Parting at Calamba by Severino Montano

Cast of Characters:

Adela . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a young girl

Alfredo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . her older brother

Saturnina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . their mother and one of Rizal’s sister

Soledad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . another sister

Doña Teodora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rizal’s mother

Padre Dalmacio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a Dominican Friar

Trinidad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . another sister of Rizal

Jose Rizal

Place: The living room of the Rizal-Mercado’s in Calamba, Laguna.

Time: Late afternoon, a few months before Rizal’s martyrdom and execution by the government and the Church, December 30, 1896.

THE SCENE is the living room of the Rizal-Mercado house in Calamba. A big window is at the back facing the Principal street of the town. The main door leading to the street is at the right. Entrances to the dining room and the bedroom are at the left. There are books on high and low shelves. Bottled specimens and the like are around the room. The house is comfortable home belonging to the upper middle class of the time.

As the CURTAIN RISES, ADELA, a young girl of eight, is seated on a bench by the window playing with a rag doll and humming an incoherent tune. ALFREDO, a boy of eleven or so, is seated on a stool at the left poring industriously over a book.

The rice cake vendor is heard calling somewhere along the distant part of the street.

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STREET VENDOR: Bibingka! Bibingka! Salabat! . . . . . . Bibingka! Palitao! Salabat! . . . ..

Bibingka! Palitao! Salabat!

ADELA: (Coming into the room.) You’re always reading that book,

ALFREDO: I told you to watch the window. And don’t sing.

ADELA: I’m watching it. (Pause). Why are you always reading that book?. . .

And why is everybody afraid of it?

ALFREDO: The civil guards might catch us.

STREET VENDOR: Bibingka! Bibingka! Salabat! . . . . . . Bibingka! Palitao! Salabat! . . . .

Bibingka! Palitao! Salabat!

ADELA: Do you remember last Christmas? Father gave me this doll. And mother made bibingka in the house? But I did not like it, because that was when the civil guards came to take father away.

(Parting at Calamba, page 2)

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ALFREDO: I said watch the window or the civil guards will come.

ADELA: Would they take you away then?

ALFREDO: Maybe. Or they may take Uncle instead.

ADELA: Why would they do that?

ALFREDO: (Softly) He wrote this book, that’s why.

ADELA: Is it a bad book? (Pause) If Tio Jose wrote that book, Alfredo, how can it be a bad book?

ALFREDO: Of course, it isn’t a bad book, silly! All the same, they don’t like people to read it.

ADELA: Why?

ALFREDO: (Impatiently) Stop asking so many questions! I want to read. Don’t disturb me. Now, go back to the window and watch to see who is coming.

ADELA: (As she turns to the window) Alfredo, he is here! The Civil Guard is there! Across the street!

(Alfredo quickly hides the book by lifting the seat of a big armchair. The street vendor is heard calling nearer.)

ADELA: (As she turns to run) I’ll call mother.

ALFREDO: (Holding her back) You just stay right here.

ADELA: He might get us.

ALFREDO: Mother told you not to be afraid.

ADELA: All right. Where did you hide the book?

ALFREDO: Don’t get excited. Be quite!

(Saturnina comes in from the kitchen.)

ADELA: Mother, it’s the Civil Guard! He is there across the street watching our house.

(Unperturbed, Saturnina goes to the window and looks out.)

SATURNINA: Of course, you may. Remember everything that’s in it. Remember with your heart and mind. (Alfredo resumes reading.) And you, Adela, you should never be scared of a Civil Guard.

(Parting at Calamba, page 3)

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ADELA: (At the window) Here comes Tita Choleng!

SATURNINA: Not so loud or we will wake up your grandmother!

ADELA: She’s carrying a basket with her, mother, and she is in a hurry.

SOLEDAD: (Coming in excitedly) Ate Neneng. I’ve some awful news to tell you.

SATURNINA: Did you see father, Choleng?

SOLEDAD: Somebody has just come to town.

SATURNINA: I said did you see father?

SOLEDAD: No, but on my way home, who do you think called me across the plaza?

SATURNINA: I haven’t any idea.

SOLEDAD: That Padre Dalmacio.

SATURNINA: What in the world is he doing here in Calamba?

SOLEDAD: He said he came all the way from Manila to talk to Kuya Jose about something this afternoon.

SATURNINA: Really? What can it be?

SOLEDAD: I’ve no idea. (Pause, then general bustle) The peasants were glad I brought their medicine the way Kuya told me to. Mang Kiko’s wife is better today. She said they’d never had any doctor to attend to them before in their lives, so I said Kuya Jose was only too glad to help. And look what they’ve given me: eggs, and fish, and a few vegetables.

SATURNINA: You didn’t have to accept anything, Choleng. They are starving most of the time.

SOLEDAD: They insisted, and I didn’t have the heart to offend them. (Picking up a closed bottle) There’s a tree lizard bottled up in this jar which Mang Kiko says Kuya Pepe wants to send to Professor Virchow in Europe. And I am thinking Padre Dalmacio might have come to see Kuya’s collection.

SATURNINA: I hardly think he came all the way from Manila just to do that. (Places bottle among other specimens.) Alfredo, you had better stop reading that book for a while. You stay there at the window, Adela, and watch to see who is coming.

(Adela goes to the window.)

(Parting at Calamba, page 4)

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ALFREDO: The padre won’t be here till later, mother.

SATURNINA: He is likely to rush in any minute. (a call from the bedroom)

Be quite, that’s your grandmother calling.

SOLEDAD: How is mother today, Ate?

STAURNINA: Her eyes are some better.

SOLEDAD: (Picking up her basket) I’ll run to the kitchen now and cook something for Father.

