CHAPTER 10

THE ENTRAPMENT
RIZAL’S ARREST, EXILE AND TRIAL

RIZAL’S ARRIVAL IN MANILA

June 21, 1892-rizal sailed for manila accompanied by his sister Lucia.
Governor General Despujol - when Jose and Lucia disembarked in Manila on Sunday, June 26, 1892, they
were met at the dock by several carabineers and a major. Their baggage was searched at the customs
house and then they were allowed to go without a word. But those who searched the baggage carried to
the office of the Governor General a “package of seditious paper”. Which they said they have found in
the pillowcase of Lucia.

THE SEDITIOUS DOCUMENT: “THE POOR FRIARS”

The package included copies of a tract called “The Poor Friars”, a caustic attack on the
Dominicans.
“A bank has suspended payment; The New Oriental has just become bankrupt. Great losses in India.
This paper was called “seditious” through one will search in vain for the slightest word against the
government. On our day, it would not be treasonous, but in that period, when the state and church were
united, an insult to a religious order could be construed as sedition. Besides the religious orders in that
period were the powers behind the throne, seating and unseating officials at will.

THE FOUNDING OF THE LA LIGA FILIPINA

Its constitution named these five purposes
1. Unity of the whole archipelago into one concept, vigorous, and homogenous body
2. Mutual protection in every grievance and need
3. Defense against violence and injustice
4. Encouragement of instruction, industrial and agricultural enterprises.
5. The study of reforms, putting them into practice
The members must :
1. Guard in absolute secrecy the decisions of the League Councils
2. Not submit to humiliation nor treat anybody with disdain
3. Obey unquestioningly and punctually every command thatemanates from a league
councilor or a chief
July 3, 1892-a week after Rizal’s arrival, the La Liga Filipina was formally established July 7-Jose
was summoned to malacanang

RIZAL NAILED HIS OWN COFFIN

All the newspapers in Manila published the long curious decree of the Governor General,
bearing the three charges that sent Rizal into exile:
1. During his “voluntary exile” he had published books and proclamations of very doubtful loyalty to
Spain, which are not only frankly anti-Catholic, but impudently anti-Friar, and introduced this into
archipelago.
2. A few hours after his arrival in the Philippines, there is found in one of the packages belonging to
the said subject a bundle of handbills entitled “The Poor Friars” in which the patient and humble
generosity of the Filipinos was satirized and in which accusations were published against the
customs of the religious orders.
3. His last book El Filibusterismo was dedicated to the memory of three traitors to their country
(Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora), but extolled by him by martyrs, while in the epigraph of the title
page of the said book the doctrine that because of the vices and error of the Spanish
Administration, there was no other salvation for the Philippines than separation from the mother
country. The end which he pursued in his efforts and writings was to tear from the loyal Filipino
breasts the treasure of our holy Catholic faith.
THE PLEASANT FOUR YEARS OF EXILE IN DAPITAN
-when the boat bearing Rizal reached the little frontier town of Dapitan, situated on lovely Dapitan Bay,
on the north coast of the wind island of Mindanao, the prisoner was taken ashore. A letter had gone with
his boat from Padre Pablo Pastells, superior of the Jesuit mission in the Philippines, saying that Rizal
might dwell in the house of Fr. Francisco P. Sanchez, the Jesuit missionary, on the following conditions:
1. Rizal publicly retracted his errors concerning religion and made statements that were clearly pro-
Spanish and against revolution.
2. that he performed the church rites and made general confession of hid past life.
3. the henceforth hr conducted himself in exemplary manner as Spanish subjected and a man of religion.
-The incarceration of Rizal coincided with the rise of the revolutionary Katipunan. When Andres Bonifacio
founded the Katipunan, he did so because he believed that Rizal was no longer an effective revolutionary.
- Rizal exile ended his chances to partake in coming revolution. He would remain the ideological head of
the Philippines nationalism and the catalyst to the independence movement.
- For three years there were continued rumors that the Katipunan would rescue, (or perhaps escape)
Rizal. But these were simply rumors and Rizal was never seized. Dapitan turned out to be a pleasant
exile. The Jesuit often referred to it as one of the most civilized places in Asia.
-He wrote to Blumentritt that “he had made thousands of dollar”. Rizal also formed an agricultural land
fishing commune to improve the local economy. A school was also founded and Rizal taught the
European ideas for which he was condemned. Most importantly, when a blind man from Hong Kong in his
sixties, George Taufer, brought his adopted daughter, Josephine Bracken, to Dapitan. Rizal fell in love.

