Jose Rizal was in London but was elected as the
honorary president of the organization. The organization through the La Solidaridad demanded for
reforms and the assimilation of Philippines to Spain. Jose Rizal continued to contribute articles in the
La Solidaridad such as ‘The Philippines: A century hence’ and ‘To the Young Women of Malolos’.

VI. El Filibusterismo

Jose Rizal finished the El Filibusterismo in 1891 in Ghent, Belgium. It is a sequel to the Noli Me
Tangere and was dedicated to the Gomburza. But due to lack of money, Rizal almost decided not to
publish it. Fortunately for him he got financial help from Valentin Ventura who lent him money for
the printing of the novel.

VII. El Filibusterismo
 Jose Rizal went to Hong Kong to meet his family in December 1891. He expressed to them his
plan to establish a colony in Borneo to be free from the Spaniards but it his family members did not
approve it.

He put up a clinic in Hong Kong and became known as ‘Spanish doctor’. In June 21, 1892,
together with his sister Lucia sailed back to Manila. When they arrived in Manila, authorities who
searched their luggage claimed that his sister carried with her seditious writings under her pillow
case. The package included copies of a tract called “The Poor Friars - a caustic attack on the
Dominicans.

La Liga Filipina and Life in Dapitan

I. Establishment of the La Liga Filipina

On July 03, 1892, Jose Rizal and other nationalists and masons like Apolinario Mabini, Deodato
Arellano and Andres Bonifacio, gathered in the house of Doroteo Ongjunco, a Chinese mestizo in
Kalye Ylaya, Tondo, Manila for the establishment of the La Liga Filipina.

Jose Rizal started writing the La Liga Filipina’s constitution in Hong Kong. The constitution
embodies the organizational structure or blue print of the society.

 Aims of the La Liga Filipina

 To unite the whole archipelago into one compact, vigorous, and homogenous body;
 Mutual protection in every want and necessity;
 Defense against all violence and injustice;
 Encouragement of instruction, agriculture, and commerce; and
 Study and application of reforms


II. Disbandment of the La Liga Filipina

The Spanish authorities were so alarmed and considered the La Liga dangerous so they secretly
arrested Rizal on the night of July 6, 1892. After the arrest of Jose Rizal, the La Liga became inactive.
Through the efforts of some of its members it was reorganized. However, the society was split into two
different paths – reform and revolution. As Constantino (1975) puts it:

“At first the Liga was quite active. Bonifacio in particular exerted great efforts to organize
chapters in various districts of Manila. A few months later, however, the Supreme Council of the Liga
dissolved the society. The reformist leaders found out that most of the popular councils which Bonifacio
had organized were no longer willing to send funds to the Madrid propagandists because, like Bonifacio,
they had become convinced that peaceful agitation for reforms was futile. Afraid that the more radical
rank and file members might capture the organization and unwilling to involve themselves in an
enterprise which would surely invite reprisals from the authorities, the leaders of the Liga opted for
dissolution. The Liga membership split into two groups: the conservatives formed the Cuerpo de
Compromisarios which pledged to continue supporting the La Solidaridad while the radicals led by
Bonifacio devoted themselves to a new and secret society, the Katipunan, which Bonifacio had organized
on the very day Rizal was deported to Dapitan.”
III. Significance of the La Liga Filipina

 According to Renato Constantino (1975)

o The La Liga Filipina “constituted a forward step in the reformist ideas of the times in the
sense that the new group [La Liga] sought to involve the people directly in the reform
movement. Many elements of society who were anxious for change were attracted to
the Liga…”
 According to Teodoro Agoncillo (1990)
o The La Liga Filpina is “a civic society” which embodies Jose Rizal’s vision for the
betterment of the Philippines.
 According to Floro C. Quibuyen (1999)
o The La Liga Filipina is a society that aims to establish an independent and free nation. A
nation whose membership is not through blood but through cultural and moral
sentiments that all members share and embody

III. Jose Rizal in Dapitan

Jose Rizal by the order of the governor-general, was exiled to Dapitan, a remote place in
Zamboanga del Norte. On July 17, 1892, Jose Rizal reached Dapitan boarding the boat Cebu. He was
loved by the people of Dapitan because of the way he treated and cared for them.

Jose Rizal as a Teacher

Jose Rizal put up a school which accommodated seventeen boys who were sons for the most
part of leading citizens of Dapitan. Formal classes were conducted between two and five o'clock, he
sat in a hammock, while the boys sat on a long bamboo bench.

