EXILE IN DAPITAN

1892-96

Map showing where Dapitan is situated. Photo sourced from dumagueteinfo.com

- Dapitan is a remote town in Mindanao that was under the missionary jurisdiction of the
Jesuits.
- According to the City of Dapitan website, Dapitan traces its beginnings long before the
arrival of Spaniards in the Philippines, with the Subanens, an Indonesian nomadic tribe,
as its earliest settlers.
- Dapitan was already a thriving settlement when Miguel Lopez de Legaspi arrived and it
was the Augustinian Friar who traveled with him who is believed to have converted the
local inhabitants to Christianity.
- The permanent Dapitan Mission was established in 1629 by a Jesuit missionary named
Father Pedro Gutierrez.
- Rizal described Dapitan in an unfinished novel
“It is located on a beautiful bay which looks towards the West, on a kind of island
especially made for it as if to isolate it from the vulgar world, a river which to
accommodate it, has gladly consented to divide itself into two, its two silvery arms
encircling it and bringing it toward the sea as an offering, for being the most
beautiful thing that it could find in its tortuous and undulating pilgrimage through
mountains and valleys, through woodlands and plains.”
- Although the four years of Rizal’s exile in Dapitan were unexciting, he had accomplished
many projects and undertakings.
- It was in Dapitan that Rizal “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 machine for making bricks,
and engaged in farming, and commerce.

1. BEGINNING OF EXILE IN DAPITAN

Governador-General Eulogio Despujol. Photo from Wikipedia

 Bust of Dr. Ricardo Carnicero which Rizal made in 1892-93. Photo sourced from
https://rizal.raphaelmarco.com/works/view/bust-of-dr-ricardo-carnicero

- Rizal was decreed exiled to Dapitan by the then Governador-General Despujol.

- Shortly after midnight on July 14. 1892, Rizal was brought under heavy guard to the
steamer Cebu, which departed at 1:oo am on July 15.
- Rizal arrived in Dapitan on July 17 at 7:00 in the evening and was turned over to the
Spanish commandant of Dapitan, Captain Ricardo Carnicero.
- The steamer Cebu also carried a letter from Father Pablo Pastells, Superior of the Jesuit
Society in the Philippines, to Father Antonio Obach. This letter contains the conditions
that which Rizal was to comply to live in the Parish convent.
1. For Rizal to publicly retract his errors concerning religion, and
make statements that were pro-Spanish and anti-revolution.
2. That he performs the church rites and makes a general confession
of his past life.
3. That henceforth he conducts himself in an exemplary manner as a
Spanish subject and a man of religion.
- Rizal did not agree with this condition so he went on to live in the house of Captain
Carnicero.
- Carnicero and Rizal developed a warm and friendly relationship. He gave the
Governador-General good reports on Rizal, allowed Rizal to go anywhere, and permitted
Rizal to ride his horse.
- Rizal admired Carnicero and even wrote a poem for the commandant entitled A Don
Ricardo Carnicero, on the occasion of his birthday on August 26, 1892.
2. WINS IN MANILA LOTTERY

A 19th-century lottery ticket similar to Rizal’s winning ticket. Photo sourced from
pinoykollektor.blogspot.com

Rizal’s sketch of Talisay. Image sourced from https://xiaochua.files.wordpress.com/

