José Protacio Mercado Rizal Alonso y Realonda’s Condemnation of the Revolution of 1896
Many Filipinos may react with shock and disbelief when they will learn that our national hero condemned the Revolution in a manifesto from Fort Santiago just two weeks before his execution. A translation of this manifesto follows:
On my return from Spain, I learned that my name had been used as a war cry among those in armed revolt. The news was a painful surprise for me; but believing that everything was already over, I kept silent in the face of an accomplished fact beyond repair. x x x x x x x x x x x . Since the beginning, when I heard of what is being planned, I opposed it and fought it. x x x x x x x x x. I was convinced that the idea was highly absurd and what was worse, fatal. x x x x x x x x x x x .
Fellow Countrymen: I have proofs as one who most wants liberties for our country and I continue wanting them. But I put as a premise the education of the people so that through education and work, they might have personality of their own and make themselves worthy of them. x x x x x x x x x . I have also written that reforms to be fruitful, must come from above, that those that come from below are shaky, irregular, and insecure. Nurtured in those ideas, I cannot but condemn and I do condemn that absurd, savage uprising, plotted behind my back that dishonors us Filipinos and discredits those who can intercede in our behalf. I abhor its criminal methods and I reject any kind of participation in it, deploring with all the sorrow of my heart that the unwary have allowed themselves to be deceived. Return then to your homes and may God forgive those who have acted in bad faith.
Signed: Jose Rizal
Real Fuerza de Santiago 15th December 1896 (Political and Historical Writings, pp. 348-349)
These strange words coming from a man whom we honor as our foremost patriot. How could Jose Rizal have written such harsh words against the Revolution and its leaders when that revolution was the supreme expression of a national consciousness that he himself had done so much to nurture through his novel Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo?
Research:
Delmar Nur Faramarz Ferdowsi Salah Ad-Din Tomasa Gomez de Molina Costa Sanchez de Cassa Fajardo Lopez Roldan Martinez Simarro Mondejar del Castillo Balera Chumilla Portal Ynarejos Ramos de Losa del Pozo Africa Bautista Rubio-Escrivano Bucad Calaycay Alcaraz “RAPASAKDALSAKAY” Topinio Taclibon, Bt., KRSS, MBA, Ph.D.D.A.
References:
Austin Coates, Rizal, Philippine Nationalist and Martyr, Hong Kong, Oxford University Press, 1968 Leon Maria Gurrero, The First Filipino, A Biography of Jose Rizal, Manila National Heroes Commission, 1963 Jose Rizal, Political and Historical Writings, Vol. VII, National Heroes Commission, 1964 The Rizal-Blumentritt Correspondence, Vol. II, Part I, 1886-1899, Manila, Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission, 1961 Renato Constantino, “The Rizal Course,” Bulletin Today, March 21, 1985 Rizal’s Condemnation of the Philippine Revolution – Renato Constantino, “Veneration Without Understanding,” in Dissent and Counter-Consciousness, Quezon City, Malaya Books, Inc., 1970 Issues Without Tears, Volume V
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