Rizal as an Engineer

Rizal was a licensed land surveyor before he took up medicine. This training enabled him to engage in civil engineering works. Among his achievements were the dam and waterworks he constructed in Dapitan in 1894 through the help of his pupils. The waterworks were built using stones, cast-off tiles, bamboo pipes, and mortar from burnt coral. He also invented a brick making machine, and a preparation of bakhaw paste, useful for roof construction because of its water resistance, fireproof and lightweight properties.

Through the help of his Jesuit teacher, Fr. Francisco de Paula Sanchez, Rizal set up a public plaza and street lighting, and constructed a huge relief map of Mindanao in front of the parish church, now declared a National Historical Landmark by the NHI and an important cultural property by the National Museum. In Talisay, he built three distinct bamboo and nipa houses -- square, hexagonal, and octagonal in shapes, which served as family residence, chicken coop, and his pupils' dormitory, respectively.

Rizal’s Bakhaw formula
You will probably agree that Jose Rizal’s most depressing poem is “Mi Retiro,” written shortly after he arrived in Dapitan, which must have seemed like a veritable hinterland after his sojourn in Western Europe. But Rizal never wasted time wallowing in his personal tragedies. He always embarked on projects that would redound to the good of his fellow Filipinos. In Dapitan, he left a legacy that Zamboanguenos cherish to this day. Aside from installing a waterworks system, a clinic and a school, he made a relief map of Mindanao at the public plaza which has become, Dapitan’s must see destination. Not many of us know that with the encouragement of his former Ateneo professor, Fr. Francisco de P. Sanchez, who was assigned to Dapitan, Rizal came up with a paste made of bakhaw ( bakawan) which could have...

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