Post on 28-Nov-2014
Dapitan
Despujol’s decree produced consternation among Rizal’s friends and partisans, but
they soon overcome it. On the same night that decree appeared in the Gazette, a secret
meeting was held in an accesoria (apartment) on Azcarraga street. The apartment was
modest, and its tenant was a nearsighted old man, inoffensive and sickly in appearance.
His name was DeodatoArellano and his only companions were his wife and a nephew, a
daring young man teeming with vitality, named Gregorio del Pilar. Deodato was a
brother-in-law of Marcelo del Pilar, editor of La Solidaridad, and the copies of this
fortnightly magazine came consigned in his name.
At the meeting there were only seven persons in all, including the tenant of the
place, but among the seven was the fiery Andres Bonifacio. They spoke in a low voice as
if they were afraid to be heard or surprised. Only one sentiment animated all, and in a
short time the meeting was adjourned after they had arrived at a solemn accord: to
found th Katipunan, an association of the sons of the people to promote the sepreration
of the country from Spain.
The Filipino League did not live long although it was backed by the name of Rizal. Not
being steeped in the intimate feelings of the founder, those who had obligated
themselves to it, believing it to be a new instrument to ask peaceably for reforms from
the government, considered it to useless and of little efficacy and gradually separated
from it to join the Katipunan, whose program seemed to them more determined, more
resolute, and more daring in its aims.
A week later Rizal arrived at Dapitan and was delivered in person by an officer in
transport to the commander of the post, Don Ricardo Carnicero, Captain of the Infantry.
Despujol was in a way considerate towards Rizal. In a sealed document brought by
the officer of the boat, Rizal was authorized to lodge in the mission-house of the Jesuits;
or, if he preffered to live in the mission-house; but in view of that the Jesuits required
him, as a condition precedent, to retract his religious and political ideas to submit
himself to spiritual exercises in accordance with the instructions received from the head
of the Mission, he asked that he be permitted to live in the house of him.
The commander of the district, Don Ricardo Carnicero, was a man who was dicreet
and generous and one not lacking in talent, Rizal lived with him and had one long
conversation with him at table or during the walks which the two took almost daily.
Always affable, respectful, gracious, and of exquisite conversation, Rizal soon won the
good will and then the cordial friendship of his keeper, so much so that the latter
permitted him all the liberties not incompatible with official surveillance. Carnicero also
benefited by this mutual confidence, as he became acquainted with Rizal’s most
intimate ideas and thought and was able to use them as material for his official report to
the Governor General.
In one of their conversations Rizal reiterated the program of reforms that he wanted
for the Philippines, which he had expressed previously in his writing. He wished to: (1)
give representation to the Filipinos to the Cortes; (2) secularize the friars, doing away
with the tutorship which the latter exercise over the government and the country, and
the distributing the curaries as they became vacant among the clergymen, who could be
Filipinos or Spaniards; (3) improved and reform the Administration in all its branches; (4)
foster primary instruction, taking away all intervention of the friars and giving the
teachers more pay; (5) divide fifty-fifty the appointments in the country between the
Spaniards and the Filipinos; (6) create schools arts and trades in the capitals of the
provinces of more than 16,000 inhabitants; (70 permit freedom of religion and of the
press.
When Carnicero, feigning to be a partisan of his reforms, called attention to the
impossibility of obtaining these reforms on account of the great influence of the friars
both in Madrid and in Manila, Rizal answered:
“Do not think so. The influence of the friars is warning in all parts of the world. I am
bold enough to assure you that with the government a little advanced, where there are
five or six men like Becerra, the friars would disappear. In Madrid they know perfectly
well all that the friars do here, so much so that in the first interviews I had with Pi and
Linares Rivas, when the latter belonged to the liberal Party, they informed me of things
which I, a native of this country, did not know. I could cite to you many who, like and
miracles of the friars in the Philippines; but, as they tell me: “The bad government that
succeed one another in Spain are guilty of many abuses committed on behalf of the
religious corporations; the day things change, we will not forget those gentlemen. ’In
the Philippines, I regret to tell you, the friars are disliked and they make themselves
more repugment and odious every day by their meddling in everything. The deportation
of my family is due to the denunciation of a friar.”
