Midterm Reviewer for Life and Works of Rizal Students in Ateneo were divided in to two empires known as Roman

nts in Ateneo were divided in to two empires known as Roman Empire and Carthaginian Empire. Each

A. Lesson 1: The Study of Rizal in Historical and Critical Approach empire represents the location where students came from.

• The teaching of Jose Rizal’s life, works, and writings is mandated by Republic Act 1425, otherwise known as the • Father Francisco de Paula Sanchez remarked that he was becoming proficient in the language. At this point,

Rizal Law. Rizal began writing in Spanish. Most of his famous works were written in that language. It was Father Sanchez

• Senator Jose P. Laurel, the person who sponsored the said law, said that since Rizal was the founder of who recognized Rizal’s talent as a poet and encouraged him to practice this craft.

Philippine nationalism and has contributed much to the current standing of this nation, it is only right that the • Father Jose Villaclara who instructed Rizal in the sciences and philosophy. He was a young man who believed

youth as well as all the people in the country know about and learn to imbibe the great ideals for which he died. that Rizal was wasting his time with poetry. He developed a scientific curiosity in young Rizal that lasted until his

• Rizal's pre-eminence is derived from the very fact that he validated all his political and civic virtues. death. It was Father Villaclara who convinced Rizal to take a “scientific attitude” about life.

• According to Nick Joaquin, Rizal was greatly aggrieved by his physique. When Rizal was young, he was always • Ambeth Ocampo, Filipino revisionist historian, is a popular writer and general debunker of local history, suggests

teased by his sisters because of his frail body and often described as a very tiny child with a disproportionately that Rizal was not a good student. However, he looked into Ateneo archives and found that Rizal was an

big head that he carried even in his adulthood. excellent student. Rizal stood out as a student leader and a national spokesperson, because he had the ability to

• Rizal's inferiority complexes were not without positive side. it is his feelings of inadequacy that made him talk to the average Filipino.

dynamic and he continually looked for ways to be better than others. • An examination of Rizal’s student memoirs, as well as his diaries, suggest that the Ateneo years was the

• There’s no existing law or executive order saying Rizal is our national hero. He is not our de jure (according to formative ones. Eventually, Rizal would excel as a scientist, a fiction writer, a nationalist and a medical doctor. All

rightful entitlement or claim; by right) national hero. these would have been impossible without his early education

B. Lesson 2: Jose Rizal’s Genealogy and Early Education • Rizal, upon entering the university, was not certain which course of study he wanted to pursue.

• Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda, “known to a child of a good family” was born on June 19, 1861 • The Jesuit priests who had been his former mentors had advised him to take up farming, or to join the order and

between eleven o’clock and twelve o’clock at night, a few days before the full moon in Calamba, on the be a man of the cloth. However, his tastes went towards law, literature, or medicine

southwest shore of the picturesque Laguna de Bay some forty miles south of Manila. • Rizal decided to sign up for Philosophy and Letters during his freshman year because of the following reasons:

• Rizal had his early education in Calamba and Biñan. It was a typical schooling that a son of an ilustrado family ➢ It was what his father would have wanted for him

received during his time, characterized by the four R’s- reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion. ➢ He had failed to seek the advice of the rector of the Ateneo, Father Ramon Pablo.

• The first teacher of Rizal was his mother, who was a remarkable woman of good character and fine culture. On • Rizal's performance at the University of Santo Tomas was not as excellent as his time at then Ateneo. His grades

her lap, he learned at the age of three the alphabet and the prayers. after shifting to medicine had suffered as well

• As Jose grew older, his parents employed private tutors to give him lessons at home. The first was Maestro • After completing his first year Rizal decided to take up medicine as his university course. This change of heart

Celestino and the second, Maestro Lucas Padua. Later, an old man named Leon Monroy, a former classmate of was due to two factors:

Rizal’s father, became the boy’s tutor. ➢ Father Ramon Pablo, rector of the Ateneo, had advised him to pursue the course

• Rizal loved to go to church to pray, to take part in novenas, and to join the religious processions. It is said that he ➢ Rizal's mother had failing eyesight and he thought he owed it to her to become a doctor and cure her

was so seriously devout that he was laughingly called Manong Jose by the Hermanos and Hermanas Terceras. condition

C. Lesson 3: Rizal’s Education and Career D. Lesson 4: Rizal’s Travels Abroad

• Ateneo was considered the finest school in the Philippines because of the rigorous intellectual standards of the • After several years of medical study at the University of Santo Tomás, he went to Spain in 1882 to finish his

Jesuits. It was in this environment that Jose Rizal began the education that would solidify his political thoughts. studies at the University of Madrid.
 • Other important Propagandists included Graciano Lopez Jaena, a noted orator and pamphleteer who had left the be heard from afar. Bringing the message of good news from other land.” As a passionate supporter of a new

islands for Spain in 1880 after the publication of his satirical short novel, Fray Botod (Brother Fatso), an Philippine nation, Rizal introduced a fierce brand of ideology which had made Filipinos among the most political

unflattering portrait of a provincial friar. people in the world. Filipinos have carefully defined political ideology.

