End of Rizal's Exile.

Despite the liberties extended to him by the Spanish government within the confines of Dapitan, Rizal
was not content because he was not a free man. Twice he wrote Governor General Ramon Blanco: the
first letter in 1894 sought his pardon, and the second in 1895 asked for his release and a review of his
case. If these were not possible, he volunteered to serve as a surgeon in the Spanish army fighting the
Cuban revolution. On 30 July 1896 the long-awaited answer of the Governor to his request finally
arrived. His request to go to Cuba was approved. The next day, after a sedate four-year exile, he left for
Manila on board the steamer "España". Upon arrival in Manila Bay, he learned that the boat for Spain
had left the day before, so he was transferred to the Spanish cruiser "Castilla" and held incommunicado
except to his family, until about a month later when he boarded a Spanish warship that set sail for Spain.
Rizal was not surprised when he learned through the newspapers about the outbreak of the Philippine
Revolution.

His Last Trip Home.

On 3 September 1896, Rizal left for Barcelona on board the "Isla de Panay." On the last day of the same
month as the ship was nearing Malta Island, the captain of the ship notified him that he was under arrest
and was to be confined to his cabin. He had heard rumors on board the ship that he was being blamed
for the outbreak of the revolution in the Philippines. The ship docked at Barcelona harbor on the early
afternoon of 6 October 1896 and after a few hours' stay at cell no 11 at Montjuich Castle, he was brought
to the ss "Colon" bound for Manila which was carrying soldiers to revolutionists. fight the Filipino All
through the trip, Rizal jotted down his thoughts and kept a record of his activities. Before his diary was
confiscated, he wrote an accurate prognosis: I think that God is doing me good by allowing me to return
to the Philippines to disprove so many. charges against me. Either they will give me justice and
acknowledge my innocence, and then I shall have all my rights restored, or they will condemn me to
death and then I shall have expiated my supposed crime in the eyes of society. She will forgive me later,
without any doubt, I shall be given justice, and become one martyr more. On 3 November 1896, the ss
"Colon" reached Manila and Rizal was brought directly to Fort Santiago under heavy guard.

THE TRIAL AND EXECUTION

On the early morning of 29 December 1896, Rizal was formally notified of the court's verdict: DEATH. He
was to be shot at sunrise the next day. The news of the verdict spread like wildfire. Tension gripped
Manila as the Spaniards feared that the rebels would enter the city and liberate Rizal. The verdict had
been reached after an unprecedented one-day trial held the day after Christmas by a military court
composed of six officers and presided over by Colonel Jose Tagores Arjona. The Auxiliary Advocate
General himself, Enrique de Alcocer, was prosecutor. Rizal was condemned for "founding illegal
associations and of promoting and inducing rebellion, the first being the necessary means to the
second." Rizal was defended by Lieutenant Luis Taviel de Andrade, brother of his bodyguard in Kalamba
in 1887-1888.

Preliminary Investigation
 "Proofs" of Rizal's guilt had been gathered by Captain Francisco de Olive and the preliminary
investigation was conducted by a special judge, Colonel Rafael Dominguez. On 20 November, the farcical
preliminary investigation began. Rizal was made to classify persons as "friendly," "not suspicious," or
"hostile" from a list of names. Then he was subjected to a continuous two-day inquisitorial interrogation
without the benefit of counsel. He was not even allowed to confront those who testified against him. In
two short days, Rizal was forced to make rapid identification from a "line-up" of some 27 characters
whose faces he did not see and whose voices he could not hear but whose words would be utilized to
convict him. He was questioned on several items, among them his participation in various political
activities, his association with certain people, and his knowledge of certain circumstances. The
investigators had to trump up evidence from Rizal's correspondence, written six to eight years prior to
the organization of La Liga Filipina which the Spaniards alleged to be the cause of the revolution, from
his poems To Talisay and Kundiman, and from the speeches of Katipuneros that ended with: "Long Live
the Philippines! Long Live Liberty! Long Live Dr Rizal!" They questioned him on his member- ship in the
Masonic lodges, on Dr Valenzuela's visit to Dapitan, on his appointment as honorary president of the
Katipunan, on the use of his picture to adorn the secret session room of the Katipuneros, and on the
testimonies of apprehended Katipuneros. The prefabricated evidence they dug up yielded nothing but
flimsy deductions which could not definitely prove that Rizal favored and plotted a rebellion. Desper- ate
for more proof of Rizal's guilt, Captain Olive had Paciano tortured to unconsciousness. Paciano
adamantly denied his brother's guilt and silently endured one torture after another. He matched his
younger brother's courage in facing death and in defying Spanish tyranny. When the authorities were
through with the almost dead Paciano, he had to be carried home on a stretcher. He was paralyzed and
speechless for several days.

