RIZAL’S EXILE IN DAPITAN

Bitter-Sweet Life in Dapitan

• Rizal arrived in Dapitan,

Zamboanga del Norte in the
evening of July 17, 1892.

• The steamer “Cebu” passed

through Mindoro and Panay
• .
• The vessel docked in Dapitan on
July 17, evening.
Exile, Trial and Death

Rizal could have stayed in the Dapitan

parish convent had he retracted his anti-
Catholic pronouncements and made a
general confession of his past life.
• But he did not concede to this
conditions set by the Jesuits;
• He opted to live at the commandant’s
residence called “Casa Real”.
 Exile, Trial and Death
• Captain Ricardo Carnicero, the
commandant, and Jose Rizal became
good friends;
• They actually did not feel that the
captain was Rizal’s guard;
• Rizal wrote a poem “A Don Ricardo
Carnicero” honoring the kindness of
the commandant on his birthday on
August 26, 1892. House of Capt Ricardo
Cernicero
Exile, Trial and Death
• September 1892:
• Rizal and Carnicero won in a lottery;
The Manila Lottery ticket no. 9736 jointly owned
by Rizal, Carnicero and a Spanish resident of
Dipolog won the second prize of P20,000.00.
Rizal used some part of his share (Php6,200.00)
in purchasing a parcel of land near the coast in
Talisay, a barrio near Dapitan
Exile, Trial and Death
• With a property of more than 10 hectares,
Rizal put up three houses made up of wood
and nipa.
• He lived in a house which is square shaped.
• Another house was hexagonal; a barn where
Rizal kept his chickens.
• Some of his pupils live in another house
which is octagonal – because he established
a school;
• He taught young boys practical subjects like
reading, writing, arithmetic, geography and
Spanish and English languages.
• He later constructed additional huts to
accommodate his recovering out-of-town
patients.
Exile, Trial and Death
• Rizal would rise in the morning to see
Daily Life as an Exile his plants, feed his animals and
prepare breakfast;
• Practice Medicine • After breakfast, he would then treat his
• Taught some pupils patients who come to his house;
• Engaged in farming and horticulture • With his boat (baroto), he would
• He grew many fruit trees (mango, proceed to Dapitan town to attend to
lanzones, makopa, santol, mangosteen, his other patients tere the whole
coconut, jackfruit, guayabano, balono) morning (he had 2 boats)
• He would return to Talisay to take his
• He also had domesticated animals like lunch;
rabbits, dogs, cats and chicken) • He taught his pupils at 2:00PM and end
at 4 or 5:00PM
• The school he founded in 1893 started • He would spend the rest of his
with only 3 pupils and had reached afternoon in farming, with the help of
around 20 by the time his exile ended. his pupils.
 Exile, Trial and Death
Rizal and the Jesuits
• Rizal did not stay with the Parish • A month after riza’s deportation to
Priest Antonio Obach in the church Dapitan, the Jesuit Order assigned to
convent; Dapitan the priest Francisco de Paula
• He refused to compromise with their Sanchez.
conditions given;
• He was Rizal’s favorite teacher in
Ateneo;
• Fr. Sanchez could not convince Rizal
• Rizal did not stay with the Parish
to change his mind in religious
Priest Antonio Obach in the church
matters no matter how many times
convent;
they engaged in religious discussion;
• He refuse to compromise with their • Their beliefs differ, but their good
conditions given; friendship still continued.
 Exile, Trial and Death
• Rizal and the Jesuits
• Pablo Pastells – superior of the Jesuit
Society in the Philippines, also made
some attempts through letters to win
over to Catholicism the exiled Rizal.
• 4 times they exchanged letters from
September 1892 to April 1893;
• Rizal consistently attended mass in
Dapitan, but he refused to vow to the
conventional type of Catholicism.
 Exile, Trial and Death
• Achievements in Dapitan
Rizal provided significant community services in Dapitan;

- Improve the town’s drainage and constructing better water system

using empty bottles and bamboo joints.

- He also taught the town folks about health and sanitation to avoid
the spread of diseases;

- With Rizal’s Jesuit friend Sanchez, Rizal made a huge relief map of
Mindanao in Dapitan Plaza;

- He also improved the forest by providing evident trails, stairs and

some benches. He invented a wooden machine for the mass
production of bricks;
Shrine map in Dapitan - He used the bricks he produced in building a water dam for the
community with the help of his students.
 Exile, Trial and Death
• Achievements in Dapitan
• As the town’s doctor, Rizal equally treated all patients
regardless of their economic and social status.
• He accepted as :”fees” things like poultry and crops;
• At times, he even gave his services to poor folks for free;
• His specialization was ophthalmology but he also treated
all kinds of diseases, like fever, sprain, broken bones,
typhoid, tuberculosis and even leprosy;
• He helped in the livelihood of the Abaca Farmers in
Dapitan by trading their crops in Manila;
• He gave lessons in abaca-weaving to produce hammocls.
• Also taught the locals with better fishing techniques and
the use of better nets.
Exile, Trial and Death
• As a Scientist and Philologist
• Aside from doing archaelogiocal excavations,
Rizal inspected Dapitan’s rich flora and fauna;
• He provided sort of taxonomy to numerous
kinds of forest and sea creatures;
• He sent various biological specimens to
scientists in Europe, like his dear friend Doctor
Adolph B. Meyer in Dresden;
• In return, European scholars sent him books
and some other academic materials.
• At least, Rizal sent 3 species to European
scholars – Dapitan frog (Rhacophorus rizali); a
type of beetle (Apogonia rizali); and a flying
dragon (Draco rizali).
 Exile, Trial and Death
• Having learned the
Visayan language,
Rizal engaged in the
study of language,
culture and literature;

