LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

1. IDENTIFY THE CONFLICTING VIEWS/ACCOUNTS

ABOUT THE RIZAL RETRACTION
2. ANALYZE EACH VIEW OR SOURCE
3. USE PRIMARY SOURCES IN PRESENTING/
WRITING ABOUT A LOCAL ISSUE
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
•DR. JOSE RIZAL – LEADER OF THE REFORMIST MOVEMENT IN
SPAIN
•HE WAS ARRESTED, TRIED, AND SENTENCED TO DEATH BY A
SPANISH COURT MARTIAL AFTER BEING IMPLICATED AS THE
LEADER OF THE PHILIPPINE REVOLUTION.
• THE NIGHT BEFORE HIS DEATH BY FIRING SQUAD AT THE LUNETA ON
DECEMBER 30, 1896
• ACCOUNTS EXIST THAT RIZAL ALLEGEDLY RETRACTED HIS MASONIC
IDEALS AND HIS WRITINGS AND RECONVERTED TO CATHOLICISM
FOLLOWING SEVERAL HOURS OF PERSUASION BY JESUIT PRIESTS.
• THERE WAS CONSIDERABLE DOUBT TO THIS ALLEGATION BY RIZAL’S
FAMILY AND FRIENDS UNTIL 1935, THE SUPPOSED RETRACTION DOCUMENT
WITH RIZAL’S RETRACTION WAS FOUND.
•ONGOING ISSUE ABOUT THE RIZAL RETRACTION AND SUBJECT TO
CONTINUOUS DEBATE
•WHETHER RIZAL RETRACTED OR NOT AND WHETHER THE
DOCUMENT IS FORGED OR REAL.
•THE FOLLOWING PRIMARY SOURCES ARE OF TWO KINDS:
•THE FIRST TWO ARE THE OFFICIAL ACCOUNTS BY THE JESUITS
•THE OTHER TWO ARE CRITICAL ANALYSES BY TWO RIZALIST
SCHOLARS
FR. VICENTE BALAGUER’S STATEMENT
• HE WAS ONE OF THE JESUIT PRIESTS WHO VISITED RIZAL DURING RIZAL’S LAST HOURS
IN FORT SANTIAGO AND CLAIMED THAT HE MANAGED TO PERSUADE RIZAL TO
DENOUNCE MASONRY AND RETURN TO THE CATHOLIC FOLD.
• AN AFFIDAVIT EXECUTED IN 1917 WHEN HE RETURNED TO SPAIN
• HE ALSO CLAIMED THAT HE WAS THE ONE WHO SOLEMNIZED THE MARRIAGE OF
JOSEPHINE BRACKEN AND RIZAL HOURS BEFORE EXECUTION.
THE ACCOUNT OF FR. VICENTE BALAGUER
• ACCORDING TO THE ACCOUNT, RIZAL ACCEPTED A SHORTER RETRACTION DOCUMENT
PREPARED BY THE SUPERIOR OF THE JESUIT SOCIETY IN THE PHILIPPINES, FATHER PIO
PI.
• RIZAL THEN WROTE HIS RETRACTION AFTER MAKING SOME MODIFICATIONS IN THE
DOCUMENT. IN HIS RETRACTION, HE DISAVOWED MASONRY AND RELIGIOUS THOUGHTS
THAT OPPOSED CATHOLIC BELIEF.
• THE RETRACTION WAS SIGNED TOGETHER WITH DR. RIZAL BY SEÑOR FRESNO, CHIEF OF
THE PICKET, AND SEÑOR MOURE, ADJUTANT OF THE PLAZA.
FR. PIO PI’S STATEMENT
• FR. PIO PI WAS THE JESUIT SUPERIOR IN THE PHILIPPINES DURING THE TIME WHEN
RIZAL WAS EXECUTED.
• IN 1917, HE ISSUED ANAFFIDAVIT RECOUNTING HIS INVOLVEMENT IN THE ALLEGED
RETRACTION OFRIZAL.
• UNLIKE FATHER BALAGUER, HOWEVER, HE WAS INVOLVED ONLY IN SECURING THE
RETRACTION DOCUMENT FROM THE ARCHBISHOP OF MANILA BERNARDINO NOZALEDA,
AND WRITING ANOTHER SHORTER RETRACTION DOCUMENT AS WELL WHICH WAS THE
ONE RIZAL ALLEGEDLY COPIED.
THE ACCOUNT OF FR. PIO PI
• ACCORDING TO HIS ACCOUNT, A LONG DISCUSSION WITH FATHER BALAGUER
HAPPENED BEFORE RIZAL WILLINGLY SURRENDERED TO TURN BACK TO CATHOLICISM.
• RIZAL FOUND CERTAIN OBJECTIONS WITH FIRST COMPOSITION PRESENTED BY FR.
BALGUER. HIS WORK SATISFIED RIZAL AND MADE SOME LITTLE MODIFICATIONS TO
MAKE IT RIZAL’S OWN AND SPONTANEOUS WORK, THEN WROTE IT WITH RIZAL’S HAND
AND SIGNED IT.
