Jos Rizal

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Jos Rizal (disambiguation).
"Dr. Jos P. Rizal" redirects here. For the sculpture, see Dr. Jos P. Rizal (sculpture).
This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Mercado Rizal and the
second or maternal family name is Alonso Realonda.
Jos Protasio Mercado Rizal y Alonso Realonda or popularly known as Jos Rizal (June 19, 1861
December 30, 1896) was aFilipino nationalist during the tail end of the Spanish colonial period of
the Philippines. An ophthalmologist by profession, Rizal became a writer and a key member of the
Filipino Propaganda Movement which advocated political reforms for the colony underSpain. He was
executed by the Spanish colonial government for the crime of rebellion after an anti-colonial 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. He is
widely considered one of the greatest heroes of the Philippines, and is implied by Philippine law to be
one of the national heroes.[6] He was the author of the novels Noli Me Tngere,[7] and El Filibusterismo,
[8]
and a number of poems and essays.[9][10]
Early life
Francisco Mercado Rizal (18181897)
Jos Rizal was born in 1861 to Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonso in the town
of Calamba in Laguna province. He had nine sisters and one brother. His parents were leaseholders of
a hacienda and an accompanying rice farm by the Dominicans. Both their families had adopted the
additional surnames of Rizal and Realonda in 1849, after Governor General Narciso Clavera y
Zalda decreed the adoption of Spanish surnamesamong the Filipinos for census purposes (though they
already had Spanish names).[11][12][note 1]
From an early age, Jos showed a precocious intellect. He learned the alphabet from his mother at 3, and
could read and write at age 5.[12] Upon enrolling at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, he dropped the last
three names that make up his full name, on the advice of his brother, Pacianoand the Mercado family,
thus rendering his name as "Jos Protasio Rizal". Of this, he later wrote: "My family never paid much
attention [to our second surname Rizal], but now I had to use it, thus giving me the appearance of an
illegitimate child!"[13] This was to enable him to travel freely and disassociate him from his brother, who
had gained notoriety with his earlier links to Filipino priests Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto
Zamora (popularly known as Gomburza) who had been accused and executed for treason.
Despite the name change, Jos, as "Rizal" soon distinguished himself in poetry writing contests,
impressing his professors with his facility with Castilian and other foreign languages, and later, in writing
essays that were critical of the Spanish historical accounts of the pre-colonial Philippine societies.
Indeed, by 1891, the year he finished his El Filibusterismo, this second surname had become so well
known that, as he writes to another friend, "All my family now carry the name Rizal instead of Mercado
because the name Rizal means persecution! Good! I too want to join them and be worthy of this family
name...".[13]
Education
Rizal, 11 years old, a student at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila
Rizal first studied under Justinia Aquino Cruz in Bian, Laguna, before he was sent to Manila.[14] As to his
father's request, he took the entrance examination in Colegio de San Juan de Letran but he then enrolled
at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila and graduated as one of the nine students in his class
declared sobresaliente or outstanding. He continued his education at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila to
obtain a land surveyor and assessor's degree, and at the same time at the University of Santo
Tomas where he did take up a preparatory course in law.[15] Upon learning that his mother was going
blind, he decided to switch to medicine at the medical school of Santo Tomas specializing later
in ophthalmology.
Without his parents' knowledge and consent, but secretly supported by his brother Paciano, he traveled
alone to Madrid, Spain in May 1882 and studied medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid where he
earned the degree, Licentiate in Medicine. He also attended medical lectures at the University of
Paris and the University of Heidelberg. In Berlin, he was inducted as a member of the Berlin Ethnological
Society and the Berlin Anthropological Society under the patronage of the famous pathologist Rudolf
Virchow. Following custom, he delivered an address in German in April 1887 before the Anthropological
Society on the orthography and structure of the Tagalog language. He left Heidelberg a poem, "A las
flores del Heidelberg", which was both an evocation and a prayer for the welfare of his native land and
the unification of common values between East and West.
At Heidelberg, the 25-year-old Rizal, completed in 1887 his eye specialization under the renowned
professor, Otto Becker. There he used the newly invented ophthalmoscope (invented by Hermann von
Helmholtz) to later operate on his own mother's eye. From Heidelberg, Rizal wrote his parents: "I spend
half of the day in the study of German and the other half, in the diseases of the eye. Twice a week, I go to
the bierbrauerie, or beerhall, to speak German with my student friends." He lived in a Karlstrae
boarding house then moved to Ludwigsplatz. There, he met Reverend Karl Ullmer and stayed with them
in Wilhelmsfeld, where he wrote the last few chapters of Noli Me Tngere.

