Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Rizal Without The Overcoat
Rizal Without The Overcoat
Many Rizals
Posted on November 5, 2014 by Lora
If Rizal stayed in Hong Kong and never returned to the Philippines in 1892, he wouldn’t have died on
December 30, 1896. But he did.
Ambeth Ocampo describes Jose Rizal as a “conscious hero” because Rizal planned his entire life in details
based on his letters, diaries, and writings (9).
In June 1892, Rizal wrote a letter that shows his love for his country and his fellow Filipinos.
The step that I have taken, or am about to take, is undoubtedly very risky, and it is unnecessary to say that I
have pondered on it a great deal. I know that everyone is opposed to it but I realize also that no one knows
what goes on in my heart. I cannot live knowing that many are suffering unjust persecution because of me; I
cannot live seeing my brothers [hermanos] and their large families persecuted like criminals. I prefer to
face death and gladly give my life to free so many innocent persons from this unjust persecution.
I know that, at present, the future of my country gravitates in part around me; that with my death, many
would rejoice, and that, consequently, many are longing for my end. But what am I to do? I have duties of
conscience toward my aged parents whose sighs pierce my heart; I know that I alone, even my death, can
make them happy by returning them to their country and the tranquility of their home. My parents are all
that I have, but my country has many sons still who can take it to advantage.
Moreover, I wish to show those who deny us patriotism that we know how to die for our duty and for our
convictions. What matters death if one dies for what one loves, for one’s country and for those whom he
loves?
If I know that I were the only pillar of Philippine politics and if I were convinced that my countrymen were
going to make me use of my services, perhaps I would hesitate to take this step, but there are still others
who can take my place, who can take my place to advantage. Furthermore, there are those who find me
superfluous and in no need of my services, thus they reduce me to inaction.
I have always loved my poor country and I am sure that I shall lover her until my last moment. Perhaps
some people will be unjust to me; well, my future, my life, my joys, everything, I have sacrificed for love of
her. Whatever fate my be, I shall die blessing my country and wishing her the dawn of her redemption.
But let’s not forget; even though he loved the Philippines, he was only human.
Even though he graduated with sobresaliente (excellent) marks in Ateneo De Manila University, eighth of
his other classmates (out of the 12 students) graduated sobresaliente as well (14).
Even though the Americans sponsored him as a national hero, Rizal thought the country didn’t have
“real civil liberty” when he travelled in United States from April to May 1888 (17).
And even though Filipino students are taught with Rizal’s first poem, “Sa Aking Mga Kabata”, he didn’t
write it at all. Ocampo refuted this notion and provided examples. He said that while “Rizal spoke and
wrote Tagalog fluently”, Rizal couldn’t write a novel in his native tongue. There was no existing
manuscript of the original poem, and Rizal never published it when he was alive. (5)
As smart as he was, there was no way that Rizal wrote the poem when he was eight years old. He was
still a child.
How would you describe Rizal? What are his other ‘identities’ that you’ve heard of?
Reference:
Ocampo, Ambeth R. Rizal Without the Overcoat. Mandaluyong: Anvil Publishing, Inc. 2012. Print.
In this chapter, Ambeth Ocampo shows that Rizal was no different from us.
FOOD
Based on Ocampo’s research, he discovered that Rizal usually had “hot chocolate, a cup of rice,
and sardinas secas for breakfast” (61). Sardinas secas is just another word for tuyo (salted, dry fish).
REPORT THIS AD
For lunch, Rizal usually ate rice and ayungin (Silver Perch) (61).
When the Rizal family lived in Hong Kong in 1892, the family had a 20-year-old cook named “Asing”. El
Renacimiento Filipino published an interview between Vicente Sotto and the Chinese cook in June 15,
1913.
In the interview, Asing was “the cook of the Rizal family for more than a year”. Asing described Rizal as a
good master who never shouted nor hit him. Rizal lived with his mother and two sisters, Trinidad and
Josefa in 2 Rednaxela Terrace in Hong Kong. (65)
Asing added that his “amo (master) was not delicado (delicate) about his food. He ate everything, but he
was very moderate”. “Bread and rice were often served at the dinner table” and “he drank nothing but
water”. (66)
When Rizal was exiled in Dapitan in 1892, he had a cook named “Tinong”. Faustino “Tinong” Alfon, who
was from Cebu, moved to Dapitan, Zamboanga Del Norte where he was hired as Rizal’s cook and
handyman. Tinong lived and worked in Rizal’s Talisay estate, cooked meals, assisted Rizal during eye
operations, and learned Spanish. (64)
In an interview with The Independent in 1929, Tinong mentioned that Rizal’s meals usually consisted of
three dishes: a Filipino dish, a Spanish dish, and another Filipino or “mestizo dish”. Tinong also
mentioned that Rizal liked lanzones and mangoes.
It’s interesting that tuyo is already a dish in the mid to late 1800s. What’s even more interesting is that
Rizal liked eating tuyo. Just like today,
BOOKS
It was rare to have a large library in the 19th century, but the Rizal family home had the biggest library
in the town of Calamba, Laguna. Jose was raised “to appreciate and care for books”, so it is no wonder
that his interest in books and reading started at home.
These were some of the books and authors that Rizal read (Most books were in Spanish translation, but
he also read English, French, and German):
Honoré de Balzac;
Alexandre Dumas’s The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo;
Pierre-Jean de Béranger;
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu;
Emmanuel, comte de Las Cases’s Le Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène (The Memorial of Saint Helene: A
Collection of Memories of Napoleon I of France);
Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe;
Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield;
Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales;
Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais’s The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro;
Azcarraga y Pamero’s La Libertad de comercio en las Islas Filipinas;
Ferdinand Blumentritt’s Breve diccionario etnográfico de Filipinas;
Montero y Vidal’s El Archipiélago Filipino y las Islas Marianas and Carolinas y Palaos;
The Bible (three versions: Spanish, Catholic edition, and translated from the Latin Vulgate);
J. Baille’s Las Maravillas de la Electricidad;
Kōno Bairei’s Studies of Birds;
Buenet’s Drawings and Ornaments of Architecture;
Evert Augustus Duyckinck’s Lives and Portraits of the Presidents of the United States, from Washington to
Grant;
James William B. Money’s Java; How to Manage a Colony: A Practical Solution of the Questions Now
Affecting British India;
Michel Levy’s Treatise on Public and Private Hygiene.
REPORT THIS AD
STINGINESS
Below is a copy of Jose Rizal’s expenses in January 1884, when he was a student in Madrid, Spain. This
list was one of Rizal’s lists that he wrote in his diaries and notebooks.
Rizal eating tuyo, Rizal reading Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales, and Rizal listing his expenses
provide proof that Jose Rizal was, indeed, just like the rest of us.
Reference:
Ocampo, Ambeth R. Rizal Without the Overcoat. Mandaluyong: Anvil Publishing, Inc. 2012. Print.