RIZAL’S LIFE: Exile,Trial, and Death

As soon as Rizal arrived in Manila on June 26,1892, he was welcomed by Apolinario Mabini, Andres Bonifacio, Ambrosio Salvador, Pedro Serrano Laktaw, Deodato Arellano, and other patriots, who, altogether founded La Liga Filipina (The Filipino League). They wanted to discuss the plan for La Liga Filipina which was held in a house on Calle Ylaya. That time, Rizal was able to talk to Governor-General Despujol on July 1892, saying his gratitude for lifting the order of exile for his sisters. Dapitan is a remote town in Mindanao, which served as an outpost of the Spaniards in the Philippines. Dapitan became the only witness to Rizal’s fate since July 1896. During his exile, Rizal became close with Captain Ricardo Carnicero for allowing him to roam the place on the condition that Rizal will relay his activities in his office once a week. In Dapitan, he continued his medicine, research and continued his talent in sculpture, painting, sketching and poetry writing. He put up a school for boys and introduced projects for the community. As a gift to Captain Carnicero, Rizal wrote a poem entitled, “A Don Ricardo Carnicero” on August 26, 1892. Rizal helped the people of Dapitan with their livelihood — he did farming and business and even invented a wooden equipment in making bricks. On September 21, 1892, Rizal together with Carnicero and another Spaniard, won a lottery ticket. The amount given to him as his share was P6,200. Part of his share was used to buy a land in Talisay. He built a house, a clinic and a school within the area. He sent letters to Blumentritt, narrating his daily activities in Dapitan: He wrote poems, performed operation on his mother’s eyes, and studied on medicinal plants of Dapitan to be prescribed to his patients. That time, Rizal had been known to be one of the best ophthalmologist. Upon hearing this, George Tauffer who had an eye ailment, together with her adopted daughter, Josephine Bracken, traveled from Hong Kong to Dapitan. Rizal developed an attraction with Josephine and soon, they became husband and wife even if it was against Father Obach and both their relatives. Another project of Rizal for Dapitan was the creation of a big map of Mindanao at the plaza to be used for geography class. He explained the position of Dapitan to the town people in relation to other places in Mindanao. With the help of Rizal’s students, he invented a water system that gave the town people water for their drinking and irrigation. He also helped the people in putting-up lamp posts in every corner of the town. When revolution commenced in Manila in 1896, Dr. Pio Valenzuela together with Raymundo Mata, a blind man, visited Rizal in Dapitan to narrate to him the founding of Katipunan and its plan for revolution. For awhile, Rizal sent letters to Governor General Ramon Blanco from 1894 to 1895. He wanted his case be reviewed so Blumentriit proposed that Rizal may offer his services as a surgeon to the Spanish government in Cuba to end his exile. That time, Cuba was also a colony of Spain and was raged by a yellow-fever epidemic. On July 30,1896, Governor-General Ramon Blanco granted Rizal’s request to go to Cuba. Rizal left Manila, embarked the steamer España and on September 3, 1896 he went to Barcelona boarded the steamer Isla de Panay. When he arrived at the port, Governor-General Despujol told Rizal that there was a command to return him back to Manila. Rizal was arrested while on his trip at the Mediterranean Sea. He was put into prison in Barcelona, Spain and was brought back to the Philippines. Safely guarded while on the way from Barcelona to Manila, Rizal reached the capital on November 3,1896 and was soon brought to be imprisoned at Fort Santiago.

