for Rizal subject only

1. El filibusterismo
Prepared by : Sir. Alston G. Anabieza

2. El filibusterismo (transl. The filibusterism; The Subversive or The
Subversion, as in the Locsín English translation, are also possible
translations), also known by its alternative English title The Reign
of Greed, is the second novel written by Philippine national hero
José Rizal. It is the sequel to Noli Me Tángere and, like the first
book, was written in Spanish. It was first published in 1891 in
Ghent.

3.  The novel centers on the Noli-El fili duology's main character Crisóstomo Ibarra, now returning for
vengeance as "Simoun". The novel's dark theme departs dramatically from the previous novel's
hopeful and romantic atmosphere, signifying Ibarra's resort to solving his country's issues through
violent means, after his previous attempt in reforming the country's system made no effect and
seemed impossible with the corrupt attitude of the Spaniards toward the Filipinos.

4.  The novel, along with its predecessor, was banned in some parts of the Philippines as a result of
their portrayals of the Spanish government's abuses and corruption. These novels, along with Rizal's
involvement in organizations that aimed to address and reform the Spanish system and its issues,
led to Rizal's exile to Dapitan and eventual execution. Both the novel and its predecessor, along
with Rizal's last poem, are now considered Rizal's literary masterpieces.

5.  Both of Rizal's novels had a profound effect on Philippine society in terms of views about national
identity, the Catholic faith and its influence on the Filipino's choice, and the government's issues in
corruption, abuse of power, and discrimination, and on a larger scale, the issues related to the effect
of colonization on people's lives and the cause for independence. These novels later on indirectly
became the inspiration to start the Philippine Revolution.

6.  Throughout the Philippines, the reading of both the novel and its predecessor is
now mandatory for high school students throughout the archipelago, although it is now read using
English, Filipino, and the Philippines' regional languages.

7. Plot
 In the events of the previous novel, Crisóstomo Ibarra, a reform-minded mestizo who tried to
establish a modern school in his hometown of San Diego and marry his childhood sweetheart, was
falsely accused of rebellion and presumed dead after a shootout following his escape from prison.
Elías, his friend who was also a reformer, sacrificed his life to give Crisóstomo a chance to regain his
treasure and flee the country, and hopefully continue their crusade for reforms from abroad. After a
thirteen-year absence from the country, a more revolutionary Crisóstomo has returned, having
taken the identity of Simoun, a mysterious wealthy jeweler whose objective is to drive the
government to commit as much abuse as possible in order to drive people into revolution.

8.  Simoun goes from town to town presumably to sell his jewels. Reaching San Diego, he detours to a
forested land once owned by the Ibarras to retrieve more of his treasures buried in the mausoleum.
There his true identity as Crisóstomo Ibarra is discovered by a now-grown Basilio, who was also in
the mausoleum visiting his mother's grave. In the years since the death of his mother, Basilio had
been serving as Capitán Tiago's servant in exchange for being allowed to study, and is now an
aspiring doctor on his last year at university as well as administrator and apparent heir to Capitán
Tiago's wealth. Simoun reveals his motives to Basilio and offers him a place in his plans. Too secure
of his place in the world, Basilio declines.

9.  At Barrio Sagpang in the town of Tiani, Simoun stays at the house of the village's cabeza de
barangay, Tales. Having suffered misfortune after misfortune in recent years, Kabesang Tales is
unable to resist the temptation to steal Simoun's revolver and join the bandits. In Los Baños,
Simoun joins his friend, the Captain-General, who is then taking a break from a hunting excursion.
In a friendly game of cards with him and his cronies, Simoun raises the stakes higher and higher
and half-jokingly secures blank orders for deportation, imprisonment, and summary execution from
the Captain-General.

10.  Later on, Simoun goes to Manila and meets Quiroga, a wealthy Chinese businessman and aspiring
consul-general for the Chinese empire. Knowing Quiroga is heavily in his debt, Simoun offers him a
steep discount if the former stores his massive arsenal of rifles in Quiroga's warehouses, to be used
presumably for extortion activities with Manila's elite. Despite his hatred of guns and weaponry,
Quiroga reluctantly agrees to do the job and uses his bazaar as a front.

