Retraction of RIzal: Did He or Did He Not? / By Ms. Frenz Obispo

Summary

The video script discusses the controversy surrounding Dr. Jose Rizal's alleged retraction of his anti-Catholic Church and anti-Spanish colonial statements before his execution. It outlines the historical debate, presenting evidence from both sides: the Catholic Church's claim of a signed retraction letter and the质疑 of its authenticity by Rizal's supporters. The script also explores the potential impact of this retraction on Philippine history and Rizal's legacy.

Takeaways

• 📜 The discussion centers around whether Dr. José Rizal retracted his statements against the Catholic Church before his execution.
• 📖 Retraction, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, means to take back or withdraw something previously stated.
• 📝 A document allegedly signed by Rizal before his execution states that he retracted his statements and embraced Catholicism.
• 🧐 There are two sides to the controversy: one that claims Rizal retracted and another that believes the retraction letter was forged.
• 📅 The retraction letter, dated December 29, 1896, was discovered by Father Manuel Garcia in 1935.
• 👀 Eyewitnesses, particularly Jesuit priests, testified that Rizal did indeed sign a retraction letter and returned to the Catholic faith.
• 📚 Despite these claims, there are inconsistencies, including disputes over the authenticity of the document and questions raised about the handwriting.
• 👰‍♂️ Another piece of evidence suggesting the retraction is Rizal's supposed marriage to Josephine Bracken, with the condition of signing the retraction letter.
• 🔍 Critics argue that Rizal's family, as well as his last work, 'Mi Último Adiós,' contradict the idea of a retraction, as his works remained defiant against Spanish oppression.
• ❓ The debate continues, with no definitive conclusion on whether Rizal truly retracted, as the original document has never been made publicly available.

Q & A

What is the definition of retraction according to Merriam-Webster dictionary?

Retraction is defined as the act of taking back or withdrawing something, whether it is an action, a statement, or an accusation.

What are the three parts of the discussion on the retraction of Rizal's results?

The three parts are: defining the meaning of retraction, discussing what happened and the cause of the retraction, and examining the two claims regarding whether Rizal retracted or not with supporting evidence.

What is the significance of the document Rizal allegedly signed before his execution?

The document is significant because it allegedly shows Rizal retracting his criticisms of the Catholic Church and declaring himself a Catholic, which has been a point of controversy.

What is the controversy surrounding Rizal's retraction letter?

The controversy revolves around the authenticity of the retraction letter and whether Rizal actually signed it, with some believing it was a forgery to discredit him.

What evidence supports the claim that Rizal retracted his statements?

The evidence includes the retraction letter itself, testimonies from priests who were present, Rizal's acts of religiosity before his execution, and the condition for his marriage to Josephine Bracken.

What are the arguments against the authenticity of Rizal's retraction letter?

Arguments include inconsistencies in the handwriting and format, the delayed discovery of the document, and the lack of public documents or a marriage certificate to support the claim.

Why is the timing of the retraction letter's discovery significant?

The letter was discovered 39 years after Rizal's execution, raising questions about its authenticity and the motives behind its release.

What is the 'Mi Ultimo Adios' and how does it relate to the retraction controversy?

The 'Mi Ultimo Adios' is Rizal's famous poem expressing his love for his country and defiance against oppressors, which contradicts the supposed retraction document.

What are the potential consequences if it were proven that Rizal did not retract his statements?

It could affect the historical narrative of Rizal's legacy, potentially reinforcing his image as a hero who remained defiant against colonial powers until his death.

How might the history of the Philippines be different if Rizal had not been executed?

The Philippine Revolution and the country's historical narrative could have been significantly different, as Rizal's execution was a rallying point for many Filipinos.

What are the reasons some believe Rizal might have retracted his statements?

One possible reason could be to gain the opportunity to marry Josephine Bracken, as suggested by the condition given by the priests for their marriage.

Outlines

00:00

📜 Introduction to Retraction

The script begins with an introduction to the topic of retraction, specifically focusing on the historical case of Dr. Jose Rizal, a Filipino national hero. The speaker outlines the structure of the discussion, which includes defining retraction, exploring the circumstances and causes of Rizal's alleged retraction, and evaluating the evidence for two opposing claims regarding the authenticity of the retraction. The paragraph also delves into the controversy surrounding Rizal's supposed retraction letter, his conversion to Catholicism, and the ensuing debate about its authenticity and implications.

05:01

🔍 Evidence and Authenticity of Rizal's Retraction

This paragraph discusses the evidence supporting and disputing the authenticity of Dr. Rizal's retraction letter. The Catholic Church claims that Rizal signed a retraction letter before his execution, expressing his return to Catholicism and disavowing his criticisms of the Church. The paragraph details the church's evidence, including the retraction letter itself, eyewitness testimonies, and Rizal's religious acts before his death. However, it also presents the skepticism and counter-evidence from those who believe the retraction was a forgery, including inconsistencies in the handwriting and format of the document, and the lack of public records or a marriage certificate to support the church's claims.

