THE VOICE OF THE INDIO
"My hair stood on ends," an almost balding man said.
-From Noli Me Tangere

Noli Me Tangere by Jose Rizal
New Translation by Soledad Lacson-Locsin
Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1996
(part 1)
 
 
 

     After the Diaz-Abaya movie about his life has been made; after repetitiously hearing his name during the Centennial; after reading his books over and over again; ah, it's time for me to review one of the books written by the Greatest Malay who ever lived.
     I present to you, dear readers, Jose Rizal - whose name will remain etched in the mind of every Filipino for eternity; Rizal - whose monumental works ushered in the birth of the first Asian Republic; Rizal - who at  33  was executed for his writings labeled as 'seditious' by Spanish Authorities...Rizal to me is the Grandfather of all Filipino authors.
     He was not a god - though his death inspired the birth of the cult Rizalista. He was not an excellent novelist judging by his books. His marriage to Josephine Backen up to now is considered suspicious by many Rizal scholars. In fact, his relationship to Blummentritt is also being questioned.
     Not only that - Rizal's request for an exit pass to serve as an Opthalmologist in the Cuban War before his execution had cast a doubt to his bravery -though this doubt was immediately  put to rest the moment he walked into the scaffold and, before his fellow Indios, bravely faced his executioners. His death automatically transformed him from an ordinary Filipino, to a hero, to a god.
     His sin?
     He lived in a country where the most useless person in a supper or feast is the one giving it: to begin with, the master of the house can be thrown out into the street and everything will proceed as usual. In the actual state of things, it is almost for the good of the Filipinos not to be allowed to leave the country or to be taught how to read. - (from the writing of a young blond man in his 'colonial studies', Noli Me Tangere).
    Rizal read, wrote, thought, studied in the best of Western world, then expressed himself through his novels. He returned back home more cultured, more intelligent, more sophisticated than those who thought themselves superior than him by virtue of Spanish birth. From the day of his return, the Philippines would never be the same again.
     Last March, when I returned back home to the Philippines,  I made sure I paid homage to this man. I had this romantic notion that as an aspiring Filipino author, I needed to visit the original Filipino author of all time.
     I went to Calamba, Laguna and went straight to the house where he was born - a  large, square, wooden, capiz-windowed house right in the center of the town. The house capiz-windows stood eminent in my eyes, these were so tranquil. I  imagined Rizal as a young boy opening these windows, gazing at his surroundings with twinkles in his eyes - there in front of him were the Calamba church,  other Spanish inspired houses in the neighborhood, the market place, and further, trees of a forest. Extending my imagining, beside those windows and the lamp, I saw the boy writing childhood stories: who can forget the gamo-gamo who went too close to the fire? Or the story of throwing his slipper in the river after the other one fell into it because it is no use for the finder to find only one slipper?
    And then there was the poignant story about his mother being arrested, accused of theft, and walked down the street of Calamba between two Guardias Civiles.
     What did Rizal, as the ten year old boy, thought of as he saw his mother being degraded this way?
     Did this catapult his anger to the extreme and vowed to exact revenge to Spain when he got the power to do so? But were his books against Spain? It seemed Rizal wrote of Spain as the Motherland. Who he railed against were the Friars who misrepresented Spain.

Have you heard this line before?:
To live in peace the remainder of your days.
You have friends in Spain, you are rich, you can get a pardon.
Anyway, a foreign country is for us a better one than our own.
(Elias in the Noli Me Tangere)

THE VOICE OF THE INDIO
part two

a card I bought from intramuros - drawing by FV Adriano'94, originally in color(Sunday in Quiapo 1904)

