RIZAL’S LIFE:

HIS INTELLECTUAL, ETHICAL, MORAL, AND SOCIAL GROWTH

ALVIN KRIS B. ALIC

09472646753 | FB: Alvin Alic
Email: alic_alvin@fbc.ph.education

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 SUBJECT PRIMER
SUBJECT: RIZAL’S LIFE: HIS INTELLECTUAL, ETHICAL, MORAL, AND SOCIAL GROWTH
Term Outcomes:
 Bridge the previous learning on Rizal’s backdrop with his life experiences.
 Identify the general beliefs and principles of Rizalistas.
 Examine the family, childhood, education, and careers of Rizal in Europe.
 Relate the romantic experiences of Rizal with the total development of his humanity.
TOPICS:
 Rizal’s Family, Childhood, Education, and Career
 The GomBurZa Execution and Rizal’s Awakening
 The Propaganda Movement and La Liga Filipina

PERFORMANCE TASK: Personal Retrospection

Rizal’s life would be impossible to study if he ceased to write his significant experiences through a
journal. As a Rizal student, you are vested with a moral responsibility to emulate, not just study, his life and
works. Thus, for this subject, you will be required to write a reflective essay.
Make a reflective essay about any event from your past. If it was important to you, it would be a good
topic. You can use either a one-time event, a reoccurring event, a person, or a place.
Brainstorm ideas by thinking about any of the following:
1. A relationship with an important person.
2. A single encounter with someone that changed you.
3. An event that was small but significant.
4. A major, life-changing event.
5. Something that you did over and over that was meaningful to you.
6. Your experience and memories of a place that embodies who you are, or has meaning for
you.
7. A time you were scared but overcame your fear.
8. An ending of a relationship, activity, or event.
9. A beginning of something new.
10. A time you felt embarrassed or guilty.

To make sure you have a good topic, you need to determine what the meaning of that event or person
was for you. To help you get ideas about the meaning and to decide whether this topic is a good choice, jot
down some notes answering the following 5 questions:
 What did I think the meaning of the experience was when it happened?
 How have my thoughts about it changed?
 What did I learn?
 How has my life direction been affected by this event?
 Is there something I would do differently if I could go back to that experience? Any regrets?

Although it will manifest the virtue of interiority, it is encouraged that your reflections should be relevant
to the social realities and should aim to awaken people’s social awareness. Submit your works in a .pdf
format by turning in to Google Classroom on or before the deadline set by your instructor.

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 MODULE 4
RIZAL’S FAMILY, CHILDHOOD, EDUCATION, AND CAREER
Most Essential Learning Outcomes
At the end of this module, the learners are expected to:
1. Identify the significant factors contributed to Rizals being a hero;
2. Know how his parents mold him to become a better person; and
3. Appreciate the qualities of Rizal as a child to his parents, student, champion and genius

The Hero in a Nutshell:

 Patriot
 Physician
 Man of Letters who was an inspiration to the Philippine nationalist movement
 National Hero and pride of the Malayan race
LESSON INPUTS:

Rizal’S Childhood and Family Life

JOSE RIZAL, the seventh child of Francisco Mercado Rizal and Teodora Alonso y Quintos, was
born in Calamba, Laguna. He was baptized JOSE RIZAL MERCADO at the Catholic of Calamba by the
parish priest Rev. Rufino Collantes with Rev. Pedro Casañas as the sponsor. However, the parochial
church of Calamba and the canonical books, including the book in which Rizal’s baptismal records
were entered, were burned.

Barely three years old, Rizal learned the alphabet from his mother.When he was four years old,
his sister Conception, the eight child in the Rizal family, died at the age of three. It was on this occasion
that Rizal remembered having shed real tears for the first time. During this time his mother taught him
how to read and write. His father hired a classmate by the name of Leon Monroy who, for five months
until his (Monroy) death, taught Rizal the rudiments of Latin.

At about this time two of his mother’s cousin frequented Calamba. Uncle Manuel Alberto,
seeing Rizal frail in body, concerned himself with the physical development of his young nephew and
taught the latter love for the open air and developed in him a great admiration for the beauty of nature,
while Uncle Gregorio, a scholar, instilled into the mind of the boy love for education. He advised Rizal:
"Work hard and perform every task very carefully; learn to be swift as well as thorough; be independent
in thinking and make visual pictures of everything."

