JOSE RIZAL: Trial and
Death
2
From Dapitan to Manila
boat España approached Luzon, there was an
mpt by the Katipuneros to help Rizal escape.
ipunero Emilio Jacinto, disguised himself as a
EMILIO JACINTO
crew member. Brain of the Katipunan
Wrote the Kartilya ng
Katipunan
He managed to get close to Rizal while another
Katipunan member, Guillermo Masankay, circled the ship born December 15, 1875
in Trozo, Manila
on a boat.
died April 16, 1899 in
Mahayhay, Laguna
refused the rescue, because he was determined to fulfill his
mission in Cuba.
3
▸ Emilio Jacinto was only 20 when he joined the
Katipunan. He was always thinking and prudent,
but vehement and furious when he thinks he is ▸ The Filipino people have always
right. This quality was admired by Bonifacio.
proved themselves bigger than
▸ He wrote for the newspaper Kalayaan under the their leaders... Filipino leaders
pen-name Dimasilaw, and was known in the
may come and Filipino leaders
Katipunan as Pingkian.
may go, but not the Filipino
▸ He was known as the brain of the Katipunan and people who will continue treading
the Revolution because he prepared and wrote
many documents including the constitution, rules
on towards the one destiny the
and the famous Kartilya ng Katipunan. God of Nation has designated for
them.
▸
Excerpts from Talambuhay ng mga Bayani by Rene Alba Emilio Jacinto
▸ Philippine History
▸ Source: filipino.biz.ph – Philippine Culture
4
▸ He requested the governor-
general that he will be isolated
from everyone except his family,
because he was afraid that his
▸ August 6, 1896: one-month stay onboard the ship
▸ Rizal arrived in Manila. might bring him troubles.
▸ This was the day after the boat
Isla de Luzon left for Spain. ▸ He was then transferred on the
▸ same day, around near midnight,
He stayed in Manila until the next
to the cruiser Castilla which was
steamer arrived. docked in Cavite.
5
The Katipunan Plot Discovered
August 19, 1896:
Katipunan plot to revolt against the Spanish
es was discovered through the confession of a
certain Teodoro Patiño to Mariano Gil.
The discovery led to the arrest of many Katipuneros.
The Katipunan led by Bonifacio reacted by convening
many of its members and deciding to immediately
begin the armed revolt.
As a sign of their commitment to the revolution, they
tore their ceduleas (residence certificates).
Fr. Mariano Gil
o Patiño Augustinian Cura of Tondo
6
Assaults of Katipunan
First Major Assault:
August 29 and 30, 1896
Katipuneros attacked the
Civil Guard garrison in
150 Katipuneros
Pasig and the 100 soldiers
were killed when
protecting the powder
Spanish
magazine in San Juan.
reinforcements
arrived.
The bloody encounter and the
uprisings in other suburban
areas in Manila prompted the
governor-general to proclaim a
state of war in Manila and 7
other nearby provinces.
Assaults of Katipunan
On September 2, he
was transferred to the
August 30, 1896: ship Isla de Panay.
Blanco issued letters of
recommendation on
Rizal’s behalf to the
Minister of War and the
Minister of Colonies.
The cover letter cleared
Jose Rizal of any
connection to the raging
revolution.
Governor-General Ramon Blanco
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Travel to Barcelona, Spain
September 3, 1896:
Isla de Panay” left Manila for Unknown to Rizal, Blanco and the
Barcelona . Ministers of War and the Colonies Many Filipinos were either
had been exchanging telegrams, killed in the battle or arrested
September 7, 1896: planning his arrest upon reaching and executed.
The boat arrived in Singapore. Barcelona.
Some Filipinos like his co-
passenger Don Pedro Roxas and September 27: Isla de Panay
Singaporean resident Don Manuel made a stopover at Port Said, Rizal felt that he had
Camus, urged Rizal to stay in the Egypt. already been
British-controlled territory.
associated with the
The passengers had known that
the uprising in the Philippines got
Filipino revolution
worse. because his co-
passengers distanced
Rizal refused to stay in Singapore
Thousands of Spanish soldiers themselves from him.
were dispatched to Manila.