come along now...
     Lets join Rizal in exploring Manila in the 1800's. We'll hitch a ride in the calesa and pass by the cobbled  streets of the walled city of Intramuros, smell the  water passing through Pasig - the river serves many purposes - from transportation to bathing to laundry washing. Sometimes the Chinese fill their vessels with its water and balance these vessels on a bamboo pole on their shoulders.They walk so gracefully. We will arrive tonight to the house of Kapitan Tiago, located along the bend of the Pasig. Kapitan Tiago is about to hold a dinner party that is the talk of the city all the way from the districts of  Binondo to Intramuros. From cobbled roads of Intramuros, our calesa takes the lonely unpaved route somewhere in San Diego, prodding Rizal to complain about roads that spew out dust in dry weather and hold water after two days of rain. Hey, this is Manila, not Paris! No mansions to talk about here, no valet parking, no butlers following masters; the people are coming to the party on their own volition and as is expected in parties, showmanship and keeping up appearances is a game each one has to play. Lets take note of the attendees - women wear baro't saya and men are clad in either chinos or barongs - and tall felt hats. They carry bastones. Some of the women's heads are covered with veils but most of them wear  well-combed hair, rarely loose, held up by gold combs as if these are crowns. The houses are quiet, their insides are unmistakably yellowed by candlelights, or kerosene lamps, occasionally one hears the piano being played, or the utterance of the rosary, or the tune from a guitar being played. Every now and then, a dog barks. A rooster crows. And the streets are lighted by gas lamps.  We will alight from the calesa, giving a few pesetas to the cochero. We enter the massive house of Kapitan Tiago, it is slighly bent, Rizal comments about its poor architectural design. Well Rizal's just been to Europe, what do you expect him to say? Yet even he can't deny the house reeking of wealth -  candle-lighted chandeliers, wall paintings of religious depictions, tables large enough to accomodate the entire city and food - ah lots of food including the tinola. Between the clanging of silvers and chinas and glasses, the gathering crowd commences what appears to be an extra-ordinary party(mainly because of the presence of the elite), the women are huddled to one side, prim and proper; the men on the other side are animated in their talk. Some women cross the gender boundary, notably Dona Victorina, but this is not out of non-delicadeza, but out of pride (I will deal with Dona Victorina later) This party has a little twist tonight - Don Crisostomo Ibarra, fresh from his European travels is joining the group. Because he is now 'experienced' in the manners of the West, primarily Spain, his appearance is largely anticipated  and ignored, depending on which character reacting is . Afterall, in this time and age, Manila is still  ruled by Spanish friars who believe the native Pinoy, the indio, is barbaric and to rule him is a noble duty to God. He can't belong to civilized West, right? In fact he is most  grateful for the presence of the friars.  Just listen to Padre Damaso as he explicates this case to the blond man who is in the party researching for his 'colonial studies':
     "My successor stayed for less time than I and when he left town, had more people saying goodbye, more tears and more music despite the fact that he flogged them more, and had raised parish fees to almost double."
     Did Padre Damaso ever wonder why the natives were so happy in seeing himself and his successor go?
     Now lets tiptoe among the group, since we're invisible right now, and listen to their intelligent and sophisticated talk (I'm sure you'd think twice about sophistication and intelligence from hereon):
     Dona Victorina inquires Padre Damaso, the friar, "How can the poor man invent gunpowder which, according to what they say, was invented by the Chinese long ago?"
     To which, the learned Father Damaso replies, "The Chinese? Are you mad? Forget it. It was invented by a Franciscan, one of my order, by a Padre I don't recall, a certain Savalls, in 7th century."
     And Dona Victorina, I mean, the doctora Dona Victorina, asks as a follow up, "Before or after Christ?"
     Beginning with this opening chapter dear readers, Rizal will thrust us back to our painful history. Ah, the life of the Indio is so trusting, so welcoming, so friendly to his guests, that in return they threw him out of his house, destroyed his will, frightened him with religion and God and made him confess even the the most intimate contents of his deepest soul. Let's meet the elite and the wealthy of the Noli:

i'll summarize it all for you in the best way i can...
     Who, you may ask, are the elites of Noli? My dear, they are alive and well today and will remain alive and well until the next centuries to come.Take for example, Kapitan Tiago: robust, small, balding, brown, very, very indio. But special he is,  make no mistake!What makes him special is his vast tracts of land all the way from Pampanga to Malabon and multiple businesses ranging from wax-making  to opium trade. He's shrewd in keeping a balancing act between serving God via friars and making money out of his fellow indios and Chinese. For these alone, he is favored by the Spanish friars led by Padre Damaso. Honey, his line is "Sky's the limit." when it comes to spending. But is his shrewdness the sole reason for this most-favored status?
     Well, call me malicious and pervert but you see, Maria Clara, Kapitan Tiago's daughter happens to be the biological daughter of Padre Damaso. What? A friar with a child? Well...it goes this way-
     Kapitan Tiago and Dona Paz were childless for many many years. In their quest to have a child, they've consulted (who else???) their God's representative on earth -you guessed it right, it's no other than Padre Damaso. Padre Damaso told the young wife to dance in the Santa Clara convent. And mirales of all miracles, she returned pregnant . And died of childbirth, perhaps out of guilt. Talk about messing up a young woman's life!
     Which leads us to this child who survived, Maria Clara, the daughter,  the epitome of indio beauty and purity- this indio mestiza is the woman that Don Crisostomo Ibarra adores. She will forever be depicted in our culture as the perfection of virginity and beauty and woman's sublime, the paraluman of all times. Though in reality she is borne out of sin and abuse of power, the bastard child, the modern Amerasian kid.
     She is protected by Tia Isabel, her aunt, and also, by the ludicrous Dona Victorina, oh correction please, the doctora Dona Victorina de Espadana. As an indio she's merely Victorina. How the titles the doctora, Dona and de Espadana were added to her name was her own making to strip herself of true identity. First of all, she's got tons of money. That of course led to her title Dona Victorina. Next she picked up a Spanish loser of a soldier, who limped, so she could assume his last name, hence, Dona Victorina de Espadana. Then, she introduced this soldier as a Doctor to all the indios around her, hence, the doctora. And they both started touring all over as the husband and wife medical practitioners. Scary huh? Well, she got away with it anyway by covering her face with all the white powders this side of Southest Asia can provide, curled her straight hair and colored it brown/blonde and matched all these with European dresses. Sounds familiar? Yet, her accent betrayed it all. Read a sample of her letter writing:

Estim cazin: In tree deys I want to noe from U if alredy de alferez kild U(amazing!) or Yu kild him....
(Dona Victorina's letter to Lenares)

     Oh yeah, she also made Lenares, a full blooded Spanish citizen  picked out of  Spanish gutters, her cousin, introducing him as Secretary of Spanish Empire (ngwek-ngwek fake) and is planning to hook him up with Maria Clara, to propagate her "Spanish bloodline"(another ngwek-ngwek fake).

a card I bought from intramuros - drawing by FV Adriano'94, originally in color( The Cathedral, Plaza Mayor -1852)  
 

THE VOICE OF THE INDIO
part four

this is the other side of the social cancer called Manila...
 
 

