Rizal Secrets. Of the National Hero you didn't know

MANILA - Can you keep a secret? I have more than 100 of Jose Rizal secrets. My hero! By secrets, I don't mean like Rizal's abrupt departure to Spain he and his brother Paciano kept secret even to the rest of the family and Leonor Rivera, his fiancée, or that he was buried in a secret grave at the Paco Cemetery, or that he had a secret in the lamp he handed to his sister before they executed him in a very public place. Almost everyone knows those. The Rizal secrets I am about to tell you are more my discoveries than anything else. Like award-winning Filipino painter Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo's portrait of Rizal as a young man (he is 22 years old here), this essay is my portrait of Rizal as his own man as revealed in some aspects of his life, works and writings that have been either rejected, ignored, unnoticed, not considered, or not known by most people, including historians and Rizalists.

You know, I'm sure, that Jose Rizal was executed by a firing squad at Bagumbayan (which became Luneta, which became Rizal Park) on the morning of 30 December 1896, or exactly 113 years ago on 30 December 2009. But you don't know, I'm sure, that the number "13" has numerical significance in the life of the hero who was born in Calamba, a town at the foot of the fabled Mt Makiling some 50 km south of Manila. Did you know Calamba is now a City? Let me tell you things you probably don't know about this Filipino, even if you happen to be a native Filipino (if living abroad), or expatriate historian (if living in the Philippines). To uncover Rizal secrets yourself, read word for word - and read between the lines - copies of all of the following books I myself began reading in 1997 or thereabouts, and that most of them I suppose you can buy at the National Historical Institute at the Rizal Park (I list them here not in any order):

(01) Rizal-Blumentritt Correspondence I & II, 1992 (National Historical Institute, 2 volumes, 569 pages)
(02) Rizal's Correspondence With Fellow Reformists, 1992 (NHI, 749 pages)
(03) Jose Rizal (Annotator), Historical Events of the Philippine Islands by Antonio De Morga, 1997 (NHI, 353 pages)
(04) Ma Soledad Lacson-Locsin (Translator), Noli Me Tangere by Jose Rizal, 1996 (Bookmark, 601 pages)
(05) Miscellaneous Writings of Dr Jose Rizal, 1992 (NHI, 314 pages)
(06) Letters Between Rizal And Family Members 1876-1896, 1993 (NHI, 445 pages)
(07) Leon Ma Guerrero's The First Filipino: A Biography Of Jose Rizal, 1963 (NHI, 549 pages)
(08) Mauro Garcia's "Translations of Mi Ultimo Adios," 1962 (Historical Bulletin, Philippine Historical Association, pages 355-425)
(09) Miguel A Bernad's Rizal And Spain: An Essay In Biographical Context, 1986 (National Book Store, 188 pages)
(10) Asuncion Lopez-Rizal Bantug's Indio Bravo: The Story Of Jose Rizal, 1997 (Tahanan Books, 164 pages)
(11) Ambeth R Ocampo's Rizal Without The Overcoat, 1990 (Anvil Publishing, 160 pages)
(12) Gregorio F Zaide's Jose Rizal: Life, Works & Writings, 2003 (National Book Store, 318 pages).

I'm writing of only 30 Rizal secrets this time just to match the date of death. Sometimes, I like Numbers. Sometimes, figures don't lie. If nothing else, this time, I want to show you that the life, works and writings of the greatest Filipino hero is more exciting and more intellectually stimulating than any historian or biographer of Rizal has ever made it appear to be. I studied to be a teacher (I passed the very first Teacher's Exam, mind you, 80.6%, probably #1 in San Pablo City, no review class, no leakage, in 1965); when I write about Rizal, I am teaching history; this is creative writing, and love of something or other. If I can't dream to be a hero, at least I can dream to be the greatest creative writer teaching about an authentic hero. Let me now help you rediscover Jose Rizal, the National Hero of the Philippines.

Secret #1. Jose Rizal retracted without retracting. Brilliant! I do declare under oath: The retraction letter itself is the evidence of Jose Rizal's retraction. Serendipity! He had always been a bright boy, so I have no doubt that he retracted - what all those claimers and disclaimers so far failed to realize is that Rizal did it his way - subtly. Here is circumstantial and circumscissile if circumspect evidence, you know what I mean. We don't need the original copy of his retraction letter (for the complete text, see page 223 of Zaide's book); all we need to examine is one sentence, and this is the crucial one: "I retract with all my heart anything in my words, writings, publications and conduct that has been contrary to my character as a child of the Church.” Did you notice Rizal's genius there? Probably not.

