Jose Rizal: Persecution and Exile in Dapitan Jose Rizal's arrival in Manila on June 26, 1892 had become

very sensational amon g 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, 189 2 he founded the La Liga Filipina in the house of Doroteo Ongjunco in Tondo, Man ila. Four days after the civic organization's foundation, Jose Rizal was arrested by the Spanish authorities on four grounds: for publishing anti-Catholic and anti-friar books and articles; for having in possession a bundle of handbills, the Pobres Frailes, in which adv ocacies were in violation of the Spanish orders; for dedicating his novel, El Filibusterismo to the three traitors (Gomez, Burgos a nd 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 for simply criticizing the religion and aiming for its exclusion from the Filipi no culture. Arrival in Dapitan Aboard the steamer Cebu and under heavy guard, Rizal left Manila, sailing to Min doro 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 o f the most fruitful periods in Rizal's life. His stay in the province was more t han he living in exile it was the period when Rizal had been more focused on servi ng the people and the society through his civic works, medical practices, land d evelopment and promotion of education. Challenging the religion In Dapitan, Rizal had a scholarly debate with Father Pablo Pastells regarding re ligion. 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 s acred religion. Father Pastells tried his best to win Rizal back to the faith bu t fortunately or unfortunately, in vain. These series of debate ended inconclusi vely 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 improvin g his artistic and literary skills; doing agricultural and civic projects; engag ing in business activities, and writing letters to his friends in Europe, partic ularly 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, w as placed under opthalmic surgery for the third time. The operation was a succes s, however, Alonzo, ignored her son's instructions and removed the bandages in h er eyes which lead to irritation and infection. As an engineer, Rizal applied his knowledge through the waterworks system he con structed in Dapitan. Going back to his academic life, Rizal obtained the title o f expert surveyor (perito agrimensor) from the Ateneo Municipal. From his practi cal knowledge as agrimensor, he widened his knowledge by reading engineering-rel ated books. As a result, despite the inadequacy of tools at hand, he successfull

y provided a good water system in the province. As an educator, Rizal established a school in Dapitan which was attended by 16 y oung boys from prominent families. Instead of charging them for the matriculatio n, he made the students do community projects for him like maintaining his garde n and field. He taught them reading, writing in English and Spanish, geography, history, mathematics, industrial work, nature study, morals and gymnastics. He e ncouraged 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 fruit-be aring 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 inve sted part of his earnings from being a medical practitioner and his 6000-peso wi nnings from a lottery on lands. From the United States, he imported agricultural machinery and introduced to the native farmers of Dapitan the modern agricultur al methods. Rizal also visualized of having an agricultural colony in Sitio Pono t, within the Sindagan Bay. He believed that the area was suitable for cattle-rai sing 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-i n-law, Manuel T. Hidalgo, he pointed out the potential of the fishing industry i n the province (as the area was abundant with fish and good beach). He also requ ested that two good Calamba fishermen be sent to Dapitan to teach the fisher fol ks 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 woo den 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 p reparing 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 conceptual ize its curtain, which was oil-painted by a Sister under his instruction. He als o made sketches of anything which attracted him in Dapitan. Among his collection s 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 Mot her'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, stud ied and made comparisons of the Bisayan and Malayan languages existing in the re gion. In fact, Rizal had knowledge in 22 languages: Tagalog, Ilocano, Bisayan, S ubanun, Spanish, Latin, Greek, English, French, German, Arabic, Malayan, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Dutch, Catalan, Italian, Chinese, Japanes, Portuguese, Swedish and Ru ssian. 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 muse ums in Europe, particularly in Dressed Museum. In return, scientific books and s urgical instruments were delivered to him from the European scientists. He also made a bulk of other researches and studies in the fields of ethnography, archae ology, geology, anthropology and geography. However, Rizal's most significant co ntribution in the scientific world was his discovery of three species: 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 mal

