Dear Dr. Rizal,
Greetings of peace!
Last meeting, July 31, 2007 we have been asked to view a film entitled “Bayaning Third World” (Third World Hero) which talks about your life, and the controversial issue of your retraction. Honestly speaking, I myself have been intrigued by this issue that’s why I’m here, writing you this letter.
It has been clear to me that there have been polarized reactions between those who accept the documents as genuine and those who believe that a religious political conspiracy fabricated the story and forged your penmanship.
Historical documents as well as events prove to speak for themselves—which says that you really have had, retracted. Father Balaguer claimed you did so because the retraction document, said he, had been received by him the evening preceding your execution. However, Father Balaguer himself was not able to distinguish if it’s genuine or just an imitation. Josephine Bracken also claimed the same thing indirectly by saying that there had been a marriage between the two of you. However, Josephine could never produce a certificate of it, in spite of being required to do so.
These alone make your retraction issue a lot more controversial. I mean, if you really have had retracted, how come no one could show where the original copy of it is? Come to think of it, according to many, neither the Archbishop nor Father Pi really saw it. Could it be that what they saw was just a copy done by one who could imitate your handwriting while some friars kept the original?
Just the same, if you really have had retracted how come the highly enlarged photo of your execution shows you without a rosary in your hand? And why had the death sentence for you still carried out? Why was your remains just bundled off in a dirty old sack, as they say, and then just dumped into a hole in the ground outside Paco Cemetery? Was this the proper way to bury historic Catholics who died in an exemplary repentant way?
You see Dr. Rizal, this is really just very intriguing. Have you really changed your mind and turned about the masonry, enunciating all of your writings and repenting to the authority of the Catholic Church; thus giving up your noble honor so?
I wish you could really give us some clue about how we could solve this intriguing puzzle. Because to me, it would be really hard to believe that the retraction document was written by your own colonially pierced hands.
Yours Truly,
Sette
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