CHAPTER 22

Exile in Dapitan
1892-96
By: Via E.
Merilo
Dapitan – a remote town in Mindanao which was under the
missionary jurisdiction of the Jesuits, from 1892-1896.
• He practiced medicine, pursued scientific studies, continued
his artistic and literary works, widened his knowledge of
languages, established a school for boys, promoted community
development projects, invented a wooden machine for making
bricks, and engaged in farming and commerce.
• He kept an extensive correspondence with his family, relatives,
fellow reformists, and eminent scientists and scholars of
Europe.
 Beginning of Exile in Dapitan
• The steamer Cebu which brought Rizal to Dapitan

Father Father
Pablo Antonio
Pastells, Obach,
Superior of LETTER
Jesuit parish
the Jesuit
priest of
Society
Dapitan
In the
Philippines
Rizal could live at the parish convent on the ff. conditions:

1. “That Rizal publicly retract his errors concerning

religion, and make statements that were clearly pro-
Spanish and against revolution.
2. That he perform the church rites and make a general
confession of his past life.
3. “That henceforth he conduct himself in an exemplary
manner as a Spanish subject and a man of religion”.
House of the
commandant,
Captain Carnicero
• Carnicero came to know that Rizal was not a common
felon, much less a filibustero.

• He gave him complete freedom to go anywhere, reporting

only once a week at his office, and permitted Rizal to ride
his chestnut horse.

• A Don Ricardo Carnicero – a poem Rizal wrote on

August 26,1892, on the occasion of the captain’s birthday.
 Wins in Manila Lottery
• September 21, 1892 – the mail boat Butuan was
approaching the town, with colored pennants flying in the sea
breezes.
• The mail boat, Butuan brought the happy tidings that the
Lottery Ticket No. 9736 jointly owned by Captain
Carnicero, Dr. Rizal, and Francisco Equilior won second
prize of P20,000 in the government-owned Manila Lottery.

• P6,200 – Rizal’s share

• P2,000 – he gave to his father
• P200 – he gave to his friend Basa in Hong Kong
• The rest he invested well by purchasing agricultural lands
along the coast of Talisay.
• He never drank hard liquor and never smoked, but he was a
lottery addict.
• He always invested at least 3 pesetas every month in lottery
tickets.
“This was his
only vice,” –
Wenceslao E.
Retana, his first
Spanish
biographer and
former enemy.
Rizal-Pastells Debate on Religion

• It started when Father Pastells sent him a book

by Sarda, with advice that Rizal should desist
from his majaderas in viewing religion from
the prism of individual judgment and self-
esteem.
• This religious debate may be read in 4 letters:

Written by Rizal: Fr. Pastells replies:

1) September 1, 1892 1) October 12, 1892
2) November 11, 1892 2) December 8, 1892
3) January 9, 1893 3) February 2, 1893
4) April 4, 1893 4) April, 1893
• Rizal revealed his anti-Catholic ideas which he had
acquired in Europe and embitterment at his prosecution
by the bad friars.

• To Blumentritt “I want to hit the friars, but only

friars who utilized religion not only
from Paris on
as a shield, but also as a weapon,
January 20, castle, fortress, armor, etc.; I was
1890 forced to attack their false and
superstitious religion in order to fight
the enemy who hid himself behind
it”.
• Individual judgment is a gift from
God and everybody should use it
like lantern to show the way and
that self-esteem, if moderated by
judgment, saves man from
unworthy acts.
• The pursuits of truth may lie in
different paths, and thus
“religious may vary, but they all
lead to light”.
• Divine Faith, he told Rizal,
supersedes everything,
including reason, self-esteem,
and individual judgment. No
matter how wise a man is, he
argued, his intelligence is
limited, hence he needs the
guidance of God.
• As misconceptions of
rationalism and naturalism,
errors of misguided souls.
• Rizal and Pastells remained good friends.

Fr. Pastells
gave Rizal a Rizal gave
copy of the his Jesuit
Imitación de opponent a
Cristo bust of St.
(Imitation of Paul which
Christ) by he had
Father made.
Thomas a
Kempis.
 Rizal Challenges a Frenchman to a Duel
• Mr Juan Lardet – a French businessman
whom Rizal had a conflict.
• This man purchased many logs from the
lands of Rizal.
• Lardet’s letter to Antonio Miranda
expressed his disgust with the business
deal stated that “If he were a truthful
man, he would have told me that the
lumber not included in the account were
bad”.
• One of the hero’s weaknesses, was his sensitivity.
• He flared up in anger, regarding the Frenchman’s
unsavoury comment as an affront to his integrity
• He confronted Lardet and challenged him to a duel.
• Carnicero told the Frenchman to apologize rather than
accept the challenge.
• Lardet wrote to Rizal in French on March 30, 1893,
apologizing for the insulting comment
• Rizal as a gentlemen and a pundonor(Hispanic chivalric
code) accepted the apology.
 Rizal and Father Sanchez
• Fr. Pastells instructed two Jesuits in Mindanao to try their
best to bring back Rizal within the Catholic Fold.

