Republic of the Philippines

Central Luzon Doctors’ Hospital - Educational Institution

College of General Education
Romulo Highway, San Pablo, Tarlac City

A Written Term Paper on

The Retraction of Jose Rizal

Presented to the
Faculty of the General Education
Central Luzon Doctors ‘Hospital – Educational Institution
Tarlac City

In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Course
Readings in Philippine History

Presented to:
Ms. Charmaine Kaye A. Taguiam

By:
Allan Glenn P. Aceres

2019-2020 2nd Trimester

March 6, 2020
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INTRODUCTION

The expedition of Ferdinand Magellan together with Spaniards led to the discovery of the

Philippine Island. Since they found out that it was a land rich of natural resources. They also

found out that our island would be a great help if they would make it as their colony. Before the

time they arrived here, Philippines already have people living on it. They were the once who was

oppressed by the colonizers. Upon oppression, there was this people who sacrificed, fought and

gave themselves for the sake of the country. Through the spirit of Nationalism and Patriotism,

they died and they haven’t reserved anything for their selves. One of those was Jose Protasio

Rizal Mercado Y Alonso Realonda.

Dr. José Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines, is not only admired for possessing

intellectual brilliance but also for taking a stand and resisting the Spanish colonial government.

While his death sparked a revolution to overthrow the tyranny, Rizal will always be remembered

for his compassion towards the Filipino people and the country.

Humble beginnings

José Protasio Rizal Mercado Y Alonso Realonda was born on June 19, 1861 to Francisco

Mercado and Teodora Alonzo in the town of Calamba in the province of Laguna. He had nine

sisters and one brother. At the early age of three, the future political leader had already learned

the English alphabet. And, by the age of five, José could already read and write.

Upon enrolling at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila (now referred to as Ateneo De Manila

University), he dropped the last three names in his full name, after his brother’s advice – hence,

being known as José Protasio Rizal. His performance in school was outstanding – winning

various poetry contests, impressing his professors with his familiarity of Castilian and other

foreign languages, and crafting literary essays that were critical of the Spanish historical

accounts of pre-colonial Philippine societies.

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A man with multiple professions

While he originally obtained a land surveyor and assessor’s degree in Ateneo, Rizal also

took up a preparatory course on law at the University of Santo Tomas (UST). But when he

learned that his mother was going blind, he decided to switch to medicine school in UST and

later on specialized in ophthalmology. In May 1882, he decided to travel to Madrid in Spain, and

earned his Licentiate in Medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid.

Apart from being known as an expert in the field of medicine, a poet, and an essayist,

Rizal exhibited other amazing talents. He knew how to paint, sketch, and make sculptures.

Because he lived in Europe for about 10 years, he also became a polyglot – conversant in 22

languages. Aside from poetry and creative writing, Rizal had varying degrees of expertise in

architecture, sociology, anthropology, fencing, martial arts, and economics to name a few.

His novels awakened Philippine nationalism

Rizal had been very vocal against the Spanish government, but in a peaceful and

progressive manner. For him, “the pen was mightier than the sword.” And through his writings,

he exposed the corruption and wrongdoings of government officials as well as the Spanish friars.

While in Barcelona, Rizal contributed essays, poems, allegories, and editorials to the

Spanish newspaper, La Solidaridad. Most of his writings, both in his essays and editorials,

centered on individual rights and freedom, specifically for the Filipino people. As part of his

reforms, he even called for the inclusion of the Philippines to become a province of Spain.

But, among his best works, two novels stood out from the rest – Noli Me Tángere (Touch

Me Not) and El Filibusterismo (The Reign of the Greed).

In both novels, Rizal harshly criticized the Spanish colonial rule in the country and

exposed the ills of Philippine society at the time. And because he wrote about the injustices and

brutalities of the Spaniards in the country, the authorities banned Filipinos from reading the

controversial books. Yet they were not able to ban it completely. As more Filipinos read the

books, their eyes opened to the truth that they were suffering unspeakable abuses at the hands of
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the friars. These two novels by Rizal, now considered his literary masterpieces, are said to have

indirectly sparked the Philippine Revolution.

