Jose Rizal: Persecution and Exile in Dapitan

Jump to: navigation, search

Jose Rizal's arrival in Manila on June 26, 1892 had become very sensational among the Filipinos.
His popularity feared the Spaniards, and as such, payed careful attention to his every moves all
houses where he had been were searched and the Filipinos seen in his company were suspected.
As he had planned, on July 3, 1892 he founded the La Liga Filipina in the house of Doroteo
Ongjunco in Tondo, Manila. (For a more comprehensive discussion on the La Liga Filipina,
click here).
Four days after the civic organization's foundation, Jose Rizal was arrested by the Spanish
authorities on four grounds:
1. for publishing anti-Catholic and anti-friar books and articles;
2. for having in possession a bundle of handbills, the Pobres Frailes, in which advocacies
were in violation of the Spanish orders;
3. for dedicating his novel, El Filibusterismo to the three traitors (Gomez, Burgos and
Zamora) and for emphasizing on the novel's title page that the only salvation for the
Philippines was separation from the mother country (referring to Spain); and
4. for simply criticizing the religion and aiming for its exclusion from the Filipino culture.

Arrival in Dapitan
Aboard the steamer Cebu and under heavy guard, Rizal left Manila, sailing to Mindoro and
Panay, until he reached Dapitan at seven o'clock in the evening of June 17. From that day until
July 31, 1896, Dapitan became the bare witness to one of the most fruitful periods in Rizal's life.
His stay in the province was more than he living in exile it was the period when Rizal had
been more focused on serving the people and the society through his civic works, medical
practices, land development and promotion of education.

Challenging the religion

In Dapitan, Rizal had a scholarly debate with Father Pablo Pastells regarding religion. This
exchange of heated arguments revealed the anti-Christian Rizal his bitterness on the abuses
performed by friars, doing such under the name of the sacred religion. Father Pastells tried his
best to win Rizal back to the faith but fortunately or unfortunately, in vain. These series of debate
ended inconclusively in which neither of them convinced the other of his judgments/arguments.

Careers and contributions

Rizal had maximized his stay in Dapitan by devoting much of his time in improving his artistic
and literary skills; doing agricultural and civic projects; engaging in business activities, and
writing letters to his friends in Europe, particularly to Ferdinand Blumentritt and Reinhold Rost.
His careers and achievements in different fields were as follows:

As a physician, Rizal provided free medicine to his patients, most of them

were underprivileged. However, he also had wealthy patients who paid him
well enough for his excellent surgical skill. Among them were Don Ignacio
Tumarong who gave Rizal 3000 pesos for restoring his sight, an Englishman
who gave him 500 pesos, and Aklanon haciendero, Don Francisco Azcarraga,
who paid him a cargo of sugar. His skill was put into test in August 1893 when
his mother, Doa Teodora Alonzo, was placed under opthalmic surgery for the
third time. The operation was a success, however, Alonzo, ignored her son's
instructions and removed the bandages in her eyes which lead to irritation
and infection.

As an engineer, Rizal applied his knowledge through the waterworks system

he constructed in Dapitan. Going back to his academic life, Rizal obtained the
title of expert surveyor (perito agrimensor) from the Ateneo Municipal. From
his practical knowledge as agrimensor, he widened his knowledge by reading
engineering-related books. As a result, despite the inadequacy of tools at
hand, he successfully provided a good water system in the province.

As an educator, Rizal established a school in Dapitan which was attended by

16 young boys from prominent families. Instead of charging them for the
matriculation, he made the students do community projects for him like
maintaining his garden and field. He taught them reading, writing in English
and Spanish, geography, history, mathematics, industrial work, nature study,
morals and gymnastics. He encouraged his students to engage in sports
activities to strengthen their bodies as well. There was no formal room, like
the typical classroom nowadays. Classes were conducted from 2 p.m to 4
p.m. with the teacher sitting on a hammock while the students sat on a long
bamboo bench.

As an agriculturist, Rizal devoted time in planting important crops and fruitbearing trees in his 16-hectare land (later, reaching as large as 70 hectares).
He planted cacao, coffee, sugarcane, and coconuts, among many others. He
even invested part of his earnings from being a medical practitioner and his
6000-peso winnings from a lottery on lands. From the United States, he
imported agricultural machinery and introduced to the native farmers of
Dapitan the modern agricultural methods. Rizal also visualized of having an
agricultural colony in Sitio Ponot, within the Sindagan Bay. He believed that
the area was suitable for cattle-raising and for cash-crops as the area had
abundant water. Unfortunately, this plan did not materialized.

As a businessman, the adventurous Rizal, with his partner, Ramon Carreon,

tried his luck in the fishing, hemp and copra industries. In a letter to his
brother-in-law, Manuel T. Hidalgo, he pointed out the potential of the fishing
industry in the province (as the area was abundant with fish and good beach).
He also requested that two good Calamba fishermen be sent to Dapitan to
teach the fisher folks of the new fishing methods, using a big net called
pukutan. But the industry in which Rizal became more successful was in
hemp, shipping the said product to a foreign firm in Manila.

As an inventor, little was known of Rizal. In 1887, during his medical practice
in Calamba, he invented a special type of lighter called sulpukan which he
sent to Blumentritt as a gift. According to Rizal, the wooden lighter's
mechanism was based on the principle of compressed air. Another of his
inventions was the wooden brick-maker can manufacture about 6,000 bricks
a day.

As an artist, he had contributed his talent in the Sisters of Charity who were
preparing for the arrival of the image of the Holy Virgin. Rizal was actually the
person who modeled the image's right foot and other details. He also
conceptualize its curtain, which was oil-painted by a Sister under his
instruction. He also made sketches of anything which attracted him in
Dapitan. Among his collections were the three rare fauna species that he
discovered (dragon/lizard, frog and beetle) and the fishes he caught. He also
sculptured the statuette called The Mother's Revenge which represented
his dog, Syria, avenging her puppy to a crocodile which killed it.