9
▸ Isla de Panay:
▸ The steamer that Rizal
boarded from Manila
to Barcelona
10
Travel to Barcelona, Spain
▸ September 28: ▸ September 30:
▸ Before reaching Malta, he
▸ Rizal wrote a letter to was officially ordered to stay
Blumentritt informing him in his cabin until further
that he received some orders from Blanco will
information that Blanco had come
an order to arrest him
11
Malta
Port Said, Egypt
Manila
Singapore
12
13
Eulogio Despujol: The general
who deported Rizal to Dapitan in
1892 was also the one who placed
him under heavy guard in
Barcelona in 1896
14
October 3, 1896:
With Rizal taken as a
prisoner on board , the Isla
de Panay anchored at
Barcelona;
He was placed under heavy
guard.
October 6, 1896:
He was transported to Montjuich Rizal was taken aboard the ship “Colon”
prison-fortress which left for Manila in the evening,
8:00PM.
Later in the afternoon, Rizal was
brought to Despujol and was told that He was allowed to take on walks during
there was an order to ship him (Rizal) the travel. But was locked up and
back to Manila in the evening. handcuffed before reaching any port.
“
The Last Homecoming
Rizal underwent a series of
interrogations administered by
one of the judges, Colonel
November 3, 1896: Francisco Olive.
Rizal arrived in Manila as a
prisoner. Francisco Olive was the
military leader who led the
He was detained at Fort troops and forced the Rizaxl
Santiago and had been family to vacate their Calamba
mprisoned for four (4) years. home in 1890.
Those who were forced to
To gather pieces of evidences testify against Rizal were not
gainst him, some of his friends, allowed to be cross-
cquaintances, members of La examined by the accused.
Liga, and even his brother
Paciano were tortured and
forcibly questioned.
16
Fifteen Documentary Evidences
The Last Homecoming
Against Jose Rizal:
1. A letter of Antonio Luna to Mariano Ponce
2. A letter of Rizal to his family
3. A letter from Marcelo H. del Pilar to Deodato Arellano
4. A poem entitled Kundiman
5. A letter of Carlos Oliver to an unidentified person
6. A Masonic document
7. A letter signed Dimasalang
8. A letter of Dimasalang to an unidentified committee
9. An anonymous and undated letter to the Editor of the Hongkong Telegraph
10. A letter of Ildefonso Laurel to Rizal
11. A letter of Rizal Segundo
12. A letter of Marcelo H. del Pilar to Don Juan A. Tenluz
13. Transcript of Speech of Pingkian (Katipunero)
14. Transcript of Speech of Tik-tik (Katipunero)
15. A poem by Laong Laan
17
Testimonial Evidences from the following persons:
1. Martin Constantino
2. Aguedo del Rosario
3. Jose Reyes
4. Moises Salvador
5. Jose Dixon
6. Pio Valenzuela
7. Ambrosio Salvador
8. Francisco Quison
9. Timoteo Paez
10. Deodato Arellano
11. Pedro Serrano
12. Antonio Salazar
13. Domingo Franco
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The Trial
November 26:
Colonel Olive submitted the reports to Gov-Gen Blanco
Captain Rafael Dominguez was assigned as Special Judge Advocate in Rizal’s
case.
Dominguez made a summary of the case and delivered it to Blanco;
Blanco, then, sent the papers to Judge Advocate-General Don Nicolas dela Peña.
After examining the case, dela Peña. Recommended that:
a. Rizal be immediately brought to trial;
b. He be kept in jail;
c. An order of attachment be issued against his property
d. A Spanish army officer, not a civilian lawyer, be permitted to defend him in
court.
19
The Trial
December 8:
• Rizal was given the restricted right to choose his lawyer from a list of 100 Spanish army
officers. He chose Lt. Luis Taviel de Andrade who turned out to be a younger brother of his
bodyguard-friend in Calamba in 1887, Jose Taviel de Andrade.