Because of the lack of physicians, Rizal practiced his profession in the town, rendering
his professional services to all persons who solicited them, without changing the poor.
He charged the others according to their means. A rich English man who came to
consult him and whom Rizal operated on for paid him five hundred dollars, all of which
Rizal spent in endowing the town with electric lightings
In September, Rizal obtained more than six thousand pesos as participation in the
second price of the lottery of Manila, and he sent the whole amount to his mother for
her expenses and necessities.
Garnicero not only acceded to what Rizal asked him but even offered him all kinds of
stimuli, thinking that the more engrossed Rizal might be in his project he less he would
think politics and of his friends. He try to induce him to establish himself in Dapitan with
his friends instead of Borneo since he seemed to like the district and there were many
abandoned lands there for lack of laborers. Rizal confided to him that the English
government offered him guaranties which the Spanish government did not afford him.
He feared that after cultivating the lands for many years the friars might come and grab
them. Always the friars! But Carnicero persuaded him that the friars’ domination did not
reach Dapitan and that he could rest assured that if he brought his family and his friends
they would not regret the change of residence.
Perhaps because of this suggestions, Rizal planned to build a house of his own, and
for the present he asked for the lands that where near the plaza, where he planted fruit
trees of different varieties. Later he acquired another parcel of land in Talisay which,
according to Carnicero’s report, was of great area and contained sixty cacao plants,
some coffee trees, and many fruit trees, and which cost him 18 pesos in all. Carnicero
proposed to Despujol to pardon Rizal’s relatives who were in Jolo so that they might
establish their residence in Dapitan, and to persuade his sister Lucia and the cousin of
hers who were in Manila to go to Dapitan to live with Rizal. He also recommended that
Rizal be flatterd with hope of obtaining the position of provincial doctor of the district so
that he would not think of leaving it. Rizal was contented with his new project and
enjoyed his work in agriculture. He wrote to his father, saying that if they should decide
to come with the family he would build a house and leave his books and profession.
From his retirement he witnesses with indifference the passing of men and events.
Despujol who had done him so much harm; was relieved of his office in the beginning
of 1893. he was succeeded ad interim by the second in command, Federico Ochando,
and garnicero was also relieved as a result of complaints preferred against him for his
excessive complacencies towards Rizal, and for being impious. His successor was
another captain of the infantry named Juan Sitges, who assumed office on May 4, 1893.
With Sitges things changed somewhat for Rizal, at least in the first days. The new chief
of the district resented sharing his board and lodging with a drportee; and Rizal,
anticipating his desire, asked him to assign him to another house to live. Sitges, then,
made him move to a next house to the comandancia and required his appearance three
times a day. He took other restricted measures such as prohibiting Rizal for visiting the
boats and taking walk outside the limit of the town proper. As confiscated a letter from
Blumentritt in which he spoke to Rizal only of things about his familt, simply because he
considered Blumentrit an enemy of Spain, even though he himself acknowledged that in
this letter it was the only time he treated the Spaniars with indulgence and the first time
in which he did not give separatist advice.
But this harsh treatment did not last more than a few weeks. General Blanco arrived
in a short time to take over the reins of the government of the islands; and whether by
instruction received from him, on his own initiative after seeing the docility
demonstrated by Rizal and his exemplary conduct, Sitges change his conduct and gave
Rizal the same liberties, if not a little more, as those given by his predecessor.
About the middle of October, 1893, his mother and his sister Trinidad joined him
in Dapitan. Rizal was very much contented and, desiring to celebrate Christmas, asked
from Manila for a bale of Japanese paper to make lanterns with which to decorate his
garden like those he saw as a child in Calamba, He now lived in new house he near the
seashore and at the foot of a mountain, covered with “eternal verdure.”
Upon receipt of a card from Blumentritt greeting him for the New Year, he wrote
to his friend a poetic letter in which he narrated his melancholies and his ordinary life
During Sitges’ command, Rizal not only enlarged the property where he lived but
also acquired other properties in different places to plant coffee and hemp.
