Members: Dantes, Josan Marie Sheila Diaz, Gladys Jade Dugenio, Luis Epe, Jelyn Estomo, Joanna Marie

Fabillar, Joan Famador, Phoebe Faith Galve, Ricardo Hampac, Redhart

Noli Me Tangere is a popular novel by the Filipino polymath author, Jose Rizal and first published in 1887 in Berlin, Germany. The English translation of the title is Touch me not, but when it was first translated into English, the book was renamed The Social Cancer. Originally written in Spanish, Noli Me Tangre was intended to expose and dramatize the ill treatment of native Filipinos by the Spanish government, which controlled the Philippines at the time. Noli Me Tangre is about the problems and injustices experienced by the fictional character, Juan Crisostomo Ibarra. All of the problems he experiences are brought about by corrupt officials in the Spanish government of his home town.

Brief Summary of Noli Me Tangere

Having completed his studies in Europe, young Juan Crisstomo Ibarra y Magsalin comes back to the Philippines after a 7-year absence. In his honor, Don Santiago de los Santos, a family friend commonly known as Captain Tiago, threw a get-together party, which was attended by friars and other prominent figures. One of the guests, former San Diego curate Fray Dmaso Vardolagas belittled and slandered Ibarra. Ibarra brushed off the insults and took no offense; he instead politely excused himself and left the party because of an allegedly important task. The next day, Ibarra visits Mara Clara, his betrothed, the beautiful daughter of Captain Tiago and affluent resident of Binondo. Their long-standing love was clearly manifested in this meeting, and Mara Clara cannot help but reread the letters her sweetheart had written her before he went to Europe. Before Ibarra left for San Diego, Lieutenant Guevara, a Civil Guard, reveals to him the incidents preceding the death of his father, Don Rafael Ibarra, a rich hacendero of the town. According to Guevara, Don Rafael was unjustly accused of being a heretic, in addition to being a subservient an allegation brought forth by Dmaso because of Don Rafael's non-participation in the Sacraments, such as Confession and Mass. Dmaso's animosity against Ibarra's father is aggravated by another incident when Don Rafael helped out on a fight between a tax collector and a child fighting, and the former's death was blamed on him, although it was not deliberate. Suddenly, all of those who thought ill of him surfaced with additional complaints. He was imprisoned, and just when the matter was almost settled, he died of sickness in jail. Still not content with what he had done, Dmaso arranged for Don Rafael's corpse to be dug up from the Catholic church and brought to a Chinese cemetery, because he thought it inappropriate to allow a heretic a Catholic burial ground. Unfortunately, it was raining and because of the bothersome weight of the body, the undertakers decide to throw the corpse into a nearby lake.[1] Revenge was not in Ibarra's plans, instead he carried through his father's plan of putting up a school, since he believed that education would pave the way to his country's progress (all over the novel the author refers to both Spain and the Philippines as two different countries as part of a same nation or family, with Spain seen as the mother and the Philippines as the daughter). During the inauguration of the school, Ibarra would have been killed in a sabotage had Elas a mysterious man who had warned Ibarra earlier of

