El Filibusterismo is set in the late 19th century during the last years of Spanish rule in the Philippines. It was written as a sequel to Rizal’s first book, Noli Me Tangere, and as such many characters and plot lines are continued. The protagonist of Noli Me Tangere is Ibarra, an educated and idealistic young man who attempts to bring about reform in the Philippines. He hopes to marry Maria Clara before he is framed for conspiring against the government and Captain Tiago, her father, calls off the engagement. Padre Salvi, a Spanish friar, is responsible for concocting the plot that gets Ibarra arrested. Ibarra escapes prison with the help of Elias, a fugitive and revolutionary. However, while escaping they are pursued by the Civil Guard. Elias risks his life to save Ibarra and is mortally injured in the process. Elias runs into Basilio in the woods, where Basilio’s mother has just died. Before dying, Elias orders Basilio to burn his body along with Basilio’s mother’s. The Civil Guard never find Ibarra's body but claim to have killed him after finding blood. Upon hearing this news, Maria Clara is devastated and enters a nunnery; there she suffers under Padre Silva’s sexual harassment. For a more detailed recap of Noli Me Tangere, please refer to the full ClassicNote.
El Filibusterismo picks up thirteen years after the events of Noli Me Tangere. After years in exile building up wealth and power, Ibarra has returned to the Philippines disguised as a wealthy jeweler named Simoun. Using his friendship with the Captain General, the Governor of the Philippines, Simoun plots to bring revolution to the Philippines. Simuon’s strategy is to increase the greed and cruelty of Spanish rule until conditions become so intolerable that Filipinos spontaneously rise up and join his revolution. Basilio is by now a medical student and hopes to practice medicine and marry Juli, his sweetheart. On a visit to his hometown of San Diego, he runs into Simoun in the woods and realizes that he is the same stranger who helped Basilio bury his mother thirteen years ago. Simoun trusts Basilio with his true identity, but is unable to convince Basilio to join his cause.
Tales, a local farmer and Juli’s father, clears a plot of land with his family at great sacrifice. However, a local friar-administrator falsely claims the land belongs to the church and charges ever-increasing rents. Tales eventually files a lawsuit against the friars but the courts rule in the church’s favor. When Tales is kidnapped by bandits, Juli enters indentured servitude to come up with the money for his ransom. Full of rage at the injustices of the system, Tales murders the friar-administrator and joins a group of bandits who he later ends up leading. Basilio uses all his savings to free Juli from indentured servitude.
Basilio is part of a group of university students in Manila who are trying to form a Spanish school for Filipinos. The education system in the Philippines is completely controlled by the church and the students hope that learning Spanish will improve Filipinos’ access to respect, equal rights, and power in the colony. Many friars see the students’ petition as a threat to governmental and church authority. They debate the proposal with the Captain General who eventually turns the decision over to Don Custodio. Don Custodio is a member of the Spanish elite; he considers himself liberal-minded but holds a paternalistic view towards Filipinos.
Isagani is another member of the students’ association. He is a passionate idealist who was taught by his uncle, a Filipino priest named Padre Florentino, to work for the betterment of his country. Isagani hopes to marry the wealthy and beautiful Paulita. Placido is another university student; he becomes fed up with the constant humiliations to which Filipino students are subjected by their professors. Sensing his discontent, Simoun shares with Placido his upcoming plans to ignite revolution. Simoun is also personally motivated by a desire to reunite with Maria Clara and take revenge on Padre Salvi, the priest who separated them and ruined Ibarra’s life. The night a French opera comes to Manila, Simoun is ready to initiate his plan with the help of Tales and his bandits. However, Basilio breaks the news to Simon that Maria Clara has died and Simoun is thrown into grief, abruptly halting his planned attack.
Meanwhile, the students are upset after finding out that their Spanish school project has been co-opted by the church. Feeling the decision makes a mockery of their ideals, they hold a fake celebration of the decision. The next day, a text highly critical of the Spanish rule is found on the doors of the university. The church and the government are in an uproar and many students are arrested, including Basilio. The rest of the students get released with the help of bribes and patrons, but Basilio has no powerful protector and spends two months in prison. The Captain General hopes this punishment will send a message to any other potential filibusters. Juli hears of Basilio’s imprisonment and feels obligated to help him get out. Her only recourse is to plead for the help of Padre Camorra, a Spanish priest who abuses his authority to sexually prey on Filipina women. Feeling she has no alternative, Juli goes to him and then promptly commits suicide.
Simoun eventually organizes Basilio’s release from jail. At that time, Paulita is disenchanted with Isagani’s political idealism and decides to marry Juanito, a wealthy mestizo student. His time in prison and Juli’s death finally radicalize Basilio and he offers to join Simoun’s rebellion. Simoun decides to plant a bomb at Paulita and Juantio’s wedding, which will be full of the most powerful officials of the church and state. At the last minute, Basiio has a crisis of conscience and tells Isagani, who stops the attack.
Spanish authorities finally discover that Simoun has been plotting to overthrow them and order his arrest. Simuon escapes to Padre Florentino’s house for refuge; there he decides to take poison rather than face arrest. Simuon confides in Padre Florentino about his identity and asks the priest why his plans to bring independence to the Philippines failed. Padre Florentino answers that Simoun tried to bring liberty through violence and corruption, but Filipinos need virtue and ideals to aspire to in order to win their independence. Simoun dies and Padre Florentino throws his immense wealth into the ocean.