(Doña Teodora comes out from the bedroom.)

DOÑA TEODORA: Is that you Francisco? . . . . . I’m glad you are home at last.

SATURNINA: Mother, you shouldn’t be walking around.

DOÑA TEODORA: I thought I heard your father’s voice, Saturnina.

SOLEDAD: I had no time to pass by the jail, mother. I’m taking his supper as soon it is ready. (She goes to the kitchen.)

DOÑA TEODORA: Let me sit down for a while. I’m old and sometimes I don’t remember. (sits) Yes, they are all rotting in jail. There’s Manuel. Your husband was taken one day to the far south, and your brother Paciano exiled in some prison far away. There’s Marianito, wasn’t given a decent burial, and me in jail that time, and Choleng hardly up to my knee. Yes, there’s bitterness in my heart and may Lord forgive me for it.

SATURNINA: It might be better for you to forget these misfortunes.

DOÑA TEODORA: You are young and you don’t have to remember.

SATURNINA: I am not likely to forget either.

DOÑA TEODORA: I was thinking last night there was a bit of laughter left anymore in this house.

SATURNINA: How can there be laughter after all the evil things they’ve done to us? No, I am not likely to forget, mother, even if the crows were to turn white and the big stone at Laguna Bay were to leap against the moon.

DOÑA TEODORA: Wasn’t it on Christmas day that your husband, Manuel, was taken to the far South?

SATURNINA: It was dinner time, and he, the children and I were eating. We were all very happy. Soon the Civil Guards broke in and placed handcuffs on Manuel. He wanted to fight but they had guns with them. They said they were taking Manuel to Bohol, to that little island so far away.

(Parting at Calamba, page 5)

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To this day, I’ve never yet found out why they took him, save that I, his wife am a sister of Jose. Jose Rizal is too dangerous they say. He knows too much, they say. Yes, he wrote a book called “The Reign of Greed”, and now it is disturbing the people.

ADELA: (From the window) The Padre! The Padre! Here comes the Padre!

DOÑA TEODORA: What Padre!

ADELA: The book, Alfredo, you hide it! (Alfredo hides the book under the chair)

DOÑA TEODORA: What’s this, Saturnina? Where is your brother?

SATURNINA: It’s Padre Dalmacio, mother.

DOÑA TEODORA: Well, then. Where is Pepito?

SATURNINA: He had a call to see Mang Terio’s little boy.

DOÑA TEODORA: Was Trinidad with him?

SATURNINA: Sister Trining and he went out together, mother. And, of course that Captain Andrade went along to spy on them as usual.

STREET VENDOR: Bibingka! Bibingka! Salabat! . . . . . . Bibingka! Palitao! Salabat! . . . ..

Bibingka! Palitao! Salabat!

(Padre Dalmacio enters, stands at the door.)

PADRE: (Making the sign of the cross) AVE MARIA PURISMA!

SATURNINA: Do come right in, Father Dalmacio.

PADRE: (Going to Saturnina, who turns away from blessing) May the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost . . . .

SATURNINA: Sit down please, Father.

PADRE: Saturnina, you are not as reverent as you ought to be.

DONA TEODORA: We are honored by this visit, Padre Dalmacio.

PADRE: (Not quite recovered from Saturnina’s irreverence) God Bless You, Teodora. May the Lord shower on you His special kindness.

DOÑA TEODORA: How can a bitter old woman like me be granted special dispensation, Padre?

PADRE: (Shocked) My sister in Christ, Teodora, have you too, turned heretic? Isn’t one enough in this house?

(Parting at Calamba, page 6)

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SATURNINA: You can hardly expect the RIZAL-MERCADOS to be in a reverent mood these days, Father.

PADRE: Mood? Caramba! So now one has to be in the mood for religion.

DOÑA TEODORA: I’m thankful that my son Jose is out attending to the sick, Padre.

PADRE: Hm! Very noble. I’m sure very noble.

SATURNINA: Which is more than can be said of some people! And if you must know, you elegant stooge, Captain Andrade, went with him.

PADRE: I won’t tolerate your impertinence, Saturnina. I did not come here to discuss the Captain. What time is Jose coming back? Or is he up to something as usual?

SATURNINA: Indeed, you may say so, if attending to the sick is something the friar would count against him.

PADRE: I won’t stoop to waste time arguing with an irreverent girl like you. No, I won’t stoop.

DOÑA TEODORA: We will tell Jose that you called, Padre.

PADRE: I wish Teodora, that you’d put some respect into your children. But no matter. Tell your son I’m coming back, even if it has to hurt me to do so. I want him to wait. (Looks around the room) Caramba! Books and more books! All from Europe, no doubt. No wonder he loves to write them. (Catching sight of specimen) And what on earth are these? Snake for Virchow? Very appropriate. I must say, very appropriate. And a turtle for Jagor! Well, why doesn’t Rizal send a monkey to Blumentritt? (He goes out hurriedly.)

SATURNINA: The nerve of him! Oh. The nerve to come here as if he owned this house!

SOLEDAD: (As she comes in from the kitchen with a bundle) Is the padre gone!

DOÑA TEODORA: I hope he won’t set foot against in this house. The Lord only knew what next they’ll do after the way you spoke to him,

SATURNINA: I don’t care. I’d speak the way again. I would! I would!

SOLEDAD: Is there any word I should bring to father this evening? His supper is ready.

SATURNINA: Tell him Padre Dalmacio came here to insult us. Tell him our rent will go up another couple of pesos tomorrow. Tell him the church and government officials and the soldiers are ganging up against. Tell him we are blind …blind…blind…Tell him this our land, but there is a reign of greed carried on by the rulers and for the rulers,

(Parting at Calamba, page 7)

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but that he ought to be glad because his son JOSE RIZAL is waking up the people.

