Chapter 21: Second Homecoming and The Liga Filipina

Rizal's bold return to Manila in June, 1892 was his second homecoming. It marked his
re-entry into the hazardous campaign for reforms. He firmly believed that the fight for
Filipino liberties' had assumed a new phase: it must be fought in the Philippines not in
Spain. "The battlefield is in the Philippines," he told countrymen in Europe, "There is
where we should meet There we will help one another, there together we will suffer or
triumph perhaps".' Two months later, on December 31, 1891, he reiterated this belief in a
letter to Blumentritt, "I believe that La Solidaridad is no longer our battlefield; now it is a
new struggle. . . the fight is no longer in Madrid"! In going home to lead anew the reform
movement, he was like the biblical Daniel bearding the Spanish lion in its own den.

Arrival in Manila with Sister

 June 26, 1892 (noon)

- Rizal and his widowed sister Lucia (wife of the late Mariano Herbosa) arrived
in Manila.
- A meticulous diarist, he described his second homecoming as follows:
I arrived at Manila on 26 June (1892), Sunday, at 12.00 noon I was met by many
carabineers headed by a major. There were in addition one captain and one sergeant
of the Veteran Civil Guard. I came down with my luggage and they inspected me at
the customhouse. From there I went to Hotel de Oriente where I occupied room No.
22, facing the church of Binondo”.
 4:00 in the afternoon
- He went to Malacañan Palace to seek audience with the Spanish governor
general. General Eulogio Despujol, Conde de Caspe.
- He was told to come back at that night at 7:00 o'clock. Promptly at 7:00 p.m, he
returned to Malacanan and was able to confer with Governor General Despujol,
who agreed to pardon his father but not the rest of his family and told him to
return on Wednesday (June 29).
 He visited his sisters in the city – first Narcisa (Sisa, wife of Antonio Lopez) and later
Neneng (Saturnine, wife of Manuel T. Hidalgo)
Visiting Friends In Central Luzon

 June 27 (6:00 pm), Rizal boarded a train in Tutuban Station and visited his friends
in:
- Malolos (Bulacan) - San Fernando (Pampanga)
- Tarlac (Tarlac) - Bacolor (Pampanga)
- He was welcomed and lavishly entertained at the homes of his friends. These
friends were good patriots, who were his supporters in the reform crusade, and he
took the opportunity to greet them personally and discussed the problems
affecting their people.
 June 28 (5:00 afternoon), Rizal returned by train to Manila. Whether he knew it or not,
he was shadowed by government spies who watched carefully his every movement.
The homes he had visited were raided by the Guardia Civil which seized some copies
of the Noli and Fili and tome "subversive" pamphlets.

Other Interviews with Despujol

 After Rizal's visit to his friends in Central Luzon, he had other interviews with
Governor General Despujol. These interviews were vividly recorded in his diary, as
follows,'

On Wednesday (June 29 — Z) at 7:30, I saw His Excellency. I did not succeed to have
the penalty of exile lifted, but he gave me hope with regard to my sisters. As it was the
feat of St. Peter and St. Paul our interview ended at 9:15. I was to come again the
following day at 7:30.

The following day, Thursday (June 30), we talked about the question of Borneo. The
general was opposed to it, very much opposed. He told me to come back Sunday.

On Sunday (July 3 — Z) I returned. We talked about sundry things and I thanked him for
having lifted the exile of my sister. I told him that my father and brother would on the
first boat. He asked me if I would like to go abroad to Hong Kong. I told him yes. He told
me to return on Wednesday.
Founding of the Liga Filipina

 On the evening of Sunday July 3, 1892, following his morning interview with
Governor General Despujol, Rizal attended a meeting of the patriots at the home of
the Chinese-Filipino mestizo, Doroteo Ongjunco, on Ylaya Street, Tondo Manila.
 Among those present were:
 Pedro Serrano Laktaw (Panday Pira) – a Mason and school teacher
 Domingo Franco (Felipe Leal) – mason and tobacco shopkeeper
 Jose A. Ramos (Socorro) – engraver, printer, owner of Bazar Gran Bre-tana, and
first Worshipful Master of Nilad, first Filipino masonic lodge
 Ambrosio Salvador – gobernadorcillo of Quiapo and Mason
 Bonifacio Arevalo (Harem) – dentist and Mason
 Deodato Arellano – brother-in-law of M.H. del Pilar and civilian employee in the
army
 Ambrosio Flores (Musa) – retired lieutenant of infantry
 Agustin de la Rosa – bookkeeper and Mason
 Moises Salvador (Araw) – contractor and Mason
 Luis Villareal – tailor and Mason
 Faustino Villarrucel (Ilaw) – pharmacist and Mason.
 Mariano Crisostomo – landlord
 Numeriano Adrian (Ipil) – notary public and Mason
 Estanislao Legaspi – artisan and Mason
 Teo-doro Plata – court clerk and Mason
 Andres Bonifacio – warehouse employee
 Apolinario Mabini (Katabay) – lawyer and Mason
 Juan Zulueta – playwright, poet, and government employee
 Rizal explained the objectives of the Liga Filipina, civic league of Filipinos,
which he desired to establish and its role in the socio-economic life of the people.
He presented the Constitution of the Liga which he had written in Hong Kong and
discussed its provisions. The patriots were favorably impressed and gladly
approved the establishment of the Liga.
The officers of the new league were elected, as follows:

