Dapitan, Zamboanga Del Norte | Retracing Rizal’s Life in Exile
Dapitan City is called “The Shrine City of the Philippines”. This small town in northwestern Mindanao is the place where the national hero of the Philippines, Dr. Jose Rizal, spent four years of his life in exile.
Come and join me in this backpacking adventure and retrace the steps of our national hero in Dapitan City!
Dapitan
I spent my college years riding jeepneys bound for “Dapitan” in Sampaloc, Manila after my classes. All of the nearby streets around our house were taken straight out of Rizal’s works such as Ibarra, Sisa, Maria Clara, Laon Laan to name a few.
Guess I paid attention during one of our Rizal lectures (buhat bangko..) and learned that “Dapitan” is an actual place in Mindanao. Years later, I finally had the chance to retrace the steps of Dr. Rizal by setting foot in Dapitan City, Zamboanga Del Norte!
After a quick bus ride from Dipolog City, the first thing I laid my eyes upon is the spacious plaza with a Rizal Monument as the centerpiece.
Excommunicado
From the plaza, my eyes trailed into a church with a gothic-style façade. Seemingly devoid of ornamentations, the Church of St. James the Greater is flanked by twin square bell towers with semicircular arched openings and a pointed roof.
The lower level of the church façade is then flanked by rounded pilasters and lancet-styled windows. Additionally, the gothic-style entrance is topped by a triangular pediment with an oculus at the very center.
Inside the church, the attention-grabbing ceiling will welcome you. The ceiling is made from interlocking white and orange tiles that form a swirling pattern creating an optical illusion that seems like it is revolving on a deep chasm.
During Dr. Rizal’s exile in Dapitan, he usually stood at the entrance to hear the mass every Sunday. In fact, there is a marker at the entrance where he frequently stays. Furthermore, as an excommunicado, or a religious censure done by the Spaniards, he cannot go anywhere near the altar during his stay.
Reales Loterias Españolas de Filipinas
A few kilometers from the church lies the Rizal Shrine. This is where he spent his years in political exile from 1892 to 1896 and is now turned into a memorial that preserves the hilly peninsula farm site in Barrio Talisay that faces the Dapitan Bay.
Rizal initially bought a small parcel of land from Lucia Pagbangon in July 1892. Two months later, he won the second prize of 20,000php, shared with Don Ricardo Carnicero of Dipolog City, via the 9736 ticket of the Reales Loterias Españolas de Filipinas (The Royal Spanish Lottery of the Philippines). In turn, he used the money to further expand his estate.
In March 1893, he transferred into this place in Talisay and was joined by Doña Teodora Alonso, three of his sisters, and four of his nephews.
Perito Agrimensor
He was sort of a free man in Dapitan as long as he does not interfere with Dapitan’s status quo. Further, he used his time here to help the locals and endeavored in many useful pursuits.
He dabbled into land surveying (Perito Agrimensor) and agriculture turning the estate into a farm planting 5000 pineapples, 1400 coffee, 200 cacao trees, and all sorts of fruit-bearing crops.
Later on, he entered the business of buying and selling crops like Abaca and Copra. He even organized Dapitan’s first association of farmers to primarily improve their products and find better markets.
A Josefina
Moreover, he established a school and hospital for boys, which are all his scholars. He also helped the locals by turning his hut into a free eye clinic and treating certain diseases.
Furthermore, this is where he collected and discovered some species such as Gunther’s flying lizard (Draco rizali), a beetle (Apogonia rizali), and the Harlequin Tree Frog (Rhacophorus rizali Boettger 1899).
Also, he identified a parasite in a common snail that causes Schistosomiasis, the Oncomelania cuadrasi. It was a deadly disease plaguing some areas in Eastern Visayas at the time.
This is also where he fell in love with the 18-year-old Josephine Bracken, an Irish woman who visited him to treat her father’s double cataract. In July 1895, they lived as husband and wife on their estate in Talisay, where he wrote the poem, A Josefina (To Josephine)
España
His exile ended when he departed, on the steamer Espana, for Manila. Dapitanons turned out en masse to see him off, with Chopin’s Marche funebre, solemnly played by a brass band.
After his execution, this fueled the revolution that ended the Spanish Rule. Also, Rizal’s property in Dapitan was converted into a public park in honor of his memory. In, 1925, Zamboanga Governor, Jose Aseniero, reconstructed the park, he was one of Rizal’s pupils in Talisay.
Today, the Talisay land is now a protected seascape and landscape under the NIPAS act. The house and auxiliary structures where he stayed were reconstructed and are now turned into a shrine by the National Historical Commission.
How to Get There
- Dapitan City is located in Zamboanga Del Norte in Mindanao.
- The nearest airport hub is Dipolog City which is around fifteen kilometers from Dapitan City
- From Dipolog Airport, charter a tricycle going to the Dipolog City Integrated Bus Terminal
- At the Bus Terminal, ride the Dapitan-bound Evergood buses
- Alight at the City Plaza, then you can charter a tricycle to go around the city attractions such as Rizal Shrine, Dakak Beach Resort, and Gloria Fantasy Land
