Chapter 10: First Homecoming (1887-88)

Decision to Return Home

 Because of the publication of the Noli Me Tangere and the uproar it caused among the friars, Rizal was warned
by Paciano (his brother), Silvestre Ubaldo (his brother-in-law), Chengoy (Jose M. Cecilio ), and other friends not
to return home. But he did not heed their warning.
 He was determined to return to the Philippines for the following reasons:
(1) to operate on his mother's eyes;
(2) to serve his people who. had long been oppressed by Spanish tyrants;
(3) to find out for himself how the Noli and his other writings were affecting Filipinos and Spaniards in the
Philippines; and
(4) to inquire why Leonor Rivera remained silent.

 In Rome, on June 29, 1887, Rizal wrote to his father, announcing his homecoming.

Delightful Trip to Manila

 Rizal left Rome by train for Marseilles, a French port, which he reached without mishap.
 On July 3, 1887, he boarded the steamer Djemnah, the same steamer which brought him to Europe five years ago.
 There were about 50 passengers, including 4 Englishmen, 2 Germans, 3 Chinese, 2 Japanese, many Frenchmen,
and 1 Filipino (Rizal).
 Rizal was the only one among the passengers who could speak many languages, so that he acted as interpreter
for his companions.
 The steamer was enroute to the Orient via the Suez Canal. Rizal thus saw this historic canal for the second time, the
first time was when he sailed to Europe from Manila in 1882.
 On board, he played chess with fellow passengers and engaged in lively conversation in many languages. Some
passengers sang; others played on the piano and accordion.
 After leaving Aden, the weather became rough and some of Rizal's books got wet.
 At Saigon, on July 30, he transferred to another steamer Haiphong which was Manila-bound.
 On August 2, this steamer left Saigon for Manila.

Arrival in Manila

 Rizal's voyage from Saigon to Manila was pleasant.

 On August 3rd the moon was full, and he slept soundly the whole night. The calm sea, illumined by the silvery
moonlight, was a magnificent sight to him.
 Near midnight of August 5, the Haiphong arrived in Manila
 Rizal went ashore with a happy heart for he once more trod his beloved native soil. He stayed in the city for a
short time to visit his friends. He found Manila the same as when he left it five years ago.

Happy Homecoming

 On August 8th, he returned to Calamba.

 The rejoicings of Rizal's return over, his family became worried for his safety. Paciano did not leave him during
the first days after arrival to protect him from any enemy assault.
 His own father would not let him go out alone, lest something might happen to him.
 In Calamba, Rizal established a medical clinic. His first patient was his mother, who was almost blind. He treated
her eyes, but could not perform any surgical operation because her eye cataracts were not yet ripe.
 News of the arrival of a great doctor from Germany spread far and wide. Patients from Manila and the provinces
flocked to Calamba.
 Rizal, who came to be called "Doctor Uliman" because he came from Germany, treated their ailments and soon
he acquired a lucrative medical practice.
 His professional fees were reasonable, even gratis to the poor. Within a few months, he was able to earn P900 as
a physician, by February, 1888, he earned a total of P5,000 as medical fees.
 Unlike many successful medical practitioners, Rizal did not selfishly devote all his time to enriching himself. He
opened a gymnasium for young folks, where he introduced European sports. He tried to interest his town mates in
gymnastics, fencing and shooting so as to discourage the cockfights and gambling.
 Rizal suffered one failure during his six months of sojourn in Calamba - his failure to see Leonor Rivera. He tried
to go to Dagupan, but his parents absolutely forbade him to go because Leonor's mother did not like him for a
son-in-law. With a heavy heart, Rizal bowed to his parent's wish. He was caught within the iron grip of the custom
of his time that marriages must be arranged by the parents of both groom and bride.
Storm over the Noli

Meanwhile, as Rizal was peacefully living in Calamba, his enemies plotted his doom.