With his father, Rizal made a pilgrimage to Antipolo to fulfill the vow made by his mother to take
the child to the Shrine of the Virgin of Antipolo should she and her child survive the ordeal of delivery
which nearly caused his mother’s life. From there they proceeded to Manila and visited his sister
Saturnina who was at the time studying in the La Concordia College in Sta. Ana. At the age of eight,
Rizal wrote his first poem entitled "Sa Aking Mga Kabata." The poem was written in tagalog and had for
its theme "Love of One’s Language."

EARLY EDUCATION IN CALAMBA AND BIÑAN

Rizal had his early education in Calamba and Biñan. It was a typical schooling that a son of an
ilustrado family received during his time, characterized by the four R’s- reading, writing, arithmetic, and
religion. Instruction was rigid and strict. Knowledge was forced into the minds of the pupils by means of
the tedious memory method aided by the teacher’s whip. Despite the defects of the Spanish system of
elementary education, Rizal was able to acquire the necessary instruction preparatory for college work

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in Manila. It may be said that Rizal, who was born a physical weakling, rose to become an intellectual
giant not because of, but rather in spite of, the outmoded and backward system of instruction obtaining
in the Philippines during the last decades of Spanish regime.

The Hero’s First Teacher

The first teacher of Rizal was his mother, who was a remarkable woman of good character and
fine culture. On her lap, he learned at the age of three the alphabet and the prayers. "My mother,"
wrote Rizal in his student memoirs, "taught me how to read and to say haltingly the humble prayers
which I raised fervently to God."
As tutor, Doña Teodora was patient, conscientious, and understanding. It was she who first
discovered that her son had a talent for poetry. Accordingly, she encouraged him to write poems. To
lighten the monotony of memorizing the ABC’s and to stimulate her son’s imagination, she related
many stories.
As Jose grew older, his parents employed private tutors to give him lessons at home. The first
was Maestro Celestino and the second, Maestro Lucas Padua. Later, an old man named Leon Monroy,
a former classmate of Rizal’s father, became the boy’s tutor. This old teacher lived at the Rizal home
and instructed Jose in Spanish and Latin. Unfortunately, he did not lived long. He died five months
later.
After a Monroy’s death, the hero’s parents decided to send their gifted son to a private school in
Biñan.

Jose Goes to Biñan

One Sunday afternoon in June , 1869, Jose, after kissing the hands of his parents and a tearful
parting from his sister, left Calamba for Biñan. He was accompanied by Paciano , who acted as his
second father. The two brothers rode in a carromata, reaching their destination after one and one-half
hours’ drive. They proceeded to their aunt’s house, where Jose was to lodge. It was almost night when
they arrived, and the moon was about to rise.
That same night, Jose, with his cousin named Leandro, went sightseeing in the town. Instead of
enjoying the sights, Jose became depressed because of homesickness. "In the moonlight," he
recounted, "I remembered my home town, my idolized mother, and my solicitous sisters. Ah, how
sweet to me was Calamba, my own town, in spite of the fact that was not as wealthy as Biñan."

First Day in Biñan School

The next morning (Monday) Paciano brought his younger brother to the school of Maestro
Justiniano Aquino Cruz.
The school was in the house of the teacher, which was a small nipa hut about 30 meters from
the home of Jose’s aunt.
Paciano knew the teacher quite well because he had been a pupil under him before. He
introduced Jose to the teacher, after which he departed to return to Calamba.
Immediately, Jose was assigned his seat in the class. The teacher asked him:
"Do you know Spanish?"
"A little, sir," replied the Calamba lad.
"Do you know Latin?"
"A little, sir."
The boys in the class, especially Pedro, the teacher’s son laughed at Jose’s answers.
The teacher sharply stopped all noises and begun the lessons of the day.
Jose described his teacher in Biñan as follows: "He was tall, thin, long-necked, with sharp nose
and a body slightly bent forward, and he used to wear a sinamay shirt, woven by the skilled hands of
the women of Batangas. He knew by the heart the grammars by Nebrija and Gainza. Add to this
severity that in my judgement was exaggerated and you have a picture, perhaps vague, that I have
made of him, but I remember only this."

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 First School BrawlIn the afternoon of his first day in school, when the teacher was having his
siesta, Jose met the bully, Pedro. He was angry at this bully for making fun of him during his
conversation with the teacher in the morning.
Jose challenged Pedro to a fight. The latter readily accepted, thinking that he could easily beat
the Calamba boy who was smaller and younger.
The two boys wrestled furiously in the classroom, much to the glee of their classmates. Jose,
having learned the art of wrestling from his athletic Tio Manuel, defeated the bigger boy. For this feat,
he became popular among his classmates.
After the class in the afternoon, a classmate named Andres Salandanan challenged him to an
arm-wrestling match. They went to a sidewalk of a house and wrestled with their arms. Jose, having
the weaker arm, lost and nearly cracked his head on the sidewalk.
In succeeding days he had other fights with the boys of Biñan. He was not quarrelsome by
nature, but he never ran away from a fight.

