GED 103 RIZAL

POINTERS TO REVIEW

Rizal Law
The teaching of Jose Rizal’s life, works, and writings is mandated by
Republic Act 1425, otherwise known as the Rizal Law. Senator Jose P. Laurel,
the person who sponsored the said law, said that since Rizal was the founder
of Philippine nationalism and has contributed much to the current standing of
this nation, it is only right that the youth as well as all the people in the country
know about and learn to imbibe the great ideals for which he died.

Rizal Ideas: A Reply to the Challenges of our Millennium

Jose Rizal is indeed pre-eminent among the national heroes of the

Philippines, and is thus revered by the Filipino nation primarily because of his
virtues of character which exemplify honesty, personal integrity, patriotism
and civic responsibility for example EDSA REVO as Rizal manifestation.
willingness to sacrifice for the cause of his native land, high sense of justice
and family solidarity, and the other loftiest standard of truth with which he
pursued the nobility of his cause to found and foster Filipino Nationhood.
Rizal's pre-eminence is derived from the very fact that he validated all his
social and civic virtues,embodied in his noblest aspirations for his country and
people, by consciously and clear-headedly accepting the ultimate sacrifice of
death in the tragic field of Bagumbayan now called as the Luneta on
December 30,1896. Rizal the man stands among those few that are
companion to no particular epoch or continent, who belong to the world, and
whose lives have a universal message. His field of action lay in the strife of
politics and power, but these were not to his inclination. He shouldered his
political burden solely in the cause of duty, a circumstance rendering him one
of those figures rare in human affairs, a revolutionary without hatred, and a
leader without worldly ambition. Where his true inclination lay is finely
demonstrated in his life by the fact tat his works in science, history, and
literature, and his profession as an ophthalmic surgeon, share a single,
identical aim- to shed illumination and give sight to the blind. Rizal's Virtues of
Character Honesty Personal Integrity Patriotism Civic
Responsibility Willingness to Sacrifice High Sense of Justice.

Rizal on Democracy
In Rizal’s view the best government was a mixture between
representative democracy and responsible model of democracy. He believed
that it would take some time for Filipinos to actively participate in local
government. The definition of democracy is found in Rizal’s mind. He
employed such definition in his writings, his public speeches, and his
advocacy of Philippine democracy.

Religious order of Catholic Church that been expelled.

When the Jesuits who had been expelled in the Philippines in 1768
returned to Manila in 1859, the Governor-General authorized them to take
over the Escuela Pia.
Rizal as a Political Philosopher: Rizal would Criticize Today’s Society

Concepts, Meaning, Features and Dimension

Max Weber defines government as the rise of an institution which has
a “monopoly of the legitimate use of physical power.” Weber complains that
government is an institution that could legally take people’s property by taxing
them, imprisoning them, and even executing them. As a result of these
powers, government could force people to do things that they otherwise would
resist.
Rizal’s definition of government and politics focused on the Spanish
influences. One of Rizal’s strongest criticisms of Spaniards colonialization was
the corruption of the bureaucracy. In describing a typical Spanish bureaucrat,
Rizal wrote: “In order to govern peoples he does not know or understand, he
ought to possess the talent of a genius and extraordinary knowledge. Rizal
argued that this was necessary because the Filipinos were gaining a new
political sophistication.

EXAMPLE OF LEGITIMATE USE OF GOVERNMENT POWER

 Raising revenue from all the citizens without any classification.
 Deprivation of one’s life with due process.
 Only natural born Filipino citizen can sit in the Philippine Congress.
 Imposition of license fee to regulate online business.
 Sub- professional and Professional Civil Service Exam
 Contract of sale between private individuals or companies.
 Impose tariff on imported alcohol products.
 Providing free quality education.
EXAMPLE OF ILLEGITIMATE USE OF GOVERNMENT POWER
 Taking of private property for personal use.
 Arresting a person committing a crime without warrant of arrest.
 Imposition of higher tax rate with a lower tax base.
 Charging of libel cases against anyone who criticized the government.

Rizal’s Concept of Government and Politics

In his letters to the Filipino leaders, Rizal commented at length about
government. In a letter to Mariano Ponce, Rizal remarked that one day
Filipino political leaders would finish their “arduous mission which is the
formation of the Filipino nation.”

Features
Rizal’s Definition of Basic Political Terms
1. Political Culture – is a set of ideas on values about government and
political process held by a community or nation.

Rizal on Political Culture – In his essay “The Indolence of the Filipinos”

Rizal observed that “without education and liberty…no reform is impossible.”
Rizal explained that, the political culture not thrive in the Philippines because
of the inability of the Spanish to 5758 recognize local political values. Only with
education could Filipinos overcome this deficiency.

2. Political Socialization – is one of the main elements of political science.

Also defined as the process by which people, at various stages in their lives,
acquire views and orientations about politics.

Rizal on Political Socialization – By emphasizing the importance of being a

Filipino, Rizal accelerated the process of local nationalism. His criticism of the
friars and the church helped to change attitudes toward local nationalism.

3. Political Ideology – is a comprehensive and logically ordered set of beliefs

about the nature of people and about the institutions and role of government.

Rizal on Political Ideology – In Rizal’s novel Noli Me tangere, he wrote:

….we are speaking of the present condition of the Philippines…yes, we are
entering upon a period of strife…the strife is between the past, which seizes
and strives with curses to cling to the tottering feudal castles, and the future,
whose some of triumph may be heard from afar. Bringing the message of
good news from other land.” As a passionate supporter of a new Philippine
nation, Rizal introduced a fierce brand of ideology which had made Filipinos
among the most political people in the world. Filipinos have carefully defined
political ideology.”

