Jose Rizal

• Jose Rizal is identified as a hero of the revolution for his writings that center on ending colonialism and liberating Filipino minds to contribute to creating the Filipino nation.

• The great volume of Rizal's lifework was committed to this end, particularly the mo more influential ones, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.

• It is understandable, therefore, that any piece of writing from Rizal that recants everything he wrote against the friars and the Catholic Church in the Philippines could deal heavy damage to his image as a prominent Filipino revolutionary.

• Such document purportedly exists, allegedly signed by Rizal a few hours before his execution. This document, referred to as "The Retraction," declares Rizal's belief in the Catholic faith, and retracts everything he wrote against the Catholic church.

Primary Source: Rizal's Retraction

Source: Translated from the document found by Fr. Manuel Garcia, C. M. on 18 May 1935.

"I declare myself a Catholic and in this Religion in which I was born and educated I wish to live and die.”

"I retract with all my heart whatever in my words, writings, publications and conduct has been contrary to my character as son of the Catholic Church. I believe and I confess whatever she teaches and I submit to whatever she demands. I abominate Masonry, as the enemy which is of the Church, and as a Society prohibited by the Church. The Diocesan Prelate may, as the Superior Ecclesiastical Authority, make public this spontaneous manifestation of mine in order to repair the scandal which my acts may have caused and so that God and people may pardon me."

Manila 29 of December of 1896

Jose Rizal

There are four iterations of the texts of this retraction:

1. The first was published in La Vaz Española and Diario de Manila on the day of the execution, 30 December 1896,

2. The second text appeared in Barcelona, Spain, in the magazine La Juventud, a few months after the execution, 14 February 1897, from an anonymous writer who was later on revealed to be Fr. Vicente Balaguer. However, the "original" text was only found in the archdiocesan archives on 18 May 1935, after almost four decades of disappearance.

3. The Balaguer Testimony

• Doubts on the retraction document abound, especially because only one eyewitness account of the writing of the document exists that of the Jesuit Friar Fr. Vicente Balaguer.

• According to his testimony, Rizal woke up several times, confessed four times, attended a mass, received communion, a prayed the rosary, all of which seemed out of character. But since it is the only testimony of allegedly a "primary" account that Rizal every wrote a retraction document, it has been used to argue the authenticity of the document.

4. The testimony of Cuerpo de Vigilancia

• Another eyewitness account surfaced in 2016, through the research of Professor Rene R. Escalante. In his research, documents of the Cuerpo de Vigilancia included a report on the last hours of Rizal, written by Federico Moreno. The report details the statement of the Cuerpo de Vigilancia to Moreno.

Primary Source: Eyewitness Account of the Last Hours of Rizal

Source: Michael Charleston Chua, "Retraction ni Jose Rizal: Mga Bagong Dokumento at Pananaw," GMA News Online, published 29 December 2016.

• This account corroborates the existence of the retraction document, giving it credence. However, nowhere in the account was Fr. Balaguer mentioned, which makes the friar a mere secondary source to the writing of the document.

Source: Peter Jaynul V. Uckung, "The Rizal Retraction and other cases", National Historical Commission of the Philippines website.

• In 1901, the Americans managed to capture a Filipino messenger, Cecilio Segismundo who carried with him documents from Aguinaldo. The American then faked some documents complete with forged signature, telling Aguinaldo that some Filipino officers were sending him guerrillas with American prisoners. With the help of a Spanish traitor, Lazaro Segovia, the Americans assembled a company of pro-American Filipino soldiers, the Macabebe scouts. These were the soldiers who penetrated the camp of Aguinaldo, disguised as soldiers of the Philippine Republic. They managed to capture Aguinaldo. With the president captured, his generals began to surrender, and the Republic began to fall.

• The document of the retraction of Jose Rizal, too, is being hotly debated as to its authenticity.

• It was supposed to have been signed by Jose Rizal moments before his death. There were many witnesses, most of them Jesuits. The document only surfaced for public viewing on May 13, 1935. It was found by Fr. Manuel A. Gracia at the Catholic hierarchy's archive in Manila. But the original document was never shown to the public, only reproductions of it.

• However, Fr. Pio Pi, a Spanish Jesuit, reported that as early as 1907, the retraction of Rizal was copied verbatim and published in Spain, and reprinted in Manila. Fr. Gracia, who found the original document, also copied it verbatim.

• In both reproductions, there were conflicting versions of the text. Add to this the date of the signing was very clear in the original Spanish document which Rizal supposedly signed. The date was "December 29, 1890."

• Later, another supposedly original document surfaced, it bears the date "December 29, 189C". The number "0" was evidently altered to make it look like a letter C. Then still later, another supposedly original version came up. It has the date "December 29, 1896". This time, the "0" became a "6".

• Those who strongly believed the faking of the Rizal retraction document, reported that the forger of Rizal's signature was Roman Roque, the man who also forged the signature of Urbano Lacuna, which was used to capture Aguinaldo.

• The mastermind, they say, in both Lacuna's and Rizal's signature forging was Lazaro Segovia. They were approached by Spanish friars during the final day of the Filipino-American war to forge Rizal's signature.

• To this day, the retraction issue is still raging like a wild fire in the forest of the night.

• Others would like to believe that the purported retraction of Rizal was invented by the friars to deflect the heroism of Rizal which was centered on the friar abuses.

• Incidentally, Fr. Pio Pi, who copied verbatim Rizal's retraction, also figured prominently during the revolution. It was him, Andres Bonifacio reported, who had intimated to Aguinaldo the cessation of agitation in exchange of pardon.

• There are also not a few people who believe that the autobiography of Josephine Bracken, written on February 22, 1897 is also forged and forged badly.

• The document supposedly written by Josephine herself supported the fact that they were married under the Catholic rites.

• But upon closer look, there is a glaring difference between the penmanship of the document, and other letters written by Josephine to Rizal.

• Surely, we must put the question of retraction to rest, though Rizal is a hero, whether he retracted or not, we must investigate if he really did a turn around. If he did not, and the documents were forgeries, then somebody has to pay for trying to deceive a nation.

• The retraction of Rizal remains to this day, a controversy; many scholars, however, agree that the document does not tarnish the heroism of Rizal. His relevance remained solidified to Filipinos and pushed them to continue the revolution, which eventually resulted in independence in 1898.