JosÃ© Rizal was imprisoned in Fort Santiago under the abusive Spanish colonization. Meanwhile, in Balintawak, AndrÃ©s Bonifacio and his fellow secret organization of Katipunan commenced the uprising against the tyranny created by the Spaniards by tearing their cedula as a sign of Spanish slavery.
Soon, a first lieutenant of the Artillery, Luis Taviel de Andrade, visited Rizal. Taviel de Andrade did not waste time to study carefully Rizal's case. In just a short period of time, Rizal and Taviel captured each other's sympathy and eventually became friends as they had usual meetings in Rizal's cell in Fort Santiago. Taviel was even able to celebrate Christmas with Rizal in the cell where they drank pan get and sang together.
After Christmas, Rizal was sent to the Royal Audiencia, the colonial court of appeal, to hear the trial against him. Soon after, the magistrates decided to condemn him under firing squad on the 30th of the morning in Luneta.
At the night before the execution, Rizal hallucinates, seeing his alter egoâprotagonist, Simoun, from his novel El Filibusterismo tempting him to change the climax of the novel.
On the morning of his execution, his kin receives a small alcohol stove (not a gas lamp as commonly portrayed) from his cell containing the last poem "Mi Ultimo Adios". Stopping at the place of execution facing the rising sun, Rizal requested the authorities for him to face the firing squad, but the request was denied. Calm and without haste, he requested to have his head spared instead and the captain agrees. At the moment the shooting squad points at his back, he readily uttered his final words: Consummatum est ("It is done").
In the events following Rizal's execution, members of the Katipunan begin their armed uprising, completely catching the Spanish forces off guard and seized their mounts, munitions and their rifles. They had also captured a church and executed a friar in an act of vengeance. Bonifacio and his top generals met in their headquarters to plan a new offensive seeking to capture ten towns in a duration of one week from the Spaniards. Rizal's picture can be seen at the background of his headquarters.
Who is Dr. Jose Rizal's government-appointed counsel?