11.  During the Quiapo Fair, a talking heads exhibit ostensibly organized by an American named Mr.
Leeds but secretly commissioned by Simoun is drawing popular acclaim. Padre Bernardo Salví, now
chaplain of the Convent of the Poor Clares,[5] attends one of the performances. The exhibit is set
in Ptolemaic Egypt but features a tale that closely resembled that of Crisóstomo Ibarra and María
Clara, and their fate under Salví. The show ends with an ominous vow of revenge. Deeply overcome
with guilt and fear, Salví recommends the show be banned, but not before Mr. Leeds sailed for
Hong Kong

12.  However, Basilio reports to Simoun that María Clara died just that afternoon, after suffering the
travails of monastic life under Salví, who always lusted after her. Simoun, driven by grief, aborts the
attack and becomes crestfallen throughout the night. It will be reported later on that he suffered an
"accident" that night, leaving him confined to his bed.

13.  he following day, posters threatening violence to the leaders of the university and the government
are found at the university doors. A reform-oriented student group to which Basilio belonged is
named the primary suspects; the members are arrested, including Basilio, despite his absence from
the group's mock celebration. They are eventually freed through the intercession of relatives, except
for Basilio who is an orphan and has no means to pay for his freedom. During his imprisonment, he
learns that Capitán Tiago has died, leaving him with nothing.

14.  ; it is revealed that Tiago's will was actually forged by his spiritual advisor Padre Írene, who also
supplies him with opium; his childhood sweetheart Juli has committed suicide to avoid getting
raped by parish priest Camorra when she tried asking for help on Basilio's behalf; and that he has
missed his graduation and will be required to study for another year, but now with no funds to go
by. Released through the intercession of Simoun, a darkened, disillusioned Basilio joins Simoun's
cause wholeheartedly

15.  Simoun, meanwhile, has been organizing a new revolution, and he reveals his plans to a now
committed Basilio. The wedding of Juanito Peláez and Paulita Gómez will be used to coordinate the
attack upon the city. As the Peláez and Gómez families are prominent members of the Manila elite,
leaders of the church and civil government are invited to the reception. The Captain-General, who
declined to extend his tenure despite Simoun's urging, is leaving in two days and is the guest of
honor.

16.  Simoun will personally deliver a pomegranate-shaped crystal lamp as a wedding gift. The lamp is to
be placed on a plinth at the reception venue and will be bright enough to illuminate the entire hall,
which was also walled with mirrors. After some time the light will flicker as if to go out. When
someone attempts to raise the wick, a mechanism hidden within the lamp containing fulminated
mercury will detonate, igniting the lamp which is actually filled with nitroglycerin, killing everyone
in an enormous blast.

17.  At the sound of the explosion, Simoun's mercenaries will attack, reinforced by Matanglawin and his
bandits who will descend upon the city from the surrounding hills. Simoun postulates that at the
chaos, the masses, already worked to a panic by the government's heavy-handed response to the
poster incident, as well as rumors of German ships at the bay to lend their firepower to any uprising
against the Spanish government, will step out in desperation to kill or be killed. Basilio and a few
others are to put themselves at their head and lead them to Quiroga's warehouses, where Simoun's
guns are still being kept. The plan thus finalized, Simoun gives Basilio a loaded revolver and sends
him away to await further instructions.

18.  One day, the lieutenant of the local Guardia Civil informs Florentino that he received an order to
arrest Simoun that night. In response, Simoun drinks the slow-acting poison which he always kept
in a compartment on his treasure chest. Simoun then makes his final confession to Florentino, first
revealing his true name, to Florentino's shock. He goes on to narrate how thirteen years before, as
Crisóstomo Ibarra, he lost everything in the Philippines despite his good intentions. Crisóstomo
swore vengeance. Retrieving some of his family's treasure Elias buried in the Ibarra mausoleum in
the forest, Crisóstomo fled to foreign lands and engaged in trade..

19.  He took part in the war in Cuba, aiding first one side and then another, but always profiting. There
Crisóstomo met the Captain-General who was then a major, whose goodwill he won first by loans
of money, and afterwards by covering for his criminal activity. Crisóstomo bribed his way to secure
the major's promotion to Captain-General and his assignment to the Philippines. Once in the
country, Crisóstomo then used him as a blind tool and incited him to all kinds of injustice, availing
himself of the Captain-General's insatiable lust for gold

20.  The confession is long and arduous, and night has fallen when Crisóstomo finished. In the end,
Florentino assures the dying man of God's mercy, but explains that his revolution failed because he
has chosen means that God cannot sanction. Crisóstomo bitterly accepts the explanation and dies.
 Realizing that the arresting officers will confiscate Crisóstomo's possessions, Florentino divests him
of his jewels and casts them into the sea, proclaiming that should people need wealth for a
righteous cause, God will provide the means to draw them out, adding that they are better hidden
at the bottom of the sea in the meantime, where they cannot be found to be used for distorting
justice or inciting greed.