     As an aspiring novelist, I want to read the Noli objectively. But I have to confess, his depiction of his time, still disturbs me, because, I feel, his characters and events are still alive, long after he died. Especially now, as he bids me enter into an entirely different world - away from his satire and ridicule -  to the real pain of Manila in 1800's.
     The truth is, (basing this opinion on My reading), the Noli does not suggest its plot till somewhere halfway the novel.What comes along during the first half is a procession of people, like a Santacruzan, of figures and mini-short stories, parading in  different attires and fates. And maybe, just maybe, Rizal, like many writers including me, could not figure out early on how to consolidate his story. Or maybe, ANOTHER maybe, he utilizes this procession of characters to validate his plot. Lets take a look at these proletariats:
     As Ibarra moves away from this core of elite, he walks closer and closer to the ordinary indios.
     He learns, for instance the fate of his father's corpse, Don Rafael, through the mouth of a gravedigger. Don Rafael was killed (contrary to the news that  he committed suicide while Ibarra was away in Europe). Don Rafael's corpse was then refused Christian burial by the same people who murdered him, and it was thrown into the Chinese cemetery. The gravediggger, unable to commit this ultimate desecration, (at that time) rather chose to throw the body into the river. The death of Don Rafael coincided with his falling away with the friars.
     Then the novel switches to an entirely different setting, it's the story of the ultimate suffering family of Sisa. Sisa's story has haunted me since the very first day I read it. She has two sons, two young sacristan boys. One of them, Crispin, is charged of theft by the sacristan mayor. Because of this, the boys can not go home on the day they are supposed to go home to spend time with her. Sisa is anticipating them and prepares the best meal for them. Her irresponsible husband (who was  given to cockfights and drinking)  comes and consumes all the food on the table instead. The boys don't come home. She starts looking around for them to no avail. Crispin is beaten until he loses his life. Sisa loses her mind. She will scream the most famous scream that will reverberate throughout this century and beyond: "Crispiiiin! Basilioooo! My sons!"
     Then comes the Old Philospher Tasio, the only voice of reason in this unreasonable era. The voice that remains hidden in hieroglyphics, the voice that watches and observes. He writes quietly on notes to be read only by a generation that are free to understand the truth.
     The Alferez and his wife, the best example of an interracial relationship that has gone awry, is the story of the Spanish chief of police and his indio wife;the Alferez immediately sharpened the tongue of his wife a day after their wedding. It began with the correct pronounciation of the name of the country. Felipenas said the Alferez, . Dona Consolacion(the wife) said Pilipinas. He beat her promptly
     Later on, she would completely ignore Tagalog and speak a bastardized Spanish, as in, Vamos, magcanar icau, showing some airs of a true orofea. Dona Consolacion was laughed at for being ugly. So ugly tha Tarsilo, one of the tulisanes punished by the Alferez via timbain, commented, You are going to beat me to death Senor Alferez, but tonight I will be avenged when your wife embraces you.
    Tarsilo, one of the tulisanes, is one of  the less-remembered characters in this novel though the likes of him are the ones who move the Noli plot forward.
     The forces in this novel involve two sides - one side was represented (not necessarily) by Elias, whose life was full of tragedy - His forefather was forfeited of land and property - by the forefather of Ibarra - obviously since then, Elias family lived in constant struggle, poverty, and for him(Elias), a life on the run. Elias loved Salome (the Lacson-Locsin version of Noli has added a chapter about Elias and Salome), these two unfortunate young indios lived together, albeit only for a brief time. Elias soon became a rebel, a rebellion claimed by other characters including many students,two brothers and other elites who remained behind the shadows.
    The other side of the plot involve Ibarra - the voice of peaceful revolt. He thought that working for the good of his people begins with building a good school.
     But the Elias and Ibarra sides have an overwhelming antagonist - the mighty arm of the Spanish Friar.
     On the day of casting the stone for the school to be built, an explosion occured.
     This explosion disturbed the status quo and  ushered-in the terror that makes up the  Noli Me Tangere. From hereon, the plot clearly emerges, and woe to the vanquished, Rizal will write in one of the chapters, the elites will cut their connections from each others, the priests will be enveloped by paranoia, every letter associated with Ibarra will be burned. Ibarra's house will be ransacked and Ibarra himself will be arrested.
      What is amazing about this novel is its prophetic vision. Like Nostradamus, it seems Rizal predicted his fate through the Noli, though more tragically. Whereas Ibarra will manage to escape in the novel with the help of Elias, Rizal in real life will be executed.
     The Noli reeks of sentimentality but I won't accuse Rizal of melodrama. In his time, novels  were poetic and sentimental. And Rizal was a poet first, a prose-writer and satirist second,  a Doctor third, and a Nationalist fourth. If the Philippine Revolution that started with the Cry of Pugad Lawin was patterned after the Noli, then Rizal was effective.
    What lingers in mind right now as I try to recall the Noli, are the other voices that were never given prominence in the past reviews given to this book. Perhaps largely due to the Filipino desire to find a scapegoat for all his misfortunes, or perhaps because America emphasized the cruelty of Spain to rationalize its colonization of the Philippines, the other voices of Noli were suppressed. True, Spanish cruelty was very harsh, as personified by Padre Damso himself, but, the book, seen from a larger perspective, also includes  the cruelty of the indio against his fellow indio. One won't miss the fact that Dona Consolacion, an indio herself, ordered the punishment of Tarsilo, via the timbain, a slightly different version of the infamous water-treatment  that gained notoriety during Vietnam War, after she was insulted for her features. It was an indio wife who squealed to the priest, via confession, the secret plot that led to the arrest, detention, and death of many of the characters. That the sufferings of Sisa were largely due to a negligent husband. Rizal has clearly pointed out many weaknesses of the past indio, which are still carried on by the present Filipino. Read the speech of Capitan Basilio, the rich adversary of deceased Don Rafael (father of Ibarra), as he gave his learned opinion, full of beautiful lines without content:
     "Since your excellencies have been so amiable and so pleasant to my humble person, allowing me the use of words before anybody else of those  present here, I will take advantage of this permission so generously conceded and I imagine with my imagination that I am in the midst of the highly respectable Roman Senate, senatus populusque romanus, which we were wont to call in those beautiful times which unfortunately for humanity, will no longer return; and I will petition the Patres Conscripti, as the sage Cicero would say if he were in my place: I will ask, since we do not have time, and time is gold as Solomon said, that in this important question each one should expose his opinion clearly, briefly and simply. I have finished."

