TOWARDS A RADICAL RIZAL fulfilled!

The day on which they inflict martyrdom on

our innocent families for our fault, farewell, pro-friar
government, and perhaps, farewell, Spanish
Reform or Revolution?
Government!” (Rizal to Mariano Ponce, Apr 18, 1889)
- 1887, even before Calamba incident, Rizal expressed
- La Liga Filipina- the nationalist movement established
the view that independence through peaceful struggle
by Rizal when he left La Solidaridad when he moved
is nothing but a dream and seeking assimilation from
away from del Pilar’s assimilationist program
Spain was a mistake
- La Liga Filipina’s aim: (1) to unite the whole
- “…we don’t want separation from Spain. All that we
Archipelago into one compact, vigorous and
ask is greater attention, better education, better
homogenous body; (2) mutual protection in every case
government [officials], one or two representatives [in
of trouble and need; (3) defense against every violence
Parliament], and greater security for persons and our
and injustice; (4) development of education,
properties.”
agriculture, and commerce; (5) study and
- Antonio Luna expressed his support for Rizal
implementation of reforms.
- Rizal’s separatist faction: Antonio Luna, Edilberto
Evangelista, Galicano Apacible, Jose Alejandrino
The Calamba Hacienda Case
- Rizal and his separatist faction had considered the
- ownership from Jesuits to Dominicans
peaceful campaign for reforms as one tactic within the
- Canon: land rent of the farmers from the Dominicans;
broad, long-term strategy of separatism
became the source of tension between the friars and
- Independence: ultimate goal of Rizal’s circle
their tenants (non-issuance of receipts by the friar
- What needed to be worked out was the method of
administrators, rents increasing year after year, even
achieving nationhood. Of crucial importance were the
during bad harvests or times of low prices; arbitrary
enlightenment of the people and the development of a
and irregular fees; occasional evictions due to arrears
national consciousness. Therefore, the propaganda
in payment of rents.
campaign, for as long as it contributed to this goal, was
- Mariano Herbosa: Rizal’s brother-in-law; wrote to him
useful.
on 29 August 1886 complaining of the innumerable
- difference of Rizal’s from del Pilar’s: the latter’s
vexations that tenants suffered under the friars: rent
conviction that the sole obstacle to reform was the
on irrigated rice land “even if it has no water”; another
friars, that is, the root of the problem was friar
rent on dry land (planted to sugar, maize, etc.); the
obscurantism. Their goal was to work for the expulsion
charge on palay is separate from the charge on maize,
of the friars.
mongo or garlic
- Rizal realized that the root of the problem was the
- When Rizal came home in mid-1887, he was well
Spanish colonialism itself
aware of his town mates’ difficulties and the
- Illustrados should work for the enlightenment of the
smoldering tension that exploded during his stay
Filipinos in the Philippines
- He became the center of the tenants’ struggle against
- Reason for going to Europe: to obtain knowledge that
the Dominicans.
was not available in the Philippines because of friar
- On December 30, 1887, when the government,
obscurantism and government repression
wondering why the revenue paid by the Dominican
- it is the expatriate’s duty to come home and work
Order had remained constant despite the ever-
among his peope
increasing size of its cultivated land, formally asked the
- “It is all right for young men to come here to study
Calamba town council to determine whether there had
but those who have already finished these studies
been any increase in the products and size of the
ought to return and live there. Marcelo H. del Pilar has
Dominican estate over the past 3 years.
already finished his studies, and he had no need to
- Rizal was requested to draft the report.
come to Europe.” (Rizal to Jose Maria Basa, Jan 1889)
- Horror story of Dominican Greed: enormous increase
- FIRST INCIDENT: Calamba Incident/Calamba Hacienda
in rent (rent from 45 pesos to 900 pesos in a few years)
Case (1888-1891) ended with the eviction, arrest and
and arbitrary fees (rent is charged on bamboo grove
deportation of many Calamba tenants, including
naturally growing on land, building wooden house or
members of Rizal’s family.
replacing bamboo fence with a stone)
- SECOND INCIDENT (March 1, 1888): Manifestation of
- Rizal advised his family to stop paying rent. The rest
1888: the gobernadorcillos at Manila presented the
of the Calamba tenants followed suit and petitioned the
civil governor with a petition demanding the expulsion
government to intervene by authorizing and
of the friars from the Philippines. The government
supervising the drawing up of a new contract between
responded by declaring the petition subversive and
the people of Calamba and Dominican land-owners
arresting the petitioners, 28 of whom were promptly
- Dominican Corporation response: filing an action for
jailed.
eviction against the Clamba tenants.