Sitges suspected that Rizal’s partisans communicated with him about political
matters, but he never had proof. Shortly after he took possession of his office in June,
1893, Sitges suspected three individuals who arrived in Dapitan with a licence to sell
images, and who, after disembarking, went to Rizal’s house. Sitges found out that they
came from Calamba and ordered them to return at the first opportunity. He suspected
those sellers of images because a servant of Rizal came on the previous mail boat to
bring images, when these came not lacking in the town. This and the constant coming
and going to Rizal’s sisters since his mother resided in Dapitan gave Sitges the
impression that something was being hatched. For this reason he ordered the search of
the baggage of these persons on various occasions, without being found anything
forbidden.
The year 1893 ended with a mysterious event for Rizal, which could not be
cleared entirely.
We copy from the official report.
“On the 4th [November, 1893] my attention was called to the individual who, pulling
his hat far down on his head and seemingly trying to avoid being seen, crossed at dust
the rice fields towards the seashore and the lands of Rizal. The manner in which he
passed, through lands almost impassable, the hour, and the direction, made me
somehow suspect something that in that moment I could not tell but which in the end
seemed extraordinary. In this frame of mind I came out to meet him from the opposite
direction; but either because before I crossed the river which runs through Rizal’s lands,
he had gone back or because he took another direction, I could not find him. I returned
to the comandancia thinking of the fact that had attracted my attention.
“Two hours had not elapsed when Rizal appeared before me, saying ( these are his
words): ‘I regret to have to denounce, but I am compelled to do so, on the one hand, by
my ideas which were never separatist, as on my words of honor I assured General
Despujol; on the other, by the old age and tranquillity of my mother who is now beside
me, where I have employed everything for her comfort and entertainment and for that
of my young sister; and, lastly, by the obligation by which as a gentlemen I am bound to
repay and the generosity of the authorities, who respect the secrecy of correspondence.
I regret to denounce, and maybe I shall thereby prejudice someone who still believe I
am credulous and a fool to expose my whole family to adversities. But I have no
alternative but to inform you that yesterday, at night-time, an individual named Pablo
Mercado, who say he is a relative of mine, came to me telling that he came from Manila
to find out my situation and necessities, offering to send me all writings and
correspondence that might be necessary for my plans even if they should hang him,
presenting to me a photograph of mine and some buttons with the initials P.M.’
“At this point I dismissed him, and, accompanied by gobernadorcillo, I proceeded to
apprehend the said Pablo Mercado, findings to his person the photograph referred to
and a cedula with the name of Florencio Namanan, with which document, order of
incommunication and presecution, I delivered him to the gobernedorcillo. But I was
greatly surprised by what I found out from the investigation today, from which has
resulted what could even be remotely expected. . . .
“After the investigation Rizal appeared asking for the minutes of the investigation,
which I deemed it prudent not to give him.”
Here is an extract of that document:
“Tribunal of Dapitan,- Trial Against Pablo Mercado,-Judge: The Gobernadorcillo, Don
Anastacio Adriatico.
“The case is initiated by an official letter of Commander Sitges dated November 6,
1893, ordering the gobernadorcillo to institute the corresponding investigations to
clarify the purpose of the coming to this town of the individual Pablo Mercado.
“The same day this individual was interrogated. He said his name is Lorenzo
Namanan (as appears in his cedula attached to the record), thirty years of age, single,
and a native of Cagayan de Misamis. And he added that he received instructions to get a
photograph of Mr. Rizal in order not to be mistaken when the occasion to talk to him
should come; to go around the towns of the district, come to Dapitan, and gather all the
way all books written by Rizal that he might find; to know Rizal and to present himself as
a political friend and a relative commissions of his friends and relatives in Manila to find
out his situation and necessities; to offer to help him in this propaganda until he
succeeded in obtaining from him letters and writings of a separatist nature, and that, in
effect, a photograph of Rizal was left with him, furnished by Estanislao Legaspi, a
resident of Nos. 17-37 Madrid, Manila, and a pair of buttons with the initials P.M.
corresponding to the name Pablo and the surname Mercado of Mr. Rizal, to inspire
more confidence in him by his supposed surname. That after going through the towns
where he had no other recourse but to steal two books that he found, he came here on
the 3rd of this month, lodging in the house of Teniente Ramon, and at dusk he left for the
outskirts of the town, arriving at the house of Rizal, from whom he tried to obtain
writings and succeeded only in being thrown out by him. That he then returned to his
house, where he remained hiding until last night, when the politicomilitary commander
arrested him in person, finding the cedula and the photograph that is on the table.
