el filibusterismo

Plot
In the events of the previous novel, Crisóstomo Ibarra, a reform-
minded mestizo who tried to establish a modern school in his hometown of San Diego
and marry his childhood sweetheart, was falsely accused of rebellion and presumed dead
after a shootout following his escape from prison. Elias, his friend who was also a reformer,
sacrificed his life to give Crisóstomo a chance to regain his treasure and flee the country,
and hopefully continue their crusade for reforms from abroad. After a thirteen-year
absence from the country, a more revolutionary Crisóstomo has returned, having taken
the identity of Simoun, a corrupt jeweler whose objective is to drive the government to
commit as much abuse as possible in order to drive people into revolution.
Simoun goes from town to town presumably to sell his jewels. In San Diego, he
goes to the Ibarra mausoleum to retrieve more of his treasure but accidentally runs into
Basilio, who was then also in the mausoleum visiting his mother's grave. In the years since
the death of his mother, Basilio has been serving as Capitan Tiago's servant in exchange
for being allowed to study. He is now an aspiring doctor on his last year at university as
well as heir to Capitan Tiago's wealth. When Basilio recognizes Simoun as Crisóstomo
Ibarra, Simoun reveals his motives to Basilio and offers him a place in his plans. Too secure
of his place in the world, Basilio declines.
At Barrio Sagpang in the town of Tiani, Simoun stays at the house of the
village Cabeza de Barangay, Tales. Having suffered misfortune after misfortune in recent
years, Kabesang Tales is unable to resist the temptation to steal Simoun's revolver and join
the bandits.
In Los Baños, Simoun joins his friend the Captain-General, who is then taking a
break from a hunting excursion. In a friendly game of cards with him and his cronies,
Simoun raises the stakes higher and higher and half-jokingly secures blank orders for
deportation, imprisonment, and summary execution from the Captain-General.
At the Quiapo Fair in Manila, a talking heads[2] exhibit[3] ostensibly organized by a certain
Mr. Leeds but secretly commissioned by Simoun is drawing popular acclaim. Padre
Bernardo Salvi, now chaplain of the Convent of the Poor Clares,[4] attends one of the
performances. The exhibit is set in Ptolemaic Egypt but features a tale that closely
resembled that of Crisóstomo Ibarra, María Clara, their fate under Salvi, and ends with an
ominous vow of revenge. Deeply overcome with fear and guilt, Salvi has the show banned,
but not before Mr. Leeds has already sailed for Hong Kong.
Simoun meets with Quiroga,[5] a wealthy Chinese businessman and aspiring
consul-general for the Chinese empire. Quiroga is heavily in Simoun's debt, but Simoun
offers him a steep discount if Quiroga does him a favor—to store Simoun's massive arsenal
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of rifles in Quiroga's warehouses, to be used presumably for extortion activities with

Manila's elite. Quiroga, who hated guns, reluctantly obliges.
Months have passed and the night of Simoun's revolution arrives. Simoun visits
Basilio in Tiago's house and gives him one last offer to join his revolution. Simoun's plan is
for a cannon volley to be fired, at which point Kabesang Tales, now a bandit who calls
himself Matanglawin, and Simoun who managed to deceive and recruit a sizable rogue
force among the government troops, will lead their forces into the city. The leaders of the
Church, the University, scores of bureaucrats, the Captain-General himself, as well as the
bulk of government troops guarding them are conveniently in one location, the theater
where a controversial and much-hyped performance of Les Cloches de Corneville[6] is
taking place. While Simoun and Matanglawin direct their forces, Basilio and several others
are to force open the door of the Convent of the Poor Clares and rescue María Clara.
However, Basilio reports to Simoun that María Clara died just that afternoon, killed by the
travails of monastic life under Salvi, who always lusted after her. Simoun, driven by grief, is
distracted and crestfallen throughout the night. It will be reported later on that he suffered
an "accident" that night, leaving him confined to his bed. His revolution is aborted.
The following day posters threatening violence to the leaders of the university and the
government are found at the university doors. A reform-oriented student group to which
Basilio belonged is named the primary suspects; the members are arrested. They are
eventually freed through the intercession of relatives, except for Basilio who is an orphan
and has no means to pay for his freedom. During his imprisonment, he learns that Capitan
Tiago has died, leaving him nothing (but Tiago's last will was actually altered by Padre
Írene, Tiago's spiritual advisor who also supplies him with opium); his childhood
sweetheart has committed suicide to avoid getting raped by the parish priest when she
tried to approach him on Basilio's behalf; and that he has missed his graduation and will
be required to study for another year, but now with no funds to go by. Released through
the intercession of Simoun, a darkened, disillusioned Basilio joins Simoun's cause
wholeheartedly.
Simoun, meanwhile, has been organizing a new revolution, and he reveals his
plans to a now committed Basilio. He will use the wedding of Juanito Peláez and Paulita
Gomez to coordinate the attack upon the city. As the Peláez and Gomez families are
prominent members of the Manila elite, leaders of the church and civil government are
invited to the reception. The Captain-General, who declined to extend his tenure despite
Simoun's urging, is leaving in two days and is the guest of honor.
Simoun will personally deliver a pomegranate-shaped crystal lamp as a wedding
gift. The lamp is to be placed on a plinth at the reception venue and will be bright enough
 el filibusterismo

