Life, works and writings of Rizal

IHAVE been teaching at the university level since 1996. I taught at several universities both in the Philippines and abroad. Here in the Philippines, I handled courses on Philippine history and The Life, Works and Writings of Jose Rizal (in accordance with Republic Act 1425, or the “Rizal Law”) the most frequent. I want to share some of the things that I focus on in these courses that I teach to hopefully help both fellow teachers and students, beginning with the Rizal course, which comprises 75 percent of my teaching load this term.

This week, my classes are on the topic of Rizal’s voluminous writings during the 1882-1891 period. The highlight is, of course, the novel “Noli Me Tangere” published in Berlin, Germany, in 1887. Enough has been written about the details of the “Noli,” so I will not repeat them here. I want to draw attention, however, to the trajectory of Rizal’s writings collectively before and after the “Noli” — something that teachers and students tend to overlook.

As a high school and university student at Ateneo Municipal and Universidad de Santo Tomas, respectively, Rizal wrote a number of poems that clearly showed his patriotism. At that point, however, it was not clear to him what he — and other Filipinos — needed to do beyond the cursory advice of studying well in order to be a benefit to the nation (see “To the Filipino Youth,” 1879 and “Education Gives Luster to the Motherland,” 1876). As a high school history student, Rizal even extolled the virtues and accomplishments of Spanish colonialism in the Philippines with poems in 1875 dedicated to Ferdinand Magellan, Sebastian Elcano and Antonio Urbiztondo (“Terror of Jolo”).

After departing the Philippines for Spain, Rizal wrote “El Amor Patrio” in 1882, which was translated by Marcelo H. del Pilar as “Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa” for Diariong Tagalog. Rizal highlighted the notion that love for country entailed individual (and collective) sacrifice — a rationalization, no doubt, for his first journey to Spain, leaving behind his family, friends and loved ones.

In 1884, Rizal delivered a speech toasting the success of Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo for the paintings “Spoliarium” and “Young Christian Girls Exposed to the Mob,” respectively. He emphasized the eternal bonds shared by the Philippines and Spain which could not be broken by petty intrigues. Rizal pictured Spain as a caring mother to the Philippines and was expected to initiate the necessary reforms for the development of the archipelago.

There was a progression in Rizal’s thought, from universal and motherhood statements associated with national development — i.e., “education gives luster to the motherland,” etc. — to agitation for the necessity of political and other reforms, owing perhaps to his exposure to the Filipino-Spanish expatriate community (i.e., Circulo Hispano Filipino) while in Spain.

Writing the “Noli” in 1887, Rizal had become so bold as to identify the friars as the manifestation or even root of the social cancer in the Philippines. The friars stood against modern education, interfered in the functions of the local government, flouted the authority of civil officials, among other deplorable flexing of undue influence in Philippine political, economic and social life.

“Noli” should have been the end of Rizal’s patriotic contributions to the Philippines. After all, he had already finished his medical degree in Madrid and had apprenticed under Europe’s top ophthalmologists and was returning to the Philippines to resume his predestined life at the apex of colonial society as a European-educated ophthalmic surgeon. A wife and family were also on the horizon. However, it was not meant to be. Controversy forced Rizal out of the Philippines for a second time. The other option was jail, which his newfound critics wanted for the impertinent indio writer of that scandalous novel. Rizal was eventually persuaded by family, friends and certain colonial officials to leave and spare the Philippines conflict from his continued presence. The Catholic Church was still bogged down by the secularization controversy — the memory of GomBurZa (Gomez, Burgos and Zamora) was still fresh — even though Manila Archbishop Pedro Payo initiated conciliatory moves. Rizal’s fellow Calambeños were locked in protracted litigation against the Dominicans concerning the Hacienda de Calamba dispute. The situation was highly combustible.

Thus, Rizal eventually found his way to London where he diligently copied and annotated Antonio de Morga’s classic 1609 book, “Sucesosde las Islas Filipinas.” His agenda in annotating Morga’s “Sucesos” was to use the book to dispel the widely held belief among Spaniards that Filipinos were lazy, uncivilized and corrupt. Rizal intended to use Morga’s “Sucesos” to prove the opposite: that pre-colonial/pre-Spanish Filipinos were industrious, civilized and virtuous people.

One thing was noticeable in Rizal’s writings after the “Noli”: the playfulness of Rizal was gone, replaced by a serious tone, harsh and nasty even.

To be continued next Friday, March 22, 2024