Rizal 5: Exile

• Despujol ordered the arrest of Jose Rizal and exile to Dapitan on July 7, 1892, based on four grounds:
• Grounds for Jose Rizal's arrest and exile

  • Publishing books and articles abroad showing disloyalty to Spain, anti-Catholic and anti-Friar
  • Possession of a bundle of handbills, the Pobres Frailes, violating Spanish orders
  • Dedicating his novel, El Filibusterismo, to the three "traitors" and emphasizing on the novel's title page that the only salvation for the Philippines was separation from Spain
  • Criticizing religion and aiming for its exclusion from Filipino culture
• Jose Rizal was exiled to Dapitan


  July 15, 1892
• From 1892 to 1896, Rizal lived in Dapitan where he served as a doctor, farmer, educator, cartographer, and merchant
• Rizal lived in Casa Real, the commandant's residence, instead of the main conditions set by the Jesuits
• Rizal and Commandant Captain Ricardo Carnicero became good friends during the exile
• Manila Lottery ticket no. 9736, jointly owned by Rizal, Carnicero, and a Spanish resident of Dipolog, won the second prize of Php 20,000
• Rizal built a house, a clinic, and a school in Dapitan
• Rizal corresponded with European researchers and had animal species named after him
• Rizal's friendship with Francisco de Paula Sanchez, creation of a map of Mindanao, medical practice, and study of medicinal plants
• Rizal discovered spies sent by his enemies to gather proof of his separatist and insurgent activities
• Encounters with Pablo Mercado, Florencio Nanaman, and Doctor Pio Valenzuela during his exile in Dapitan
• Arrest and exile of Jose Rizal to Dapitan

  1. Ordered by Despujol on July 7, 1892

  2. Four grounds: Doctor Pio Valenzuela sent by Andres Bonifacio, Andres Bonifacio, Valenzuela delivering Katipunan's message discreetly, Rizal's belief in unsuccessful revolution without arms and monetary support
• Rizal learned about the death of his true love Leonor Rivera while in Dapitan
• In August 1893, Rizal successfully operated his mother's cataract
• Dona Teodora left Dapitan to be with Don Francisco, who was getting weaker; shortly after, Josephine Bracken entered Jose's life
• Josephine Bracken, an orphan with Irish blood and stepdaughter of Jose's patient from Hong Kong, couldn't have a church wedding with Rizal due to his anti-Catholic views
• In 1895, Rizal and Josephine Bracken had a child named after Rizal's father, Francisco, who died shortly after birth
• Rizal's trial

  Requested to travel as an army to Cuba in 1895, approved in August 1896, arrested after the Katipunan revolt despite disapproval of its violent methods
• Preliminary investigation of Rizal started

  November 20, 1896
• Trial of Rizal

  December 8-26, 1896
• Rizal was defended by Lt. Luis Taviel de Andrade from the Spanish army during the trial
• Rizal was trialed by a military court at the Cuartel de Espana
• Types of evidence presented against Rizal

  • 15 Documentary evidence
  • 13 Testimonial evidence
• Colonel Francisco Olive administered interrogations as a preliminary investigation for Rizal
• Records of the case were transmitted in a specific order during the trial
• Governor General Camilo Polavieja signed the court decision for Rizal's execution


  December 28, 1896
• Captain Rafael Dominguez read the verdict to Rizal


  December 29, 1896
• Rizal wrote an untitled poem, later known as Mi Ultimo Adios (My Last Farewell)
• Rizal was convicted of rebellion and condemned to death by firing squad, executed in Manila on December 30, 1896, at age 35
• After a proclaimed trial, Rizal was convicted of rebellion and condemned to death by firing squad
• Rizal's public execution in Manila at age 35

  December 30, 1896
• Rizal's execution created more opposition to Spanish rule
• Rizal's Last 24 Hours


  From 6 am to 12 Noon: Judge Advocate Dominguez read the death sentence to Rizal, transferred to his "death cell" or "prison cell," visited by Fr. Miguel Saderra Mata and Fr. Luis Viza, had breakfast with Fr. Antonio Resell and Lt Andrade, interviewed at 9:00 am, advised by Fr. Federico Faura to marry Josephine Bracken at 10:00 am, visited by Jose Vilaclara and Vicente Balaguer at 11 am
• Rizal's Last 24 Hours

  From Noon to 7:00 pm: Had lunch, read the Bible, meditated, wrote his last poem, talked with Fr. Estanislao March and Fr. Vilaclara, discussed retraction with Balaguer, met his mother and sisters, gave Trinidad to Pardo de Taveras, talked with Don Silvino Lopez Tunon, met Josephine Bracken at 6:00 pm
• Rizal's Last 24 Hours

  At 7:00 pm: Confessed to Faura, had his last supper, forgave his enemies and military judges
• At 9 or 9:30 pm

  Manila’s Royal Audencia Fiscal Don Gaspar Cestano arrived and talked to Rizal
• Historians Gregorio and Sonia Zaide alleged that at 10 pm, Rizal and some priests worked on the hero’s retraction
• Judges sentenced him to death

  He was sentenced to death
• Rizal was dressed in a black suit


  December 30