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?©, 1861-1896

"The Social Cancer"


While in prison Rizal prepared an address to those of his countrymen
who were in armed rebellion, repudiating the use of his name and
deprecating the resort to violence. The closing words are a compendium
of his life and beliefs: "Countrymen: I have given proofs, as well as
the best of you, of desiring liberty for our country, and I continue
to desire it. But I place as a premise the education of the people,
so that by means of instruction and work they may have a personality
of their own and that they may make themselves worthy of that same
liberty. In my writings I have recommended the study of the civic
virtues, without which there can be no redemption. I have also written
(and my words have been repeated) that reforms, to be fruitful, must
come from above, that those which spring from below are uncertain and
insecure movements. Imbued with these ideas, I cannot do less than
condemn, and I do condemn, this absurd, savage rebellion, planned
behind my back, which dishonors the Filipinos and discredits those
who can speak for us.


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