Before and after June
19, Dr. José Rizal’s
150th birth anniversary,
the nation has
been loud in its praise of
Rizal. Lest we forget,
Dumaguete has a historical
link to the national
hero and has praised
him for over a hundred
years by way of a picturesque
780-meter strip
fronting the Dumaguete
Bay, the landmark Dumaguete Boulevard.
On August 1, 1896, a Saturday,
Rizal stepped on Dumaguete soil after
his exile in Dapitan. It is a popular boast
that during his brief stopover, Rizal
strolled along what was then Calle Marina,
the promenade by the sea that, in
1906, the Dumaguete town council renamed
Rizal Avenue to honor the famous
visitor.
The Irish writer and poet Oscar
Wilde, known for his sardonic wit, once
said: “The only duty we owe history is to
rewrite it.”
So we find that in Libro de Cosas
Notables de Dumaguete (Book recording
notable things of Dumaguete), Fray
Mariano Bernad, pastor of Dumaguete
and future General of the Augustinian
Recollects, noted down this item:
“El Sõr. Rizal, de paso para Manila
en el Vapor correo que estuvo
fondeado aquí por lo menos diez y seis
horas, con motivo de haber sido llamado
por un enfermo Español que padecía de
la vista … pero lo que má llamó la
atención de todos, fué el haber sido
convidado a comer en su casa y
Jusgado, juntamente con su concubina,
por el Juez de 1ª Instancia de esta
Provincia, siendo muy agasajado por
esto Señor.”
This piece of information was recorded
on January 10, 1897, eleven days
after the national hero at the lower middle age of 35 had been
executed in
Bagumbayan, Manila.
The quote in Spanish
confirms what students
of José Rizal know.
With Rizal on board, on 1
August 1896, a Saturday,
the steamer España carrying
mail cast anchor at
dawn in Dumaguete,
capital of Negros Oriental.
That afternoon, Rizal
operated on Faustino
Herrero Regidor, the captain
of the civil guard who
was believed to be suffering
from ophthalmia
which turned out to be
conjunctivitis granulosa.
An interesting detail
found in Fray Bernad’s
record is that his Irish
common-law wife,
Josephine Bracken, was
with Rizal when Herrero
Regidor, also the judge of
first instance of the province,
cordially invited the
famous physician and his
family to his residence. In
his travel diary Rizal
wrote about that day: “In
fact I went to visit this
gentleman who received
me very affectionately,
inviting me and my family
to spend the day with
him.”
Fray Mariano
Bernad also recorded
that Rizal was in Dumaguete for about sixteen
hours, from about
5:30 o’clock in the morning
to 10:00 o’clock in the
evening. It was the first
and last time Rizal set
foot in Dumaguete.
Before and after June
19, Dr. José Rizal’s
150th birth anniversary,
the nation has
been loud in its praise of
Rizal. Lest we forget,
Dumaguete has a historical
link to the national
hero and has praised
him for over a hundred
years by way of a picturesque
780-meter strip
fronting the Dumaguete
Bay, the landmark Dumaguete Boulevard.