Famous Novel [El Filibusterismo]

           This part will contain useful information about Noli Me Tangere's sequel, El Filibusterismo. Our aim in gathering these information is to lessen the effort a reader has to exert just to know more about Rizal. I hope that this part will give all of you enough information to understand further El Filibusterismo.

          At the age of three, Rizal already learned the alphabet with the help of his mother; at five, while learning to read and write, he already showed potentials to become an artist. And at the age of eight, he already wrote his first poem entitled, "Sa aking mga kabata". The potentials he showed at such a young age made his excellency in writing less of a surprise.

          Rizal had written many outstanding novels. But the two of his well-known novels are Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.

El Filibusterismo - "The Reign of Greed"
Dedicated to: GOMBURZA

Place of Publication: Ghent, Belgium

Some of the major characters:

• Simoun - Crisostomo Ibarra in disguise, left for dead at the end of Noli Me Tangere, has resurfaced as the wealthy jeweler, Simoun, sporting a beard, blue-tinted glasses, and a revolver. Fueled by his mistreatment at the hands of the Spaniards and his fury at Maria Clara's fate, he has since shed his pacifist image and become the titular "filibustero", pretending to side with the upper class and encouraging them to enslave the masses, while in reality siding with the masses and urging them to revolt against the oppressive Spanish regime..
• Basilio - A graduating Medical Student who befriended Simoun.
• Isagani Villamor - Basilio's friend, ex-beau of Paulita Gomez and the man who removed the explosive lamp from the Captain Tiago's house, thus sabotaging Simoun's plans.
• Kabesang Tales -  a former cabeza de barangay (barangay head) of Sagpang, a barangay in San Diego's neighboring town Tiani, who resurfaced as the feared Luzón bandit Matanglawin.
• Don Custodio - Custodio de Salazar y Sánchez de Monteredondo, a famous "journalist" who was asked by the students about his decision for the Academia de Castellano. In reality, he is quite an ordinary fellow who married a rich woman in order to be a member of Manila's high society.
• Paulita Gomez - The girlfriend of Isagani and the niece of Doña Victorina, the old Indio who passes herself off as a Peninsular, who is the wife of the quack doctor Tiburcio de Espadaña. In the end, she and Juanito Peláez are wed, and she dumps Isagani, believing that she will have no future if she marries him.
• Macaraig - One of Isagani's classmates at the University of Santo Tomas. He is a rich student and serves as the leader of the students yearning to build the Academia de Castellano.
• Father Florentino - Isagani's godfather, and a secular priest; was engaged to be married, but chose to be a priest after being pressured by his mother, the story hinting at the ambivalence of his decision as he chooses an assignment to a remote place, living in solitude near the sea.
• Juli San Jose - Juliana de Dios, the girlfriend of Basilio, and the youngest daughter of Kabesang Tales. To claim her father from the bandits, she had to work as a maid under the supervision of Hermana Penchang. Eventually, she was freed but committed suicide after Father Camorra attempted to rape her.
• Juanito Pelaez - A favorite student of the professors. They belong to the noble Spanish ancestry.
• Doña Victorina - Victorina delos Reyes de Espadaña, known in Noli Me Tangere as Tiburcio de Espadaña's cruel wife. She is the aunt of Paulita Gomez, and favors Juanito Pelaez than Isagani. Although of Indio ideology, she considers herself as one of the Peninsular.
• Father Camorra - The lustful parish priest of Tiani, San Diego's adjacent town who has longtime desires for young women. He nearly raped Juli causing the latter to commit suicide.
• Ben-Zayb - The pseudonym of Abraham Ibañez, a journalist who believes he is the "only" one thinking in the Philippines. Ben-Zayb is an anagram of Ybanez, an alternate spelling of his name.
• Placido Penitente - A student of the University of Santo Tomas who was very intelligent and wise but did not want, if not only by his mother's plea, to pursue his studies. He also controls his temper against Padre Millon, his physics teacher.
• Hermana Penchang - Sagpang's rich pusakal (gambler). She offers Huli to be her maid so the latter can obtain money to free Kabesang Tales. Disbelieving of Huli and her close friends, she considers herself as an ally of the friars.
• Tiburcio de Espadaña - Don Tiburcio is Victorina de Espadaña's lame husband. He is currently on hiding with Father Florentino.
• Father Írene - Captain Tiago's spiritual adviser. Although reluctant, he helped the students to establish the Academia de Castellano after being convinced by giving him a chestnut. The only witness to Captain Tiago's death, he forged the last will and testament of the latter so Basilio will obtain nothing from the inheritance.
• Quiroga - A Chinese businessman who dreamed of being a consul for his country in the Philippines. He hid Simoun's weapons inside his house.
• Don Timoteo Pelaez - Juanito's father. He is a rich businessmen and arranges a wedding for his son and Paulita. He and Simoun became business partners.
• Tandang Selo - Father of Kabesang Tales. He raised the sick and young Basilio after he left their house in Noli me Tangere. He died in an encounter on the mountains with his son Tales.
• Father Fernández - The priest-friend of Isagani. He promised to Isagani that he and the other priests will give in to the students' demands.
• Sandoval - The vice-leader of Macaraig's gang. A Spanish classmate of Isagani, he coerces his classmates to lead alongside him the opening of the Spanish language academy.
• Hermana Báli - Another gambler in Tiani. She became Huli's mother-figure and counselor; helped to release Kabesang Tales from the hands of bandits.

