Gielarmi Julie Requina October 2, 2018

PI 10 T1 Prof. Gladys Nalangan

Visiting Paciano Rizal’s House

I thought Paciano Rizal’s house would be bigger, knowing that the Rizal family was no
stranger to wealth. Instead, I saw a fairly-sized house that had a floor size that would fit a family
of 5 people at most. Despite that, however, the whole exterior itself boasted a height and
Spanish-era finishings that indicated high status and wealth in the olden times. The wood
furnishings were beautifully kept sturdy-looking and shiny. An elegant, half-spiraled stairs was
the only way upwards to a much humbler looking home interior.

There were two bedrooms: one was restricted from public access, the other is a remake
of Paciano’s room—complete with an old frail-looking bed, a chestnut-colored dresser, shelves
full of uniformly thick, worn-out red encyclopedias that had browning pages, a rocking chair, and
a table that resembled Jose Rizal’s table in his Fort Santiago prison. I call it remake, because
the information posters explicitly say so; even the hardwood floors were simply a renovation
from its old kawayan structure. This is because the original structure and furnishings of the
house were said to have been destroyed in a strong typhoon.

The walls throughout the house were filled with family photos and large posters that
contained historical background of the house, the Rizal family, and of Paciano and Jose Rizal’s
relationship. There were letters from Jose to Paciano and Jose to their mother, Teodora Alonzo,
written from upon Jose’s awareness of his execution. These letters were strategically placed
inside Paciano’s room: Paciano’s place of comfort, the perfect gallery place to memorialize his
brother’s heartfelt correspondences to the family.

One can tell the strong and loving brotherhood the Rizal brothers had upon reading
Jose’s letter to Paciano. In the letter, Jose begins by saying how he had not even thought of
expressing words of affection to his brother, as it is already silently understood between them—
a strong sign of deep connectedness between the two. Jose then expresses the burden he
knows his brother has shouldered in order to push for the conditions that had eventually given
Jose his careers. With this, Jose expresses an angst in hoping that he has not let his brother
down. Had it been the case that Jose did not live up to the full potential that Paciano had seen
in him, Jose blames it on circumstance. Though not mentioned, this said circumstance is most
likely to be about his controversial novels and the Katipunan revolution that came about
because of it (and Jose’s own speech in the first La Liga Filipina meeting that inspired
Bonifacio).

It is true that Paciano can be attributed to what we now recognize as Jose’s success.
The older brother was the one who supported Jose’s education from Biñan at a young age to
providing for his study travels in Europe. Paciano even sent a letter to Jose, reminding his little
brother that he is in Europe not only to finish his medical courses, but more importantly to
perfect his craft in writing which had greater usefulness. Paciano supported his brother
because, even when Jose was still a child, Paciano already saw how extraordinary he was. Like
a loving older brother, he also taught little Jose how to ride a pony, to fly a kite, and to fence.
Paciano gave his word to be guardian to this little Jose, and he stuck to that—fighting for Jose’s
legacy even after his little brother’s death.

More than that, Paciano was well-educated strongman, having studied in many different
institutions and notably studying law at the University of Santo Tomas. As such, while Jose
himself was well-educated, Paciano still had his influences in his little brother’s thinking. For
one, he was Jose’s greatest critic. One example is from Paciano’s comments on Rizal’s tagalog
translation of a german work, calling his translation “Though perfectly translated, [is] difficult to
understand.”

Paciano’s perception of injustice during their time—the execution of GOMBURZA (of

which one was his friend and teacher) and the unjust imprisonment of their mother—had made
Paciano the strongman, revolutionary thinker that he was. As someone young Jose looked up
to, his older brother’s sentiments on injustice had helped matured his own perception of the
world. This said effect is evident in Rizal’s writing Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo that
were evidently and heavily inspired by the execution.

While we cannot fully attribute Jose Rizal’s own actions to Paciano, his older brother’s
influence on him is undeniable. Paciano Rizal deeply cared for his brother throughout Jose’s
life. He was the figure behind the curtains of the intricate, grandeur play of the Philippine
revolution were Jose was one of the big characters. He was not mentioned in the majority of his
story for, like a house, Paciano provided the blueprint and secured the nails and glue to make a
strong house out of the strong wooden fixtures that Jose already had in the beginning.