Best Student in School

In academic studies, Jose beat all Biñan boys. He surpassed them all in Spanish, Latin, and
other subjects.
Some of his older classmates were jealous of his intellectual superiority. They wickedly
squealed to the teacher whenever Jose had a fight outside the school, and even told lies to discredit
him before the teacher’s eyes. Consequently the teacher had to punish Jose.

Early Schooling in Biñan

Jose had a very vivid imagination and a very keen sense of observation. At the age of seven he
traveled with his father for the first time to Manila and thence to Antipolo to fulfill the promise of a
pilgrimage made by his mother at the time of his birth. They embarked in a casco, a very ponderous
vessel commonly used in the Philippines. It was the first trip on the lake that Jose could recollect. As
darkness fell he spent the hours by the katig, admiring the grandeur of the water and the stillness of
the night, although he was seized with a superstitious fear when he saw a water snake entwine itself
around the bamboo beams of the katig. With what joy did he see the sun at the daybreak as its
luminous rays shone upon the glistening surface of the wide lake, producing a brilliant effect! With what
joy did he talk to his father, for he had not uttered a word during the night!
When they proceeded to Antipolo, he experienced the sweetest emotions upon seeing the gay
banks of the Pasig and the towns of Cainta and Taytay. In Antipolo he prayed, kneeling before the
image of the Virgin of Peace and Good Voyage, of whom he would later sing in elegant verses. Then
he saw Manila, the great metropolis , with its Chinese sores and European bazaars. And visited his
elder sister, Saturnina, in Santa Ana, who was a boarding student in the Concordia College.
When he was nine years old, his father sent him to Biñan to continue studying Latin, because
his first teacher had died. His brother Paciano took him to Biñan one Sunday, and Jose bade his
parents and sisters good-bye with tears in his eyes. Oh, how it saddened him to leave for the first time
and live far from his home and his family! But he felt ashamed to cry and had to conceal his tears and
sentiments. "O Shame," he explained, "how many beautiful and pathetic scenes the world would
witness without thee!"
They arrived at Biñan in the evening. His brother took him to the house of his aunt where he
was to stay, and left him after introducing him to the teacher. At night, in company with his aunt’s
grandson named Leandro, Jose took a walk around the town in the light of the moon. To him the town
looked extensive and rich but sad and ugly.
His teacher in Biñan was a severe disciplinarian. His name was Justiniano Aquino Cruz. "He
was a tall man, lean and long-necked, with a sharp nose and a body slightly bent forward. He used to
wear a sinamay shirt woven by the deft hands of Batangas women. He knew by memory the grammars
of Nebrija and Gainza. To this add a severity which, in my judgement I have made of him, which is all I
remember."

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 The boy Jose distinguished himself in class, and succeeded in surpassing many of his older
classmates. Some of these were so wicked that, even without reason, they accused him before the
teacher, for which, in spite of his progress, he received many whippings and strokes from the ferule.
Rare was the day when he was not stretched on the bench for a whipping or punished with five or six
blows on the open palm. Jose’s reaction to all these punishments was one of intense resentment in
order to learn and thus carry out his father’s will.
Jose spent his leisure hours with Justiniano’s father-in-law, a master painter. From him he took
his first two sons, two nephews, and a grandson. His way life was methodical and well regulated. He
heard mass at four if there was one that early, or studied his lesson at that hour and went to mass
afterwards. Returning home, he might look in the orchard for a mambolo fruit to eat, then he took his
breakfast, consisting generally of a plate of rice and two dried sardines.
After that he would go to class, from which he was dismissed at ten, then home again. He ate
with his aunt and then began at ten, then home again. He ate with his aunt and then began to study. At
half past two he returned to class and left at five. He might play for a short time with some cousins
before returning home. He studied his lessons, drew for a while, and then prayed and if there was a
moon, his friends would invite him to play in the street in company with other boys.
Whenever he remembered his town, he thought with tears in his eyes of his beloved father, his
idolized mother, and his solicitous sisters. Ah, how sweet was his town even though not so opulent as
Biñan! He grew sad and thoughtful.
While he was studying in Biñan, he returned to his hometown now and then. How long the road
seemed to him in going and how short in coming! When from afar he descried the roof of his house,
secret joy filled his breast. How he looked for pretexts to remain longer at home! A day more seemed
to him a day spent in heaven, and how he wept, though silently and secretly, when he saw the calesa
that was flower that him Biñan! Then everything looked sad; a flower that he touched, a stone that
attracted his attention he gathered, fearful that he might not see it again upon his return. It was a sad
but delicate and quite pain that possessed him.

