THE LIFE AND WORKS OF JOSE

RIZAL: THE ULTIMATE

COMPREHENSIVE STUDY GUIDE
MODULE 1: THE RIZAL LAW (REPUBLIC
ACT 1425)
Date of Approval: June 12, 1956

Signatories: Signed into law by President Ramon Magsaysay.

Authors/Sponsors: Sen. Claro M. Recto (Main Author) and Sen.

Jose P. Laurel (Sponsor/Chairman of Committee on Education).

1.1 The Rationale and Mandate

●​ Nationalism: To rededicate the lives of the youth to the ideals
of freedom and nationalism, for which our heroes lived and
died.
●​ Honor: To pay tribute to the national hero for shaping the
Filipino character.
●​ Mandate: Sections 1-3 require the inclusion of Rizal’s life,
works, and writings in the curricula of all public and private
schools, colleges, and universities.
●​ Section 2: Requires all schools to keep an adequate number
of unexpurgated copies of the Noli and Fili in their libraries.
●​ Section 3: Directs the Board of National Education to cause
the translation of the novels into English, Tagalog, and
principal Philippine dialects.
1.2 The Controversy and Debates
●​ Religious Opposition: The Catholic Action of the Philippines
and the Knights of Columbus claimed the novels were
"heretical."
●​ Prominent Opponents: Sen. Decoroso Rosales, Sen. Mariano
Cuenco, and Sen. Francisco "Soc" Rodrigo.
●​ The Compromise: Students can apply for an exemption from
reading the unexpurgated versions for religious reasons, but
must still take the course.

MODULE 2: 19th CENTURY PHILIPPINES IN

GLOBAL CONTEXT
2.1 The Rise of the Chinese Mestizo
●​ Economic Shift: The end of the Galleon Trade (1815) allowed
Chinese Mestizos to become the Inquilinos (middlemen) of
Friar estates. This wealth funded the Ilustrado class.
2.2 Socio-Political Foundations
●​ Opening of Manila (1834): Transition from Mercantilism to
Laissez-Faire.
●​ The Suez Canal (1869): Reduced travel time from 4 months
to 30 days, allowing liberal European ideas to flood the colony.
●​ The Guardia Civil (1868): Originally meant for bandits, it
became a tool for civilian oppression.

MODULE 3: ANCESTRY AND FORMATIVE

YEARS (1861-1882)
3.1 Genealogy
●​ Paternal: Domingo Lam-co (Chinese immigrant) changed the
name to "Mercado" (Market) to avoid anti-Chinese sentiment.
●​ Maternal: Doña Teodora’s lineage included Japanese and
Tagalog nobility (Lakandula).
●​ The Sibling Dynamic: Paciano, 10 years older, was Jose's
primary mentor and the link to the revolutionary ideas of Fr.
Jose Burgos.
3.2 The Calamba Context
●​ The Town: A prosperous hacienda town owned by the
Dominicans.
●​ Early Sorrows: Death of Concepcion (age 3) and the unjust
imprisonment of his mother (1871) for a crime she didn't
commit.

MODULE 4: ACADEMIC SOJOURNS

4.1 Ateneo Municipal (1872-1877)
●​ Jesuit Education: Focused on "Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam" (For
the Greater Glory of God).
●​ System: Internos (Roman Empire) vs. Externos (Carthaginian
Empire). Rizal rose from "Licean" to "Emperor."
●​ Key Teacher: Fr. Francisco de Paula Sanchez, who
encouraged his literature.
4.2 University of Santo Tomas (1877-1882)
●​ Discrimination: Rizal felt the Dominican professors were
biased against Filipinos.
●​ Literary Success: A La Juventud Filipina (1879) won a silver
 quill, the first time a Filipino called the Philippines his
"Fatherland."

MODULE 5: THE FIRST EUROPEAN

TRAVELS (1882-1887)
5.1 Route to Spain
1.​Singapore: First stop; he admired its progress and the
cleanliness of the British colony.
2.​Colombo (Sri Lanka): Noted its scenic beauty but lamented
the "unhappy" state of the people.
3.​Egypt: Passed through the Suez Canal; he was fascinated by
the engineering of Ferdinand de Lesseps.
4.​Naples and Marseilles: His first glimpse of European
freedom.
5.2 Life in Madrid
●​ Enrolled at the Universidad Central de Madrid for Medicine
and Philosophy & Letters.
●​ The Brindis Speech (1884): A public declaration that genius
is not the monopoly of one race. This made him a marked man
in the Philippines.

MODULE 6: NOLI ME TANGERE (1887)

6.1 The Writing Process
●​ Started in Madrid, continued in Paris, finished in Berlin.
●​ The Savior: Maximo Viola paid for the printing of the first
2,000 copies.
6.2 Major Characters & Symbols
●​ Crisostomo Ibarra: The reformist intellectual.
●​ Elias: The noble commoner who believes in radical change.
●​ Maria Clara: The victim of institutional greed; a symbol of the
Philippines.
●​ Padre Damaso: The personification of the "Bad
Friar"—arrogant and cruel.
●​ Tasio the Philosopher: The intellectual isolated from a
superstitious society.

MODULE 7: THE PROPAGANDA

MOVEMENT & LONDON
7.1 Annotating Morga (1888-1889)
●​ Rizal stayed in London at the Beckett home.
●​ He hand-copied Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas
Filipinas (1609) in the British Museum.
●​ Purpose: To correct Spanish claims that Filipinos were
savages before colonization.
7.2 La Solidaridad
●​ The organ of the Propaganda Movement.
●​ Rizal's Articles: Los Agricultores Filipinos, La Verdad Para
Todos, and the prophetic Filipinas Dentro de Cien Años.