Rizal was a polymath, skilled in both science and the arts. He painted, sketched, and made sculptures
and woodcarving. He was a prolific poet, essayist, and novelist whose most famous works were his two
novels, Noli Me Tngere and its sequel, El filibusterismo.[note 2][7]These social commentaries during
the Spanish colonization of the country formed the nucleus of literature that inspired peaceful reformists
and armed revolutionaries alike. Rizal was also a polyglot, conversant in twenty-two languages.[note 3][note 4]
[16][17]

Rizal's multifacetedness was described by his German friend, Dr. Adolf Meyer, as "stupendous."[note
5]
Documented studies show him to be a polymath with the ability to master various skills and subjects. [16]
[18][18][19]
He was an ophthalmologist, sculptor, painter, educator, farmer, historian, playwright and
journalist. Besides poetry and creative writing, he dabbled, with varying degrees of expertise, in
architecture, cartography,
economics, ethnology, anthropology, sociology, dramatics,
martial
arts, fencing and pistol shooting. He was also a Freemason, joining Acacia Lodge No. 9 during his time in
Spain and becoming a Master Mason in 1884.
Personal life, relationships and ventures
Jos Rizal's life is one of the most documented of 19th century Filipinos due to the vast and extensive
records written by and about him.[20] Almost everything in his short life is recorded somewhere, being
himself a regular diarist and prolific letter writer, much of the material having survived. His biographers,
however, have faced difficulty in translating his writings because of Rizal's habit of switching from one
language to another.
They drew largely from his travel diaries with their insights of a young Asian encountering the West for
the first time. They included his later trips, home and back again to Europe through Japan and the United
States,[21] and, finally, through his self-imposed exile in Hong Kong.
Shortly after he graduated from the Ateneo Municipal de Manila (now Ateneo de Manila University), Rizal
(who was then 16 years old) and a friend, Mariano Katigbak, came to visit Rizal's maternal grandmother
in Tondo, Manila. Mariano brought along his sister, Segunda Katigbak, a 14-year-old Batanguea
from Lipa, Batangas. It was the first time they met and Rizal described Segunda as "rather short, with
eyes that were eloquent and ardent at times and languid at others, rosycheeked, with an enchanting
and provocative smile that revealed very beautiful teeth, and the air of a sylph; her entire self diffused a
mysterious charm." His grandmother's guests were mostly college students and they knew that Rizal had
skills in painting. They suggested that Rizal should make a portrait of Segunda. He complied reluctantly
and made a pencil sketch of her. Unfortunately for him, Katigbak was engaged to Manuel Luz. [22]
From December 1891 to June 1892, Rizal lived with his family in Number 2 of Rednaxela Terrace, Midlevels, Hong Kong Island. Rizal used 5 D'Aguilar Street, Central district, Hong Kong Island, as
his ophthalmologist clinic from 2 pm to 6 pm. This period of his life included his recorded affections of
