INTRODUCTION

The second and last novel completed by José Rizal (though he left behind the unfinished
manuscript of a third one), El Filibusterismo is a sequel to Noli Me Tangere. A dark,
brooding, at times satirical novel of revenge, unfulfilled love, and tragedy, the Fili (as it is
popularly referred to) still has as its protagonist Juan Crisóstomo Ibarra. Thirteen years
older, his idealism and youthful dreams shattered, and taking advantage of the belief that
he died at the end of Noli Me Tangere, he is disguised as Simoun, an enormously wealthy
and mysterious jeweler who has gained the confidence of the colony’s governor-general.

A number of other characters from the Noli reappear, among them: Basilio, whose mother
and younger brother Crispin met tragic ends; Father Salví, the devious former curate of San
Diego responsible for Crispin’s death, and who had lusted after Ibarra’s love, María Clara;
the idealistic schoolmaster from San Diego; Captain Tiago, the wealthy widower and legal
father of María Clara; and Doña Victorina de Espadaña and her Spanish husband, the faux
doctor Tiburcio, now hiding from her with the indio priest Father Florentino at his remote
parish on the Pacific coast.

Where Ibarra had argued eloquently against violence to reform Manila society, Simoun is
eager to foment it in order to get his revenge: against Father Salví, and against the Spanish
colonial state. He hopes to liberate the love of his life, María Clara, from her suffocating life
as a cloistered nun, and the islands from the tyranny of Spain. As confidant to the governor-
general, he advises him in such a manner as to make the state even more oppressive,
hoping thereby to force the masses to revolt. Simoun has a few conspirators, such as the
schoolmaster and a Chinese merchant, Quiroga, who aid him in planning terroristic acts. In
sum, Simoun has become an agent provocateur on a grand scale.

Basilio, now a young man, has risen from poverty to become Captain Tiago’s charge. Close
to acquiring his medical degree, he is pledged to Julí, the beautiful daughter of Cabesang
Tales, a prosperous farmer whose land is taken away from him by the friars. Tales
subsequently murders his oppressors, turns to banditry, and becomes the scourge of the
countryside.

In contrast to Simoun’s path of armed revolution, a group of university students—among

them, Isagani, Peláez, and Makaraig—push for the founding of an academy devoted to
teaching Castilian, in line with a decree from Madrid. Opposed even to such a benign
reform, the friars manage to co-opt the plan. Subsequently the students are accused of
being behind flyers that call for rebellion against the state. Most observers see the hand of
the friars in this whole affair, which results in the incarceration of the student leaders, even
of Basilio, though he was not involved, and the break-up between Isagani and the
beauteous Paulita Gómez, who agrees to marry the wealthy Peláez, much to the delight of
Doña Victorina, who has favored him all along.
In the meantime, Tiago, addicted to opium, dies of a drug overdose while attended to by
Father Irene. A meager inheritance is all that is given to Basilio and all the incarcerated
students are soon released except for him. Julí approaches Father Camorra to request him
to obtain Basilio’s release. The friar attempts to rape her but she commits suicide rather
than submit to his lustful designs. Released from prison, with Julí dead and his prospects
considerably dimmed, Basilio, one of the few who knows who Simoun really is, reluctantly
becomes a part of the latter’s plot.

The lavish wedding celebration is to be held at the former residence of Captain Tiago,
purchased by Don Timoteo Peláez, the bridegroom’s father. Simoun has mined the
residence, so it will blow up once a fancy lamp—packed with nitroglycerin, it is Simoun’s
wedding gift—has its wick lit. The resulting assassination of the social and political elite
gathered at the feast will be the signal for armed uprising. But Isagani, informed by Basilio
of what will happen, rushes into the house, snatches the lamp, and throws it into the river,
and in the confusion is able to escape.

