Rizal among Filipino expatriates

By by Renato Perdon
Sydney, Australia
Sun 28th August 2011




Courtesy of www.bayanihannews.com.au
Photo credits: National Historical Commission of the Philippines

There is a great deal of material about Rizal. Much exaggerates his qualities and makes him bigger than life with fantastic stories of his prowess, exceptional intelligence, and, worst of all, elevates him to a pedestal beyond reach and understanding by ordinary men and women. Despite the propensity to exalt his contribution to the Philippines, one can still see that Rizal was like anyone else, capable of mistakes and had his own idiosyncrasies, foibles and frivolities. He possessed strong common traits that clearly defined him as a Filipino. These aspects of his life enabled him to see and understand the behaviour of the Filipinos when they were in foreign lands. It was this awareness of his people that made Rizal a human being, an ordinary man. Rizal valued foreign travels for Filipinos, particularly for the coming generations who, he said, would benefit from the travel experience. He believed that travel in foreign countries would contribute to the emergence of Filipinos who would be enlightened, brilliant, intelligent and progressive.




Rizals first trip overseas took place between 1882 and 1887 and his second travel from 1888 to 1892. During these sojourns, Rizal visited Singapore, Belgium, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Egypt, France, Spain, England, Germany, Austria, Switzer-land, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan, Macao and the United States. In travelling, Rizal discovered that many of his compatriots living in foreign and strange lands were merchants, travellers, tourists, employees, military men, students, artists, lawyers, physicians, agents, politicians, cooks, servants, coachmen, women, children and old men. Rizal found out from his contacts with Filipino expatriates that when Filipinos ventured out of the country, they took with them traits that were distinctly their own. Rizals observations of Filipinos abroad provide a glimpse of how Filipino travellers survived at the turn of the century in strange places, like countries in Europe. His frank and sincere reflections on various incidents and persons he saw are extremely interesting. He was a clever and erudite analyst of the passing scene.







His observations, documented in his numerous letters and writings, also show that he was a non-conformist and critical of what was going on around him, including the appalling behaviour of some of his countrymen. Rizal travelled first class, wore Western clothes and spoke English, French, Spanish and German. He lived in many big cities of Europe and stayed in a number of towns and villages, too. In spite of this lifestyle and comfortable way of seeing the world, Rizal was like any other Filipino overseas. He carried with him some Filipino traits that consciously or unconsciously surfaced in many situations. Amor propio or losing face is one strong Filipino trait that even Rizal was unable to control. When Rizal was in Germany, his allowance from the Philippines was delayed. Because he did not want his German landlady to know that he was skipping his meals, he would leave his apartment during lunch and dinner hour and spend each time walking around the city. After an hour or two, Rizal would return to his apartment creating an impression to his landlady that he had gone out to eat. His facial expression belied the fact that he was hungry and his stomach was making noises. Another incident took place in Madrid in 1884 when a Filipino named Pedro Tobino of Nagcarlan, Laguna, arrived for a pleasure trip and had plenty of money. Tobino was a show off and did not speak Spanish well and was careless with his money. A few days after his arrival in Madrid, all of his money was gone. He was swindled. Rizal blamed Tobino for his misfortune and for allowing himself to be deceived and advised him to return to Manila immediately. Because of amor propio, Tobino refused Rizals suggestions and instead decided to stay and look for a job at any cost to enjoy himself in Madrid. Filipinos abroad, like those in Australia today, love to party. Eating Filipino food, gambling, and gossiping, talking behind the backs of compatriots, was the order of the day. On one of these numerous occasions,