In the year 1894 it seemed that Rizal completely forgot and forgotten by all. He seemed
to have realized his dream of being a humble agriculturist engaged in planting abaca,
coconuts, and coffee. He thought of engaging not only agriculture but also in commerce.
He wanted to exploit the fishing industry of the district, and for the purpose, he asked
his brother-in-law Hidalgo for some fishing nets of the kind used in Calamba to
introduce them in Dapitan, where the appliances and methods used by the natives were
more primitive. At the same time he associated himself with a Frenchman who resided
in Dapitan to exploit and sell the abaca produced in the district. His plan was not
precisely to get rich but to demonstrate to his countrymen the value of developing the
commerce and the small industries of the country for their own benefit instead of
leaving all the productive activities in the hand of the Chinese.
But these and other projects for material development did not usually bring happy
results because he was not sufficiently free to execute his plans, which could be vetoed
or disapproved. Even if he were free, the chanced of being pardoned or transferred to
another place could frustrate any plans, however will contrived they might have been.
But in the midst of this situation he did not keep his mind or his pen idle; he became
absorbed in scientific and artistic works, for which his keeper gave him complete liberty.
He had been occupied in writing an original Tagalog grammar and learning the Visayan
language, in which he saw “traces of names more primitive in form than the Tagalog,
and yet the Tagalog conjugation contains in itself not only all the forms of Visayan but
also others.”
In 1894 his private correspondence indicated that he was in constant communication
with the sages of Europe who sought and solicited his collaboration in diverse scientific
matters. Doctor Rost of the Library of London asked him to write philological articles for
the English magazines and, if possible, a comparative treatise on Philippine dialects. The
geographer Doctor Joest consulted with him about two pieces of bamboo believed to
have been used by the Moro chiefs of Mindanao of ancient times for the transmission of
written messages. Dr. N. M. Khiel of Prague, who desired to publish a work of the fauna
of Mindanao, asked him for the collection of butterflies and even gave him instructions
as to how to catch, stuff, and export them. Doctor S. Knuttel of Stuttgart solicited from
him reports on the volcanic eruptions in the Archipelago. Ferdinand Blumenttrit, his
spiritual brother, continued writing to him about his family and his works and, as usual,
always gave Rizal timely counsels about his situations. But it was with Dr. A. B. Meyer of
Dresten that he sustained the most frequent correspondence and to whom he
constantly sent boxes containing samples of the flora and fauna of Mindanao to be
studied and the classified by the Eropean scientists. Because of his humble means and
the lack of experienced of his assistants, the insect and the other animal specimen
which Rizal sent did not arrive in good condition in their destinations. Rizal collected all
these materials and sent them to Europe in exchange for scientific books which he in
turn received from Doctor Meyer.
The famous German amphibiologist, Professor Boettger, a great connoisseur of the
zoology of the Far East, discovered that the frog of the collection sent by Rizal to
Frunkfurt belong to a new species not yet described and completely unknown to
naturalist; and that learned professor, in describing it, christened it with the name of
Rhacophorus Rizali. Another learned German zoologist, Dr. Carl M. Heller, denominated
a species of coleopatra discovered by Rizal in Dapitan with the name of Apogonia Rizali.
Long accustomed to a wise distribution of his time, Rizal spent the months absorbed
in his occupation. Compared with the life he had led abroad, that which he live here,
although monotonous, he found tranquil. He did not consider Dapitan less desirable
than Calamba; on the contrary, he found it better. It was, after all, a part of this country.
In his long meditation on the shores of the sea where he used to spend many hours, he
thought that, everything considered, his banishment had been a blessing, and he
thanked heaven for it.
“. . . So I thank you, O storm, and heaven-born breeze,
That you knew of the hour my wind fly to ease,
To cast me back down to the soil whence I rose.”