Jose Rizal taught his students arithmetic, geometry, English and Spanish. In one day, Rizal
requires them to speak only English; on the next day, only Spanish. If any boy forgot and spoke the
wrong language he had to wear rattan handcuffs.

The best student was called "emperor" and sat at the head of the bench. The poorest sat at the
foot, and had to jump, dance, and take exercises before the others. This system was similar to the
one he experienced in Ateneo Municipal. Another subject in Rizal’s school was the "Nature study"
wherein his students helped him collect specimens of flowers, shells, insects, and reptiles. A large
number of collection of shells, snakes and insects collected by Jose Rizal and his students are housed
in the Manila Jesuit Museum.

Jose Rizal as a Doctor

Jose Rizal spent many months draining swamps to get rid of the malaria which infested the
region. He cared for the sick of Dapitan without ever accepting a fee. News about him traveled fast
 and people from distant areas came to him for consultation and treatment, and these he charged
according to their financial capacity.

Jose Rizal as a Scientist

Rizal found Mindanao a wonderful field for collecting specimens. Using his canoe, he explored
the coast, seeking specimens of shells, bugs, and new varieties of plants. He also wrote to his friend
Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt articles about the ethnography of the Philippines and a detailed map of
Mindanao. Rizal sent over four hundred articles of scientific value and many specimens of animals,
insects, and plants for identification to the Anthropological and Ethnographical Museum of Dresden.
He did not receive any monetary payment. He wanted in exchange were scientific books, magazines
and surgical instruments which he needed and used in Dapitan.

Rizal discovered some rare specimens which were named in his honor by the scientists. Among
these were Draco rizali (a flying dragon), Apogoniarizali (a small beetle), and Rhacophorusrizali (a
rare frog)

Jose Rizal as a Community Organizer

Jose Rizal envisioned the establishment of the ‘New Calamba’ in Dapitan. Jose Rizal with the
help of Father Pastells ‘remade’ the town plaza. He made a relief map of Mindanao outside the
town’s church. He directed the construction of a water system for Dapitan. He spent most of his
winnings in the lottery (6,000 pesos) for the improvement of Dapitan. He installed lamps for the
Dapitan streets from the money (500 pesos) he was paid for having successfully removed an
Englishman’s cataracts. He put up a hospital which was located opposite the house where he dwelt.

Jose Rizal as a Poet

Jose Rizal in his letter to Blumentritt, stated that he was working on a grammar of the Tagalog
language. His life experiences in Dapitan had inspired him to write poems.

Poems written by Jose Rizal while he was in Dapitan

 A Don Ricardo Carcinero. He wrote this poem in honor of Commandant Carcinero who became
his good friend.

 Hymn to the Talisay Tree. He wrote a poem in honor of his place which was named after the
tree. He also dedicated this poem to his students in Dapitan and made them sing it.

 MiRetiro. It is a poem wrote by Jose Rizal for his mother. It also expressed Jose Rizal’s serene life
and his acceptance of his destiny and whatever justice will be given him

III. Jose Rizal and Josephine Bracken

 Jose Rizal and Josephine Leopoldine Bracken met when an American engineer named George
Taufer who was based in Hong Kong came to Dapitan for his cataracts to be treated by Jose Rizal.
Josephine was his adopted daughter. Accompanying them was Manuela Orlac, a Filipina who was on
intimate terms with a canon in the Manila Cathedral.

Rizal found Josephine who was then 18 years old extremely attractive. He described her as not
highly educated, but was quick, witty, and eager to hear all he had to say. Every time they met, Josephine
seemed more in love with Jose Rizal.

Within a month they were engaged to be married, and asked Father Obach, the Dapitan priest,
to marry them. However, they were not married because the priest needed the sanction of the bishop of
Cebu before he could marry them and Jose Rizal’s family especially his mother was against it.

Rizal’s family was suspicious of Josephine Bracken due to her ‘cloudy’ origins and dubious
company. They were convinced that she was sent there to spy on him. However, there is no written
evidence that Josephine was being used by anyone to spy on Jose Rizal.

Jose Rizal also became suspicious at first of Josephine as a spy, but found no reason to continue
his suspicion. Rizal tried relentlessly to persuade his family to accept Josephine Bracken. Despite not
being married, they spent their days in Dapitan in each other’s arms. Their love affair has brought them a
baby boy but unfortunately died a few hours after his birth.

IV. Jose Rizal and the Katipunan

In May 1896, Andres Bonifacio sent Dr. Pio Valezuela for an advice about the revolution. Rizal
refused to be rescued by the Katipunan and advised them to prepare first by means of acquiring
sufficient arms and ammunitions and securing the loyalty and support of the principalias or middle
classes.