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Course Code and Title: GE 111 – The Life and Works of Rizal
Lesson Number: Lesson 7 (Week 7)
Topic: Rizal’s Life: Exile in Dapitan
INTRODUCTION:
This module focuses on the life of Jose Rizal while exiled in Dapitan. It narrates how Rizal, as an
Ilustrado, perceives the nation through his experiences with the cultural minorities and a display of his
unrelenting nationalism. This module shows how Rizal valued life and his country.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
 Explain how Rizal spent “the most productive years of his life”;
 Identify the grounds for his deportation in Dapitan;
 Evaluate Rizal’s disposition about an armed rebellion for Philippine independence;
 Appreciate Rizal’s contribution to Dapitan; and
 Use current technology to assist and facilitate learning and research
LESSON PRESENTATION:

Life in Dapitan
The deportee could have stayed in the Dapitan parish
convent had he retracted his anti-Catholic pronouncements
and made a general confession of his past life. Not willing to
accede to these main conditions set by the Jesuits, Rizal
instead opted to live at the commandant’s residence called
“Casa Real.”

The commandant Captain Ricardo Carnicero and Jose Rizal

became such good friends that the exile did not feel that the
caption was his guard. Later in his life in Dapitan, Rizal wrote
a poem A Don Ricardo Carnicero honoring the kind commandant on the occasion of his birthday on
August 26, 1892.

In September 1892, Rizal and Carnicero won in a lottery. The Manila Lottery ticket no. 9736 jointly
owned by Rizal, Carnicero, and a Spanish resident of Dipolog won the second prize of Php 20,000.
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Rizal used some part of his share (Php 6,200) in procuring a parcel of land near the coast of Talisay, a
barrio near Dapitan. On a property of more than 10 hectares, he put up three houses made of bamboo,
wood, and nipa. He lived in the house, which was square. Another hexagonal house was the barn
where Rizal kept his chickens. In his octagonal house lived some of his pupils-for Rizal also established
a school, teaching young boys practical subjects, like reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and
Spanish and English languages. Later, he constructed additional huts to accommodate his recovering
out-of-town patients.

Daily Life as an Exile

During his exile, Rizal practiced medicine, taught some pupils, and
engaged in farming and horticulture. He grew many fruit trees and
domesticated some animals. The school he founded in 1893 started
with only three pupils and had more than 20 students at the time his
exile ended.

Rizal would rise at five in the morning to see his plants, feed his
animals, and prepare breakfast. Having taken his morning meal, he
would treat the patients who had come to his house. Paddling his
boat called baroto (he had two of them), he would then proceed to
Dapitan town to attend to his other patients there the whole morning.

Rizal would return to Talisay to take his lunch. Teaching his pupils
would begin at about 2 p.m. and would end at 4 or 5 in the afternoon.
With the help of his pupils, Rizal would spend the rest of the
afternoon in farming-planting trees, watering the plants, and pruning
the fruits. Rizal then would spend the night reading and writing.

Rizal and the Jesuits

The first attempt by the Jesuit friars to win back the deported Rizal to the Catholic fold was the offer for
him to live in the Dapitan convent under some conditions. Refusing to compromise, Rizal did not stay
with the parish priest Antonio Obach in the church convent.
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Just a month after Rizal was deported to Dapitan, the Jesuit

Order assigned to Dapitan the priest Francisco de Paula
Sanchez. Rizal’s favorite teacher in Ateneo. Many times,
they engaged in cordial religious discussions. But though
Rizal appreciated his mentor’s efforts, he could not be
convinced to change his mind. Nevertheless, their
differences in belief did not get in the way of their good
friends.

The priest Pablo Pastells, Superior of the Jesuit Society in the Philippines, also made some attempts
by correspondence to win over to Catholicism the exiled physician. Four times they exchanged letters
from September 1892 to April 1893. The debate was none less than scholarly, and it manifested Rizal’s
knowledge of the Holy Scriptures for the quoted verses from it. Though Rizal consistently attended
mass in Dapitan, he refused to espouse the conventional type of Catholicism.