THE PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION

The trial of Jose Rizal began forty years before his execution with a preliminary investigation on
November 20, 1896. The investigator Juez de Instuccion, was Colonel Francisco Olive.
-In the legal preliminaries, the prisoner gave his name as Jose Rizal Mercado y Alonzo, a native of
Calamba, Laguna, of age, single, never before subjected to criminal prosecution.
-The questioning in the first day of investigation centered in two points:
First, whether Rizal knew certain individuals and what his relations were with them.
Second, Rizal’s subversive activities in Madrid and in the Philippines.
First name mentioned was Pio Valenzuela.
-Obviously the authorities had known of Valenzuela’s visit to Rizal in Dapitan. They also knew him to be
among the top leaders of the Katipunan. The investigator then mentioned twenty-one other names,
asking the same questions as in the case of Pio Valenzuela.
-the majority of the individuals mentioned were unknown to Rizal. In most cases he had not even heard
of them and di d not know them personally. One of those whom Rizal said he did not know and had not
even heard of was Apolinario Mabini.
- there were individuals whom Rizal had known slightly. For instance, asked if he knew the brothers
Alejandro and Venancio Reyes who owned a tailoring shop in Escolta.
-The left six individuals whom Rizal admitted knowing and with whom he had some dealings:
-Moises Salvador
-Arcadio del Rosario
-Deodato Arellano
-Pedro Serrano
-Timoteo Paez

the investigator then returned to the first name: Pio Valenzuela.

Obviously the authorities considered Rizal’s relationship with him as the most suspicious.
To which his reply was that an uprising would be disastrous. This was no time for such foolhardy
ventures. He gave several reasons:
First, the various elements of the Filipino people were not yet united.
Second, They did not have the necessary resources-arms and ships.
Third, the people were not sufficiently educated.
THE TRIAL
Upon reaching Manila on November 3, Rizal was confined in Fort Santiago and on November 20 began to
be subjected to a preliminary investigation, without benefit of counsel or the right to confront his
accusers.
The trial of Jose Rizal was conducted from the prosecution view that he was associated with the
Katipunan.
On December 11 Rizal was formally charged with the crime of rebellion and the crime of forming illegal
associations.
Preliminary Investigation
 Two kinds of evidence presented against Rizal:
  Documentary
  Testimonial
Documentary Evidences
1. A letter from Antonio Luna to Mariano Ponce dated October 16, 1888, Madrid.
2. A letter of Rizal to his family dated Aug. 20, 1890, Madrid.
3. A letter from M.H. del Pilar to Deodato Arellano dated Jan. 7, 1899, Madrid.
4. A poem entitled “Kundiman” allegedly written by Rizal.
KUNDIMAN
She is the slave oppressed
Groaning in the tyrant’s grip
Lucky shall he be
Who can live her liberty!
5. A letter of Carlos Oliver to an unidentified person, Sept. 18, 1891.
6. A Masonic document dated Feb. 9, 1892.
7. A letter signed “Dimasalang” to Ten Luz (Juan Zulueta) dated May 24, 1892, H.K.
8. A letter signed Dimasalang to unidentified committee dated June 1, 1892, Hong Kong.
9. An anonymous and undated letter to the Editor of the Hong Kong Telegraph.
10. A letter of Ildefonso Laurel to Rizal, dated Sept. 3, 1892.
11. A letter of Rizal Segundo, dated Sept. 17, 1893.
12. A letter to M.H. Del Pilar to Juan A. Tenluz
13. A transcript of the speech of Pinkian (Emilio Jacinto) in a meeting of the Katipunan on July 23, 1893.
14. Transcript of a speech Tik-Tol (Jose Turiano Santiago) during the same Katipunan meeting.
15. A poem by Laon Laan (Rizal) entitled A Talisay
Testimonial Evidences
1. Martin Constantino
2. Aguedo del Rosario
3. Jose Reyes
4. Moises Salvador
5. Jose Dizon
6. Pio Valenzuela
7. Ambrosio Savador
8. Francisco Quison
9. Timoteo Paez
10. Deodato Arellano
11. Pedro Serrano Laktaw
12. Antonio Salazar
13. Domingo Franco