To commemorate what he did for the country, the Philippines built a memorial park for

him – now referred to as Rizal Park, found in Manila. There lies a monument which contains a

standing bronze sculpture of Rizal, an obelisk, and a stone base said to contain his remains. The

monument stands near the place where he fell during his execution in Luneta.

We all know that one of the main reasons why Spanish did a voyage is that they want to

spread Catholicism. From that perspective, we can san that it was the Spanish who was able to

bring Catholicism here and became one of the major religions of the country. Upon studying the

life of Rizal, he was one of those persons who experienced how Spaniards gave a miserable life

to every people during their time. Also, upon execution in the public of GOMBURZA, due to

their alleged plan of throwing away Spanish leaders, he was one of the crowd who witnessed

how the GOMBURZA was executed to death. It was the fierce beginning to Rizal in making

himself as one of the people who would fight till death to gain the independence and reform that

everyone is longing since foreign people started to stay here and colonize the country.

Since Rizal is intelligent. He was able to fight through his words. He was able to publish

books such as the famous Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo which talks about how Spanish

treats Filipino. He was also able to write articles that was against the religion. From this, there

was an alleged issue that is being debated if Rizal retracted or ask for forgiveness of whatever he

published that was against the religion or not. He was able to hate religion because it was the

Spaniards who brought it here and sufferings started when Spaniards came.

Retraction is an act wherein someone who wrote something against another person would

ask for forgiveness and take everything back what he said. It was a large debate because in recent

memory, there was an incident in which the forging of documents served to negate the existence

of an independent Philippines.

In 1901, the Americans managed to capture a Filipino messenger, Cecilio Segismundo

who carried with him documents from Aguinaldo. The American then faked some documents
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complete with forged signature, telling Aguinaldo that some Filipino officers were sending him

guerrillas with American prisoners. With the help of a Spanish traitor, Lazaro Segovia, the

Americans assembled a company of pro-American Filipino soldiers, the Macabebe scouts. These

were the soldiers who penetrated the camp of Aguinaldo, disguised as soldiers of the Philippine

Republic. They managed to capture Aguinaldo. With the president captured, his generals began

to surrender, and the Republic began to fall.

The document of the retraction of Jose Rizal, too, is being hotly debated as to its

authenticity.

It was supposed to have been signed by Jose Rizal moments before his death. There were

many witnesses, most of them Jesuits. The document only surfaced for public viewing on May

13, 1935. It was found by Fr. Manuel A. Gracia at the Catholic hierarchy’s archive in Manila.

But the original document was never shown to the public, only reproductions of it.

However, Fr. Pio Pi, a Spanish Jesuit, reported that as early as 1907, the retraction of

Rizal was copied verbatim and published in Spain, and reprinted in Manila. Fr. Gracia, who

found the original document, also copied it verbatim.

In both reproductions, there were conflicting versions of the text. Add to this the date of

the signing was very clear in the original Spanish document which Rizal supposedly signed. The

date was “December 29, 1890.”

Later, another supposedly original document surfaced, it bears the date “December 29,

189C”. The number “0” was evidently altered to make it look like a letter C. Then still later,

another supposedly original version came up. It has the date “December 29, 1896”. This time,

the “0” became a “6”.

Those who strongly believed the faking of the Rizal retraction document, reported that

the forger of Rizal’s signature was Roman Roque, the man who also forged the signature of

Urbano Lacuna, which was used to capture Aguinaldo. The mastermind, they say, in both

Lacuna’s and Rizal’s signature forging was Lazaro Segovia. They were approached by Spanish

friars during the final day of the Filipino-American war to forge Rizal’s signature.
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This story was revealed by Antonio K. Abad, who heard the tale from Roman Roque

himself, them being neighbours.

To this day, the retraction issue is still raging like a wild fire in the forest of the night.

Others would like to believe that the purported retraction of Rizal was invented by the

friars to deflect the heroism of Rizal which was centered on the friar abuses.

Incidentally, Fr. Pio Pi, who copied verbatim Rizal’s retraction, also figured prominently

during the revolution. It was him, Andres Bonifacio reported, who had intimated to Aguinaldo

the cessation of agitation in exchange of pardon.