December 11 (3 days after):
• The formal charges were read to Rizal in his prison cell, with Andrade on his side;
• He was accused of being the main organizer and the “living soul” of the revolution having
proliferated ideas of rebellion and of founding illegal organizations.
• He pleaded not guilty to the crime of rebellion and explained that La Liga, the constitution
of which he wrote, was just a civic organization.
20
The Trial
December 13:
• It was the day Camilo G. de Polavieja replaced Blanco as governor-general.
• Papers of Rizal’s criminal case were sent to Malacañang.
December 15:
• Rizal wrote a manifesto appealing to the revolutionaries to discontinue the uprising and
pursue to attain liberty instead by means of education and of labor.
• Dela Peña interpreted the manifesto as all the more advocating the spirit of rebellion as it
ultimately willed the Filipino liberty.
• Polavieja disallowed to issue Rizal’s manifesto.
21 The Rat in the Kangaroo Court
December 26:
• The Filipino patriot who was once
figuratively referred to by Spanish offcials
as a “trapped rat” appeared in the kangaroo
court inside the military building, Cuartel de
España. Camilo Polavieja: The Governor
• He was tried before seven members of the General who decreed Rizal’s execution
military court with Lt. Col. Jose Togores
Arjona acting as the president.
To appeal to the emotions of the Spanish
judges, Alcocer went as far as dramatically
mentioning the Spanish soldiers who had
died in the Filipino traitorous revolt and
• Judge Advocate Dominguez presented
discriminately describing Rizal as a “typical
Rizal’s criminal case followed by a lengthy
Oriental”, who had presumed to rise from a
speech of Prosecuting Attorney Enrique de
lower social scale in order to attain powers
Alcocer.
and positions that could never be his.
22
The Rat in the Kangaroo Court
He stressed that it was but natural for anyone to
yearn for liberty and independence.
Rizal was allowed to read his complementary
defense consisting of legal proofs that:
he had not taken part in the revolution; and
La Liga Filipina was distinct from Katipunan
c ene
Trial S He also argued that he even had advised the
Katipunan emissary (Pio Valenzuela) in Dapitan
not to pursue the plan to revolt;
The revolutionists had used his name without
Alcocer petitioned for a death sentence for Rizal
his knowledge;
and an indemnity of twenty thousand pesos.
He could have escaped either in Dapitan or
Singapore if he were guilty; and
Rizal’s defense counsel, Lt. Andrade, took the
The civic group, La Liga Filipina, died out upon
floor and tried his very best to save his client by
his exile and did not serve the purpose, and he
reading his responsive defense.
had no knowledge of its reformation.
23
The Rat in the Kangaroo Court
Lt. Col Arjona declared the trial over.
The entire defense was disregarded I Rizal’s mock trial
because it instantaneously declared him guilty.
The jury unanimously voted for the death sentence.
The trial ended with the reading of the sentence:
JOSE RIZAL WAS FOUND GUILTY AND SENTENCED
TO A DEATH BY FIRING SQUAD.
December 28, 1896:
Governor-General Polavieja signed the court decision and
decreed that Rizal shall be executed by firing squad at
7:00AM on December 30, 1896, at Bagumbayan (Luneta).
Rizal was required to sign the verdict, thus sugning his own
death sentence.
24
Rizal’s Last 25 Hours
06:00AM to 12:00Noon
December 29, 1896
Judge Advocate Dominguez formally read
the death sentence to Rizal.
07:00AM
Rizal was transferred to his “death
cell” or “prison chapel”.
25
Rizal was visited by the priests, Miguel Saderra Mata and Luis
Visa.
They brought the medal of the Ateneo’s Marian Congregation
and a wooden Statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus that he had
carved in school .
Rizal was a member of the congregation.
Rizal placed the wooden image on his table, but he rejected
the medal, saying, “I’m a little of a Marian, Father”.
26
08:00AM:
Fr. Antonio Rosell arrived after Fr Visa left.
Rizal shared his breakfast with Fr. Rosell.