Source: Wikipedia

Summary:

    Thirteen years after leaving the Philippines, Crisostomo Ibarra returns as Simoun, a rich jeweler sporting a beard and blue-tinted glasses, and a confidant of the Captain-General. Abandoning his idealism, he becomes a cynical saboteur, seeking revenge against the Spanish Philippine system responsible for his misfortunes by plotting a revolution. Simoun insinuates himself into Manila high society and influences every decision of the Captain-General to mismanage the country’s affairs so that a revolution will break out. He cynically sides with the upper classes, encouraging them to commit abuses against the masses to encourage the latter to revolt against the oppressive Spanish colonial regime. This time, he does not attempt to fight the authorities through legal means, but through violent revolution using the masses. Simoun has reasons for instigating a revolution. First is to rescue María Clara from the convent and second, to get rid of ills and evils of Philippine society. His true identity is discovered by a now grown-up Basilio while visiting the grave of his mother, Sisa, as Simoun was digging near the grave site for his buried treasures. Simoun spares Basilio’s life and asks him to join in his planned revolution against the government, egging him on by bringing up the tragic misfortunes of the latter's family. Basilio declines the offer as he still hopes that the country’s condition will improve.

    Basilio, at this point, is a graduating student of medicine at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila. After the death of his mother, Sisa, and the disappearance of his younger brother, Crispín, Basilio heeded the advice of the dying boatman, Elías, and traveled to Manila to study. Basilio was adopted by Captain Tiago after María Clara entered the convent. With Captain Tiago’s help, Basilio was able to go to Colegio de San Juan de Letrán where, at first, he is frowned upon by his peers and teachers not only because of the color of his skin but also because of his shabby appearance. Captain Tiago’s confessor, Father Irene is making Captain Tiago’s health worse by giving him opium even as Basilio tries hard to prevent Captain Tiago from smoking it.

    Simoun, now unmasked as the perpetrator of the attempted arson and failed revolution, becomes a fugitive. Wounded and exhausted after he was shot by the pursuing Guardia Civil, he seeks shelter at the home of Father Florentino, Isagani’s uncle, and comes under the care of doctor Tiburcio de Espadaña, Doña Victorina's husband, who was also hiding at the house. Simoun takes poison in order for him not to be captured alive. Before he dies, he reveals his real identity to Florentino while they exchange thoughts about the failure of his revolution and why God forsook him. Florentino opines that God did not forsake him and that his plans were not for the greater good but for personal gain. Simoun, finally accepting Florentino’s explanation, squeezes his hand and dies. Florentino then takes Simoun’s remaining jewels and throws them into the Pacific Ocean with the corals hoping that they would not be used by the greedy, and that when the time came that it would be used for the greater good, when the nation would be finally deserving liberty for themselves, the sea would reveal the treasures.

Source: Wikipedia