Rizal’s plans of coming back home

• As early as 1884, Rizal wanted to go back to the

Philippines for the following reasons:
– financial difficulties in Calamba
– dissatisfaction with his studies in Madrid
– desire to prove that there is no reason to fear going
home
– believes that the Spanish regime will not punish the
innocent
 Decision to return home
• June 29, 1887 – announced his homecoming
• Rizal was warned not to return to the Philippines
because his Noli Me Tangere angered the friars:
– Paciano Mercado
– Silvestre Ubaldo
– Jose Ma. Cecilio (Chenggoy)
 Reasons
• To operate his mother’s eyes
• To serve his people who had long been oppressed
by Spanish tyrants.
• To find out for himself how the Noli Me Tangere and
his other writings were affecting Filipinos and
Spaniards
• To inquire why Leonor Rivera remained silent
 Rizal arrives in Manila
• July 03, 1887 – boarded Djemnah
– Aboard are 50 passengers
• July 30, 1887 – arrived in Saigon, then he
transferred to Haiphong
• August 05, 1887 – arrival in Manila
• August 08, 1887 – arrived in Calamba
 In Calamba
• established a medical clinic
– First patient was Doña Teodora
• painted several beautiful landscapes in Calamba
• translated German poems of Von Wildernath in
Tagalog
 In Calamba
• “Doctor Ulliman”
• earned P900 in a few months and P5,000 before
he left the Philippines
• opened a gymnasium for the young people
– introduced European sports (gymnastic, fencing, and
shooting)
 Sad moments in Calamba
• failed to see Leonor Rivera
• Olimpia Mercado-Ubaldo – died because of child
birth
• rumors spread that he was a:
– German spy
– A Protestant
– A mason
– A soul halfway to damnation
 Storm over Noli
• Governor General Emilio Terrero – requested Rizal
to come to Malacañang Palace.
• Rizal denied the charge
• Gov. Gen. Terrero was pleased, and got curious
about the book
 Rizal visited the Jesuits
• Rizal visited the Jesuit fathers to ask for their
feedback on the novel
• He was gladly welcomed by the following friars:
– Fr. Francisco de Paula Sanchez
– Fr. Jose Bech
– Fr. Federico Faura
• Gov. Gen. Emilio Terrero knew that Rizal’s life was
in jeopardy because the friars were powerful
– Because of this he gave Rizal a bodyguard to protect
him.
 Jose Taviel de Andrade
• Spanish lieutenant who
came from a noble family
• was cultured and knew
painting
• could speak French,
English and Spanish
• became good friends with
Rizal
Attackers of the Noli
• Archbishop Pedro Payo
– a Dominican
• Archbishop of Manila
• Sent a copy of the Noli
to Fr. Gregorio
Echevarria to examine
the novel
 UST and Rizal
• The committee was composed of Dominican
professors
• The report of the faculty members from UST about
the Noli states that the novel was:
– Heretical, impious and scandalous in the religious
orders, and anti-patriotic, subversive of pubic order,
injurious to the government of Spain and its function in
the Philippine Islands in the political order.
• Gov. Gen. Terrero – not satisfied with the report so he
sent the novel to the Permanent Commission of
Censorship
• Fr. Salvador Font – Augustinian friar curate of Tondo was
the head of the commission.
– The group found that the novel contain subversive ideas
against the Church and Spain and recommended that the
importation, reproduction and circulation of the pernicious book
in the islands be absolutely prohibited
• The newspaper published Font’s written report
• The banning of the Noli Me Tangere served to
make it popular
– The masses supported the book
• Fr. Jose Rodriguez – Augustinian Prior of
Guadalupe
– published a series of eight pamphlets to blast the Noli
and other anti-Spanish writing
– copies of anti-Rizal pamphlets were sold after mass
– many Filipinos were forced to buy them in order not to
displease the friars
 Noli Me Tangere in Spain
• The novel was fiercely attacked in the session hall
of the Senate of the Spanish Cortes
• Senators:
– General Jose de Salamanca
– General Luis de Pando
– Sr. Fernando Vida
• Vicente Barantes – Spanish academician of Madrid
 Defenders of the Noli Me Tangere
• Propagandists – Marcelo H. del Pilar, Graciano
Lopez-Jaena
• Father Francisco de Paula Sanchez – Rizal’s
favorite teacher in Ateneo
• Don Segismundo Moret – former Minister of the
Crown
• Prof. Miguel Morayta – historian and stateman
• Prof. Ferdinand Blumentritt – Rizal’s best friend
• Rev. Fr. Vicente Garcia – a Filipino Catholic priest-
scholar, a theologian of the Manila Cathedral and a
Tagalog translator of the famous Imitation of Christ
by Thomas Kempis.
– Under the pen name Justo Desiderio Magalang he
wrote a defense of the novel published in Singapore.
• Rizal cried because of his gratitude to his defenders
especially to Fr. Garcia who defended him unexpectedly
• He attacked Barantes by exposing his ignorance of
Philippine affairs and mental dishonesty which is
unworthy of an academician
• Because of the interest of both enemies and protectors of
the Noli the price of the book increased from five pesetas
per copy to 50 pesetas per copy
 Agrarian Problem in Calamba
• Influenced by the novel, Governor-General Emilio
Terrero ordered a government investigation of the
friar estates;
– to remedy inequities might have been present in
connection with land taxes and with tenant relations
• One of the friar estates affected was the Calamba
hacienda by the Dominican order since 1883
• Upon hearing about the investigation, the people of
Calamba asked helped from Rizal to gather facts
and list the grievances so that the government
might institute certain agrarian reforms
 Findings submitted by Rizal
• The hacienda of the Dominican Order comprised the
whole town of Calamba;
• The profits of the Dominican Order continually
increased because of the arbitrary increase of the
rentals paid by the tenants;
• The hacienda owner never contributed a single
centavo for the celebration of the town fiesta, for the
education of the children, and for the improvement of
agriculture;
 Findings submitted by Rizal
• Tenants who spent much labor in clearing the lands
were dispossessed of the said lands for flimsy
reasons;
• High rates of interest were arbitrarily charged the
tenants for delayed payment of rentals;
• When the rentals could not be paid, the hacienda
management confiscated the work animals, tools, and
farm implements of the tenants.
 Friars’ Reaction
• The friars exerted pressure to Malacañang to
eliminate Rizal.
• They asked Gov. Gen. Terrero to deport Rizal but he
refused for there is lack of charges vs Rizal in court.
• Anonymous threats in Rizal’s life alarmed his
parents, siblings, Andrade his bodyguard, friends,
and even Terrero, thus they all advised him to leave
the country
Rizal’s Reasons for leaving the Philippines
• His presence in Calamba was jeopardizing the
safety and happiness of his family and friends.
• He could not fight better his enemies and serve his
country’s cause with greater efficacy by writing in
foreign countries.
 Himno Al Trabajo
• A poem for Lipa – shortly before Rizal left in 1888,
he was asked by a friend to write a poem in
commemoration of the town’s cityhood
• Himno Al Trabajo (Hymn To Labor) was dedicated
to the industrious people of Lipa
 Farewell Philippines
• On February 3, 1888 Rizal left his country with a
heavy heart.
• But this is for his own good and the safety of his
family and friends