“Rizal would lose his head for writing the ‘Noli Me Tangere.’” — Padre Federico Faura, S.J., a friend of Rizal’s
Looking back to the year 1887, one cannot help wonder why national hero Jose Rizal was considered Spain’s greatest enemy in the Philippines. From the history books that we have read, Rizal was depicted as a mild-mannered gentleman, he was neither brash nor ill-tempered. Although he was an expert marksman and fencer, he neither held a gun nor brandished a sword against an enemy.
Rizal was also described as remarkably educated, a genius as many had called him. He was a polyglot, one who could speak 10 or more languages. He knew 22, including the ancient languages of Sanskrit and Latin. He was also a polymath, one who is exemplary in so many skills and subjects. He was an excellent surgeon and a brilliant writer and poet. In 1887, he wrote the “Noli Me Tangere.” The clever use of wit and humor would have made the “Spanish” novel a bestseller during that period. It, however, depicted the abuses and corruption of the Spanish officials, as well as that of the friars, leading to its permanent censure. In 1891, the “Noli Me Tangere” was followed by an equally classic sequel, the “El Filibusterismo.” In the book, Rizal predicted that there would be a rebellion of “great magnitude.” Rizal would pay dearly for his work—he was jailed in the Fort Santiago prison in 1892, from July 6 to July 15. He would ultimately spend the next four years of his life in exile in the faraway town of Dapitan, in the province of Zamboanga.
In August 1896, Rizal’s prediction in the “El Filibusterismo” came true. Andres Bonifacio and his Katipuneros launched a full-scale rebellion, first attacking the Spanish polvorin at San Juan del Monte, in Manila. The accusing finger was quickly pointed by the Spaniards at Rizal as the main instigator of this rebellion. Rizal denied involvement, as he was already incarcerated in the last four years in Zamboanga. To keep him away from the revolt, Governor General Ramon Blanco offered Rizal a job in Cuba, where a similar rebellion was taking place. (He was to treat patients suffering from yellow fever.) Rizal accepted the offer.
While on a stopover in Barcelona, Spain en route to Cuba, Rizal’s ship was ordered back to Manila. Arrested upon arrival, Rizal was tried by a military court and found guilty of all the three charges of rebellion, sedition and illegal association. He was to be shot on Dec. 30, 1896 on orders of the new Governor General Camilo Polavieja. Blanco, who was sympathetic to Rizal, had been forced out of office, and the friars used their influence to have Polavieja take his place, thereby sealing Rizal’s fate.
The Spaniards (particularly the friars), thought that by executing Rizal, the rebellion would weaken (just like in the case of Fathers Gomez, Burgos and Zamora when they were executed after the Cavite Mutiny of 1872). This was a costly misjudgment, for Rizal’s death ensured that the rebellion would stay on for a long time.
After two years of fighting, and with the unintentional help of the Americans (Admiral George Dewey brought back Aguinaldo from Hong Kong and destroyed the Spanish Fleet in Manila Bay on May 1, 1898), the Filipino revolutionaries defeated the Spanish army (capturing 15,000 of its finest soldiers and officers).
On June 12, 1898, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo declared the independence of the Philippine islands from foreign occupiers, the first Asian country to do so in Asia. It was quite sad that Rizal did not live long enough to see what he really wanted — an independent country for us Filipinos. Though, I think that if he had his way, he wanted it attained through a nonviolent fashion.
Philippine independence was short-lived, though; the Americans took over the country after a few months.
Fifty years later, a man named Mahatma Gandhi, adopted and perfected Rizal’s nonviolent “recipe” for independence. Gandhi’s approach called “civil disobedience” drove away the British from India in 1947. Soon, other Asian nations would follow.
Earlier, in 1946, the Philippines regained independence from the Americans. Indonesia won their independence from the Dutch in 1949. Vietnam fought its way against the French and won it in 1954. Malaya and Singapore had theirs from the British in 1957.
Asia’s struggle against colonialism was a long and tedious one. It was started by our own Dr. Jose Rizal, when he wrote the “Noli Me Tangere” in 1887. That is why he was once called by our Asian neighbors “The Great Malay.” But no, he never was. Jose Rizal is “The Greatest Filipino Ever.”
A final Note: One of the founders of the Observatorio Meteorologico del Ateneo Municipal de Manila, Padre Federico Faura, was the first man to predict the coming of typhoons and issue signal warnings in 1879. Consequently, he also predicted the fate of Rizal when the latter wrote the “Noli Me Tangere” in 1887. Though he was a Spaniard, Padre Faura was a very good friend of Rizal’s since his schooldays at the Ateneo de Municipal.
George M. Hizon currently writes for Ateneo’s Blue-blood Magazine.