- It was said that the only vice Rizal had was lotto and was said to be addicted to it. During
his stay in Madrid from 1882-1885 he always invested at least three pesetas every month
in lottery tickets.
- Rizal, together with Captain Carnicero and Francisco Equilor (Spanish resident of
neighboring Dipolog), won the 2nd prize worth P20,000 in the government-owned Manila
Lottery.
- The happy tidings were brought by the mail boat Butuan which arrived on September 21,
1892.
- Rizal’s share in the winnings was P6,200.
- P2000 was given to his father
- P200 was given to his friend Basa who was in Hong Kong.
- The rest of the money was used to purchase agricultural lands along the coast of Talisay,
a barrio about one kilometer from Dapitan.
- The farm he purchased had an area of sixteen hectares and is rather rocky. It was situated
beside a river which resembled the Calamba River.
- In a letter to his sister Trinidad dated January 15, 1896, Rizal described the land as a
“half-an-hour walk from the seam, poetic and picturesque”. He also said in the letter that
he would build a large house where Trinidad and their parents would all live together if
they were to come to Dapitan.
- Rizal built a permanent home in Talisay and he introduced modern agricultural
techniques which he observed during his travels in Europe.
- With the help of his students, he cleared the area and planted cacao, coffee, coconuts, and
fruit trees. Later, he would expand his farm by buying more tracts of land in other barrios
of Dapitan. At the end of his exile, he owned 70 hectares of land holdings in Dapitan.
-
3. RIZAL-PASTELLS DEBATE ON RELIGION
 Father Pablo Pastells. Image sourced from www.cervantesvirtual.com
- Father Pablo Pastells was Rizal’s former spiritual director of Ateneo de Municipal when
Rizal was still a student there.
- He was the Superior of the Jesuits in the Philippines and was stationed in Intramuros.
- Rizal had a long and scholarly debate with Father Pastells on religion during his stay in
Dapitan.
- The debate started when the priest sent Rizal a book by Sarda, with advice to Rizal that
“he desist his foolishness in viewing religion from the prism of individual judgment and
self-esteem”.
- The scholarly exchange between the two can be read in four letters written by Rizal:
1. September 1, 1892
2. November 11, 1892
3. January 9, 1893
4. April 4, 1893
- The letters revealed Rizal’s anti-Catholic ideas which he had acquired in his travels in
Europe and also based on his experiences of persecution from friars.
- His anti-Catholic sentiments were also evident in a letter he wrote to Blumentritt dated
January 20, 1890, in which he wrote: “I want to hit the friars, but only the friars who
utilized religion not only as a shield but also as a weapon, as a castle, fortress, armor,
etc.; I was forced to attack their false and superstitious religion to fight the enemy who
hid himself behind it”.
- For Rizal, individual judgment is a “gift from God”, and should be used as a “lantern to
show the way”.
- According to Rizal, "If self-esteem is moderated by judgment, it saves man from doing
unworthy acts."
- Rizal also argued that the truth may be pursued through different paths and that “religions
may vary but they all lead to the light”.
- Father Pastells tried to convince Rizal back to the fold of Catholicism by arguing that:

 Divine faith supersedes everything including reason, self-esteem, and

individual judgement
 That man’s wisdom is finite and needs guidance from God
 That Rizal’s attacks on Catholic dogmas are just “misconceptions
rationalism and naturalism, and errors of misguided souls”.
- Although the debate between them was brilliant, it ended without any conclusion. Rizal
remained with his views.
- Although Rizal has his views on the Catholic church, he remains practicing the religion.
He continued to hear mass every Sunday and celebrate Christmas and other religious
fiestas in the Catholic tradition.
- Rizal’s Catholicism enlightens and inquires, which is the Catholicism of Renan and
Teilhard de Chardin
4. RIZAL CHALLENGES A FRENCHMAN TO A DUEL
 A painting depicting two men engaged in a duel. Image sourced from
https://www.artofmanliness.com/
- Mr. Juan Lardet
 He was a French businessman and an acquaintance of Rizal in Dapitan.
 The quarrel stemmed from some of the low-quality logs that the
Frenchman purchased from Rizal.
- Mr. Lardet wrote to Mr. Antonio Miranda, accusing him of not being truthful.
- Mr. Miranda then indiscreetly forwarded the letter to Rizal to which the latter flared up in
anger and considered the comment made by the Frenchman an affront to his integrity.
- Immediately, Rizal confronted Lardet and challenged him to a duel.
- The duel was averted when Captain Carnicero told the Frenchman to apologize rather
than accept the challenge. The Frenchman was told by the Captain that he did not have a
chance against Rizal who was an expert in martial arts especially in fencing and shooting
pistols.
- Lardet heeded the Captain’s advice and wrote an apology letter to Rizal, which the latter
accepted thus good relations between them were restored.
- This is not the first time that Rizal challenged people to a duel. In 1890, he challenged
Antonio Luna and W.E. Retana to a duel on different occasions.
5. RIZAL AND FATHER SANCHEZ

Father Francisco de Paula Sanchez. Image sourced from

https://xiaochua.files.wordpress.com/

- Father Pastells instructed two Jesuits based in Mindanao to persuade Rizal to discard the
“errors of religions”, Father Obach, cura of Dapitan, and Father Jose Villaclara.
- Father also assigned Father Francisco de Paula Sanchez and sent him to Dapitan.
- Father Sanchez was Rizal’s favorite teacher when he was still studying in Ateneo de
Municipal.
- Father Sanchez, since Rizal’s days in Ateneo had spent three years in Europe and
returned to Manila in 1881.
- Upon returning to Manila, he resumed teaching in Ateneo and was the head of its
museum.
- Father Sanchez was the only Spanish priest who publicly defended Noli Mi Tangere.
- He was most beloved by his former student and they exchanged lively discussions of
theological matters.
- Despite Father Sanchez’s efforts, he failed to convince his former pupil to discard his
views of the Catholic order.
- Father Sanchez helped Rizal beautify Dapitan
- Rizal gifted him a manuscript on Tagalog grammar which he wrote entitled Estudios
sobre la lengua tagala.