The planned uprising is aborted, and Simoun’s true identity is finally revealed, partly
through a note he leaves for Father Salví at the feast. Wounded, he eludes capture and
manages to seek refuge at Father Florentino’s residence. There, he commits suicide but not
before revealing to the priest what he has wrought. He leaves behind his case of jewels,
which the good father throws into the sea, with the injunction that the precious stones yield
themselves only when the country needs them for a “holy, sublime reason” (p. 328).

ABOUT JOSÉ RIZAL

Born on June 19, 1861, José Rizal was from an upper-class Filipino family. His mother,
Teodora Alonso, a highly educated woman, exerted a powerful influence on his intellectual
development. He would grow up to be a brilliant polymath, doctor, fencer, essayist, and
novelist, among other things.

By the late nineteenth century, the Spanish empire was in irreversible decline. Spain had
ruled the islands since 1565, except for a brief hiatus when the British occupied them in
1762. The colonial government was unresponsive and often cruel, with the religious
establishment wielding as much power as the state. Clerical abuses, European ideas of
liberalism, and growing international trade fueled a burgeoning national consciousness. For
Rizal and his generation, the 1872 Cavite Mutiny, in which three native priests were accused
of treason and publicly executed, provided both inspiration and a cautionary tale.

Educated at the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila and the Dominican University of Santo Tomas
in Manila, Rizal left for Spain in 1882, where he studied medicine and the liberal arts, with
further studies in Paris and Heidelberg. The charismatic Rizal quickly became a leading light
of the Propaganda Movement—Filipino expatriates advocating, through its newspaper, La
Solidaridad, various reforms such as the integration of the Philippines as a province of
Spain, representation in the Cortes (the Spanish parliament), the Filipinization of the clergy,
and equality of Filipinos and Spaniards before the law. To Rizal, the main impediment to
reform lay not so much with the civil government but with the reactionary and powerful
Franciscan, Augustinian, and Dominican friars, who constituted a state within a state.

In 1887, he published his first novel, Noli Me Tangere, written in Spanish, a searing
indictment of friar abuse as well as of colonial rule’s shortcomings. That same year, he
returned to Manila, where the Nolihad been banned and its author now hated intensely by
the friars. In 1888, he went to Europe once more, and there wrote the sequel, El
Filibusterismo (The Subversive), published in 1891. In addition, he annotated an edition of
Antonio Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, showing that the Philippines had had a long
history before the advent of the Spaniards. Rizal returned to Manila in 1892 and founded a
reform society, La Liga Filipina, before being exiled to Dapitan, in Mindanao, Southern
Philippines. There he devoted himself to scientific research and public works. Well-known as
an ophthalmologist, he was visited by an English patient, accompanied by his ward,
Josephine Bracken, who would be his last and most serious romantic involvement.

In August of 1896, the Katipunan, a nationalist secret society, launched the revolution
against Spain. Its leaders venerated Rizal and tried to persuade him to their cause. He
refused, convinced that the time was not yet ripe for armed struggle. In the meantime he
volunteered to serve as a doctor with the Spanish forces fighting against Cuban
revolutionaries. En route, Rizal was arrested and subjected to a mock trial in Manila by the
authorities although he had nothing to do with the revolution. Found guilty, he was, at the
age of thirty-five, shot at dawn on December 30, 1896. On the eve of his execution, Rizal
pennedMi Ultimo Adios (“My Last Farewell”), considered a masterpiece of nineteenth-
century Spanish verse.

Rizal’s martyrdom only intensified the ultimately successful fight for independence from
Spain. Because of his role in shaping his country’s destiny, José Rizal is often described as
the “First Filipino” and has since served as an inspiration to countless nationalists and
intellectuals.

ABOUT LUIS H. FRANCIA

Luis H. Francia was born and grew up in Manila, where he obtained his B.A. in humanities
from the Ateneo de Manila University—whose most distinguished alumnus was José Rizal.
He teaches Filipino language and culture at the Asian/Pacific/American Studies program of
New York University, Asian-American literature at Hunter College, as well as creative writing
at the City University of Hong Kong. He has taught at Sarah Lawrence College and the
University of Hawai’i at Manoa.