DONA TEODORA: No, Soledad, tell your father nothing.

SOLEDAD: Shall I say nothing about your eyes?

DONA TEODORA: You may tell about that. Tell him I can see things a little better now. Thanks to Pepe’s knowledge.

SOLEDAD: I can hear him coming up the brick steps in front, Mother. (Going to the door) Yes, it’s he, I’ll go down to meet him.

(A long silence. Trinidad comes in.)

TRINIDAD: He did it again, Mother. Kuya Jose did it again.

DONA TEODORA: Is the little fellow able to see now?

TRINIDAD: He is able to read his letters again. Mang Terio couldn’t believe his eyes. Really, he couldn’t.

DONA TEODORA: Isn’t your brother coming at all?

TRINIDAD: He is coming mother. Here he is.

(They all looked expectantly towards the door. Jose Rizal enters.)

ADELA: (Running to meet him.) Tio Jose, are you alright? I’m glad the Civil Guards didn’t get you?

JOSE RIZAL: Of course, I’m alright, little one. Hello, mother, how are your eyes this evening?

ADELA: I’ve been watching the window.

JOSE RIZAL: We are all in this town forever watching from our windows.

DONA TEODORA: It’s a very bad sign, Pepito.

JOSE RIZAL: It’s very funny, mother.

DONA TEODORA: Not to me, son. Not to your sisters.

JOSE RIZAL: Oh didn’t mean it that way. (Pause) Let me look at your eyes. (Examines her eyes carefully) Good! In a few days, mother, you’ll be your old self again. Wait and see.

DONA TEODORA: Padre Dalmacio has just been here to see you.

JOSE RIZAL: So Choleng told me. The whole situation is ridiculous. Here I am, a harmless physician going about my work peacefully, curing my people. And yet these rulers – these foreign rulers – dog me everywhere. This is getting two be like the comedies I used to see in Madrid. They are really a laughing, those Madrilenos.

(Parting at Calamba, page 8)

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TRINIDAD: The Madrilenos we have in this town are very cruel.

JOSE RIZAL: That Spanish lout of a corporal of the guards claim I have a foreign passport. He says I indulge in midnight excursions for wicked purposes. As a matter of fact, my bodyguard was telling me only today that the government thinks I am an agent of Bismarck. On the top of it all, the Church considers me a Protestant, a wizard, with a soul half-condemned to hell. In short, they think that I am just a few steps from being satan in person.

TRINIDAD: They are very angry with you, Kuya, for writing about them in the “Reign of Greed.”

ALFREDO: It’s a most interesting book, Tio Jose. Everybody thinks it’s good.

JOSE RIZAL: The Dominicans don’t seem to think so, son. Indeed, the Jesuits will never admit it is a novel.

DONA TEODORA: Nevertheless, we are – everyone of us – being persecuted about it.

JOSE RIZAL: I’m sorry, mother, for the suffering I’ve caused all of you. At the same time, I do not regret having told our people the truth. I feel that it was my sacred duty to do so.

DONA TEODORA: Truth and duty! These words are too big for us to shoulder. Truth is bitter, Pepito. It’s creating for us formidable enemies everyday. Some of our former friends do not speak to us anymore. Ever since your arrival from Europe, nobody dares come to the house. Our isolation is complete.

JOSE RIZAL: What in heaven’s name are these friends so sensitive about? Hasn’t the Board of Censors at Sto. Tomas banned this book from circulation?

TRINIDAD: I’ve heard that the patriots in Manila are smuggling copies in through the customs, Mother. It’s true, because I’ve seen the book being passed in secret. (To her brother) And Kuyang, they say that Dandon Canon and his father go about in the evenings serenading people just so they can pass on the book to others. And they say that more and more copies are being sent to the islands by our exiled countrymen in Hongkong and Madrid.

JOSE RIZAL: Well, if that doesn’t open the eyes of the people, I might as well stop writing.

DONA TEODORA: I lie awake at nights thinking about the things you have written, Pepito. And my mind keeps repeating: “O Lord, o, Lord, he is the only son left to me. Spare my Pepito. Keeo all harm away from Pepito.”

JOSE RIZAL: I remember once in Berlin, I had aterrible dream. Mino Viola and I had just finished proof-reading the book. We went to sleep hungry

(Parting at Calamba, page 9)

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and tired. But soon, Moni was shaking me. It seemed as if the Civil Guards and the friars were chasing me, so I was shouting desperately when Mino woke me up. I tried to forget that dream. But for a long time, it kept coming back. I realized then that my future looked gloomy.perhaphs the friars will even get me in the end, but I’ll comfort my self with the thought that in my own way I shall have helped plant the seeds that will grow in a freer sun. What is the use of living when life itself is full fears, and his body becomes nothing but a tool for the profit of others? What sort of pride can there be in a life like that? A man ought to be willing to die so that justice may live!

DONA TEODORA: You ask for a happier life. We are all suffering as it is on your account.

SATURNINA: Then what are we to do mother? Abuse and despotism reign not only in this town but in the Philippines as well. We have become nothing but slaves in a country that properly belongs to us. Our lives are ugly in a land that was once beautiful.

DONA TEODORA: you do not have to tell me much things, Saturnina. I spent four long years in prison.

SATURNINA: Pepito should be told everything. Last year, the friars were very vicious, Pepito. Three hundred of our townspeople were driven out of their lands because they could not pay the exorbitant rents and taxes.