10:03

🤔 Debating the Retraction: Perspectives and Implications

The script continues with a debate on whether Rizal's retraction actually occurred. It presents arguments from both sides, with some asserting that the retraction was a genuine act of Rizal's change of heart, while others argue that it was a fabrication by the Spanish colonial government and the Catholic Church to discredit Rizal. The paragraph also touches on the historical context of forgery and its use as a tool for deception, suggesting that the retraction document could be part of a similar strategy to undermine Rizal's legacy.

15:08

🏳️‍🌈 The Impact and Legacy of Rizal's Alleged Retraction

The final paragraph explores the potential consequences and implications of Rizal's alleged retraction. It discusses how the retraction, if true, might have affected the perception of Rizal's legacy and the course of the Philippine revolution. The paragraph also considers the possibility that the retraction could have been a strategic move by Rizal to gain favor with the Catholic Church in order to marry Josephine Bracken. The discussion concludes with the acknowledgment that the question of Rizal's retraction remains a contentious issue, with significant implications for the interpretation of Philippine history.

Keywords

💡Retraction

Retraction refers to the act of taking back or withdrawing something, such as a statement or publication. In the context of the video, it specifically pertains to the alleged act of Dr. Jose Rizal retracting his criticisms against the Catholic Church and the Spanish colonial government. The video explores the controversy surrounding the authenticity of a document supposedly signed by Rizal recanting his previous statements.

💡Dr. Jose Rizal

Dr. Jose Rizal is a prominent figure in Philippine history, known for his role in the Philippine Revolution against Spanish colonization. The video discusses the controversy of whether Rizal retracted his views before his execution. His works and actions are central to understanding the Philippine struggle for independence.

💡Forgery

Forgery in this context refers to the creation of a document with a false authorship or content, with the intent to deceive. The video script mentions the possibility that the retraction document attributed to Rizal might be a forgery, suggesting that the Catholic Church may have created it to discredit Rizal.

💡Catholic Church

The Catholic Church is a central institution in the video's narrative, as it is implicated in the controversy over Rizal's alleged retraction. The Church's role in the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines is highlighted, particularly its influence and the conflict with Rizal's revolutionary ideas.

💡Spanish Colonial Government

The Spanish Colonial Government represents the ruling authority in the Philippines during Rizal's time. The video suggests that this government, along with the Catholic Church, may have had motives to fabricate Rizal's retraction to undermine his influence on the independence movement.

💡Masonry

Masonry, or Freemasonry, is mentioned in the video as an organization that Rizal was allegedly associated with and which he supposedly denounced in the retraction document. The term is used to explore Rizal's supposed change in beliefs and the authenticity of his retraction.

💡Controversy

Controversy in this context refers to the ongoing debate and conflicting views regarding the authenticity of Rizal's retraction. The video presents different perspectives and evidence, reflecting the historical uncertainty and the impact of this controversy on the perception of Rizal's legacy.

💡Authenticity

Authenticity is a key concept in the video, as it relates to the validity and genuineness of the retraction document. The discussion revolves around the evidence for and against the document's authenticity, which directly affects the interpretation of Rizal's final stance on his beliefs and actions.

💡Evidence

Evidence is crucial in the video as it is used to support or refute the claims about Rizal's retraction. The script mentions various types of evidence, including documents, testimonies, and Rizal's own writings, which are analyzed to determine the truth of the retraction.

💡Execution

Execution refers to the act of carrying out a death sentence, which Rizal faced due to his revolutionary activities. The video discusses the circumstances surrounding his execution and the timing of the alleged retraction in relation to this event.

💡Philippine Revolution

The Philippine Revolution is a significant historical event that the video connects to Rizal's life and the controversy of his retraction. It was a movement for independence from Spanish rule, and Rizal's actions and writings were influential in inspiring this revolution.

Highlights

Definition of retraction according to Merriam-Webster dictionary

Three parts of the discussion: defining retraction, cause of retraction, and evidence supporting claims

