Mabborang, Kurt Russell F.

LWR 0009-58

Journal No. 5 – Rizal’s Life: Exile, Trial, and Death

Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda or better known as Jose Rizal is the Philippines’
national hero. Rizal had been through a lot back then, at an early age, he was able to go to
different universities, abroad, and acquire advanced knowledge. He is the icon of independence,
the position he now holds in the life of every Filipino is unattainable. Rizal was proclaimed a
national hero because of the American standard for qualification, he awakened the dormant
patriotism of the Filipinos. Because he was able to bring people together for a common goal - to
get out of foreign captivity. it was his nature to put the welfare of the majority above his own
interests, and he became a model of silence, a motivator for the attainment of liberty, and he was
a man of his people and his country. Jose had, already, learned the alphabet, long before he had
his formal education. Aside from the alphabet, he also memorized prayers at the age of 3. His
mother, Teodora was his first teacher, she was also, the first one to discover that Rizal has a
talent for poetry, and started honing his son to write poems. Rizal’s family has wealth and that is
why their state of life is unique, Rizal is rooted in his family amid the alignment of colonial
society, traditional language, and culture of Rizal as a semi-Spanish. Rizal’s huge family has
colonial connectivity, which is very evident in their language and their family culture. He is very
smart and he passed all entrance exams at the universities he took the tests on, he was supposed
to study in San Juan de Letran but ended up staying in Ateneo de Manila. Rizal was only around
12 years old when he got into Ateneo de Manila, he belonged to the class composed of
Spaniards, mestizos, and Filipinos. Rizal arrived in Manila and the organization namely La Liga
Filipina was found, days have passed and he was arrested by the Spanish police on four grounds.
Being thrown in Dapitan for Exile is not the typical exile we imagined, in Rizal’s eyes, it was
more than ‘him’ living an exile but it became one of the most fruitful period in his life. This was
the period wherein he was proactive, and more focused on serving the people and the society
through his works, medical practices, land development, and teachings.

For me, the most significant thing Rizal did in Dapitan was establishing a school for the children.
He established a school in Dapitan which was attended by 16 boys from prominent families and
instead of charging them for tuition fees, he then, made his students do community projects for
him in return to him for teaching them reading, writing in different languages, industrial work
and other subjects he knows. It is also in Dapitan where he applied his knowledge for
engineering by constructing a water system in order for the area to have clean water. Modern
engineers are still in awe, clueless, on how Rizal did all of that and how he built such a system of
waterworks, given the fact that he only has inadequate amount of help and is in short of the right
materials necessary, lastly, his finances are very limited that makes it impossible to do it or have
done it without hefty resources. The preliminary investigation got under way on November 20,
1896, and lasted for five days. He was accused of being the revolution's architect by fostering
anti-establishment sentiment and creating unlawful organizations. As anticipated, Rizal was
denied the opportunity to question his witnesses. Only young Spanish policemen who had no
interest in law were on the list from which he might choose his attorney. During the
investigation, he was given access to both documentary and testimonial material. There were ten
testifying witnesses and fifteen documents used against Rizal.