Father Obach
Fr. Jose Vilaclara
-cura of
-cura of Dipolog
Dapitan
• He assigned Father Francisco de
Paula Sanchez to Dapitan.
• Fr. Sanchez had spent 3 years in
Europe and returned to Manila in
1881 to resume teaching at the
Ateneo and to head its museum.
• He was the only Spanish priest to
defend Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere in
public.
• They carried theological
arguments in a friendly manner.
• He assisted Rizal in beautifying the town plaza.
• Estudios sobre la lengua tagala (Studies on the Tagalog
Language) – a manuscript which Rizal gave to Fr.
Sanchez on his birthday.
 a tagalog grammar which Rizal wrote and
which he dedicated to his former teacher.
 Idyllic Life in Dapitan

• August, 1893 – members of his family took turns in

visiting Rizal.
• His mother; sisters Trinidad, Maria, Narcisa; nephews
Teodosio, Estanislao, Maurico, and Prudencio.
• He built his house by the seashore of Talisay
• He had also another house for his school boys and a
hospital for his patients.
Rizal wrote to Blumentritt on December 19, 1893.
I shall tell you how we live here. I have three houses: one square, another
hexagonal, and a third octagonal, all of bamboo, wood, and nipa. In the square
house we live, my mother, sister Trinidad, a nephew and I; in the octagonal live my
boys or some good youngsters whom I teach arithmetic, Spanish and English’ and
in the hexagonal live my chickens. From my house I hear the murmur of a crystal,
clear book which comes from high rocks; I see the seashore, the sea where I have
small boats, two canoes or barotos, as they say here. I have many fruit trees,
mangoes, lanzones, guyabanos, baluno, nanka, etc. I have rabbits, dogs, cats, etc.
I rise early – at five – visit my plants, feed the chickens, awaken my people and put
them in movement. At half-past seven we breakfast with tea, pastries, cheese,
sweetmeats, etc. later I treat my poor patients who come to my land; I dress, go to
town in my baroto, treat the people there, and return at 12, when my luncheon
awaits me. Then I teach the boys until 4p.m and devote the afternoon to
agriculture. I spend the night reading and studying.
Rizal’s house
in Dapitan
Rizal’s clinic

Rizal’s workshop
with his students
 Rizal’s Encounter with the Friar’s Spy
• “Pablo Mercado” – posing as a relative, secretly visited
Rizal at his house on the night of November 3, 1893.
• He showed a photo of Rizal and a pair of buttons with initials
“P.M.” as evidence of his kinship with the Rizal family.
• The stranger offered his services as a confidential courier of
Rizal’s letters and writings for the patriots in Manila.
• He hospitably invited the unwanted visitor to stay at his
house, and sent him away the next day.
• He went to commandancia and
denounced the impostor to
Captain Juan Sitges – who
succeeded Captain Carnicero on
May 4, 1893 as commandant of
Dapitan.
• Sitges ordered the arrest of “Pablo
Mercado” and instructed
Anastacio Adriatico to investigate CAPTAIN JUAN SITGES
him.
• Florencio Namanan – a.k.a “Pablo Mercado”
• a native of Cagayan de Misamis, single, about 30 years old.
• Hired by a Recollect friars to a secret mission in Dapitan:
1) To introduce himself to Rizal as a friend and relative
2) To spy on Rizal’s activities
3) To filch certain letters and writings of Rizal that might
incriminate him in the revolutionary movement.
• Sitges forwarded the transcripts of the
investigation together with the official
report to Governor General Blanco
who kept these documents as highly
confidential.
• Now declassified and preserved at the
Biblioteca National in Madrid, these
documents contain certain mysterious
deletions.
• Three Rizalist biographers quoted the
available documents: Retana (1907),
Palma (1949), and Jose Baron
Fernandez (1982).
Rizal’s letter to Manuel T. Hidalgo, written in Dapitan, December
20, 1893:
My Dear Brother-in-Law Maneng,
I was unable to write to you by the previous mail for lack of time, for
the boat left unexpectedly.
With regard to Pablo Mercado, I tell you that he came here presenting
himself as a courteous friend in order to get from me my letters, writings,
etc.; but I found him out soon, and if I did not throw him out of the house
brusquely, it was because I always want to be nice and polite to
everyone. Nevertheless, as it was raining, I let him sleep here, sending
him away very early the next day. I was going to let him alone in
contempt but the rascal went around saying secretly that he was my
cousin or brother-in-law, I reported him to the Commandant who had
him arrested.
 It was revealed in his declaration that he was sent by the Recollects who
gave him P72 and promised him more if he succeeded in wrestling from
me my letters for certain persons in Manila. The rascal told me that he
was a cousin of one Mr. Litonjua, son of Luis Chiquito, according to him
and brother-in-law of Marciano Ramirez. He wanted me to write to these
gentlemen. He brought along besides a picture of mine, saying that it was
given to him by one Mr. Legazpi of Tondo or San Nicolas, I don’t
remember exactly. It seems that he belongs to a good family of Cagayan
de Misamis. Be careful of him, he is a tall boy, somewhat thickest, slightly
squint-eyed, dark, slender, broad shoulders, and of impudent manners. He
smokes much, spits more, and has thin lips.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Your brother-in-law who loves you,
(Signed) Jose Rizal
• the incident of the secret mission of “Pablo Mercado” in
Dapitan was not an “Assassination Attempt on Rizal”. It
was merely an espionage plot concocted by the friars.
 As Physician in Dapitan