He has written several books, the most recent one being The Beauty of Ghosts (2010), a
collection of poems about the Filipino immigrant experience in the United States. Other
publications include A History of the Philippines: From Indios Bravos to
Filipinos (2010); Museum of Absences, a collection of poems (2004); and the
semiautobiographical Eye of the Fish: A Personal Archipelago (2001), winner of both the
2002 PEN Open Book and the 2002 Asian American Writers Workshop Literary awards. He is
the editor of Brown River, White Ocean (1993), an anthology of Philippine literature in
English; co-editor of the literary anthology, Flippin’: Filipinos on America (1996); and
of Vestiges of War (2002), an anthology of creative and scholarly works dealing with the
1899 Philippine-American War.

He is included in several collections, among them the poetry anthology Language for a New
Century(2008), and the Library of America’s Four Centuries of Immigrant Writing (2009).
He and his wife, art historian and curator Midori Yamamura, live in Jackson Heights in New
York City.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Simoun plans to foment civil disturbance to precipitate the fall of the Spanish colonial
government. What are his reasons? Exactly how does he intend to accomplish this? What
has brought him to this point in his life? Discuss his past and its relevance to the narrative
of El Filibusterismo.

When Simoun meets Basilio in the forest, he tells him “There are no despots where there
are no slaves” (p. 58). Discuss what he means in the context of the colonization of the
Philippines.

From the various scenes and descriptions of the Spanish friars such as Camorra, Salví,
Sibyla, Irene et al., what can we deduce about their position in the colonial hierarchy? How
do they view the locals or indios? What can we infer about Rizal’s own views on the friars?

In contrast, Father Florentino is a secular priest, an indio, and Rizal’s portrait of him is
very different from that of the Spanish friars. Discuss some of these differences, and what
might have been Rizal’s intent in positing such differences.

At the novel’s conclusion, after Simoun’s suicide, Father Florentino throws the jewel box
into the ocean. Why?

Not coincidentally, Rizal dedicates the Fili to the memory of Fathers Gómez, Burgos, and
Zamora, Filipino secular priests executed by the state in 1872. Who were these priests, and
why does Rizal dedicate the novel to them?

Discuss the scene that transpires at the Kiapo Fair, when the disembodied head at Mr.
Leeds’s stall refers to an injustice, causing fear and trembling in Father Salví. At the
climactic wedding feast at Captain Tiago’s former home, Salví is similarly affected by a
biblical quote that he recognizes to have been written by Juan Crisóstomo Ibarra. What
injustice is Juan Crisóstomo seeking to redress?

The visit of a French theatrical troupe is an occasion that brings all of Manila’s society
under one roof. How does the novelist present the scene? Discuss some of the characters,
such as Don Custodio, Ben Zayb, and the dancer Pepay, who are at the theater. How do the
two chapters devoted to it further our understanding of the narrative?

A group of university students—among them, Isagani, Peláez, and Makaraig—propose

the establishment of an academy to teach Castilian. What are the students’ arguments for
it? Why are the friars so opposed to it?

Flyers circulated in relation to this cause the students to be accused of being filibusteros.
What is a filibustero and how does the flyer become an occasion for the charge?

Discuss Cabesang Tales’s decline from successful farmer and upright town official to a
vengeful outlaw. Why does he resort to the use of arms? What can we deduce about the
state of land distribution and ownership in the islands during the Spanish colonial period?

How does the tragic end of the beautiful Julí, the fiancée of Basilio, come about? How
does the relationship between her and Basilio reflect that of Juan Crisóstomo and María
Clara?

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/302595/el-filibusterismo-by-jose-
rizal/9780143106395/readers-guide/

El filibusterismo (lit. Spanish for "filibustering"; The Subversive or Subversion, as in the

Locsín English translation, are also possible translations), also known by its English
alternative title The Reign of Greed,[1] is the second novel written by Philippine national
hero José Rizal. It is the sequel to Noli me tangere and, like the first book, was written in
Spanish. It was first published in 1891 in Ghent.

