Rizal returned to the Philippines in 1887 after studying in Europe for five years. He operated a medical clinic in Calamba and taught the youth. However, the friars were angered by Rizal's novel Noli Me Tangere and plotted against him. Due to anonymous threats on his life, Rizal's family and friends advised him to leave the country for his safety. Rizal left the Philippines again in 1888 to continue fighting for reforms from abroad through his writing.

1. Rizal’s First Homecoming
(1887-1888)(1887-1888

2. Rizal’s plans of coming back home
• As early as 1884, Rizal wanted to go back to
the Philippines for the following reasons: –
Financial difficulties in Calamba –
Dissatisfaction with his studies in Madrid –
Desire to prove that there is no reason to fear
going home. – His belief that the Spanish
regime will not punish the innocent.

3. Decision to return home
• After five years of his memorable sojourn in Europe,
Rizal returned to the Philippines.
• However, Rizal was warned by the following not to
return to the Philippines because his Noli Me Tangere
angered the friars: – Paciano Mercado – Rizal’s adviser
and only brother. – Silvestre Ubaldo – Rizal’s brother in
law; husband of Olimpia. – Jose Ma. Cecilio (Chenggoy) –
one of Rizal’s closest friends.

4. • Rizal was determined to come back to the Philippines for
the following reasons: – To operate his mother’s eyes – To
serve his people who had long been oppressed by Spanish
tyrants. – To find out for himself how the Noli Me Tangere
and his other writings were affecting Filipinos and
Spaniards. – To inquire why Leonor Rivera remained silent.

5. Rizal arrives in Manila
• Rizal left Rome by train to Marseilles, a French port
and boarded Djemnah, the same steamer that brought
him to Europe five years ago.
• There were 50 passengers: 4 Englishmen, 2 Germans, 3
Chinese, 2 Japanese, 40 Frenchmen, and 1 Filipino (Rizal)
• When the ship reached Aden, the weather became
rough and some of Rizal’s book got wet.
• In Saigon (Ho Chi Minh), Vietnam – he transferred to
another steamer, Haiphong, that brought him to Manila.

6. Happy Homecoming
• When Rizal arrived in Calamba, rumors spread that he
was a: – German spy – An agent of Otto Von Bismarck –
the liberator of Germany. – A Protestant – A Mason – A
soul halfway to damnation
• Paciano – did not leave him during the first days after
arrival to protect him from any enemy assault.
• Don Francisco – did not permit him to go out alone

7. In Calamba
• Rizal established a medical clinic.
• Doña Teodora – was Rizal’s first patient
• Rizal treated her eyes but could not perform any
surgical operation because her cataracts were not yet
ripe.
• He painted several beautiful landscapes in Calamba.
• He translated German poems of Von Wildernath in
Tagalog.

8. • Doctor Uliman – Rizal was called this name because
he came from Germany. – He earned P900 in a few
months and P5,000 before he left the Philippines.
• Gymnasium – was opened by Rizal for the young
people
• He introduced European sports fencing and
shooting to discourage them from cockfighting and
gambling.

9. Sad moments while Rizal was in Calamba
• Leonor Rivera – Rizal tried to visit her in
Tarlac but his parents forbade him to go
because Leonor’s mother did not like him for
a son-in- law.
• Olimpia Mercado-Ubaldo – died because
of child birth.

10. Storm over the Noli Me Tangere
• As Rizal was peacefully living in Calamba, his enemies
plotted his doom.
• Governor General Emilio Terrero – wrote to Rizal
requesting to come to Malacañang Palace. – Somebody had
whispered to his ear that the Noli contains subversive ideas.
– Rizal explained to him that he merely exposed the truth,
but did not advocate subversive ideas. – He was pleased by
Rizal’s explanation and curious about the book, he asked for
a copy of the novel. – Rizal had no copy that time but
promised to send one for him.

11. Rizal visited the Jesuits
• Rizal visited the Jesuit fathers to ask for their
feedback on the novel.
• He was gladly welcomed by the following friars: –
Fr. Francisco de Paula Sanchez – Fr. Jose Bech – Fr.
Federico Faura – told Rizal that everything in the
novel was the truth and warned him that he may
lose his head because of it

12. • Governor-General Emilio Terrero – a
liberal minded Spaniard who knew that
Rizal’s life was in jeopardy because the
friars were powerful. – Because of this
he gave Rizal a bodyguard to protect
him.

13. Jose Taviel de Andrade
• A young Spanish lieutenant who came from a
noble family
• He was cultured and knew painting
• He could speak French, English and Spanish.
• They became good friends.

14. Attackers of the Noli
• Archbishop Pedro Payo – a Dominican
• Archbishop of Manila
• Sent a copy of the Noli to Fr. Gregorio Echevarria, Rector of
the University of Santo Tomas to examine the novel.