There are also not a few people who believe that the autobiography of Josephine

Bracken, written on February 22, 1897 is also forged and forged badly. The document

supposedly written by Josephine herself supported the fact that they were married under the

Catholic rites. But upon closer look, there is a glaring difference between the penmanship of the

document, and other letters written by Josephine to Rizal.

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IMPORTANCE OF STUDY

Our national hero Dr. Jose Rizal was the mind that was behind the destruction of the

Spanish Colonization in the Philippines. I was fortunate enough to watch this movie and be able

to see one. These movies opened my mind and rattle my principle in life. A principle that was

recently established and I treated as important part of my life. Rizal was named as the Great

Malayan, Expert doctor and others. The whole world recognizes his fame and genius mind.

Rizal’s liberal ideas destroyed the Spaniards which was replaced by the Americans.

Succeeded by the Japanese but the Americans returned. In the end the Filipinos won the

freedom. All of his greatness and fame led to the propagation of cult that treats Rizal as their

God or Dios ng Katagalugan. Rizal’s life was dedicated to free his oppressed people.

He is against the Friars who abuse their authority in religion to become wealthy.

December 25, 1896 the last Christmas of Rizal for on December 26 he was accused as pioneer of

the revolution but he pleaded not guilty. On December 28 the sentence was approved by firing

squad two days later which was known throughout Manila except for Rizal. Doña Lolay or Doña

Teodora Mercado Rizal stressed the Spanish education system was dark in the monastery not like

the educational system today which is bright and clear. In those days gaining knowledge was

almost a crime.
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STAND SAYING RIZAL DID NOT RETRACTED

An ecclesiastical fraud

The morning after the execution of Jose Rizal, the newspapers of Manila and Madrid

recorded the event, and announced that on the eve of his death Rizal retracted his religious

errors, abjured freemasonry, and in the last hours of his life had married Josephine Bracken.

In most newspapers the text of a letter of retraction supposedly written by Rizal was

printed in full. The government sent the announcement to Spanish consulates abroad with the

request to obtain for it the widest possible publicity.

Those who had read Rizal's books or who knew him closely and admired him, both in the

country and abroad, took one look at the announcement and declared it "an ecclesiastical fraud."

In a letter to Ferdinand Blumentritt shortly after the execution, Fredrich Stahl, a Manila

pharmacist, wrote:

"On the day of the execution, the Spaniards published an article in all the local papers,

according to which, Rizal, in a written declaration made by him on the day of his death, retracted

all his writings and deeds and proclaims himself to be a repentant sinner and a loyal Spaniard.

But nobody here believes this, as the Spaniards publish the same thing about everyone who is

shot. Besides, nobody has ever seen his written declaration ... It is in the hands of the

archbishop."

Was there a plot among the higher ecclesiastical authorities to perpetrate a fraud?

There was certainly no signed letter of retraction, a contradiction in itself for a man so

strong in conviction as Rizal. There was also no marriage with Josephine Bracken, although they

did live together during his exile in Dapitan.

Rizal himself believed that there was a strong likelihood of fraud after his death, and that

the prime mover in this would be the friar archbishop. It was the friars who were zealously

seeking his retraction. They even came up with several retraction formulas for him to sign.
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Rizal's intuition of fraud was not misplaced; what played him false was the involvement of his

mentors, the Jesuits, who took part in the effort to make him retract and return to the Catholic

faith.

HOLES IN THE JESUITS’ STORY

The Rizal family did not accept the retraction and the marriage. They knew that that if he

had retracted, he would certainly have said so in his 6a.m. communication to his mother on the

fateful day of his execution.

Balaguer's account exposed itself through major discrepancies in his story. His claim of

marrying Rizal and Josephine was totally belied by the facts.

In his account, Balaguer was totally unaware that Rizal had written "Mi Último Adiós"

on the eve of his execution. Balaguer allowed no time for Rizal to write the poem. The poem in

its third stanza carries the exact date and time when it was written.

In his claim of having performed the canonical marriage of Rizal and Josephine, Balaguer

said he performed it in front of one of Rizal's sisters between 6 and 6:25 a.m. on December 30.

But none of Rizal's sisters went to the fort that morning.

For all these contradictions and falsehoods in Balaguer's story, the church nevertheless

adopted the lie. And some Filipinos, including Rizal's biographer Leon Maria Guerrero, believed

that Rizal had retracted.