aria-carrying mosquitoes. He also provided lighting system coconut oil lamps pos ted 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 Jesui t 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 Cal amba 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 fa ther, George Taufer, and a Filipina named Manuela Orlac. Rizal's fame as an opth almic surgeon reached overseas, and one of Rizal's friends, Julio Llorente refer red the group to Rizal. Rizal and Bracken instantly fell in love with each and i n just one month, they agreed to marry which appalled and disturbed Taufer. Howe ver, the parish priest of Dapitan, Father Pedro Obach, refused to do so unless t hey be permitted by the Bishop of Cebu. On the other hand, Taufer returned to Hongkong uncured. Because no priest was wi lling 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 w as 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 na me 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 M anok river in Pasig, the group agreed to send Dr. Pio Valenzuela as a representa tive to Dapitan who will inform Rizal of their plan to launch a revolution again st 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. A t night, Rizal and Valenzuela had a talk in the former's garden. There, Valenzue la told him of the Katipunan's plan. Regarding this, Rizal outspokenly objected Bonifacio's premature idea for two reasons: the Filipinos were still unready for such bloody revolution; and the Katipunan lacked machinery before plotting a revolution, there must be suffi cient arms and funds collected. Valenzuela also told Rizal of their plan to rescue him in Dapitan. Again, the ex iled 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 militar y doctor to compromise with the shortage of physicians in the said country. It w as his friend Ferdinand Blumentritt who informed him of the situation in Cuba an d suggested that he volunteer himself as army doctor. On December 17, 1895, Riza l 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 th at 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 let ter also stated that Rizal will be given a pass so that he can go to Manila, the n 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 opera tion to a merchant who paid him fifty silver pesos. After almost a week, on Augu st 6, 1896, Espaa arrived in Manila. Rizal was supposedly to board the Isla de Lu zon for Spain, but unfortunately, left ahead of time. Instead, he was transferre d to the Spanish cruiser Castilla to stay and wait for the next mail boat that w oul sail for Spain next month. He was prohibited from leaving the vicinity but w as allowed to accept visitors so long as they were his immediate family. Of cour se, all these delays were part of the drama Rizal has now fallen to the critical /deadly Spanish trap.

References Ancheta, Celedonio A. Jose Rizal's Life and His Complete Works. Diliman, Quezon City: National Bookstore, Inc., 1977. Bantug, Asuncion Lopez-Rizal. Indio Bravo: The Story of Jose Rizal. Manila: Taha nan Books, 1997. Guerrero, Leon Ma. Rizal:The First Filipino. Manila: National Historical Institu te, 1987. Reminiscences and Travels of Jose Rizal. Manila: National Historical Institute, 1977. Hernandez, Jose Ma. Rizal's Poetry and Drama. Rizal as an Internationalist. Pape rs read at a symposium sponsored by the UNESCO Commission on the Philippines. Ma nila: National Historical Institute, 1980. Sta. Maria, Felice Prudente. In Excelsis: The Mission of Jose P. Rizal Humanist and Philippine National Hero. Makati City: Studio Five Designs, Inc., 1996. Zaide, Gregorio F. Jose Rizal: Life, Works and Writings. Reprint, Mandaluyong Ci ty: National Bookstore, Inc., 2005. National Historical Institute. A Rizal Anthology Trilingual Edition. Manila: Nat ional Historical Institute, 1994. National Historical Institute. Writings of Jose Rizal: Rizal's Poem. Vol.III, Bo ok 1. Manila: National Historical Institute, 2002. WikiPilipinas

A trip to Dapitan City in Zamboanga del Norte won't really be complete without p aying a courtesy visit to the estate of Jose Rizal, Philippine National hero, wh o once lived on exile in Dapitan. It was during the period from June 1892 to July 31, 1896 that Jose Rizal spent y ears of his life as a physician where he treated many eye patients including tha t of his mother; an engineer, even without formal training, managed to design an d build a water system that provided water to Dapitan (that awed modern day engi neers due to lack of tools during his time); an educator where he founded a scho ol for boys (one of his students was Jose Caancan who came all the way from Paet e, Laguna); a businessman engaged in hemp, copra and log trading; agriculturist