15. UST and Rizal
• The committee that examined the Noli Me Tangere were
composed of Dominican professors.
• The report of the faculty members from UST about the Noli
states that the novel was: – Heretical, impious and scandalous in
the religious orders, and anti-patriotic, subversive of pubic order,
injurious to the government of Spain and its function in the
Philippine Islands in the political order.

16. • Governor-General Terrero – was not satisfied with the
report so he sent the novel to the Permanent Commission
of Censorship which was composed of priests and lawyers.
• Fr. Salvador Font – Augustinian friar curate of Tondo was
the head of the commission. – The group found that the
novel contain subversive ideas against the Church and Spain
and recommended that the importation, reproduction and
circulation of the pernicious book in the islands be
absolutely prohibited.

17. • The newspaper published Font’s written report
• The banning of the Noli Me Tangere served to make it
popular
• The masses supported the book

18. . • Fr. Jose Rodriguez – Augustinian Prior of Guadalupe –
Published a series of eight pamphlets under the heading
Questions of Supreme Interest to blast the Noli and other anti-
Spanish writing. – Copies of anti-Rizal pamphlets were sold
after mass – Many Filipinos were forced to buy them in order
not to displease the friars.

19. Noli Me Tangere in Spain
• The novel was fiercely attacked in the session hall of the Senate of
the Spanish Cortes.
• Senators: – General Jose de Salamanca – General Luis de Pando –
Sr. Fernando Vida
• Vicente Barantes – Spanish academician of Madrid who formerly
occupied high government position in the Philippines bitterly
criticized the novel in an article published in the Madrid newspaper,
La España Moderna.

20. Defenders of the Noli Me Tangere
• Propagandists such as Marcelo H. del Pilar, Graciano Lopez-Jaena,
Antonio Ma. Regidor, Mariano Ponce rushed to uphold the truths
of the Noli.
• Father Francisco de Paul Sanchez – Rizal’s favorite teacher in
Ateneo defended and praised the novel in public.
• Don Segismundo Moret – former Minister of the Crown.
• Prof. Miguel Morayta- historian and stateman
• Prof. Ferdinand Blumentritt – Rizal’s best friend

21. • Rev. Fr. Vicente Garcia – a Filipino Catholic priest-
scholar, a theologian of the Manila Cathedral and a
Tagalog translator of the famous Imitation of Christ by
Thomas Kempis. – Under the pen name Justo Desiderio
Magalang he wrote a defense of the novel published in
Singapore.

22. • Rizal cried because of his gratitude to his defenders
especially to Fr. Garcia who defended him unexpectedly.
• He attacked Barantes by exposing his ignorance of
Philippine affairs and mental dishonesty which is unworthy
of an academician.
• Because of the interest of both enemies and protectors of
the Noli the price of the book increased from five pesetas
per copy to 50 pesetas per copy.

23. Agrarian Problem in Calamba
• Influenced by the novel, Governor-General Emilio
Terrero ordered a government investigation of the
friar estates to remedy whatever inequities might
have been present in connection with land taxes and
with tenant relations.
• One of the friar estates affected was the Calamba
hacienda by the Dominican order since 1883.

24. • Upon hearing about the
investigation, the people of Calamba
asked helped from Rizal to gather facts
and list the grievances so that the
government might institute certain
agrarian reforms.

25. Findings submitted by Rizal
• The hacienda of the Dominican Order comprised not only the lands
around Calamba, but the whole town of Calamba.
• The profits of the Dominican Order continually increased because of the
arbitrary increase of he rentals paid by the tenants.
• The hacienda owner never contributed a single centavo for the
celebration of the town fiesta, for the education of the children, and for
the improvement of agriculture.

26. • Tenants who spent much labor in clearing the lands were
dispossessed of the said lands for flimsy reasons
• High rates of interest were arbitrarily charged the tenants for
delayed payment of rentals
• When the rentals could not be paid, the hacienda management
confiscated the work animals, tools, and farm implements of the
tenants.

27. Friars Reaction
• Rizal’s exposure to the deplorable condition angered the
friars.
• The friars exerted pressure to Malacañang to eliminate Rizal.
• They asked Gov. Gen. Terrero to deport Rizal but the latter
refused for there is lack of charges against Rizal in court.
• Anonymous threats in Rizal’s life alarmed his parents,
siblings, Andrade his bodyguard, friends, and even Terrero,
thus they all advised him to leave the country.

28. Rizal’s reasons for leaving the Philippines
• His presence in Calamba was
jeopardizing the safety and happiness of
his family and friends.
• He could not fight better his enemies
and serve his country’s cause with
greater efficacy by writing in foreign
countries.

29. Himno Al Trabajo
• A poem for Lipa – shortly before Rizal left
in 1888, he was asked by a friend to write a
poem in commemoration of the town’s
cityhood.
• Himno Al Trabajo (Hymn To Labor) – title
of the poem dedicated to the industrious
people of Lipa.

30. Farewell