Rizal observed that partaking of Filipino food was the actual reason for getting together, and there was always room for someone in the party to act as an entertainer. A birthday of a friend became a good excuse to have such a get-together party . During the birthday bash for Antonio Paterno, a member of a rich Filipino family in Madrid, Fernando Canon, a Filipino who married a Spanish woman and who later became a General in the 1896 Philippine Revolution, enter-tained the group with his playing of the guitar. Canon was already getting noticed and applause in his concerts in Spain. In another gathering of sixteen Filipinos, they ate with their fingers and enjoyed the boiled rice, stewed chicken, adobo, fritada, and roast suckling pig (litson). During the party, when any one came to inquire for the owners of the house, he would be told that they were not at home in order not to disturb the feast. The party consumed fourteen pounds of rice, five chickens, four pounds of beef and a suckling pig and not a bone was left when the party was over. Esteban Villanueva was the cook and everyone spoke in Tagalog. In Paris, Rizals group would normally visit the Pardo de Tavera family. Juan Luna, Felix Resurreccion-Hidalgo (two famous Filipino painters), Rizal, and the Pardo de Tavera brothers and their sister, Paz, and others did nothing but talk about the Philippines, its likes, food, customs, traditions, and other topics.




Still in Paris, he wrote to his parents in 1889 and said We Filipinos gather four times a week and we sing the kundiman, eat sotanghon, adobo, etc. On Wednesdays in the house of Mrs. Tula; on Thursday in the house of Hidalgo; on Saturdays in the house of Luna; and on Sundays in the house of Mrs. Juliana. Rizal observed that Filipinos were proud of their country, a view also shared by his contemporaries in Europe; but also that people abroad were ignorant of the Filipinos and the Philippines. When he arrived in the United States in 1888, Rizal noted that the Americans hated the Chinese and other Asians, such as the Japanese. Asians to them looked the same and because of this Rizal was grouped with the Chinese during the custom clearance inspection of the ship. The ignorant Americans who disliked the Chinese quarantined the eight hundred Chinese on board the ship and Rizal was not allowed to disembark for thirteen days, in spite of the clearance given him earlier as a Spanish subject. He was furious with this treatment. In 1883, six months after arriving in Madrid, Rizal observed that Spaniards had very false notions about the Philippines and many Spaniards were ignorant of the Philippines. It was therefore not strange, he added, to be mistaken for a Chinese, (South) American, or mulato. In another situation, when Rizal was in France, he took a walk on the wide streets and boulevards of Marseilles and soon he noticed that he was attracting attention from the people who called him Chinese, Japanese, American, but not a Filipino. He was dismayed and felt pity for his poor country. The same situation was also experienced by other Filipinos travelling during that period.




While in Madrid, Rizal complained that there was no one around with whom he could speak Tagalog properly. He feared that he was forgetting to speak the native language because of the pathetic way Filipinos speak it. It was only when he received a letter from his sister, Saturnina, who wrote him in Tagalog, that Rizal had the enjoyment of his native tongue, by reading the letter over and over again. This pride of ones origin was also evident among Filipinos craving for anything that was Filipino. Like the Filipinos in Australia today, the Filipinos of Rizals time had the chance to eat Filipino food during their regular get-together parties. A majority of the Filipinos received their supplies of Filipino food in Europe from their relatives and families in the Philippines. In his letter dated 21 November 1883, Rizal acknowledged receipt of a guava jelly, mango pickles, two jars of bagoong, sotanghon, miki, bihon, and other items sent by his parents. Juan Luna once wrote Rizal from Paris and mentioned that he was looking forward to trying the bagoong he was keeping in his apartment.







Dining out in Europe, Rizal observed that a Filipino was easily recognized simply by his drink. Filipinos insisted on having their drinking water with ice, even in winter, which was not a common practice among Europeans,particularly during the coolseason. Another reason was that the Europeans regarded water as something to use for washing. Rizal was in this predicament when he entered a restaurant. Since he was too embarrassed to ask for a glass of water, he ordered beer instead. Looking at the Filipino community in Australia today, one could say that Rizals reflections on Filipinos living in foreign countries are as valid today as when he wrote of them more than a hundred years ago.

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Excerpts from Renato Perdons Understanding Jose Rizal, now available in Manila bookstores and will be publicly displayed during the 31st Manila International Book Fair at the Mall of Asia, 15-19 September, 2011.