• He wrote to his friend in Hong Kong, Dr. Marquez:

“Here the people are so poor that I have even to give
medicine gratis.”
• August 1893 – his mother and Maria arrived in Dapitan and
lived with him for one year and a half.
• He operated on his mother’s
right eye and was
successful.
• Doña Teodora had a wound
infection after ignoring
Rizal’s instruction of not
removing the bandages.
• Fortunately, the infection
was arrested so that his
mother’s sight was fully
restored.
• He had many patients who came from different parts of the
Philippines – Luzon, Bohol, Cebu, Panay, Negros, and
Mindanao and even Hong Kong.
• Don Ignacio Tumarong – a rich patient who was able to
see again.  he paid P3,000.
• Englishman  paid P500
• Don Florencio Azacarraga – a rich hacendero of Aklan
was also cured of eye ailment  paid a cargo of sugar.
• He studied the medicinal plants of the Philippines and their
curative values.
• He prescribed medicinal plants to poor patients.
 Water System for Dapitan
• As an expert surveyor (perito agrimensor)
Rizal applied his knowledge of
engineering by constructing a system of
waterworks in order to furnish clean
water to the townspeople.
• Without any aid from the government, he
succeeded in giving a good water system
to Daptan.
• Mr. H.F. Cameron – American engineer
who praised Rizal’s engineering
ingenuity.
 Community Projects for Dapitan

• He wrote to Fr. Pastells: “I want to do all that I can for this

town”.
• He spent many months draining the marshes in order to get rid
of malaria that infested Dapitan.
• The P500 which an English patient paid him was used to
equip the town with its lighting system, consisted of coconut
oil lamps.
• 1894 – Manila saw the first electric lights.
• He remodelled the town plaza in order to enhance its beauty.
• In front of the church, Rizal and Fr. Sanchez made a huge relief
map of Mindanao out of earth, stones and grass.
 Rizal as Teacher
• He himself planned to establish a modern college in Hong
Kong for Filipino boys so that he could train them in modern
pedagogical concepts, which were then unknown in the
Philippines.
• 1893 – he establish a school which existed until July, 1896.
• Began with 3 pupils and increased to 16 and later 21.
• To Blumentritt; March 13 – Rizal said that he had 16 pupils in
his school and these pupils did not pay any tuition.
• He made them work in his garden, fields, and construction
projects in the community.
• Rizal taught reading, writing, languages (Spanish and English),
geography, history, mathematics (arithmetic and geometry),
industrial work, nature study, morals, and gymnastics.
• He trained them how to collect specimens of plants and animals,
to love work, and to “behave like men”.
• Formal classes were between 2:00 p.m and 4:00 p.m
• On one day­Spanish; next dayEnglish.
• The best pupil was called “emperor” and he sat at the head of
the bench; the poorest pupil occupied the end of the bench.
• During recess, pupils built fires in the garden to drive away
the insects, pruned the fruit trees, and manured the soil.
• Outside class hours, Rizal encouraged them to play games
in order to strengthen their bodies.
• They had gymnastics, boxing, wrestling, stone-throwing,
swimming, arnis, and boating.
 “Hymn To Talisay”

• Rizal conducted his school at his home in Talisay, near

Dapitan, where he had his farm and hospital.
• He wrote a poem entitled “Himno A Talisay” in honor of
Talisay and for his pupils to sing.
Thank You!