SUMMARY
1. Rizal’s family and socioeconomic status was fair before the Spanish class. He came from a
middle-class and business-oriented family.
2. Rizal’s socio-economic background therefore, magnified his patriotism and nationalism that
despite of his life’s comfort, he chose to go the other way for his fellow Filipinos.
3. Education became a dominant force that influenced Rizal’s values and ethics.

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 MODULE 5
THE GOMBURZA EXECUTION AND RIZAL’S AWAKENING
Most Essential Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this module, the learners are expected to:
 Discuss the women of Rizal and their personal influences
 Appreciate the act of personal sacrifices for a greater cause
 Exhibit selflessness and self-love properly in diverse situations

Introduction
On January 20, 1872, two hundred Filipinos employed at the Cavite arsenal staged a revolt
against the Spanish government’s voiding of their exemption from the payment of tributes. The Cavite
Mutiny led to the persecution of prominent Filipinos; secular priests Mariano Gómez, José Burgos, and
Jacinto Zamora—who would then be collectively named GomBurZa—were tagged as the masterminds
of the uprising. The priests were charged with treason and sedition by the Spanish military tribunal—a
ruling believed to be part of a conspiracy to stifle the growing popularity of Filipino secular priests and
the threat they posed to the Spanish clergy. The GomBurZa were publicly executed, by garrote, on the
early morning of February 17, 1872 at Bagumbayan.
The Archbishop of Manila refused to defrock them, and ordered the bells of every church to toll in
honor of their deaths; the Sword, in this instance, denied the moral justification of the Cross. The
martyrdom of the three secular priests would resonate among Filipinos; grief and outrage over their
execution would make way for the first stirrings of the Filipino revolution, thus making the first secular
martyrs of a nascent national identity. Jose Rizal would dedicate his second novel, El Filibusterismo, to
the memory of GomBurZa, to what they stood for, and to the symbolic weight their deaths would
henceforth hold:
The Government, by enshrouding your trial in mystery and pardoning your co-accused,
has suggested that some mistake was committed when your fate was decided; and the whole
of the Philippines, in paying homage to your memory and calling you martyrs, totally rejects
your guilt. The Church, by refusing to degrade you, has put in doubt the crime charged against
you.

The Execution of GomBurZa

by Edmond Plauchut, as Quoted by Jaime Veneracion

Late in the night of the 15th of February 1872, a Spanish court martial found three secular priests,
Jose Burgos, Mariano Gomez and Jacinto Zamora, guilty of treason as the instigators of a mutiny in
the Kabite navy-yard a month before, and sentenced them to death. The judgement of the court martial
was read to the priests in Fort Santiago early in the next morning and they were told it would be
executed the following day… Upon hearing the sentence, Burgos broke into sobs, Zamora lost his
mind and never recovered it, and only Gomez listened impassively, an old man accustomed to the
thought of death.
When dawn broke on the 17th of February there were almost forty thousand of Filipinos (who
came from as far as Bulakan, Pampanga, Kabite and Laguna) surrounding the four platforms where
the three priests and the man whose testimony had convicted them, a former artilleryman called
Saldua, would die.
The three priests followed Saldua: Burgos ‘weeping like a child’, Zamora with vacant eyes, and
Gomez head held high, blessing the Filipinos who knelt at his feet, heads bared and praying. He was
next to die. When his confessor, a Recollect friar , exhorted him loudly to accept his fate, he replied:
“Father, I know that not a leaf falls to the ground but by the will of God. Since He wills that I should die
here, His holy will be done.”

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Zamora went up the scaffold without a word and delivered his body to the executioner; his mind had
already left it.
Burgos was the last, a refinement of cruelty that compelled him to watch the death of his
companions. He seated himself on the iron rest and then sprang up crying: “But what crime have I
committed? Is it possible that I should die like this. My God, is there no justice on earth?”
A dozen friars surrounded him and pressed him down again upon the seat of the garrote, pleading
with him to die a Christian death. He obeyed but, feeling his arms tied round the fatal post, protested
once again: “But I am innocent!”
“So was Jesus Christ,’ said one of the friars.” At this Burgos resigned himself. The executioner
knelt at his feet and asked his forgiveness. “I forgive you, my son. Do your duty.” And it was done.

