CHAPTER 21

The
2 Homecoming
nd

and

The Liga Filipina

Jumeras, Mark Allan Jay C. - BSIT
Villavicencio, Camelah - BSIT
Buenaflor, Kim - BSIT

 June 1892 Rizal second homecoming,

his first was on August 1887.
Rizal believed that the fight for Filipino liberties
assumed a new phase; it must be fought in the
Philippines. Rizal told countrymen in Europe,
The battlefield is in the Philippines, there
is where we should meet, there we will
help one another, there together we will
suffer or triumph perhaps.

 December 31, 1891 he sent a

letter to Blumentritt, I believe that
La Solidaridad is no longer our
battlefield; now it is a new
struggle... the fight is no longer
in Madrid.

Ferdinand
Blumentritt

Jose Rizal

Arival in Manila with Sister

June 26, 1892 Rizal and his
widowed sister Lucia arrived in
Manila.

 I arrived at Manila on 26 June (1892), Sunday, at 12:00 noon.

I was met by many carabineers headed by a major. There
were in addition one captain and one sergeant of the Veteran
Civil Guard. I came down with my luggage and they inspected
me at the customhouse. From there I went to Hotel de Oriente
where I occupied room NO. 22, facing the church of Binondo.

Veteran Civil Guard

Hotel de Oriente

Binondo Church

 4:00 pm, June 26,

1892 Rizal went
to Malacaan
Palace to talk to
Spanish Governor
General Eulogio
Despujol, Conde
De Caspe. He was
told to come back
at night at 7:00.

Eulogio
Despujol

Malacaan Palace
1870

 7:00 pm, June 26,

1892 Rizal
returned to
Malacaan Palace
and was able to
confer with Governor
General Espujol,
who agreed to
pardon his father
but not the rest of
his family and told
him to return on
Wednesday (June
29).

 After his brief interview with the

governor general, he visited his
sisters in the city.
First Narcisa (Sisa) and later
Saturnina (Neneng).

Narcisa

Saturnina

Visiting Friends in Central Luzon

6:00 pm, June 27 Rizal boarded a
train in Tutuban Station and visited his
friends in Malolos, San Fernando, Tarlac
and Bacolor. He was welcomed and
entertained.
These friends were good patriots, who
were his supporters in the reform crusade
and he took the opportunity to greet them
personally and discussed the problems
affecting their people.

 5:00 pm, June 28 Rizal returned

to Manila, whether he knew it or not,
he was shadowed by government
spies who watched carefully his
every movement. The homes he had
visited were raided by the Guardia
Civil which seized some copies of the
Noli and Fili and some subversive
pamphlets.

Other Interviews with Despujol

After Rizals visit to his friends, he had other interviews with
Governor General Despujol. These interviews were recorded in
his diary.
On Wedsnesday (June 29 ) at 7:30, I saw his Excellency. I did not
succeed to have the penalty of exile lifted, but he gave me hope with
regard to my sisters. As it was the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul our
interview ended at 9:15. I was to come again the following day at
7:30.
The following day, Thursday (June 30), we talked about the question of
Borneo. The general was opposed to it, very much opposed. He told me
to come back Sunday.
On Sunday (July 3) I returned. We talked about sundry things and I
thank him for having lifted the exile of my sisters. I told him that my
father and brother would arrive on the first boat. He asked me if I would
like to go abroad to Hong Kong. I told him yes. He told me to return on
Wedsnesday.

Founding of the Liga Filipina

Evening of Sunday, July 3, 1892 Rizal attended a meeting of the patriots at the home
of the Chinese-Filipino mestizo, Doroteo Ongjunco, on Ylaya Street, Tondo, Manila.
Among those present were
Pedro Serrano Laktaw (Panday Pira) Mason and school teacher
Domingo Franco (Felipe Leal) Mason and tobacco shopkeeper
Jose A. Ramos (Socorro) engraver, printer, owner of Bazar Grand Bretaa, first Worshipful
Master of Nilad, and first Filipino Masonic lodge
Ambrosio Salvador gobernadorcillo of Quiapo and Mason
Bonifacio Arevalo (Harem) dentist and Mason
Deodato Arellano brother-in-law of M.H. del Pilar and civilian employee in the army
Ambrosio Flores (Musa) retired lieutenant of infantry
Agustin de la Rosa bookkeeper and Mason
Moises Salvador (Araw) contractor and Mason
Luis Villareal tailor and Mason
Faustino Villaruel (Ilaw) pharmacist and Mason
Mariano Crisostomo landlord
Numeriano Adriano (Ipil) notary public and Mason
Estanislao Legaspi artisan and Mason
Teodoro Plata court clerk and Mason
Andres Bonifacio warehouse employee
Apolinario Mabini (Katabay) lawyer and Mason
Juan Zulueta playwright, poet, and government employee

 Rizal explained the objectives of the Liga

Filipina, a civic league of Filipinos, which he
desired to establish and its role in the socioeconomic life of the people. He presented the
Constitution of the Liga which he had written in
Hong Kong and discussed its provisions. The
patriots were favorably impressed and gladly
approved the establishment of the Liga.

