Basilio

Son of Sisa and another character from Noli me tangere. In the events of the El fili, he is an aspiring and so
far successful physician on his last year at University and was waiting for his license to be released upon his
graduation. After his mother's death in the Noli, he applied as a servant in Captain Tiago's household in
exchange for food, lodging, and being allowed to study. Eventually he took up medicine, and with Tiago
having retired from society, he also became the manager of Tiago's vast estate. He is a quiet, contemplative
man who is more aware of his immediate duties as a servant, doctor, and member of the student
association than he is of politics or patriotic endeavors. His sweetheart is Juli, the daughter of Kabesang
Tales whose family took him in when he was a young boy fleeing the Guardia Civil and his deranged
mother.

Simoun
Crisóstomo Ibarra in disguise, presumed dead at the end of Noli me tangere. Ibarra has returned as
the wealthy jeweler Simoun. His appearance is described as being tanned, having a sparse beard,
long white hair, and large blue-tinted glasses. In manners he was crude and confrontational. He was
derisively described by Custodio and Ben Zayb as an American mulatto or a British Indian. While
presenting as the arrogant elitist on the outside, he secretly plans a violent revolution in order to
avenge himself for his misfortunes as Crisóstomo Ibarra, as well as hasten Elias' reformist goals.

Isagani
Basilio's friend. He is described as a poet, taller and more robust than Basilio although younger. He
is the nephew of Padre Florentino, but is also rumored to be Florentino's son with his old
sweetheart before he was ordained as a priest. During the events of the novel, Isagani is finishing
his studies at the Ateneo Municipal and is planning to take medicine. A member of the student
association, Isagani is proud and naive, and tends to put himself on the spot when his ideals are
affronted. His unrestrained idealism and poeticism clash with the more practical and mundane
concerns of his girlfriend, Paulita Gomez. When Isagani allows himself to be arrested after their
association is outlawed, Paulita leaves him for Juanito Peláez. In his final mention in the novel, he
was bidding goodbye to his landlords, the Orenda family, to stay with Florentino permanently.
 Macaraig
The Leader. He is described as wealthy, with his own coach, driver, and set of
horses. He is said to own several houses, and that he is lending one to serve as the
schoolhouse for their planned Spanish language academy. After the outlawing of the
group, he was the first to post bail. He then left the country after his release.

Kabesang Tales
Telesforo Juan de Dios, a former kabesa of Barrio Sagpang in Tiani. He was a sugarcane
planter who cleared lands he thought belonged to no one, losing his wife and eldest daughter in
the endeavor. When the Dominicans took over his farm, he fought to his last money to have it
retained in his possession. While his suit against the Dominicans was ongoing, he was
kidnapped by bandits while he was out patrolling his fields. Having no money to pay his
captors, his daughter Juli was forced to become a maid in exchange for her mistress paying his
ransom. When his son Tano was conscripted into the Guardia Civil, again Tales had no money
to pay for Tano's exclusion from the draft. When in spite of all Tales lost the case, he not only
lost his farm but was also dealt with a heavy fine. He later joined the bandits and became one of
their fiercest commanders. Tandang Selo, his father, would later on join his band after the death
of Juli.

Father Florentino
Isagani's uncle, a retired priest. Florentino was the son of a wealthy and influential Manila
family. He entered the priesthood at the insistence of his mother. As a resul, he had to break
an affair with a woman he loved, and in despair devoted himself instead to his parish. When
the 1872 Cavite mutiny broke out, he promptly resigned from the priesthood, fearful of
drawing unwanted attention. He was an Indio and a secular, or a priest that was unaffiliated
with the orders, and yet his parish drew in a huge income. He retired to his family's large
estate along the shores of the Pacific. He is described as white-haired, with a quiet, serene
personality and a strong build. He did not smoke or drink. He was well respected by his peers,
even by the Spanish friars and officials.
Father Írene

Capitan Tiago's spiritual adviser. Along with Custodio, Írene is severely criticized as a representative of
priests who allied themselves with temporal authority for the sake of power and monetary gain.
Known to many as the final authority who Don Custodio consults, the student association sought his
support and gifted him with two chestnut-colored horses, yet he betrayed the students by counseling
Custodio into making them fee collectors in their own school, which was then to be administered by
the Dominicans instead of being a secular and privately managed institution as the students
envisioned. Írene secretly but regularly supplies Capitan Tiago with opium while exhorting Basilio to do
his duty. Írene embellished stories of panic following the outlawing of the student association Basilio
was part of, hastening Captain Tiago's death. With Basilio in prison, he then struck Basilio out of Tiago's
last will and testament, ensuring he inherited nothing.

Father Camorra
The parish priest of Tiani. Ben-Zayb's regular foil, he is said to look like an artilleryman in
counterpoint to Ben-Zayb's friar looks. He stops at nothing to mock and humiliate Ben-Zayb's
liberal pretensions. In his own parish, Camorra has a reputation for unrestrained lustfulness. He
drives Juli into suicide after attempting to rape her inside the convent. For his misbehavior he
was "detained" in a luxurious riverside villa just outside Manila.

Quiroga

A Chinese businessman who aspired to be a consul for China in the Philippines. Simoun coerced
Quiroga into hiding weapons inside the latter's warehouses in preparation for the revolution.
Don Custodio

Custodio de Salazar y Sánchez de Monteredondo, a famous "contractor" who was tasked by the Captain-
General to develop the students association's proposal for an academy for the teaching of Spanish, but
was then also under pressure from the priests not to compromise their prerogatives as monopolizers of
instruction. Some of the novel's most scathing criticism is reserved for Custodio, who is portrayed as an
opportunist who married his way into high society, who regularly criticized favored ideas that did not
come from him, but was ultimately, laughably incompetent in spite of his scruples

Paulita Gómez
The girlfriend of Isagani and the niece of Doña Victorina, the old Indio who passes herself off
as a Peninsular, who is the wife of the quack doctor Tiburcio de Espadaña. In the end, she and
Isagani part ways, Paulita believing she will have no future if she marries him. She eventually
marries Juanito Peláez

Juli
Juliana de Dios, the girlfriend of Basilio, and the youngest daughter of Kabesang Tales. When
Tales was captured by bandits, Juli petitioned Hermana Penchang to pay for his ransom. In
exchange, she had to work as Penchang's maid. Basilio ransomed her and bought a house for her
family. When Basilio was sent to prison, Juli approached Tiani's curate, Padre Camorra, for
help. When Camorra tried to rape her instead, Juli jumped to her death from the church's tower.