Course Code and Title: GE 111 – Rizal’s Life and Works

Lesson Number: 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 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 to Dapitan.
 Evaluate Rizal’s disposition about an armed rebellion for Philippine independence.
 Appreciate Rizal’s contribution to Dapitan.

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. 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 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.
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 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.

Achievements 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 for almost all kinds of diseases.
Rizal also helped in the livelihood of the abaca farmers in Dapitan by
trading their crops in Manila. He gave 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 of 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 folklore, 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.
In June of 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 to Rizal. But Rizal politely
refused to approve of the uprising, suggesting that peaceful means were far better than violent ways of 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 her daughter Trinidad,
joined Rizal in Dapitan and resided with him in his casa Cuadrado (square house), the
son successfully operated on his mother’s cataract.

At distinct times, Jose’s sisters 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.

In 1895, 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. 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 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”

Online Supplementary Materials

Rizal sa Dapitan 1997
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrwSAXpXzAM

SUMMARY:
When Rizal returned to Manila on June 26, 1892, he has already declared 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 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 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 with 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, R. D. (2019). The Life and Works of Jose Rizal. 2nd Edition. Mandaluyong City: Azes Publishing
Corporation.
 Manebog, J. D. (2018). Life and Works of Rizal. Manila: Mutya Publishing. Inc.
 Clemente, J. E. (2019). The Life and Works of Rizal. Quezon City: C & E Publishing, Inc.