which nine were identified. They were Gertrude Beckett of Chalcot Crescent (London), wealthy and highminded Nelly Boustead of the English and Iberian merchant family, last descendant of a noble Japanese
family Seiko Usui (affectionately called O-Sei-san), his earlier friendship with Segunda Katigbak, Leonor
Valenzuela, and eight-year romantic relationship with a distant cousin, Leonor Rivera (popularly thought
to be the inspiration for the character of Mara Clara in Noli me tangere).
Association with Leonor Rivera
See also: Leonor Rivera
Leonor Rivera is thought to be the inspiration for the character of Maria Clara in Noli Me Tngere and El
Filibusterismo.[23] Rivera and Rizal first met in Manila when Rivera was only 14 years old. When Rizal left
for Europe on May 3, 1882, Rivera was 16 years of age. Their correspondence began when Rizal left a
poem for Rivera saying farewell.[24]
The correspondence between Rivera and Rizal kept Rizal focused on his studies in Europe. They
employed codes in their letters because Rivera's mother did not favor Rizal. A letter from Mariano
Katigbak dated June 27, 1884, referred to Rivera as Rizal's "betrothed". Katigbak described Rivera as
having been greatly affected by Rizal's departure, frequently sick because of insomnia.
When Rizal returned to the Philippines on August 5, 1887, Rivera and her family had moved back
to Dagupan, Pangasinan. Rizal was forbidden by his father Francisco Mercado to see Rivera in order to
avoid putting the Rivera family in danger because at the time Rizal was already labeled by the criollo
elite as a filibustero or subversive[24] because of his novel Noli Me Tngere. Rizal wanted to marry Rivera
while he was still in the Philippines because of Rivera's uncomplaining fidelity. Rizal asked permission
from his father one more time before his second departure from the Philippines. The meeting never
happened. In 1888, Rizal stopped receiving letters from Rivera for a year, although Rizal kept sending
letters to Rivera. The reason for Rivera's year of silence was the connivance between Rivera's mother
and the Englishman named Henry Kipping, a railway engineer who fell in love with Rivera and was
favored by Rivera's mother.[24][25] The news of Leonor Rivera's marriage to Kipping devastated Rizal.
His European friends kept almost everything he gave them, including doodlings on pieces of paper. In the
home of a Spanish liberal, Pedro Ortiga y Prez, he left an impression that was to be remembered by his
daughter, Consuelo. In her diary, she wrote of a day Rizal spent there and regaled them with his wit,
social graces, and sleight-of-hand tricks. In London, during his research on Antonio de Morga's writings,
he became a regular guest in the home of Dr. Reinhold Rost of the British Museum who referred to him as
"a gem of a man."[20][note 6] The family of Karl Ullmer, pastor of Wilhelmsfeld, and the Blumentritts saved
even buttonholes and napkins with sketches and notes. They were ultimately bequeathed to the Rizal
family to form a treasure trove of memorabilia.

