Rizal Midterm

• Dr. Jose Rizal received a summon from Governor-General Despujol


  July 6, 1892
• Rizal was confronted with a leaflet entitled Pobres Frailes (Poor Friars) written by Fr. Jacinto (Rizal's pen name in the Hong Telegraph) that inspectors allegedly found in the luggage of his sister, Lucia
• Governor-General ordered the arrest of Rizal
• Rizal was accompanied by Ramon Despujol, the younger brother of the Governor at Fort Santiago, where he was placed in detention and declared as "incommunicado"
• Rizal was ordered to board the S.S. Cebu bound for Dapitan
• Reasons given by Governor-General Despujol for Rizal's exile to Dapitan


  • Publication of books and proclamations that manifested his disloyalty to Spain and were anti-Catholic and anti-friar
  • Discovery of the pamphlet entitled "Poor Friars" which satirized the patience and humble generosity of the Filipinos and published accusations against the customs of the religious orders
  • His last novel, El Filibusterismo, was dedicated to the three Filipino friars
  • His end goal in his efforts and writings was to tear the Filipinos' holy Catholic faith
• Rizal's activities and achievements in Dapitan


  • Physician - rendered free medical services to the poor townsfolk
  • Farmer - purchased 16 hectares of land in Talisay, Dapitan
  • Businessman - had several business partnerships, sold shoes and socks
  • Teacher - opened a community school
  • Scientist - collected specimens of flora and fauna, sent to Ateneo and friends in Europe
  • Inventor - invented a manual machine that could produce 6,000 bricks daily, discovered a formula for making bakhaw paste
  • Linguist - studied the Bisaya language and compared Tagalog-Bisayan and Malayan languages
  • Artist - produced various sculptures
• Rizal did not know Dr. Pio Valenzuela from Manila, who told him about the impending Philippine Revolution when he visited on July 1, 1896

  
• Rizal thought that fate was playing a bad joke on him, but he resigned to it. He saw the revolution in the Philippines rising in the dark and foreboding that however far he was from it, he would be implicated if he remained in the country
• Rizal's advice to Dr. Pio Valenzuela and Andres Bonifacio regarding the impending revolt

  • He approved of the resolutions of the Katipunan, one of which was "to bring about the separation of the Philippines by violent means"
  • He did not want a revolution without enough weapons and supplies
  • He urged that they should prepare and be careful in order for the Katipunan to remain undiscovered
  • He advised the Katipunan to convince Antonio Luna to direct the campaign
  • The Katipunan should attract wealthy Filipinos; if they refused, they should remain neutral
• Charges filed against Dr. Jose Rizal by the Spanish authorities

  • The acts in question constituted the crimes of founding illegal associations and promoting or inducing the commission of rebellion, the first being a necessary means for the execution of the second
  • The accused, Dr. Jose Rizal, stood guilty of both crimes in the capacity of a principal agent
  • In the commission of these crimes, the criminal was a native (Filipino) must be considered an aggravating circumstance, with no extenuating circumstances
• Rizal's defense against the charges