TRINIDAD: And we couldn’t write to you about it, Kuyang, because the government intercepted all our letters.

SATURNINA: To make things worse, these unfortunate ones were not permitted to receive from anybody. What kind of Christianity is that?

TRINIDAD: It’s true, Kuyang. They were left hungry in the street until the cholera epidemic came killing nearly everyone.

SATURNINA: And all for what, Pepito? For the glory of Spain and her greedy rulers? For the Governors and the Civil Guards she sends and the friars? Pepito, were tired of accepting that. They have no interest her save to make themselves fat by sucking the blood of our people. We live in filth and corruption. Is that what we are here for?

TRINIDAD: We have been fools to allow it!

SATURNINA: Yes, and for three hundred years they’ve kept us in ignorance so that we should have nothing to fear always in our souls. But we are afraid anymore. They’ve also planted hate in our hearts. What love had they shown us? We are far worse than when they came to “civilize” us. If this is their civilization. I won’t have any of it, nor of their corruption, nor of their God!

(Parting at Calamba, page 10)

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JOSE RIZAL: Whenever a race of men imposes its will and thinks superior of another, there is sure to be moral and economic corruption. There is sure to be tyranny. There is no happiness. Life is an illusion. Living becomes a burden. So therefore, in whatever place and form tyranny exists, it is wrong to allow it. That’s why those of us who see the light are morally obliged to fight this despotism.

SATURNINA: If we must fight, what good would dying be to us. I pleaded with you not to come back just yet. I plead with you now to go where you can work without being hampered.

JOSE RIZAL: The field in which to struggle is here in the Philippines. It is here that we should work together.

SATURNINA: It isn’t wise to follow such a course of action right now.

DONA TEODORA: Saturnina, let me talk for a while, will you child? I am glad that you want to stay with us, son. It has been years since we’ve been together. But if you would like to stay, why can’t you meet the powerful ones halfway. That’s not much to ask, is it?

JOSE RIZAL: I cannot take back the truth, mother.

DONA TEODORA: It’s wiser to bend with the fury of the storm, Pepito. If you can’t, you’ll only break yourself, son.

JOSE RIZAL: If my life breaks, there will be others to take my place.

DONA TEODORA: Don’t be stubborn. Listen to what an old woman says!

JOSE RIZAL: The world has been changed only by those who were not afraid to die. Let come what may.

DONA TEODORA: It’s all very well for you to talk like that. But I ask you to remember your father, your brother Paciano and Manuel. It’s all very well for you to be taken away, too. But when the greedy ones come to us with their lies, how will it be for your sisters and me with none of our men able to give back an answer.

JOSE RIZAL: I only want to do what’s right.

DONA TEODORA: Then tell me, Pepito. Would you allow your old mother to be left alone with her half-blind eyes pining to see the sunlight. I’m thinking the poor should be able to see also, and I’m glad you’ve written your book for an answer. But I’m an old woman now and I no longer have the strength to suffer. I beg of you to meet these greedy ones halfway, son. I want to live in peace for a while.

JOSE RIZAL: It is hard to be blind, Mother. And I know that when you are blind, you see only the ghost skeleton of happiness. I am glad you realize

(Parting at Calamba, page 11)

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that the poor are also blind. They, too, see only the ghost of happiness. But the greedy rulers, they get their full share of laughter everyday. They think of the common people as if they were animals. And how can the poor fight against the rulers when the long night comes and they are blinded forever?

DONA TEODORA: Are you to forsake me and your father, then?

JOSE RIZAL: I’m staying right here to fight it out.

DONA TEODORA: Well, we have had enough of pain, Pepito. We do not want to be dying with you. We want to live! We want to live!

TRINIDAD: Mother, your eyes!

JOSE RIZAL: Everybody wants to live.

DONA TEODORA: You are ungrateful! You are very stubborn, Pepito! You were always very stubborn even as a child. You’ll come to a no good end because you are very ungrateful…. Oh, that I should live to see this day when you turn against us! … Take me to my room, Trinidad. Take me to my room.

(Trinidad takes Dona Teodora to the bedroom, Adela follows in silence.)

JOSE RIZAL: All my life, I’ve dreamt of coming home to help carry on the fight. How can I do it now if I give up, what I believe in? If I run away?

SATURNINA: We have come to the crossing of the road. The success of our venture will depend upon which one to take. If you allow yourself to be suppressed now, all our hopes will be crushed forever.

JOSE RIZAL: I don’t know what to think. I’m lost. I only want to do what’s right.

SATURNINA: You don’t have to give up any of your ideas. Stick to the. But you don’t have to jump right into the fire, either. Go back to Europe and organize our countrymen in Paris, Berlin and Madrid. Ask your friends there to help push our plans. Plead for their support. Go there and write, and send back what you have written. Our people are ignorant of many things. They are blind. You must open their eyes. My God, we can’t even walk the streets in our town without being watched. The Civil Guards stopped Kiki Tika’s boy, Andres, yesterday and beat him.

JOSE RIZAL: You are asking for a revolution.

SATURNINA: I don’t care what you call it. But something has to be done. Our people are hungry. Our people are thirsty. The land is rich and flourishing, but we are starving. We are favoured with rain, but we

(Parting at Calamba, page 12)

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are thirsty. We are dying everyday like flies. I’m sick and tired too. Sick and tired of the whole wretched business. I plead with you to think it over, Pepito. Many Filipinos are tired. (She goes out.)

STREET VENDOR: Bibingka! Bibingka! Salabat!....... Bibingka! Palitao! Salabat!.........Bibingka! Palitao! Salabat!

