CHAPTER 23
Last Trip Abroad
(1896)
Rizal had a pleasant
trip from Dapitan
to Manila, with
delightful
stopovers in
Dumaguete
Cebu
Iloilo
Capiz
Romblon
He missed the
regular
steamer Isla
de Luzon.
While waiting
for the next
ship for Spain,
he was kept
as a “guest”
on board the
Spanish
cruiser
Castilla.
Meanwhile, on August 26, 1896, Andres Bonifacio
and the Katipunan raised the cry of revolution in the
hills of Balintawak, a few miles north of Manila.
Rizal worried about the raging hostilities, left for
Spain on the steamer Isla de Panay on September 3,
1896.
FROM DAPITAN TO
MANILA
Leaving Dapitan at midnight, July
31,1896, the España, with Rizal
and party on board sailed
northward.
At dawn the next day (Saturday,
August 1) it anchored at
Dumaguete Capital of Negros
Oriental.
The España left dumaguete about
1:00pm and reached Cebu the following
morning.
Rizal was fascinated by the entrance to
cebu which he considered "beautiful".
At the house of Attorney Mateos he met
an old couple whom he had known in
Madrid.
In the morning of Monday
August 3, Rizal left Cebu going
to Iloilo.
Arrived at iloilo he went
shopping in the city, and
visited “Molo”.
Molo was a church, he commented: “The
church is pretty outside and the interior is
not bad, considering that it had been painted
by a lad.”
RIZAL MISSES SHIP GOING TO
SPAIN
The
España arrived in Manila Bay early
morning of Thursday, August 6, 1896.
Unfortunately rizal
was not able to
catch the mail ship
Isla de Luzon
because it had
departed the
previous day
5:00pm.
He was greatly
disappointed, but he
took this unlucky
incidence with
abiding resignation.
Writting to Blumentritt later,
"Unfortunately I didn't catch the mail
ship for spain and fearing that my
stay for a month in manila would
bring me troubled i made known to
governor general, while remaining
on board the ship (España) of my
wish to be isolated from everybody,
except my family."
Near midnight of the
same day, August 6,
Rizal was transferred
to a spanish cruiser
Castilla by order of
Governor General
Ramos Blanco.
He was given good
accommodation by the
gallant captain, Enrique
Santalo, who told him that he
was not a prisoner, but a
guest detained on board “in
order to avoid difficulties
from friends and enemies.”
• Rizal stayed on the
cruiser for about a month,
from August 6 to
September 2, 1896
pending the availability of a
Spain-bound steamer.
Onthe fateful
evening of August 19,
1896 the Katipunan
plot to overthrow
Spanish rule by
means of revolution
was discovered by
Fray Mariano Gil,
Augustinian cura of
Tondo.
The tumult
produced by the
discovery of the
Katipunan plot was
aggravated by the
“Cry of
Balintawak” which
was raised by
Bonifacio and his
valiant Katipuneros
on August 26,
1896.
At sunrise of
August 30, the
revolutionists led
by Bonifacio and
Jacinto attacked
San Juan, near the
city of Manila, but
they were repulsed
with heavy losses.
In the afternoon, after the Battle of San Juan,
Governor General Blanco proclaimed a state of
war in the first eight provinces for rising in arms
against Spain.
1. Manila (as a province)
2. Bulacan
3. Cavite
4. Batangas
5. Laguna
6. Pampanga
7. Nueva Ecija
8. Tarlac
Rizal learned of the eruption of the
revolution and the raging battles around
Manila through the newspapers he read on
the Castilla.
He was worried for two reasons:
1. The violent revolution which he sincerely
believed to be premature and would only
cause much suffering and terrible loss of
human lives and property, had started.
2. It would arouse Spanish vengeance against
all Filipino patriots.
