Dapitan
Where Rizal Spent Four Years Of Exile And Built A School, A Water System And A Relief Map Instead Of Brooding · Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte
JOSE RIZAL WAS EXILED TO DAPITAN FROM 1892 TO 1896 AND DID NOT SPEND IT BROODING. He PRACTISED MEDICINE, including eye surgery, and patients travelled from across Asia to be operated on by him; HE RAN A SCHOOL FOR BOYS WITH LESSONS HELD OUTDOORS and payment taken in labour on the land; HE DESIGNED AND BUILT A WATER SYSTEM FOR THE TOWN that kept working for decades after he died; and he laid out A RELIEF MAP OF MINDANAO IN THE TOWN PLAZA, which is still there. He collected specimens, wrote, farmed, and met Josephine Bracken. THEN HE VOLUNTEERED AS A DOCTOR IN CUBA, LEFT, AND WAS EXECUTED IN MANILA IN DECEMBER 1896. THE HONEST PART: EVERY FILIPINO LEARNS THIS AT SCHOOL AND ALMOST NONE OF THEM COME. Dapitan is a long way from anywhere and the shrine is a quiet park rather than a monument. Take a guide at the gate, because reconstructed houses in gardens do not explain themselves, and go and stand over the relief map in the plaza, which is free.
Rizal Shrine, Talisay, Dapitan City, Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte, Philippines
DAPITAN IS NEXT TO DIPOLOG, which has an airport with flights from Manila and Cebu; there are also FERRIES FROM DUMAGUETE, roughly three and a half hours, and long road journeys across the Zamboanga peninsula. THE RIZAL SHRINE AT TALISAY keeps daytime hours with a modest fee and is a PARK OF RECONSTRUCTED HOUSES AND GARDENS on the land he farmed; guides are available at the gate. THE RELIEF MAP OF MINDANAO IS IN THE TOWN PLAZA, open and free, beside ST JAMES CHURCH. 19 JUNE IS RIZAL'S BIRTHDAY and 30 DECEMBER IS RIZAL DAY, both marked with ceremonies. DAKAK, a private beach resort, is nearby and is what most domestic visitors actually come for. It is hot; go in the morning. Check current travel advice for the wider peninsula.