Jose Rizal’s Life:

Exile, Trial and Death

 Jose Rizal’s Exile (1892-1896)
Jose dwelled as exile in Dapitan, Zamboanga
Del Norte, a far-removed town in Mindanao
from 1892 to 1896.
Reasons why Jose Rizal
Exiled to Dapitan
 In Dapitan, Jose had a very peaceful,
happy, and enjoyable life and the way he
lived it was extremely good and deserving
to be admired and copied. He made sure his
stay in Dapitan would be fruitful, so he
engaged in manifold activities.
Rizal as a Physician
Rizal as an engineer
Rizal’s Project
in
Dapitan
Water system in Dapitan
Plaza in Dapitan
Lighting system for the town with the use of
coconut oil
Made a big map of Mindanao with the use of
earth, stone and grass.
Rizal as an educator
Rizal’s contribution to science
 Widened his knowledge of languages

He was able to speak twenty-two languages

including Spanish, French, Latin, Greek,
German, Portuguese, Italian, English,
Dutch, and Japanese. Rizal also made
translations from Arabic, Swedish, Russian,
Chinese, Greek, Hebrew and Sanskrit.
He invented a wooden machine for making
bricks
He also invented Cigarette Lighter or
“sulpukan”
 In collaboration with Ramon Carreon, a
Dapitan merchant, Jose was successful in
his business ventures in fishing, copra, and
hemp industries. He established the
Cooperative Association of Dapitan
Farmers to break the Chinese business in
monopoly in Dapitan.
In spite of his achievements in dapitan, Jose
felt empty. He felt he needed somebody to
rejuvenate him, he found his answer in
Josephine Bracken.
 In 1876, Andres Bonifacio and his
Katipunan (revolutionary society he
founded on July 7, 1892) organized an
armed rebellion. They assigned Dr. Pio
Valenzuela to notify Jose Rizal about their
plan.
 On December 17, 1895, acting upon his
friend’s counsel, Jose sent Governor
General Ramon Blanco a letter, offering his
medical services in Cuba.
However, on July 30, 1896, when he least
expected it, a letter from the Spanish
Governor arrived informing him of his
proposal. This letter also expressed that he
would be given a pass so that he could
travel in Manila, where he would given a
safe conduct to Spain and subsequently to
Cuba.
 July 31, 1896 marked Jose Rizal’s
emotionally charged departure from a town
he learned to love. Many teary-eyed
Dapitan folks were at the shore to bid
goodbye to a person who unselfishly did all
he can for their town.
 Jose Rizal’s Death
After learning the unjust decision of the
court martial, Jose spent the next twenty
fours of his remaining life seeing and
speaking to his friends, family and
Josephine Bracken whom he tied the knot
with canonically on December 30, 1896
officiated by Fr. Balaguer.
 It is commonly believed that on December 29,
1896, Jose composed his last poem, Mi Ultimo
Adios (My Last Farewell). He was able to thrust
it inside an alcoh0I cooking stove which he gave
to his sister Trinidad to whom, he divulged
'There is something in it.' Jose's last poem,
composed without a title and unsigned was
translated in English by Charles E. Derbyshire,
which runs below:

My Last Farewell
December 30, 1896, approximately at six thirty
in the morning. Jose's walk towards his death
commenced signaled by a trumpet sound at Fort
Santiago. The death march was delineated by
Zaide and Zaide (2014) as follows:
Rizal was dressed elegantly in a black suit, black
derby hat, black shoes, white shirt and a black
tie. His arms were tied behind from elbow to
elbow, but the rope was quite loose to give his
arms freedom of movement.
 Jose calmly made his way to Bagumbayan, he
remarked about the beauty and serenity of the
morning, uttered a few observations about
Corregidor, the mountains or Cavite and the
Ateneo College. Upon reaching the place of
execution, Jose noticed the very large number of
prying persons and soldiers waiting for them.
 After final blessings were bestowed on him he
said his adieu to Fr. March, Fr. Villaclara and Lt.
Taviel de Andrade. Jose's request that he be shot
facing the firing squad was denied because there
was an order to shoot him in the back.
The normal pulse of Jose, felt by Dr. Felipe Ruiz
Castillo, a Spanish military doctor, proved that
he did not fear death. Above the beating of the
drums that filled the air was the cold- blooded
command "Fuego" (Fire) which ended Jose's
life. He fell to the ground three minutes past
seven o'clock in the morning and was declared
dead.
Expectedly, the passing away of Jose Rizal's was
greeted with joy by his enemies. On the contrary,
those who love, respected and supported him
were brokenhearted and painfully inflamed. For
them, he died a hero and martyr to Philippine
freedom.