You can imagine how elated Jose Rizal must have felt when his former professor at the Ateneo Municipal, Fr. Francisco de Paula Sanchez, was sent to Dapitan. A couple of days after Rizal founded La Liga Filipina in Manila, in August, 1892, he was unceremoniously “deported” to Dapitan, a primeval nook farthest from Western civilization. A professor of rhetoric, geometry, French, Latin and Greek, agronomy and surveying, he was Rizal’s teacher from 1875-1876. He arrived in the hinterlands of Dapitan with trunks full of books which his intellectually starved pupil must have avidly devoured.

Needless to say, the erudite company of a humanist like Sanchez made Rizal’s exile a tad more bearable and their friendship deepened as they planned and carried out scientific projects for the benefit of Dapitan. Rizal wrote the good news to Ferdinand Blumentritt and years later, Fr. Sanchez himself gave eloquent testimony to “…their similarity of interests and great admiration for the abilities and accomplishments…” of his former pupil.

According to Fr. Sanchez’s account, from October to November, 1892, Rizal and he planned and made a relief map of Mindanao at the public plaza of Dapitan. The fact that it has survived wars of conquest and centuries of unrest is indelible testimony that the infrastructure project was not only up to the highest standards but sustainable as well because it was a community activity, not just a project of two outsiders.

Aside from books, Fr. Sanchez brought with him surveying equipment as he intended to make plans and maps of Dapitan and its environs.

Rizal was an “agrimensor y perito tasador de tierras” (land surveyor and assessor) who got his license on March 31, 1878. The Dapitan military governor happily approved the Rizal-Sanchez proposal to “landscape” the plaza, put in place waterworks and other scientific projects.

The original plan was to make a map of the Philippine archipelago, showing the most important islands, starting with Mindanao. They surveyed the plaza and divided this into eight squares, using as a model an ethnographic map owned by the Jesuits. They drew a “cuadricula” or grill pattern in each of the squares and traced the shape of Mindanao with big stones and earth carried to the spot by laborers supplied by Carnicero.

Once the rocky foundations were in place, a carpet of grass was laid and as a final touch, ornamental plants and flowers which Fr. Sanchez wrote, “…dieron mas lindo aspecto a la fantastica isla de Mindanao…” They worked assiduously for three months, molding, shaping earth and stone under the hot tropical sun and to show his appreciation, Carnicero would generously send them and the workers food and drink, and cigarettes.

Unfortunately, before they could start with Luzon, Fr. Sanchez was recalled by his superiors. It must have been a cruel blow to Rizal to lose his professor, friend, and intellectual ally. He gave Fr. Sanchez emotive departure honors with a band of young musicians who played happy tunes and released a “globo aerostatico” (balloon) as the boat sailed away. Sanchez left in April, 1893 and Jose Rizal was probably too depressed to finish the relief map of the Philippine archipelago. (gemma601@yahoo.com)