4. Nationalism – is a the idea of oneness by a group of people who possess

common traditions, a shared history, a set of goals, and a belief in a specific
future.

Rizal on Nationalism – Rizal argued that Filipinos could only foster their own
sense of nationalism by studying history. Rizal wrote to Blumentritt: “I would
stimulate these Philippine studies.” and concluded that history provided “the
true concept of one’s self and drove nations to do great things.” Foremost is
that he is the dominant national hero who, unlike all other heroes, had a firm
vision of the future of the Philippines. He glorifies life in the Philippines.
Onofre D. Corpuz concludes that Rizal’s life suggest he is the “father of the
country”.

5. Representative Government – it is the notion that the people have an

inherent right to sit in a chamber that determines their future.

Rizal on Representative Government – Spain had granted Filipinos

representation in the Spanish Cortes from May 1809 until the privilege was
removed by Queen Maria Cristina in 1836. Rizal believed that the
representation was essential to the governing process. Rizal contented the
representation removed the spirit of revolution.

6. Democracy – a government in which all power is shared by citizens. The

word demos is derived from a Greek word which means people.
Rizal on Democracy – In Rizal’s view the best government was a mixture
between representative democracy and responsible model of democracy. He
believed that it would take some time for Filipinos to actively participate in
local government. The definition of democracy is found in Rizal’s mind. He
employed such definition in his writings, his public speeches, and his
advocacy of Philippine democracy.

Jose Rizal as an Ilustrado in 19th Century

What does it mean?
- It means the highlighted one, anti-friar
- They were the middle class who were educated in Spanish liberal and
exposed to Spanish liberal and European Nationalist ideals.

Practices that prohibited in the Philippines in Contemporary settings

Trafficking in Persons - refers to the recruitment, transportation, transfer or

harboring, or receipt of persons with or without the victim's consent or
knowledge, within or across national borders by means of threat or use of
force, or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power
or of position, taking advantage of the vulnerability of the person, or, the
giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person
having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation which
includes at a minimum, the exploitation or the prostitution of others or other
forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery, servitude or the
removal or sale of organs. The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring
or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall also be considered as
"trafficking in persons" even if it does not involve any of the means set forth in
the preceding paragraph.
Forced Labor and Slavery - refer to the extraction of work or services from
any person by means of enticement, violence, intimidation or threat, use of
force or coercion, including deprivation of freedom, abuse of authority or
moral ascendancy, -debt-bondage or deception.
Sexual Exploitation refers to participation by a person in prostitution or the
production of pornographic materials as a result of being subjected to a threat,
deception, coercion, abduction, force, abuse of authority, debt bondage, fraud
or through abuse of a victim's vulnerability.

Debt Bondage - refers to the pledging by the debtor of his/her personal

services or labor or those of a person under his/her control as security or
payment for a debt, when the length and nature of services is not clearly
defined or when the value of the services as reasonably assessed is not
applied toward the liquidation of the debt.

José Rizal and the Propaganda Movement

Between 1872 and 1892, a national consciousness was growing
among the Filipino émigrés who had settled in Europe. In the freer
atmosphere of Europe, these émigrés--liberals exiled in 1872 and students
attending European universities--formed the Propaganda Movement.
Organized for literary and cultural purposes more than for political ends, the
Propagandists, who included upper-class Filipinos from all the lowland
Christian areas, strove to "awaken the sleeping intellect of the Spaniard to the
needs of our country" and to create a closer, more equal association of the
islands and the motherland. Among their specific goals were representation of
the Philippines in the Cortes, or Spanish parliament; secularization of the
clergy; legalization of Spanish and Filipino equality; creation of a public school
system independent of the friars; abolition of the polo (labor service) and
vandala (forced sale of local products to the government); guarantee of basic
freedoms of speech and association; and equal opportunity for Filipinos and
Spanish to enter government service.
The most outstanding Propagandist was José Rizal, a physician,
scholar, scientist, and writer. Born in 1861 into a prosperous Chinese mestizo
family in Laguna Province, he displayed great intelligence at an early age.
After several years of medical study at the University of Santo Tomás, he
went to Spain in 1882 to finish his studies at the University of Madrid. During
the decade that followed, Rizal's career spanned two worlds: Among small
communities of Filipino students in Madrid and other European cities, he
became a leader and eloquent spokesman, and in the wider world of
European science and scholarship--particularly in Germany--he formed close
relationships with prominent natural and social scientists. The new discipline
of anthropology was of special interest to him; he was committed to refuting
the friars' stereotypes of Filipino racial inferiority with scientific arguments. His
greatest impact on the development of a Filipino national consciousness,
however, was his publication of two novels--Noli Me Tangere (Touch me not)
in 1886 and El Filibusterismo (The reign of greed) in 1891. Rizal drew on his
personal experiences and depicted the conditions of Spanish rule in the
islands, particularly the abuses of the friars. Although the friars had Rizal's
books banned, they were smuggled into the Philippines and rapidly gained a
wide readership.
Other important Propagandists included Graciano Lopez Jaena, a
noted orator and pamphleteer who had left the islands for Spain in 1880 after
the publication of his satirical short novel, Fray Botod (Brother Fatso), an
unflattering portrait of a provincial friar. In 1889 he established a biweekly
newspaper in Barcelona, La Solidaridad (Solidarity), which became the
principal organ of the Propaganda Movement, having audiences both in Spain
and in the islands. Its contributors included Rizal; Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt,
an Austrian geographer and ethnologist whom Rizal had met in Germany; and
Marcelo del Pilar, a reformminded lawyer. Del Pilar was active in the antifriar
movement in the islands until obliged to flee to Spain in 1888, where he
became editor of La Solidaridad and assumed leadership of the Filipino
community in Spain.
In 1887 Rizal returned briefly to the islands, but because of the furor
surrounding the appearance of Noli Me Tangere the previous year, he was
advised by the governor to leave. He returned to Europe by way of Japan and
North America to complete his second novel and an edition of Antonio de
Morga's seventeenth-century work, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (History of
the Philippine Islands). The latter project stemmed from an ethnological
interest in the cultural connections between the peoples of the pre-Spanish
Philippines and those of the larger Malay region (including modern Malaysia
and Indonesia) and the closely related political objective of encouraging
national pride. De Morga provided positive information about the islands' early
inhabitants, and reliable accounts of pre-Christian religion and social customs.
After a stay in Europe and Hong Kong, Rizal returned to the Philippines
in June 1892, partly because the Dominicans had evicted his father and
sisters from the land they leased from the friars' estate at Calamba, in Laguna
Province. He also was convinced that the struggle for reform could no longer
be conducted effectively from overseas. In July he established the Liga
Filipina (Philippine League), designed to be a truly national, nonviolent
organization. It was dissolved, however, following his arrest and exile to the
remote town of Dapitan in northwestern Mindanao.
The Propaganda Movement languished after Rizal's arrest and the
collapse of the Liga Filipina. La Solidaridad went out of business in November
1895, and in 1896 both del Pilar and Lopez Jaena died in Barcelona, worn
down by poverty and disappointment. An attempt was made to reestablish the
Liga Filipina, but the national movement had become split between ilustrado
advocates of reform and peaceful evolution (the compromisarios, or
compromisers) and a plebeian constituency that wanted revolution and
national independence. Because the Spanish refused to allow genuine reform,
the initiative quickly passed from the former group to the latter.