to illuminate the entire hall, which was also walled with mirrors. After some time the light
will flicker as if to go out. When someone attempts to raise the wick, a mechanism hidden
within the lamp containing fulminated mercury will detonate, igniting the lamp which is
actually filled with nitroglycerin, killing everyone in an enormous blast.
At the sound of the explosion, Simoun's mercenaries will attack, reinforced by
Matanglawin and his bandits who will descend upon the city from the surrounding hills.
Simoun postulates that at the chaos, the masses, already worked to a panic by the
government's heavy-handed response to the poster incident, as well as rumors that
German ships are at the bay to finish what the revolution fails to destroy, will step out in
desperation to kill or be killed. Basilio and a few others are to put themselves at their head
and lead them to Quiroga's warehouses, where Simoun's guns are still being kept. The
plan thus finalized, Simoun gives Basilio a loaded revolver and sends him away to await
further instructions.
Basilio walks the streets for hours and passes by his old home, Capitan Tiago's
riverside house in Anloague Street. He discovers that this was to be the reception venue —
Juanito Peláez' father bought Tiago's house as a gift for the newlywed couple. Sometime
later, he sees Simoun enter the house with the lamp, then hastily exit the house and board
his carriage. Basilio begins to move away but sees Isagani, his friend and Paulita Gomez'
former lover, sadly looking at Paulita through the window. Noting how close they were to
the condemned house, Basilio tries to head Isagani off, but the young man was too dazed
with grief to listen to him. In desperation, Basilio reveals to Isagani how the house is set to
explode at any time then, but when Isagani still refuses to heed him, Basilio flees, leaving
Isagani to his fate.
Isagani is temporarily, rather belatedly unnerved by Basilio's revelation. Isagani
runs into the house, seizes the lamp leaving the hall in darkness, and throws it into the
river. With the house not exploding and the church and government authorities having
been spared, Simoun's second revolution is aborted as well.
In the following days, as the trappings at the reception venue are torn down, sacks
containing gunpowder are discovered hidden under the boards all over the house.
Simoun, who had directed the renovations, is exposed. His friend the Captain-General
having left for Spain, Simoun, without his protector, is forced to flee. A manhunt ensues
and Simoun is chased as far away as the shores of the Pacific. He then spends the rest of
his days hiding in the ancestral mansion of Padre Florentino, Isagani's uncle.
One day the lieutenant of the local Guardia Civil informs Florentino that he received an
order to arrest Simoun that night. In response, Simoun drinks the slow-acting poison
which he always kept in a compartment in his treasure chest. Before dying, Simoun makes
 el filibusterismo

his final confession to Florentino. Simoun reveals his true name, to Florentino's shock.
Then he goes on to narrate how thirteen years before, as Crisóstomo Ibarra, he lost
everything in the Philippines despite his good intentions. Crisóstomo swore vengeance.
Retrieving the treasure buried beneath the Ibarra mausoleum in the forest, Crisóstomo
fled to foreign lands and engaged in trade. He took part in the war in Cuba, aiding first
one side and then another, but always profiting. There Crisóstomo met the Captain-
General, who was then a Major, whose goodwill he won first by loans of money, and
afterwards by covering for his criminal activity. Crisóstomo bribed his way to secure the
Major's promotion to Captain-General and assignment to the Philippines. Once in the
country, Crisóstomo then used him as a blind tool and incited him to all kinds of injustice,
availing himself of the Captain-General's insatiable lust for gold.
The confession is long and arduous, and night has fallen before Crisóstomo has
finished. In the end, Florentino assures Crisóstomo of God's mercy, but explains that his
revolution failed because he has chosen means that God cannot sanction. Crisóstomo
bitterly accepts the explanation. After a while, he dies in silence.
Realizing the arresting officers will confiscate Crisóstomo's possessions, Florentino
divests him of his jewels and casts them into the Pacific, proclaiming that if they should be
needed for some righteous cause, God will provide the means to draw them out. For the
time being, hidden under the sea, they will not be used to distort justice or to incite greed.
 el filibusterismo