The Trial

Inconclusive as the evidence was, Judge Rafael Dominguez recommended a speedy trial, which the
Governor and Judge Advocate General Nicolas de la Peña approved. The latter suggested a trial by the
military court and ordered the investigating officer to begin the corresponding confiscation proceedings
to the amount of at least a million pesos. At the trial, attended mostly by Spaniards, Alcocer addressed
the judges in an overflowing courtroom, concealing his empty logic with his bombastic eloquence. Every
sentence stirred the vengeful atmosphere of the courtroom. Alcocer opened with a description of the
bloody war in the Philippines and in Cuba. Then he traced the Spanish education of Rizal and his
activities abroad. He cited Rizal's literary works, from his prize-winning poems to the two novels and
other publications which supposedly showed his separatist tendency. Alcocer attempted to show that
Rizal's writings were designed to incite anti-friar and anti-Spanish feelings; that he planned to work
through the masonic lodges so that the friars might be expelled from the Philippines; and that the
centers of his activities were Hongkong, Madrid and Manila. The prosecutor depicted Rizal as a
"dedicated agitator of the native masses" and as a man lacking in sincerity, "obsessed by an
overwhelming hatred for Spain, whose 'Machiavellian cunning' directed the Supreme Council of the
Katipunan." He denounced Rizal as having resorted to excuses and evasions to escape punishment.
Concluding his turgid allegations, Alcocer exposed Rizal as the "soul of the rebellion," considered by his
countrymen as a superior being whose commands had to be obeyed without question. Consequently,
Alcocer asked for the death penalty. In case of pardon and unless all other penalties were remitted with
it, he asked that the prisoner be absolutely and permanently deprived of civil rights and subjected to
police surveillance for life. He should also be compelled.

The Long Last Day.

After the death sentence was read to Rizal on 29 December, he refused to sign the notification,
reiterating his innocence, and strongly objecting to that part that referred to him as a Chinese mestizo.
His arguments were futile. He had to sign the document as required by law. He had only 24 more hours
to live. With the guard's permission, he sent a note to his family: "I should like to see some of you before
I die, though it may be very painful. Let the bravest come. I have some important things to say. "It was a
busy day for him. Visitors came members of his family, a newspaperman, his defense counsel, priests,
mostly Jesuits who were working for his retraction from Masonry. In between these visits he managed to
write his last letter to his closest friend, Dr Ferdinand Blumentritt When you receive this letter, I shall be
dead. I shall be shot tomorrow at seven o'clock, but I am innocent of the crime of rebellion. I am going to
die with a clear conscience. Farewell my best, my dearest friend, and never thought ill of me With this
letter he sent a book which he himself bound when he was at Dapitan. On the same day, he wrote
Paciano: My Dear Brother,

It has been four and a half years that we have not seen each other or have addressed one another in
writing or orally. I do not believe this is due to lack of affection either on my part or yours, but because
knowing each other so well, we had no need of words to understand each other. Now that I am going to
die, it is to you I dedicate my last words to tell you how much I regret to leave you alone in life bearing all
the weight of the family and of our old parents. I think of how you have worked to enable me to have a
career. I believe that I have tried not to waste my time. My brother: If the fruit has been bitter, it is not
my fault, it is the fault of circumstances. I know that you have suffered much because of me. I am sorry. I
assure you, brother, that I die innocent of this crime of rebellion. If my former writings had been able to
contribute towards it, I should not deny absolutely, but then I believe I expiated my past with my exile.
Tell our father that I remember him, but how? I remember my whole childhood, his tenderness, and his
love. Ask him to forgive me for the pain I caused him unwillingly. By later afternoon his mother came,
accompanied by Maria, Trinidad, Narcisa, his niece Angelica, and little Mauricio, his favorite nephew.
First to enter his cell was his mother. In tears, mother and son rushed to each other's arms but were
separated by the guards. He knelt and kissed her hand. At that moment there were no words. With grief
and tenderness their tearful eyes met in love and understanding. Then Rizal asked his mother to seek the
authorities' per- mission for the family to bury his body. After a few minutes Doña Teodora left. She had
to follow up a personal plea to the Governor General for clemency for her son. One by one the others
came. He looked around his cell for something to give each one: to Angelica he gave a handkerchief, to
Narcisa he gave his wicker chair, to Mauricio a belt and a watch with a chain. To Trinidad, who
understood English, he gave a little alcohol burner saying aloud that he did not have anything better to
give her. He had had this burner in his cell to heat his cold meals. And as he handed the burner to her, he
whispered in English: "There is something in it." He had nothing more left to give to Maria but he
confided to her that he would marry Josephine.

