PREFACE

This book is humbly dedicated first and foremost to our Almighty God our creator that give us
wisdom and knowledge.

This reaction paper was written for the purpose of making readers cognizant of the lofty ideals
and sacrifices made by Jose Rizal inpursuit of the Filipino sense of nationhood. It was therefore,
designed as a reaction book, from the textbook Rizal Without The Overcoat by Ambeth R.
Ocampo, consisiting of 9 chapters, covering the Rizal’s biography, triumphs and failures, works
and writings which contributed to the development of the Filipino nationalism.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The Author would like to extend her appreciation and gratitude to Mr. Jano , who gave his
support for the completion of this book.
CHAPTER 1 “MANY RIZAL’

Rizal has become suspect due to manifesto addressed to the Filipino people stating his
opposition to the very revolution that made us the first Asians to rebel against a Western
Colonial power and establish a republic.Jose Rizal was considered an American sponsored hero,
who was promoted as the greatest Filipino hero during the American colonial period of the
Philippines. This was after the Philippine American War. Rizal was an advocate for liberty
through peace.

According to Ocampo , there were only 12 students in Rizal’s class, nine of which, including
Rizal graduated as sobresaliente. Rizal did get good grades in Ateneo, but at the university of
Santo Tomas he wasn’t as great as he’s been made out to be. Jose Rizal Mercado attended the
Ateneo Municipal de Manila, graduating at the age of 16 with highest honors. He took a post-
graduate course there in land surveying.

Rizal Mercado completed his surveyor's training in 1877, and passed the licensing exam in May
1878, but could not receive a license to practice because he was only 17 years old. (He was
granted a license in 1881, when he reached the age of majority.)

In 1878, the young man also enrolled in the University of Santo Tomas as a medical student. He
later quit the school, alleging discrimination against Filipino students by the Dominican
professors.

Why Rizal is the national hero? --- First of all we should clarify the meaning of a hero to make it
quite simple to understand how Rizal became one. A hero symbolizes goodness. Rizal gave us
freedom by using goodness.

Jose Rizal became the Philippine national hero because he fought for freedom in a silent but
powerful way. He expressed his love for the Philippines through his novels, essays and articles
rather than through the use of force or aggression.

He was a very amazing person at his time. He was humble, fighting for reforms through his
writings instead of through a revolution. He used his intelligence, talents and skills in a more
peaceful way rather than the aggressive way.
Rizal became a National Hero because he passed the criteria by being a National Hero during
the American period: (1) He must be a Filipino. (2) He is already dead. (3) He displayed
unconditional love for his country. (4) He has low temper. (5) He had died dramatically.

CHAPTER 2 “FACTS AND POSSIBILITIES”

Is Rizal really still alive? -- According to the study of Ocampo,He met a Rizalista and said that
Rizal was hiding and He still alive from the Mt. Arayat, Mt. Makiling and Mt. Banahaw. But this
is only a rumor. No one can prove this and historians cannot write a history based on a stray
document filled with rumor. Of course though physically JoseRizal is not in presence but the
knowledge he provided to the Filipino people is still alive and the love of country and Filipino he
showed during his time, is still alive. he leaves his heart to our country which was most
important than his physical appearance.

Was Rizal Psychic? What is psychic? It is capable of extraordinary mental process, such as
extrasensory perception and mental telepathy. One of the evidence that this is true is, Rizal was
having a dream about the death of his brother so vividly. Then after few days his brother died.
Austin Coates is even surprised that many incidents Rizal wrote about his novels Noli me
tangere and El Filibusterismo eventually happened to him in real life. It is amazing that he could
foresee all these things long before they happened.

theRizals were not really landowners. They were tenants of the Dominicans who owned most of
the land in Calamba. According to the Rizals (the Dominicans have their own version of the
story), the tenants started to complain about rent increases that did not consider whether the
harvest for that season was good or not…

Rizal was not a radical man, but in 1891, he became a spokesman for these tenants whom he
advised to trust in the justice and goodness of Mother Spain. The tenants did just that, and the
Spanish governor-general, ValerianoWeyler (who became notorious as the Butcher of Cuba),
sent soldiers to bodily evict the hardheaded tenants from Calamba…It was a major upheaval for
the people of Calamba and also Rizal, who became a marked man not only for his anti-clerical
novel, Noli me tangere, but also for being in the center of a major agrarian dispute.
CHAPTER 3 “FAMILY AND OTHERS”