- THIRD INCIDENT (late March to early April 1889): The
- Rizal went back to Europe (against his will and upon
waves of arrests in 1888 and 1889: another wave of
the urging of his family and town mates0, it fell upon
arrest swept Manila, arising the alleged discovery that
Pacian and his brother-in-law, “to advise and lead a
Jose Mari Basa’s brother, Matias, was an outlet for
struggle which, in view of the power against which it
clandestine antifriar propaganda.
was pitted, was desperate and almost certainly
- “Without 1872 (Burgos & Paciano’s movement), there
hopeless”
would not now be any Plaridel [del Pilar’s pseudonym],
- The Justice of Peace Court of Calamba favoured the
or Jaena, or Sancianco, nor would the valiant and
tenants thus, the Dominicans brought the case to the
generous Filipino colonies in Europe exist; without
Supreme Court in Manila
1872, Rizal would now be a Jesuit, and instead of
- SC favoured the Dominicans
writing the Noli Me Tangere, would have written the
- Calamba tenants and Rizal Family appealed to the
contrary… Good! Let them commit abuses, let there be
Supremen Court in Madrid
arrests, exiles, executions, good! Let Destiny be
- Governor-General Valeriano Weyler (replaced General
Terrero in May 1888) favour the Dominicans
- FIRST ACT: enforce court ruling for the eviction of
tenants; first to fall was the Rizal Family
- Felipe Buencamino: lawyer from Manila; according to
him, he decided to remove himself as the legal counsel
for the Rizal family when he realized that Rizal had a
more radical agenda in resisting the Dominicans, who
after all were willing to come to a settlement, but only
with the ring-leaders- the Rizals. He took over the case
from the Rizals’ original lawyer, Don Ambrosio
Rianzares Bautista, who backed out for being fear of
being denounced by the Dominicans.
- “Dr. Jose Rizal thought that the thousands of tenants
sued by the friars would call the attention of the
government towards the friars’ abuses of usury and
despoliation” –Buencamino
- Government prepared to confront the threat to public
order when almost all of the tenants of Calamba
followed the Rizals’ example
- Buencamino’s connections: Don Francisco Iriarte
(judge of Calamba) and Don Vicente Reyes (governor
of Calamba)
- Arrangement from the Dominican Fathers:
* 1000 pesos/1 quiñon = 100 quiñones = 79
acres = 50 centiares
* accounts for rentals in arrears were all
remitted
* the accused acknowledge the ownership
by the Dominicans of the rest of the
quiñones of the estate and would pay
only 10% of the canon in succeeding
years (14-15)
- “… he had never considered a case from a private
point of view, but from the political point of view. He
was pushing the Filipino people to the brink of a
revolution through the simple act of the tenants’
refusing to pay the friars’ canon…’’ –Buencamino
- Hidalgo was banished to Bohol without due process of
law
- In May 1890, the Real Audiencia [Supreme Court] of
Manila passed judgment in favor of the Dominicans,
declaring the Calamba tenants as illegal occupants of
their land.
- September 1890, General Weyler began enforcing the
will of the Dominican friars- sending artillery and
military forces to Calamba that started to demolish the
house of Rizal’s parents, whom they arrested with his
brothers-in-law, brother, and sisters, exiling the men to
different places of the Archipelago
- On the first day, 60 families were thrown out and their
sugar mills and any other building they have built were
destroyed
- Rizal wrote Blumentritt a letter recounting the
incident (Jan 31, 1982)
- End of September 1890: 400 tenants evicted, 25 of
them were deported to the remotest, most desolate
areas of the archipelago; all these happened in the
wake of devastating cholera epidemics in 1888 and
1889
- The parents of Rizal, who refused to vacate their
home, were bodily carried out, their furniture and
valuables thrown out of their house
- Don Francisco, Paciano, Silvestre Ubaldo and Antonio
Lopez were deported to the island of Mindoro
- Donya Lolay: sent from Manila to Sta. Cruz Lagina by
mountain road
- During eviction, Rizal was in Madrid, armed with a
power of attorney from Paciano, lobbying in behalf of
the unfortunate tenants, and representing his family in
their final appeal to the Tribunal Supremo. The highest
judicial court in Spain upheld the earlier decision of the
Supreme Court of Manila, thus, legitimizing Governor-
General Weyler’s infamy.
- For Rizal, there was only one way to exorcise the
ghost- to come home and face the monster.
- “… If one must die, let one die at least in his country,
for his country and in the name of his country.” (Rizal
to Mariano Ponce)
Rizal‘s Break with del Pilar
- honorary President of the Solidaridad Association in
January 1889
- “I could not accept the seat [in the Cortes] although
my ancestors on my mother’s side were Congressmen
(jose Florentino and Lorenzo Alberto.” –Rizal to del Pilar
- The Filipino community thus had to choose between
Rizal and del Pilar. However, the voting resulted in 3
inconclusive ballots. To avert a crisis of leadership,
Mariano Ponce pulled some strings with del Pilar’s
faction, and Rizal was finally elected. However, the
prolonged voting and the haggling that ensued had
made it clear to Rizal that he did not wield a moral and
ideological influence on the majority, and that the
Filipino colony was irreparably polarized between his
faction and del Pilar’s. Thus, unable to build consensus
around his political program, and realizing the need for
a new, more vigorous movement in the Philippines,
Rizal walked out of the Filipino colony for good.
