Chapter 10:

First Homecoming, 1887-1888

Five years of memorable sojourn in Europe, Rizal returned to the Philippines in August 1887 and practiced
medicine in Calamba. He lived a quiet life as a country doctor. But his enemies, who resented his Noli Me
Tangere, persecuted him and even threatening to kill him.

Decision to Return Home

 Noli Me Tangere caused uproar among the friars. He was warned by Paciano (his brother), Silvestre
Ubaldo (his brother-in-law), Chengoy (Jose M. Cecilio), and his other friends not to return home but he
insisted on doing so.

Reasons why Rizal wanted to return to home:

1. to operate his mother’s eye

2. to serve his people who had long been oppressed by Spanish tyrants
3. to find out how the Noli and his other writings were affecting the people in the Philippines (Filipinos and
Spaniards)
4. to inquire why Leonor Rivera remained silent (note: Leonor Rivera is was in a romantic relationship with
Rizal that lasted eight years. The one immortalized by Rizal as the character Maria Clara)

 In a letter written to Blumentritt (Geneva, June 19, 1887), Rizal stated that he was thankful by his
friend’s advice to continue writing and living in Madrid but he cannot accept it. He felt isolated in there
and that he wanted to be with his family in his home country. He also stated that he was not
Europeanized like his fellow Filipino in Madrid.
 June 29, 1887, Rizal wrote to his father announcing his homecoming. He wrote that on July 15, at the
latest he shall embark on a journey so that from August 15 to 30, they will see each other.

Delightful Trip to Manila

 Rizal left Rome by train for Merseilles (French Port)

 July 3, 1887, he boarded the steamer Djemnah, the same steamer boat that brought him to Europe five
years prior. There were about 50 passengers including 4 Englishmen, 2 Germans, 3 Chinese, 2
Japanese, 1 Filipino (Rizal), and the rest of which are Frenchmen.
 On board, he played chess with his fellow passengers and engage in lively conversations in many
languages. Rizal even became an interpreter as he was the only one who can speak many languages.
 The Djemnah was enroute to the Orient via the Suez Canal, thus making this Rizal’s second time
seeing the historical canal, the first time was when he sailed to Europe from Manila in 1882.
 Some of the passengers of the steamer sang while others played on the piano and accordion.
 After leaving Aden (seaport in Yemen located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea), the weather
became rough and some of Rizal’s book got wet.
 At Saigon (July 30) he transferred from Djemnah to Haiphong (Manila-bound) and on August 2,
Saigon left for Manila.
Arrival in Manila

Rizal’s voyage from Saigon to Manila was pleasant

 August 3, the moon was full and that he slept soundly that night. The calmed sea, illumined by the
silvery moonlight, was a great sight to him.
 August 5, around midnight, the Haiphong arrived Manila. With a happy heart, Rizal went ashore for
once more he was able to tread in his native soil.
 Rizal stayed in Manila for a while to visit his friends.
 He found Manila the same as when he left it. Same old churches and buildings, same holes in the roads,
same boats in the Pasig River, and same walls surrounding the city.

Happy Homecoming

 August 8, Rizal returned to Calamba. He was affectionately welcomed by his family.

 He then writes another letter to Blumentritt about his homecoming saying that he had a pleasant voyage
and was happy returning home. He was happy reuniting with his family again likewise with them to
him. And, he was glad that his family is enjoying good health.
 His family was happy with him returning but they were also worried for his safety.
 Paciano – did not leave him on his first day of arrival, protecting him from enemy assault.
 His father – not letting Rizal go out alone, for fear that something might happen to him.
 Rizal established a medical clinic in Calamba.
 Rizal’s first patient was his mother, who’s almost blind. He treated her eyes but cannot perform surgical
operation due to her eye cataracts not yet ripe.
 He was named “Doctor Uliman”, from the tagalong word uliran, because of his vast knowledge and
expertise in various fields. News of him as a great doctor from Germany spread far and wide. Patients
from Manila and other provinces flocked to Calamba. Soon Rizal acquired lucrative medical practices.
 His fees were reasonable, even gratis to the poor. Within a few months, he was able to earn P900 as a
physician and by February 1888, he earned P 5, 000 as medical fees.
 Rizal opened a gymnasium for the young folks, introducing European Sports like gymnastics, fencing,
and shooting so as to discourage the cockfighting and gambling.
 During Rizal’s six months sojourn in Calamba he suffered one failure – failed to see Leonor Rivera. He
tried to go to Dagupan but was stopped by his parents because Leonor’s mother doesn’t like Rizal to be
her son-in-law. Before, marriages were arranged by the parents of both groom and bride.