EXAMPLE OF OJECTIVE OF PROPAGANDISTA

 Holding picket and strike.
 Providing free quality education.

NOT OBJECTIVE OF PROPAGANDA

 Cancellation of all existing TV and Radio broadcasting franchise
 Prohibiting activist to conduct a rally in a freedom park.

Meanings, Features, Background and Characters

Noli Me Tangere Definition

Noli Me Tangere is Latin for "touch me not," an allusion to the Gospel

of St. John where Jesus says to Mary Magdelene: "Touch me not, for I am not
yet ascended to my Father." Rizal entitled this novel as such drawing
inspiration from John 20:13 17 of the Bible, the technical name of a
particularly painful type of cancer (back in his time, it was unknown what the
modern name of said disease was). He proposed to probe all the cancers of
Filipino society that everyone else felt too painful to touch.

Noli Me Tángere, is an 1887 novel by José Rizal during the

colonization of the Philippines by Spain to describe perceived inequities of the
Spanish Catholic friars and the ruling government. Originally written in
Spanish, the book is more commonly published and read in the Philippines in
either Tagalog or English.

Early English translations of the novel used titles like An Eagle Flight
(1900) and The Social Cancer (1912), disregarding the symbolism of the title,
but the more recent translations were published using the original Latin title.
 It has also been noted by the Austro-Hungarian writer Ferdinand
Blumentritt that "Noli Me Tángere" was a name used bylocal Filipinos for
cancer of the eyelids; that as an ophthalmologist himself Rizal was influenced
by this fact is suggested in the novel's dedication, "To My fatherland".

Background
José Rizal, a Filipino nationalist and medical doctor, conceived the idea
of writing a novel that would expose the ills of Philippine society after reading
Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. He preferred that the
prospective novel express the way Filipino culture was perceived to be
backward, anti-progress, anti-intellectual, and not conducive to the ideals of
the Age of Enlightenment. He was then a student of medicine in the
Universidad Central de Madrid.
In a reunion of Filipinos at the house of his friend Pedro A. Paterno in
Madrid on 2 January 1884, Rizal proposed the writing of a novel about the
Philippines written by a group of Filipinos. His proposal was unanimously
approved by the Filipinos present at the time, among whom were Pedro,
Maximino Viola and Antonio Paterno, Graciano López Jaena, Evaristo Aguirre,
Eduardo de Lete, Julio Llorente and Valentin Ventura. However, this project
did not materialize. The people who agreed to help Rizal with the novel did
not write anything. Initially, the novel was planned to cover and describe all
phases of Filipino life, but almost everybody wanted to write about women.
Rizal even saw his companions spend more time gambling and flirting with
Spanish women. Because of this, he pulled out of the plan of co-writing with
others and decided to draft the novel alone.

History on Publication
Rizal finished the novel in February 1887. At first, according to one of
Rizal's biographers, Rizal feared the novel might not be printed, and that it
would remain unread. He was struggling with financial constraints at the time
and thought it would be hard to pursue printing the novel. Financial aid came
from a friend named Máximo Viola; this helped him print the book at Berliner
Buchdruckerei-Aktiengesellschaft in Berlin. Rizal was initially hesitant, but
Viola insisted and ended up lending Rizal ₱300 for 2,000 copies. The printing
was finished earlier than the estimated five months. Viola arrived in Berlin in
December 1886, and by March 21, 1887, Rizal had sent a copy of the novel to
his friend, Blumentritt.

The book was banned by Spanish authorities in the Philippines,

although copies were smuggled into the country. The first Philippine edition
(and the second published edition) was finally printed in 1899 in Manila by
Chofre y Compania in Escolta.