José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda, Jose Rizal was born to a wealthy family
in Calamba, Laguna and was the seventh of eleven children. He was born on June 19, 1861 to
Francisco Engracio Rizal Mercado y Alejandro and Teodora Morales Alonso y Quintos whose
family later changed their surname to "Realonda” His parents were prosperous farmers who
were granted lease of a hacienda and an accompanying rice farm by the Dominicans. Rizal was
the seventh child of their eleven children namely: Saturina (Neneng) ,Paciano,Narcisa (Sisa),
Olympia, Lucia, María (Biang) ,José Protasio , Concepción (Concha) ,Josefa (Panggoy) ,Trinidad
(Trining), and Soledad (Choleng). Upon enrolling at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, José
dropped the last three names that make up his full name, on the advice of his brother, Paciano
Rizal, and the Rizal Mercado family, thus rendering his name as "José Protasio Rizal". Of this,
Rizal writes: "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!" This was to enable him to
travel freely and disassociate him from his brother, who had gained notoriety with his earlier
links to Gomburza.
From early childhood, José and Paciano were already advancing unheard-of political ideas of
freedom and individual rights which infuriated the authorities. Despite the name change, José,
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...”
Everyone knows Blumentritt as a busy thoroughfare in manila, but who knows or cares about
Blementritt the person? Ferdinand Blumentritt was one of the first European scholars to
specialize in Philippine studies long before it was popular to do so. He was also a good friend of
Rizal.PROPAGANDA- publicity to promote something (idea, policy, or cause), misleading
publicity (deceptiveor distorted information)
CHAPTER 4 “EVERYDAY RIZAL”

In this chapter I realized many things about Rizal. First it tackles the usual breakfast of Rizal. He
usually had hot chocolate, a cup of rice, a sardinassecas—(tuyo).

As Rizal travelled to Europe, he was usallybrokenecausehis allowance would take along time to
arrive from the Philippines.Jose Alejandro, who travelled with him in Belgium, stated that Rizal
was thrifty; Rizalwould always ask the hotel for the cost of room rental with and without
breakfat.Rizal would often choose the room without breakfast, to save money for alcohol,
tea,and a box of biscuits.
In Rizal’s service.Asing-a Chinese cook who worked for Rizal when he and his family were in
exile inHong Kong in 1892.FaustinoTinong· Alfon-Rizal·s cook and all-around handyman in
Dapitan.

An interview with TinongRevealed that: Rizal loves Lanzones and mangoes. Rizal’s meals often
had 3 (three) ulams: A Filipino Dish, Spanish dish, Mestizo Dish. An interview with
Asingrevealed that: He was his cook for more than a year, He never shout or hit him, His salary
was five pesos a month with food, Rizal’s friends were: SixtoLopez, Jose Basa, Dr.Lorenzo
Marques, MJE da Cunha, anda certain Aquino. Don Sixtoalways ate at Rizal’s place.Rizal ate
everything.Accustomed to both bread and rice.Rizal didn·t drink alcohol, Rizal worked a lot and never
took a siesta.

CHAPTER 5 LEGENDARY TALENT

In Hong Kong, in 1892, Jose Rizal began writing a sequel to El Filibusterismo. He began in Tagalog, called the opening
chapter "Makamisa", then started anew in Spanish, and eventually left behind two texts comprising an unfinished third
novel.

In 1987, while working in the National Library, Ambeth Ocampo stumbled on the Spanish drafts of "Makamisa" with a 245-
page manuscript labelled "Borrador del Noli Me Tangere". He reconstructed the unwieldy drafts into a translation and a full
narrative, which is the core of this book. He provides context for this by detailing for the non-specialist reader the scholarly
chase that led to the discovery of the manuscript, the process of research, and the task of authentication that led to the
conclusion that "Makamisa" is Rizal's third novel, and not, as previously thought, the unfiished work know as "Tagalog
Nobility."

"Makamisa" brings forward a new Rizal work for students and their families, historians and scholars, to enjoy -- one in
which Filipinos can see themselves and part of their history. Through it Ocampo proves that Rizal is not a closed book, and
that even as we approach the centennial in 1996, ther still is matter for study on, research on, and enlightenment from the
enigma that is Jose Rizal.