• BENEATH RIZAL’S SIGNATURE THE CHIEF OF THE PICKET, JUAN DEL FRESNO, AND THE
ADJUTANT OF THE PLAZA, ELOY MOURE, AS WITNESSES.
RAFAEL PALMA’S CRITICAL ANALYSIS
• RATAEL PALMA - LAWYER, WRITER, EDUCATOR, AND POLITICIAN
• WAS THE AUTHOR OF BIOGRAFIA DE RIZAL, A WORK ON THE LIFE OF THE NATIONAL HERO WHICH
WON A LITERARY CONTEST IN 1938 SPONSORED BY THE COMMONWEALTH GOVERNMENT. THE
PUBLICATION OF THE BOOK, HOWEVER, WAS POSTPONED BECAUSE OF WORLD WAR II AND ONLY
SAW PRINT IN 1949.
• THAT SAME YEAR, AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY ROMANBOZAETA WITH THE TITLE PRIDE OF THE MALAY
RACE WAS PUBLISHED BY PRENTICE-HALL, INC. IN THE UNITED STATES. THE STORY OF RIZAL’S
• ALLEGED RETRACTION IS FOUND IN CHAPTERS 32 AND 33 WITH PALMA’S ANALYSIS IN THE LATTER
CHAPTER.
THE ANALYSIS OF RAFAEL PALMA
• ACCORDING TO HIS ANALYSIS, THE RETRACTION OF RIZAL IS A HEARSAY WITH THE FOLLOWING REASONS:
1. THE DOCUMENT OF RETRACTION WAS KEPT SECRET.
2. PETITIONS WERE DENIED AFTER THE RIZAL’S FAMILY ASKED FOR THE ORIGINAL OR COPY OF THE
RETRACTION DOCUMENT AS WELL AS THE MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE WITH JOSEPHINE BRACKEN
3. RIZAL‘S BURIAL WAS KEPT SECRET.
4. NO MASSES WERE HELD OR FUNERAL HELD BY THE CATHOLICS ON THE DEATH OF RIZAL.
5. HE WAS NOT BURIED IN THE CATHOLIC CEMETERY IN PACO.
6. THE ENTRY OF IN THE BOOK BURIALS OF THE INTERMENT OF RIZAL‘S BODY IS NOT MADE ON THE
PAGE WITH THOSE BURIED ON DECEMBER 30, 1896.
7. THERE WAS NO MORAL MOTIVE FOR THE CONVERSION.
AUSTIN COATES‘S CRITICAL ANALYSIS
• AUSTIN COATES’S INTEREST IN JOSE RIZAL BEGAN WHEN HE WAS ASSISTANT COLONIAL
SECRETARY AND MAGISTRATE IN HONG KONG IN 1950.
• HIS FIRST STUDY ON RIZAL WAS ON THE LATTER’S YEAR-LONG STAY IN HONG KONG
(1891-1892). AT THAT TIME, MANY OF THE PERSONALITIES WHO KNEW RIZAL WERE
STILL ALIVE.
• THIS EARLY AWARENESS ON RIZAL EVENTUALLY LED TO THE WRITING AND PUBLICATION
OF HIS BOOK—
AUSTIN COATES‘S CRITICAL ANALYSIS
• RIZAL: PHILIPPINE NATIONALIST AND MARTYR (OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1956)-THE
FIRST RIZAL BIOGRAPHY WRITTEN BY A EUROPEAN SINCE VIDA Y ESCRITOS DEL DR.
JOSE RIZAL BY WENCESLAO RETANA IN 1907.
• THE SECOND EDITION OF THE BOOK WAS PUBLISHED IN THE PHILIPPINES BY
SOLIDARIDAD PUBLISHING HOUSE IN 1992.
• COATES’S ANALYSES OF RIZAL’S RETRACTION AND OTHER EVENTS THAT HAPPENED
BEFORE HIS EXECUTION ARE FOUND IN PART VIL, CHAPTER 5 OF THE BOOK.
THE ANALYSIS OF AUSTIN COATES
• ACCORDING TO HIS ANALYSIS, THE RETRACTION OF RIZAL DUBBED AS AN ECCLESIASTICAL FRAUD. IT
WAS THE FRIARS WHO WANTED RIZAL’S RETRACTION.
• THERE WAS NO SIGNED LETTER OF RETRACTION BECAUSE RIZAL KNEW TOO WELL THE DAMAGE SUNCH A
LETTER WOULD DO HIM.
• IT IS INCONCEIVABLE THAT THEY WOULD NOT GIVEN HIM CHRISTIAN BURIAL WHICH THE TWO JESUITS
AT THE EXECUTION DIDN’T DO.
• RIZAL’S FAMILY FOUND DIFFICULT TO ACCEPT RETRACTION OR MARRIAGE. THEY KNEW IF HE RETRACTED
IN HIS 6 A.M. COMMUNICATION WITH HIS MOTHER.
• BALAGUER MADE NO MENTION OF THE LAST POEM THAT RIZAL WROTE WHICH IS THE ULTIMO ADIOS.
 RETRACTION
DOCUMENT OF
RIZAL
ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE RETRACTION