by planting various trees in his Talisay estate. All these in addition to being a linguist (fluent in 22 languages), inventor, scientist and artist. photo of Rizal's house in Dapitan (yeah, NHI chairman Ambeth Ocampo should be in formed that those NHI markers obstruct the view). The woman in white, not a nun but a member of a Rizalist sect worshiping Rizal as a God doing, does volunteer work in maintaining the shrine. Rizal described his life in Dapitan in a letter to his Austrian friend Ferdinand Blumentritt dated Dec. 19, 1893: "I shall tell you how we live here. I have three houses; one square, another hex agonal, and a third octagonal, all of bamboo, wood and nipa. In the square house we live, my mother, sister Trinidad, a nephew and I; in the octagonal live my b oys or some good youngsters whom I teach arithmetic, Spanish and English; and in the hexagonal live my chickens. From my house I hear the murmur of a crystal cl ear brook which comes from the high rocks ; I see the seashore , the sea where I have small boats, two canoes or barotos, as they say here. I have many fruit tr ees, mangoes, lanzones, guayabanos, baluno, nangka, etc. I have rabbits, dogs, c ats,etc. I rise early - at five - visit my plants, feed the chickens, awaken my people and put them in movement. At half-past seven we breakfast with tea, pastr ies, cheese, sweetmeats, etc. Later I treat my poor patients who come to my land ; I dress, I go to the town in my baroto, treat the people there, and return at 12 when my luncheon awaits me. Then I teach the boys until 4 P.M. and devote the after- noon to agriculture. I spend the night reading and studying." Casa Redonda, the hexagonal house of Rizal where his chickens lived (lucky chick ens) Casa Cuadrada, the square house of Rizal Shrine, Dapitan City Significant events of Jose Rizal's Exile in Dapitan: Sept. 21, 1892 Rizal received his lottery winnings, via the mail boat Butuan, fo r second prize of P20,000.00. His share of the "lotto" winnings was P6,200.00, P 2000 of which he gave to his father, P200 to his friend Jose Maria Basa in Hong Kong and the rest he used to buy the land in Talisay that he developed. It shoul d be noted that Jose Rizal had no vices, except playing the lottery. The aborted duel with a Frenchman named Juan Lardet due to a business deal. Mr. Lardet wrote a Dapitan merchant about the deal that was forwarded to Rizal who w as instantly angered as it's an affront to his integrity. The duel didn't materi alize due to the intercession of Spanish Captain Carnicero on Mr. Lardet due to his knowledge of Rizal's expertise on martial arts especially fencing and pistol shooting, making the Frenchman the underdog in the field of honor. Fr. Sanchez, Rizal's favorite teacher at the Ateneo, visited him in another effo rt to bring him back to the Catholic fold; it again ended in failure. Fr. Sanche z was the only priest to publicly defend the Noli Me Tangere in public. The Jose Rizal Pastells debate on religion occurred during this time where the J esuit priest Fr. Pastells tried to win back Rizal to the Catholic faith. In spit e of this, Rizal still heard mass at Dapitan Church but with his own variant of enlightened Catholicism. Pablo Mercado, whose real name was Florencio Namanan, was sent by Recollect Fria rs in a secret mission to spy on Rizal in order to incriminate him for revolutio nary activities. He never succeeded in his mission as Rizal figured him out earl y on (it's not an assasination attempt on Rizal, but merely an espionage mission )

