Name: Lhea Shaine B.

Barrientos Year/Section: BSP -1B

Performance Task 2.3: The Retraction Controversy of Rizal

Identify the arguments and the evidence of those who are claiming that Rizal retracted against
those who are saying otherwise.

Rizal Retracted

Claimant Argument 1 Evidence/Proofs

On the night before Rizal’s According to a testimony by

execution at ten in the evening he Father Vicente Balaguer, a Jesuit
was given by the father Balaguer missionary who be friended the
the long formula of retraction hero during his exile in Dapitan,
Fr. Vicente Balaguer which had been written by order of Rizal accepted a shorter
the Prelate, but Rizal did not sign it retraction document prepared by
for it was too long. Rizal asked the superior of the Jesuit society
Father Balaguer to get a pen and in the Philippines, Father Pio Pi.
jot down what he will dictate. And Father Balaguer’s stated as
that was Rizal’s retraction additional evidence to prove that
document which is considered the Rizal really retracted. Is Rizal’s
chief witness to the reality of the marriage to Josephine Bracken.
Retraction.

Your Observations:
I think there are some loopholes with Fr. Vicente Balaguer’s claim the Rizal retracted on
the night just before his execution. But all in all, even though it would be easy to say he
retracted all that he wrote about the church, it still did not change the fact that his writings
began the wheels of change in Philippines Colonial society during the Spanish period – a
change that led to our independence, and that the retraction is just one aspect of the life,
works, and writings of Rizal.
Rizal DID NOT Retract

Claimant Argument 1 Evidence/Proofs

He is a Spanish or plan who

Fernandez said “I have stating that before he faced death,
Baron Fernandez documents” Rizal told his sister Narcisa to took
discovered the eyewitnesses
Morato said in his “expose” accounts of the retraction from inside
Manuel Morato that the friars forged the his sloes because he had left a
retraction letter and published letter. According to Fernandez, the
in the Clerico-Fascist repertories or collections of Spain’s
newspapers at that time. dirty secrets. He found 34 letters
could only be a denial of his
retraction because Rizal knew the
documents including hand written
letters, telegrams, and military friars
were misleading the Filipinos and he
wanted to set the records documents
straight. Morato also, he and
Fernandez have confirmed that Rizal
never retracted documents to prove
that when although that take
retraction was Rizal was in Dapitan,
he was allowed published be friars
and is still sadly to go to Cebu with
Josephine peddled in most school
Bracken, and the Archbishop of
Cebu, at that time, tried to dangle
marriage and coaxed him to do the
retract.
Your Observations:
We can observe that the claimants based their arguments on the eyewitness account.
They look for the discrepancy on these accounts and analyze it to confirm whether the claims
of those who believed that Rizal retracted is credible.