Storm over the Noli

 Rizal painted several landscapes and even translated the German poems of Von Wildernath into
Tagalog.
 While Rizal was living peacefully in Calamba, his enemies were already plotting for his doom.
 Weeks after his arrival, a storm broke over his novel. He received a letter from Governor General
Emilio Terrero (1885-1888) requesting him to come to Malacanan Palace.
 Someone told the governor that the Noli contained subversive ideas. At Malacanang, he was
informed by the Governor General of the charge but he denied it saying that he merely exposed the
 truth but was not advocating any subversive ideas. Pleased by his explanation and with curiosity of
the book the governor general asked for a copy but because the only copy he brought home was
given to a friend, he promised to secure one for him.
 Rizal visited the Jesuits fathers and they were glad to see him especially Fr. Francisco de Paula
Sanchez, Fr. Jose Bech, and Fr. Federico Faura. His visit was to ask the priest for the copy of the
book he sent to them but they won’t part with it.
 Rizal had a spirited discussion with Father Faura, who ventured an opinion that “everything in it was
the truth” and also added “you may lose your head for it”.
 Rizal fortunately found a copy in the hands of a friend and was able to give it to the governor-
general. Upon reading, Governor-general Terrero found nothing wrong with it.
 The governor general as a liberal minded Spaniard, assigned Don Jose Taviel de Andrade (young
Spanish Lieutenant) to be Rizal’s bodyguard for he knew that Rizal’s life was in jeopardy and that
the friars were powerful.
 Don Jose Taviel de Andrade – belonging to a noble family. He was cultured and knew painting, and
could speak English, French, and Spanish languages.
 Archbishop of Manila, Msgr. Pedro Payo (Dominican Priest) sent a copy of the Noli to Father Rector
Gregorio Echavarria of the UST for examination by a committee of the faculty.
 The committee, composed of Dominican professors, submitted its report to father Rector, who
immediately transmitted it to Archbishop Payo. Then in turn, the archbishop forwarded it the
governor general.
 The report stated that Noli was ‘heretical, impious, and scandalous in the religious order, and anti-
patriotic, subversive of public order, injurious to the government of Spain and its function in the
Philippine Islands in the political order.
 The governor-general, knowing that the Dominicans were prejudiced against Rizal, was dissatisfied
with the report. He sent the novel to the Permanent Commission of Censorship (composed of priest
and laymen)
 The report of this commission was drafted by its head Fr. Salvador Font (Augustinian cura of
Tondo) and was submitted to the governor-general on December 29. Reporting that the book contain
subversive ideas against the Church and Spain and recommended that this pernicious book is
prohibited from importation, reproduction, and circulation.
 When Font’s written report about Noli was published on the newspaper, Rizal’s enemies exulted in
unholy glee meanwhile Rizal and his friends were apprehensive and uneasy. But with the banning of
the book, it only makes it more popular thus everyone wanting to read it.
 Despite the government prohibition and the vigilance of the cruel Guardia Civil, mamy Filipinos
were still able to get a copy of the Noli which they read at night behind closed doors.
 Thanks to Governor-general Terrero, there was no mass imprisonment or mass execution of
Filipinos. He refused to be intimidated by the friars who clamoured for harsh measures against
people caught reading the novel and its author.

Attackers of the Noli

The battle over the Noli took the form of a virulent of war of words

 Fr. Font printed his report and distributed copies of it in order to discredit the controversial novel.
 Fr. Jose Rodriguez (Augustinian), Prior of Guadalupe, published a series of eight pamphlets under the
 general heading Cuestiones de Sumo Interes (Questions of Supreme Interest) to blast the Noli and other
anti-Spanish writings.

