El filibusterismo (The Reign of Greed as the alternative English title) is the second novel written by Philippine
national hero José Rizal. It is a sequel to Noli Me Tangere and like the first book, was written in Spanish. He began the work in October of 1887 while practising medicine in Calamba. In London (1888), he made several changes to the plot and revised a number of chapters. Rizal continued to work on his manuscript while in Paris, Madrid, and Brussels, finally completing it on March 29, 1891 in Biarritz. It was published the same year in Ghent.The translation for its Latin name is "the Subservism",as a reference to what the Spanish priests call Rizal's works. The book narrates the return of the protagonist of Noli Me Tangere, Crisostomo Ibarra, under the guise of a wealthy jeweler named Simoun. Disillusioned by the abuses of the Spanish, Ibarra abandons his pacifist beliefs in order to return to the Philippines and start a violent
revolution. Noli Me Tangere's
Basilio, now a young man and a skilled medical student, is recruited by
Ibarra to aid him in detonating a bomb at a social gathering,
signalling the beginning of a revolution. However, Basilio warns his
friend Isagani of the plot. Realizing that the woman he loves is in the
building, Isagani throws the bomb into the river, averting the
explosion and the revolution.
I mplicated in these matters, Simoun commits suicide by taking
poison, and finds a final resting place at the home of a
priest, Father
Florentino, who hears his last confession and assures him that not all
hope is lost. The priest, upon Simoun's death, commends the jewels into
the sea, remarking that the jewels, once used to bribe and corrupt
people, would one day be hopefully found to be used for a meaningful
purpose.