Achievement in Dapitan
Rizal provided significant community services in Dapitan, like
improving the town’s drainage and constructing a better water
system using empty bottles and bamboo joints. He also taught the
town folks about health and sanitation to avoid the spread of
diseases. With his Jesuit priest friend Sanchez, Rizal made a huge
relief map of Mindanao in Dapitan plaza. Also, he bettered the forest
thereby providing evident trails, stairs, and some benches. He
invented the wooden machine for the mass production of bricks. Using the bricks he produced, Rizal
built a water dam for the community with the help of his students.

As the town’s doctor Rizal equally treated all patients regardless of

their economic and social status. He accepted as “fees” things like
poultry and crops, and at times even gave his services to poor folks
for free, his specialization was ophthalmology, but he also offered
treatments to almost all kinds of diseases.
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Rizal also helped in the livelihood of the abaca farmers in Dapitan by

trading their crops in Manila. He gave the lessons in abaca-weaving
to produce hammocks. Noticing that the fishing method by the locals
was inefficient, he taught them better techniques, like weaving and
using better fishing nets.

As a Scientist and Philologist

Aside from doing archaeological excavations, Rizal inspected
Dapitan’s rich flora and fauna, providing a sort of taxonomy to
numerous kinds of forest and sea creatures. From his laboratory and
herbarium, he sent various biological specimens to scientists in
Europe, like his dear friend Dr. Adolph Meyer in Dresden. In return,
the European scholars sent him books and some other academic
reading materials.

From the collections he sent to European scholars, at least three

species were named after him: a Dapitan frog (Rhacophorus Rizali),
a type of beetle (Apogonia Rizali), and a flying dragon (Draco Rizali)

Having learned the Visayan language, he also engaged himself in the

study of language, culture, and literature. He examined local
folklores, customs, Tagalog grammar, and the Malay language.

The Spies and Secret Emissary

In March 1895, a man introduced himself to Rizal as Pablo Mercado.
Claiming to be Rizal’s relative, this stranger eagerly volunteered to bring
Rizal’s letters to certain persons in Manila. Made suspicious by the
visitor’s insistence, Rizal interrogated him, and it turned out that his real
name was Florencio Nanaman of Cagayan de Misamis, paid as a secret
agent by the Recollect friars. But because it was raining that evening, the
kind Rizal did not command Nanaman out of his house but even let the
spy spend the rainy night in his place.
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In June the next year, a different kind of emissary was sent to Rizal. Dr. Pio Valenzuela was sent to
Dapitan by Andress Bonifacio-the Katipunan leader who believed that carrying out revolt had to be
sanctioned first by Rizal. Disguised as a mere companion of a blind patient seeking treatment from
Rizal. Valenzuela was able to discreetly deliver Katipunan’s message for Rizal. But Rizal politely
refused to approve the uprising, suggesting that peaceful means were far better than violent ways in
obtaining freedom. Rizal further believed that a revolution would be unsuccessful without arms and
monetary support from wealthy Filipinos. He thus recommended that if the Katipunan were to start a
revolution, it had to ask for the support of rich and educated Filipinos, like Antonio Luna who was an
expert on military strategy.

Visited by Loved Ones

Rizal was in Dapitan when he learned that his true love Leonor Rivera
had died. What somewhat consoled his desolate heart was the visits of
his mother and some sisters.

In August 1893, Doña Teodora, along with daughter Trinidad, joined

Rizal in Dapitan and resided with him in his casa cuadrada (square
house), the son successfully operated on his mother’s cataract.

At distinct times, Jose’s sister Maria and Narcisa also visited him. Three of Jose’s nephews likewise
went to Dapitan and had their early education under their uncle: Maria’s Son
Mauricio (Morris) and Lucia’s sons Teodosio (Osio) and Estanislao (Tan).
Jose’s niece Angelica, Narcisa’s daughter also experienced living for some
time with her exiled uncle in Mindanao.