Relationship with Josephine Bracken

Further information: Josephine Bracken
In February 1895, Rizal, 33, met Josephine Bracken, an Irish woman from Hong Kong, when she
accompanied her blind adoptive father, George Taufer, to have his eyes checked by Rizal. [26] After
frequent visits, Rizal and Bracken fell in love with each other. They applied to marry but, because of
Rizal's reputation from his writings and political stance, the local priest Father Obach would only hold the
ceremony if Rizal could get permission from the Bishop of Cebu. He was unable to obtain an ecclesiastical
marriage because he would not return to Catholicism.[5]
After accompanying her father to Manila on her return to Hong Kong, and before heading back
to Dapitan to live with Rizal, Josephine introduced herself to members of Rizal's family in Manila. His
mother suggested a civil marriage, which she believed to be a lesser sacrament but less sinful to Rizal's
conscience than making any sort of political retraction in order to gain permission from the Bishop.
[27]
Rizal and Josephine lived as man and wife in a common-law marriage in Talisay in Dapitan. The couple
had a son who lived only for a few hours after Josephine suffered a miscarriage; Rizal named him after
his father Francisco.[28]
In Brussels and Spain (189092)
In 1890, Rizal, 29, left Paris for Brussels as he was preparing for the publication of his annotations
of Antonio de Morga's Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (1609). He lived in the boarding house of the two
Jacoby sisters, Catherina and Suzanna, who had a niece Suzanna ("Thil"), age 16. Historian Gregorio F.
Zaide states that Rizal had "his romance with Suzanne Jacoby, 45, the petite niece of his landladies."
Belgian Pros Slachmuylders, however, believed that Rizal had a romance with the 17-year-old niece,
Suzanna Thil, as his other liaisons were all with young women. [29] He found records clarifying their names
and ages.
Rizal's Brussels stay was short-lived; he moved to Madrid, giving the young Suzanna a box of chocolates.
She wrote to him in French: "After your departure, I did not take the chocolate. The box is still intact as
on the day of your parting. Dont delay too long writing us because I wear out the soles of my shoes for
running to the mailbox to see if there is a letter from you. There will never be any home in which you are
so loved as in that in Brussels, so, you little bad boy, hurry up and come back" [29] In 2007,
Slachmuylders' group arranged for an historical marker honoring Rizal to be placed at the house. [29]
The content of Rizal's writings changed considerably in his two most famous novels, Noli Me Tngere,
published in Berlin in 1887, and El Filibusterismo, published in Ghent in 1891. For the latter, he used
funds borrowed from his friends. These writings angered both the Spanish colonial elite and many
educated Filipinos due to their symbolism. They are critical of Spanish friars and the power of the
Church. Rizal's friend Ferdinand Blumentritt, an Austria-Hungary-born professor and historian, wrote that
the novel's characters were drawn from real life and that every episode can be repeated on any day in
the Philippines.[30]
Blumentritt was the grandson of the Imperial Treasurer at Vienna in the former Austro-Hungarian
Empire and a staunch defender of the Catholic faith. This did not dissuade him from writing the preface
of El filibusterismo after he had translated Noli Me Tngere into German. As Blumentritt had warned,
these books resulted in Rizal's being prosecuted as the inciter of revolution. He was eventually tried by
the military, convicted and executed. Teaching the natives where they stood brought about an adverse
reaction, as thePhilippine Revolution of 1896 took off virulently thereafter.
As leader of the reform movement of Filipino students in Spain, Rizal contributed essays, allegories,
poems, and editorials to the Spanish newspaper La Solidaridad in Barcelona (in this case Rizal used a pen
name, Dimasalang). The core of his writings centers on liberal and progressive ideas of individual rights
and freedom; specifically, rights for the Filipino people. He shared the same sentiments with members of
the movement: that the Philippines is battling, in Rizal's own words, "a double-faced Goliath"corrupt
friars and bad government. His commentaries reiterate the following agenda: [note 7]
That the Philippines be made a province of Spain (Philippines was a sub-colony of New Spain - now
Mexico, administered from Mexico city)
Representation in the Cortes
Filipino priests instead of Spanish friars--Augustinians, Dominicans, and Franciscansin parishes and
remote sitios
Freedom of assembly and speech
Equal rights before the law (for both Filipino and Spanish plaintiffs)
The colonial authorities in the Philippines did not favor these reforms. Such Spanish intellectuals as
Morayta, Unamuno, Pi y Margall, and others did endorse them.
Wenceslao Retana, a political commentator in Spain, had slighted Rizal by writing an insulting article
in La Epoca, a newspaper in Madrid. He implied that the family and friends of Rizal were evicted from
their lands in Calamba for not having paid their due rents. The incident (when Rizal was ten) stemmed
from an accusation that Rizal's mother, Teodora, tried to poison the wife of a cousin, but she said she was
trying to help. With the approval of the Church prelates, and without a hearing, she was ordered to
prison in Santa Cruz in 1871. She was made to walk the ten miles (16 km) from Calamba. She was
released after two-and-a-half years of appeals to the highest court. [19] In 1887, Rizal wrote a petition on
behalf of the tenants of Calamba, and later that year led them to speak out against the friars' attempts
to raise rent. They initiated a litigation which resulted in the Dominicans' evicting them from their
homes, including the Rizal family. General Valeriano Weyler had the buildings on the farm torn down.

