Rizal's First Homecoming (PDF)

**UNITS 6** **RIZAL'S FIRST HOMECOMING** **2ND TRAVEL ABROAD** **JAPAN INTERLUDE** **SIDE TRIP TO THE USA** **LEARNING OUTCOMES: The learners are expected to:** - Evaluate the reasons of Rizal's decision to come home - Derive insights and inspiration from the encounters of Rizal with...

**UNITS 6** **RIZAL'S FIRST HOMECOMING** **2ND TRAVEL ABROAD** **JAPAN INTERLUDE** **SIDE TRIP TO THE USA** **LEARNING OUTCOMES: The learners are expected to:** - Evaluate the reasons of Rizal's decision to come home - Derive insights and inspiration from the encounters of Rizal with personalities that contributed to the development of the Filipino culture - Trace Rizal's itineraries and describe the significant observations he had in those places he went. **LEARNING CONTENT:** A. **THE 1st HOMECOMING** August 1886, Rizal decided to return to the Philippines. He left Rome by train for Marseilles, boarded the *Djemnah* bound to Saigon. On July 30, 1886, Rizal arrived in Saigon, where he transferred to the steamer *Haifong*. On August 6, 1886, Rizal arrived in Manila. He noticed that Manila has not changed that much. On August 7, 1886, he reached Calamba, where there was a dramatic meeting. After a few days, Rizal turned the ground floor of their house into a medical clinic. His first patient was his mother who could hardly see. He successfully restored the eyesight of his mother which had double cataracts. The good news spread like wildfire as many sick people flock to seek medical help. His professional fee was very simple: If the patient is poor, a simple "thank you" is enough. Some patients gave him vegetables, fruits, chickens, etc. If the patient is rich, he would charge in the European way. The people called him Dr. Uleman having arrived from Germany. Rizal shared his blessings to his townmates. He built a gymnasium for the youth to discourage them from engaging in different forms of gambling. He wanted them to spend time on productive activities. Unfortunately, Rizal failed to see Leonor in his six months' vacation due to the conflicts of his parents and Leonor's. ***Noli Me Tangere* Controversy** Rizal received an invitation, a summons, *a writ commanding the sheriff, or other authorized officer, to notify a party to appear in court to answer a complaint made against him and in the said writ specified, on a day therein mentioned* from Governor-General Emilio Terrero regarding the novel which has become a hot issue. He went to Malacañang to answer any question surrounding his novel. He denied that he was a spy from Germany. He explained that he was only expressing the truth of what is going on in the society in his novel. The Governor was satisfied with his answer and asked for a copy of the novel, since he had not read the novel himself. Rizal's enemies kept doing everything to persecute him. They accused the novel to have subversive ideas against the church and the Spanish government. The kind Governor assigned a bodyguard for Rizal, to protect him from danger. His bodyguard was a young Spanish Lieutenant, Don Jose Taviel de Andrade. The two became true friends in no time at all because they have common interests. The powerful friars put the novel under strict scrutiny headed by Manila Archbishop Msgr. Pedro Payo. He sent a copy to the UST Fr. Rector Gregorio Echevarria for examination. The latter found the novel heretical, impious, and scandalous. The Governor sent the novel for further assessment to the Permanent Commission on Censorship composed of priests and laymen headed by Fr. Salvador Font, Tondo parish priest. The body found the novel with subversive ideas against the Church and the Spanish government. The Commission recommended that the book be banned and have its circulation in the islands be totally stopped. The move boomeranged because it only made the Filipinos more curious in reading the novel. Thus, the novel's price was exorbitantly priced. No arrests were made, thanks to the liberal-minded governor. **Rizal's Enemies from the Church** Among Rizal's enemies were Manila Archbishop Msgr. Pedro Payo, UST Rector Fr. Gregorio Echevarria, Fr. Salvador Font- head of the Permanent Commission on Censorship. Fr. Jose Rodriguez published an anti-Noli pamphlet entitled "Caiingat Cayo." The pamphlet stated that "whoever reads the novel commits a mortal sin." Another attacker of the Noli was Vicente Barrantes, a Spanish writer who openly criticized the novel in the Spanish newspaper La Esperanza Moderna. **Allies of Dr. Jose Rizal** Meanwhile, Rizal also had allies like Marcelo H. Del Pilar- using the pen name Dolores Manapat, who published a pamphlet entitled "Caiigat Cayo" that refuted and ridiculed Fr. Rodriguez' "Caiingat Cayo." The other one was Fr. Francisco Sanchez, Rizal's beloved Ateneo teacher. **Calamba Agrarian Problem** On 6 September 1890, general Weyler began enforcing the will of the Dominicans by sending artillery and military forces to Calamba which started to demolish the house of Rizal's parents. Rizal's brother, brothers in law were arrested and exiled to different places of the archipelago. On the first day 60 families were thrown out of their houses and the sugar mills and all other buildings they had erected were destroyed. The Dominicans forbade the rest of the townspeople to give the unfortunates lodging and hospitality. By the end of September 400 tenants had been evicted. The liberal governor-general Terrerro was at that time replaced by the conservative general Valeriano Weyler in 1888. He was completely on the side of the