Influence on Filipino nationalism

Rizal depicted nationality by emphasizing the positive qualities of
Filipinos: the devotion of a Filipina and her influence on a man's life, the deep
sense of gratitude, and the solid common sense of the Filipinos under the
Spanish regime.
The work was instrumental in creating a unified Filipino national identity
and consciousness, as many natives previously identified with their respective
regions. It lampooned, caricatured and exposed various elements in colonial
society. Two characters in particular have become classics in Filipino culture:
María Clara, who has become a personification of the ideal Filipino woman,
loving and unwavering in her loyalty to her spouse; and the priest Father
Dámaso, who reflects the covert fathering of illegitimate children by members
of the Spanish clergy.

The book indirectly influenced the Philippine Revolution of

independence from the Spanish Empire, even though Rizal actually
advocated direct representation to the Spanish government and an overall
larger role for the Philippines within Spain's political affairs. In 1956, Congress
passed Republic Act 1425, more popularly known as the Rizal Law, which
requires all levels in Philippine schools to teach the novel as part of their
curriculum.

Noli me tangere is being taught to third year secondary school (now

Grade 9, due to the new K-12 curriculum) students, while its sequel El
filibusterismo is being taught for fourth year secondary school (now Grade 10)
students. The novels are incorporated to their study and survey of Philippine
literature.[4] Both of Rizal's novels were initially banned from Catholic
educational institutions given its negative portrayal of the Church, but this
taboo has been largely superseded as religious schools conformed to the
Rizal Law.

Major Characters
Crisóstomo Ibarra
Juan Crisóstomo Ibarra y Magsalin, commonly referred to in the novel as
Ibarra or Crisostomo, is the novel's protagonist. The mestizo (mixed-race)
son of Filipino businessman Don Rafael Ibarra, he studied in Europe for
seven years. Ibarra is also María Clara's fiancé.

María Clara
María Clara de los Santos, commonly referred to as María Clara, is Ibarra's
fiancée and the most beautiful and widely celebrated girl in San Diego. She
was raised by Kapitán Tiago de los Santos, and his cousin, Isabel. In the later
parts of the novel, she was revealed to be an illegitimate daughter of Father
Dámaso, the former curate of the town, and Doña Pía Alba, Kapitán Tiago's
wife, who had died giving birth to María Clara. At the novel's end, a
heartbroken yet resolved María Clara entered the Beaterio de Santa Clara (a
nunnery) after learning the truth of her parentage and mistakenly believing
that her lover, Crisóstomo, had been killed. In the epilogue, Rizal stated that it
is unknown whether María Clara is still living within the walls of the convent or
is already dead. A character of Leonor Rivera who was Rizal’s longtime love
interest.

Kapitán Tiago
Don Santiago de los Santos, known by his nickname Tiago and political title
Kapitán Tiago, is said to be the richest man in the region of Binondo and
possessed real properties in Pampanga and Laguna de Baý. He is also said
to be a good Catholic, a friend of the Spanish government and thus was
considered a Spaniard by the colonial elite. Kapitán Tiago never attended
school, so he became the domestic helper of a Dominican friar who gave him
an informal education. He later married Pía Alba from Santa Cruz.

Padre Dámaso
Dámaso Verdolagas, better known as Padre Dámaso, is a Franciscan friar
and the former parish curate of San Diego. He is notorious for speaking with
harsh words, highhandedness, and his cruelty during his ministry in the town.
An enemy of Crisóstomo's father, Don Rafael Ibarra, Dámaso is revealed to
be María Clara's biological father. Later, he and María Clara had bitter
arguments on whether she would marry Alfonso Linares de Espadaña (which
he preferred) or enter the nunnery (her desperate alternative). At the end of
the novel, he is again reassigned to a distant town and later found dead in his
bed.

Elías
Elías is Ibarra's mysterious friend and ally. Elías made his first appearance as
a pilot during a picnic of Ibarra and María Clara and her friends. The 50th
chapter of the novel explores the past of Elías and history of his family. About
sixty years before theevents of Noli Me Tángere, Elías's grandfather Ingkong
in his youth worked as a bookkeeper in a Manila office. One night the office
burned down, and Don Pedro Eibarramendia, the Spaniard owner, accused
him of arson. Ingkong was prosecuted and upon release was shunned by the
community as a dangerous lawbreaker. His wife Impong turned to prostitution
to support themselves but eventually they were driven into the hinterlands.
There Impong bore her first son, Balat. Driven to depression, Ingkong hangs
himself deep in the forest. Impong was sickly for lack of nourishment in the
forest and was not strong enough to cut down his corpse and bury him, and
Balat was then still very young. The stench led to their discovery, and Impong
was accused of killing her husband. She and her son fled to another province
where she bore another son. Balat grew up to be a bandit.
Eventually Balat's legend grew, but so did the efforts to capture him,
and when he finally fell he was cut limb by limb and his head was deposited in
front of Impong's house. Seeing the head of her son, Impong died of shock.
Impong's younger son, knowing their deaths would somehow be imputed
upon him, fled to the province of Tayabas where he met and fell in love with a
rich young heiress. They have an affair and the lady got pregnant. But before
they could marry, his records were dug up. Then the father, who disapproved
of him from the start, had him imprisoned. The lady gave birth to Elías and his
twin sister but died while the two were still children. Nonetheless, the twins
were well cared for, with Elías even going to Ateneo and his sister going to La
Concordia, but as they wanted to become farmers they eventually returned to
Tayabas. He and his sister grew up not knowing about their father, being told
that their father had long died. Elías grew up to be a young abusive brat who
took particular joy in berating an elderly servant who, nevertheless, always
submitted to his whims. His sister was more refined and eventually was
betrothed to a fine young man. But before they could marry, Elías ran afoul
with a distant relative. The relative struck back by telling him about his true
parentage. The verbal scuffle mounted to the point where records were dug
up, and Elías and his sister, as well as a good part of town, learned the truth.
The elderly servant who Elías frequently abused was their father.
The scandal caused the engagement of Elías' sister to break off.
Depressed, the girl disappeared one day and was eventually found dead
along the shore of the lake. Elías himself lost face before his relatives and
became a wanderer from province to province. Like his uncle Balat he
became a fugitive and his legend grew, but by degrees he became the gentler,
more reserved, and more noble character first introduced in the novel.

