"Look in my shoes" (Rizal@150)

June 18, 2011

Jose Rizal's mother(center), sisters and nieces

In the morning of December 29, 1896, a day before his execution, José Rizal wrote a short note to his family. It was an urgent call of a man seeking to be heard by his family for the last time, a wish, hours before death, to see his loved ones for the final time. The note reads:

"My dear Parents and Brother-Sisters,

I would like to see each one of you before dying, though it may cause much pain. Come the most valiant. I have some important things to say.

Your son and brother who loves you,"

That something inside the alcohol burner turned out to be the immortal untitled poem we now know as "Mi Ultimo Adios." But what was inside the shoes?

In the late afternoon of the same day, the women members of the Rizal family came to Fort Santiago to bid goodbye. First was the mother, Doña Teodora Alonzo. They had only a few minutes to speak. It was said that they were held apart by the guards. That mother and son ended their last conversation in tears. Then came the sisters, one by one. Rizal gave a present to each sister. All were in tears. They listened intently but were speechless. Then came the important instructions, which must not be heard by the guards. So, when it was the turn of his three sisters, Lucia, Josefa, and Trinidad, the three who had been with him in Hong Kong and who could speak English, the instructions were made clear and in secret. He whispered that he was leaving some personal things to them. To Trinidad, he gave an alcohol burner, a present from his friends the Taveras, which he used in his cell. Then, to prevent detection from the guards, he whispered to Trinidad in English, "There is something inside it." And to another sister, he whispered also in English, "Look in my shoes." (Trinidad would then contradict the account of that final meeting with his brother years later, claiming that Rizal's remark was not in English but in Visayan).

That something inside the alcohol burner turned out to be the immortal untitled poem we now know as "Mi Ultimo Adios." But what was inside the shoes?

A Sister's Dilemma

Nobody in the Rizal family witnessed the execution of their beloved José. During the early morning of December 30, the family remained at home in the extremity of grief, many of them in prayer. They had made arrangements earlier with the authorities for the retrieval of the body. Narcisa, in particular, ordered a coffin and hearse to leave for the Luneta as soon as word was received that the execution had been carried out. When news came that all was over, the hearse was dispatched at once. But when it reached Luneta, the body was not there anymore. It was said that Narcisa, in grief, spent the whole day going to different cemeteries trying without success to locate her brother's burial place. Then, by chance, in the late afternoon, she passed by the abandoned Old Paco Cemetery where she noticed a group of Guardia Civil. It was highly unusual for the Guardia Civil to be there. She went inside without being questioned by the guards. Then she noticed freshly dug earth, a length of a man. Again, highly unusual, since in Paco Cemetery at that time, coffins were inserted into niches (the so-called "Apartment type" in our present time). She had the inclination that it was her brother.

Narcisa had a plaque made with the initials of her brother in reverse, R.P.J., and bribed the cemetery guardian to mark the site. Hoping that someday, under better circumstances, they could retrieve the body and give it a proper burial.

In August of 1898, a few days after the Americans defeated Spain in the mock battle of Manila, Narcisa obtained permission from the American authorities to have the body exhumed. It was found that the body was buried without a coffin. What was left with the clothes established the identity. The shoes had survived. Whatever was left inside the shoes was indistinguishable because of decay. What was inside the shoes could have had great significance in the story of Rizal. Perhaps it could have been another copy of the poem now known as "Ultimo Adios." He wanted to make sure that his final thoughts would not be lost, so he secured two copies? One copy he put in the alcohol burner, and the other in one of his shoes. In case one got lost, surely a spare was in hand? But that is highly improbable, since he was constrained by time and other circumstances to make another copy.

A Manifesto?

During Rizal's trial, he wrote a manifesto to which many historians concluded that he disowned the revolution. Fortunately for Rizal, the Spanish colonial authorities disallowed its publication.

Could the note that was left in his shoes be another manifesto, this time calling the people to unite and fight for the revolution?

Rizal accepted his fate calmly and claimed he was never a traitor to Spain. But one might wonder, with the injustice done to him and also learning his brother suffered because of him, what could have run through his mind? For José Rizal, the last straw was none other than himself. Is there a possibility that in the shoes was a note, and could it be a call to unite behind the revolution?

Days after his execution, the family, perhaps recalling the final instruction of José Rizal to his sister Trinidad about the alcohol burner, finally retrieved a piece of paper inside. It was the "Ultimo Adios." The Rizal family quickly sent copies of the said poem to friends and colleagues. The Katipunan on the hills of Cavite was among the first to receive a copy.

What was inside the shoes? We will never know; we can only speculate."