Cuestiones de Sumo Interes (Questions of Supreme Interest)

1. Porque no los he de leer? (Why should I not read them?)
2. Guardaos de ellos. Porque? ( Beware of them. Why?)
3. Y_que ,e dice usted de la peste? (And what can you tell me of plague?)
4. Porque triunfan los impious? (Why do the impious triumph?)
5. Cree usted que de versa no hay purgatorio? (Do you think there is really no purgatory?)
6. Hay o no hay infierno? (Is there or is there no hell?)
7. Que le parece a usted de esos libelos? (What do you think of these libels?)
8. Confesion o condenacion? (Confession or Damnation?)

Copies of these pamphlets were sold daily in the churches after mass. Filipinos were forced to buy these
in order not to displease the friars but they did not believe what their author said with hysterical fervor.

 Repercussions of the storm over the Noli reached Spain. It was fiercely attacked in the session hall of
the Spanish Cortes by various senators:
1. General Jose de Salamanca on April 1. 1888
2. General Luis M. de Pando on April 12, 1888
3. Sr. Fernando Vida on June11, 1888
 January, 1890, Vicente Barrantes, Spanish Academian of Madrid – who formerly occupied high
government positions in the Philippines, bitterly criticized the Noli in an article published in La Espana
Moderna (a newspaper in Madrid).

Defenders of the Noli

Noli had its gallant defenders who fearlessly came out to prove the merits of the novel or refute the
arguments of the unkind attackers.

 Marcelo H. del Pilar, Dr. Antonio Ma. Regidor, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Mariano Ponce, and other
Filipino reformists in foreign lands rushed to uphold the truth of the Noli.
 Fr. Sanchez, Rizal’s favourite teacher at Ateneo, defended and praised the book in public
 Don Segismundo Moret, former Minister of the Crown; Dr. Miguel Morayta, historian and statesman;
and Professor Blumentritt, scholar and educator, read the book and liked it.
 A brilliant defense of the Noli came from an unexpected source. Rev. Fr. Vicente Garcia, a Filipino
Catholic priest scholar, a theologian of the Manila Cathedral, and a tagalog translator of the famous
Imitation of Christ by Thomas A. Kempis. Under the penname Justo Desiderion Magalang, wrote a
defense of the Noli which was published in Sigapore as an appendix to a pamphlet dated July 18, 1888,
blasting the arguments of Fr. Rodriguez.
1. Rizal cannot be an “ignorant man”, as Fr. Rodriguez alleged, because he was a graduate of
Spanish Universities and was a recipient of Scholastic honors.
 2. Rizal does not attack the Church and Spain, as Fr. Rodriguez claimed, because what Rizal
attacked in the Noli were the bad Spanish officials and not Spain, and the bad and corrupt friars
and not the Church.
3. Fr. Rodriguez said that those who read the Noli commit a mortal sin; since he (Fr. Rodriguez)
had read it, therefore he also commits a mortal sin.
With Rizal learning of Fr. Garcias brilliant defense f his novel, he cried because of overwhelming
gratitude.
 Rizal defended his novel from Barrantes’ attack, in a letter written in Brussels, Belgium (February
1887). In it he exposed Barrantes’ ignorance of Philippine affairs and mental dishonesty which is
unworthy of an academician. Barrantes met in Rizal his master in satire and polemics.
 During the times when Noli was a target of a heated controversy between the friars (with their minions)
and the friends of Rizal, all copies of it were sold out and the price per copy soared to unprecedented
level. Having both party found it extremely difficult to secure a copy.
 June 13, 1887, In Rizals’ letter to Fernando Cannon from Geneva he said that the price per copy of the
novel was five pesetas (equivalent to one peso) but then it later rose to fifty pesos per copy.