Allegations of Rizal signing a retraction letter before execution

Confusion caused by the retraction document leading to two opposing views

Catholic Church's claim that Rizal signed a retraction letter

Details of the retraction letter stating Rizal's return to Catholicism

Testimony of Jesuits as eyewitnesses to the retraction event

Rizal's last 24 hours showing acts of religiosity before execution

Condition given by priests for Rizal's marriage in exchange for retraction

Criticism of the retraction document's authenticity by Rizal's family

Dr. Ricardo Pascual's claim of the retraction document being a forgery

Inconsistencies in the retraction document's discovery and publication

Rizal's 'Mi Ultimo Adios' in contrast to the retraction document

Conclusion that Rizal did not retract based on evidence

Authenticity of the retraction document being doubted

Historical context of forgery and its implications on the retraction document

Debate on the impact of Rizal's alleged retraction on Philippine history

Question on whether Philippine history would be different if Rizal retracted

Transcripts

[Music]

good day everyone tonight i will be

sharing my knowledge about the

retraction of result did he or did he

not rest assured that a total research

has been made

before we proceed there are three parts

that will be the flow of our discussion

first is defining the meaning of

retraction

followed by what happened what is the

cause of the retraction of result and

lastly the two claims result retracted

or resulted not with evidence supporting

this claims so let's start with defining

what retraction is according to the

merriam-webster dictionary retraction is

to take back or withdraw something

whether it is an action a statement or

ampusation

continuing on the topic let's now

proceed in what happened to results

alleged retraction letter and its cost

so before results execution at

bagumbayan it is said that he signed a

document stating that he is now a

catholic and he retracts all the

statements he said about the friars and

the catholic church with this document

it is said that he is now a catholic and

will die as one has he observes misery

this caused confusion and what really

happened since it created two sides

which are the ones who believe that

risale abandoned masonry and became a

catholic and the ones who believed that

result did not sign the document and it

was just forge on to the next topic two

claims and its evidence within results

retraction as i said there are different

opinions point of views or information

regarding the controversy

the roman catholic church or their

believers claimed that results signed a

retraction letter saying that he was

taking back whatever he said or wrote

against the roman catholic church in the

spanish government and that he also died

as a catholic on the other hand there

are people who support and believe

herself especially his works and claim

that resulted not retract

the first evidence is the retraction

paper itself it was written in spanish

and it was considered an eyewitness of

results for attraction

according to dison the document was

discovered by father manuel garcia on

may 18 1935 which was signed by dr jose

and the letter was dated on 29th of

december 1896.