The novel centers on the Noli-El fili duology's main character Crisostomo Ibarra, now
returning for vengeance as "Simoun". El fili's dark theme departs dramatically from the
previous novel's hopeful and romantic atmosphere, signifying Ibarra's resort to solving his
country's issues through violent means, after his previous attempt at reforming the
country's system have made no effect and seemed impossible with the corrupt attitude of
the Spaniards towards the Filipinos.

The novel, along with its predecessor, was banned in some parts of the Philippines as a
result of their portrayals of the Spanish government's abuse and corruption. These novels
along with Rizal's involvement in organizations that aim to address and reform the Spanish
system and its issues led to Rizal's exile to Dapitan and eventual execution. Both the novel
and its predecessor, along with Rizal's last poem, are now considered Rizal's literary
masterpieces.

Both of Rizal's novels had a profound effect on Philippine society in terms of views about
national identity, the Catholic faith and its influence on Filipino's choice, and the
government's issues of corruption, abuse, and discrimination, and on a larger scale, the
issues related to the effect of colonization on people's lives and the cause for independence.
These novels later on indirectly became the inspiration to start the Philippine Revolution.

Throughout the Philippines, the reading of both the novel and its predecessor is now
mandatory for high school students throughout the archipelago, although it is now read
using English, Filipino, and the Philippines' regional languages.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_filibusterismo

Ang nobelang El filibusterismo (literal na "Ang Pilibusterismo") o Ang Paghahari ng

Kasakiman[1] ay ang pangalawang nobelang isinulat ng pambansang bayani ng Pilipinas na
si José Rizal, na kaniyang buong pusong inialay sa tatlong paring martir na lalong kilala sa
bansag na Gomburza o Gomez, Burgos, at Zamora.[2] Ito ang karugtong o sikwel sa Noli
Me Tangere at tulad sa Noli, nagdanas si Rizal ng hírap habang sinusulat ito at,[3] tulad din
nito, nakasulat ito sa Kastila. Sinimulan niya ang akda noong Oktubre ng 1887 habang
nagpapraktis ng medisina sa Calamba.

Sa London, noong 1888, gumawa siya ng maraming pagbabago sa plot at pinagbuti niya
ang ilang mga kabanata. Ipinagpatuloy ni Rizal ang pagtatrabaho sa kaniyang manuskrito
habang naninirahan sa Paris, Madrid, at Brussel, at nakompleto niya ito noong 29 Marso
1891, sa Biarritz. Inilathala ito sa taon ding iyon sa Gent. Isang nagngangalang Valentin
Ventura na isa niyang kaibigan ang nagpahiram ng pera sa kanya upang maipalimbag at
mailathala ng maayos ang aklat noong 22 Setyembre 1891.[kailangan ng sanggunian]

Ang nasabing nobela ay pampolitika na nagpapadama, nagpapahiwatig at nagpapagising

pang lalo sa maalab na hangaring makapagtamo ng tunay na kalayaan at karapatan ng
bayan.[kailangan ng sanggunian]