Pilósopong Tasyo
Filósofo Tasio (Tagalog: Pilósopong Tasyo) was enrolled in a philosophy
course and was a talented student, but his mother was a rich but superstitious
matron. Like many Filipino Catholics under the sway of the friars, she believed
that too much learning condemned souls to hell. She then made Tasyo
choose between leaving college or becoming a priest. Since he was in love,
he left college and married.
Tasyo lost his wife and mother within a year. Seeking consolation and
in order to free himself from the cockpit and the dangers of idleness, he took
up his studies once more. But he became so addicted to his studies and the
purchase of books that he entirely neglected his fortune and gradually ruined
himself. Persons of culture called him Don Anastacio, or Pilósopong Tasyo,
while the great crowd of the ignorant knew him as Tasio el Loco on account of
his peculiar ideas and his eccentric manner of dealing with others. Seeking for
reforms from the government, he expresses his ideals in paper written in a
cryptographic alphabet similar from hieroglyphs and Coptic figures hoping
"that the future generations may be able to decipher it.

Doña Victorina
Doña Victorina de los Reyes de de Espadaña, commonly known as Doña
Victorina, is an ambitious Filipina who classifies herself as a Spaniard and
mimics Spanish ladies by putting on heavy make-up. The novel narrates Doña
Victorina's younger days: she had lots of admirers, but she spurned them all
because none of them were Spaniards. Later on, she met and married Don
Tiburcio de Espadaña, an official of the customs bureau ten years her junior.
However, their marriage is childless. Her husband assumes the title of
medical "doctor" even though he never attended medical school; using fake
documents and certificates, Tiburcio illegally practices medicine. Tiburcio's
usage of the title Dr. consequently makes Victorina assume the title Dra.
(doctora, female doctor). Apparently, she uses the whole name Doña
Victorina de los Reyes de de Espadaña, with double de to emphasize her
marriage surname. She seems to feel that this awkward titling makes her
more "sophisticated".

Sisa, Crispín, and Basilio

Sisa, Crispín, and Basilio represent a Filipino family persecuted by the
Spanish authorities:
 Narcisa, or Sisa, is the deranged mother of Basilio and Crispín. Described
as beautiful and young, although she loves her children very much, she
cannot protect them from the beatings of her husband, Pedro.
Crispín is Sisa's seven-year-old son. An altar boy, he was unjustly accused
of stealing money from the church. After failing to force Crispín to return the
money he allegedly stole, Father Salví and the head sacristan killed him. It is
not directly stated that he was killed, but a dream of Basilio's suggests that
Crispín died during his encounter with Padre Salví and his minion.
Basilio is Sisa's 10-year-old son. An acolyte tasked to ring the church's
bells for the Angelus, he faced the dread of losing his younger brother and the
descent of his mother into insanity.

At the end of the novel, a dying Elías requested Basilio to cremate him and
Sisa in the woods in exchange for a chest of gold located nearby. He later
played a major role in El filibusterismo.

Due to their tragic but endearing story, these characters are often parodied in
modern Filipino popular culture.
Salomé is Elías' sweetheart. She lived in a little house by the lake, and
though Elías would like to marry her, he tells her that it would do her or their
children no good to be related to a fugitive like himself. In the original
publication of Noli Me Tángere, the chapter that explores the identity of Elías
and Salomé was omitted, classifying her as a totally non-existent character.
This chapter, entitled Elías y Salomé, was probably the 25th chapter of the
novel. However, recent editions and translations of Noli include this chapter
either on the appendix or as Chapter X (Ex).

