READING ACTIVITY AND DOCUMENT ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT

A. Read “Letter of Rizal to Mariano Ponce” on April 18,1889 and answer the activity
question.

Letter of Rizal to Mariano Ponce on the Effect of the Execution of the Gomburza*

18 Cochechouart St., Paris

April 18, 1889

My Beloved Friend,

            I just received your letter today together with the La Solidaridad.  This issue is truly
done well and the newspaper can be said to have truly grown. 

…It is not a crime to possess anti-friar books. This is the hand of fate, and even though
we deplore it as a private evil, we must applaud it as a public good. Without 1872 we would not
now have Plaridel, nor Jaena, nor Sanciano, nor would there exist the brave and unselfish
Filipinos in Europe; without 1872, Rizal, in place of writing Noli Me Tangere. . . . would have
written its opposite. At the sight of these injustices and cruelties, even as a child my imagination
was awakened and I swore to dedicate my life to avenge so many victims; and it is with this idea
that I have been studying. This may be seen in all my works and writings; God gave me the
opportunity some day to carry out my promise! Well! If they commit abuses, if there are
prisoners, banishments, executions, very well! This, the fulfillment of Destiny! The day in which
they put a hand on us, the day in which they martyr our innocent families for our crimes, good-
bye friar government, and perhaps, good-bye Spanish government! This cruelties and egotism of
Louis XIV brought on the Revolution; the cruelties of the Inquisition killed monarchism. We
will say in our books and writings that the friars are not what they pretend to be, are not ministers
of Christ, are not protectors of the country. This we will write and affirm, and the friars will
prove it with their deeds. What more should we want? Have they not shown cruelty? Have they
not urged the government to act against the people? Have they not manifested terror and fear?

…Just convey my regard to everyone. How are the members of La Solidaridad? 

 Rizal

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 READING ACTIVITY AND DOCUMENT ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT

Activity Question:
How did the 1872 GOMBURZA execution change Rizal’s views about Spanish rule in the
Philippines? How did the event affect Rizal’s concept of nationalism? Cite the effects of the
GOMBURZA EXECUTION to Rizal and his fellow Ilustrados?

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 READING ACTIVITY AND DOCUMENT ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT

B. Read the dedication page of the El Filibusterismo. Answer the activity question.

Dedication of Dr. Jose Rizal in the El Filibusterismo

To the memory
of the priests, Don Mariano Gomez (85 years old),
Don José Burgos (30 years old),
and Don Jacinto Zamora (35 years old).
Executed in Bagumbayan Field, on the 28th (sic) of February, 1872.

The Church, by refusing to degrade you, has placed in doubt the crime that has been
imputed to you; the Government, by surrounding your trials with mystery and shadows, causes
the belief that there was some error, committed in fatal moments; and all the Philippines, by
worshiping your memory and calling you martyrs, in no sense recognizes your culpability.  

In so far, therefore, as your complicity in the Cavite mutiny is not clearly proved, as you
may or may not have been patriots, and as you may or may not have cherished sentiments for
justice and for liberty, I have the right to dedicate my work to you as victims of the evil which I
undertake to combat.  And while we await expectantly upon Spain some day to restore your good
name and cease to be answerable for your death, let these pages serve as a tardy wreath of dried
leaves over your unknown tombs, and let it be understood that everyone who without clear
proofs attacks your memory stains his hands in your blood!

J. Rizal

Reflection Activity Question:

Why did Rizal dedicate the El Filibusterismo to the GOMBURZA? How did Rizal portray
the GOMBURZA? Why was the GOMBURZA execution an IMPORTANT event in Rizal’s
life?

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C. Read the excerpt from Rizal’s Philippines a Century Hence” and “Objectives of the
Reform Movement and the La Solidaridad.” 

THE AWAKENING OF THE NATIONALIST SPIRIT*

… There now exists a factor which was formerly lacking -- the spirit of the nation has been
aroused and a common misfortune, a common debasement has united all the inhabitants of the
Islands.  A numerous enlightened class now exists within and without the Islands, a class
created and continually augmented by the stupidity of certain governing powers, which forces
the inhabitants to leave the country, to secure education abroad, and it is maintained thanks to
the provocation and the system of espionage in vogue.  This class, whose number is cumulatively
increasing, is in constant communication with the rest of the Islands, and if today it constitutes
only the brain of the country in a few years it will form the whole nervous system and manifest
its existence in all its acts

*Taken from the essay written by Dr. Jose Rizal entitled “Philippines a Century Hence”.  This
essay was published per chapter in the La Solidaridad from September 30, 1889 until February 1,
1890. 

Objectives of the Reform Movement 

            There is an aspiration for a comfortable life in the Philippines; the tax payers, the country
who is supporting the flag of Spain through their farms and through their blood – this loyal
country is aware that he is not only composed of flocks of sheep.

      This country is not asking for any kind of sacrifice from Spain; all it asks is to be governed
properly, or if not, to understand our cause, and for the country to be heard through legitimate
governance.

            We ask for assimilation; we are asking as it is our right that for the said islands to be part
of Spain.*

 *One of the editorials in La Solidaridad that is originally written in Spanish under the editorship
of Marcelo H. del Pilar.  He started to be an editor for La Solidaridad on December 1889.  It was
only transferred by the editor in English

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 READING ACTIVITY AND DOCUMENT ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT

Activity Question:

According to Rizal, who will continue the objectives that were started by the Secularization
movement? How did he describe them? Who are they? Explain the goal of this group.
What are the objectives/aims of the reform movement?