https://tl.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_filibusterismo

El Filibusterismo Summary Crisostomo Ibarra is back and as Simoun. During the period in
between the story line of Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo which is 13 years, Ibarra left
the Philippines and became a wealthy jeweler. He came back to the Philippines as Senor
Simoun, disguised with a beard. He seems to have long abandoned his once vision of ending
the despotism of Spain with words and peace. He becomes hungry for vengeance for all the
misfortune our country has suffered under the tyranny of the Spaniards . And near the end
of the novel, when he discovers that his lover, Maria Clara, died in the convent, he becomes
all the more furious. Simoun is a confidant of the Captain-General. He encourages the
government to make bad decisions and to abuse their power so that it would spark a
revolution among the masses. Basilio, now all grown up, is at first reluctant to join in on
Simoun’s idea but ends up being part of the plan. Simoun started planning uprisings and
stashed guns in the shop of an ally. At the wedding reception of newlyweds (the bride being
the ex-girlfriend of one of the friends of Basillo—Isagani), Simoun tells Basilio that his plan
was to conceal an explosive which contains nitroglycerin inside a pomegranate-styled
Kerosene lamp that Simoun will give to the newlyweds as a gift during the wedding
reception. The reception will take place at the former home of the late Captain Tiago, which
was now filled with explosives planted by Simoun. According to Simoun, the lamp will stay
lighted for only 20 minutes before it flickers; if someone attempts to turn the wick, it will
explode and kill everyone—important members of civil society and the Church hierarchy—
inside the house. Simoun leaves the reception early and leaves a note with the words:
“Mene Thecel Phares” which means “the future is predetermined” and is generally implied
that a bad event is going to happen. Simoun signed it with his real name “Juan Crisostomo
Ibarra”. The people at the reception were shocked because Ibarra is supposedly dead. One
of the priests who knew Ibarra before the ending of Noli Me Tangere confirmed to the
people that it was the writing of Ibarra. The lamp started to dim… Outside the house, Basilio
was about to walk away because he knew the lamp was going to explode anytime soon
when he saw Isagani, the still heart-broken ex-boyfriend of the bride whose reception was
still going on in the house of Capitan Tiago. Isagani said that he just wanted to congratulate
the newly-weds. Basilio who then feared for the safety of his friend told him about the plan
of Simoun. Isagani ran to the house. A priest was about to fix the lamp but once Isagani got
in, he found the lamp and threw it out the window into the river outside the residence.
Since the guards were chasing Isagani, he himself jumped out of the window into the river
as well. There was an uprising planned by Simoun during the time of the reception. The
band got caught and confessed that Simoun lead them. Ibarra was now wanted both as
himself and as Simoun. Days passed and a good priest found Simoun walking along the
shore, wounded and weak. The noble priest tended to Simoun while the latter explained
that he is Ibarra and that he was greatly saddened and angry due to the failure of the
revolution and that he was questioning God as to why he was the one who is suffering and
not the ones who have forsaken the people of the Philippines. The priest explains that all
punishments will come in due time. Ibarra died as he weakly held the hand of the priest.
The latter blessed the former and threw away all the remaining jewels of Ibarra in the hopes
that they may always be used for good.

REFLECTION

El Filibusterismo is far more dark and brutal. This novel can really make me a better person
because the novel’s message is violence is never the answer. The novel’s plot shows that.
At first, Simoun is planning to rescue Maria Clara by all means necessary. That means even
if he has to use force, he will do it just to achieve his goal, contrary to what Ibarra believed
in. At the end, Jose Rizal showed that violence is never the answer in Simoun’s death and
Father Florentino’s lamentations. The final event really showed that violence is never the
answer to anything. It is just a way to create and replace the old problem with a new one.
https://shairaleasprd.wordpress.com/2016/03/08/summary-el-filibusterismo/

El Filibusterismo
The word "filibustero" wrote Rizal to his friend, Ferdinand Blumentritt, is very little known in
the Philippines. The masses do not know it yet.

Jose Alejandro, one of the new Filipinos who had been quite intimate with Rizal, said, "in
writing the Noli Rizal signed his own death warrant." Subsequent events, after the fate of
the Noli was sealed by the Spanish authorities, prompted Rizal to write the continuation of
his first novel. He confessed, however, that regretted very much having killed Elias instead
of Ibarra, reasoning that when he published the Noli his health was very much broken, and
was very unsure of being able to write the continuation and speak of a revolution.

Explaining to Marcelo H. del Pilar his inability to contribute articles to the La Solidaridad,
Rizal said that he was haunted by certain sad presentiments, and that he had been
dreaming almost every night of dead relatives and friends a few days before his 29th
birthday, that is why he wanted to finish the second part of the Noli at all costs.