Upon reading the article, Rizal sent a representative to challenge Retana to a duel. Retana published a
public apology and later became one of Rizal's biggest admirers, writing Rizal's most important
biography, Vida y Escritos del Jos Rizal.[31][note 8]
Return to Philippines (189296)
Exile in Dapitan
Upon his return to Manila in 1892, he formed a civic movement called La Liga Filipina. The league
advocated these moderate social reforms through legal means, but was disbanded by the governor. At
that time, he had already been declared an enemy of the state by the Spanish authorities because of the
publication of his novel.
Rizal was implicated in the activities of the nascent rebellion and in July 1892, was deported
to Dapitan in the province of Zamboanga, a peninsula ofMindanao.[32] There he built a school, a hospital
and a water supply system, and taught and engaged in farming and horticulture. [citation needed] Abaca, then
the vital raw material for cordage and which Rizal and his students planted in the thousands, was a
memorial.[citation needed]
The boys' school, which taught in Spanish, and included English as a foreign language (considered a
prescient if unusual option then) was conceived by Rizal and antedated Gordonstoun with its aims of
inculcating resourcefulness and self-sufficiency in young men. [citation needed] They would later enjoy
successful lives as farmers and honest government officials. [citation needed] One, a Muslim, became a datu,
and another, Jos Aseniero, who was with Rizal throughout the life of the school, became Governor
of Zamboanga.[33][citation needed]
In Dapitan, the Jesuits mounted a great effort to secure his return to the fold led by Fray Snchez, his
former professor, who failed in his mission. The task was resumed by Fray Pastells, a prominent member
of the Order. In a letter to Pastells, Rizal sails close to the ecumenism familiar to us today. [34]
We are entirely in accord in admitting the existence of God. How can I doubt His when I am convinced of
mine. Who so recognizes the effect recognizes the cause. To doubt God is to doubt one's own conscience,
and in consequence, it would be to doubt everything; and then what is life for? Now then, my faith in
God, if the result of a ratiocination may be called faith, is blind, blind in the sense of knowing nothing. I
neither believe nor disbelieve the qualities which many attribute to Him; before theologians' and
philosophers' definitions and lucubrations of this ineffable and inscrutable being I find myself smiling.
Faced with the conviction of seeing myself confronting the supreme Problem, which confused voices seek
to explain to me, I cannot but reply: It could be; but the God that I foreknow is far more grand, far more
good: Plus Supra!...I believe in (revelation); but not in revelation or revelations which each religion or
religions claim to possess. Examining them impartially, comparing them and scrutinizing them, one
cannot avoid discerning the human 'fingernail' and the stamp of the time in which they were written...
No, let us not make God in our image, poor inhabitants that we are of a distant planet lost in infinite
space. However, brilliant and sublime our intelligence may be, it is scarcely more than a small spark
which shines and in an instant is extinguished, and it alone can give us no idea of that blaze, that
conflagration, that ocean of light. I believe in revelation, but in that living revelation which surrounds us
on every side, in that voice, mighty, eternal, unceasing, incorruptible, clear, distinct, universal as is the
being from whom it proceeds, in that revelation which speaks to us and penetrates us from the moment
we are born until we die. What books can better reveal to us the goodness of God, His love, His
providence, His eternity, His glory, His wisdom? The heavens declare the glory of God, and the
firmament showeth his handiwork.[35]
His best friend, professor Ferdinand Blumentritt, kept him in touch with European friends and fellowscientists who wrote a stream of letters which arrived in Dutch, French, German and English and which
baffled the censors, delaying their transmittal. Those four years of his exile coincided with the
development of the Philippine Revolution from inception and to its final breakout, which, from the
viewpoint of the court which was to try him, suggested his complicity in it. [20] He condemned the uprising,
although all the members of the Katipunan had made him their honorary president and had used his
name as a cry for war, unity, and liberty. [36]
He is known to making the resolution of bearing personal sacrifice instead of the incoming revolution,
believing that a peaceful stand is the best way to avoid further suffering in the country and loss of
Filipino lives. In Rizal's own words, I consider myself happy for being able to suffer a little for a cause
which I believe to be sacred [...]. I believe further that in any undertaking, the more one suffers for it,
the surer its success. If this be fanaticism may God pardon me, but my poor judgment does not see it as
such.[37]
In Dapitan, Rizal wrote "Haec Est Sibylla Cumana", a parlor-game for his students, with questions and
answers for which a wooden top was used. In 2004, Jean Paul Verstraeten traced this book and the
wooden top, as well as Rizal's personal watch, spoon and salter.
Arrest and trial
By 1896, the rebellion fomented by the Katipunan, a militant secret society, had become a full-blown
revolution, proving to be a nationwide uprising.[citation needed] Rizal had earlier volunteered his services as a
doctor in Cuba and was given leave by Governor-General Ramn Blanco to serve in Cuba to minister to
victims of yellow fever. Rizal and Josephine left Dapitan on August 1, 1896, with letter of
recommendation from Blanco.
Rizal was arrested en route to Cuba via Spain and was imprisoned in Barcelona on October 6, 1896. He
was sent back the same day to Manila to stand trial as he was implicated in the revolution through his