His present life was tranquil, peaceful, retired, and without glory, but he believed it
was also useful because he taught the children in the school and the people of the town
the best way of earning a leaving. He had operated on his mother anew, and, thanks to
the operation, she could again read and write with facility. His fondness for sculpture
did not decline in Dapitan, and whenever an inspiration came to him, he utilized his
moments of leisure to model some statues. Among the first sculptured works produced
in dapitan are the bust of Father Guerrico, who was superior of Mission of the Jesuits; a
bust of General Blanco; a Saint Paul, which he dedicated to Fr. Pablo Pastells; a Dapitan
girl; and the death of the crocodile.
The year 1895 brought him new complications. In the early part of the year the
fiesta of Talisay, where he lived, took place. He composed a patriotic hymn which was
sung by the pupils of the school.
Dapitan, October 13, 1895
After celebrating the fiesta, his mother left Dapitan, having been called by his father
who believed he was getting weaker every day and was about to die. “Whether he will
die without our saying each other, I do not know. My deportation has lasted so long that
I begin to lose the hope of some day seeing myself free again.” “All agree with me that I
did not deserve this fate.”
In February of that year he became acquainted with Josephine Bracken, and his soul,
immersed in solitude, awakened eagerly to the allurements of love. She was a girl of
about nineteen, born in Hongkong of an Irish mother and an English father. She was not
remarkably beautiful but was very attractive because of hear pleasant countenance, her
deep, blue, and dreamy eyes, and abundant golden hair. When she was left an orphan,
she became a dancer in one of the café’s in Hongkong. Mr. Taufer, who was quite rich,
knew her there and took her not so much protect her as to have someone to take care
of him, for he had became blind. When Mr. Taufer went ot Dapitan to place himself
under the professional care of Doctor Rizal, she accompanied him and passed for his
daughter.
Miss Bracken and Mr. Taufer went to live in a house next to the hospital. The old
man suffered with double cataracts, and it seemed that the operation required much
time. The youth and exotic charm of Josephine could not but impress Rizal, but as he
suspected at first that she was spy sent ot find out his movements, she was very much
reserved towards her. Later, however, they became very good friends and Rizal declared
sentiments to her. Mr. taufer, upon learning of the affair, suffered an attact of
desperation to tried to commit suicide with a razor, which was avoided by Rizal’s
opportune intervention. Mr. Taufer then return to Hongkong and remained with Rizal’s
mother in Manila. Thence she returned alone to Dapitan to live with Rizal.
Rizal had great pity for the enamored Josephine, abandoned and alone as she was.
But his life with her was the subject of protests from the Church, and Rizal, in order to
avoid public scandal, decided to marry her. But the Church would not sanction his
marriage unless he retract out of respect for the costumes of the people. Anyway he
had not been a very active figure in the high councils of freemasonry; he could therefore
submit himself without great pain to this demand of the Church provided he could save
love. Rizal wrote a form of retraction agreed upon between him and Father Obach, and
without singing it sent it to the Bishop of Cebu for approval. It is not known where the
form of retraction landed; the fact is, that the approval dod not come. And Rizal and
Josephine continued to live as husband and wife in the eyes of the public. Even his
mother, who was religious and devour, did not reproach him too much for his union
with Josephine, saying that “it is better to live in concubinage in the grace of God than
to be married in disgrace.”
Rizal thought that fate was playing a bad joke on him, but he resignated himself
to it. He revolution is rising in the dark and foreboded that however far he was from it
he would be implicated if he remain in the country; that is why he decide to go far away,
very far, where the responsibility for one drop of blood could not reach him.
At the end of 1895 he again wrote to His Excellency asking for his liberty or the
review of the case, and if this were not possible, for his enrollment in the army of Cuba.
Blumentritt advised the latter course and Rizal believed the advice good. But this
application was always undecided, even though he was a free mason, who had been
asked by a Manila lodge to place Rizal at liberty and permit him to go abroad.
Near the end of June 1896, the katipunan, which had replaced the league, thought
of sending one of its members of Dapitan to confer with Rizal and find out whether he
was disposed to place himself at the head of a revolutionary movement. Pio Valenzuela,
a young physician and cofounder of the Katipunan, was the one chosen to see Rizal. In
effect, he feigned to bring an eye patient to be treated in Dapitan, where he arrived in
July 1. Rizal did not know Valenzuela in Manila, or if he did, he could not remember him.