Consequently, as expected of a determined character, Rizal apparently went in writing, for

to his friend, Blumentritt, he wrote on March 29, 1891: "I have finished my book. Ah! I’ve
not written it with any idea of vengeance against my enemies, but only for the good of
those who suffer and for the rights of Tagalog humanity, although brown and not good-
looking."

To a Filipino friend in Hong Kong, Jose Basa, Rizal likewise eagerly announced the
completion of his second novel. Having moved to Ghent to have the book published at
cheaper cost, Rizal once more wrote his friend, Basa, in Hongkong on July 9, 1891: "I am
not sailing at once, because I am now printing the second part of the Noli here, as you may
see from the enclosed pages. I prefer to publish it in some other way before leaving Europe,
for it seemed to me a pity not to do so. For the past three months I have not received a
single centavo, so I have pawned all that I have in order to publish this book. I will continue
publishing it as long as I can; and when there is nothing to pawn I will stop and return to be
at your side."

Inevitably, Rizal’s next letter to Basa contained the tragic news of the suspension of the
printing of the sequel to his first novel due to lack of funds, forcing him to stop and leave
the book half-way. "It is a pity," he wrote Basa, "because it seems to me that this second
part is more important than the first, and if I do not finish it here, it will never be finished."

Fortunately, Rizal was not to remain in despair for long. A compatriot, Valentin Ventura,
learned of Rizal’s predicament. He offered him financial assistance. Even then Rizal’s was
forced to shorten the novel quite drastically, leaving only thirty-eight chapters compared to
the sixty-four chapters of the first novel.

Rizal moved to Ghent, and writes Jose Alejandro. The sequel to Rizal’s Noli came off the
press by the middle of September, 1891.On the 18th he sent Basa two copies, and Valentin
Ventura the original manuscript and an autographed printed copy.

Inspired by what the word filibustero connoted in relation to the circumstances obtaining in
his time, and his spirits dampened by the tragic execution of the three martyred priests,
Rizal aptly titled the second part of the Noli Me Tangere, El Filibusterismo. In veneration of
the three priests, he dedicated the book to them.
"To the memory of the priests, Don Mariano Gomez (85 years old), Don Jose Burgos (30
years old), and Don Jacinto Zamora (35 years old). Executed in the Bagumbayan Field on
the 28th of February, 1872."

"The church, by refusing to degrade you, has placed in doubt the crime that has been
imputed to you; the Government, by surrounding your trials with mystery and shadows
causes the belief that there was some error, committed in fatal moments; and all the
Philippines, by worshipping your memory and calling you martyrs, in no sense recognizes
your culpability. In so far, therefore, as your complicity in the Cavite Mutiny is not clearly
proved, as you may or may not have been patriots, and as you may or may not cherished
sentiments for justice and for liberty, I have the right to dedicate my work to you as victims
of the evil which I undertake to combat. And while we await expectantly upon Spain some
day to restore your good name and cease to be answerable for your death, let these pages
serve as a tardy wreath of dried leaves over one who without clear proofs attacks your
memory stains his hands in your blood."

Rizal’s memory seemed to have failed him, though, for Father Gomez was then 73 not 85,
Father Burgos 35 not 30 Father Zamora 37 not 35; and the date of execution 17th not 28th.

The FOREWORD of the Fili was addressed to his beloved countrymen, thus:

"TO THE FILIPINO PEOPLE AND THEIR GOVERNMENT"

http://www.joserizal.ph/fi01.htm

Characters
Below are some of the major and minor characters in the novel.