association with members of the Katipunan. During the entire passage, he was unchained, no Spaniard
laid a hand on him, and had many opportunities to escape but refused to do so.
While imprisoned in Fort Santiago, he issued a manifesto disavowing the current revolution in its present
state and declaring that the education of Filipinos and their achievement of a national identity were
prerequisites to freedom.
Rizal was tried before a court-martial for rebellion, sedition, and conspiracy, was convicted on all three
charges, and sentenced to death. Blanco, who was sympathetic to Rizal, had been forced out of office.
The friars, led by then Archbishop of Manila Bernardino Nozaleda, had 'intercalated' Camilo de
Polavieja in his stead, as the new SpanishGovernor-General of the Philippines after pressuring QueenRegent Maria Cristina of Spain, thus sealing Rizal's fate.
Execution
Moments before his execution on December 30, 1896, by a squad of Filipino soldiers of the Spanish Army,
a backup force of regular Spanish Army troops stood ready to shoot the executioners should they fail to
obey orders.[38] The Spanish Army Surgeon General requested to take his pulse: it was normal. Aware of
this the Sergeant commanding the backup force hushed his men to silence when they began raising
"vivas" with the highly partisan crowd of Peninsular and Mestizo Spaniards. His last words were those
of Jesus Christ: "consummatum est",--it is finished.[16][39][note 9]
He was secretly buried in Pac Cemetery in Manila with no identification on his grave. His sister Narcisa
toured all possible gravesites and found freshly turned earth at the cemetery with guards posted at the
gate. Assuming this could be the most likely spot, there never having any ground burials, she made a gift
to the caretaker to mark the site "RPJ", Rizal's initials in reverse.
His undated poem, Mi ltimo adis believed to be written a few days before his execution, was hidden in
an alcohol stove, which was later handed to his family with his few remaining possessions, including the
final letters and his last bequests.[40]:91 During their visit, Rizal reminded his sisters in English, "There is
something inside it", referring to the alcohol stove given by the Pardo de Taveras which was to be
returned after his execution, thereby emphasizing the importance of the poem. This instruction was
followed by another, "Look in my shoes", in which another item was secreted. Exhumation of his remains
in August 1898, under American rule, revealed he had been uncoffined, his burial not on sanctified
ground granted the 'confessed' faithful, and whatever was in his shoes had disintegrated. And now he is
buried in Rizal Monument in Manila.[19]
In his letter to his family he wrote: "Treat our aged parents as you would wish to be treated...Love them
greatly in memory of me...December 30, 1896."[20] He gave his family instructions for his burial: "Bury me
in the ground. Place a stone and a cross over it. My name, the date of my birth and of my death. Nothing
more. If later you wish to surround my grave with a fence, you can do it. No anniversaries."[41]
In his final letter, to Blumentritt Tomorrow at 7, I shall be shot; but I am innocent of the crime of
rebellion. I am going to die with a tranquil conscience. [20] Rizal is believed to be the first Filipino
revolutionary whose death is attributed entirely to his work as a writer; and through dissent and civil
disobedience enabled him to successfully destroy Spain's moral primacy to rule. He also bequeathed a
book personally bound by him in Dapitan to his 'best and dearest friend.' When Blumentritt received it in
his hometown Litomice(Leitmeritz) he broke down and wept.
Works and writings
Rizal wrote mostly in Spanish, the then lingua franca of Filipino scholars, though some of his letters (for
example Sa Mga Kababaihang Taga Malolos) were written in Tagalog. His works have since been
translated into a number of languages including Tagalog and English.
Novels and essays
Noli Me Tngere, novel, 1887 (literally Spanish for 'touch me not', from John 20:17)[42]
El Filibusterismo, (novel, 1891), sequel to Noli Me Tngere
Mi ltimo Adis, poem, 1896 (literally "My Last Farewell" )
Alin Mang Lahi (Whateer the Race), a Kundiman attributed to Dr. Jos Rizal[43]
The Friars and the Filipinos (Unfinished)
Toast to Juan Luna and Felix Hidalgo (Speech, 1884), given at Restaurante Ingles, Madrid
The Diaries of Jos Rizal
Rizal's Letters is a compendium of Dr. Jose Rizal's letters to his family members, Blumentritt, Fr. Pablo
Pastells and other reformers
"Come se gobiernan las Filipinas" (Governing the Philippine islands)
Filipinas dentro de cien aos essay, 1889-90 (The Philippines a Century Hence)
La Indolencia de los Filipinos, essay, 1890 (The indolence of Filipinos) [44]
Makamisa unfinished novel
Sa Mga Kababaihang Taga Malolos, essay, 1889, To the Young Women of Malolos
Annotations to Antonio de Moragas, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (essay, 1889, Events in the Philippine
Islands)
Poetry
A La Juventud Filipina
El Canto Del Viajero
Briayle Crismarl
Canto Del Viajero
Canto de Mara Clara