- REASONS WHY RIZAL STOPPED WRITING FOR LA
SOLIDARIDAD: (1) Need to finish the El Filibusterismo,
(2) wanted to work, (3) unity in action is worth a lot
- “hard core” of younger- more progressive men who
gravitated toward Rizal; older men- cautious and less
radical
- “effete generation” saddled with “conservative
ideas”- del Pilar’s faction described by Edilberto
Evangelista
- “If our countrymen hope in us here in Europe, they
are certainly mistaken… The help we can give them is
our lives in our own country. The error all make in
thinking we can help here, far away, is a great mistake
indeed . The medicine mist be brought near to the sick
man. Had I not been unwilling to shorten the lives of
my parents, I would not have left the Philippines, no
matter what happened. Those 5 months I stayed there
were a model life, a book even better than the Noli Me
Tangere. The field of battle is the Philippines; there is
where we should be.” –Rizal to Madrid reformists
(signed as La’ong Laan) dated October 1891
- He went to Hongkong and reunited with his family
- “La Solidaridad is no longer the place to give battle;
this is a new fight… I have lost hope in Spain. For that
reason, I shall not write one more word for La
Solidaridad. It seems to me it is in vain.” –Rizal to
Blumentritt
- planned to establish a Filipino colony in Sandakan,
North Borneo, where the evicted farmers of Calamba
could resettle. Governor-General Despujol rejected this.
- established La Liga Filipina, which would pave the
pave the way for the formation of a Filipino national
community, and therefore, national independence.
- Eduardo de Lete wrote something about Rizal in La
Solidaridad that made pabagsak the propaganda
movement in Madrid, Spain
- A misunderstanding had arisen concerning the Rizal- - Radical reforms in the armed forces, in the
del Pilar conflict, in which, contrary to the fact, Rizal priesthood, and in the administration of justice; that is
was viewed as the assimilationist and del Pilar the to say, they ask for paternal treatment from the
separatist. Part of the reason for this misunderstanding government
is due to the fact that del Pilar’s relatives were - More respect for a man’s dignity, more security for
prominent members of the Katipunan, and found the individual, less force in the armed forces, fewer
themselves later in a position to assert that on the privileges for that corps which so easily abuses what it
contrary it was their relative who was the progressive has
and Rizal was the waverer. - The country is an organism suffering from a chronic
- Andres Bonifacio: his father served as Tondo’s malady, and in order to cure it, the government sees
teniente mayor (vice mayor), his parents gad enough the necessity of employing such means, harsh and
means to send him to a private tutor in the locality. He violent if you wish, but useful and necessary for their
was literate enough in Spanish to be employed moral perfection.
successively by 2 multinational firms then operating in - Robberies continue and the perpetrators are not
Manila, Fleming and Co. and Fressel and Co., as an hunted down; crime flourishes, and the real criminals
“agent” and broker”. His wife, Gregoria de Jesis, was goes scot-free, but not so the peaceful inhabitant of
the daughter of a landed gobernadorcillo of Caloocan. the town.
- “Bonifacio occupied a position closer to the center of
the social pyramid than to its base, closer to the petty
bourgeoisie than the proletariat.” –Fast and Richardson
- Restituto Javier: compadre and fellow employee of
Bonifacio, and head of the popular council of Sta. Cruz,
Manila, was the son of a Tondo property ownder
- Pio Valenzuala: another compadre of Bonifacio and
the secretary-general of the Katipunan, obtained his
Licentiate in Medicine from the UST, his parents
belonged to “the local aristocracy of Polo, Bulacan”
- Emilio Jacito: Brains of the Katipunan, a graduate of
Letran and a law student in UST
- Ladislao Diwa: also, a graduate of Letran and a law
student in UST
- The leadership of the original Katipunan was not from
the ranks of the “pobres y ignorantes”
- Virtually, all the nationalist movements and
revolutions in the 18th and 19th centuries in Europe and
America, as well as the more contemporary liberation
movements in the 3rd World were inspired and led by
middle-class intelectuals, aka illustrados.
- THE FIRST FILIPINO MEMBERS OF THE PHILIPPINE
COMMISSION: Jose Luzuriaga, Trinidad Pardo de
Tavera, Benito Lahards
- ILLUSTRADOS ACTIVE IN THE REVOLUTION: Antonio
Luna, Jose Alejandrino, Edilberto Evangelista, Mamerto
Natividad, Miguel Malvar, Vicente Lukban, Paciano
- “It is vulgar empiricism, a disservice to our cause, to
negate Rizal on the sole testimony of his 15 December
Manifesto…” –E. San Juan Jr.

LOVE OF COUNTRY
- “But on the other hand, love of country is never
effaced once it has penetrated the heart, because it
carries with it a divine stamp which renders it eternal
and imperishable”
- Immense fortune for motherland: Liberty and Glory

NOLI ME TANGERE
CHAPTER 49: The Voice of the Hunted