 Simoun - Crisostomo Ibarra in disguise, left for dead at the end of Noli me tangere. Ibarra has
resurfaced as the wealthy jeweler with a new name, Simoun, sporting a beard, blue-tinted
glasses, and a revolver. Fueled by his mistreatment at the hands of the Spaniards and his fury
at Maria Clara's fate, Simoun secretly plans a revolution to seek revenge against those who
wronged him.
 Basilio - son of Sisa and another character from Noli Me Tangere. After his deranged mother's
death, he became a vagabond until Captain Tiago took him in out of pity and hired him as
a houseboy in exchange for sending him to school. In the events of the book, he is a graduating
medical student who discovered Simoun's true identity and befriended him. His girlfriend is Juli.
 Isagani - Basilio's friend and one of the students who planned to set up a new school. He is very
idealistic and hopes for a better future for the Philippines. His girlfriend was the rich and beautiful
Paulita Gomez, but they broke up once he was arrested. Despite this, his love for her still
endured. He sabotaged Simoun's plans by removing the lamp that contained explosives and
threw it in the waters.
 Kabesang Tales - Cabeza Telesforo Juan de Dios, a former cabeza de barangay (barangay
head) of Sagpang, a barangay in San Diego's neighboring town Tiani, who resurfaced as the
feared Luzón bandit Matanglawin. He is the son of Tandang Selo, and father of Juli and Tano.
 Don Custodio - Custodio de Salazar y Sánchez de Monteredondo, a famous "journalist" who
was asked by the students about his decision for the Academia de Castellano. In reality, he is
 quite an ordinary fellow who married a rich woman in order to be a member of Manila's high
society.
 Paulita Gómez - the girlfriend of Isagani and the niece of Doña Victorina, the old Indio who
passes herself off as a Peninsular, who is the wife of the quack doctor Tiburcio de Espadaña. In
the end, she and Juanito Peláez are wed, and she dumps Isagani, believing that she will have
no future if she marries him.
 Macaraig - one of Isagani's classmates at the University of Santo Tomas. He is a rich student
and serves as the leader of the students yearning to build the Academia de Castellano.
 Father Florentino - Isagani's godfather, and a secular priest; was engaged to be married, but
chose to be a priest after being pressured by his mother, the story hinting at the ambivalence of
his decision as he chooses an assignment to a remote place, living in solitude near the sea.
Florentino also harbors great hatred for the corrupt Spanish friars. He offered shelter to Don
Tiburcio de Espandaña when the latter was hiding from his wife, Doña Victorina.
 Juli - Juliana de Dios, the girlfriend of Basilio, and the youngest daughter of Kabesang Tales. To
claim her father from the bandits, she had to work as a maid under the supervision of Hermana
Penchang. Eventually, she was freed but committed suicide to escape Father Camorra’s attempt
to rape her.
 Juanito Pelaez - a hunchbacked student who was a favorite of the professors. They belong to
the noble Spanish ancestry. After failing in his grades, he became Paulita's new boyfriend and
they eventually wed.
 Doña Victorina - Victorina de los Reyes de Espadaña, known in Noli Me Tangere as Tiburcio
de Espadaña's haughty and cruel wife. She is the aunt of Paulita Gomez, and favors Juanito
Pelaez over Isagani. She is searching for her husband, who has left her and is in hiding.
Although of Indio heritage, she considers herself as one of the Peninsular.
 Father Camorra - the lustful parish priest of Tiani, San Diego's adjacent town who has longtime
desires for young women. He nearly raped Juli, causing the latter to commit suicide to escape.
 Ben-Zayb - the pseudonym of Abraham Ibañez, a journalist who believes he is the "only" one
thinking in the Philippines. Ben-Zayb is an anagram of Ybanez, an alternate spelling of his
name.
 Placido Penitente - a student of the University of Santo Tomas who was very intelligent and
wise but did not want, if not only by his mother's plea, to pursue his studies. He also controls his
temper against Padre Millon, his biased physics teacher. During his high school days, he was an
honor student hailing from Batangas.
 Hermana Penchang - Sagpang's rich pusakal (gambler). She offers Juli to be her maid so the
latter can obtain money to free Kabesang Tales. Disbelieving of Juli and her close friends, she
considers herself as an ally of the friars.
 Don Tiburcio de Espadaña - Doña Victorina's lame husband. He is currently in hiding at Father