How Rizal was Enlightened by the three priests?

Below is a translated copy of Rizal's dedication to the secular priests. He made some errors in
listing the ages and date of death. Padre Gomes was 72 years old, Padre Burgos was 35, and Padre
Zamora was 37.

"To the memory of the priests, Don Mariano Gomes, eighty-five, Don Jose Burgos, thirty, and
Don Jacinto Zamora, thirty-five, who were executed on the scaffold at Bagumbayan on 28
February 1872.
The Church, by refusing to unfrock you, has put in doubt the crime charged against you; the
Government by enshrouding your trial in mystery and pardoning your co-accused has implied that
some mistakes was committed when your fate was decided; and the whole of the Philippines in
paying homage to your memory and calling you martyrs totally rejects your guilt.
As long, therefore, as it is not clearly shown that you took part in the uprising in Cavite. I have
the right, whether or not you were patriots and whether or not you were seeking justice and liberty,
to dedicate my work to you as victims of the evil I am trying to fight. And while we wait for Spain to
clear your names some day, refusing to be a party to your death, let these pages serve as belated
wreath withered leaves on your forgotten graves. Whoever attacks your memory without sufficient
proof has your blood upon his hands."

- J. Rizal
Europe, 1886

GOMBURZA fought on the issues of secularization in the Philippines that led to the conflict of
religious and church seculars. Their execution had a profound effect onmany late 19th-century Filipinos
just like Jose Rizal who dedicate his novel El filibusterismo to their memory, to what they stood for, and
to the symbolic weight their deaths would henceforth hold.

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 MODULE 6
THE PROPAGANDA MOVEMENT AND LA LIGA FILIPINA
Most Essential Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this module, the learners are expected to:
 Narrate how the Propaganda movement and the Katipunan were developed;
 Summarize the events that caused the intense spirit of Nationalism among Filipinos; and
 Explain the teachings of La Liga Filipina and the Katipunan.

Rizal’s Nationalism: First in Asia

A strong nationalist movement—one of the earliest and most advanced in Asia—emerged in the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and brought dramatic change to Southeast Asia. Though still only
loosely united under the Spanish control, early Filipino society was quickly developing a new social
identity. This growing commonality was sparked by Spain's introduction of a common religion and
language. While regional, ethnic, and familial identities continued to play critical roles, three great wars
against three powerful colonial adversaries further redefined the Filipino community to include any
individual born in the Philippines. Social and ideological differences took a back seat to the more
pressing issue of foreign occupation. During the Philippine Revolution, the Philippine-American War
and the Japanese occupation of World War II, nationalism thrived in the face of colonial control—a
common threat to the Philippines was critical for the overall mobilization of a Filipino nation. Between
the early emergence of Filipino nationalism in the 1850s and final independence in 1946, Filipinos
gradual expanded and embraced a unified, popular identity that superseded previous regional and
ethnic associations. A widespread discontent with Spanish economic and social oppression created a
suitable environment for the re-imagining of Filipino society. As colonial control moved from Spain to
the United States, and then for a time to Japan, the consolidation of Filipino factions into a single
nation accelerated.
One would expect the Philippines—with its ethnic, religious, and linguistic diversity spread over
thousands of islands—to defy any cohesive, national tendency. Yet the country, along with many of its
neighbors throughout Southeast Asia, experienced a profound transformation of identity. The term
Filipino as it is used today did not exist until the late 1800s, and originally referred to Philippine-born
Spaniards (creoles). The new identity of the Filipino arose during the Propaganda Movement of the
1870s, when the writer Apolinario Mabini redefined the term with a nationalistic connotation in his
essays. The ilustrados embraced unity in their public rhetoric, yet still promoted their regional origins.
Despite this, a significant shift had occurred by 1896, and the Philippines developed a broader
understanding of nationhood and national identity. Foreign colonial control enabled the shift from a
local to national consciousness. The Spanish occupation had created a large, cohesive territory
encompassing the individual islands, and Spanish colonial control united the many disparate peoples
as a common Filipino society. Over time, the shared experience of colonization strengthened this bond
and united Filipinos in popular discontent. From these many islands and tribes emerged a new
collective Filipino identity, and under the ilustrados the concept grew to encompass a wide range of
peoples. The Philippines' first strong nationalist movements were based on anti-colonialism. The
artificial borders imposed by foreign rulers crafted the Philippine nation as it exists today.