This gift-giving on his last day was planned. There was no other way of smuggling his last message to his
people, a legacy to the future generations to inspire them to continue the work he had begun. When all
the members of the family had left, Josephine came for a very brief visit. Not much could be said
between them. He loved her but fate had separated them. Relieved that his last poem and mes- sage
was in safe hands, he lay down to rest. He felt an inner satisfaction because he knew he had fulfilled his
mission. And now without fear and hesitation, he was finally offering his life for his country. He
reminisced about the past, both distant and immediate. His quietude was interrupted by voices and
footsteps outside his cell door. The priests who had been conscientiously working for his retraction from
Masonry were back. We have Father Vicente Balaguer's word for what transpired in Rizal's cell from dusk
that day to dawn the next morning, before the prisoner was led out to die at Bagumbayan. In a report
sub- mitted to his superiors and cabled to a Barcelona paper, La Juventud, where it was printed 15 days
later, Father Balaguer said that he and his colleagues showed Rizal the retraction drafted by Archbishop
Nozaleda. It was too long to suit his purpose. He preferred the draft that had been prepared by Father
Pio Pi, the Jesuit superior. He made certain changes, wrote his own retraction, and signed it. He went to
confession and then tried to sleep.

On the first hour of 30 December 1896, Father Balaguer said Rizal confessed again. At Rizal's request,
Father Balaguer said Mass and he received Holy Communion. After the mass, Father Jose Vilaclara, one
of his favorite Ateneo teachers who had been with him a good part of the previous day, suggested the
reading of the acts of faith, hope, and charity. He then turned to Thomas á Kempis' Imitation of Christ.
While waiting for Josephine he wrote a final letter to his family: I ask for your forgiveness, for the pain I
cause you, but someday I shall have to die, and it is better that I die now in the plenitude of my
conscience. Dear parents and brothers: Give thanks to God that I may preserve my tranquility before my
death. I die resigned, hoping that with my death you will be left in peace. Ah! it is better to die than to
live suffering. Console yourselves. I enjoin you to forgive one another the little vexations of life and try to
live in peace and harmony. Treat our old parents as you would like to be treated by your children later.
Love them very much in my memory. Bury me in the ground. Place a stone or a cross over it. My name,
the date of my birth and of my death. Nothing more. If later you wish to fence in my grave, you can do
so. But no anniversary celebrations. I prefer Paang Bundok. The report states that Josephine arrived at
five o'clock. There were no lengthy formalities to the wedding ceremony. The overcautious commanding
officer stood between the couple while a guard watched Rizal closely during the brief ceremony. Father
Balaguer asked the couple to clasp each other's hand. The commanding officer refused to allow this act
because of the regulation not to let any visitor touch the prisoner. But the priest insisted that this was an
important part of the ceremony. Over the clasped hands of Rizal and Josephine, Father Balaguer intoned
the sacramental prayers and then pronounced them man and wife. After the ceremony, Rizal gave
Josephine his book, Imitation of Christ, with the dedication: "To my dear and unhappy wife, 30
December 1896." They stood both quiet for a while, conscious of the approaching hour of the execution.
They had so much to say to each other but there was no time. Rizal finally managed to ask her: "What is
to become of you?" She could not tell him in the presence of the guard that she would join the
revolutionists, so she answered that she would give lessons in English." Time was up and she had to
leave. She bade him a tearful goodbye. Lovingly Rizal looked at her for the last time: "Farewell, sweet
foreigner, my crony, my delight!" With Josephine gone, he had a few more minutes to write to his
parents. To his father he wrote: "Forgive me the sorrow with which I repay the anxieties and toil you
underwent to give me an education. I did not want this, nor did I expect it. Farewell, father, farewell." His
unfinished note to his mother began: To my very dear mother Sra Da Teodora Alonso At 6 in the morning
of December 30, 1896 He could not continue his note. For a man who could easily write down his
thoughts, he could not express his deepest sympathy to his beloved grieving mother.
The Execution.

Dressed in black from head to foot, Rizal walked out of his cell, his arms loosely bound, elbow to elbow.
He was flanked by Taviel de Andrade and Fathers Vilaclara and Estanislao March. A bugler and a
drummer led the detachment of Filipino soldiers that escorted him to the Luneta de Bagumbayan. The
firing squad was composed of Filipinos who were members of the regular army. His last glimpse of the
Ateneo gladdened him somewhat. "I spent seven years there," he remarked to his escorts. At the
execution square he was blessed and given the crucifix to kiss. The army doctor, Dr Felipe Ruiz Castillo,
felt his pulse and found it normal and steady. Just before the order to fire was given, Rizal requested that
he be shot in the front for he was not a traitor. But the explicit orders were otherwise. His second
request, that his head be spared, was granted. The orders rang out and a volley of shots were fired. As
the bullets pierced him, Rizal tried to turn right about and fell. He had proudly offered his life as a
supreme sacrifice for his country that the wisdom of his example would serve as an inspiration to his
fellowmen.