Dalit sa Paggawa
Felicitacin
Kundiman (Tagalog)
Me Piden Versos
Mi primera inspiracion
Mi Retiro
Mi Ultimo Adis
Por La Educacin (Recibe Lustre La Patria)
Sa Sanggol na si Jesus
To My Muse (A Mi Musa)
Un Recuerdo A Mi Pueblo
A Man in Dapitan
Plays
El Consejo de los Dioses (The council of Gods)
Junto Al Pasig (Along the Pasig)[45]:381
San Euistaquio, Mrtyr (Saint Eustache, the martyr)[46]

Rizal Law
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Republic Act No. 1425, known as the Rizal Law, mandates all educational institutions in the Philippines to
offer courses about Jos Rizal. The full name of the law is An Act to Include in the Curricula of All Public
and Private Schools, Colleges and Universities Courses On the Life, Works and Writings of Jose Rizal,
Particularly His Novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, Authorizing the Printing and Distribution
Thereof, and for Other Purposes. The measure was strongly opposed by the Roman Catholic Church in the
Philippines due to the anti-clerical themes in Noli Me Tngere and El Filibusterismo.
History
Senator Claro M. Recto was the main proponent of the Rizal Bill. He sought to sponsor the bill at
Congress. However, this was met with stiff opposition from the Catholic Church. During the 1955 Senate
election, the church charged Recto with being a communist and an anti-Catholic. After Recto's election,
the Church continued to oppose the bill mandating the reading of Rizal's novels Noli Me Tngere and El
Filibusterismo, claiming it would violatefreedom of conscience and religion.[1]
In the campaign to oppose the Rizal bill, the Catholic Church urged its adherents to write to their
congressmen and senators showing their opposition to the bill; later, it organized symposiums. In one of
these symposiums, Fr. Jesus Cavanna argued that the novels belonged to the past and that teaching
them would misrepresent current conditions. Radio commentator Jesus Paredes also said that Catholics
had the right to refuse to read them as it would "endanger their salvation". [1]
Groups such as Catholic Action of the Philippines, the Congregation of the Mission, the Knights of
Columbus, and the Catholic Teachers Guild organized opposition to the bill; they were countered by
Veteranos de la Revolucion (Spirit of 1896), Alagad in Rizal, the Freemasons, and the Knights of Rizal.
The Senate Committee on Education sponsored a bill co-written by both Jos P. Laurel and Recto, with the
only opposition coming from Francisco Soc Rodrigo, Mariano Jess Cuenco, and Decoroso Rosales.[2][3]
The Archbishop of Manila, Rufino Santos, protested in a pastoral letter that Catholic students would be
affected if compulsory reading of the unexpurgated version were pushed through. [4] Arsenio Lacson,
Manila's mayor, who supported the bill, walked out of Mass when the priest read a circular from the
archbishop denouncing the bill.[5]
Rizal, according to Cuenco, "attack[ed] dogmas, beliefs and practices of the Church. The assertion that
Rizal limited himself to castigating undeserving priests and refrained from criticizing, ridiculing or
putting in doubt dogmas of the Catholic Church, is absolutely gratuitous and misleading." Cuenco
touched on Rizal's denial of the existence of purgatory, as it was not found in the Bible, and that Moses
and Jesus Christ did not mention its existence; Cuenco concluded that a "majority of the Members of this
Chamber, if not all [including] our good friend, the gentleman from Sulu" believed in purgatory. [3] The
senator from Sulu, Domocao Alonto, attacked Filipinos who proclaimed Rizal as "their national hero but
seemed to despise what he had written", saying that the Indonesians used Rizal's books as their Bible on
their independence movement; Pedro Lpez, who hails from Cebu, Cuenco's province, in his support for
the bill, reasoned out that it was in their province the independence movement started, when LapuLapu fought Ferdinand Magellan.[4]
Outside the Senate, the Catholic schools threatened to close down if the bill was passed; Recto
countered that if that happened, the schools would be nationalized. Recto did not believe the threat,
stating that the schools were too profitable to be closed. [1] The schools gave up the threat, but
threatened to "punish" legislators in favor of the law in future elections. A compromise was suggested,