The Propaganda Movement

After the Cavite Mutiny of 1872, the conditions of the country worsened. Spanish oppression
and abuses continued. The patriotic intellectuals, who dared to voice the sentiments of the people were
persecuted. The propaganda movement was founded on the principle of peaceful campaign for
reforms. This was primed by patriotic Filipino students abroad. Inspired by a common cause, they

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banded together and consecrated themselves to the sublime ideal of working for the welfare and
happiness of their motherland. Aggressively but peacefully, by means of “pen and tongue”, they
crusaded for reforms to correct the evils of Spanish colonial system.

The propaganda movement’s aims are as follows:

1. Equality of Filipino and Spanish before the law.
2. Assimilation of the Philippines as a regular province of Spain.
3. Restoration of Philippine representation in the Spanish Cortes.
4. Filipinization of Philippine Parishes.
5. Individual liberties for Filipinos, such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and
freedom to meet and petition for redress of grievances.

Led by our hero Dr. Jose Rizal, towering above the composition of this movement were young
education Filipinos who represented Filipino intelligence. Rizal together with Marcelo H. del Pilar -
lawyer and journalist, and Graciano Lopez-Jaena - an orator and satirist, proved that young Filipinos
can do things above and beyond academics. In fact, Rizal reflected this on his El Fili novel in the
persona of Basilio and Isagani who fought for quality education.
Despite the courage and sacrifices of the La Liga Filipina propaganda movement, it ended in
failure due to: lack of funds which caused the La Solidaridad to stop its publication, poverty and
sickness of its key leaders, and the exile of Rizal in Dapitan. The end was tragic, however, it had two
achievements: (1) it succeeded in exposing the oppression of the Filipinos, and (2) it paved the way for
the Philippine Revolution.

The Founding of the KKK

On the night of July 7, 1892, Andres Bonifacio and his friends met secretly in a house occupied
by Deodato Arellano (brother-in-law of M.H. del Pilar) or Azcarraga Street (now Claro M. Recto
Avenue), Tondo, Manila. Among Bonifacio’s friends present in the secret meeting were Deodato
Arellano, Valentin Diaz, Jose Dizon, Ladislao Diwa and Teodoro Plada. After discussing the shocking
news of Rizal’s exile to Dapitan and the weakness of the La Liga Filipina, Bonifacio and his friends
founded a secret revolutionary society for Filipinos. Its fill name was Kataastaasan Kagalang-galangan
Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (Highest and Most Respectable Society of the Sons of the People).
It was called the Katipunan for short.
Bonifacio conceived the idea of founding a revolutionary society while reading the book on
French Revolution. Just like the La Liga, the KKK had two aims:
1. To unite all Filipinos into one solid nation.
2. To obtain Philippine independence.

Yet, unlike the La Liga Filipina, the Katipunan emerged to prepare the country for an armed
revolution to win a nation’s freedom.

Rizal and the Katipunan

In June 1896, Dr. Pio Valenzuela, acting as Bonifacio’s emissary sailed for Dapitan to solicit
Rizal’s support for the coming revolution. To cover his real mission from Spanish authorities, he
brought with him a blind man who was in need of Rizal’s professional services. Immediately upon his
arrival in Dapitan, he lost no time in conferring with the exiled hero.
According to the momoirs of Valenzuela, Rizal refused to agree to the Katipunan’s plan of
starting a rebellion because the people were not ready for it. Filipinos should be EDUCATED first
before leading the country. With much hesitations, he advised the Katipunan to seek the help of
Antonio Luna to obtain financial aid from the elites.
After the KKK failed to convince him, Rizal continued with his usual routine by improving and
expanding his school and hospital.

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 THE LIFE AND WORKS OF JOSE RIZAL
Rizal’s Life: His Intellectual, Ethical, Moral, and Social Growth

References and Resources:

Daquila S., The Seeds of Revolution. Brainbow Essentials, 2009

Zaide S., The History of Filipino People. Rex Bookstore, 2001

Articulo & Florendo. Values and Work Ethics. Trinitas Publishing, Inc., 200

Cruz, Corazon L. Contemporary Ethics, National Book Store, 1993.

Fromm, Erick. Escape from Freedom, 1941

Holy Bible. The Gideons International.

Horney, Karen. Neurosis & Human Growth. 1950

Reviewed and Approved by:

MARILYN T. ALCALA, LPT, Ph. D.

Dean

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