Characters
• Simoun - Crisóstomo Ibarra in disguise, presumed dead at the end of Noli me
tangere. Ibarra has returned as the wealthy jeweler Simoun. His appearance is
described as being tanned, having a sparse beard, long white hair, and large blue-
tinted glasses. In manners he was crude and confrontational. He was derisively
described by Custodio and Ben Zayb as an American mulatto or a British Indian.
While presenting as the arrogant elitist on the outside, he secretly plans a violent
revolution in order to avenge himself for his misfortunes as Crisóstomo Ibarra, as
well as hasten Elias' reformist goals.

• Basilio - son of Sisa and another character from Noli me tangere. In the events of
the El fili, he is an aspiring and so far successful physician on his last year at
University and was waiting for his license to be released upon his graduation. After
his mother's death in the Noli, he applied as a servant in Captain Tiago's household
in exchange for food, lodging, and being allowed to study. Eventually he took up
medicine, and with Tiago having retired from society, he also became the manager
of Tiago's vast estate. He is a quiet, contemplative man who is more aware of his
immediate duties as a servant, doctor, and member of the student association than
he is of politics or patriotic endeavors. His sweetheart is Juli, the daughter of
Kabesang Tales whose family took him in when he was a young boy fleeing the
Guardia Civil and his deranged mother.

• Isagani - Basilio's friend. He is described as a poet, taller and more robust than
Basilio although younger. He is the nephew of Padre Florentino, but is also rumored
to be Florentino's son with his old sweetheart before he was ordained as a priest.
During the events of the novel, Isagani is finishing his studies at the Ateneo
Municipal and is planning to take medicine. A member of the student association,
Isagani is proud and naive, and tends to put himself on the spot when his ideals are
affronted. His unrestrained idealism and poeticism clash with the more practical and
mundane concerns of his girlfriend, Paulita Gomez. When Isagani allows himself to
be arrested after their association is outlawed, Paulita leaves him for Juanito Peláez.
In his final mention in the novel, he was bidding goodbye to his landlords, the
Orenda family, to stay with Florentino permanently.
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• Father Florentino - Isagani's uncle, a retired priest. Florentino was the son of a
wealthy and influential Manila family. He entered the priesthood at the insistence of
his mother. As a result he had to break an affair with a woman he loved, and in
despair devoted himself instead to his parish. When the 1872 Cavite mutiny broke
out, he promptly resigned from the priesthood, fearful of drawing unwanted
attention. He was an Indio and a secular, or a priest that was unaffiliated with the
orders, and yet his parish drew in a huge income. He retired to his family's large
estate along the shores of the Pacific. He is described as white-haired, with a quiet,
serene personality and a strong build. He did not smoke or drink. He was well
respected by his peers, even by the Spanish friars and officials.

• Father Fernández - a Dominican who was a friend of Isagani. Following the incident
with the posters, he invited Isagani to a dialogue, not so much as a teacher with his
student but as a Friar with a Filipino. Although they failed to resolve their
differences, they each promised to approach their colleagues with the opposing
views from the other party - although both feared that given the animosity that
existed between their sides, their own compatriots may not believe in the other
party's existence.

• Captain Tiago - Don Santiago de los Santos. María Clara's stepfather. Having
several landholdings in Pampanga, Binondo, and Laguna, as well as taking
ownership of the Ibarras' vast estate, Tiago however fell into a depression following
María's entry into the convent. He alleviated this by smoking opium, which quickly
became an uncontrolled vice, exacerbated by his association with Padre Írene who
regularly supplied him with the substance. Tiago hired Basilio as a capista, a servant
who given the opportunity to study as part of his wages; Basilio eventually pursued
medicine and became his caregiver and the manager of his estate. Tiago died of
shock upon hearing of Basilio's arrest and Padre Írene's embellished stories of
violent revolt.
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• Captain-General - the highest-ranking official in the Philippines during the Spanish

colonial period. The Captain-General in the El fili is Simoun's friend and confidant,
and is described as having an insatiable lust for gold. Simoun met him when he was
still a Major during the Ten Years' War in Cuba. He secured the Major's friendship
and promotion to Captain-General through bribes. When he was posted in the
Philippines, Simoun used him as a pawn in his own power plays to drive the country
into revolution. The Captain-General was shamed into not extending his tenure after
being rebuked by a high official in the aftermath of Basilio's imprisonment. This
decision to retire would later on prove to be a crucial element to Simoun's schemes.