MODULE 8: EL FILIBUSTERISMO (1891)

8.1 Darker Themes
●​ Dedicated to the Gomburza.
●​ Simoun (the disguised Ibarra) uses wealth and corruption to
 hasten the decay of the Spanish government to trigger a
revolution.
8.2 The Philosophical Failure
●​ Fr. Florentino: The wise priest who tells the dying Simoun that
revolution fails if it is driven by hate and personal vengeance.
"Where are the youth who will consecrate their golden hours...
for the welfare of their native land?"

MODULE 9: THE CALAMBA HACIENDA

CASE
●​ The Dominicans increased land rent as the town grew.
●​ Rizal advised the tenants to sue for receipts.
●​ The Aftermath: General Valeriano Weyler sent the military.
300 families were evicted. This radicalized Rizal’s view of
Spain.

MODULE 10: DAPITAN EXILE (1892-1896)

10.1 The Polymath at Work
●​ Linguistics: He mastered 22 languages, including Tagalog,
Spanish, German, French, English, Arabic, Hebrew, and
Sanskrit.
●​ The Farmer: He bought 16 hectares of land and planted
cacao, coffee, and fruit trees.
●​ The Engineer: He built a dam and a water-supply system
using clay tiles and lime.
10.2 Scientific Discoveries
●​ Apogonia rizali (beetle)
●​ Draco rizali (flying lizard)
●​ Rhacophorus rizali (frog)

MODULE 11: TRIAL AND EXECUTION (1896)

11.1 The Arrest
●​ While on his way to Cuba as a volunteer doctor, he was
arrested in Barcelona and returned to Manila.
11.2 The Trial
●​ Prosecutor: Capt. Rafael Dominguez.
●​ Defense: Lt. Luis Taviel de Andrade.
●​ Charges: Rebellion, Sedition, and Formation of Illegal
Associations.
●​ Evidence: His poems (A Talisay), letters, and the fact that he
was the "honorary president" of the Katipunan.
11.3 December 30, 1896
●​ Location: Bagumbayan (now Rizal Park).
●​ Final Act: He requested to be shot in the chest, not the back.
He turned as he fell to face the sky.

MODULE 12: RIZAL'S SOCIOLOGICAL

ANALYSIS
12.1 "On the Indolence of the Filipinos"
●​ He argued that the Filipino is not lazy by nature but by
circumstance: the tropical heat, the lack of trade incentives,
and the bad examples set by Spanish officials.
12.2 "The Philippines a Century Hence"
●​ Predicted that the Philippines would gain independence and
that the United States would eventually colonize the islands.

MODULE 13: THE WOMEN OF RIZAL

1.​Segunda Katigbak: Puppy love; he was too shy to propose.
2.​Leonor Rivera: His sweetheart for 11 years; the real-life Maria
Clara.
3.​O-Sei-San: The Japanese girl who taught him the art of
Su-mie.
4.​Nellie Boustead: Almost married her, but she wanted him to
become a Protestant.
5.​Josephine Bracken: His common-law wife in Dapitan; she
was by his side until his final breath.

MODULE 14: THE RETRACTION DEBATE

●​ Pro-Retraction: Claims he signed a document returning to
the Church to marry Josephine.
●​ Anti-Retraction: His burial in a "pauper's grave"
(unconsecrated ground) suggests he died an
excommunicated Mason.

MODULE 15: THE LINGUISTIC GENIUS

●​ Rizal translated Schiller's William Tell and Andersen’s Fairy
Tales into Tagalog to introduce European concepts of liberty
and folk wisdom to his countrymen.

MODULE 16: THE DEFENSE OF THE INDIO

●​ In his essay La Instruccion, he criticized the friars for teaching
children to pray by rote while keeping them ignorant of
 science and the Spanish language.

MODULE 17: RIZAL AS A MASON

●​ Joined the Lodge Acacia in Madrid (1883).
●​ Reason: He believed Masonry provided a platform for free
thought and brotherhood outside the control of the friars.

MODULE 18: THE PHILOSOPHY OF

NON-VIOLENCE
●​ Rizal believed in "Evolution, not Revolution."
●​ He argued that a people must first be educated and worthy of
freedom before they can successfully govern themselves.

MODULE 19: POST-MORTEM LEGACY

●​ Dec 30, 1898: First Rizal Day celebrated by the Aguinaldo
government.
●​ 1901: The American government (Taft Commission) officially
recognized him as the National Hero.

MODULE 20: SUMMARY FOR EXAMS

●​ Birth: June 19, 1861.
●​ Death: Dec 30, 1896.
●​ Noli Publication: 1887 (Berlin).
●​ Fili Publication: 1891 (Ghent).
●​ Propaganda Paper: La Solidaridad.
●​ Civic Group: La Liga Filipina.

REFERENCES
1.​Guerrero, Leon Ma. (1963). The First Filipino.
2.​Zaide, Gregorio F. (2014). Jose Rizal: Life, Works, and
Writings.
3.​Schumacher, John N. (1997). The Propaganda Movement.
4.​Locsin, Ma. Soledad. Translations of Noli and Fili.
5.​National Historical Commission of the Philippines. Rizal's
Correspondence.