Tuesday, 6 October 2020 10:19 AM

Async activity
- Group requirement
- Until Sunday in the week of prelims
- 1 group will be presenting/reporting arguments that are in favor or Rizal retracting; and the
other group will present in favor of Rizal DID NOT RETRACT
- You can use logic in presentation
- Pre-recorded presentation (give the link to sir)
- Not all have to report

RETRACTION ISSUE
- When Rizal was imprisoned in Fort Bonifacio
- He was asked to write a retraction letter and sign it
- Can be found online
○ Rizal had the first letter replace, resulting in different drafts
- The church (priests) wanted Rizal to give up his freemasonry
○ Rizal cannot be given communion, final sacraments before being executed if he is a
freemason
○ Church wanted to save his soul
○ Priests couldn't convince Rizal, so they asked Jesuits from Ateneo to face him
○ Church and masons do not mix well during that time
▪ Freemasons are liberal and widely involved
▪ Rizal joining the masons was strategic because there will be international support
for the Filipino cost
▪ Initiations in fraternities assess the seriousness of the person (but not hazing)
▪ Freemasonry was not a religion, and did not mind religion because they didn't
want to force religious beliefs to one another
○ Rizal never gave up his Catholicism
▪ Seen in his letters
▪ Seen in how he gave up marriage in France to a protestant
- Why did freemason and church not mix well?
○ Bakit pa nagkaroon ng religion kung lahat (sa freemasonry) is equal
○ Anybody can be a free thinker, and this is a big deal for the church - there is
undermining of salvation
○ Religion wants to save people
○ People (liberal) may become stubborn to religion
○ Analogy: Doctors (church) can't treat you if you let go of your hoax beliefs
○ Religion (church ) is committed to save people, but you have to be cooperative
- Rizal didn’t have problems with Catholicism but he had a problem with Catholicism in the
Philippines
- The retraction was fully about Rizal's cooperation to give up his freemasonry
- Your view on retraction reflects on your view of Rizal

LIHAM SA MGA BABAENG TAGA MALOLOS

- Marcelo Del Pilar received a good news from the women in Malolos
- Women wanted to learn Spanish but the Spanish priest did not approve
- The women travelled to Manila to speak to the Governor-General to present their petition
letter directly
- The Governor-General approved
- Del Pilar asked Rizal to write a letter to the women
○ Rizal congratulated and gave advice
○ He empowered women there, saying they are strong and powerful and that they are just
silenced

Rizal Page 1
 silenced
○ He was advocating what the women did
- This reflects on how Rizal was thinking ahead of his time (Feminism)
- "Kung sino yung mga lalaki sa buhay nyo, it's a reflection of who you are" because the fact that
you have a relationship with them means you like/agree with their qualities. What you like in
that person is your personal like/s
- Women have the power to change; and they should not be afraid to change what they love
(country); tolerating is not power
- Women can change a lot of things but it depends on the person closest to them
- Change happens becomes love and care with the goal to make a difference through the
change that happens with it

Rizal Page 2