a plot to assassinate him not saved him. Instead the hired killer met an unfortunate incident and died. The sequence of events proved to be too traumatic for Mara Clara who got seriously ill but was luckily cured by the medicine Ibarra sent. After the inauguration, Ibarra hosted a luncheon during which Dmaso, gate-crashing the luncheon, again insulted him. Ibarra ignored the priest's insolence, but when the latter slandered the memory of his dead father, he was no longer able to restrain himself and lunged at Dmaso, prepared to stab him for his impudence. As a consequence, Dmaso excommunicated Ibarra, taking this opportunity to persuade the already-hesitant Tiago to forbid his daughter from marrying Ibarra. The friar wished Mara Clara to marry Linares, a Peninsular who had just arrived from Spain. With the help of the Governor-General, Ibarra's excommunication was nullified and the Archbishop decided to accept him as a member of theChurch once again. But, as fate would have it, some incident of which Ibarra had known nothing about was blamed on him, and he is wrongly arrested and imprisoned. The accusation against him was then overruled because during the litigation that followed, nobody could testify that he was indeed involved. Unfortunately, his letter to Mara Clara somehow got into the hands of the jury and is manipulated such that it then became evidence against him by the parish priest, Fray Salv. With Machiavellian precision, Salv framed Ibarra and ruined his life just so he could stop him from marrying Mara Clara and making the latter his concubine. Meanwhile, in Capitan Tiago's residence, a party was being held to announce the upcoming wedding of Mara Clara and Linares. Ibarra, with the help of Elas, took this opportunity to escape from prison. Before leaving, Ibarra spoke to Mara Clara and accused her of betraying him, thinking that she gave the letter he wrote her to the jury. Mara Clara explained that she would never conspire against him, but that she was forced to surrender Ibarra's letter to Father Salvi, in exchange for the letters written by her mother even before she, Mara Clara, was born. The letters were from her mother, Pa Alba, to Dmaso alluding to their unborn child; and that Mara Clara was therefore not Captain Tiago's biological daughter, but Dmaso's. Afterwards, Ibarra and Elas fled by boat. Elas instructed Ibarra to lie down, covering him with grass to conceal his presence. As luck would have it, they were spotted by their enemies. Elas, thinking he could outsmart them, jumped into the water. The guards rained shots on him, all the while not knowing that they were aiming at the wrong man. Mara Clara, thinking that Ibarra had been killed in the shooting incident, was greatly overcome with grief. Robbed of hope and severely disillusioned, she asked Dmaso to confine her into a nunnery. Dmaso reluctantly agreed when she threatened to take her own life, demanding, "the nunnery or death!"[2] Unbeknownst to her, Ibarra was still alive and able to escape. It was Elas who had taken the shots. It was Christmas Eve when Elas woke up in the forest fatally wounded, as it is here where he instructed Ibarra to meet him. Instead, Elas found the altar boy Basilio cradling his already-dead mother, Sisa. The latter lost her mind when she learned that her two sons, Crispn and Basilio, were chased out of the convent by the sacristan mayor on suspicions of stealing sacred objects. (The truth is that, it was the sacristan mayor who stole the objects and only pinned the blame on the two boys. The said sacristan mayor actually

killed Crispn while interrogating him on the supposed location of the sacred objects. It was implied that the body was never found and the incident was covered-up by Salv). Elas, convinced that he would die soon, instructs Basilio to build a funeral pyre and burn his and Sisa's bodies to ashes. He tells Basilio that, if nobody reaches the place, he come back later on and dig for he will find gold. He also tells him (Basilio) to take the gold he finds and go to school. In his dying breath, he instructed Basilio to continue dreaming about freedom for his motherland with the words: I shall die without seeing the dawn break upon my homeland. You, who shall see it, salute it! Do not forget those who have fallen during the night."

Elas died thereafter. In the epilogue, it was explained that Tiago became addicted to opium and was seen to frequent the opium house in Binondo to satiate his addiction. Mara Clara became a nun where Salv, who has lusted over her from the beginning of the novel, regularly used her to fulfill his lust. One stormy evening, a beautiful crazy woman was seen at the top of the convent crying and cursing the heavens for the fate it has handed her. While the woman was never identified, it is suggested that the said woman was Mara Clara. El filibusterismo also known by its English alternate title The Reign of Greed, is the second novel written by Philippine national hero Jos 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, Belgium. Throughout the Philippines, the novel is read in senior high schools.

Brief Summary of El filibusterismo

Thirteen years after leaving the Philippines, Crisostomo Ibarra returns as Simoun, a rich jeweler sporting a beard and blue-tinted glasses, and a confidant of the Captain-General. Abandoning his idealism, he becomes a cynical saboteur, seeking revenge against the Spanish Philippine system responsible for his misfortunes by plotting a revolution. Simoun insinuates himself into Manila high society and influences every decision of the CaptainGeneral to mismanage the countrys affairs so that a revolution will break out. He cynically sides with the upper classes, encouraging them to commit abuses against the masses to encourage the latter to revolt against the oppressive Spanish colonial regime. This time, he does not attempt to fight the authorities through legal means, but through violent revolution using the masses. Simoun has reasons for instigating a revolution. First is to rescue Mara Clara from the convent and second, to get rid of ills and evils of Philippine society. His true identity is discovered by a now grown-up Basilio while visiting the grave of his mother, Sisa, as Simoun was digging near the grave site for his buried treasures. Simoun spares Basilios life and asks him to join in his planned revolution against the government, egging him on by bringing up the tragic misfortunes of the latter's family. Basilio declines the offer as he still hopes that the countrys condition will improve.