21. Major characters
 Simoun – Crisóstomo Ibarra in disguise, presumed dead at the end of Noli Me Tángere. Ibarra has
returned as the wealthy jeweler Simoun. His appearance is described as being tanned, having a
sparse beard, long white hair, and large blue-tinted glasses. He was sometimes crude and
confrontational. He was derisively described by Custodio and Ben-Zayb as an American mulatto or
a British Indian. While presenting as the arrogant elitist on the outside, he secretly plans a violent
revolution in order to avenge himself for his misfortunes as Crisóstomo Ibarra, as well as hasten
Elías' reformist goals.

22.  Basilio – son of Sisa and another character from Noli Me Tángere. In the events of El fili, he is an
aspiring and so far successful physician on his last year at university and was waiting for his license
to be released upon his graduation. After his mother's death in the Noli, he applied as a servant in
Capitán Tiago's household in exchange for food, lodging, and being allowed to study. Eventually he
took up medicine, and with Tiago having retired from society, he also became the manager of
Tiago's vast estate. He is a quiet, contemplative man who is more aware of his immediate duties as a
a servant, doctor, and member of the student association than he is of politics or patriotic
endeavors. His sweetheart is Juli, the daughter of Kabesang Tales whose family took him in when he
was a young boy fleeing the Guardia Civil and his deranged mother.

23.  Isagani – Basilio's friend. He is described as a poet, taller and more robust than Basilio although
younger. He is the nephew of Padre Florentino, but is also rumored to be Florentino's son with his
old sweetheart before he was ordained as a priest. During the events of the novel, Isagani is
finishing his studies at the Ateneo Municipal and is planning to take medicine. A member of the
student association, Isagani is proud and naive, and tends to put himself on the spot when his
ideals are affronted. His unrestrained idealism and poeticism clash with the more practical and
mundane concerns of his girlfriend, Paulita Gómez. When Isagani allows himself to be arrested after
their association is outlawed, Paulita leaves him for Juanito Peláez. In his final mention in the novel,
he was bidding goodbye to his landlords, the Orenda family, to stay with Florentino permanently

24.  Father Florentino – Isagani's uncle and a retired priest. Florentino was the son of a wealthy and
influential Manila family. He entered the priesthood at the insistence of his mother. As a result he
had to break an affair with a woman he loved, and in despair devoted himself instead to his parish.
When the 1872 Cavite mutiny broke out, he promptly resigned from the priesthood, fearful of
drawing unwanted attention. An indio (native), Florentino belonged to the secular clergy
(unaffiliated with the Catholic religious orders), yet his parish drew in huge income. He retired to his
family's large estate along the shores of the Pacific. He is described as white-haired, with a quiet,
serene personality and a strong build. He did not smoke or drink. He was well respected by his
peers, even by Spanish friars and officials.

25.  Father Fernández – a Dominican who was a friend of Isagani. Following the incident with the
posters, he invited Isagani to a dialogue, not so much as a teacher with his student but as a friar
with a Filipino. Although they failed to resolve their differences, they each promised to approach
their colleagues with the opposing views from the other party – although both feared that given
the animosity that existed between their sides, their own compatriots may not believe in the other
party's existence.

26.  Capitán Tiago – Don Santiago de los Santos. María Clara's father. Having several landholdings in
Pampanga, Binondo, and Laguna, as well as taking ownership of the Ibarras' vast estate, Tiago still
fell into depression following María's entry into the convent. He alleviated this by smoking opium,
which quickly became an uncontrolled vice, exacerbated by his association with Padre Írene who
regularly supplied him with the substance. Tiago hired Basilio as a capista, a servant who given the
opportunity to study as part of his wages; Basilio eventually pursued medicine and became his
caregiver and the manager of his estate. Tiago died of shock upon hearing of Basilio's arrest and
Padre Írene's embellished stories of violent revolt.