 Ambrosio Salvador – president

 Deodato Arellano – secretary
 Bonifacio Arevalo – treasurer
 Agustin de It Rosa – fiscal

Constitution of the Liga Filipina

The aims of the Liga Filipino, as embodied in its Constitution, were the following:"

1. To unite the whole archipelago into one compact and homogenous body.
2. Mutual protection in every want and necessity.
3. Defense against all violence and injustice.
4. Encouragement of education, agriculture, and commerce.
5. Study and application of reforms.

The motto of the Liga Filipina was: Unus Instar Omnlum (One Like All).

The governing body of the league was the Supreme Council which had jurisdiction over
the whole country. It was composed of a president, a secretary, a treasurer, and a fiscal.
There was a Provincial Council in every province and a Popular Council in every town.

All Filipinos who have at heart the welfare of their fatherland are qualified for
membership. Every member pays an entrance fee of two pesos and a monthly due of 10
centavos. The duties of the Liga members are as follows:

1. Obey the orders of the Supreme Council

2. To help in recruiting new members
3. To keep in strictest secrecy the decisions of the Liga authorities
4. To have a symbolic name which he cannot change until he becomes president of
his council
5. To report to the fiscal anything that he may hear which affects the Liga
6. To behave well as befits a good Filipino; and
7. To help fellow members in all ways.
Rizal Arrested and Jailed in Fort Santiago

On July 6 (Wednesday), Rizal went to Malacañan Palace to resume his series of

inter-views with the governor general. During this interview Governor General Despujol
suddenly showed him some printed leaflets which were allegedly found in Lucia's pillow
cases. These incriminatory leaflets were entitled Pobres Frailes (Pont Frailes) under the
authorship of Fr. Jacinto and printed by the Imprenta de los Amigos del Pais, Manila.
They were a satire against the rich Dominican friars who amassed fabulous riches
contrary to their monastic vow of poverty.

Rizal vigorously denied having those leaflets in either his or Lucia's baggage, which had
been thoroughly searched upon their arrival from Hong Kong by the custom authorities
who found nothing. Despite his denial and insistent demand for investigation in
accordance with the due process of law, he was placed under arrest and escorted to Fort
Santiago by Ramon Despujol, nephew and aide of Governor General Despujol.

In Fort Santiago, he was kept incomunicado, as he related in his diary:

They assigned me a fairly furnished room with a bed, a dozen chair, one table, wash
basin, and a mirror. The room had three windows; one without grill which opens on a
patio, another with grills which looks out on the city a wall and the beach and another
which was the door closed with a padlock. Two artillery men as sentinels guarded it.
They had orders to fire on anyone who might signal from the beach. I could not write nor
speak with anyone except the officer on duty.

July 7, the Gaceta de Manila published the story of Rizal's arrest which produced
indignant commotion among the Filipino people, particularly the members of the newly
organized Liga Filipina.

Arbitrary Deportation to Dapitan

The same issue of the Gaceta (July 7, 1892) contained Governor General Despujol's
decree deporting Rizal to "one of the islands in the South". The gubernatorial decree gave
the reasons for Rizal's deportation, as follows:
 1. Rizal had published books and articles abroad which showed disloyalty to Span and
which were "frankly anti – Catholic and "imprudently anti – friar”.
2. A few hours after his arrival in Manila "there was found in one of the packages… a
bundle of handbills entitled Pobres Frailes in which the patient and humble
generosity of Filipinos is satirized, and which accusation is published against the
customs at the religious orders"
3. His novel El Filibusterismo was dedicated to the memory of three "traitors" (Burgos,
Gomez, and Zamora), and on the title page he wrote that in view of the vices and
errors of the Spanish administration, "the only salvation for the Philippines was
separation from the mother country".
4. "The end which he pursues in his efforts and writings is to tear from the loyal
Filipino breasts the treasures of our holy Catholic faith".

July 14 (that is 12:30 a.m. of July I5, 1892), Rizal was brought under heavy guard to the
steamer Cebu which was sailing for Dapitan. This steamer under Captain Delgras
departed at 1:00 A.M., July 15, sailing south, passing Mindoro and Panay, and reaching
Dapitan on Sunday, the 17th of July, at 7:00 in the evening.

Captain Delgras went ashore and handed Rizal over to Captain Ricardo Carnicero,
Spanish Commandant of Dapitan. The same night, July 17, 1892, Rizal begins his exile
in lonely Dapitan which would last until July 31, 1896, a period of four years.