PI100 Session 4

• December 30, 1896 - Execution of Rizal in Bagumbayan or Luneta
• Rizal to family and friends: ordinary human being, principled and talented, wanted changes in Philippine colonial society
• Rizal to enemies: subversive, separatist, filibustero
• Rizal to simple folk: Christ-like figure, “gave sight to the blind”
• Months after execution

  • Rizal reported alive to the Spanish Governor General
  • Rizal was well in Cavite with the martyred Fr. Jose Burgos
  • Philippine Independent Church “canonized” Rizal
  • Rizalistas worship Rizal as a god 
• Rizalistas form of veneration: worship Rizal as a hero, a saint, and a god.
• State form of veneration: education, national holiday, commemorations, and symbols. 
• Irony of Rizal's Life

  • Greatest misfortune is becoming a national hero
  • He is everywhere and therefore nowhere
  • A different man to different people in different times
  • Rizal can be read, interpreted, or misinterpreted
• Five Secondary Books about Rizal

  • Wenceslao Emilio Retana’s Vida y escritos del Dr. Jose Rizal (1907)
  • Austin Craig’s Life, Lineage and Labors of Jose Rizal (1913)
  • Rafael Palma’s Biografia de Rizal (1938)
  • Leon Ma. Guerrero’s The First Filipino (1963)
  • Austin Coates’ Rizal: Philippine Nationalist and Martyr (1968) 
• Wenceslao Emilio Retana’s Vida y escritos del Dr. Jose Rizal (1907) 

  • First important biography of Rizal
  • Retana was anti-indio and anti-Rizal during last decade of Spanish colonial period
  • Sudden change of heart to sell book of Rizal
  • Theme of his work: assertion that Rizal is a loyal Spanish subject misunderstood by Spanish colonial authorities that sought his execution
• Austin Craig’s Life, Lineage and Labors of Jose Rizal (1913)

  • Reaction to Retana: critique “Los errores de Retana”
  • Published angry critique in 1910, followed with a full biography, Life, Lineage and Labor of Jose Rizal
  • Focus: evilness and corruptness of the Spanish colonial system compared to benevolent American colonial system, which Rizal would have approved
• Rafael Palma’s Biografia de Rizal (1938)

  • Commonwealth government of the Philippines sponsored nationwide contest for the best biography of Rizal
  • Palma’s Biografia de Rizal was the first prize winner
  • Controversial in treatment of Rizal’s last hours
  • Focus: a stand against the alleged retraction of Rizal
  • Argued that Rizal is a victim of Spanish injustice and remained anti-Catholic to the end
• Leon Ma. Guerrero’s The First Filipino (1963)

  • Won biography contest of the Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission (JRNCC) in 1961
  • Biography that took a middle path
  • Appropriate, extensive and sensitive use of Rizal’s correspondence and writings led to a new and more human picture of Rizal
  • Argued that Rizal was the first Filipino
• Austin Coates’ Rizal: Philippine Nationalist and Martyr (1968)

  • Readable and placed Rizal in his European context
  • Most widely read Rizal biography in English outside the Philippines
  • Published and distributed worldwide by Oxford University Press
  • Non-Filipino paper readers drew upon the work of Coates
• Issues on the Five Books:

  • Secondary sources
  • Occasionally cited and utilized as if they were primary sources
  • Distortions and the perpetuation of errors in Rizal studies stem from lack of fresh primary research
• • Draft of third novel: Borrador del Noli me tangere
  • Makamisa: The search for Rizal’s Third Novel (1992)
  • Continue the re-evaluation and re-consideration of the primary sources
• Rizal's Morga

  • a historical work that was annotated by Jose Rizal.
  • Rizal read the text of Antonio de Morga which he described the food of the Indios
  • Rizal’s sarcastic rebuttal appears not in his satirical novels or his polemial tracts but in a scholarly work.
  • Rizal’s annotations are largely disregarded today.
  • Censorship during the Spanish colonial period. 
• Rizal's Morga