To explain, I will now summarize the lengthier discussion on this subject that I did years earlier, 2006, in my "Rizal's Retraction," Rizal In Our Time, blogspot.com): That crucial sentence I quoted was so constructed that it can be rewritten like this: "Whatever I had said, written or done, anything contrary to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, I retract." Note the word "Whatever" - if you really think you have neither written nor done anything contrary to being a Roman Catholic, you really have nothing to retract, no? Your conscience is clear, yes? That's what I call clever. Whatever.

Secret #2. Jose Rizal was an anti-hero.
Deliberate or not, in 1993 the Technical Committee of the National Heroes Committee rejected Jose Rizal as a hero, much less a national hero! The committee members were? Alphabetically now: Bernardita R Churchill, Onofre D Corpuz, Marcelino Foronda, Minerva Gonzales, Carmen Guerrero-Nakpil, Alfredo Lagmay, Ambeth Ocampo, Serafin D Quiason, and Samuel K Tan. Let’s examine the evidence at hand professionally, if not objectively. They declared these as their hero criteria (ncca.gov.ph):

1. Heroes are those who have a concept of nation and thereafter aspire and struggle for the nation's freedom. Our own struggle for freedom was begun by Bonifacio and finished by Aguinaldo ... 2. Heroes are those who define and contribute to a system or life of freedom and order for a nation. 3. Heroes are those who contribute to the quality of life and destiny of a nation. (As defined by Dr Onofre D Corpuz)

Freedom is the operative word there - we must dismiss the #3 criterion because it was defined by a Committee of One. Thus, in fact, in the second sentence the committee explicitly excluded Rizal altogether! I forgive them, for they knew not what they knew not. That also excluded Marcelo H Del Pilar and Graciano Lopez Jaena among other patriots in Europe, all of whom preceded Andres Bonifacio as far as agitating for change was concerned. Among these heroes, Rizal was the first Asian to have a concept of nation; he aspired for it briefly but never struggled for Philippine freedom. With his Dimasalang pen, he fought for reforms in the islands as well as Philippine representation in the Spanish Cortes, not independence, not freedom from the Mother Country. Thousands of words for reforms, and not one word for freedom! Remember the Propaganda Movement? Rizal was the supernova of that galaxy. The propagandists wanted the winds of change, not the winds of war. They knew they couldn’t afford it. If only freedom fighters can be called heroes, since Rizal's struggles were in effect anti-freedom, he was an anti-hero. He was the best of them all.

Secret #3. Ateneo did not teach Rizal patriotism.
No, the Ateneo did not teach Jose Rizal love of country; the Jesuits never did, and he never learned from them. Instead, the Ateneo taught Rizal love of fellowman, and he was their greatest student. There's a big difference. One is exclusive, the other is inclusive. The Jesuits' motto has always been, "Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!" To the Greater Glory of God! Such love is what you feel when you read his swan song properly translated and in context: "Adios, Patria Adorada." It actually goes beyond love of country; it ventures into the valley of the shadow of Christian love, which has built-in forgiveness for everyone, including hangmen and oppressors.

Secret #4. It's "Laon Laang," not "Laong Laan."
Everybody knows Jose Rizal had taken as one of his pen names "Laong Laan" - well, everybody is wrong, including Filipiniana.net and The Big NM and Boub Couttie and even the Knights of Rizal. How do I know that? Rizal told me so! In a letter to Mariano Ponce, he wrote: "Take note that I sign it Laon Laang and not Laóng Laan, for in fact it is Laón" (diacritical marks included in the original letter). Laong Laan means Old Ready while Laon Laang means Old Only. I'm not kidding; I’ll tell you which book and on what page you can find it if you email me: frankahilario@gmail.com. It was a Rizal pun. Some people can't take a joke.

Secret #5. Rizal agitated for a bloody revolution.
There was a time he agitated for a bloody uprising in the Philippine Islands. When his friend Blumentritt learned of this foolish preoccupation, he warned Rizal that he would have the blood of his own people in his own hands if he persisted. He listened; he didn’t want blood spilled, even if they were not his own. So Rizal gave up his dreams of gore. Some dreams must die. He then remembered that he who lives by the gun dies by the bullet.