The fact is that when the two were left alone, Valenzuela told the real purpose of his
visit and informed him of the number of persons affiliated with the Katipunan and of the
funds on which they counted to realize a revolution. If Rizal wish to head it, they would
facilitate his escape. The most popular version about that conference was that Rizal
became indignant upon hearing the proposition of Valenzuela and almost threw him out
of his house. It seems, however, that no such thing occurred and that, although Rizal
refused to have anything to with the revolution because it could not succeed under the
conditions in which he was told it was to be carried out, he did not treat Valenzuela
anger. Although he said that they must not count on him as to the escape because he
would thereby break his word of honor, he suggested that Luna be approached if they
needed a military leader.
The Death Sentenced and the Last Farewell
Rizal exerted his last effort to record his innocence in an indubitable manner: when
asked whether he had anything to say, he the contents of the document which he
himself had prepared and in which he said:
Supplement to My Defense
“Don Jose Rizal y Alfonso respectfully requests the Court Martial to consider the
following circumstances:
“First. With the respect to the rebellion. I had absolutely refrained politics since July 6,
1892, until the 1st of July of this year when, advised by Don Pio Valenzuela that an
uprising was proposed, I counseled against it, trying to convince him with reasons. Don
Pio Valenzuela parted from me apparently convinced; so much so that instead of taking
part in the rebellion later, he presented himself to the authorities for pardon.
“Second. A proof that I did not maintain any political relation with anybody that what
someone said about my having sent letters through my family is false, is the fact that
was necessary to send Don Pio Valenzuela under an assumed name, at considerable
cost, when on the same boat went five members of my family, besides two servants. If
what they pretend were true, what necessity was there for Don Pio to attract attention
of anyone and incur a large expense? Moreover, The mere fact that Mr. Valenzuela
went to inform me [of the uprising] proves that I was not in correspondence [with its
promoters], for if I had been, I would have known it, because to make an uprising would
be too serious a thing to conceal from me. The fact that they took the step to send Mr.
Valenzuela proves that they were aware that I knew nothing; that is it to say, that I
maintained no correspondence with them. Another negative proof is that they cannot
show even one letter of mine.
“Third. They cruelly abused my name and wanted to surprise me at the last moment.
Perhaps they would say that I was resigned me at the last moment. Why did they not
communicate with me before? Perhaps they would say that I was resigned to, if not
contented with, my banishment, for I had rejected various prepositions which many
persons made to rescue me from that place. It was only in these last months that, as a
consequence of certain domestic affairs-having had difficulty with missionary priest-I
asked leave to go to Cuba as a volunteer. Don Pio Valenzuela came to advise me to play
safe, for, according to him, I might possibly be implicated. Inasmuch as I considered
myself entirely innocent and was not posted on the how and the when of the
movement (aside from the fact that I had convinced Mr. Valenzuela), I did not take any
precaution but, when His Excellency the Governor General wrote to me informing me of
my going to Cuba, I sailed immediately, abandoning all my affairs. And that,
notwithstanding the fact that I could have gone somewhere else or could have simply
remained in Dapitan, for the letter of His Excellency was conditional. He said therin: ‘if
you still persist in your idea in going to Cuba. . . . ‘When the movement broke out, I was
on board the Castilla, and I offered myself unconditionally to His Excellency. Twelve or
fourteen days later I left for Europe. If I had an uneasy conscience, I would have tried to
slip away in any port of call, especially in Singapore, where I went ashore and where
other passengers who had passports to the Peninsula remained. I had easy conscience,
and hoped to go to Cuba.
“Fourth. In Dapitan I had boats and I was permitted to make excursions along the coast
and to the settlement, which excursions lasted all the time I wished, sometimes for one
week. If I still had intentions to engage in politics, I would have left even in the vintas of
the Moros whom I knew in the settlements. Neither would I have built my small
hospital, nor would I have bought lands, nor I would called my family to live with me.
“Fifth. Someone had said that I was the chief. What kind of chief is he who is not
consulted as to the projects and who is only advised to escape/ What chief is that who
when he laws, the aims of which were to promote commerce, industry, the arts, et
cetera, by means of union; this has been confirmed by witnesses who where not
favorable, but rather opposed to me.
“Seventh. The League did not live nor was it established, for after the first reunion it was
not taken up again; it died because I was deported a few days later.