Noli Me Tangere Plot

Crisóstomo Ibarra, the mestizo son of the recently deceased Don

Rafael Ibarra, is returning to San Diego in Laguna after seven years of study
in Europe. Kapitán Tiago, a family friend, bids him to spend his first night in
Manila where Tiago hosts a reunion party at his riverside home on Anloague
Street. Crisóstomo obliges. At dinner he encounters old friends, Manila high
society, and Padre Dámaso, San Diego's old curate at the time Ibarra left for
Europe. Dámaso treats Crisóstomo with hostility, surprising the young man
who took the friar to be a friend of his father. Crisóstomo excuses himself
early and is making his way back to his hotel when Lieutenant Guevarra,
another friend of his father, catches up with him. As the two of them walk to
Crisóstomo's stop, and away from the socialites at the party who may possibly
compromise them if they heard, Guevarra reveals to the young man the
events leading up to Rafael's death and Dámaso's role in it. Crisóstomo, who
has been grieving from the time he learned of his father's death, decides to
forgive and not seek revenge. Guevarra nevertheless warns the young man to
be careful. The following day, Crisóstomo returns to Kapitán Tiago's home in
order to meet with his childhood sweetheart, Tiago's daughter María Clara.
The two flirt and reminisce in the azotea, a porch overlooking the river. María
reads back to Crisóstomo his farewell letter wherein he explained to her
Rafael's wish for Crisóstomo to set out, to study in order to become a more
useful citizen of the country. Seeing Crisóstomo agitated at the mention of his
father, however, María playfully excuses herself, promising to see him again
at her family's San Diego home during the town fiesta.
Crisóstomo goes to the town cemetery upon reaching San Diego to
visit his father's grave. However, he learns from the gravedigger that the town
curate had ordered that Rafael's remains be exhumed and transferred to a
Chinese cemetery. Although Crisóstomo is angered at the revelation, the
gravedigger adds that on the night he dug up the corpse, it rained hard and he
feared for his own soul, causing him to defy the order of the priest by throwing
the body into the lake. At that moment, Padre Bernardo Salví, the new curate
of San Diego, walks into the cemetery. Crisóstomo's anger explodes as he
shoves him into the ground and demands an accounting; Salví fearfully tells
Crisóstomo that the transfer was ordered by the previous curate, Padre
Dámaso, causing the latter to leave in consternation. Crisóstomo, committed
to his patriotic endeavors, is determined not to seek revenge and to put the
matter behind him. As the days progress he carries out his plan to serve his
country as his father wanted. He intends to use his family wealth to build a
school, believing that his paisanos would benefit from a more modern
education than what is offered in the schools run by the government, whose
curriculum was heavily tempered by the teachings of the friars. Enjoying
massive support, even from the Spanish authorities, Crisóstomo's
preparations for his school advance quickly in only a few days. He receives
counsel from Don Anastacio, a revered local philosopher, who refers him to a
progressive schoolmaster who lamented the friars' influence on public
education and wished to introduce reforms.
The building was planned to begin construction with the cornerstone to
be laid in a ceremony during San Diego's town fiesta. One day, taking a break,
Crisóstomo, María, and their friends get on a boat and go on a picnic along
the shores of the Laguna de Baý, away from the town center. It is then
discovered that a crocodile had been lurking on the fish pens owned by the
Ibarras. Elías, the boat's pilot, jumps into the water with a bolo knife drawn.
Sensing Elías is in danger, Crisóstomo jumps in as well, and they subdue the
animal together. Crisóstomo mildly scolds the pilot for his rashness, while
Elías proclaims himself in Crisóstomo's debt. On the day of the fiesta, Elías
warns Crisóstomo of a plot to kill him at the cornerstone-laying. The ceremony
involved the massive stone being lowered into a trench by a wooden derrick.
Crisóstomo, being the principal sponsor of the project, is to lay the mortar
using a trowel at the bottom of the trench. As he prepares to do so, however,
the derrick fails and the stone falls into the trench, bringing the derrick down
with it in a mighty crash. When the dust clears, a pale, dust-covered
Crisóstomo stands stiffly by the trench, having narrowly missed the stone. In
his place beneath the stone is the would-be assassin. Elías has disappeared.
The festivities continue at Crisóstomo's insistence. Later that day, he hosts a
luncheon to which Padre Dámaso gatecrashes. Over the meal, the old friar
berates Crisóstomo, his learning, his journeys, and the school project. The
other guests hiss for discretion, but Dámaso ignores them and continues in an
even louder voice, insulting the memory of Rafael in front of Crisóstomo. At
the mention of his father, Crisóstomo strikes the friar unconscious and holds a
dinner knife to his neck. In an impassioned speech, Crisóstomo narrates to
the astonished guests everything he heard from Lieutenant Guevarra, who
was an officer of the local police, about Dámaso's schemes that resulted in
the death of Rafael. As Crisóstomo is about to stab Dámaso, however, María
Clara stays his arm and pleads for mercy. Crisóstomo is excommunicated
from the church, but has it lifted through the intercession of the sympathetic
governor general. However, upon his return to San Diego, María has turned
sickly and refuses to see him. The new curate whom Crisóstomo roughly
accosted at the cemetery, Padre Salví, is seen hovering around the house.
Crisóstomo then meets the inoffensive Linares, a peninsular Spaniard who,
unlike Crisóstomo, had been born in Spain.
Tiago presents Linares as María's new suitor. Sensing Crisóstomo's
influence with the government, Elías takes Crisóstomo into confidence and
one moonlit night, they secretly sail out into the lake. Elías tells him about a
revolutionary group poised for an open and violent clash with the government.
This group has reached out to Elías in a bid for him to join them in their
imminent uprising. Elías tells Crisóstomo that he managed to delay the
group's plans by offering to speak to Crisóstomo first, that Crisóstomo may
use his influence to effect the reforms Elías and his group wish to see. In their
conversation, Elías narrates his family's history, how his grandfather in his
youth worked as a bookkeeper in a Manila office but was accused of arson by
the Spanish owner when the office burned down. He was prosecuted and
upon release was shunned by the community as a dangerous lawbreaker. His
wife turned to prostitution to support the family but were eventually driven into
the hinterlands. Crisóstomo sympathizes with Elías, but insists that he could
do nothing, and that the only change he was capable of was through his
schoolbuilding project. Rebuffed, Elías advises Crisóstomo to avoid any
association with him in the future for his own safety.
Heartbroken and desperately needing to speak to María, Crisóstomo
turns his focus more towards his school. One evening, though, Elías returns
with more information – a rogue uprising was planned for that same night, and
the instigators had used Crisóstomo's name in vain to recruit malcontents.
The authorities know of the uprising and are prepared to spring a trap on the
