Chapter 10

First Homecoming,
1887-1888
Mara Faye R. Aviles
BSN III-A
• After 5 years of memorable sojourn in
Europe, Rizal returned to the Philippines
in August 1887 and practiced medicine
in Calamba.
Decision to Return Home
• Because of the publication of the Noli Me Tangere
and the uproar it caused to 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.
Rizal did not listen to their warning
Rizal’s 4 reason to return home:
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
for his homecoming.

“On the 15th of July, at the latest”, he wrote,

“I shall embark for our country, so that from
the 15th to the 30th of August, we shall see
each other.”
Delightful Trip to Manila
• July 3, 1887 he boarded the steamer Djemnah,
the same steamer 5 years ago.

• 50 passengers and Rizal is the only Filipino.

• Rizal was the only one who can speak many

languages. He acted as interpreter.

• July 30 he transferred to another steamer

Haiphong on August 2. This steamer left Saigon
for Manila.
Arrival in Manila
• August 5, 1887 near midnight, the
Haiphong arrived in Manila.

• Rizal found Manila the same as when he

left 5 years ago.
Happy Homecoming
• August 8, he returned to Calamba.
• His family welcomed him
affectionately, with plentiful tears of
joy.
• His family becomes worried for his
safety, Paciano did not leave him
after his arrival to protect him.
• In Calamba, Rizal
established a medical
clinic. First patient was
his Mother who was
almost blind.
• Patients from Manila and
provinces flocked to
Calamba.

• He was called “Doctor

Uliman” because he
came from Germany.
• He opened a Gymnasium
for young folks, and
introduced European
Sports.
• Rizal suffered one
failure, to see
Leonor Rivera.
Storm Over the Noli
• A few weeks after his arrival,
a storm broke over his novel.
• Rizal received a letter from Gov. General
Emilio Terrero (1885-88) requsting him to
come to Malacañang Palace.
• Rizal went to manila and appeared at
Malacañang. When he was informed by
Governor.
• Gov. General Terrero ask a copy for that
book but, Rizal had no copy but later he
secure one.
• When Governor
General Terrero
who was a liberal
minded for
security assign
Don Jose Taviel de
Andrade as body
guard of Rizal.
The Faculty of UST stated that
Noli was:
• Heretical
• Impious
• Scandalous in Religious order and
• Anti-Patriotic
• Governor General
Terrero was dissatisfied
with the report of the
Dominicans, for he know
that Dominicans was
prejudiced against Rizal.

• The banning of
the Noli only
served to make
it popular.
Attackers of the Noli
• The battle over Noli took the form of a
Virulent war of words.

• Fr. Jose Rodriques published 8 pamphlets

under the general heading Cuestiones
de Sumo Interes (Questions of Supreme
Interest) to blast the Noli and other anti-
Spanish writings.
• These 8 pamphlets were entitled as follows:
• Why Should I not Read Them?
• Beware of them. Why?
• And What Can You Tell Me of Plague?
• Why Do the Impious Triumph?
• Do You Think There Is Really No Purgatory?
• Is There or Is There NO Hell?
• What Do You Think of These Libels?
• Confession or Damnation?
• Vicente Barrants a former “high
government position criticizes the NOLI in
an article published in La España
Moderna (a newspaper of Madrid)” in
January, 1890.
Defenders of the Noli
• Marcelo H. del Pilar, Dr. Antonio Ma.
Regidor, Graciano Lopez Jaens, Mariano
Ponce, and other Filipino reformists in
foreign lands, of course, rushed to
uphold the truths of the Noli.
• Rev. Vicente Garcia a Filipino catholic
priest scholar wrote a defense of the Noli
published in Singapore dated July 18,
1888.
Arguments of Father Rodriguez
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 Fr.
Rodriguez claimed, because what Rizal attacked
in the Noli were that 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.
• Rizal cried when he learned the brilliant
defense of Fr. Garcia.

• June 13, 1887 the price he set per copy

was five pesetas or 1 peso but, the price
later rose to fifty pesos per copy.
Rizal and Travel de Andrade
• While the storm over the Noli was raging, Rizal
was not molested in Calamba due to Gov.
Gen. Terrero’s assigning a bodyguard to Rizal.

• Between this Spanish bodyguard, Lt. Jose Taviel

de Andrade, and Rizal, a beautiful friendship
bloomed.

• Rizal and Andrade, both young, educated and

cultures, made walking tours of the verdant
countryside, discussed topics of common
interest and enjoy fencing, shooting, hunting
and painting.
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.
Farewell to Calamba
• Friars exerted pressure on Malacañang palace to
eliminate him.

• They ask Gov. Gen. Terrero to deport him. But refuse

because there was no valid charges against Rizal in
court.

• One day Gov. Gen. Terrero summoned Rizal and

advice him to leave Philippines for his good.

• Rizal had to go but he was not running like a

coward from a fight.
2 reasons for leaving Calamba
1. His pressure in Calamba was
jeopardizing the safety and happiness
of his family and friends.
2. He could fight better his enemies and
serve his country’s cause with greater
efficiency by writing in foreign
countries.
A poem for Lipa
• Before Rizal left Calamba his friend from
Lipa requested him to write a poem.

• Gladly, he wrote a poem dedicated to

the industrious folks of Lipa “Himno Al
Trabajo (Hymn of Labor)”
THANK YOU!