Rizal and Taviel de Andrade

 With the heated commotion about the Noli, Rizal was not molested in Calamba due to the Governor-
General Terreros’ generosity in assigning a bodyguard.
 A beautiful friendship between Jose Rizal and Lt. Jose Taviel de Andrade.
 The two, as both young, educated, and cultured made walking tours of the verdant countryside,
discussed topics of common interest, and enjoyed fencing, shooting, hunting, and painting.
 Lt. Andrade became a great admirer of Rizal, someone he was tasked to watch and protect. He wrote
of Rizal as a refined, educated, and gentlemanly. He wrote the hobbies of Rizal such as hunting,
fencing, shooting, painting, and hiking. Their excursion at Mount Makiling. He also wrote regarding
the rumours that circulated and reported to Manila that he and Rizal hoisted the German flag and
proclaimed sovereignty over the Philippines. He said that such nonsense emanated from the friars of
Calamba, but did not make any trouble to inquire about the matter.
 What marred Rizal’s happy days in Calamba with Lt. Andrade were:
1. The death of his older sister, Olimpia
2. Groundless tales tales circulated by his enemies that he was a genman spy, an agent of
Bismarck, a Protestant, a Mason, a witch, a soul beyond salvation, etc.

Calamba’s Agrarian Trouble

 Governor General Terrero influenced by some facts in the novel, ordered a government investigation of
the friars estates to remedy whatever iniquities might have been present in connection with land taxes
and with tenants relations.
 Calamba Hacienda which is owned by the Dominican Order (since 1883) was one of the friar estates
affected by the governor general order. The Civil Governonr of Laguna Province directed the municipal
authorities of Calamba to investigated the agrarian conditions of their locality (dated December 30,
1887).
  The Calamba folk’s solicitized Rizal’s help in gathering facts and listing their grievances against the
hacienda managements in order for the government to institute certain agrarian reforms.
 After a thorough study of conditions in Calamba, Rizal wrote down his findings which the tenants and
three of the officials of the hacienda signed on January 8, 1888. It was formally submitted to
government for action. The findings were:
1. The hacienda of the Dominican Order comprised not only the lands around Calamba, but also the
town of Calamba.
2. The profits of the Dominican Order continually increased because of the arbitrary increase of the
rentals paid by the tenants
3. The hacienda owner never contributed a single centavo for the celebration of the town Fiesta,
for the education of the children, and for the improvement of agriculture.
4. Tenants who had spent much labor in clearing the lands were dispossessed of said lands for
flimsy reasons.
5. High rates of interest were charged the tenants for delayed payments of rentals, and when the
rentals could not be paid, the hacienda management confiscated their carabaos, tools, and homes.

Farewell to Calamba

 With Rizal’s interference and exposure of the deplorable conditions of tenancy in Calamba it only
further agitated his enemies.
 The friars pressured the Malacanan Palace to eliminate him. Asking the Governor-General to deport him
but did not comply as there is no valid charge against Rizal in court.
 Rizal’s parent received anonymous threats against his life. This alarmed his parents, relatives, friends
(including Lt. Andrade) thus advising him to go away for his life was in danger.
 Governor General Terrero advised Rizal to leave the Philippines, giving him a chance to escape the fury
of the friars’ wrath.
 Rizal obeyed the governor general’s veiled ordered. He was compelled to leave Calamba for two
reasons: (1) His presence was jeopardizing the safety and happiness of his family and friends; and (2) he
could fight better his enemies and serve his country’s cause with greater efficacy by writing in foreign
countries.

A Poem for Lipa

 Before he left Calamba in 1888, his friend from Lipa requested that he write a poem in commemoration
of the town’s elevation to a villa (city) by virtue of Becerra law of 1888. He gladly wrote a poem
dedicated to the industrious folks of Lipa. He wrote “Himno Al Trabajo”, finished it before his
departure.

Himno Al Trabajo (Hymn to Labor)

The hymn was a poem praising Lipenos, who were working hard for the country. Celebrating the
noble and empowering aspects of labor, emphasizing its significance as a source of individual and
collective progress. The poem is composed of conversations by men, women, and children in praise of
men who made a living in agriculture. The song also states that agriculture is the solution to poverty and
the road to progress.