The Great

Debate:
The Rizal
Retraction
By:
Ricardo P. Garcia
 Overview

WHO IS RIZAL WHAT IS INTRODUCTION

RETRACTION? EYEWITNESSES

BEST THE CHARACTERISTICS QUIZ

EVIDENCE POINTERS OF RIZAL
• Also Known as
“José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda”

• The Philippines National Hero

• Born on June 19, 1861 - Died on
December 30, 1896
WHO IS
• Author of El Filibusterismo RIZAL?
and Noli Me Tangere

• Founder of the group “La Liga Filipina”

 WHAT IS
RETRACTION?

• a withdrawal of a statement,
accusation, or undertaking

• the action of drawing something

back or back in.
INTRODUCTION
On, December 26, 1896, Rizal was accused and tried before a military tribunal
for the alleged crimes of rebellion, sedition, and illegal association. The
prosecutor and the defense finished presenting their arguments that morning,
and the sentence of death was pronounced that same morning. Two days after,
on December 28, to be exact, the Governor General affirmed the death
sentence and set the execution of Rizal on December 30, at 7:00 o’clock in
the morning. The death sentenced was read to Rizal early in the morning
of December 29.

1. That Rizal retracted his masonic affiliation

2. That he himself wrote down and signed his retraction
3. That he and Josephine were married.
 EYEWITNESSES
° FIRST EYEWITNESS

- Fr. Vicente Balaguer Llacer

Made a request to Rev. Father Superior, Father Pi.
SENT ------- To the Fort (December 29, 1896)
(Fathers of the Society of Jesus)
- Father Saderra, Rector of the Ateneo
- Father Luis Viza
 “when the chaplain of
the Royal Fort Santiago,
where the convict was,
offered his services for
so sad circumstances,
the prisoner told him
that he appreciated his
offering but that he
desired rather be visited
by the Fathers of the
Society of Jesus by
whom he had been
educated”
- Fr. Vicente Balaguer Llacer
 - The Jesuit Fathers had been much interested in Rizal’s retraction since his
Dapitan days
- They had sent Father Sanchez (Rizal’s Favorite Professor) to Dapitan to
persuade him to retract.
- Father Pastells had exchanged several long letters with Rizal for the same
purpose.
- Ricardo P. Garcia believe that Rizal was interested in discussing further
the pro and cons of his retraction with his friends, The Jesuits. Therefor, the
probability of his retraction at Fort Santiago was indeed great when he invited
the Jesuits to visit him. As a matter of fact, Rizal had decided to retract on
December 29. When his Sister Maria visited him at Fort Santiago on that day
to bade farewell, he told her, “Maria, I am going to marry Josephine.”
In continuing Father Balaguer’s statement,

- Ten o’clock in the morning, Father Vilaclara and Father Balaguer went to Fort
Santiago.
- Dr. Rizal should make the retraction of errors publicly professed by him in his
words ad writings and a profession of the Catholic Faith.
- Retraction formula and profession of faith composed by Rev. Father Pio Pi.
- Father Balaguer asked Rizal about his Idea of God and appeared to be
Protestant and later on Rizal admitted he was Rationalist. He tried to make him
see about his false and indefensible criterion was.
“EXTRA ECLESIAM CATHOLICAM NULLA DATUR SALUS”
- Out of the Catholic Church there is no salvation. Truth is and cannot be but one.
As such truth is uncompromising in all orders, and much more so in a religious
order, which is the most transcendental.
In continuing Father Balaguer’s statement,

- Words of retraction of Rizal, “ I declare myself as a catholic and in this religion I

wish to live and die” “in which I born and educated”

- “I abominate Masonry as a society reprobated by the church” to “ I abominate

Masonry as the enemy of the church”
- And Rizal addition of words in the retraction such as “Spontaneous and
Voluntary” However, Fr. Balaguer only permitted the “spontaneous”.
- 11:30 pm, December 29 time he finished writing his retraction.
- Signed together with Dr. Jose Rizal by Senor Fresno (Chief of the Picket) and
Senor Moure (Adjutant of the Plaza).
- He left Dr. Rizal with the company of Maria and Josephine Bracken.
THE BEST
EVIDENCE