the retraction letter stated

i declare myself a catholic and in this

religion in which i was born and

educated i wish to live and die

i retract with all my heart whatever in

my words writings publications and

conduct has been made contrary to my

character as a son of the catholic

church

i believe and i confess whatever she

teaches and i submit to whatever she

demands i abominate masonry as the enemy

which is of the church and as a society

prohibited by the church the diocese and

krillin

let me as the superior ecclesiastical

authority make public this spontaneous

manifestation of mind in order to repair

this conduct which my abs may have

caused and so that god and people may

pardon me after signing the retraction

document a book was offered to him

entitled acts of faith hope and charity

he recited the prayer and signed the

book during that time the second point

to mention is the testimony given during

the press conference

it was discovered by father garcia along

with the retraction document there are

the people who witnessed the event

especially the jesuits vicente balaguer

stating that there was a retraction that

happened before result died

during the time when resolve was held in

the fort santiago barack's on the

western side of plaza de armas where he

was sentenced to death for supporting

hebrewing revolution against spanish

rule there were priests who visited him

and persuaded him to sign the document

and they are also considered

eyewitnesses to the event the third

piece of evidence from the catholic

church is that during results last 24

hours he had shown acts of being

religious before he was executed on

december 30 1896 he prayed and had a

confession in the church and the last

evidence was about result wanting to be

married would just be wrapping in a

catholic church but the priests who will

bless them father balabir gave him one

condition which was to sign the

retraction document in exchange for

their marriage on the contrary there are

also a lot of people who believe that

result did not attract base and evidence

allow me to give you something first dr

result reportedly signed the retraction

paper and the contents of the document

were written out in the newspapers his

family was shocked to learn of dr

result's actions they demanded to

examine the original document in order

to confirm that it was his regardless of

whether the document was written by hand

or not the jesuit priest claimed to have

displaced it

the catholic church discovered dr

results papers in their archives in 1935

39 years after his execution

dr ricardo pascual claims to have the

original paperwork of dr results

retraction dr ricardo pasqual asked the

art bishop for permission to examine the

paper there were irregularities in the

handwriting and format of the paper that

were discovered the paper was not

written in dr rizal's style and he

decided that the paper was a forged

document it has been previously

established in the case of the documents

legitimacy it's debatable whether it was

authentic or more importantly whether it

ever existed another proof that dr

resulted natural track is that when he

supposedly signed the document one of

his terms was to marry josephine bracken

which he did according to the catholic

church they were married a day before

result was executed yet there were no

public documents or a copy of dr

result's marriage certificate with

bracket in order to prove that he was

married and did not retract

if dr resulted so his family would have

known of it immediately because he would

have told them the truth in his

communication letter to death and when

they saw him before he was accepted

there were no mentions of his retraction

which is why the family was seeking the

original document because they did not

believe that dr rizal had retracted all

of his life's words

we are now on the question and answer

question for question number one

is it true that there was a retraction

before result died if you say so why

based on my research i have concluded

that dr jose as a vocal critic of the

spanish colonial government and of the

catholic church wrongdoings was not at

all retracted this is due to the fact

that there are a lot of evidences that

he didn't reviewing the evidences lead

to the question as to why would dr

salvador track all of his works when

those works were meant to expose he

attracted atrocities of both the spanish

colonial government and the catholic

church at the time in controlling the

filipinos when he fought the same

institutions his entire life and also

imprisoned him it is a without a doubt

an indirect admission of guilt by both

the spanish colonial government and the

catholic church to silence him another

point is that the contents of the me

ultimo adios or my last farewell which

sparked and ignited the lives of

filipinos to rise up and fight against

the spaniards are diametrically opposed

to the retraction document that he

allegedly signed because the mi ultimo

adios proves that dr issal loved his

country and remained defiant until his

death against the oppressors of his

country and this countrymen with the

data offered and evaluated i maintained

that doctor assaulted netrikan sincerely

made her values to the persecution that

afflicted filipinos lives and proof of

his conviction that he died loving his

country

question number two if resolve was

really retracted where is the alleged

retraction letter of result

based on a study the original document

was found in the archdiocesan archives

in 1935

39 years after result was shot the

authenticity was proved due to first is

the testaments of the priest who were

present there and it is dated december

29 1896 the day before his death however

many disbelieved the authenticity of the

retraction they believed that the church

wanted to tarnish the reputation of a

ceresal as a hero

also because result wrote a lot of

things against the church so they made

the retraction to prove that result was

defeated or he surrendered before he

died

for question number three why was the

original document never shown to the

public

forgery is known all over the world

usually for the money it came with

sending fake letters to the enemies to

be captured was popular in october

1600's caniza territory warned the

ottomans bought the battle by issuing

forged communication

during world war ii they launched

operation means meet as a deception to

mislead the german intelligence

many secret documents that seemed to be

reeled with forged signatures were

attached to a british corpse the germans

seemed to believe the authenticity of

the fake documents leading them to fight

against sisi they used the same strategy

to fool the germans by giving out false

map roots being used in the war

in 1901 americans managed to capture

cecilia celis mundo who carried

documents from aguinaldo

the american then faked some documents

complete with forged signatures to start

an alliance as well as a war against

filipino americans

then they captured aguinaldo which

started the fall of the republic that is

why the authenticity of the retraction

and result is being debated as said to

be it was supposed to have been signed

by result before he died there are many

witnesses both of them are just the

document only surfaced for public

viewing on may 13 1935. later then it

was found by father manuel a garcia at

the hierarchies archive in manila but

the original document was never shown to

the public only the copies of it however

other people

reported that as early as 1907 the

retraction of results was copied and

published in spain and reprinted in

manila the problem about the date

surfaced the difference of the documents

making it unbelievable one stated

december 29th 189c

evidently altered the number zero

another came out as december 29 1896

that was supposed to believe the real

document due to the issue that happened

the original document is hard to present

surely we must put the question of

retraction to rest whether he retracted

or not

so while vaping you can now answer and

um mislead

again the question is do you think there

is your attraction that happened during

those times if yes why if no why not

oh hello paul i think the retraction

didn't really happen given that the

document was not publicized and there

was inconsistency towards the evidence

thank you for that answer leigh

so to

proceed next question

so well

okay

okay thank you for that now you can ask

us if you have any question

so for mr keanu

[Music]

um for me i don't think uh result really

retracted there's a lot of evidence

however

inconsistencies

[Music]

so i don't think that's the uh

i don't think uh really retracted

i have a question for you guys too also

okay

why do you think

uh

the issue with results

uh

the issue with uh

for his recently paramagne catholic

[Music]

[Music]

i think the importance of it it's

because they wanted to discredit dr

hasserisal his words and

it is to invalidate his life and words

just to show them that they have a

deceited result in the end since

the church

thank you for that uh

and you can unuse your microphone

um hello

my question is what are the consequences

of results retraction

um

i think uh result

has no real consequence

except for the fact that it created a

country called the base whether he

recruitment or not

so

thank you

so you can raise your hand if you have

questions

uh another question paul

what did if if result really retracted

what what do you think is the reason

okay i will answer in a longer question

um the possible reason with that is that

he wanted to give himself a chance to

marry josephine he already attempted to

do this while in the peta and he was

rejected because he did not accept the

terms given by the catholic church

so yeah did i satisfy your question

hey thank you

okay another one mr or miss jay you can

admit your microphone

hi good evening um

would be will the history of the

philippines be written differently if it

were true that rizal retracted and that

he was not executed as a result

so i will answer that question so yes i

think it would be different

it could be surely affect how it surely

it would really affect how the

philippine revolution

acted knowing that many filipinos joined

their budget after

yes thank you

okay thank you for that

fun

[Music]

so

[Music]

so

[Music]

so

[Music]

you