(Rizal is left alone. He goes to the window and gazes out thoughtfully. Alfredo is watching him intently, sadly. There is silence for a long while. The music from a neighboring house and the bibingka peddler is heard again from far away. rizal then turns and paces sadly up and down the room.)

ALFREDO: Tio Jose?

JOSE RIZAL: (Absently) Yes, Alfredo?... Isn’t that Andres playing the bamboo flute?

ALFREDO: How can he play? His arm was broken by the Civil Guard. That’s his brother.

JOSE RIZAL: Poor Andres! (Another pause)

ALFREDO: Tio Jose?

JOSE RIZAL: Yes?

ALFREDO: Was it sad in Europe? . . . . . I mean . . . . I mean can children laugh there?

JOSE RIZAL: Of course, they can. They laugh anytime. They have jolly songs, not like ours.

ALFREDO: Were you always happy there, Tio?

JOSE RIZAL: I was often feeling homesick for you and everybody.

ALFREDO: I’m homesick for father and Uncle Paciano.

JOSE RIZAL: So am I.

ALFREDO: I hate the civil guards, don’t you?

JOSE RIZAL: I can’t say I like them.

ALFREDO: We were homesick for you, too, Tio Jose. I’m glad you are here so you can help fight the Civil Guards. I can’t understand why mother wants you to go away again.

JOSE RIZAL: Your mother realizes that we can’t fight the rulers yet. They are powerful. The people aren’t ready. Our hands are still helpless, Alfredo.

(Parting at Calamba, page 13)

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ALFREDO: Is that why you are unhappy?

JOSE RIZAL: Yes, one might say that.

ALFREDO: I can’t understand it – what mother was saying just a while ago. I mean . . . . can the friars eat all that they get from the peasants, Tio Jose?

JOSE RIZAL: Of course, they cannot. They have more than they need.

ALFREDO: But the peasants – they do all the work. They plant the rice, they harvest the grain, but they are hungry just the same. They have nothing. Still the friars ask them to contribute to the support of a dead saint they call San Roque. And yet last Sunday, I heard the town priest say we should be kind to all people. How is that?

JOSE RIZAL: Friars and priests are nothing but men, and as such they possess all of men’s weakness. Sometimes they are even corrupt. At other times they are greedy. To live with such men then is like living among ordinary mortals. And to live among men is to struggle. Yes, Alfredo, life is a very serious thing. It is a constant struggle between man and his fellowmen.

ALFREDO: I can’t understand why, Tio Jose.

JOSE RIZAL: There are always in this world a few men who want to be powerful. And to gain that power they must be rich, or be associated with the rich so they can impose their will upon everybody. Thus, the fate of the many becomes entirely dependent upon the whims and caprices of the entrenched few. The struggle becomes so brutal that men resort to killing each other. But this is not only a struggle within man himself, with his mistakes and worries, with his passions and weaknesses. It is a struggle with himself, for instance, when others urge him to give up his hopes and dreams, when he is made to choose between those he dearly love and his Ideals.

ALFREDO: It must be lonely to be like you.

JOSE RIZAL: Yes, only it’s very comforting sometimes to be able to listen to the songs of one’s own native land . . . . . to come back home no matter what happens.

(Pause. He looks at the window again, and then turns quickly to the boy.)

Don’t you think you had better go out to the kitchen and help your mother?

ALFREDO: Is anybody coming, Tio Jose?

JOSE RIZAL: It’s Padre Dalmacio.

(Parting at Calamba, page 14)

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ALFREDO: I want to stay with you.

JOSE RIZAL: It might be a good idea to take the book to the kitchen and hide it there.

(Alfredo goes quickly. Jose Rizal moves to the door and waits for the Padre. Rizal is cordial and polite which changes the attitude of the priest at least temporarily.)

PADRE: Ah. There you are, my boy. It is indeed a pleasure to see you again after all these years.

JOSE RIZAL: Thank you father. It is nearly eight years now, isn’t it, since St. Thomas?

PADRE: I must admit, you were quite an exceptional student at the University. I was afraid I’d miss you a second time. First, let me give you my blessings.

JOSE RIZAL: (Courteously side-stepping the issue) Please have a chair, Father.

(Trinidad enters and serves wine.)

JOSE RIZAL: All these years, I’ve looked forward to this occasion when we could talk about old times again. One gets pretty homesick abroad.

PADRE: (Pointedly) Yes, of course, of course! (Continues resentfully) I seem to notice the lack of reverence from many of you, the new arrivals from Europe. However, I hope your failure to observe the rites of the Church is merely a slip on your part.

JOSE RIZAL: (Simply) To be perfectly honest with you, Father, I do not believe anymore the ceremonies that constitute the Roman Catholic Religion.

PADRE: (As if thunderstruck) My dearest so in Christ! Lad, do you mean to tell me that . . . that . .

JOSE RIZAL: Yes, and I do not regret it.

PADRE: Ah, what a pity that you, too, have changed! Your Liberal education In Paris, no doubt!

JOSE RIZAL: Paris was bursting with new ideas three months ago when I left. Cezanne, Monet, emile Zola . . . . . .

PADRE: Now a see what a bad example you are to the townspeople. Oh, what a pity! I positively refuse to believe the town curate at first, but now I have to apologize to him.

(Parting at Calamba, page 15)

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(Saturnina comes back. Eyeing her sarcastically)

Why even your sisters have to be in the right mood for religion these days!

JOSE RIZAL: I’m not speaking for my sisters, naturally, they have minds of their own.

SATURNINA: If the reverend Padre doesn’t know that, Pepito, it’s high time he should.