Lt. Andrade arrived; Rizal thanked him as his defense lawyer.
Around 09:00AM:
Santiago Mataix, of the Spanish newspaper El Heraldo de
Madrid, intervied Rizal.
10:00AM:
Fr. Federico Fauna came and advised Rizal to forget about his
resentment and marry Josephine canonically.
The two, (Rizal and Fauna) had a heated discussion about
religion, as witnessed by Fr. Rosell.
27
Though still believing in the
11:00AM Holy Scriptures, Rizal refused to
Two other priests, retract his anti-Catholic views.
Fr. Jose Villaclara He said,” Look. Fathers, if I
and Vicente They tried to should assent to all you say, and
Balaguer convince Jose sign all you want me to, just to
(Missionary in Rizal to write please you, neither believing nor
Dapitan) visited Dr. a retraction. feeling, I would be a hypocrite
Jose Rizal. and would then be offending
God”.
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12:00Noon to 07:00PM December 29
• At noon, Rizal was left alone in his cell.
• He had his lunch, read the bible and meditated.
• At the same time, Balaguer reported to the Archbishop
that only a little remained that Rizal would retract.
• He (Rizal) refused to receive visitors, finishing his last
poem at this time.
• Rizal also wrote his last letter to Blumentritt in which he 04:00PM
called the Austrian scholar “my best, my dearest friend”. • Doña Teodora and Rizal’s
sisters visited him.
• She was not allowed a last
02:00PM: embrace but Rizal managed to
• He had a talk with priests Estanislao March and Vilaclara; press a kiss on her hand.
03:30PM • Rizal kneeled and asked for
• Balaguer returned to Rizal’s cell and discussed again forgiveness from his mother.
about Rizal’s retraction.
29
12:00Noon to 07:00PM December 29
As the other visitors were leaving, Rizal handed
over to Trinidad an alcohol cooking stove, a gift
from the Pardo de Taveras.
He whispered to her in a language which the
guards could not understand, that :”there is
something in it”.
That “something” was Rizal’s elegy known as “Mi
Ultimo Adios”.
(elegy= a solemn and formal lyric poem about
death)
30
12:00Noon to 07:00PM December 29
5:30PM:
• The Dean of the Manila Cathedral, Don Silvino
Lopez Tuñon, went to see Rizal to exchange
some views with him.
• Balaguer and March then left, leaving Vilaclara
and Tuñon in Rizal’s cell.
6:00PM
• Rosell left;
• Josephine Bracken arrived in Fort Santiago.
• Rizal called for her, and they emotionally talked
with each other.
31
Eve of December 29
07:00PM
• Fr. Faura returned and convinced Rizal to trust him
and some other Ateneo Professors;
• After some quiet moments, Rizal confessed to Fr.
Faura.
08:00PM
• Rizal took his last supper;
• Attended to his personal needs;
• He told Judge Advocate Dominguez that he had
forgiven his enemies and the military judges who
sentencved him to death.
09:00PM or 09:30PM
• Manila’s Royal Audiencia fiscal Don Gaspar
Cestaño arrived and had an amiable talk with Rizal.
32
Eve of December 29
10:00PM
• Rizal and some Catholic Priests worked on the
hero’s retraction.
• Balaguer brought to Rizal a retraction draft made by
Archbishop Bernardino Nozaleda.
• Rizal did not like the draft because it is very long.
• A shorter retraction drafted by Jesuit Pio Pi was
then offered to Rizal, which he allegedly like.
• It was said that he has written his retraction
renouncing freemasonry and his anti-Catholic
ideas.
• He spent the night resting until the crack of
dawn of December 30.
33 The Early Morning of December 30
03:00AM
05:30AM
Rizal heared Mass, confessed sins, and took
Jose Rizal was given 3 boiled eggs.
communion (according to Zaide and Zaide);
According to Rizal’s niece Asuncion Lopez-
Rizal Bantug, Rizal ate 2 of them.