• In 1887, Rizal returned briefly to the islands, but because of the furor surrounding the appearance of Noli Me • Rizal on Nationalism: Rizal argued that Filipinos could only foster their own sense of nationalism by studying

Tangere the previous year, he was advised by the governor to leave history. Rizal wrote to Blumentritt: “I would stimulate these Philippine studies.” and concluded that history

• He enrolled in a course in medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid in Spain. In June 1883, he traveled to provided “the true concept of one’s self and drove nations to do great things.” Foremost is that he is the dominant

France to observe how medicine was being practiced there. national hero who, unlike all other heroes, had a firm vision of the future of the Philippines. He glorifies life in the

• Rizal arrived in England in May 1888. In August, he was admitted to the British Museum, where he copied Philippines. Onofre D. Corpuz concludes that Rizal’s life suggest he is the “father of the country”.

Antonio de Morga’s massive study of the Philippines, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, which Rizal later annotated • Rizal on Representative Government: Spain had granted Filipinos representation in the Spanish Cortes from May

for publication “as a gift to the Filipinos.” In the museum he devoted his time reading all the sources on Philippine 1809 until the privilege was removed by Queen Maria Cristina in 1836. Rizal believed that the representation was

history that he could find. essential to the governing process. Rizal contented the representation removed the spirit of revolution.

• During the first travel of Rizal abroad, he published his first novel known as “Noli Me Tangere”. While on his • Rizal on Democracy: Democracy is a government in which all power is shared by citizens. The word demos is

second travel abroad, he published his second novel known as “El Filibusterismo”. derived from a Greek word which means people. In Rizal’s view the best government was a mixture between

E. Lesson 5: Rizal’s Novels (Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo) representative democracy and responsible model of democracy. He believed that it would take some time for

• Read the two novels chapter by chapter. You may use your copy of your Assignment on Lesson 5 to study. Filipinos to actively participate in local government. The definition of democracy is found in Rizal’s mind. He

F. Lesson 6: Rizal as a Political Philosopher and How would he criticize Today’s Society employed such definition in his writings, his public speeches, and his advocacy of Philippine democracy.

• Rizal’s definition of government and politics focused on the Spanish influences. One of Rizal’s strongest G. Lesson 7: The Liga and the Katipunan; Reform and Revolution: A Century After

criticisms of Spaniards colonialization was the corruption of the bureaucracy. • La Liga Filipina aimed to achieve the following:

• About government, Rizal wrote: “In order to govern peoples he does not know or understand, he ought to ➢ Union of the whole archipelago into a compact and homogenous body

possess the talent of a genius and extraordinary knowledge”. Rizal argued that this was necessary because the ➢ Mutual protection in every want and necessity

Filipinos were gaining a new political sophistication. ➢ Defense against all violence and injustice

• Rizal’s concept on Government and Politics: Rizal remarked that one day Filipino political leaders would finish ➢ Encouragement of education, agriculture and commerce

“arduous mission which is the formation of the Filipino nation”. ➢ Study and application of reforms

• Rizal on Political Culture: In his essay “The Indolence of the Filipinos” Rizal observed that “without education and • La Liga Filipina used peaceful means in attaining peace and equality for the Philippines, but it was short-lived.

liberty…no reform is impossible.” Rizal explained that, the political culture not thrive in the Philippines because of This organization, however, would be a sort of mutual aid and self-help society dispensing scholarship funds and

the inability of the Spanish t legal aid, loaning capital and setting up cooperatives.

• Rizal on Political Socialization: By emphasizing the importance of being a Filipino, Rizal accelerated the process • La Liga Filipina, upon the arrest of Rizal, was split into 2 groups: (a) the conservatives, Cuerpo de

of local nationalism. His criticism of the friars and the church helped to change attitudes toward local nationalism. Compromisarios, which pledged to continue supporting La Solidaridad while (b) the radicals devoted themselves

• Rizal on Political Ideology: In Rizal’s novel Noli Me tangere, he wrote: ….we are speaking of the present to a new and secret society, Katipunan.

condition of the Philippines…yes, we are entering upon a period of strife…the strife is between the past, which • Katipunan or Kataas-taasang, Kagalang-galangan Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KKK) aimed to overthrow

seizes and strives with curses to cling to the tottering feudal castles, and the future, whose some of triumph may the present government during the Spanish colonial period.
• Andres Bonifacio, the founder, and his revolutionary ideal become the very potent force against the Spaniards

which is why this society needed to be kept in secrecy.

• The objectives of this Katipunan involves the moral, civic, and political aspects.

• Katipunan had a proletarian authorship in which its members cannot be associated with the ilustrados due to the

risk or revealing information about their organization.

• One of the teachings of Katipunan was that all men are equal, be the color of their skin black or white. One may

be superior to another in knowledge, wealth, and beauty but cannot be superior in being. He who is noble prefers

honor to personal gains; he who is mean prefers profit to honor.

• Rizal argued for equality and human dignity within a peaceful framework. While Bonifacio believed that such

deals could be achieved only force or arms.

• Rizal was a reformist and Bonifacio was a revolutionary. But they were one in fighting for change.