to use the expurgated version; Recto, who had supported the required reading of the unexpurgated
version, declared: "The people who would eliminate the books of Rizal from the schools would blot out
from our minds the memory of the national hero. This is not a fight against Recto but a fight against
Rizal", adding that since Rizal is dead, they are attempting to suppress his memory. [6]
On May 12, 1956, a compromise inserted by Committee on Education chairman Laurel that
accommodated the objections of the Catholic Church was approved unanimously. The bill specified that
only college (university) students would have the option of reading unexpurgated versions of clericallycontested reading material, such as Noli Me Tngereand El Filibusterismo.[1][4][6] The bill was enacted on
June 12, 1956,[4] Flag Day.
Content

The Noli and Fili were required readings for college students.
Section 2 mandated that the students were to read the novels as they were written in Spanish, although
a provision ordered that the Board of National Education create rules on how these should be applied.
[3]
The last two sections were focused on making Rizal's works accessible to the general public: the
second section mandated the schools to have "an adequate number" of copies in their libraries, while the
third ordered the board to publish the works in major Philippine languages.[3]
After the bill was enacted into law, there were no recorded instances of students applying for exemption
from reading the novels, and there is no known procedure for such exemptions. [6] In 1994, President Fidel
V. Ramos ordered the Department of Education, Culture and Sports to fully implement the law as there
had been reports that it has still not been fully implemented.[7]
The debate during the enactment of the Rizal Law has been compared to the Responsible Parenthood
and Reproductive Health Act of 2012(RH Law) debate in 2011. [8] Akbayan representative Kaka Bag-ao,
one of the proponents of the RH bill, said, quoting the Catholic hierarchy, that "More than 50 years ago,
they said the Rizal Law violates the Catholic's right to conscience and religion, interestingly, the same
line of reasoning they use to oppose the RH bill."[9]

Transcript of An American-sponsored Hero

Was Jose Rizal an American-sponsored Hero? FACT > Rizal was not the leader of the Philippine
Revolution of 1896. Rizal has become suspect due to a manifesto addressed to the Filipino
people stating his opposition to the very revolution which made us the first Asians to rebel
against a Western colonial power and establish Republic. FACTS:
1. In compulsory Rizal courses all over the Philippines, students are either given the usual
lectures that Rizal is the greatest Filipino, the greatest Malay who ever lived.
2. Rizal as our national hero should be reconsidered, since he is in a sense a traitor to the
revolution and he became the national hero only because of the Americans who sponsored and
encouraged the Rizal cult.
3. It is true that the Americans had overemphasized Rizal, thus pushing other heroes like Andres
Bonifacio, Apolinario Mabini and Emilio Aguinaldo to relative obscurity as second-class heroes.
But one thing which is not brought up is the fact that Rizal was already seen as a hero even
before his execution on 30 December 1896.
1. Rizal was asked questions like "Did you have any part in the revolution?" or "Did you know
Andres Bonifacio?" Rizal was implicated in the revolution he denounced simply because the
password of the KKK or Katipunan happened to be "Rizal" and the headquarters and meeting
places of the Katipunan had a picture of Rizal.

2. Spaniards thought Jose Rizal was behind the revolution.

3. Andres Bonifacio made Rizal the honorary president of the Katipunan and even attempted to
rescue him from exile in Dapitan so he could lead, or at least inspire the Filipinos to revolt.
1898 Emilio Aguinaldo declared 30 December to be an annual "day of national mourning" in
honor of Rizal. Rizal states that he was "the soul of the Revolution."