Basilio, at this point, is a graduating student of medicine at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila. After the death of his mother, Sisa, and the disappearance of his younger brother, Crispn, Basilio heeded the advice of the dying boatman, Elas, and traveled to Manila to study. Basilio was adopted by Captain Tiago after Mara Clara entered the convent. With Captain Tiagos help, Basilio was able to go to Colegio de San Juan de Letrn where, at first, he is frowned upon by his peers and teachers not only because of the color of his skin but also because of his shabby appearance which he also experiences at Ateneo. Captain Tiagos confessor, Father Irene is making Captain Tiagos health worse by giving him opium even as Basilio tries hard to prevent Captain Tiago from smoking it. He and other students want to establish a Spanish language academy so that they can learn to speak and write Spanish despite the opposition from the Dominican friars of the Universidad de Santo Toms. With the help of a reluctant Father Irene as their mediator and Don Custodios decision, the academy is established; however they will only serve as caretakers of the school not as the teachers. Dejected and defeated, they hold a mock celebration at a pancitera while a spy for the friars witnesses the proceedings. Simoun, for his part, keeps in close contact with the bandit group of Kabesang Tales, a former cabeza de barangay who suffered misfortunes at the hands of the friars. Once a farmer owning a prosperous sugarcane plantation and a cabeza de barangay (barangay head), he was forced to give everything to the greedy and unscrupulous Spanish friars. His son, Tano, who became a civil guard was captured by bandits; his daughter Hul had to work as a maid to get enough ransom money for his freedom; and his father, Tandang Selo, suffered a stroke and became mute. Before joining the bandits, Tales took Simouns revolver while Simoun was staying at his house for the night. As payment, Tales leaves a locket that once belonged to Mara Clara. To further strengthen the revolution, Simoun has Quiroga, a Chinese man hoping to be appointed consul to the Philippines, smuggle weapons into the country using Quirogas bazaar as a front. Simoun wishes to attack during a stage play with all of his enemies in attendance. He, however, abruptly aborts the attack when he learns from Basilio that Mara Clara had died earlier that day in the convent. A few days after the mock celebration by the students, the people are agitated when disturbing posters are found displayed around the city. The authorities accuse the students present at the pancitera of agitation and disturbing peace and has them arrested. Basilio, although not present at the mock celebration, is also arrested. Captain Tiago dies after learning of the incident and as stated in his willforged by Irene, all his possessions are given to the Church, leaving nothing for Basilio. Basilio is left in prison as the other students are released. A high official tries to intervene for the release of Basilio but the Captain-General, bearing grudges against the high official, coerces him to tender his resignation. Jul, Basilios girlfriend and the daughter of Kabesang Tales, tries to ask Father Camorras help upon the advice of an elder woman. Instead of helping Jul, however, the priest tries to rape her as he has long-hidden desires for Jul. Jul, rather than submit to the will of the friar, jumps over the balcony to her death. Basilio is soon released with the help of Simoun. Basilio, now a changed man, and after hearing about Jul's suicide, finally joins Simouns revolution. Simoun then tells Basilio his plan at the wedding of Paulita Gmez and Juanito, Basilios hunch-backed classmate. His plan was to conceal an explosive 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 hierarchyinside the house. Basilio has a change of heart and attempts to warn Isagani, his friend and the former boyfriend of Paulita. Simoun leaves the reception early as planned and leaves a note behind; "Mene Thecel Phares." Juan Crisostomo Ibarra. Initially thinking that it was simply a bad joke, Father Salv recognizes the handwriting and confirms that it was indeed Ibarras. As people begin to panic, the lamp flickers. Father Irene tries to turn the wick up when Isagani, due to his undying love for Paulita, bursts in the room and throws the lamp into the river, sabotaging Simoun's plans. He escapes by diving into the river as guards chase after him. He later regrets his impulsive action because he had contradicted his own belief that he loved his nation more than Paulita and that the explosion and revolution could have fulfilled his ideals for Filipino society. Simoun, now unmasked as the perpetrator of the attempted arson and failed revolution, becomes a fugitive. Wounded and exhausted after he was shot by the pursuing Guardia Civil, he seeks shelter at the home of Father Florentino, Isaganis uncle, and comes under the care of doctor Tiburcio de Espadaa, Doa Victorina's husband, who was also hiding at the house. Simoun takes poison in order for him not to be captured alive. Before he dies, he reveals his real identity to Florentino while they exchange thoughts about the failure of his revolution and why God forsook him. Florentino opines that God did not forsake him and that his plans were not for the greater good but for personal gain. Simoun, finally accepting Florentinos explanation, squeezes his hand and dies. Florentino then takes Simouns remaining jewels and throws them into the Pacific Ocean with the corals hoping that they would not be used by the greedy, and that when the time came that it would be used for the greater good, when the nation would be finally deserving liberty for themselves, the sea would reveal the treasures