    Ouch, yes, mea culpa - I am one who talks too much without essence - and many Filipino speakers and authors are guilty of same.That's a weakness too.

    How about this other situation?
     In a Latin mass which nobody understands but the speaker himself, people still listen.
     "To the devil with the priest, " muttered one of the young men from Manila.
     "Silence!" answered the other, "his woman might hear us..."...
     The pious old woman gave her granddaughter another nudge; she woke up in bad humor and asked, "Is it already time to weep?"
     "Not yet, but do not fall asleep, you wretch!" retorted the good grandmother.

     This seems too familiar to me - you see- I had a grandmother who prayed the rosary in Latin  and loudly too. She did not understand a word of what she prayed. If she heard us playing or getting noisy during her Angelus, she mouthed expletives without hesitation in the middle of her prayer. She was also the one who warned me about reading the Bible to. We had a Pampango Bible , many-centuries old which she wouldn't let us touch, except my father. Because if we did, we'd all turn murit, loco-loco, according to her.

THE VOICE OF THE INDIO

part five        

 
a card I bought from intramuros - drawing by FV Adriano'94, originally in color(Puente Colgante, Quiapo at Casco sa Pasig, 1860)

SENTIMENTALIZING WITH RIZAL
the many tragic endings of Noli Me Tangere

     Ibarra was imprisoned but was rescued by Elias. Their escape route offers one of the most fascinating descriptions of Pasig. In the novel, I can imagine it as a river lined by bamboos and blanketed by lilies, a river where one can paddle a banca under the moonlight. Whatever happened since then to Pasig? The discussion between Ibarra and Elias in the Woods and later, on the Pasig presents the best glimpse of Rizal's nationalism and views. Here he voices his thoughts, as a peaceful man named Ibarra, also his alter-ego, as a rebel named Elias.They are spotted while paddling the banca. Elias jumps off the boat and swims to distract their pursuers while Ibarra paddles farther and farther to his freedom.
     Then Elias, now weak and bloody meets the boy Basilio; who finally found his lunatic mother, Sisa, in the forest, who'd die in the boy's arms.
     Elias will ask the boy Basilio to burn his dying body and Sisa's. Before his death,  Elias will utter the most poignant line of the novel, it is the line that will be kept forever in the heart of every true Filipino, a line that will be used to express an ultimate tragedy, and to invoke bravery and hope:

"I die without seeing the dawn break on my country...You who are about to see it, greet her...do not forget those who have fallen during the night!"

     The other tragic ending of the novel is the love between Ibarra and Maria Clara. After Ibarra was transformed from a European-educated elite into a criminal, all his ties to her were cut. And with the aid of Dona Victorina, she was set to wed Lenares. She will desist this and will demand Padre Damaso, her real father, death or the convent. Padre Damaso will succumb to the ultimate punishment from God, he will give in to the wish of his daughter and will let her enter the convent,  knowing fully well what will happen to her. We must understand that the mother of Maria Clara, Dona Paz, was raped by him, a friar, in the Santa Clara convent. Padre Damaso will eventually succumb to death in sorrow.
    Rizal will later transform Maria Clara into a ghost, as a white figure standing, almost on the ridge of the roof (of the convent), its arms and face  stretched towards heaven as if imploring. The heavens answered with lightning and thunder!

     So there my dear readers, is the summaion of the grand novel authored by Rizal, the story of the indio called Filipino whose only mistake in history is to hospitably open his arms to his guests. The reason why this novel is immortal is because of its relevance even today. The  Filipino today struggles to find his place under the sun. The immortal line of Elias still rings true especially to Filipinos like me living in foreign lands. I whisper to myself all the time, that I may probably die without seeing the dawn break in my country...but of course I'm over-sentimentalizing.
     So come along now...
     Lets ride once more with Rizal, as we take the calesa back to where we began. I will always love him as my friend, my countryman, my brother.


Soledad Lacson-Locsin, of Talisay, Negros Occidental, was 86 when she accepted the invitation to translate the Noli Me Tangere/El Filibusterismo into English, using the facsimile editions of the manuscripts as her copy texts. She restored the unpublished chapter about Elias and Salome, as well as the whole of the "Canto de Maria Clara," wishing her translation to be a faithful rendition of the original. She passed away in 1995, at the age of 88, after finishing the translations...salamat po.

Alex Maskara