 Aside from practising medicine, attending to his gymnasium, which he established, and taking part in the town's
civic affairs, he painted several beautiful landscapes and translated the German poems of Von Wildernath into
Tagalog.
 A few weeks after his arrival, a storm broke over his novel. One day Rizal received a letter from, Governor
General Emilio Terrero (1885-88) requesting him to come to Malacañang Palace. Somebody had whispered to
the governor's ear that the Noli contained subversive ideas.
 Rizal went to Manila and appeared at Malacañang. When he was informed by Governor General Terrero of the
charge, he denied it, explaining that he merely exposed the truth, but he did not advocate subversive ideas.
 Pleased by his explanation and curious about the controversial book, the governor general asked the author for a
copy of the Noli so that he could read it. Rizal had no copy then because the only copy he brought home was
given to a friend. However, he promised to secure one for the governor general.
 Rizal visited the Jesuit fathers to ask for the copy he sent them, but they would not part with it. The Jesuits,
especially his former professors - Fr. Francisco de Paula Sanchez, Fr. Jose Bech, and Fr. Federico Faura - were
glad to see him. He had a spirited discussion with Father Faura, who ventured an opinion that "everything in it
was the trüth" but added: “You may lose your head for it".
 Fortunately, Rizal found a copy in the hands of a friend. He was able to get it, and gave it to Governor General
Terrero. The governor general, who was a liberal-minded Spaniard, knew that Rizal's life was in jeopardy because
the friars were powerful.
 For security measure, he assigned a young Spanish lieutenant, Don Jose Taviel de Andrade, as bodyguard of
Rizal. This lieutenant belonged to a noble family. He was cultured and knew painting, and could speak English,
French, and Spanish.
 Governor General Terrero read the Noli and found nothing wrong with it. But Rizal's enemies were powerful. The
Archbishop of Manila, Msgr. Pedro Payo (a Dominican) sent a copy of the Noli to Father Rector Gregorio
Echavarria of the University of Santo Tomas for examination by a committee of the faculty.
 The committee, which was composed of Dominican professors, submitted its report to the Father Rector, who
immediately transmitted it to Archbishop Payo. The archbishop, in turn, lost no time in forwarding it to the
governor general.
 This report of the faculty members of the University of Santo Tomas stated that the Noli was "heretical, impious,
and scandalous in the religious order, and anti-patriotic, subversive of public order, injurious to the government of
Spain and its function in the Philippine Islands in the political order”.
 Governor General Terrero was dissatisfied with the report of the Dominicans, for he knew that the Dominicans
were prejudiced against Rizal. He sent the novel to the Permanent Commission of Censorship which was
composed of priests and laymen. The report of this commission was drafted by its head, Fr. Salvador Font,
Augustinian cura of Tondo, and submitted to the governor general on December 29. It found the novel to contain
subversive ideas against the Church and Spain, and recommended "that the importation, reproduction and
circulation of this pernicious book in the islands be absolutely prohibited"
 When the newspapers published Font's written report of the censorship commission, Rizal and his friends
became apprehensive and uneasy. The enemies of Rizal exulted in unholy glee. The banning of the Noli only
served to make it popular. Everybody wanted to read it.
 News about the great book spread among the masses. What the hated Spanish masters did not like, the
oppressed masses liked very much.
 Despite the government prohibition and the vigilance of the cruel Guardia Civil many Filipinos were able to get
hold of copies of the Noli which they read at night behind closed doors.
 Thanks to Governor General Terrero, there were no mass imprisonments, or mass execution of Filipinos. He
refused to be intimidated by the friars who clamored for harsh measures against people caught reading the novel
and its author.

Attackers of the Noli

 The battle over the Noli took the form of a virulent war of words. Father Font printed his report and distributed
copies of it in order to discredit the controversial novel.
 Another Augustinian, Fr. Jose Rodriguez, Prior of Guadalupe, published a series of eight pamphlets under the
general heading Cuestiones de Sumo Interes (Questions of Supreme Interest) to blast the Noli and other anti-
Spanish writings.
These eight pamphlets were entitled as follows:
1. Porque no los he de leer? (Why Should I not Read Them?)
2. Guardaos de ellos. Porque? (Beware of Them. Why?)
3. Y-que me dice usted de la peste? (And What Can You Tell Me of Plague?)
4. Porque triunfan los impios? (Why Do the Impious Triumph?)
5. Cree usted que de veras no hay purgatorio? (Do You Think There Is Really No Purgatory?)
6. Hay o no hay infierno? (Is There or Is There No Hell?)
 7. Que le parece a usted de esos libelos? (What Do You Think of These Libels?).
8. Confesion o condenacion? (Confession or Damnation?)

 Copies of these anti-Rizal pamphlets written by Fray Rodriguez were sold daily in the churches after Mass. Many
Filipinos were forced to buy them in order not to displease the friars, but they did not believe what their author
said with hysterical fervor.
 Repercussions of the storm over the Noli reached Spain. It was fiercely, attacked on the session hall of the
Senate of the Spanish Cortes by various senators, particularly General Jose de Salamanca on April 1, 1888,
General Luis M. de Pando on April 12, and,Sr. Fernando Vida on June 11.
 The Spanish academician of Madrid, Vicente Barantes, who formerly occupied high government positions in the
Philippines, bitterly criticized the Noli in an article published in La España Moderna (a newspaper of Madrid) in
January, 1890.

Defenders of the Noli

 The much-maligned Noli had its gallant defenders who fearlessly came out to prove the merits of the novel or to
refute the arguments of the unkind attackers.
 Marcelo H. del Pilar, Dr. Antonio Ma. Regidor, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Mariano Ponce, and other Filipino
reformists in foreign lands, of course, rushed to uphold the truths of the Noli.
 Father Sanchez, Rizal's favorite teacher at the Ateneo, defended and praised it in public. Don Segismundo Moret,
former Minister of the Crown; Dr. Miguel Morayta, historian and statesman; and Professor Blumentritt, scholar and
educator, read and liked the novel.
 A brilliant defense of the Noli came from an unexpected source. It was by Rev, Vicente Garcia, a Filipino Catholic
priest-scholar, a theologian of the Manila Cathedral, and a Tagalog translator of the famous Imitation of Christ by
Thomas a Kempis.
 Father Garcia, writing under the penname Justo Desiderio Magalang, wrote a defense of the Noli which was
published in Singapore as an appendix to a pamphlet dated July 18, 1888,
He blasted the arguments of Fr. Rodriguez as follows:
1. Rizal cannot be an ignorant man", as Fr. Rodriguez alleged, because he was a graduate of Spanish
universities and was a recipient of scholastic honors.
2. Rizal does not attack the Church and Spain, as F1. Rodriguez claimed, because what Rizal attacked in
the Noli were the bad Spanish officials and not Spain, and the bad and corrupt friars and not the Church.
3. Father Rodriguez said that those who read the Noli commit a mortal sin; since he (Rodriguez) had read
the novel, therefore he also commits a mortal sin.