Dominicans. One of his first acts was to enforce the court ruling for the eviction of the tenants. The first to be evicted was the Rizal family. The Dominicans put pressure on Malacañang to eliminate Rizal. Governor-general Terrero advised Rizal to leave the Philippines for his own good. The friars were furious because they were attacked on their most sensitive point: money! The report never reached the desk of the governor-general. The Dominicans responded by filing an action for eviction against the Calamba tenants. However, when the justice of the Peace of Calamba ruled in favor of the tenants, the Dominicans immediately brought the case to the Supreme Court in Manila, which immediately decided in the Dominican's favor. The tenants and the Rizal family had no recourse but to appeal their case to the Supreme Court in Madrid. Rizal advised his family to stop paying the rent. The rest of the Calamba tenants followed suit and with Rizal's encouragement, petitioned the government to intervene by authorizing and supervising the drawing up of a new contract between the people of Calamba and the Dominican landowners. Dominican Corruption and Financial Deceit on a Massive Scale The original hacienda owned by the Jesuits consisted of only a small part of land and included only a part of the town, but the Dominicans had claimed a much more extensive area, no less than the whole town and its surrounding fields. The Dominicans were paying the government only the income tax due on the original smaller hacienda. Rizal wrote down his findings, which were signed by the tenants in January 1888, and he submitted the report to the government. The friars wanted to withhold the tenants to tell the truth. The Rizal family as well as the other Calamba tenants wanted to tell the truth. The tenants asked Rizal to draft a report for the town council. Rizal asked his town mates to supply him with all the relevant facts about the estate from the very beginning. Rizal had not anticipated but he soon became the center of the tenant's struggle against the Dominicans. It started innocently. On 30th December 1887, when the government, wondering why the revenue paid by the Dominicans Order had remained constant despite the ever-increasing size of cultivated lands, formally asked the Calamba town council to determine whether there had been any increase in the products and the size of the Dominican estate over the past three years. What came out was a horror story of Dominican corruption and financial deceit on a massive scale. The original hacienda owned by the Jesuits consisted of only a small part of land and included only a part of the town, but the Dominicans had claimed a much more extensive area, no less than the whole town and its surrounding fields. The Dominicans were paying the government only the income tax due on the original smaller hacienda. Ownership of the Calamba hacienda passed on to the Dominicans after the Jesuits, who originally owned it, were expelled in 1768. The Dominicans owned practically all the lands around Calamba. The tenants suffered since many years due to the unjustified taxes they had to pay. Even if there was an economic crisis or the harvest was bad, the rent and taxes still went up. The tenants suffered under the friars. B. **RIZAL'S 2^ND^ TRAVEL ABROAD** Hounded by powerful enemies, Rizal was forced to leave his country for the second time in 1888. He was 27 years old, a practicing physician, and a recognized man of letters. **Rizal in Hong Kong and Macau** Amoy, in Hong Kong was the first stop over of the ship. After six months of staying in the Philippines Rizal left via the steamer Zafiro bound for Hong Kong. Rizal did not get off the ship for the following reasons: (a) He was not feeling well. (b) It was raining hard. (c) He heard that the city is dirty. Hong Kong is a British colony by that time. Rizal stayed in the Victoria Hotel. There he met Jose Maria Basa, Balbino Mauricio, and Manuel Yriarte (son of the alcalde mayor in Calamba) Jose Sainz de Varanda, a Spaniard and former secretary of Governor-General Terrero shadowed Rizal's movement in Hong Kong. It is believed that he was commissioned by the Spanish authorities to spy on Rizal. According to Rizal in his letter to Blumentritt, Hong Kong is a small, but very clean city. Many Portuguese, Hindus, English, Chinese and Jews live here. There are some Filipinos exiled in Marianas Islands since 1872. They were former financiers and rich but now are poor, gentle and timid. Rizal also Visited Macau, a Portuguese colony near Hong Kong. Rizal together with Basa boarded a ferry named Kiu-Kiang going to Macau. Curiously, Jose Sainz de Varanda is among the passengers. Rizal and Basa visited Don Juan Francisco Lecaros, a Filipino gentleman who is married to a Portuguese lady. Rizal and Basa stayed in his house for two days while they were in Macau. During Rizal's two week vacation in Hong Kong, he studied Chinese life, language, drama and customs and found out the following which he wrote in his diary: - The celebration of the Chinese New Year was quite very noisy due to the continuous explosion of firecrackers on the streets. - The Lauriat party, wherein the guests were served a variety of dishes, shows lavishness and hospitality among the Chinese. - The Dominican Order, the richest religious order in Hong Kong, had millions of dollars deposited in various banks earning very high interests. - The graveyards for Catholics, Protestants and Muslims were well maintained. C. **RIZAL in JAPAN, the Land of the Cherry Blossoms** Rizal left