 The officers of the new league were

elected, as follows: Ambrosio
Salvador, president; Deodato
Areliano, secretary; Bonifacio
Arevalo, treasurer; and Agustin de la
Rosa, fiscal.

Constitution of the Liga

Filipina
The aims of the Liga Filipina, as embodied
in its Constitution, were the following:
1. To unite the whole archipelago into one
compact and homogenous body.
2. Mutual protection in every want and
necessity.
3. Defense against all violence and injustice.
4. Encouragement of education, agriculture,
and commerce.
5. Study and application of reforms.

 The motto of the Liga Filipina was: Unus

Instar Omnium (One Like All).
The governing body of the league was the
Supreme Council which had jurisdiction over
the whole country. It was composed of a
president, secretary, a treasurer, and a fiscal.
There was a Provincial Council in every
province and a Popular Council in every town.
All Filipinos who have at heart the welfare of
their fatherland are qualified for membership.
Every member pays an entrance fee of two
pesos and a monthly fee of 10 centavos.

 The duties of the Liga members are as

follows:
1. obey the orders of the Supreme Council
2. to help in recruiting new members
3. to keep in strictest secrecy the
decisions of the Liga authorities
4. to have a symbolic name which he
cannot change until he becomes
president of his council
5. to report to the fiscal anything that he
may hear which affects the Liga
6. to behave well as befits a good Filipino
7. to help fellow members in all ways

Rizal Arrested and Jailed in Fort

Santiago
Wednesday, July 6 Rizal went to Malacaan
Palace to resume his series of interviews with
the governor general. During this interview
Governor General Despujol suddenly show him
some printed leaflets which were entitled
Pobres Frailes (Poor Friars) under the
authorship of Fr. Jacinto and printed by the
Imprenta de los Amigos del Pais, Manila.
They were a satire against the rich Dominican
friars who amassed fabulous riches contrary to
their monastic vow of poverty.

 Rizal vigorously denied having those leaflets in either

his or Lucias baggage, which had been thoroughly
searched upon their arrival from Hong Kong by the
custom authorities who found nothing. Despite his
denial and insistent demand for investigation in
accordance with the due process of law, he was
placed under arrest and escorted to Fort Santiago by
Ramon Despujol, nephew and aid of Governor
General Despujol. In Fort Santiago, he was kept
incommunicado, as he related in his diary.

Fort
Santiago

 They assigned me a fairly furnished room with a bed,

a dozen chairs, one table, a wash basin, and a mirror.
The room had three windows; one without grill which
opens on a patio, another with grills which look out on
the city walls and the beach and another which was
the door closed with a padlock. Two artillery men as
sentinels guarded it. They had orders to fire on anyone
who might singal from the beach. I could not write nor
speak with any one except officer on duty.

Arbitrary Deportation to
Dapitan
The same issue of the Gaceta (July 7, 1892) contained Governor
General Despujols decree deporting Rizal to one of the islands
in the South. The gubernatorial decree gave the reasons for
Rizals deportation, as follows:
1. Rizal had published books and articles abroad which showed
disloyalty to Spain and which were frankly anti-Catholic and
imprudent anti-friar.
2. A few hours after his arrival in Manila there was found in one of the
packages a bundle of handbills entitled Pobres Frailes in which the
patient and humble generosity of Filipinos is satirized, and which
accusation is published against the customs of the religious orders.
3. His novel El Filibusterismo was dedicated to the memory of three
traitors (Bugos, Gomez, and Zamora), and on the title page he wrote
that in view of the vices and errors of the Spanish administration, the
only salvation for the Philippines was separation from the mother
country.
4. The end which pursues in his efforts and writings is to tear from the
loyal Filipino breasts the treasures of our holy Catholic faith.

 Shortly after midnight of July 14(that is 12:30am

of July 15, 1892), Rizal was brought under heavy
guard to the steamer Cebu which was sailing for
Dapitan. This steamer under Captain Delgras
departed at 1:00am, July 15, sailing south,
passing Mindoro and Panay, and reaching Dapitan
on Sunday, the 17th of July, at 7:00 in the evening.

 Captain Delgras went to ashore and handed

Rizal over to Captain Ricardo Carnicero,
Spanish commandant of Dapitan. That
same night, July 17, 1892. Rizal began his
exile in lonely Dapitan which would last
until July 31, 1896, a period of four years.

Ricardo Carnicero

THANK YOU!