PADRE: Caramba! I did not come here to ask for your advice, woman! Oh, but I won’t stoop . . . . My dear Rizal, how perfectly true are the things they say about you in Manila. You’ve drunk too deeply of the liberal education in Europe. Your German friends, no doubt, have led you on to such incautious indulgence.

JOSE RIZAL: If you are referring to Professor Virchow and Blumentritt . . . . .

PADRE: I only know too well the venom that Blumentritt has poured into your mind. You are being overwhelmed by the spirit of rebellion. And your association with him resulted in this . . . . this so called “novel” of yours, full of lies and slander.

JOSE RIZAL: “The Reign of Greed”, Father, was written before I met the professor in Vienna. As a matter of fact . . . . .

PADRE: Even the very title of your book is hardly a compliment to us, your former mentors. (Pause) I hope you are aware that this so-called novel of yours is banned.

JOSE RIZAL: Indeed, I am, Father.

PADRE: What a pity that a brilliant young man like you has not devoted not devoted his talents to the defense of a better cause.

JOSE RIZAL: The good of the people is a fine enough cause to fight for. My people must see the light.

PADRE: You have slandered the good name of the Church and the King.

JOSE RIZAL: I’ve tried my very best to tell only the truth.

PADRE: Truth? When you have flung such insults against us? It’s power that you want and you’ve planned to get it by destroying us.

JOSE RIZAL: I only want to open the eyes of my countrymen and those of you who seemed to be interested with their destiny. The people are ignorant. They are oppressed. They are hungry. Why? Because for three hundred and fifty years now, a reign of greed has been going

(Parting at Calamba, page 16)

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on in this country. It must be stop. You speak of the good work of the King and of the Church, but in all honesty, where is it? In the lands you take away from the peasants? In a religion that is used to exploit the people? Ah, no, Father. Well then, where shall we find salvation? In a corrupt Spanish government that allows such things to happen to poor people far away?

(Dona Teodora enters with Trinidad and Adela)

PADRE: Do you realize that I could have you arrested right now for treason?

DONA TEODORA: Pepito, what is it?

JOSE RIZAL: If truth have become treason, Father, then I am willing to defend the cause of truth with my life!

PADRE: Caramba! You defy me! You defy the Church! You defy Spain! You forgot that Spain’s right to be here is divine and natural!

JOSE RIZAL: Spain’s right to be in the Philippines? To accept that idea is to betray the freedom with which the Philippines has the right to shape their own destiny! To accept it would be to deny the Filipino his birthright to human dignity, whereby no man, not even a Spaniard, is his superior.

PADRE: Do you mean that . . . . . that I should I consider myself on the same footing with an Indio?

TRINIDAD: We, Indios, us you call us, Father, have as much right to a decent l ife as you Castilas have.

SATURNINA: Is it necessary to remind you, Padre Dalmacio, that you Spaniards came here on your own invitation? Haven’t you gone surreptitiously appropriating everything while you cackled about your Christian heaven?

PADRE: Your mind is corrupt, definitely immoral!

TRINIDAD: We do not remember that morality was any consideration of yours when you grabbed the lands of the poor defenseless peasants!

PADRE: The trouble with all of you is that you open your mouths too much!

SATURNINA: It would be nearer the truth to say we are beginning to see the light.

PADRE: Light? Caramba! Caramba! You are being led into the darkness because of that awful book!

(Parting at Calamba, page 17)

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DONA TEODORA: Will you tell me, Padre, why we browned-skinned Filipinos who owned this land are not allowed to rule?

SATURNINA: Grabbing somebody else’s land is the height of wickedness. It’s plain thievery . . . . . its . . . . . its . . . . .

PADRE: Enough! . . . . . Enough! . . . . . As a servant of God, I must not stoop. I must control myself. I must be logical. You people ought to know that once you are separated from Spain, you will inevitably fall back into savagery and indolence.

JOSE RIZAL: The idea of a superior race, Father, is positively revolting to us. It’s a gross insult to our intelligence.

PADRE: That’s it! That’s it! Blumentritt’s idea of equality. The shipwreck of your faith is already a living fact. Oh, what a pity! But all is not lost, however, you wi ll be brought back to the port of salvation. Sooner or later, you will return to the bosom of the Holy Mother, the Catholic Church.

JOSE RIZAL: The wounds you have inflicted are deep, and I’m afraid they’ll never heal. It’s too late now.

(There is a tense and embarrassed silence.)

DONA TEODORA: Has Soledad come back, Saturnina?

SATURNINA: Not yet, Mother.

DONA TEODORA: Don’t you think that it’s getting a little to late?

SATURNINA: (Pointing to the priest) Yes, it surely is getting late.

(Pause. The priest could only look at her in anger. The church bells are ringing the angelus. Everyone is still. The priest looks at them disgustedly. Trinidad goes to the window.)

TRINIDAD: It’s already dark outside. Shall I fetch Soledad?

SATURNINA: No, Trining you are safer inside.

JOSE RIZAL: This is not to hurry you, Father, but I’m still waiting to hear what you have come to say to me.

PADRE: Very well, Rizal. I’ll be brief. I’ve come to offer you a professorship at the University of St. Thomas, your Alma Mater. The Church, naturally would like an answer.

SATURNINA: Pepito, think well what you do.

DONA TEODORA: Saturnina, be quiet.

(Parting at Calamba, page 18)

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PADRE: We Dominicans would like you to consider an additional offer . . . . . merely as a humble gift, understand . . . . . of a hundred thousand pesos. Also several haciendas if you care to go on with your fondness for farming.

JOSE RIZAL: And what, pray, may I ask, Father, am I expected to give up in return for such opulent offers?

PADRE: Do we have to go into that? You know what the Church and the government want, don’t you?