In1895, Doña Teodora left Dapitan for Manila to be with Don Francisco who
was getting weaker. Shortly after his mother left, Josephine Bracken came
into Jose’s life. Josephine was an orphan with Irish blood and the
stepdaughter of Jose’s patient from Hong Kong. Rizal and Bracken were
unable to obtain a church wedding because Jose would not retract his anti-Catholic views. He
nonetheless took Josephine as his common-law wife who kept him company and kept house for him.
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Before the year ended in 1895, the couple had a child who was born prematurely. The son who was
named after Rizal’s father (Francisco) died a few hours after birth.

Goodbye Dapitan
In 1895, Blumentritt informed Rizal that the revolution-ridden Cuba,
another nation colonized by Spain, was raged by a yellow-fever epidemic.
Because there was a shortage of physicians to attend to war victims and
disease-stricken people, Rizal in December 1895 wrote to the then
Governor-General Ramon Blanco, volunteering to provide medical
services in Cuba. Receiving no reply from Blanco, Rizal lost interest in his
request.

But on July 30, 1896, Rizal received a letter from the governor-general
sanctioning his petition to serve as a volunteer physician in Cuba. Rizal
made immediate preparations to leave, selling and giving as souvenirs to
friends and students at his various properties.

In the late afternoon of July 31, Rizal got on the “España” with Josephine, Narcisa, a niece, three
nephews, and three of his students. Many Dapitan folks, especially Rizal’s students, came to see their
beloved doctor for the last time. Cordially bidding him goodbye, they shouted “Adios, Dr. Rizal!” as
some of his students even cried. The steamer departed for Manila at midnight on July 31, 1896. With
tears in his eyes. Rizal later wrote in his diary on board the ship, “I have been in that district four years,
thirteen days, and a few hours”

GENERALIZATION:

When Rizal returned to Manila on June 26, 1892, he was already declared as an enemy of the state
because of his novels. His every move was monitored by the Spanish authorities, searching all houses
he frequented and interrogating the people he knew. After his arrest, Rizal was deported to Dapitan, a
province in Zamboanga, a place far from his family and friends so that communication with them would
be difficult. The Spanish authorities believed that sending Rizal to Dapitan would make his life
miserable. However, Rizal proved them wrong. Being an exile was considered a very fruitful episode of
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his life.

While in Dapitan, Rizal focused on serving the people and society through his civic works, medical
practices, agricultural projects, and education. He also devoted his time to improving his artistic and
literary skills. Rizal, however, did not forget what he liked doing most-writing letters to his friends in
Europe, especially to Ferdinand Blumentritt. In the course of his exile, the Spanish authorities offered to
pardon him if he would retract his proclamations against the Church. Rizal did not yield. He was still
very vocal in his contempt toward the practices of the Catholic Church. Jesuit priests put in a lot of
effort so that Rizal would perform religious rites and submit himself to confession. He engaged in a
scholarly debate about religion with Fray Pablo Pastells, the Superior of the Jesuit mission in the
Philippines. This exchange of heated arguments further revealed the anti-Church Rizal-his disdain for
the abuses committed by the friars. Fray Pastells tried his best to make Rizal reconsider his stance
against the Church but it was all in vain.

It was during his exile that Rizal met Josephine Bracken, Bracken accompanied her blind foster father,
George Taufer, who came to seek Rizal’s help about his cataract. Rizal and Bracken instantly fell in
love. Dr. Pio Valenzuela was sent as an emissary by Andress Bonifacio, the leader of the Katipunan, to
seek Rizal’s opinion and approval of an armed rebellion against Spanish authorities. Rizal was
outrightly opposed to the idea of an armed rebellion. For him, the Filipinos did not need to wage a
bloody revolution to gain independence. He believed that Filipinos were not yet united and fully
educated and that the Katipunan lacked the machinery to defeat the Spaniards. At this point, Rizal was
hoping for concessions and reforms from Spain.

REFERENCES:

 Galicia, Reynaldo D. et al. (2019). The Life and Works of Jose Rizal. 2nd Edition. Mandaluyong
City: Azes Publishing Corporation.
 Manebog, Jensen. D. et al. (2019). Life and Works of Rizal. Manila: Mutya Publishing. Inc.
 Clemente, Janet E. et al. (2019). The Life and Works of Rizal. Quezon City: C & E Publishing,
Inc.