Rizal’s Exile in Dapitan

Dr. Jose Rizal was ordered to be arrested by Governor-General Eulogio Despujol on July 6, 1892 after being summoned in Malacañang for writing anti-friar article.

fruits trees, mangoes, lanzones, guayabanos, baluno, nangka, etc. I have rabbits, dogs, cats, etc. I rise early — at five — visit my plants, feed the chickens, awaken my people and put in movement. At half-past seven, we breakfast with tea, pastries, cheese, sweet meats, etc. Later I treat my poor patients, who come to my land; I dress, go to the town in my baroto, treat the people there, and return at 12, when my luncheon awaits me. Then I teach the boys until 4 p.m. and devote the afternoon to agriculture. I spend the night reading and studying.

Careers And Contributions of Rizal

From the day of his arrest to July 14, 1892, Rizal was in a state of incommunicado (not allowed to communicate). Thereafter, Rizal was escorted to the steamer Cebu, and at 1:00 a.m. of July 15, 1892, the steamer left Manila bound to Dapitan. And, at 7:00 p.m., Sunday, July 17, 1892, they arrived at Dapitan with Captain Delgas, the ship’s skipper, handing over Rizal to the governor of Dapitan, Captain Ricardo Carcinero.

In Dapitan, Rizal led an exemplary life, fruitful of achievements and idyllic in serenity. The members of his family visiting him in order to assuage his loneliness in Dapitan. He built his own house by the seashore, surrounded by a garden of fruit trees. He had also another house for his school boys and hospital for his patients. Never had an exile so busy a life as Rizal’s in faraway Dapitan. All his available time, he devoted to the practice of medicine; to his artistic, literary, educational, linguistic, and scientific pursuits; to his agricultural and business activities; to certain civic projects; and to his extensive correspondence with Blumentritt, Joest, Rost, Meyer, Knuttel, Kheil, and other scientist of Europe.

Describing his life in Dapitan, Rizal wrote to Blumentritt:

I shall tell you how we live here. I have three houses: one square, another hexagonal, and a third octagonal, all of bamboo, wood, and nipa. In the square house we live, my mother, sister Trinidad, a nephew and I, in the octagonal live my boys or some good youngsters whom I teach arithmetic, Spanish, and English; and in the hexagonal live my chickens. From my house, I hear the murmur of a crystal-clear brook, which comes from the high rocks; I see the seashore, the sea where I have small boats, two canoes or barotos, as they say there. I have many

As a Physician, Rizal provided free consultation and medicine to his patients that are underprivileged. He also had patients who are wealthy who paid him well for his excellent surgical skills.

Talisay Water System (Rizal’s Dam and Aqueduct)

As an artist, Rizal sculptured a statue called “The Mother’s revenge” inspired by his dog, Syria, avenging her puppy to a crocodile which killed it. As a scientist, Rizal shared his interest in sciences and nature with his students. They explored the forests and searched for specimens which he sent to museums in Europe. One of the most significant contributions of Rizal in the field of science is his discovery of three species:

Rhacophorus

As an engineer, Rizal constructed a waterworks system in Dapitan with the help of his pupils, the water system provided adequate yearround water supply for Rizal’s farm and household needs (Inscription). An American engineer, Mr. H.F. Cameron, praised Rizal’s engineering feat in the following words: “Another famous and wellknown water supply is that of Dapitan, Mindanao, designed and constructed by Dr. Rizal during his banishment in that municipality by the Spanish authorities... This supply comes from a little mountain stream across the river from Dapitan and follows the contour of the country for the whole distance. When one considers that Doctor Rizal had no explosives with which to blast the hard rocks and no resources save his own ingenuity, one cannot help but honor a man, who against adverse conditions, had the courage and tenacity to construct the aqueduct which had for its bottom the flutted tiles from the house roofs, and was covered with concrete made from lime burned from the sea coral. The length of this aqueduct is several kilometers, and it winds in and out among the rocks and is carried across gullies in bamboo pipes upheld by rocks or brick piers to the distribution reservoir” (Zaide, 2008).

Apogonia rizali (Small Beetle)

Rizal also partakes in civic works in Dapitan. Upon arriving in the province, he noticed its poor condition. He drained the marshes of Dapitan to get rid of malaria-carrying mosquitoes. He also provided lighting system – coconut oil lamps posted in dark streets – in the province out of what he earned from being a physician. He beautified Dapitan by remodeling the town plaza, with the aid of his Jesuit teacher, Fr. Francisco Sanchez, and created a relief map of Mindanao right in front the church.