Florentino's.
 Father Írene - Capitan Tiago's spiritual adviser. Although reluctant, he helped the students to
establish the Academia de Castellano after being convinced by giving him a chestnut. The only
witness to Captain Tiago's death, he forged the last will and testament of the latter so Basilio will
obtain nothing from the inheritance.
 Quiroga - a Chinese businessman who dreamed of being a consul for his country in the
Philippines. He hid Simoun's weapons inside his house.
 Don Timoteo Pelaez - Juanito's father. He is a rich businessmen and arranges a wedding for
his son and Paulita. He and Simoun became business partners.
 Tandang Selo - father of Kabesang Tales and grandfather of Tano and Juli. He raised the sick
and young Basilio after he left their house in Noli me tangere. He died with his son Tales in an
encounter on the mountains versus a battalion of Civil Guards, when he was killed his own
grandson, Tano, who was forced to shoot the old man.
 Father Fernández - the priest-friend of Isagani. He promised to Isagani that he and the other
priests will give in to the students' demands.
 Sandoval - the vice-leader of Macaraig's gang. A Spanish classmate of Isagani, he coerces his
classmates to lead alongside him the opening of the Spanish language academy.
 Hermana Báli - another wealthy gambler in Tiani. She became Juli's mother-figure and
counselor; she helped to release Kabesang Tales from the hands of bandits.
 Father Millon - a Dominican friar who serves as the physics professor of the University of Santo
Tomas. He always becomes vindictive with Placido and always taunts him during class. Millon is
based on/inspired by an ill-mannered Dominican friar who was Rizal's anatomy professor in
Santo Tomas.
 Tadeo - Macaraig's classmate. He, along with the other three members of their gang,
supposedly posted the posters that "thanked" Don Custodio and Father Irene for the opening of
the Academia de Castellano.
 Leeds - an American illusionist who was a good friend of Simoun. He held a performance
starring the severed head of "Imuthis", an Egyptian born during the time of Amasis. In the
performance, Imuthis tells his star-crossed story of being in the opposition against the corrupt
government and the priests, who had framed him of being a rebel and harassed the woman he
loved. The story of Imuthis was meant by Leeds to be parallel to the crimes of Father Salvi, who
sexual harasses Maria Clara in the convent and was the instigator of the "rebellion" for whom
Ibarra was framed in Noli me tangere. Leeds' performance made Father Salvi, who was one of
the audience, very guilty of his crimes, enough to make him ask for Imuthis' mercy and faint
halfway of the performance. Leeds escaped to Hong Kong just as the ecclesiastical governor
declared the performance to be banned.
 Tano - Kabesang Tales's elder son after his older sister, Lucia died in childhood. He took up the
pseudonym "Carolina" after returning from exile in the Caroline Islands, and became a civil
guard. He was among the battalion killed his grandfather, Selo, who was part of a group of an
attacking rebels.
 Pepay - Don Custodio's supposed "girlfriend". A dancer, she is always agitated of her
"boyfriend"'s plans. She seems to be a close friend of Macaraig.
 Captain-General - the highest-ranking official in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial
period. Replacing the previous and sympathetic Captain-General in Noli me tangere, this
unnamed character pretends that what he is doing is for the good of the Indios, the local citizens
of the country, but in reality, he prioritizes the needs of his fellow Spaniards living in the country.
 Father Hernando de la Sibyla - a Dominican friar introduced in Noli Me Tangere, now the vice-
rector of the University of Santo Tomas.
 Pecson - a classmate who had no idea on the happenings occurring around him. He suggested
that they held the mock celebration at the pancitería.
 Father Bernardo Salvi- former parish priest of San Diego in Noli Me Tangere, now the director
and chaplain of the Santa Clara convent so that he could be closer to Maria Clara whom he lusts
for.
 Captain Tiago - Don Santiago de los Santos, Captain Tiago is Maria Clara's stepfather and the
foster-father to Basilio. His health disintegrates gradually because of his frequent smoking
of opium, which Father Irene unscrupulously encourages despite Basilio's attempts to wean his
guardian off the addiction. Eventually, he died because Father Irene scared him about the revolt
of the Filipinos.