SATURNINA: Good God! This is bribery Pepito!

PADRE: Alright, call it what you will. We do not want what you have written about us, your book least of all

JOSE RIZAL: And so now in exchange, you are going to coerce me to retract all that I have written, is that it?

PADRE: That would be the smartest thing to do, my boy

JOSE RIZAL: Sell my conscience?

PADRE: We promise not to say anything.

SATURNINA: Well, of all the low-down tricks . . . . .

JOSE RIZAL: Ate Neneng, please! Tell me, Father, has your religion fallen so low, has it made you so corrupt that you would even use the name of God to bribe me? I'm sorry, Father, I won't have any of your lies and intrigues and machinations. What my right hand had done, my left hand is not going to deny. If my book “The Reign of Greed” is like a mirror and you are yourself doing the things I've written about, then I've written about you. If not, then have no fear. You are trying to drown me in a glass of water, but you shall not drown me even in the ocean.

PADRE: The Dominican Order is a powerful corporation, my boy, and it touches all the oceans. But you and your family, you are infinitesimal drops in a glass of water.

SATURNINA: It might please you to know, Father, that you friars are not wanted in this country anymore-- the Dominicans least of all.

DOÑA TEODORA: All of us have come to the end of the road, Padre Dalmacio.

(Parting at Calamba, page 19)

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TRINIDAD: And now, if you'll kindly leave my brother and his family in peace.....

PADRE: God help me if I allow anyone of you to talk to me in this manner again. You are a pack of wolves trying to attack me.

SATURNINA: And I suppose you are the sacrificial lamb.

PADRE: Oh, I won't stoop. Stooping would mean arguing with you and that would presuppose equality. No, I positively won't stoop. I must control myself.

SATURNINA: There's nothing at presnt our men can do to you. But you can't kill them all. Someday the free ones will do something about it.

PADRE: I thought so. Now I have a positive proof that you are planning a revolution. You are plotting to overthrow the Church and the Spanish government. You will massacre all of us Spaniards, if you get a chance. But we shall see who is the stronger. We will use everything in our power to crush you. We will put you where you belong.

SATURNINA: Go ahead. We are not afraid of you any longer. You may even shoot Pepito, but the day you do that, we shall realize our freedom.

PADRE: My good Rizal, suppose we gave you half the Philippines? (There is a gasp from Rizal's family.)

JOSE RIZAL: No thank you, Father. Not even for that. Please let us say goodnight.

PADRE: Caramba! Caramba! It's useless to reason with you. You've completely gone to the devil! But what a pity that you are digging your own grave. It might have been better had you stayed in Europe. Your sister is right about your future, and you will see that Spain will win in the end. Spain will live forever! (To Saturnina) My smart girl, you took the words right out of my mouth. Good night!

(He goes. They are all speechless. Trinidad is still wearily looking out, but she moves to her brother unable to hold back her tears.)

TRINIDAD: Kuya Pepe, it's not safe for you here anymore.

(Parting at Calamba, page 20)

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SATURNINA: Please think over what I've told you, Pepito, or we will lose everything. Think of what we've been working for years. All that we've been working for. You have to go tonight. I'll bring you things to Manila in the morning.

(Someone's crying is heard from the gate. In a moment, Soledad comes in sobbing.)

TRINIDAD: What in the world has happened to you?

SATURNINA: Soledad, tell us what is wrong!

SOLEDAD: I wish they'd die. I hate them!

TRINIDAD: Who?

SOLEDAD: Those Castilas! Those brute of the Civil Guards!

SATURNINA: What in God's name did they do to you?

SOLEDAD: They took me back to Father's cell and claimed that I brought him pages of the book. I said I did'nt do such a thing. They started to search Father. But when they came to me, Father was so incensed that he fought with them. I fought them, too.

SATURNINA: Oh, God! How long do we have to stand such things?

DOÑA TEODORA: What did they do to your father?

SATURNINA: Captain Andrade heard the noise. He came and took the guards away. He told me to go home and said he'd apologize to Kuya Jose tomorrow. Father is all right now. He said it would be wiser not to do anything about it because it will only make things worse.

TRINIDAD: (Taking Soledad to the bedroom.) Come and rest for a while.

DOÑA TEODORA: They will be harder on us after this. They will. I know they will.

SATURNINA: That's why he has to go tonight, Mother.

(Parting at Calamba, page 21)

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(Jose Rizal walks thoughtfully to the window as Adeala runs quickly to the kitchen. The room is silent. But the bamboo flute is heard again from across the street. There is stifled sob from Doña Teodora as Saturnina leads her to the Bedroom. Adela and Alfredo appear gingerly from the kitchen, entering shyly in the silence of the room as they go near Jose Rizal.)

ALFREDO: Tio Jose, is it true what Adela says?

ADELA: Are you going again, Tio?

JOSE RIZAL: (Turning to them thoughtfully.) I should very much like to talk to you once more. I know it should be your bed time, but i want to tell you something that's awfully important. Come, sit by the chair with me. (Adela and Alfredo sit at the foot of the chair close to and in front of him.) Had you had your supper?

ADELA: Not yet, but I'm not hungry.

ALFREDO: I've been reading your book while the Padre was here.

JOSE RIZAL: Good. I'm glad to see that you are brave, Alfredo. That's the spirit. Read and learn. Think over much what you learn and remember always what I've told you. Life must go forward. But I want you to listen very carefully because Imust tell you a more important thing right now. And I want you to remember it all the days of your lives. It's not anything pleasant. Oh, I shouldn't be talking this way to you who are yet but children. You have a right not to be disturbed in your sleep. You have a right to be happy.