Secret #6. Rizal was agitated by the Katipunan.
After Blumentritt's extreme admonition, Rizal was a chastened man. He then continued to persist in playing what he saw was his role in what was known as the Propaganda Movement. He denounced the Katipunan when it broke out and he learned about it while in prison at Fort Santiago, and especially that they were using his name to convince the others to join. As a matter of fact, he had opposed the Katipunan before the Revolution was launched: "I was convinced that the idea of a revolution was highly absurd and what is worse, perverse" (quoted by Rudy A Arizala, infanta.org). In fact, he offered his life if only to suppress it. And he did; and he did not. He died for his people to live in peace, for good; he died for the Katipunan to die, for naught.

Secret #7. Rizal was Bonifacio's hero.
Andres Bonifacio sent Pio Valenzuela to Dapitan seeking Jose Rizal's advice on the launching of a bloody revolution against the Spaniards. They needed the advice; they also needed to be able to invoke the highly respected name of Rizal in recruiting more brave souls as rebels of the Katipunan variety - armed warriors. Bonifacio won the battle for recruitment; Rizal lost his life.

Secret #8. Rizal's final poem gives him a final bad image.It has been arbitrarily assigned the titles "Mi Ultimo Adios" (by Mariano Ponce) and "Ultimo Adios" (by Mariano Dacanay), and historians and scholars have accepted those titles without fear or favor. You call that poetic? They didn't realize that both titles effectively declared that Rizal was a nobody, that the poem was a plain rhyme of parting words, nothing more, the last sounds of a dying man whose dreams were to accompany him to the grave. That is far from the truth! Pity the poet who gave his life for his fellowmen, and wrote of love instead of hate. Remember: It's easier to hate than to love. (You might also want to see my "Love, the impossible gift," iMaques, blogspot.com.) Neither title of the Marianos does justice to the poem; neither reflects nor intimates the essence of Rizal's valedictory - for it is not really about saying goodbye but really about showing love of fellowman. An unintelligent title is what this sublime poem deserves?

Secret #9. I have the best title for Rizal's best poem. No ordinary mortals themselves, the American, European, Australian, and Asian historians, translators or scholars of Rizal all forgot that literary tradition dictates that where a poem is without a title, the first line is written as the title. That's what happened to Shakespeare's 100 plus sonnets, such as the ones I memorized long ago (I remember the titles at least): "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" I can recite the next line. "When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes." I can recite the next line of this one too. "Full many a glorious morning have I seen." "Farewell! Thou art too dear for my possessing." The most unforgettable poems are those with the most memorable first lines.

Now, in the case of Rizal's ultimate poem, the first line reads, "Adios, Patria adorada, region del sol querida." An adorable first line. I take a little exception from literary tradition and say the first 3 words are perfect for what has always been considered, in my words now, "the greatest Spanish poem without the least of a title" - "Adios, Patria Adorada." In fact, I came out with this title in 29 December 2004 yet in an article of which electronic copies were sent as individual emaiIs to 3 major Manila newspapers - Manila Bulletin, Philippine Star, Today - who immediately confirmed by phone (when I called again a few minutes after clicking my Yahoo Mail Send) that they just received those emails, but none printed my Rizal article the next day - or ever. (And I remember where I was at that time, at the house of a friend, Pat Dugan; I was using his PC and his PLDT connection - anyway, thanks, Pat!) That article was also memorable because I used lowercase throughout, from the title ("a small case rizal: my firsts in translation") to the last sentence ("enough of mechanical translations and present-day reverse-martyrdoms").

If truth be told, I was the one who caused the entry in Wikipedia of these words under Jose Rizal: Mi Ultimo Adios (wikipedia.org): "The poem is more aptly titled 'Adios, Patria Adorada' (literally, Farewell, Beloved Country), by virtue of logic and literary tradition, the words coming from the first line of the poem itself." I deliberately planted that one in Wikipedia to make the point that we had to stop calling a virile poem with a lame name. (You can read my 2006 translation here: "Adios, Beloved Country," My Jose Rizal, blogspot.com).