rebels. In panic and ready to abandon his project, Crisóstomo enlists Elías in
sorting out and destroying documents in his study that may implicate him.
Elías obliges, but comes across a name familiar to him: Don Pedro
Eibarramendia. Crisóstomo tells him that Pedro was his great-grandfather,
and that they had to shorten his long family name. Elías tells him
Eibarramendia was the same Spaniard who accused his grandfather of arson
and was thus the author of the misfortunes of Elías and his family. Frenzied,
he raises his bolo to smite Crisóstomo, but regains his senses and leaves the
house very upset. The uprising follows through, and many of the rebels are
either captured or killed. They point to Crisóstomo as instructed and
Crisóstomo is arrested.
The following morning, the instigators are found dead. It is revealed
that Padre Salví ordered the senior sexton to kill them in order to prevent the
chance of them confessing that he actually took part in the plot to frame
Crisóstomo. Elías, meanwhile, sneaks back into the Ibarra mansion during the
night and sorts through documents and valuables, then burns down the house.
Some time later, Kapitán Tiago hosts a dinner at his riverside house in Manila
to celebrate María Clara's engagement with Linares. Present at the party were
Padre Dámaso, Padre Salví, Lieutenant Guevarra, and other family friends.
They were discussing the events that happened in San Diego and
Crisóstomo's fate. Salví, who lusted after María Clara all along, says that he
has requested to be transferred to the Convent of the Poor Clares in Manila
under the pretense of recent events in San Diego being too great for him to
bear. A despondent Guevarra outlines how the court came to condemn
Crisóstomo. In a signed letter, he wrote to a certain woman before leaving for
Europe, 49
Crisóstomo spoke about his father, an alleged rebel who died in prison.
Somehow this letter fell into the hands of an enemy, and Crisóstomo's
handwriting was imitated to create the bogus orders used to recruit the
malcontents to the San Diego uprising. Guevarra remarks that the
penmanship on the orders was similar to Crisóstomo's penmanship seven
years before, but not at the present day. And Crisóstomo had only to deny
that the signature on the original letter was his, and the charge of sedition
founded on those bogus letters would fail. But upon seeing the letter, which
was the farewell letter he wrote to María Clara, Crisóstomo apparently lost the
will to fight the charges and owned the letter as his. Guevarra then
approaches María, who had been listening to his explanation. Privately but
sorrowfully, he congratulates her for her common sense in yielding
Crisóstomo's farewell letter.
Now, the old officer tells her, she can live a life of peace. María is
devastated. Later that evening Crisóstomo, having escaped from prison with
the help of Elías, climbs up the azotea and confronts María in secret. María,
distraught, does not deny giving up his farewell letter, but explains she did so
only because Salví found Dámaso's old letters in the San Diego parsonage,
letters from María's mother who was then pregnant with María. It turns out
that Dámaso was María's father. Salví promised not to divulge Dámaso's
letters to the public in exchange for Crisóstomo's farewell letter. Crisóstomo
forgives her, María swears her undying love, and they part with a kiss.
Crisóstomo and Elías escape on Elías's boat. They slip unnoticed through the
Estero de Binondo and into the Pasig River. Elías tells Crisóstomo that his
treasures and documents are buried in the middle of the forest owned by the
Ibarras in San Diego. Wishing to make restitution, Crisóstomo offers Elías the
chance to escape with him to a foreign country, where they will live as
brothers. Elías declines, stating that his fate is with the country he wishes to
see reformed and liberated.
Crisóstomo then tells him of his own desire for revenge and revolution,
to lengths that even Elías was unwilling to go. Elías tries to reason with him,
but sentries catch up with them at the mouth of the Pasig River and pursue
them across Laguna de Bay. Elías orders Crisóstomo to lie down and to meet
with him in a few days at the mausoleum of Crisóstomo's grandfather in San
Diego, as he jumps into the water in an effort to distract the pursuers. Elías is
shot several times. The following day, news of the chase were in the
newspapers. It is reported that Crisóstomo, the fugitive, had been killed by
sentries in pursuit. At the news, María remorsefully demands of Dámaso that
her wedding with Linares be called off and that she be entered into the cloister,
or the grave. Seeing her resolution, Dámaso admits that the true reason that
he ruined the Ibarra family and her relationship with Crisóstomo was because
he was a mere mestizo and Dámaso wanted María to be as happy as she
could be, and that was possible only if she were to marry a full-blooded
peninsular Spaniard. María would not hear of it and repeated her ultimatum,
the cloister or the grave. Knowing fully why Salví had earlier requested to be
assigned as chaplain in the Convent of the Poor Clares, Dámaso pleads with
María to reconsider, but to no avail. Weeping, Dámaso consents, knowing the
horrible fate that awaits his daughter within the convent but finding it more
tolerable than her suicide.
A few nights later in the forest of the Ibarras, a boy pursues his mother
through the darkness. The woman went insane with the constant beating of
her husband and the loss of her other son, an altar boy, in the hands of Padre
Salví. Basilio, the boy, catches up with Sisa, his mother, inside the Ibarra
mausoleum in the middle of the forest, but the strain had already been too
great for Sisa. She dies in Basilio's embrace. Basilio weeps for his mother, but
then looks up to see Elías staring at them. Elías was dying himself, having
lost a lot of blood and having had no food or nourishment for several days as
he made his way to the mausoleum. He instructs Basilio to burn their bodies
and if no one comes, to dig inside the mausoleum. He will find treasure, which
he is to use for his own education. As Basilio leaves to fetch the wood, Elías
sinks to the ground and says that he will die without seeing the dawn of
freedom for his people and that those who see it must welcome it and not
forget them that died in the darkness. In the epilogue, Padre Dámaso is
transferred to occupy a curacy in a remote town. Distraught, he is found dead
a day later.
Kapitán Tiago fell into depression and became addicted to opium and
is forgotten by the town. Padre Salví, meanwhile, awaits his consecration as a
bishop. He is also the head priest of the convent where María Clara resides.
Nothing is heard of María Clara; however, on a September night, during a
typhoon, two patrolmen reported seeing a specter (implied to be María Clara)
on the roof of the Convent of the Poor Clares moaning and weeping in despair.
The next day, a representative of the authorities visited the convent to
investigate previous night's events and asked to inspect all the nuns. One of
the nuns had a wet and torn gown and with tears told the representative of
"tales of horror" and begged for "protection against the outrages of hypocrisy"
(which gives the implication that Padre Salví regularly rapes her when he is
present). The abbess however, said that she was nothing more than a
madwoman. A General J. also attempted to investigate the nun's case, but by
then the abbess prohibited visits to the convent. Nothing more was said again
about María Clara.