  • Concerning the rebellion. I have nothing to do with the political affairs from July 6, 1892, to June 1, 1896. In June 1896, after being told by Don Pio Valenzuela that an uprising was being contemplated, I advised against it and made him seek amnesty from authorities. This proves that I had no dealings with anyone regarding political affairs.
  • They exploited my name cruelly and, at the very last moment, sought to take me by surprise. Why did they not get in touch with me earlier? Possibly because word had reached them that I was, if not contented, at least resigned in my place of exile, for I had refused to entertain any of the various proposals that many people made to get me out.
  • However, he admitted that he framed the statutes of the La Liga, whose aim was to promote the commerce industry using cooperation. He added that La Liga was not a subversive organization, and it died at an early stage.
  • About his letters that carried bitter criticism, he did not deny them but asked the court the time they were written. "They were written after we were stripped of our two residential houses, our warehouses, our lands, and other properties, as well as when all my brothers-in-law and my elder brother were exiled."
• At 6:30 a.m., a bucket of soldiers was formed. Rizal dressed in a black coat, hat, shoes, tie, and a white T-shirt. He was also tied elbow to elbow and preceded in the march with a bugle and drum
• While walking, Rizal told his companion, "We are on the road to Calvary; I can well realize now the passion of Christ; mine is so insignificant"
• While they were still on the march, Rizal stated to one of his companions, "What a beautiful morning! Some mornings like this, I used to come here to spend with my sweetheart"
• When they passed by the front of Ateneo, Rizal asked for affirmation if it was the Ateneo, to which his companions said yes. Rizal then told them that he spent a few years in the school
• While standing, he asked for permission to be shot facing the firing line, but the Captain refused. Even dying, Jose Rizal wanted to prove he was not a traitor to Spain and the Philippines. Therefore, he needed to fall facing the sky
• Rizal had a request to the captain of the picket to shoot him in the back and spare his head. The request was granted
• At the moment of fire, Rizal was indeed a man of science. He waited for the final word, "Fuego!" (meaning "Fire!"), the brilliant Rizal, before the soldiers of the 70th Regiment pulled the triggers of their guns, turned his back to the right. When the bullets reached his body, the law of physics turned Rizal's dying body to fall, facing upward
• Rizal was 35 years old when he died with 8 bullets in his heart at 7:03 in the morning
• More and more provinces in the Philippines decided to fight. Rizal was the best reason that the Spaniards had created in favor of the Philippine Revolution. After his death, other provinces joined the fight for freedom aside from Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Batangas, and Nueva Ecija
• Antonio Morga was a high-ranking Spanish official, soldier, lawyer, and historian who served in the Philippines for 43 years during the Spanish regime
• Morga published the book Successos de las Islas Filipinas in 1609, considered one of the most substantial works on Spain's early colonial history in the Philippines
• Morga held the second-most powerful position in the Philippines during those times, serving as Lieutenant to the Governor-General, Luis Pérez Dasmariñas, upon his arrival in Manila
• Morga noted the miserable conditions of the Spanish/Mexican soldiers due to corruption and an unfamiliar environment. It was noteworthy that Manila was not an ideal place for many Spanish and Mexican immigrants, based on the reports of Morga
• Morga issued regulations for administrative reform, which are known as the orders. His reforms included the restoration of the audencia
• Morga's book, Successos de las Islas Filipinas (1609), was the best account of Spanish colonialism in the Philippines written during that period. It was based partly on ethnographic research, keen observation, and Morga's personal involvement and knowledge
• Rizal decided to transcribe Morga's book because he felt that Morga was more objective, sympathetic, and civil than religious writers whose accounts included many sacred and miraculous stories
• Rizal's objectives in transcribing and annotating Morga's work


  • To enlighten the consciousness of the Filipinos regarding their glorious pre-colonial culture
  • To correct what had been distorted about the Philippines due to the Spanish conquest
  • To prove that the Filipinos were civilized even before the Spaniards came to the Philippines
• Rizal theorized that the Philippines is a country with an economically self-sufficient and prosperous social structure, and that the Spaniards' conquest and colonization significantly destroyed the Philippines' rich tradition and culture
• Rizal


  An earnest seeker of truth, which makes him a historian
• Rizal's theory about the Philippines

  • The Philippines is a country with an economically self-sufficient and prosperous social structure
  • The Spaniards' conquest and colonization significantly destroyed the Philippines' rich tradition and culture
• Ferdinand Blumentritt's perspective


  Spaniards had to correct their erroneous conception of the Filipinos as children of limited intelligence
• Delusions of Spaniards about the Philippines

  • Filipinos were an inferior race
  • Filipinos were not ready for parliamentary representation and other reforms
  • Denial of equal rights can be compensated by the strict dispensation of justice
• Blumentritt praised Rizal's work as scholarly and well-thought-out
• Morga's Successos de Las Islas Filipinas was rare, and the few libraries that have it guard it with the same solitude as if it was the treasure of the Incas
• Noli Me Tangere


  Rizal's masterpiece and his most significant contribution to the Philippines and the world
• Noli Me Tangere was finished on February 21, 1887, and published in Germany by the publishing house Berliner Buchdruckerei-Action-Gessellschaft
• The book has 63 chapters, which Rizal wrote in different countries
• Rizal's friend Maximo Viola lent him Php. 300 to print the book (2,000 copies)