 Later, when Rizal learned of the brilliant defense of Father Garcia of his novel, he cried because his gratitude was
overwhelming.
 Rizal, himself defended his novel against Barrantes' attack, in a letter written in Brussels, Belgium, in February,
1880. In this letter, he exposed Barrantes' ignorance of Philippine affairs and mental dishonesty which is unworthy
of an academician Barrantes met in Rizal his master in satire and polemics.
 During the days when the Noli was the target of a heated controversy between the friars (and their minions) and
the friends of Rizal, all copies of it were sold out and the price per copy soared to unprecedented level. Both
friends and enemies of the Noli found it extremely difficult to secure a copy.
 According to Rizal, in a letter to Fernando Canon from Geneva, June 13, 1887, the price he set per copy was five
pesetas (equivalent to one peso), but the price later rose to fifty pesos per copy.

Rizal and Taviel de Andrade

 While the storm over the Noli was raging in fury, Rizal was not molested in Calamba. This is due to Governor
General Terrero's generosity in assigning a bodyguard to him. Between this Spanish bodyguard, Lt. Jose
Taviel de Andrade, and Rizal, a beautiful friendship bloomed.
 Together, Rizal and Andrade, both young, educated and cultured, made walking tours of the verdant
countrysides, discussed topics of common interest, and enjoyed fencing, shooting, hunting and painting. Lt.
Andrade became a great admirer of the man he was ordered to watch and protect.
 What marred Rizal's happy days in Calamba with Lt. Andrade were (1) the death of his older sister, Olimpia,
and (2) the groundless tales circulated by his enemies that he was "a German spy, an agent of Bismarck, a
Protestant, a Mason, a witch, a soul beyond salvation, etc.

Calamba's Agrarian Trouble

 Governor General Terrero, influenced by certain facts in Noli Me Tangere, ordered a government investigation
of the friar estates to remedy whatever iniquities might have been present in connection with land taxes and
with tenant relations.
  One of the friar estates affected was the Calamba Hacienda which the Dominican Order owned since 1883. In
compliance with the governor general's orders, dated December 30, 1887, the Civil Governor of Laguna
Province directed the municipal authorities of Calamba to investigate the agrarian conditions of their locality.
 Upon hearing of the investigation, the Calamba folks solicited Rizal's help in gathering the facts and listing
their grievances against the hacienda management, so that the central government might institute certain
agrarian reforms. After a thorough study of the conditions in Calamba, Rizal rote down his findings which the
tenants and three of the officials of the hacienda signed on January 8, 1888. These findings, which were
formally submitted to the government for action, were the following:
(1) The hacienda of the Dominican Order comprised not only the lands around Calamba, but also the
town of Calamba.
(2) The profits of the Dominican Order continually increased because of the arbitrary increase of the
rentals paid by the tenants.
(3) The hacienda owner never contributed a single centavo for the celebration of the town fiesta, for the
education of the chịldren, and for the improvement of agriculture.
(4) Tenants who had spent much labor in clearing the lands were dispossessed of said lands for flimsy
reasons.
(5) High rates of interest were charged the tenants for delayed payment of rentals, and when the rentals
could not be paid, the hacienda management confiscated their carabaos, tools, and homes.

Farewell to Calamba

 Rizal's exposure of the deplorable Conditions of tenancy in Calamba infuriated further his eniemies. The
friars exerted pressure on Malacañang Palace to eliminate him. They asked Governor General Terrero to
deport him, but the latter refused because there was no valid charge against Rizal in court.
 Anonymous threats against Rizal's life were received by his parents. The alarmed parents, relatives and
friends (including Lt. Taviel de Andrade) advised him to go away, for his life was in danger.
 One day Governor General Terrero summoned Rizal and "advised" him to leave the Philippines for his
own good. He was giving Rizal a chance to escape the fury of the friars' wrath.
 This time Rizal had to go. He could not very well disobey the governor general's veiled orders.
 He was compelled to leave Calamba for two reasons:
(1) his presence in Calamba was jeopardizing the safety and happiness of his family and friends and
(2) he could fight better his enemies and serve his country's cause with greater efficacy by writing in
foreign countries.

A Poem for Lipa

 Shortly before Rizal left Calamba in 1888 his friend from Lipa requested him to write a poem in commemoration of
the town's elevation to a villa (city) by virtue of the Becerra Law of 1888. Gladly, he wrote a poem dedicated to the
industrious folks of Lipa. This was the "Himno Al Trabajo" (Hymn to Labor). He finished it and sent it to Lipa
before his departure from Calamba.