Secret #10. Derbyshire has my saddest Rizal translation.
I'm sorry to say this, but to my mind, the world's unhappiest translation of Rizal's swan song is the most known, a version exalted, as it appears engraved on metal at the Rizal Park, that of Charles Derbyshire, along with the translation of Nick Joaquin, a writer whose original reportage I most admire (I admired him at the Philippines Free Press and Asia-Philippines Leader). I say that on 3 counts. (1) To his "Last Farewell" (my "Adios, Beloved Country"), Derbyshire added his own weighty ideas (like clime, caress'd, lost, best, blest, cost) that did not exist in Rizal's original. Derbyshire revised Rizal. That makes me sad. (2) Derbyshire deleted vital ideas that were in the original (like land, love, ruin, give, more, still, your, good in the first stanza alone), I guess so he could translate more easily, as if he didn't have time. Derbyshire diminished Rizal. That makes me sadder. (3) The whole translation is less Rizal's and more Derbyshire's; for instance, Rizal's uplifting lyricism and original turns of phrase were sacrificed on the altar of the translator's workplace. Thus, Derbyshire's most memorable line, "I die just when I see the dawn break," is not Rizal's. Rizal's original line reads, "Yo muero cuando veo que el cielo se colora" - literally, it means "I die just when I see the sky takes color." Derbyshire changed Rizal. Something is always lost in the translation - in this one, the original. That makes me saddest of all.

Secret #11. His last poem referred to Ferdinand Blumentritt.
The 3rd and 4th lines of the 8th stanza of "Adios, Patria Adorada" say (please refer to my translation):
Let a friend weep over my inopportune death,
And in serene evenings, a prayer for me state.If there ever was someone Jose Rizal considered a true friend, it was the Austrian Ferdinand Blumentritt, who neither abandoned him nor betrayed him. This Filipino considered this Austrian his blood brother, and the feeling was mutual. When Blumentritt received Rizal's last letter, he broke down. The farewell letter was short and to the point: "My dear Brother, / When you receive this letter, I shall be dead by then. Tomorrow at seven, I shall be shot; but I am innocent of the crime of rebellion. / I am going to die with a tranquil conscience. / Adieu, my best, my dearest friend, and never think ill of me!"

Secret #12. His last poem referred to the Virgin Mary.Let's go back to #11, to the 4th line of the 8th stanza in my translation. It speaks of "serene evenings" that are occasions for prayers. Now, remember, Blumentritt was a Roman Catholic faithful; in the Catholic faith, there is only one supreme prayer in "serene evenings," and this is the Angelus, a devotional prayer commemorating the Annunciation, which is the angel proclaiming to the Virgin Mary that she was going to have a child by the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ! What’s the Virgin Mary doing in a place like this - unless she is being honored?

Secret #13. His last poem violated grammar 13 times.And now, it's time for me to say that Grammar Manners & Right Conduct states that one should not begin a sentence with "And" and some other preposterous injunctions I don't care to remember - and Jose Rizal violated this rule 13 times in "Adios, Patria Adorada." (To count for yourself in the original Spanish, which I included in my earlier essay, click here: "Adios, Beloved Country!" My Jose Rizal, blogspot.com.) Why did Rizal do that? You can break a rule if you have a good reason for doing it. Rizal was too creative to follow constricting rules in GMRC: He was writing to prove the rule silly.

I just discovered another explanation today, 22 December 2009: There were 13 members of his family: 2 parents: (1) Francisco Mercado Rizal, father (2) Teodora Alonso, mother; and 11 sisters and brothers: (1) Saturnina, (2) Paciano, (3) Narcisa, (4) Olimpia, (5) Lucia, (6) Maria, (7) Jose, (8) Concepcion, (9) Josefa, (10) Trinidad, and (11) Soledad. He wanted them to know he loved all of them equally; they were all firsts in his heart.

Secret #14. He wrote the Noli Me Tangere as history.
At first, the Filipino patriots agreed to write a book on the Philippines and the Filipinos in order to show the world that they were not barbarians. The chapters were assigned; the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak – eventually, no chapters were being contributed, so no book was going to come out. The patriots were each too busy attending to their personal business and pleasure. So Rizal decided to write the book alone, and out came the Noli. He said it was the history of the last 10 years of his country, and I have no reason not to believe him. (And, as things happen, the Noli made Rizal history.)

Secret #15. The Noli is a diatribe against Catholicism.
As it was written, the too numerous attacks on the faith and practice of the Filipinos as Roman Catholics, especially the women, were too much it all became in effect an attack on the Roman Catholic Church. Plainly, Rizal had not only lost his Catholic faith; he was now its enemy. The book was published in 1887, 5 years after Rizal abruptly left for Spain in 1882; that's how long it took to transform himself from a rabid Catholic to a rabid anti-Catholic. Rizal had gone to Europe to learn; he learned something else.