Peña’s Recommendations:
  Rizal must be immediately sent to trial
  He must be held in prison under necessary security
  His properties must be issued with order of attachment, and as indemnity, Rizal had to pay one
million pesos
  Instead of a civilian lawyer, only an army officer is allowed to defend Rizal.
Rizal’s Defender
  Lt. Luis Taviel de Andrade
 -1st Lieutenant of the Artillery, brother of Jose Taviel de Andrade, the bodyguard of Rizal.
Rizal’s Arraignment
  December 11, 1896
  Charged with the crime of rebellion, and the formation of illegal associations.
 Rizal replied that:
  He does not question the jurisdiction of the court
  He has nothing to amend except that during his exile in Dapitan in 1892, he had not dealt in
political matters;
  He has nothing to admit on the charges against him
  He had nothing to admit on the declarations of the witnesses, he had not met nor knew,
against him.
While in Detention
  Rizal released a manifesto that he denounces the revolution and condemned Katipunan for
using his name without his permission.
Actual Trial
 -December 26, 1896
  @Hall of Banners of the Cuartel de España
  He was accused of 3 crimes: rebellion, sedition, illegal associations.
  Penalty: Life imprisonment-death for rebellion and sedition, correctional imprisonment and a
fine of 325 to 3250 pesetas for illegal association.
Defense of Rizal
 1. As testified by Pio Valenzuela, Rizal was against rebellion
 2. He had not written a letter addressed to the Katipunan comprising revolutionary elements
 3. Without his knowledge, his name was used by the Katipunan; if he really was guilty, he could have
escaped while he was in Singapore
 4. If he was guilty, he should have left the country while in exile; he shouldn't have built a home,
bought a parcel of land or established a hospital in Dapitan.
5. If he was really the leader of the revolution, the revolutionists should have consulted him.
 6. He did not deny that he wrote the by-laws of the La Liga Filipina, but to make things clear, the
organization was a civic association, not a revolutionary society.
 7. After the first meeting of La Liga, the association banished because of his exile in Dapitan, thus, did
not last long.
 8. If the La Liga was reorganized nine months later, he had no idea about it
 9. If the La Liga had a revolutionary purpose, then Katipunan should not have been organized.
 10. If the Spanish authorities found his letters having bitter atmosphere, it was because in 1890 his
family was being persecuted resulting to their dispossession of properties and deportation of all his
brothers-in-law.
11. He lived an exemplary life in Dapitan – the politico-military commanders and missionary priests in
the province could attest to that.
12. If according to witnesses the speech he delivered at Doroteo Ongjunco's house had inspired the
revolution, then he want to confront these persons. If he really was for the revolution, then why did the
Katipunan sent an unfamiliar emissary to him in Dapitan? It is so because all his friends were aware that
he never advocated violence.
THE DILEMMA OF THE DEFENSE
The summary of Rizal’s own defense, collated from his memorandum on the 12th.
1. Subversive Propaganda – While in Madrid Rizal founded an association of Filipinos which supported the
subversive newspaper, La Solaridad.
2. Masonry – Rizal was one of the leaders of Philippine Masonry and sent Pedro Serrano back to the
archipelago to organize lodges for the purpose disseminating subversive propaganda
3. The Liga – Rizal wrote the statute of The Liga and sent Moises Salvador to the Philippines to organize
it, its purpose being to supply means for the attainment of the Philippines independence. Upon his return
to the Philippines in 1892 Rizal called a meeting in the house of Doroteo Ongjunco at which he explained
for the need of the Liga.
4. The Katipunan – Rizal was the honorary President of the Katipunan, which was the same thing as the
Liga and whose purpose was to proclaim the independence of the Philippines, makes Rizal supreme
leader, and kill the Spaniards. His photograph was displayed in the Katipunan’s headquarters . Shortly
before the insurrection, the katipunan had sent Pio Valenvuela to Rizal in Dapitan to seek his decision, as
supree leader, on the proposed rebellion and the plan of seeking aid from Japan.
THE MANIFESTO
Rizal asked to address a manifesto to the Philippine people. His request was approved. On December 15,
1896, Rizal presented his “Manifesto to Fellow Filipinos.”
Rizal did not support Bonifacio and the Katipunan. Yet within the there was implicit recognition of
Philippine nationalism and the right to revolution.
But the Spanish authorities rejected such manifesto since it did not categorically condemn the revolt but
merely called it inopportune.
DOUBLE JEOPARDY
What is Double Jeopardy?
-the prohibition on double jeopardy which stipulates that nobody can be made to face charges on which
he has already been tried and found innocent or found guilty and already penalized.
In July 1892 Rizal had been arrested on the charges being anti-Spanish because of his anti-church
writings, of having smuggled to Manila anti-friar leaflets, and having dedicated his second novel to three
traitor priests.
True that he was not tried on these charges, which made his case more unjust, since he was pronounced
guilty and sentenced to deportation without benefit of due process.
December 1896, he was brought to trial again on the same accusations. The second penalty being a
firing squad in Bagumbayan.
Hes being just exposed to double jeopardy was sensed by his counsel, Lieutenant Taviel de Andrade.