The Last Day of Rizal

By: Neil Jasper B. Bombita (beed IV-A)

Rizal was brought to Fort Santiago, where other patriots, including his brother Paciano, were
being tortured to implicate him. Paciano refused to sign anything despite being his body broken and his
left hand crushed. Preliminary investigation began with Rizal appearing before Judge Advocate Colonel
Francisco Olive. The investigation lasted five days. The records of the case were handed over to
Governor General Ramon Blanco who then appointed Captain Rafael Dominguez as special Judge
Advocate From a list submitted to him by the authorities, he chose the brother of his friend, Lt. Luis
Taviel de Andrade to become his trial lawyer. He was only made to choose among army officers and not
a civilian lawyer. In his prison cell, Rizal was read the charges against him: “principal organizer and the
living soul of the Filipino insurrection, the founder of societies, periodicals and books dedicated to
fomenting and propagating the ideas of rebellion.” Ramon Blanco was replaced by Camilo de Polavieja, a
more ruthless character, as Governor General of the Philippines. Dominguez submitted the papers of the
Rizal case to Malacañan Palace. Rizal issued his manifesto to certain Filipinos calling to end the “absurd”
rebellion and to fight for liberties with education as a prerequisite. The authorities supressed the
manifesto. 26 December, 8:00 AM: Trial of Rizal began at the Cuartel de España. On the same day, the
court-martial secretly and unanimously voted for a guilty verdict with the penalty of death before a firing
squad. Rizal was read his verdict by Captain Rafael Dominguez: To be shot the next day at 7:00 AM at the
Luneta de Bagumbayan (Rizal Park). Rizal was transferred to the chapel cell adorned by religious images
to convince him to go back to the Catholic fold. His first visitors were Jesuit priests Fathers Miguel
Saderra Mata and Luis Viza. After Fr. Saderra left, Rizal asked Fr. Viza for the Sacred Heart statuette
which he carved when he was an Ateneo student. From his pocket the statuette appears. Fr. Viza was
relieved by Fr. Antonio Rosell who joined Rizal for breakfast. Lt. Luis Taviel de Andrade joins them. Fr.
Federico Faura, who once said that Rizal would lose his head for writing the Noli Me Tangere, arrived.
Rizal told him, “Father you are indeed a prophet.” Fathers José Vilaclara and Estanislao March visited
Rizal, followed by a Spanish journalist, Santiago Mataix of El Heraldo de Madrid, for an interview. Rizal’s
time alone in his cell. He had lunch, wrote letters and probably wrote his last poem of 14 stanzas which
he wrote in his flowing handwriting in a very small piece of paper. He hid it inside his alcohol stove. The
untitled poem was later known as Mi Ultimo Adios (My Last Farewell). In its second stanza, he already
praised the revolutionaries in the battlefield for giving their lives “without doubt, without gloom.”
According to an account of the agent of the Cuerpo de Vigilancia guarding Rizal’s cell, Rizal signed what
seems to be the document retracting his anti-Catholic writings and his membership in masonry. This
event is a contentious issue among Rizal experts. 29 December, 4:00 PM: Visit of Rizal’s mother, Teodora
Alonso. Then Rizal’s sister Trinidad entered to get her mother and Rizal whispered to her in English
referring to the alcohol stove, “There is something inside.” They were also accompanied by Narcisa,
Lucia, Josefa, Maria and son Mauricio Cruz. Leoncio Lopez Rizal, Narcisa’s eleven-year-old son, was not
allowed to enter the cell. While leaving for their carriages, an official handed over the alcohol stove to
Narcisa. After their visit, Fathers Vilaclara and Estanislao March returned to the cell followed by Father
Rosell. Rizal was visited by the fiscal of the Royal Audiencia of Manila, Don Gaspar Cestaño with whom
Rizal offered the best chair of the cell. According to accounts, the fiscal left with “a good impression of
Rizal’s intelligence and noble character.” 30 December, 5:30 AM: Rizal took his last meal. According to
stories told to Narcisa by Lt. Luis Taviel de Andrade, Rizal threw some eggs in the corner of a cell for the
“poor rats,” “Let them have their fiesta too.” Rizal also wrote to his family and to his brother. Teary-eyed
Josephine Bracken and Josefa Rizal came. According to the testimony of the agent of the Cuerpo de
Vigilancia, Josephine and Rizal were married. Josephine was gifted by Rizal with the classic Thomas á
Kempis book Imitations of Christ in which he inscribed, “To my dear and unhappy wife, Josephine,
December 30th, 1896, Jose Rizal.” They embraced for the last time. Rizal wrote his father, Francisco
Mercado “My beloved Father, Pardon me for the pain with which I repay you for sorrows and sacrifices
for my education. I did not want nor did I prefer it. Goodbye, Father, goodbye… Jose Rizal.” To his
mother, he had only these words, “To my very dear Mother, Sra. Dña Teodora Alonso 6 o’clock in the
morning, December 30, 1896. Jose Rizal.” Death march from Fort Santiago to Bagumbayan begins. 4
soldiers with bayoneted rifles lead the procession followed by Rizal, Taviel de Andrade, Fathers Vilaclara
and March and other soldiers. They passed by the Intramuros plaza, then turned right to the Postigo
gate then left at Malecon, the bayside road now known as Bonifacio Drive. Rizal, after arriving on the
execution site at the Luneta de Bagumbayan, was checked with his pulse by Dr. Felipe Ruiz Castillo. It
was perfectly normal. Rizal once wrote, “I wish to show those who deny us patriotism that we know
how to die for our duty and our convictions.” “Preparen.” “Apunten.” Rizal shouted, “Consummatum
est.” It is done. 30 December, 7:03 AM: With the captain shouting “Fuego!” Shouts rang out from the
guns of eight indio soldiers. Rizal, being a convicted criminal was not facing the firing squad. As he was
hit, he resists and turns himself to face his executors. He falls down, and dies facing the sky.