JOSE RIZAL’S RETRACTION CONTROVERSY

SHORT BACKGROUND
Jose P. Rizal is a Filipino nationalist, writer, and polymath active at the end of the Spaniard colonial
period and considered as the national hero of the Philippines. During the Spaniard colonial period he
was accused as an anti- catholic and a communist by the church leaders or Friars. His works like novels,
satires, articles, and essays contains anticlerical attacks that are too personal to be considered as
objectively.

RETRACTION AFTER DEATH

A document that contains the so-called retractions of Rizal was released to the press and the public soon
after his death. The document reports that Rizal retracted all of his anti- catholic ideas that he spread
through his words, writings, and publications which are contrary to his character as a son of the Catholic
Church.

The original retraction document was not produced until 1935 due to immediately after Rizal's
death, Fr. Balaguer gave it to Fr. Pi and Fr. Pi gave it to Fr. Nozaleda in order for his secretary to keep it. 
The retraction’s authenticity was doubted by historians and was alleged to be a forgery, according to
“The Great Debate: The Rizal’s Retraction” by Ricardo P. Garcia, there are two great testimonies of
eyewitnesses that supports the authenticity of Rizal’s retraction.

 Fr. Vicente Balaguer- “the reasonable Rizal had several rude awakenings; confessed, celebrated
mass, had communion, and prayed the rosary four times.
 Former Lieutenant of the Infantry, Mariano Martinez Gallegos- confirmed that Rizal signed a
document called retraction with key eyewitnesses: Juan Del Fresno and Eloy Moure.
New documents that support this argument was released with new interpretations; some are:
 The Cuerpo de Vigilencia
 Rizal’s short writing in Josephine Bracken’s copy of “De la imitation de Cristo (The Imitation of
Christ)”
 Rizal’s frequent mentions of “cross” in his final writings

RETRACTION CONTROVERSY
Several historians studied Rizal’s retraction document and examined it to check its credibility and
authenticity. Plenty of them doubt its authenticity since there is no certificate of Rizal’s Catholic
marriage to Josephine Bracken. Ricardo Pascual, a professor at the University of the Philippines,
concluded that the retraction document that was discovered in 1935 was not in Rizal’s handwriting.
Senator Rafael Palma, former president of University of the Philippines, also argued that the retraction
was not in keeping with Rizal’s character and mature beliefs and called it a “pious fraud”. There are
several others that also deny the authenticity of the retraction document

On the other hand, several prominent Philippine Historians like Nick Joaquin, Nicolas Zafra, Gregorio
Zaide, and many others affirm the authenticity of Rizal’s retraction and that it was judged by a foremost
expert on the writings of Rizal and handwritings expert. Historians also considered the 11 eyewitnesses
that was directly involved when Rizal wrote or signed the retraction, these eyewitnesses include those
who directly saw Rizal wrote the retraction, signed a Catholic book, recited Catholic prayers, and those
who saw Rizal kiss a crucifix before his execution. Due to this abundant number of direct evidences, it
overpowers the circumstantial evidences that says that Rizal’s retraction is not legitimate. The
transcript, “The Cuerpo de Vigilencia” also strengthens the authenticity of the retraction since it states a
log of Rizal before being executed, this transcription also supports the statements of the eyewitnesses:
Fr. Vicente Balaguer and Mariano Martinez Gallegos.

In conclusion, the Retraction document is more- likely to be legitimate and authentic, all of the direct
evidences all point out that Jose Rizal himself wrote the retraction and signed it before being executed.
All of the eyewitnesses’ statements also lined up with each other thus making the story more credible,
but there are still small holes along these evidences which is the reason why historians debate whether
Rizal’s retraction is actually authentic or not.

5 questions:
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