Due to his earlier successful stint as an eye doctor in Hong Kong, Mr. Taufer ac companied by his stepdaughter Josephine Bracken visited him for an eye operation . Josephine Bracken later became his wife (though they never really had a church wedding nor a civil wedding due to refusal by the friars and civil authorities, Rizal and Josephine had a son who died shortly after birth due to miscarriage). Perhaps the most significant event that occurred in Dapitan was the visit by Pio Valenzuela (from whom Valenzuela City of Metro Manila was named after), a membe r of the secret society of the Katipunan founded by Andres Bonifacio, where Riza l was presented the plan of the Katipunan to which he decided not to support arg uing that the people should wait for the right time to launch a revolution and a vert shedding of blood. He also didn't approve of the Katipunan's plan to rescue him as it would reflect negatively on his word of honor. A pool of water that comprise Jose Rizal's aqueduct that supplied potable water to Dapitan, a feat of water works engineering well ahead of his time according t o modern day enngineers The Mi Retiro Rock, a large rock in Talisay where Rizal enjoyed watching sunsets . He also wrote a poem titled "Mi Retiro" on this rock. Notes: Rizal Shrine is maintained by the National Historical Institute. The Shrine coum pound is always open and provided with a security guard. A museum is also inside the shrine that's closed on Mondays. Volunteer shrine tour guides and photograp hers are present at the gate. A tour of this shrine is included at Dapitan tour packages and field trips by Buklod and Dakak Park and Beach Resort. Contact numb er of the shrine to be posted once available. Rizal Shrine entrance fee: None (i t's free) How to get there: Rizal Shrine is just a short tricycle ride away from "The Shrine City of Dapitan " proper. The closest airport is Dipolog Airport where you ride a tricycle to Di polog Transport Terminal then a bus to Dapitan City. Travel time is just less th an an hour. Please don't request Tutubi for some sort of analysis and reaction paper to Jose Rizal's life in Dapitan. He doesn't tolerate laziness of some students looking for shortcuts. Jose Rizal won't be proud of you for sure. Related Posts: Jose Rizal in Hong Kong Jose Rizal's Grave in Paco Cemetery Jose Rizal in UST Labels: Dapitan, Historical Shrines, History, Jose Rizal, Zamboanga del Norte, Z amboanga Peninsula 1 posted by backpacking philippines @ 8:30 PM, 12 Comments: At Aug 9, 2009 1:55:00 PM, Mari said... Thanks for the brush-up on history. At Aug 10, 2009 11:37:00 AM, dodong flores said... More than just a virtual walkthrough but an important reading material. I like h ow the writings were delivered. Nice photos too!

That NHI marker should be moved to a better location... At Aug 10, 2009 1:29:00 PM, ace said... niiiiice kubo's! i'd love to have 1. hehe. At Aug 11, 2009 12:11:00 PM, pieterbie said... I love those houses! Have upgraded my IE to 8-version, seems to be working again here now! Thx 4 tip. At Aug 11, 2009 10:13:00 PM, backpacking philippines said... mari, just one of my advocacies dodong, thanks for the comment on my writing flow :P ace, it's airy, perfect for tropical weather. examples of austronesian house arc hitecture with raised floors and steps for stairs pieterbie, wish i have one of them too At Aug 18, 2009 2:19:00 AM, songs said... ive been to dapitan also.... At Oct 21, 2009 1:08:00 AM, Rizal's LIfe and Writings said... Tutubi, I hope this question is not out of line. I am writing a paper on public history regarding the Dapitan site. One thing I can't get from books or from Mr. Cad at the Dapitan site is the cost it would take to travel from the Manila Dom estic Airport and then using other modes of transportation to Dapitan. Could you give me a ball park figure? Could you detail the route one would take? Thanks. Robert L. Yoder (Master Candidate in History at North Carolina Central Universit y and webmaster of Rizal's Life and Writings) ryoder@eagles.nccu.edu At Oct 23, 2009 5:43:00 PM, backpacking philippines said... hi dr yoder, from manila's airport, either NAIA terminals or the domestic airpor t, flights to Dipolog city costs about P1.5k (promo) up to P2.5k (estimate), the n you transfer to a tricycle at Dipolog airport to the dipolog transport termina l (about P35.00) then a 20 minute bus ride to Dapitan City. I don't know the exa ct fare but it's probably less than P50.00 for a total one-way travel cost of P2 600.00. btw, i'm also a lurking member of rp-rizal yahoogroups :P At Apr 22, 2010 5:15:00 AM, jayne" said... i am very happy that i am know taking rizal subject,,.because i discoverd a lot about Dr.Jose P. Rizal..and it makes me happy.we shoud be glad that RIZAL is our national hero... At Nov 8, 2011 4:10:00 PM, Anonymous said... Interesting write up but many inaccuracies. Please cross check with other articl es. At Nov 10, 2011 2:29:00 PM, backpacking philippines said... anonymous, can you point where? also, how did you know i'm wrong and they're rig ht? :P At Nov 16, 2011 11:41:00 AM, Anonymous said... As if a time machine brought you back to the deep past!

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