As a linguist, Rizal was interested in the languages used in Dapitan, thus,

studied and made comparisons of the Bisayan and Malayan languages
existing in the region. In fact, Rizal had knowledge in 22 languages: Tagalog,
Ilocano, Bisayan, Subanun, Spanish, Latin, Greek, English, French, German,
Arabic, Malayan, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Dutch, Catalan, Italian, Chinese, Japanes,
Portuguese, Swedish and Russian.

As a scientist, Rizal shared his interest with nature to his students. With his
boys, they explored the jungles and searched for specimens which he sent to
museums in Europe, particularly in Dressed Museum. In return, scientific
books and surgical instruments were delivered to him from the European
scientists. He also made a bulk of other researches and studies in the fields of
ethnography, archaeology, geology, anthropology and geography. However,
Rizal's most significant contribution in the scientific world was his discovery
of three species:
o

Draco rizali flying dragon

Apogonia rizali small beetle

Rhacophorus rizali rare frog

Rizal also partakes in civic works in Dapitan. Upon arriving in the province,
he noticed its poor condition. He drained the marshes of Dapitan to get rid of
malaria-carrying mosquitoes. He also provided lighting system coconut oil
lamps posted in dark streets in the province out of what he earned from
being a physician. He beautified Dapitan by remodelling the town plaza, with
the aid of his Jesuit teacher, Fr. Francisco Sanchez, and created a relief map of
Mindanao (footnote: using stones, soil and grass) right in front the church.

Romantic affair with Josephine Bracken

Rizal had always been missing his family and their happy moments together in Calamba and his
despair doubled upon the announcement of Leonor Rivera's death. Not soon, to his surprise, an
Irish girl enlightened his rather gloomy heart. This girl was the 18-year old Josephine Bracken
who, to Wenceslao Retana's words, was slender, a chestnut blond, with blue eyes, dressed with
elegant simplicity, with an atmosphere of light (gaiety).
From Hongkong, she arrived in Dapitan in February, 1895 with his blind foster father, George
Taufer, and a Filipina named Manuela Orlac. Rizal's fame as an opthalmic surgeon reached
overseas, and one of Rizal's friends, Julio Llorente referred the group to Rizal. Rizal and Bracken
instantly fell in love with each and in just one month, they agreed to marry which appalled and
disturbed Taufer. However, the parish priest of Dapitan, Father Pedro Obach, refused to do so
unless they be permitted by the Bishop of Cebu.
On the other hand, Taufer returned to Hongkong uncured. Because no priest was willing to marry
the two, the couple exchanged their vows before God in their own way, which scandalized Fr.
Obach. In 1896, their love bear its fruit Josephine was pregnant. Unfortunately, Bracken gave
birth to a one-month premature baby boy who lived only for three hours. The child was buried in
Dapitan, bearing the name Francisco, after Rizal's father.

Katipunan seek Rizal's advice

Prior to the outbreak of the revolution, the Katipunan leader, Andres Bonifacio, seek the advise
of Jose Rizal. In a secret meeting on May 2, 1896 at Bitukang Manok river in Pasig, the group
agreed to send Dr. Pio Valenzuela as a representative to Dapitan who will inform Rizal of their
plan to launch a revolution against the Spaniards. On board the steamer Venus, Valenzuala left
Manila on June 15, 1892 and in 6 days, arrived at Dapitan with a blind companion, Raymundo
Mata. At night, Rizal and Valenzuela had a talk in the former's garden. There, Valenzuela told
him of the Katipunan's plan. Regarding this, Rizal outspokenly objected Bonifacio's premature
idea for two reasons:
1. the Filipinos were still unready for such bloody revolution; and

2. the Katipunan lacked machinery before plotting a revolution, there must be

sufficient arms and funds collected.

Valenzuela also told Rizal of their plan to rescue him in Dapitan. Again, the exiled hero
disagreed because he had no plan of breaking his word of honor to the Spanish authorities.

As a volunteer in Cuba
During the peak of the Cuban revolution, Rizal offered his services as a military doctor to
compromise with the shortage of physicians in the said country. It was his friend Ferdinand
Blumentritt who informed him of the situation in Cuba and suggested that he volunteer himself
as army doctor. On December 17, 1895, Rizal sent a letter to Governor General Ramon Blanco
rendering his service for Cuba. But for months Rizal awaited in vain for the governor's reply, and
loss hope that his request will be granted. It was only on July 30, 1896 when Rizal received a
letter from Governor Blanco, dated July 2, 1896, accepting his offer. The letter also stated that
Rizal will be given a pass so that he can go to Manila, then to Spain where its Minister of War
will assign shim to the Army of Operations in Cuba.

Farewell to Dapitan
At midnight of July 31, 1896, Jose Rizal left Dapitan on board the steamer Espaa, together with
Narcisa, Josephine, Angelica (Narcisa's daughter), three nephews and six of his students. Many
were saddened as the adopted son of Dapitan left.
In Cebu, on their way to Manila, Rizal successfully performed an opthalmic operation to a
merchant who paid him fifty silver pesos. After almost a week, on August 6, 1896, Espaa
arrived in Manila. Rizal was supposedly to board the Isla de Luzon for Spain, but unfortunately,
left ahead of time. Instead, he was transferred to the Spanish cruiser Castilla to stay and wait for
the next mail boat that woul sail for Spain next month. He was prohibited from leaving the
vicinity but was allowed to accept visitors so long as they were his immediate family. Of course,
all these delays were part of the drama Rizal has now fallen to the critical/deadly Spanish trap.