• Father Bernardo Salvi - former parish priest of San Diego in Noli me tangere, now
the director and chaplain of the Santa Clara convent. The epilogue of
the Noli implies that Salvi regularly rapes María Clara when he is present at the
convent. In the Fili he is described as her confessor. In spite of news reports of
Ibarra's death, Salvi believes that he was still alive and lives in constant fear of his
revenge.

• Father Millon - a Dominican who serves as the physics professor in University of

Santo Tomas.

• Quiroga - a Chinese businessman who aspired to be a consul for China in the

Philippines. Simoun coerced Quiroga into hiding weapons inside the latter's
warehouses in preparation for the revolution.

• Don Custodio - Custodio de Salazar y Sánchez de Monteredondo, a famous

"contractor" who was tasked by the Captain-General to develop the students
association's proposal for an academy for the teaching of Spanish, but was then also
under pressure from the priests not to compromise their prerogatives as
monopolizers of instruction. Some of the novel's most scathing criticism is reserved
for Custodio, who is portrayed as an opportunist who married his way into high
society, who regularly criticized favored ideas that did not come from him, but was
ultimately, laughably incompetent in spite of his scruples.
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• Ben-Zayb - A columnist for the Manila Spanish newspaper El Grito de la Integridad.

Ben-Zayb is his pen name and is an anagram of Ybanez, an alternate spelling of his
last name Ibañez. His first name is not mentioned. Ben-Zayb is said to have the looks
of a friar, who believes that in Manila they think because he thinks. He is deeply
patriotic, sometimes to the point of jingoism. As a journalist he has no qualms
embellishing a story, conflating and butchering details, turning phrases over and
over, making a mundane story sound better than it actually is. Father Camorra
derisively calls him an ink-slinger.

• Father Camorra - the parish priest of Tiani. Ben-Zayb's regular foil, he is said to look
like an artilleryman in counterpoint to Ben-Zayb's friar looks. He stops at nothing to
mock and humiliate Ben-Zayb's liberal pretensions. In his own parish, Camorra has a
reputation for unrestrained lustfulness. He drives Juli into suicide after attempting to
rape her inside the convent. For his misbehavior he was "detained" in a luxurious
riverside villa just outside Manila.

• Father Írene - Capitan Tiago's spiritual adviser. Along with Custodio, Írene is
severely criticized as a representative of priests who allied themselves with temporal
authority for the sake of power and monetary gain. Known to many as the final
authority who Don Custodio consults, the student association sought his support
and gifted him with two chestnut-colored horses, yet he betrayed the students by
counseling Custodio into making them fee collectors in their own school, which was
then to be administered by the Dominicans instead of being a secular and privately
managed institution as the students envisioned. Írene secretly but regularly supplies
Capitan Tiago with opium while exhorting Basilio to do his duty. Írene embellished
stories of panic following the outlawing of the student association Basilio was part
of, hastening Captain Tiago's death. With Basilio in prison, he then struck Basilio out
of Tiago's last will and testament, ensuring he inherited nothing.
 el filibusterismo

• Placido Penitente - a student of the University of Santo Tomas who had a distaste
for study and would have left school if not for his mother's pleas for him to stay. He
clashes with his physics professor, who then accuses him of being a member of the
student association, whom the friars despise. Following the confrontation, he meets
Simoun at the Quiapo Fair. Seeing potential in Placido, Simoun takes him along to
survey his preparations for the upcoming revolution. The following morning Placido
has become one of Simoun's committed followers. He is later seen with the former
schoolmaster of San Diego, who was now Simoun's bomb-maker.

• 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 Isagani part ways, Paulita believing she
will have no future if she marries him. She eventually marries Juanito Peláez.

Characters from Barrio Sagpang:

• Kabesang Tales - Telesforo Juan de Dios, a former kabesa of Barrio Sagpang in
Tiani. He was a sugarcane planter who cleared lands he thought belonged to no
one, losing his wife and eldest daughter in the endeavor. When the Dominicans
took over his farm, he fought to his last money to have it retained in his possession.
While his suit against the Dominicans was ongoing, he was kidnapped by bandits
while he was out patrolling his fields. Having no money to pay his captors, his
daughter Juli was forced to become a maid in exchange for her mistress paying his
ransom. When his son Tano was conscripted into the Guardia Civil, again Tales had
no money to pay for Tano's exclusion from the draft. When in spite of all Tales lost
the case, he not only lost his farm but was also dealt with a heavy fine. He later
joined the bandits and became one of their fiercest commanders. Tandang Selo, his
father, would later on join his band after the death of Juli.