TRIAL AND DEATH OF RIZAL

On November 20, 1896, the assigned Judge to summon Rizal was Colonel Francisco Olive, an Advocate of the Spanish military tribunal. The preliminary investigation began, and a five-day investigation was conducted. He was blamed for being the leader of the revolution by increasing the people’s ideas about rebellion and making illegal organizations. As expected, Rizal was not given the chance to interrogate his witnesses. He was only allowed to choose his lawyer from a list of young Spanish officers who were not into law. He chose Lt. Luis Taviel de Andrade, who was the bodyguard of Rizal when he first came home. There were two kinds of evidences presented to him during the investigation: documentary and testimonial. There were fifteen documents against Rizal and ten witnesses for testimonial. All efforts were made by Lt. Taviel de Andrade to defend Rizal of his innocence but as obvious as it may have seemed, Rizal was still found guilty. Note that Rizal cited twelve points to prove his innocence: 1. Rizal was against rebellion as testified by Pio Valenzuela.
2. No letter consisting of revolutionary elements was addressed to the Katipunan was written
3. Without his consent, the Katipunan used his name as one of the passwords.
4. If he was guilty, he could have left the country while in exile; he would not have built a home, and would not have bought a parcel of alnd to put up a hospital in Dapitan.
5. The revolutionists could have consulted him if he was the leader.
6. He did not deny that he wrote the by-laws of the Liga Filipina, but to make things clear, it is a different organization from Katipunan. The former being a civic association and the latter being a revolutionary society.
7. After the first meeting of the Liga, the association banished because of his exile in Dapitan and it did not last long.
8. He had no idea, that the Liga was reorganized nine months after.
9. If the Liga had a revolutionary purpose, then Katipunan should not have been founded.
10. If the Spanish authorities found his letters offending, it was because in 1890, his family has been persecuted.
11. He lived a good life in Dapitan – the politico military commander and missionary priest in the province could attest to it.
12. The witnesses said that if the speech delivered at Doroteo Ongjunco’s house had inspired the revolution, he should be given a chance to confront these persons. If he was in the revolution, the Katipunan should not have sent an unfamiliar emissary to him in Dapitan. For this, his friends knew that he never promoted violence.

RIZAL’S REMAINING DAYS AND THE LAST FAREWELL

When Rizal heard the court decision, he knew that there will be no chance of changing his fate. At six o’ clock in the morning of December 29, 1896, Captain Rafael Dominguez, read him the official notice of his execution. Rizal spent his last hours by going to the prison chapel. His mother and sisters visited him on the same day. He then gave them his remaining possessions, reached out for the gas lamp and gave it to his sister, Trinidad and carefully whispered, “There is something inside.” Then Trinidad and his sister Maria got a copy of Rizal’s last poem from the lamp. Unfortunately, it was said that on his last days that Rizal was not allowed to embrace his mother. He took time to write his last letter to his best friend Bluementrit. The last poem he composed was the longest he ever written, it was entitled “Mi Ultimo Adios” or My Last Farewell.

My Last Farewell

Farewell, dear Fatherland, clime of the sun caress'd
Pearl of the Orient seas, our Eden lost!,
Gladly now I go to give thee this faded life's best,
And were it brighter, fresher, or more blest
Still would I give it thee, nor count the cost.
On the field of battle, 'mid the frenzy of fight,
Others have given their lives, without doubt or heed;
The place matters not-cypress or laurel or lily white,
Scaffold or open plain, combat or martyrdom's plight,
T is ever the same, to serve our home and country's need.
I die just when I see the dawn break,
Through the gloom of night, to herald the day;
And if color is lacking my blood thou shalt take,
Pour'd out at need for thy dear sake
To dye with its crimson the waking ray.
My dreams, when life first opened to me,
My dreams, when the hopes of youth beat high,
Were to see thy lov'd face, O gem of the Orient sea
From gloom and grief, from care and sorrow free;
No blush on thy brow, no tear in thine eye.
Dream of my life, my living and burning desire,
All hail ! cries the soul that is now to take flight;
All hail ! And sweet it is for thee to expire ;
To die for thy sake, that thou mayst aspire;
And sleep in thy bosom eternity's long night.
If over my grave some day thou seest grow,
In the grassy sod, a humble flower,
Draw it to thy lips and kiss my soul so,
While I may feel on my brow in the cold tomb below
The touch of thy tenderness, thy breath's warm power.
Let the moon beam over me soft and serene,
Let the dawn shed over me its radiant flashes,
Let the wind with sad lament over me keen ;
And if on my cross a bird should be seen,
Let it trill there its hymn of peace to my ashes.
Let the sun draw the vapors up to the sky,
And heavenward in purity bear my tardy protest
Let some kind soul o 'er my untimely fate sigh,
And in the still evening a prayer be lifted on high
From thee, 0 my country, that in God I may rest.
Pray for all those that hapless have died,
For all who have suffered the unmeasur'd pain;
For our mothers that bitterly their woes have cried,
For widows and orphans, for captives by torture tried
And then for thyself that redemption thou mayst gain.
And when the dark night wraps the graveyard around
With only the dead in their vigil to see
Break not my repose or the mystery profound
And perchance thou mayst hear a sad hymn resound
'T is I, O my country, raising a song unto thee.
And even my grave is remembered no more Unmark'd by never a cross nor a stone
Let the plow sweep through it, the spade turn it o'er
That my ashes may carpet earthly floor,
Before into nothingness at last they are blown.
Then will oblivion bring to me no care
As over thy vales and plains I sweep;
Throbbing and cleansed in thy space and air
With color and light, with song and lament I fare,
Ever repeating the faith that I keep.
My Fatherland ador'd, that sadness to my sorrow lends
Beloved Filipinas, hear now my last good-by!
I give thee all: parents and kindred and friends
For I go where no slave before the oppressor bends,
Where faith can never kill, and God reigns e'er on high!
Farewell to you all, from my soul torn away,
Friends of my childhood in the home dispossessed !
Give thanks that I rest from the wearisome day !
Farewell to thee, too, sweet friend that lightened my way;
Beloved creatures all, farewell! In death there is rest !