Meanings, Features, Background and Characters

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The theme and plot of El Filibusterismo was changed to convey the message
that the present system of government in the Philippines through corrupt
officials, dominated by the friars can lead to the downfall of Spain.

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 Elias'
reformist goals.

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
Kapitán 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 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.

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 Gomez. 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.

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. He was an indio and a secular, or a
priest that was unaffiliated with the orders, and yet his parish drew in a 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.

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 53
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.

Kapitán Tiago – Don Santiago de los Santos. María Clara's stepfather.

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.

Captain-General – the highest-ranking official in the Philippines during the

Spanish colonial period. The Captain-General in El fili 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.

Father Bernardo Salví – 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.

Father Millon – a Dominican who serves as a physics professor in the

University of Santo Tomas. 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 Ybanez, an
alternate spelling of his last name Ibañez. His first name is not mentioned.
Ben-Zayb is said to have the looks of a friar, who believes that in Manila they
think because he thinks. He is deeply patriotic, sometimes to the point of
jingoism. As a journalist he has no qualms embellishing a story, conflating and
butchering details, turning phrases over and over, making a mundane story
sound better than it actually is. 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.

Father Írene – Kapitán Tiago's spiritual adviser. Along with 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 Don 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 Kapitán 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 Kapitán Tiago's death. With Basilio in prison, he then struck 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. Characters from Barrio Sagpang:

Kabesang Tales – Telesforo Juan de Dios, a former kabesa of Barrio

Sagpang in Tiani. He was a sugarcane planter who cleared lands he thought
belonged to no one, losing his wife and eldest daughter in the endeavor.
When the Dominicans took over his farm, he fought to his last money to have
it retained in his possession. While his suit against the Dominicans was
ongoing, he was kidnapped by bandits while he was out patrolling his fields.
Having no money to pay his captors, his daughter Juli was forced to become
a maid in exchange for her mistress paying his ransom. When his son Tano
was conscripted into the Guardia Civil, again Tales had no money to pay for
Tano's exclusion from the draft. When in spite of all Tales lost the case, he not
only lost his farm but was also dealt with a heavy fine. He later joined the
bandits and became one of their fiercest commanders. Tandang Selo, his
father, would later on join his band after the death of Juli.

Tandang Selo – father of Kabesang Tales and grandfather of Tano and Juli.
A deer hunter and later on a broom-maker, he and Tales took in the young,
sick Basilio who was then fleeing from the Guardia Civil. On Christmas Day,
when Juli left to be with her mistress, Selo suffered some form of stroke that
impaired his ability to speak. After Juli's suicide, Selo55
left town permanently, taking with him his hunting spear. He was later seen
with the bandits and was killed in an encounter with the

Guardia Civil – ironically by the gun of the troops' sharpshooter Tano, his
grandson.
Juli – Juliana de Dios, the girlfriend of Basilio, and the youngest daughter of
Kabesang Tales. When Tales was captured by bandits, Juli petitioned
Hermana Penchang to pay for his ransom. In exchange, she had to work as
Penchang's maid. Basilio ransomed her and bought a house for her family.
When Basilio was sent to prison, Juli approached Tiani's curate, Padre
Camorra, for help. When Camorra tried to rape her instead, Juli jumped to her
death from the church's tower.

Tano – Kabesang Tales's son, second to Lucia who died in childhood. He

was nicknamed "Carolino" after returning from Guardia Civil training in the
Carolines. His squad was escorting prisoners through a road that skirted a
mountain when they were ambushed by bandits. In the ensuing battle, Tano,
the squad's sharpshooter, killed a surrendering bandit from a distance, not
knowing it was his own grandfather Selo.

Hermana Penchang – the one among the "rich folks" of Tiani who lent Juli
money to ransom Kabesang Tales from the bandits. In return, Juli will serve
as her maid until the money was paid off. Penchang is described as a pious
woman who speaks Spanish; however, her piety was clouded over by the
virtues taught by the friars. While Juli was in her service, she made her work
constantly, refusing to give her time off so she can take care of her
grandfather Selo. Nevertheless, when the rich folks of Tiani shunned Juli
because to support her family in any way might earn some form of retribution
from the friars, Penchang was the only one who took pity upon her.

Hermana Báli – Juli's mother-figure and counselor. She accompanied Juli in

her efforts to secure Kabesang Tales' ransom and later on Basilio's release.
Báli was a panguinguera – a gambler – who once performed religious
services in a Manila convent. When Tales was captured by bandits, it was Báli
who suggested to Juli the idea to borrow money from Tiani's wealthy citizens,
payable when Tales' legal dispute over his farm was won.