04:00AM
Bantug and historian Ambeth Ocampo, both
Rizal picked up the book “Imitation of Christ” by
had written, that Rizal placed the boiled egg,
Thomas Kempis.
to a cell corner, saying, “This is for the rats,
He read and meditated.
let them celebrate likewise”.
05:00AM
Afterwards, he wrote his last letters for his
He washed up, attended to his personal needs,
family and his brother Paciano.
read the Bible and contemplated.
34 The Early Morning of December 30
To his family, he partly wrote “I ask you for
forgiveness for the pain I cause you…I die, I
resigned, hoping that with my death you will
be left in peace…”
According to the Zaide historians, Josephine
Rizal left a message to his sisters: Bracken and Rizal’s sister Josefa arrived to see
“I enjoin you to forgive one another. Treat Rizal.
your old parents as you would like to be
treated by your children later; Love them The couple 9Rizal and Bracken) embraced for the
very much in my memory.” last time.
He gave to Bracken the book “Imitation of Christ”’
To Paciano”
“I am thinking now how hard you have He wrote the dedication:
worked to give me a career…I know that “To my dear and unhappy wife,
you have suffered much on my account, and Josephine/December 30th, 1896/Jose Rizal.
I am sorry”.
35
Our
Theprocess is easy
Early Morning of December 30
Before his death March to Bagumbayan, Rizal still
managed to ink his last letters to his beloved
parents:
To Don Francisco, he wrote:
“Pardon me for the pain which I repay you…
Goodbye, Father, goodbye…”
Told by the authorities that the march is about to
begin, Rizal managed to write only to his mother as
this:
“To my very dear Mother;
Sra. Doña Teodora Alonso
6 o’clock in the morning, December 30, 1896.
Jose Rizal”
36
Slow Walk to Death
06:30AM
Rizal in black suit and black bowler hat, tied
elbow to elbow began his slow walk to
Bagumbayan.
He walked along with his defense lawyer,
Andrade, and two Jesuit priests, March and
Vilaclara.
In front of them were theadvance guards of
armed soldiers and behind them was another
group of military men.
The sound of a trumpet signaled the start of the
death march.
The sound of the drums served as the musical
score of the walk.
37
Slow Walk to Death
Early in the morning, many people lined the
streets. Once in a while, he talked with the priests. They
talked like, comments on his happy years at the
Some were sympathetic to Rizal; Ateneo as they passed Intramuros.
Others just wanted nothing less than to see him
die – especially the Spaniards. On that clear morning, he uttered something like
“What a beautiful morning! On days like this, I
Some observed that Rizal keenly kept looking used to take a walk here with my sweetheart”.
around.
After some minutes, they arrived at a historic
It was believed that his family or the venue of execution, the Bagumbayan.
“Katipuneros” would make a last-minute effort to
spring him from the trap.
38
The Execution
Filipino soldiers were chosen to compose the
iring squad.
Behind them stood their Spanish
counterparts, ready to execute them should
hey decline to do the job.
There was just a glitch in the proceeding.
Rizal refused to kneel and declined the
raditional blindfold.
He maintained that he was not a traitor to his
country and to Spain.
He requested to face the firing squad.
Picture of Rizal’s Execution: 8 native soldiers were in the firing squad and the dog in the photo was
said to run around the lifeless body of Jose Rizal, whining.
39 The Execution
After some talks, Rizal finally agreed to turn his back to the firing
squad on the condition that he should be shot not in the head –
but in the back instead.
When agreement had been reached, Rizal thankfully shook the
hand of his defense lawyer.
The military physician asked permission to feel the pulse of Rizal
who had only few minutes to live.
The doctor was startled to find Rizal’s pulse normal.
The priests offered Rizal a crucifix to kiss before they left, but Rizal
turned his head away and silently prepared for his death.
When the command had been given, the executioners’ log guns
barked at once.
Rizal yelled Christ’s two last words “CONSUMMATUM EST!” (It is
finished), as he simultaneously exerted a final effort to twist his
bullet-pierced body halfway around.
Facing the sky, Rizal fell on the ground dead at 07:03AM December
30, 1896.
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THANKS!
