Rizal returns to the Philippines in June 1892 after a stay in Europe and Hong Kong, partly because the Dominicans have evicted his father and sisters from the land they have leased from the friars' estate at Calamba, in Laguna Province.

He also is convinced that the struggle for reform can no longer be conducted effectively from overseas.

In July he establishes the Liga Filipina (Philippine League), designed to be a truly national, nonviolent organization. 

It is dissolved, however, following his arrest and exile to the remote town of Dapitan in northwestern Mindanao.