27.  Captain-General – the highest-ranking official in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period.
The Captain-General in the novel is Simoun's friend and confidant, and is described as having an
insatiable lust for gold. Simoun met him when he was still a major during the Ten Years' War in
Cuba. He secured the major's friendship and promotion to Captain-General through bribes. When
he was posted in the Philippines, Simoun used him as a pawn in his own power plays to drive the
country into revolution. The Captain-General was shamed into not extending his tenure after being
rebuked by a high official in the aftermath of Basilio's imprisonment. This decision to retire would
later on prove to be a crucial element to Simoun's schemes

28.  Father Bernardo Salví – a Franciscan friar who served as the former parish priest of San Diego
in Noli Me Tángere, and now the director and chaplain of the Santa Clara convent. The epilogue of
the Noli implies that Salví regularly rapes María Clara when he is present at the convent. In El fili, he
is described as her confessor. In spite of reports of Ibarra's death, Salví believes that he is still alive
and lives in constant fear of his revenge.

29.  Father Hernando de la Sibyla – a Dominican introduced in Noli Me Tángere who now serves as the
director and chaplain of the University of Santo Tomas.

30.  Father Millon – a Dominican who serves as a physics professor in the University of Santo Tomás.

31.  Quiroga – a Chinese businessman who aspired to be a consul for China in the Philippines. Simoun coerced Quiroga into hiding
weapons inside the latter's warehouses in preparation for the revolution.
 Don Custodio – Custodio de Salazar y Sánchez de Monteredondo, a famous "contractor" who was tasked by the Captain-
General to develop the students association's proposal for an academy for the teaching of Spanish, but was then also under
pressure from the priests not to compromise their prerogatives as monopolizers of instruction. Some of the novel's most
scathing criticism is reserved for Custodio, who is portrayed as an opportunist who married his way into high society, who
regularly criticized favored ideas that did not come from him, but was ultimately, laughably incompetent in spite of his scruples.
 Ben-Zayb – A columnist for the Manila Spanish newspaper El Grito de la Integridad. Ben-Zayb is his pen name and is an
anagram of Ybáñez, an alternate spelling of his last name Ibáñez. His first name is not mentioned. Ben-Zayb is said to have the
looks of a friar, and believes that in Manila they think because he thinks. He is deeply patriotic, sometimes to the point
of jingoism. As a journalist, he had no qualms embellishing a story, conflating and butchering details, turning phrases over and
over, making a mundane story sound better than it actually was. Father Camorra derisively calls him an ink-slinger.
 Father Camorra – the parish priest of Tiani. Ben-Zayb's regular foil, he is said to look like an artilleryman in counterpoint to Ben-
Zayb's friar looks. He stops at nothing to mock and humiliate Ben-Zayb's liberal pretensions. In his own parish, Camorra has a
reputation for unrestrained lustfulness. He drives Juli into suicide after attempting to rape her inside the convent. For his
misbehavior he was "detained" in a luxurious riverside villa just outside Manila.

32.  Father Írene – Capitán Tiago's spiritual adviser. Along with Don Custodio, Írene is severely criticized as a representative of priests
who allied themselves with temporal authority for the sake of power and monetary gain. Known to many as the final authority
who Custodio consults, the student association sought his support and gifted him with two chestnut-colored horses, yet he
betrayed the students by counseling Custodio into making them fee collectors in their own school, which was then to be
administered by the Dominicans instead of being a secular and privately managed institution as the students envisioned. Írene
secretly but regularly supplies Capitán Tiago with opium while exhorting Basilio to do his duty. Írene embellished stories of
panic following the outlawing of the student association Basilio was part of, hastening Capitán Tiago's death. With Basilio in
prison, he then removed Basilio out of Tiago's last will and testament, ensuring he inherited nothing.
 Placido Penitente – a student of the University of Santo Tomas who had a distaste for study and would have left school if it were
not for his mother's pleas for him to stay. He clashes with his physics professor, who then accuses him of being a member of the
student association, whom the friars despise. Following the confrontation, he meets Simoun at the Quiapo Fair. Seeing potential
in Placido, Simoun takes him along to survey his preparations for the upcoming revolution. The following morning Placido has
become one of Simoun's committed followers. He is later seen with the former schoolmaster of San Diego, who was now
Simoun's bomb-maker.
 Paulita Gómez – the girlfriend of Isagani and the niece of Doña Victorina, the old Indio who passes herself off as a Peninsular,
who is the wife of the quack doctor Tiburcio de Espadaña. In the end, she and Isagani part ways, Paulita believing she will have
no future if she marries him. She eventually marries Juanito Peláez.