AVANT GARDENER
I’ve always said that farm life is the lost Filipino dream, and there is no bigger example of this than out national hero Jose Rizal.
Aside from his numerous mentions of food and agricultural products in his novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, his personal letters are filled with references of food and agriculture.
In the book One Hundred Letters of Jose Rizal to His Parents, Brother, Sisters, Relatives published by the Philippine Historical Society in Manila on June 19, 1959, we see that he mentions it to his letters to his mother, Teodora Alonso, to whom he was particularly attached, while in exile in Daptian.
In a letter dated Nov. 21, 1895, he says: “Many thanks to Sr. Gino for the seeds…” though there is no mention of what the seeds are.
Further down, he writes, “I congratulate my brother for his new purchase. What a pity that I could not help him in his farm.”
His older brother Paciano was a prolific farmer who, among other things, closely monitored sugar prices.
In a letter dated Dec. 18, 1895, he writes, “If I do not go away, I am thinking of buying a coconut grove of more than 400 trees for $1,500, all from four to three years. I hope my brother will give me the money after the sale of sugar. I believe it to be good business.”
The Philippines may have been different in the 1800s, but even back then, Rizal thought that coconut farming might be a good source of income. Given his intellect, one can surmise that he did the math before coming to this decision. Even back then, a key to running a successful agribusiness is to treat it like a business.
In a letter dated Jan. 15, 1896, he says, “Here I bought a piece of land beside a river… My land has 6,000 abaca plants…”
He adds, “…there is a portion for planting two cavans of corn. Little by little we can buy the lands adjoining mine. There are many dalag, ferns, and small rounded stones… Hydraulic engines can be installed.”
If those lines aren’t enough to tell us that Jose Rizal, a man from a wealthy family who had traveled the world, also longed for life on a farm, he continues: “If they permit me to establish myself there on my land, I am thinking of planting coconuts.”
All of this, in between exhortations for his family members, particularly his mother, to settle in Dapitan with him.
In the June 19 letter, he states, “If you wish to come, you know that you will be received as an affectionate mother deserves to be.”
And after talking about abaca in the Jan. 15 letter, he says, “…and if you like to come here, I will build a house so that we could all live together until we die.”
From the letters, we can tell that Rizal missed his family terribly, and though this may be a product of the time, for him, establishing a farm equated to starting life anew.
I’m not a Rizal expert, nor do I claim to be. I’m just going by what he wrote in his letters. But just based on the direct translated quotes, and the abundance of mentions in both Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, we can see that our national hero had food and farming on his mind, and when thrown into exile, one of his preoccupations was securing his and his family’s future through tilling the land.