In any case, Padre Faura, a Jesuit friend of his, told Rizal he could lose his head for writing the Noli Me Tangere. Personally, I think Rizal had already lost his head when he wrote the book. The Noli is satire but it's just too much. His friend Evaristo Aguirre wrote him and praised the Noli highly, using such words as (from the translation by Encarnacion Alzona): excellent, masterly, photographic, magnificent, fantastic, entertaining, inimitable, superior, very original, most interesting, notable, valuable … in just one paragraph! What did Dale Carnegie quote Charles Schwab as saying about something like this? "Be hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise." Two weeks later, in another letter, Aguirre said the truth portrayed in the Noli savaged the friars as well as the Filipinos (my words), especially the women. If truth be told, the Noli was too true to be good.

Secret #16. The Noli is funny, very funny.
Nevertheless, while being anti-Catholic in content if not in intent, Noli Me Tangere is a very funny book. It is satire. I laughed hard when I read this first paragraph in Ma Soledad Lacson-Locsin's translation:

Towards the end of October, Don Santiago de los Santos, popularly known as Capitan Tiago, was hosting a dinner which, in spite of its having been announced only that afternoon, against his wont, was already the theme of all conversation in Binondo, in the neighboring districts, and even in Intramuros. Capitan Tiago was reputed to be a most generous man, and it was known that his home, like his country, never closed its door to anything, as long as it was not business, or any new or bold idea.
That tells me Jose Rizal was also happy, or hopeful, or both, when he was writing the Noli.

Secret #17. His "Sa Aking Mga Kabata" is not about language.
When I translated that poem of his written when he was 8 years old, I found that, contrary to popular belief, the poem seems to be about language but actually is about freedom. Here is my translation of the first stanza:

If the people naturally love
its tongue that is a gift from Heaven
pawned freedom too it will seek to gain
as the bird that flies the sky above.
(For my full translation, see "Modern Generation Gaps," 2005, FiSH Magazine.) The boy of 8 seems to be telling the adults of his generation: "We still own our tongue, but we have pawned our freedom! So why doesn't anyone speak and do something about it?" He vowed that he would. Later, he changed his mind.

Secret #18. He went to Europe to be a European.
What I mean by that is he went to study in Europe not only for his medical degree but more so to learn progressive theories and practices from the Europeans that he could borrow for the good of his country. He left the islands also to free himself from the restrictions of Spanish colonialism, frailocracy and elitist education. Soon, he found Masonry richly satisfying, exalting:

Science is free as the light which is its inspiration! Masonry has been its wet nurse, has guarded it like a sacred flame while the storm raged, and when calmness returned, it surrendered it to the world to illumine it with its rays!
He slyly refers to the attacks by authorities of the Roman Catholic Church on scientists who they thought were harboring sacrilegious ideas, like Galileo Galilei's theory that the Sun is the center of the universe, not the Earth. It turned out, to Rizal, that knowledge (science) was greater than faith. Becoming a Mason was Rizal's way of saying, "Goodbye, Mother." His mother Teodora Alonzo was a devout Catholic. "Goodbye, Mother Mary." He had been a devotee of the Virgin Mary. When children grow up, they think mothers are dispensable.

Secret #19. He put science over faith.
In one of his Masonic lectures, he talked about science, virtue and labor, and his ardent faith in them. He was in Europe in much of the 2nd half of the 19th century, which has been called "The Positivist Age," as it was "an age of faith in all knowledge which would derive from science and scientific objective methods which could solve all human problems" (huntfor.com). Rizal put too much faith in science and not enough trust in religion. He did not differentiate the religious from their religion. He hated the sin along with the sinner.

Secret #20. He didn't like what he saw in the US.
Trying to absorb what he observed as he had done in his first sojourn, going back to the safer haven of Europe, Rizal traversed the United States from coast to coast, from California to New York by train. He was witness to the American prejudice against foreigners, including himself. America was the land of the free and the home of the brave – if you happened to be Caucasian, not Asian, not Japanese, and certainly not Negro. White rules!

Secret #21. There were 2 factions among the Madrid patriots.
Eventually, there arose 2 factions within the Propaganda Movement based in Spain, one group drawn towards Rizal and the other towards Marcelo H Del Pilar. In Manila, the Committee of Propaganda, the financing arm, also split for the same reason, and so another and new committee headed by Moises E Salvador was formed precisely because it recognized that fact of division and believed more in Rizal than in Del Pilar.

