RIZAL’S STINGINESS

There are two incidents in Rizal’s life regarding money from which I have never recovered: one was his being kuripot, the other was the pride and seriousness with which he took his stinginess.

Rizal was once invited to a New Year’s party or something. Of course it was a potluck affair. Rizal was supposed to bring champagne. Well, aside from his sermons about taking your studies seriously and his unsolicited advice in drinking, gambling, and womanizing- three things the Filipinos were famous for- Rizal did not like the idea of supplying the drinks for this party. So he stood up and in typical killjoy fashion told everyone that he was not paying for the drinks, inabonohan lang nya; so before he leaves, will everyone please pay their share? Everyone was stunned and they probably thought he was joking, but then he passed his hat around; then they knew he was serious. Much later Rizal would wonder why he was not popular with the Filipino community and could not get elected unanimously to their association.

The second incident was the time when his allowance was delayed. He didn’t want to let his German landlady know he was missing his lunch and dinner time and walk around the city, peeking and salivating while watching people in restaurants and bars. When he had walked for about an hour or two, he would return to his apartment to give the impression to his landlady that he had gone to eat out.

From Rizal without Overcoat by Ambeth Ocampo