• Examined local
folklores, customs,
Tagalog grammar, and
the Malay language;
 Exile, Trial and Death
• Spies and Secret Emissary
Rizal, more than once, learned that A physician named Matias Arrieta
his enemies were sending spies to revealed his his covert mission and
gather proofs that he was an asked for forgiveness after he was
insurgent cured by Rizal.

March 1895:
A man named Pablo Mercado claimed to be Rizal’s relative. He
volunteered to bring Rizal’s letters to his relatives in Manila.
Rizal was suspicious and interrogated Pablo.
It turned out that he was Florencio Nanaman, from Cagayan de
Misamis. He was paid as a secret agent by the recollect friars.
Rizal still let the spy stay in his house during the night because it
was a rainy night.
 Exile, Trial and Death
June 1896:
An emissary was sent to Rizal.
Dr. Pio Valenzuela was sent to Dapitan by Andres
Bonifacio;
Bonifacio – the Katipunan leader who believed that
carrying out revolt had to be sanctioned first by Rizal.

Valenzuela disguised himself as a mere companion of a blind

patient seeking treatment from Rizal.

He was able to discreetly deliver the Katipunan message for

Rizal.

Rizal, however, did not approve the planed uprising. He

suggested that it’s better to have peaceful means than violent
ways in obtaining freedom.
 Exile, Trial and Death

Rizal believed that a revolution would be unsuccessful

without arms and monetary support from wealthy
Filipinos.
Thus, he recommended to ask for the support of rich
and educated Filipinos like Antonio Luna who was an
expert in military strategy, if the Katipunan were to
start a revolution.
 Exile, Trial and Death
The Kataastaasan, Kagalanggalangang
Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan, also known
as Katipunan or KKK, was a Philippine
revolutionary society founded by anti-Spanish
colonialism Filipinos in Manila in 1892; its
primary goal was to gain independence from
Spain through a revolution. (Wikipedia)

Founded: July 7, 1892, Recto Avenue, Manila

Founders: Andres Bonifacio, Deodato Arellano,
Teodoro Plata, Ladislao Diwa, Valentin Diaz, Jose
Dizon
Leaders: Deodato Arellano (1892-1893)
Roman Basa (1893-1895)
Andres Bonifacio (1895-1897)
 Exile, Trial and Death
• Visited by Loved Ones
• Rizal was in Dapitan when he learned that his true love Leonor Rivera had
died.
• He was consoled with the visits of his mother and some sisters.
• August 1893:
• Doña Teodora, along with daughter Trinidad, joined Rizal in Dapitan. They
resided with him in Casa Quadrada.
• He successfully operated on his mother’s cataract.
• In certain times, Jose’s sisters Maria and Narcisa also visited him.
• Three (3) of Jose’s nephews also visited him and had their early education
under Rizal.
• They were: Mauricio (Maria’s son), Teodosio and Estanislao (both Lucia’s
sons; and Jose’s niece Angelica (Narcisa’s daughter).
 Exile, Trial and Death
• 1895: Doña Teodora left Dapitan for Manila to be with her
husband who was getting weaker.
• After Rizal’s mother left, Josephine Bracken came to Jose’s
life.
• Josephine Bracken was an orphan with Irish blood and the
stepdaughter of Jose’s patient from Hongkong.
• Rizal and Bracken were unable to obtain a church wedding
because he would not retract his anti-Catholic views.
• Bracken lived with Rizal as a common-law-wife.
• Before 1895 ended, the couple had a child who was born
prematurely, and was named Francisco (after Rizal’s father).
• However, the child died a few hours after birth.
 Farewell Dapitan
• 1895: Blumentritt informed Rizal that Cuba was raged by a yellow-fever
epidemic.
• Cuba was another Spain Colony and revolution-ridden.
• There was a shortage of physicians to attend to war victims and disease
stricken people.
• Rizal wrote to the Governor-General Ramon Blanco, volunteering to
provide medical services in Cuba.
• July 30, 1896: Rizal received a letter from the governor-general sanctioning
his petition to serve in Cuba.
• He then prepared immediately to leave, sold and gave souvenirs to friends
and students his various properties.
• July 31, 1896: Rizal boarded the boat “España” for Manila.
• With him on board were Josephine Bracken, Narcisa, his niece and 3
nephews and 3 of his students.
Governor-General Ramon • Rizal has written in his diary,” I have been in that district, four years,
Blanco thirteen days and a few hours”.