“THE OBSERVANT WILL NOTICE metal footmarks on the paving running from Fort Santiago to the Luneta in seafront Manila. They resemble dancing forms. but really trace the last stairss of Jose Rizal as he walked from his prison cell to the site of his executing on December 30. 1896. The Rizal Centennial Commission claims that the footmarks are based on Rizal’s existent shoe size. When people ask why the stairss are so little. the speedy answer is: “If you are walking to your decease. would you travel rapidly? ” The slow walk to Bagumbayan field ( as Rizal Park or the Luneta was one time called ) began at 6:30 a. m. on a cool. clear forenoon. Rizal was dressed in a black coat and pants and a white shirt and vest. He was tied cubitus to elbow. but held up his caput in a chistera or bowler chapeau. A bugler signaled his transition. while the axial rotation of membranophones muffled in black fabric gave meter to his pace.

From Fort Santiago he took a right bend. and walked along the Paseo Maria Cristina ( now Bonifacio Drive ) . which gave him a position raising the darkness over Manila Bay on the right. and a last glance of Intramuros. shadowed by the losing Sun. on his left. He walked between two Jesuits. Father Estanislao March and Father Jose Villaclara. They excessively were in black – the hallmark black chapeaus. adventitias. and heavy coats that made the immature Rizal and his Ateneo schoolmates refer to them aspaniki ( chiropterans. or conversationally possibly. batmen ) . Behind Rizal walked the brother of his former escort. Lieutenant Luis Taviel de Andrade. who had in vain defended him in a travesty masquerading as a test. The streets were lined with people who wanted to see the condemned adult male. since Rizal was many things to different people: “leader of the revolution. ” doctor. novelist. poet. sculpturer. heretic. insurgent. Rizal was a individual one could non be impersonal about. Like him or detest him. he was a famous person.

Although he was walking to his decease. eyewitnesses describe Rizal as calm – a spot pale. non because of fright of his destiny. but because he had non had any breakfast. All he had been given were three hard-bitten eggs. which he took to a corner of his prison cell. stating. “This is for the rats ; allow them hold a fete. excessively. ” Then he left his cell. Rizal is said to hold nodded left and right to admit familiar faces in crowd. From clip to clip he smiled. and is said to hold made a few gags. and laughed at these himself because the Jesuits flanking him remained somber. Others noticed his eyes dart rapidly from left to compensate. and some believed that members of his household or the Katipuneros would do a last-ditch attempt to salvage him from decease. Was Rizal waiting for aid that ne’er came? And possibly for an chance to reject that aid? Had he expected to see his household by the wayside? We will ne’er cognize more than the fact that he was walking to his fate.

In the clear forenoon Rizal could likely see every bit far as Susong Dalaga. and appreciate the silhouette of a bare adult female on the mountain scope across from Manila Bay. “What a beautiful forenoon! ” he said. “On forenoons like this I used to take walks here with my sweetie. ” Before making Bagumbayan. he glanced at Intramuros. sighed. and seeing the steeples of the church of San Ignacio. said: “Is that the Ateneo? I spent many happy old ages at that place. ” The Jesuits’ response is non recorded. Person had the foresight to take a exposure of the executing. The scene looked like a box. lined. three or four people deep. on three sides. The empty 4th side faced the bay. and the executioners’ line of fire.

Eight Filipino soldiers armed with Remingtons formed the fire squad. Behind them stood the drummers and another line of Spanish soldiers with Mausers. ready to hit the Filipinos if they refused to hit. or intentionally missed their mark. When everyone was in topographic point. there was a little hold because Rizal refused the customary blindfold. and asked to confront the fire squad. The Spanish captain who had guided Rizal to the site insisted that he be shot in the dorsum as ordered. because he was a treasonist to Spain. Rizal declared that he had ne’er been a treasonist to the state of his birth or to Spain. After some blarney. Rizal eventually turned his dorsum. but once more refused the blindfold. and moreover refused to kneel. After all this haggle he made one last petition: that the executioners spare his caput. and shoot him in the back towards the bosom. When the captain agreed. Rizal clasped the manus of Lieutenant Taviel de Andrade and thanked him one time more for the conceited attempt of supporting him before the military tribunal that sentenced him to decease.

Meanwhile. a funny Spanish military physician felt Rizal’s pulsation. and was surprised to happen it regular and normal. The Jesuits were the last to go forth the condemned adult male. They raised the rood to his face and lips. but he turned his caput off and mutely prepared to run into decease. The captain raised his sabre in the air. ordered his work forces to acquire ready. and barked the order: “Preparen! ” This was followed by the order to take the rifles: “Apunten! ” In the split 2nd before the sabre was brought down with the order to fir – “Fuego! ” – Rizal shouted the last two words of the crucified Jesus: “Consummatum est! ” ( It is done ) . The shootings rang out. the slugs hit their grade. and Rizal executed that carefully choreographed turn that he had practiced old ages before. which made him fall faced up on the land. Peoples held their breath as soldiers came up to the cadaver and gave Rizal the novice de gracia. one last merciful shooting in the caput at close scope to do certain he was truly dead.

A little Canis familiaris. the military mascot. ran around the cadaver whining. and the crowd moved in for a closer expression. but were kept at bay by the soldiers who stood in the first row of witnesss. After a short silence. person shouted: “Long unrecorded Spain! Death to the treasonist! ” The crowd did non react. An officer approached the individual who had shouted. and berated him. To make full in the spread. the military set played theMarcha de Cadiz. It was 7:03 a. m. The show was over. ”