ADELA: We are happy, Tio, because you are here with us.

ALFREDO: We shall miss you terribly if you go away again.

JOSE RIZAL: That's just it. That's what I wanted to tell you. But I didn't know where to begin. Yes, I'm going away again, although, I promise you I won't stay so long. Oh, but I want you not to be sad or sorry because I'm leaving. I want you to feel that I'm going away for a

(Parting at Calamba, page 22)

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mighty good reason. Do you remember the children of the peasants last year when they did not have food and they were starving, and many of them got sick?

ADELA: Yes, mother says it was because the Friars and the Civil Guards drove them out of their houses.

JOSE RIZAL: Well, there are many others, children like you all over the world who are being persecuted, always afraid lest the civil guards may come to take their fathers and mothers away. I want to help. I should like to see every boy like Alfredo read anything he likes without being afraid, without watching from the windows. I want to hear boys like Andres play their flutes once more and sing songs that are happier. But to do these things, we must work. I have my share of work to do and I can do it best at present far away. I shall not forget you. I will work harder knowing that you are waiting here for me, waiting for the coming of happier days that we must help to bring about. On your part, you must be good. Obey your grandmother, your mother and your aunts. Tell the truth always, even if it to say the truth would mean your punishment. Now, can you understand why I am going?

ALFREDO: Is it far where you go?

JOSE RIZAL: Yes, but you and I will think each other always and then the distance won't matter. Why, Adela has fallen asleep! Let me put you both to bed.

ALFREDO: I am a man now.

JOSE RIZAL: You are only a child. Nevertheless, I am proud to hear you say that. Come, let me put your sister to bed. (He carries the little girl into the bedroom.)

SATURNINA: (As she comes out with Doña Teodora) He has to go tonight. It will be for the best. He can take the path by the lake and reach Pansol in the morning. From there, the farmers will know what to do.

DOÑA TEODORA: All our men have left us!

SATURNINA: It won't be long before they come back again mother.

(Parting at Calamba, page 23)

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(Jose Rizal returns from the bedroom.)

TRINIDAD: (Also coming to the living room) Kuya Pepe, are you really leaving us?

SATURNINA: The Philippines should be a happy lan, Trinindad. But the present is a fearful thing. We must work to usher in the coming of a glorious dawn for everybody living here. Just think, Trinidad, in the long and dark night, you and I will tend the seeds we have planted and when the dawn comes, we shall be able to see those seeds growing freely. The oppressed of our land shall no longer be deprived of the fruit of their labors.

SOLEDAD: Don't go, Kuya. The evening will always be dark without you.

TRINIDAD: Come back to us.

SATURNINA: We shall be waiting for him to come back, Soledad.

DOÑA TEODORA: Pepito, son, something tells me they'll never allow you to come back.

JOSE RIZAL: Let's just think of this as a beginning, Mother.

SATURNINA: Don't worry about your suitcases, Pepito. I'll bring them myself to Manila in the morning. Take this brooch. You can pawn it just in case you cannot hear from us. Go now as you are. There will be less suspicion.

JOSE RIZAL: Thank you for everything, Ate Neneng. Give my apologies to Cuñado Manuel for dragging him into this. And when you write again to Kuya Paciano, tell him everything. I know he'll understand.

SATURNINA: Don't forget us.

TRINIDAD: We'll pray for you. Only come back to us.

(Parting at Calamba, page 24)

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DOÑA TEODORA: When you pass out of that door, Pepito, the hounds will get you wherever you are. Then what of us who will be left weeping in the dark? What of oyur sisters and me who will be left alone in this house? Our friends will not come for fear of the things you have spoken. This house will be falling, surely. No roof to hold back the tears, no walls to cry in, not even love ones to remember. There will only be broken pieces of us scattered like dust in the dry summer wind. Only the poor will come, but htis house will be torn down. Only the memory of it will be left.but what will that mean to your many nieces and nephews? The crying of the empty wind?

JOSE RIZAL: That memory shall not be empty, Mother. An evil wind will blow into this house and into this land. It will cry into the depths of men's hearts and leave them heartbroken. But the oppressed will take up my voice.they will wash the plains and hills with their blood and drive the foxes from our orchards. And when the valley shall be free again, this house will no longer be empty.

(Moves closer to his mother) It's hard to say goodbye, isn't it . . . . . even if we had said so many goodbyes to each other. But this time, leaving you breaks my heart – you who have made my childhood bright and happy. I wish now I could say the same for you, Alfredo. But someday, I shall bring back the smile to your face once more.

Goodbye, Mother. Have faith. Say goodbye to father for me and tell him why I have made up my mind to go.

(He walks to the door and stops.) Goodbye to you all. I go with the dream that some sunny morning we shall all meet again in this house.

(He goes out. Saturnina runs to the window to watch him. Alfredo follows his mother. Soledad breaks into tears. Doña Teodora is seated on her chair bent in sorrow. Trinidad goes over to Choleng.)

(Parting at Calamba, page 25)

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DOÑA TEODORA: He is gone now and will never be back again. The deep night is coming. I shall never see him again. He is gone from me forever.

SATURNINA: He will bring us a new day. Surely, he will.

DOÑA TEODORA: Fetch me a candle from the altar, Trinidad. I want to say a prayer for your brother.

(Trinidad goes quickly into the bedroom. In a moment, she is back with a lighted candle on a saucer. She places it on the floor in front of the old woman, kneels low before it as her mother starts to pray. Soledad is still sobbing. The song from the bamboo flute goes on. The old woman is now heard chanting a prayer. Saturnina turns away wearily away from the window as the curtain falls.)

(The end)

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