CULTURE: Rizal and a Dog

The young Rizal and his dog Verguenza (Inset). A scene stealer (encircled ) is a sitting dog in the official picture of Rizal's execution in Bagumbayan.

It requires imagination to imagine another one’s imagination. One has to picture in the mind another one’s picture in the mind. Thus, perhaps it could be very challenging to picture in the mind what was pictured in the imaginative mind of the sculptor that shaped the statue of young Rizal and his dog, which now grace the garden of Rizal’s Shrine in Calamba. Perhaps the artist did not even imagine or forethought that a dog once played a mysterious part on the concluding portion of the hero’s martyrdom.

According to the sculpture’s inscriptions, the name of young Rizal’s dog is “Verguenza,” which deepens more the mystery of a dog in Rizal’s life story. “Verguenza” is a Spanish word, which means “Shame,” thus the Spanish swear-word “Sin verguenza.” It means shameless… in Pilipino, “Walang hiya!” Whether the dog’s name is a presage, an omen or a mere curiosity, no one would ever know.

Nothing much is said about old fashioned, been-around superstitions about dogs than cats. A few however says that a howling dog is a harbinger of death, a bad omen. A dog sitting or standing near a dying man protects him from evil spirits. What about a dog coming out of nowhere one early morning to steal a scene of a very important event in Philippine history?

Yes, like the dog that came out of nowhere in the early morning of December 30, 1896 in Bagumbayan, during Rizal’s execution. Well, it could be subject to anyone’s interpretation as far as the Pinoy’s imaginative and superstitious mind is concerned.

Hiiarion Martinez, then 20 years old and a member of the Drums Corp that participated in the rites of Rizal’s execution have this story to tell. ““When I saw him, I know he was Jose Rizal. He was of regular built, unshaven and quite pale perhaps on account of his confinement, but was visibly composed and serene. Amidst the silence, Rizal began to move his head very slowly up and down, his lips moving as if in prayer. Then the commanding officer, by means of a saber, signaled the firing squad to aim. “Preparen… Afunten….” The saber dropped… “Fuego!” and there was a simultaneous crackle of rifle-fire. Jose Rizal wheeled in one last effort and toppled forward with a thud. His face turned toward the sky and his derby hat thrown forward. He fell facing the bay.”

“Then suddenly, as if from nowhere, a small dog appeared and ran in circles around the body of Rizal, barking and whimpering. The Capitan Militar de Sanidad, or medical officer, knelt before the fallen man, and felt his pulse. Looking up, the medical officer beckoned a member of the firing squad to come forward and give the body the ‘Tiro de Gracia’: a shot done at close range. I thought I saw a faint haze rise from Rizal’s coat, but it might have been a wisp of morning mist. Seeing the body before me, I felt faint. I wanted to see the face of the man for the last time. Rizal lay dead on the dewy grass. The day had started and little did I realize that I was gazing on the face of the greatest Malayan of them all, that I was witnessing history in the making.”

The presence of the dog in Rizal’s execution is a total mystery. Could the dog be the ghost of Verguenza, Rizal’s boyhood dog pronouncing “shame” on the injustice done to a man, its boy master, whose only intention is to free the Filipinos from the colonizers’ oppression? Or could it be another stray dog treated badly by its master, the same way the “indios’” were treated by their Spanish masters− a dog that saw its fate in Rizal if it yelps a contemptuous growl?

After the execution, eye witness Hilarion Matinez, says that the dog …”incident would much later be the subject of our talk in our quarters. To some of my comrades, it was an omen of a coming misfortune.”

It was actually more than that. The dog’s whimpering and barking at the cradle of the then infant historical revolution awakened the Filipino nation.

Do Pinoy’s need another dog’s yelp and whimper to bring us back to our senses?