I find the words of Rafael Palma, who witnessed the execution and saw Rizal turn away

from the Jesuit holding out a crucifix to him, most persuasive:

Palma wrote:

"Of the version circulated by ecclesiastical authorities of that time, the part which refers

to Rizal's abjuration of masonry and to his conversion to Catholicism at the last hour was not

considered satisfactory and truthful by Filipino public opinion."

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REASONS WHY RETRACTION IS CONSIDERED A MANIPULATION

 First, instead of the words "mi cualidad" (with "u") which appear in the original and the

newspaper texts, the Jesuits’ copies have "mi calidad" (with "u").

 Second, the Jesuits’ copies of the retraction omit the word "Catolica" after the first

"Iglesias" which are found in the original and the newspaper texts.

 Third, the Jesuits’ copies of the retraction add before the third "Iglesias" the word

"misma" which is not found in the original and the newspaper texts of the retraction.

 Fourth, with regards to paragraphing which immediately strikes the eye of the critical

reader, Fr. Balaguer’s text does not begin the second paragraph until the fifth sentences

while the original and the newspaper copies start the second paragraph immediately with

the second sentences.

 Fifth, whereas the texts of the retraction in the original and in the manila newspapers

have only four commas, the text of Fr. Balaguer’s copy has eleven commas.

 Sixth, the most important of all, Fr. Balaguer’s copy did not have the names of the

witnesses from the texts of the newspapers in Manila.

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REASONS WHY RIZAL WOULD RETRACT

Why would Jose Rizal write the retraction documents? What possible reasons could have

pushed Jose Rizal to write his retraction document, assuming that he truly wrote the said

document? The following four reasons would have been worthy of his character and mentality.

1. To save his family and town from further persecution.

Rizal may have been told that he faced the dilemma of signing the retraction or of

having his relatives pursued by further persecutions. Since he hoped his death would

stop the persecution of his relatives, the retraction may have seemed to him to be the

only way of achieving that purpose.

2. To give Josephine a legal status as his wife.

Rizal, even though he for a time suspected Josephine as a spy, seems to have

become convinced that she now loved him, and he may have desired to give her a legal

status in the eyes of the church, and so provide for her future.

3. To secure reforms from the Spanish government.

4. To help the church cut away from the disease which harmed her.

Rizal did not desire to injure the Roman Catholic Church, but to remove the

cancer which ruined both church and state in the Philippines -- friar control of land and

domination by the government. He was also struggling for freedom of thought and of

conscience to the individual. He may have felt that much of his propaganda had

produced the insurrection, and have repented of that. His letter to Paciano, written the

night before his execution, supports that theory. It also had been suggested that Rizal

may have written the word "Catholic" in the broad sense of the "Church Universal" as

it is used by all branches of the Christian Church excepting the Roman Catholics. All

churches repeat, "I believe in the Holy Catholic Church," in this broad sense.
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STAND SAYING RIZAL RETRACTED

‘Unadorned fact’

Filipino historian Nicolas Zafra considered the controversy as “a plain unadorned fact of

history, having all the marks and indications of historical certainty and reality” in his book The

Historicity of Rizal’s Retraction.

Dr. Augusto De Viana, head of UST’s Department of History , also believes that Rizal

retracted and said the National Hero just renounced from the Free Masonry and not from his

famous nationalistic works.

“He (Rizal) retracted. He died as a Catholic, and a proof that he died as a Catholic was he

was buried inside the sacred grounds of Paco Cemetery,” said De Viana, who compared the

martyr with Apolinario Mabini, a revolutionary and free mason who was buried in a Chinese

cemetery.

De Viana said it is not possible that the retraction letter had been forged because

witnesses were present while Rizal was signing it.

He added that the evidence speaks for itself and moves on to the question on Rizal’s

character as some argue that the retraction is not in line with Rizal’s mature beliefs and

personality.

“Anti-retractionists ask, ‘What kind of hero is Jose Rizal?’ They say he was fickle-

minded. Well, that may be true, but that is human character. Rizal was not a perfect person,” De

Viana said.

He also mentioned that just like any person, Rizal was prone to flip-flop. He believes that

Rizal retracted because the national hero wanted to be at peace when he dies.