Hong Kong on board of the Oceanic, an American steamer on his way to Japan. He arrived in Yokohama, Japan and stayed for one day in the Grand Hotel. After spending a day in Yokohama, Rizal went to Tokyo and stayed in Tokyo Hotel for five days. Juan Perez Caballero -- secretary of the Spanish legation visited him in the hotel inviting him to stay in the Spanish legation. Knowing that it is a plot to monitor him, Rizal accepted the offer for the following reasons: - He could economize his living expenses - He had nothing to hide from the prying eyes of the Spanish authorities. - He and Caballero became good friends. In Japan, Rizal was embarrassed because he did not know how to speak Nihonggo (Japanese Language) He was mistakenly considered as a Europeanized Japanese because he looks like a Japanese and yet speaks in different tongues. **Rizal's Impression of Japan** - The scenic beauty of the country - The cleanliness, politeness and industry of the Japanese people. - The picturesque dress and simple charm of the Japanese women. - There were few thieves in Japan. - Beggars are rarely seen in the city streets. - Rickshaw, a popular mode of transportation which he did not like in Japan. **Rizal and O-Sei-San** Seiko Usui, or more fondly called O-Sei-San, is a former samurai's daughter of 23 years old who had never experienced true love. She is a woman of beauty, charm, modesty and intelligence. She speaks French and English fluently. When Rizal first introduced himself to her, he took off his hat as a sign of respect (A German custom). O-Sei-San was more than Rizal's girlfriend, for she was his guide, interpreter and tutor. She improved his knowledge of the Japanese language. She eases the pain left by Leonor Rivera. Rizal fell greatly in-love with O-Sei-San that he was tempted to leave the Philippines and settle down in Japan. He was offered a job in the Spanish Legation but his brother Paciano wrote to him reminding him of his duty and why he left the Philippines in the first place. Rizal left Japan via the ship Belgic, an English steamer in Yokohama bound for United States. It ended 45 days of his unforgettable stay in Japan and his relationship with O-Sei-San. **O-Sei-San after Rizal's Departure** Alfred Charlton became the husband of O-Sei-San in 1897, one year after Rizal was executed. He was a British teacher of chemistry in Peers' School in Tokyo. They had a daughter named Yuriko, who married a son of a Japanese senator. Seiko-Usui died in 1947 at age 80 and was buried beside her husband. D. **RIZAL in the UNITED STATES** Rizal in steamer Belgic met a semi-Filipino family, Mr. Reinaldo Turner and his wife Emma Jackson, their children and maid from Pangasinan. He also met Tetcho Suehiro, a fighting Japanese journalist, novelist, champion of human rights, who was forced by the government to leave Japan. Tetcho Suehiro became a member of the Japanese Imperial Diet (Parliament). He wrote to novels: Nankai-no-Daiharan (Storm over the South Sea) in 1891 resembling Noli Me Tangere and O-unabara (The Big Ocean) in 1894, resembling El Filibusterismo. He died in 1896 at age 49 due to heart attack. Via the steamer Belgic, Rizal arrived in San Francisco, USA on April 28, 1888. According to the Americans, Cholera was an epidemic raging in the Far East. Thus, all passengers are quarantined for safety. But, Rizal was surprised because there is no outbreak of the disease in the Far East, thus he joined other passengers in protest. In actuality, there were 643 Chinese coolies who boarded the ship from China who came as illegal migrants wanting to displace the White laborers in railroad construction camp. But Rizal was questioning how come 700 bolts of silk were unloaded without fumigation. After a week Rizal together with other first class passengers were permitted to land. But the Japanese and the Chinese and passengers belonging to the second and thirds class remained aboard. Rizal stayed in the Palace Hotel (then a first class hotel) in San Francisco. He stayed there for two days. Grover Cleveland was the president when Rizal visited the United States. There he met Leland Stanford, the founder and benefactor of the Stanford University who was then a senator representing California. **Rizal Toured the United States** - Oakland, California was the first stop via ferryboat. - Via train Sacramento, where he ate his supper 75cents and slept at his couch. - Reno, Nevada, where he had his breakfast - Utah, where he saw Mormons, thickly populated - Colorado, a lot of snow and pine trees - Nebraska, Omaha City, as big as San Francisco - Missouri River, twice as big as Pasig River - Chicago, a lot of Indians in cigar stores - Albany, where he saw the Hudson River - New York, which he considers a big city, where he stayed for three days. He left the United States for Liverpool, London on board the City of Rome, and the second largest ship in the world. Great Eastern was the largest ship in the world during his time. **RIZAL'S IMPRESSIONS OF AMERICA** - Material progress of the country as shown in its cities, farms, and industries - The drive and energy of the Americans - The natural beauty of the land - The high standard of living - The opportunities for better life offered to poor immigrants. - America for Rizal was the land par excellence of freedom but only for the Whites. - Non-existence of true civil liberty, as Negro cannot marry an American and vice versa. - The existence of racial prejudice as shown in their hatred of the Chinese, Japanese and Negroes. - The valuing of money over human life