  • There was also the problem of language which restricted the impact of the work.
  • Rizal is often credited with “rewriting Philippine history”.
  • Rizal seems to have been reflecting on his country’s history shortly after completing Noli Me Tangere.
  • Rizal has began another novel but tore up the completed chapters.
  • Rizal applied and was granted a reader’s pass to the British Museum. 
• Rizal's Morga

  • Close to August 18, 1888, Rizal had the first edition of Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas for publication.
  • Rizal did not earn anything from the Morga. 
• Antonio de Morga

  • born in 1559 in Seville
  • graduated from the University of Salamanca
  • attained a doctorate in Canon Law
  • joined the government service in 1580
• Antonio de Morga

  • fame came in 1600 when he was put in charge of the Spanish fleet.
  • malicious biographical note on Morga is provided by W.E. Retana (1906) 
  • From Mexico, Morga was moved to Quito in 1615 where he was president of the Audiencia.
  • Morga began his work, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas as a way to save face after the Dutch disaster. 
• Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas

  • consists of eight chapters
  • seven chapters mainly concern the political events in Spanish colonization
  • In his preface to Morga, Rizal states that he did not change a single word in the text. 
• Rizal's 5 consideration on Morga:

  • rareness of the original book
  • civil compared to religious or ecclesiastical
  • more objective, more trustworthy
  • sympathetic
  • primary source and actor to the events he narrates
• Rareness of the original book

  • Originally published in Mexico in 1609
  • In 1971, 25 extant copies of the Morga
  • Less than 30 copies of the first edition
  • Libraries treat it like an Inca treasure
• Civil compared to religious or ecclesiastical

  • The only civil history of the Philippines written during the colonial period
  • The only secular general history of the Philippines in print for over two centuries
• Religious Historian

  • Focus on Church history than the history of the Philippines at its people
• American historian - Austin Craig

  • Focus on history of Spain in the Philippines rather than the history of the Philippines
• Teodoro A. Agoncillo

  • Agoncillo acted upon Austin Craig’s idea
  • Wrote Philippine history from the Filipino point of view as opposed to that of the foreigner
  • In the 19th century, Indios had yet to consider themselves a nation, and could not have considered Filipinos. 
• More objective, more trustworthy

  • Religious missionaries' works are associated with tales of miracles and apparitions
  • Categories: Straightforward historical annotations and reflect in his strong anti-clerical bias
  • Rizal branded religious interpretations of events as "pious lies." (white lies) 
• Sympathetic

  • more sympathetic, compared to the narratives of friar accounts, many of which were biased and racist (Ocampo)
• Rizal argued that Pre-Hispanic Filipinos had their own culture before 1521
• Pre-Hispanic Filipinos had an advanced knowledge of metallurgy. There is evidence there were fine cannons made by an indio named Panday Pira. 
• Modern Filipino historians have to reconsider the assertion of Jose Rizal because the term “cannon maker” can only be traced to Rizal. 
• Retana debunked Rizal's assertions since there was a time when Filipinos were unable to forge thick European style cannons. Panday Pira and his sons cannot also comply with the Governor’s De Vera request to find who can make cannons. 
• Rizal sometimes used his imagination more than collecting evidence. 
• Importance of Rizal’s annotation:

  • he tried to create a sense of national consciousness or identity
  • understanding the past was crucial for Filipinos to develop a sense of national identity
• Isabelo de los Reyes (1864-1938) - argued with Rizal in La Solidaridad because of Rizal's excessive patriotism
• Ocampo said that Rizal’s patriotism made him over-sensitive or even intolerant of criticism. 
• Rizal was not the only Filipino at that time interested in the pre-Hispanic Philippine past
• Rizal's linear conception of history:

  Arrival of Spaniards is a turning point that stunted the pre-Hispanic Philippine colonization