jose Rizal Death

Wearing a black suit, black pants, black bowler hat, and white shirt with his arms tied behind his back, Rizal walked to Bagumbayan at 6:30 in the morning of December 30, 1896. He walked along with his defense lawyer, Andrade, and two Jesuit priests, March and Vilaclara. In front of them were the advance guard of armed soldiers and behind them were another group of military men. The sound of a trumpet signaled the start of the death march and the muffled sound of drums served as the musical score of the walk. People were lined up in the streets—”some were sympathetic to him, oothers, especially the Spaniards, wanted nothing less than to see him die. Some observed that his family or the katipuneros would make a last minute effort to sprint him from the trap” (Ocampo, 2016).

Wearing a black suit, black pants, black bowler hat, and white shirt with his arms tied behind his back, Rizal walked to Bagumbayan at 6:30 in the morning of December 30, 1896. He walked along with his defense lawyer, Andrade, and two Jesuit priests, March and Vilaclara. In front of them were the advance guard of armed soldiers and behind them were another group of military men. The sound of a trumpet signaled the start of the death march and the muffled sound of drums served as the musical score of the walk. People were lined up in the streets—”some were sympathetic to him, oothers, especially the Spaniards, wanted nothing less than to see him die. Some observed that his family or the katipuneros would make a last minute effort to sprint him from the trap” (Ocampo, 2016).

Prior to his death, it was believed that Rizal has managed to remain calm. Spectators said Rizal acknowledged the familiar faces in the crowd by nodding his head from left and right. Some people even saw that Rizal smiled from time to time. At the time of his death, Rizal refused to kneel and declined the traditional blindfold. Maintaining that he was not a traitor to his country and to Spain, he even requested to face the firing squad. The Commander of the firing squad denied his request but after some time, Rizal agreed to turn his back to the firing squad but requested that he be shot not in the head — but in the small of the back instead. When agreement has been reached, Rizal shook the hand of his defense lawyer. The military physician asked permission to feel the pulse of the man who had only a few minutes to live and the doctor was startled to find it normal. Before leaving Rizal in his appointed place, the priests offered him a crucifix to kiss “but he turned his head away and silently prepared for his death. When the command had been given, the executioners’ guns barked at once. Rizal yelled Christ’s two words, “Consummatum est!” (It is finished!) simultaneously with his final effort to twist his bullet-pieced body halfway around. Silence was all over. Unfortunately, the Captain did not keep his words about the request made by Rizal of not shooting his head, but one of his men came near to the body and gave Rizal “tira de gracia” or the mercy shot in the head to make sure that Rizal is dead. The Spaniards houted, Viva Espana! Muerte a los Traidores! But the crowd did not respond. To break the ice, the military band played “Marcha de Cadiz,” and so they cheered.