But would Rizal’s works deem irrelevant and futile because of his retraction?

De Viana answered, “Rizal awakened our knowledge of nationalism. For me, that is enough. The

issue will not invalidate his works in any ways.

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Rizal was really a man of courage. He did anything he can just to help every Filipino to

get the reform they want including the equality of treatment, right to Spanish cortes, get back the

land that was conquered by the Spanish officials.

There are so many allegations published whether Rizal did retract or not. In my own

humble opinion, Rizal did NOT retract. The fact that we know how tough and courageous and

intelligent he was, he does know what would be the things he would be experiencing after

publishing such books that was against the Spanish and even publishing articles against the

religion that Spaniards had introduced into our land. A strong evidence I could provide is that

there are:

1. Difference between the phrases and sentences from what Balaguer had reported and from

the original copy that was said found by an archbishop in Manila

2. There was really forger that was hired by the Spaniards to do the same thing that was

done to Apolinario Mabini long ago

3. Rizal’s family did not accept the retraction. One of the articles I retrieved quoted that

“During the last call of Rizal to his family, he wasn’t able to mention anything about

retraction matters”.

4. One of the reasons why would he retract is that to have an official marriage with

Josephine Bracken but the thing is that, there is no such thing as married that was done.

Rizal isn’t a man who is really against of religion but rather he wrote such stuff because

Spaniards are the reason why religion had started in the Philippines and Spaniards are the reason

why Filipinos during their time had suffered so much pain and oppressions from officials.

It is a fact that Rizal believes in God. He even wrote articles which talks about how he

was amazed by the supernatural being. His articles don’t criticize directly our God but rather he

stated that “religion” is the main source of suffering.

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CONCLUSION

Whatever decisions Rizal had made before he was exiled at Luneta, whether he did the

retraction or not doesn’t make him less a person. It was all about freedom. He had the freedom

before to fight for the rights of Filipino; of course he has also the freedom to take care of his

family even on the last days of his life. We can’t already deny the fact that he did everything he

can to save us from colonialists. He became tough enough to publish the booms against

Spaniards that led as an eye-opener to everyone in the country. Furthermore, Senator Jose

Diokno once stated, "Surely whether Rizal died as a Catholic or an apostate adds or detracts

nothing from his greatness as a Filipino... Catholic or Mason, Rizal is still Rizal - the hero who

courted death 'to prove to those who deny our patriotism that we know how to die for our duty

and our beliefs."

Rizal’s sacrifice may serve as an inspiration for everyone and a reminder as well that

fighting for something wouldn’t require bloody war nor includes weapons; rather if you are wit

enough, use it as your armor to be able to tell whatever opinion or stand you wanted to express.

Rizal is an example that will help us understand the importance of being calm in times of trouble

because this would help us to think clearly about what to be done next.

Life is full of sacrifices. We may not be like Rizal who used his wit to fight for the

reform that everyone was dreaming off a long time ago but we do have this little deeds in life

which would make us a little hero of ourselves and the people around us as well. May we always

remember those hardships of our heroes and put it always in our heart which will serve as an

inspiration that whenever we can extend some help onto to someone or to a group of people,

always send a helping hand.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] Valdeavilla, R. 2018. The Life and Legacy of José Rizal: National Hero of The Philippines.

Philippines: Culture Trip. Retrieved from: https://theculturetrip.com/asia/philippines/articles/the-

life-and-legacy-of-jose-rizal-the-philippines-national-hero/

[2] Uckung, P. 2012. The Rizal Retraction and other cases. Philippines: NHCP. Retrieved from:

www.nhcp.gov

[3] Did Rizal really retracted all his words and deeds about the Chruch moments before his

execution?. Retrieved from: https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/2247/did-rizal-really-

retracted-all-his-words-and-deeds-about-the-chruch-moments-before-his-execution

[4] Santos, T. 2011. Rizal’s retraction: Truth vs Myth. Philippines: Varsitarian.net. Retrieved

from: www.varsitarian.net

[5] 2016, Nov 04. The Relevance of the Retraction Controversy. Retrieved from:

https://studymoose.com/the-relevance-of-the-retraction-controversy-essay