• Tandang Selo - father of Kabesang Tales and grandfather of Tano and Juli. A deer
hunter and later on a broom-maker, he and Tales took in the young, sick Basilio who
was then fleeing from the Guardia Civil. On Christmas Day, when Juli left to be with
her mistress, Selo suffered some form of stroke that impaired his ability to speak.
After Juli's suicide, Selo left town permanently, taking with him his hunting spear. He
was later seen with the bandits and was killed in an encounter with the Guardia Civil
- ironically by the gun of the troops' sharpshooter Tano, his grandson.
 el filibusterismo

• Juli - Juliana de Dios, the girlfriend of Basilio, and the youngest daughter of
Kabesang Tales. When Tales was captured by bandits, Juli petitioned Hermana
Penchang to pay for his ransom. In exchange, she had to work as Penchang's maid.
Basilio ransomed her and bought a house for her family. When Basilio was sent to
prison, Juli approached Tiani's curate, Padre Camorra, for help. When Camorra tried
to rape her instead, Juli jumped to her death from the church's tower.

• Tano - Kabesang Tales's son, second to Lucia who died in childhood. He was
nicknamed "Carolino" after returning from Guardia Civil training in the Carolines.
His squad was escorting prisoners through a road that skirted a mountain when they
were ambushed by bandits. In the ensuing battle, Tano, the squad's sharpshooter,
killed a surrendering bandit from a distance, not knowing it was his own grandfather
Selo.

• Hermana Penchang - the one among the "rich folks" of Tiani who lent Juli money to
ransom Kabesang Tales from the bandits. In return, Juli will serve as her maid until
the money was paid off. Penchang is described as a pious woman who speaks
Spanish; however, her piety was clouded over by the virtues taught by the friars.
While Juli was in her service, she made her work constantly, refusing to give her
time off so she can take care of her grandfather Selo. Nevertheless, when the rich
folks of Tiani shunned Juli because to support her family in any way might earn
some form of retribution from the friars, Penchang was the only one who took pity
upon her.

• Hermana Báli - Juli's mother-figure and counselor. She accompanied Juli in her
efforts to secure Kabesang Tales' ransom and later on Basilio's release. Báli was a
panguinguera - a gambler - who once performed religious services in a Manila
convent. When Tales was captured by bandits, it was Báli who suggested to Juli the
idea to borrow money from Tiani's wealthy citizens, payable when Tales' legal
dispute over his farm was won.
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Student association for the teaching of Spanish:

• Macaraig - the leader. He is described as wealthy, with his own coach, driver, and
set of horses. He is said to own several houses, and that he is lending one to serve
as the schoolhouse for their planned Spanish language academy. After the
outlawing of the group, he was the first to post bail. He then left the country after his
release.

• Sandoval - a Peninsular who had come to Manila as a government employee and

was finishing his studies, and who had completely identified himself with the cause
of the Filipino students. After the outlawing of the group, he still managed to pass
his courses through sheer oratorical skill.

• Pecson - described as chubby, pessimistic, and having an annoying grin. He is

Sandoval's regular foil when Sandoval launches into any kind of patriotic, optimistic
speech. After they receive disappointing news about their Spanish language
academy project, it was Pecson who suggested a torch-lit dinner at the Panciteria
Macanista de Buen Gusto, just a block away from the Binondo Church and Convent,
served by naked Chinese waiters. From there Sandoval and Pecson became more
gracious to each other.

• Tadeo - a truant and charlatan who regularly dreamed of an eternal "holiday" from
school, but was all the same beloved by professors and passed courses. A longtime
Manila resident, he is seen having fun by telling outrageous stories about himself to
a newcomer student from his home province. After the outlawing of the group, he
alone seemed to welcome imprisonment as it meant not going to school. His
holiday realized at last, he "celebrated" by setting up a bonfire using his books upon
his release.

• Juanito Peláez - Isagani's rival for Paulita Gomez's affection. He was the son of a
Timoteo Peláez, a metalworks trader. He was a favorite of his professors. A regular
prankster, he was said to have developed a hump by playing some trick and then
hunching behind his classmates. He paid his dues to the student association, but
broke away just as easily when the association was outlawed. Following Isagani's
arrest, Paulita breaks off from Isagani to marry Juanito.