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Avenir Angelo Paloay
READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY FINAL REQUIREMENT
READING NO. 5
(The Great Debate The Rizal Retraction by Ricardo P. Garcia)

Ricardo P. Garcia tried to prove that Rizal retracted his masonic affiliation, that he himself wrote down and
signed his retraction, and that he and Josephine were married using 3 evidences and 2 of it were eyewitness. The first
eyewitness Fr. Vicente Balaguer Llacer said that after Rizal was condemned to death he desired to be visited by the
Fathers of Society of Jesus who he had been educated. By this statement Garcia became more inclined to believe that
Rizal retracted his masonic affiliation since the Jesuit fathers had been much interested in Rizal’s retraction since his
dapitan days. They even sent Rizal’s favorite professor to persuade him to retract. So why would he want to meet this
jesuit fathers with so much vigor? That can only mean that Rizal was interested in retraction and the probability of his
retraction at Fort Santiago is very High. The first eyewitness Fr. Balaguer also said that he had asked rizal about his
take on religion and they started to have a debate and eventually made Rizal want to retract his masonic affiliation and
become a catholic and also wrote a retraction declaration with the priest’s guidance with the formula. He finished the
writing Half past eleven and was dated December twenty ninth and was signed together with Dr. Rizal By Senor Fresno
, Chief of the Picket, and Senor Moure, Adjutant of the Plaza. And then Fr. Balaguer went to Ateneo and delivered and
handed the aforementioned document to Fr. Pio Pi which he handed it to Archbishop Nozaleda in which he intrusted it
to his secretary Reverend Tomas. Garcia’s second eyewitness is a former lieutenant of the infantry who made an
affidavit written in Spanish. His last and Best evidence was when the document of Rizal’s retraction was actually found
and even proven by different people with credibility. Garcia’s Argument is very Consistent I believe because first he
showed evidence that Rizal retracted His masonic affiliation through eyewitness and Rizal inviting the Jesuit Fathers,
second he provided evidence to his second argument that Rizal wrote down and signed his retraction through the first
eyewitness seeing Rizal write the retraction along with his sign and other witnesses and also with the second
eyewitness’s affidavit and through the third evidence in which Rizal’s retraction was found Fr. Gracia which he
confirmed through looking at Archbishop O’ Dorothy’s record in which he found a folder that has not been touched for
at least a decade containing documents pertaining marriage to Josephine Bracken there contained three or four other
letters signed by Rizal in addition to the retraction, requesting marriage to Josephine Bracken and other letters refusing
that marriage unless signed retraction. This retraction of Rizal was pinned right in the folder originally as it was to the
marriage document of Josephine Bracket which proves Garcia’s third argument that Rizal and Josephine was married. It
is all connected and this is the reason as to why I believe Garcia’s argument has consistency.