“Eight. If it was recognized b the other persons nine months later, as they say now, I did
not know it.
Ninth. The League was not an association with subversive ends, and that is proven by
the fact that they had to abandon it, organizing the Katipunan, which perhaps better
suited their purposes. If the League could have left it but would have only modified it;
for if, as some pretend, I am the chief, out of consideration for me and for the prestige
of my name they would have preserved the denomination of League. The fact that they
laid it aside, name and all, and created the Katipunan, clearly proves that they neither
counted on me nor did the League serve their purposes, as otherwise they would not
have another association when there was one already instituted.
“Tenth. With respect to my letters, if there be any bitter censures therin, I request the
Court to consider the time in which I wrote them (1890); at that time we had been
disposed of hours, camarins, lands, et cetera, and on top of that all my brothers-in-law
and my brother were deported, as a consequence of a suit arising from an inquiry of the
Department of Finance, a suit in which, according to our lawyer, Mr. Linares Rivas, we
had the right on our side.
‘Eleventh. That I have suffered my deportation with resignation, not for the reason
alleged, which is inaccurate, but for what I might have written. Asked the politico-
military commanders of the district about my conduct during these four years of my
deportation; asked the people, even the missionary priests themselves, in spite of my
personal differences with one of them.
Twelfth. All these facts and consideration destroy the ill-founded accusations of those
who have testified against me, with whom I have asked the judge to be confronted. Is it
possible that in one single night I was able to line up all of the filibusterism, at a
gathering which discussed commerce, etcetera, and which did not go beyond that, for it
died subsequently? If the few who were present have taken my words seriously, they
would not have let the league die. Is it that those who have formed part of the league
that night founded the Katipunan? I believe not. Who went to Dapitan to talk to me?
They were persons entirely unknown to me. Why was not an acquaintance sent in home
I would have had more confidence? Because those acquainted with me knew very well
that I have forsaken politics, they must have refused to take a vain and futile step.
“In the City of Manila, on the 26th day of December, 1896: The Court Martial met
on this day under the presidency of Lieutenant Colonel Don Jose Tagores Arojana to try
and decide the case instituted against Don Jose Rizal Mercado y Alonso, accused of the
crimes of rebellion, sedition, and illegal associated; has examined it minutely and
carefully after the reading of the actuations made therein by the Judge Advocate; and,
having heard the accusation of the Fiscal, the brief of the defense, and the supplement
thereto read by the accused, the Court Martial declares that the act complained of
constitutes the crimes of founding illegal associations and of promoting and inciting
rebellion, the first being a necessary means of committing the second; it resulting that
the accused Don Jose Rizal is responsible as principal.
“Wherefore, the court decides that it ought to condemn and condemns the said
Don Jose Rizal to the penalty of death; and in case of pardon, the penalty, unless
specifically remitted, shall carry wit it the accessories of absolute, perpetual
disqualification and subjection of the accused to the surveillance of the authorities
during his whole life, to pay as indemnity to state the sum of 100,00 pesos, with the
obligation of transmitting the satisfaction of this indemnity to his heirs, all in accordance
with article 188, No. 2, in relation to No. 1 of 189, and 230, in relation to 229, No. 1; 11,
53. 63, 80, 89, 119, 188, No. 2, 22, No. 1, 123, in relation to 11, No. 3, 122, and others of
general application of the Penal Code.
“It is so pronounced and ordered by the court martial, the President and
Members of the same signing: Jose Tagores, Braulio Rodriguez, Ricardo Monus, Fermin
Perez Rodriguez, Manuel Reguera, Manuel Diaz Ezcribano, Santiago Izquierdo.”
“Manila, December 28, 1896. Confrormably to the foregoing opinion, I approve the
sentence dictated by the Court Martial in the present case, in virtue of which the death
penalty is imposed on the accused JOSE RIZAL MERCADO, which shall be executed by
shooting him at 7 o’clock in the morning of the 30th of this month in the field of
Bagumbayan, and with the formalities which the law requires. For compliance and the
rest that may correspond, let this returned to the Judge advocate. Captain Don Rafael
Dominguez. Camilio G. de Polavieja.”