Secret #22. Del Pilar attacked Rizal.
Rizal learned that Eduardo Lete wrote the article attacking him anonymously, but as Editor of La Solidaridad (Solidarity) already at that time (replacing Graciano Lopez Jaena, who favored Rizal), Marcelo H Del Pilar was equally guilty, if not more so. As Editor, you have command responsibility; I was Editor of many publications for too many years that I should know. "Why did you attack me?" Rizal asked Del Pilar in a letter, in those exact words. If you don’t own up to command responsibility, you don’t deserve to be an Editor at all. If you're not a figurehead, or a coward, then you don't know what you're doing!

Secret #23. Blumentritt tried to get Rizal out of the country.Rizal may not have known it, but his friend Blumentritt never tired of pulling strings to get him out of the country, out of the clutches of his enemies. He never stopped; also, he never succeeded.

Secret #24. Rizal was a 19th-century miracle worker.
His successful operation of his mother's eyes was called a miracle in Calamba. Here was someone who could make the blind see! That's where the cult of Rizal started.

Secret #25. He prophesied his own heroism.
When he was only that high, his sisters used to tease him about his small size and the clay he was toying with. One time, he told them to go ahead and make fun of him, because someday people will honor him and will erect monuments of him. The sisters laughed at him all the more. His descendants are not laughing now.

Secret #26. His nonviolent campaign predated Gandhi’s.
I wrote on 19 January 2006, "Great Soul, Mahatma Gandhi: But Jose Rizal was Asia's first" (Asia's First Great Soul, blogspot.com). An excellent example: Rizal was already dead (executed in 1896) in 1902 when erudite Congressman Henry Cooper of Wisconsin thundered his appeal for reason and faith in considering the passage of the bill that would provide a Bill of Rights for Filipinos, among other things. The US Congress scoffed at the idea of monkeys being given human rights. Then Cooper recited to them Rizal's valedictory poem, and they were awed. I quote myself:

The passage of the Philippine Bill of 1902 by the Filipino-hating United States Congress is extreme proof of the power of the eloquence of a heroic spirit, perhaps the first major triumph after death of Asia's First Great Soul - Jose Rizal happened in the 19th century, Mahatma Gandhi in the 20th century.

Secret #27. He had many chances to escape but didn't want to.
When he was exiled in Dapitan, he had many chances to escape, but he did not allow the temptation to overcome his sense of proper behavior. He was a gentleman to the end.

Secret #28. The Katipunan's Military Brains was Rizal's.
The Military Brains of the Katipunan was no one else but Rizal's friend, Antonio Luna. It was Rizal who, as a last resort, when he could not stop the Katipunan from forming, recommended him as the secret society's military commander, as he knew Juan Luna's brother had "much knowledge and expertise in military tactics" (philippine-history.org).

Secret #29. Many were a sad Juliet to his Romeo.
He was international in taste, even in girls. There were at least 8 pretty girls that Jose Rizal had really romantic interludes with: Belgian Susan Jacoby, British Gertrude Beckett, Filipina namesakes Leonor Rivera and Leonor Valenzuela, French Nelly Boustead, Irish Josephine Bracken, Japanese O Sei San, and Spanish Consuelo Ortiga y Rey. I believe those were passionate, powerful attractions, but none was enough for him. Leonor Rivera was #1 for a while, and he cried when he learned she had gotten married. And then came Josephine Bracken, and he loved her enough to treat her as his wife even without the blessing of the Roman Catholic Church who wanted him to retract first. But he really was madly in love with only one somebody else, and he would retract only for that woman, and her name was Filipinas.

Secret #30. Aguinaldo made Rizal the National Hero.
On 20 December 1898, President and General Emilio Aguinaldo issued a decree declaring 30 December of every year as "a day of national mourning in honor of Dr Jose Rizal and other victims of the Philippine Revolution" (ncca.gov.ph). Aguinaldo did it before the Americans brought to this country what they called “our manifest destiny to overspread the Continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions” (history-world.org). Ah, manifest destiny. The Americans were thinking of their own welfare, of course, thinking of those "multiplying millions." Well, even if the Americans consider themselves heroes of the world, the Filipinos can create their own heroes themselves, can't they?