.
Characteristic Points to
Identify handwriting of
Dr. Jose Rizal

III
By:

Perci Victor M. Acebedo

 Dr. Rizal (Jose’ Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonzo
Realonda)
;Rizal’s Retraction is compared to his other work Ultimo Adios ( December 13, 1896)

1. The Capital Letters are Similar such as (O, J, R, I, P, V, S, C, M, D.

2. Same as the small letters like (h, d, r, o, g, p, j and a
3. The consistency of the letter with respect to others within a word. Based on Captain Arthur D.
Quirke, “the only true basis upon which statistics bearing upon slope may legitimately be employed to determine the
identity of Handwriting”, which agrees with Dr. Jose Rizal’s writing including his retraction.

4. The retraction is an authentic old document because there are perforations that are caused by
termites.
5. The ink shows proper oldness through oxidation which was obtained during the course of time.
 To conclu
d e,
- Rizal’s r
etraction
documen is a legitim
t because ate
genuine a it shows t
uthenticit he
documen y of an ol
t. d
 Now, after we know that Rizal’s
Retraction is real, the question is “
how could Rizal retract his words,
writings, and publications”
To answer, examine the text of
Retraction.

•Based on the text he (only said) that he’s going

to retract his affiliation with the masonry
because masonry’s the enemy of the church.
Continuation:
-Rizal is the bitterest enemy of the
church” which is half true and half
false because according to his letter
in 1889.
Rizal said he did not fight the Catholic Religion but
the manners, and the practices of friars who abuse their
power against the people
Here is another part of his letter
To Bluementritt

•That also reveals his opinion of the

Catholic Religion. He said Christianity is
beautiful, sublime, and divine.
 Conclusion:
Then what did Rizal do to become the hero? Is it he fought against
the church, if so, Gregorio Aglipay would be the greater hero since he
founded the Filipino church/Aligpayan Church.
“It is because he exposed the truth of the friars by their abuses to
the Filipinos in order to obtain reforms in the practices of the church if
the exposure was not true then will not be required to retract, but since
he was required in generally means the church admitted it all.”
“But since we are short on this proofs the retraction remains Refuted”
(RICARDO P. GARCIA)
 n i sh e d ”
It i s Fi
s t ”/ “
s u m matum E
“Co n
DIRECTION:
#1QUIZ!!!
- WRITE
THE NEEDED PHRASE OR WORD ASKED BY THE
QUESTIONS.
• WHAT ARE THE ALLEGED CRIMES ACCUSED TOWARDS J. RIZAL?
• WHO IS THE FIRST EYEWITNESS BASE ON THE AUTHOR OF THE
GREAT DEBATE; THE RIZAL RETRACTION?
• WHAT TIME DID RIZAL FINISH HIS RETRACTION PAPER?
• WHO ARE THE PERSONS THAT FATHER PIO PI SENT TO FORT
SANTIAGO FOLLOWING THE REQUEST OF FR. VICENTE?
• WHAT KIND OF PERSON IS RIZAL, WITH HIS IDEOLOGY ABOUT GOD?
BASED ON FR. VICENTE STATEMENT.
DIRECTION:
#1QUIZ!!!
-ESSAY TYPE. (2 TO 3 SENTENCES)

• (FOR 5 POINTS), EXPLAIN WHY DR. JOSE RIZAL

CONSIDERS THE IDEA OF RETRACTION OF HIS
WORKS BEFORE HIS DEATH.
 #3QUIZ!!!
(IDENTIFICATION)
1. WHEN WAS THE RETRACTION WRITTEN?
2. WHO FOUNDED THE FILIPINO CHURCH?
3. WHAT IS THE FULL NAME OF DR. JOSE RIZAL?

(TRUE OR FALSE)
1. BASED ON THE AUTHOR, THE RETRACTION IS LEGITIMATE.
2. RIZAL SAID THAT CHRISTIANITY IS BEAUTIFUL, SUBLIME, AND
DIVINE.
(ESSAY TYPE) FOR 5POINTS
• HOW DID DR. JOSE RIZAL BECOME THE HERO?
Thank You For Your
Cooperation