In the plenitude of the night, by the weak light of the lamp that illumined his cell,
thinking of the angel of death that flapped its black wings around him, Rizal wrote a
heartfelt farewell to his country.
Farewell thee well, motherland I adore, region the suns hold dear,
Pearl of the sea oriental, our paradise came to grief;
I go with gladness to give thee my life all withered and drear;
Though it will more brilliant, more fresh with flowery cheer,
Even then for thee would I give it, would give it for thy relief.
On many a field of battle, struggling mud of delirium,
Others give thee their lives, without a doubt or lament;
The place does not matters at all; cypress, laurel or lily may come,
The open arena of scaffold, a fight of cruel mattyrdon,
‘Tis the same if to that by one’s home, and his motherland he is sent.
I am dying now I behold how color is straining the sky,
Announcing the day at last beyond this dismal night;
If thou requirest scarlet with which thine aurora to dye,
Behold then, here is my blood, pour out as thine hour is nigh-
I give to thee for reflecting the gleam of thy natal light.
My dreams, while yet merely a child, or where nearing maturity,
My dreams, when a youth full of vigor at length I became,
Were to see thee were happier day, O jewel of the Orient sea,
Thine ebon eyes dried of their tears, thine uplifted brow clear and free
From the frowns and the furrows, the stains and the stigma of the shame.
O dream that inspired my life, my ardent, enduring desire,
God bless thee!, this fervent soul cries, that soon in departing from thee.
God bless thee! How lovely it is to fall and to lift thee higher;
To die and to give thee my life, here under thy sky expire,
And in thine enchanted terrain to sleep for eternity.
Of over my tomb thou beholdest, one day beginning to grow,
A slender and diffident flower peeping out through the crowding grass,
Draw it close to thy lips, and thy kiss, to my very soul shall go,
And I shall fell on my forehead, in the chilly tom below,
The tenderness of thy breathing, the warmth of its vapor pass.
Let the moon lok down upon me with her soft and tranquil ray;
Let the dawn sent forth her splendor on a swiftly fleeting wings;
Let the moaning wind above me murmur solemnly away;
And if a bird descending, on my cross alight, on day,
Let the bird his canticle of peace above me sing.
Let the sun turn the trains in the vapor with his ardent rays,
And carry them pure to heaven, my death knell ‘neath them passed.
Let some friendly person weep, for the premature end of my days,
And in the serene afternoons, while anyone for me prays,
O motherland, pray for me too, that I close to God my rest.
Pray for all of the others who haplessly died;
For those who were tormented with inimitable pain;
For our unhappy mothers who in bitter sorrow cried;
For orphans and widows and captives, by horrid torture tried;
And pray for thyself that thou mayest, thy final redemption gain.
And when in the night the darkness enwraps the graveyard round,
And only, only the dead remain there to watch with me,
Do not disturb their repose, their mystery profound;
If haply thou hearest a zither, or a psaltery resound,
‘Tis I, my motherland dear, I, who am singing to there.
And when in the end my tomb, forgotten by all men,
Has neither a cross nor a stone to keep its plane revealed,
Let any man plow it and spread it with his spade, and then
My ashes, before they resolve into dust upon thy flowery field.
Consign me to oblivion then, it matters naught,
This air, thy space, thy valleys I shall permeate,
My vibrant limpid notes shall to thine ear be brought,
Aroma, lights, and colors, songs with moaning fraught,
The essence of my faith shall constantly relate.
My idolized motherland, whose grieving makes me grieve,
Dearest Filipinas, hear my last farewell again!
I now leave all to thee, my parents, my loved ones I leave
I go where there are no slaves, a brute’s lash to receive;
Where faith does not kill, and where it is God who doth reign.
Farewell, my parents and brothers, parts of the soul of me,
Friends of my early childhood in the home now dispossessed,
Give thanks when I am at rest from this day of misery,
Sweet foreigner, my friends, my joy, farewell to thee,
Farewell, my loved ones all. . . To die is but to rest.
There waa not a single recrimination nor a hint pf hate for anybody; he was
thankful that he was going to rest from the “day of weariness”. For death was not the
end but a mere resting.
After he had finished writing these verses, he felt happy and rested. He had
already given all he could to his country: his talent, his security, his felicity, his future. He
could give no more. Let death come soon!