of shock upon hearing of Basilio's arrest and Padre Írene's embellished stories of violent revolt. Captain-General – the highest-ranking official in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period. The Captain-General in the novel is Simoun's friend and confidant, and is described as having an insatiable lust for gold. Simoun met him when he was still a major during the Ten Years' War in Cuba. He secured the major's friendship and promotion to Captain-General through bribes. When he was posted in the Philippines, Simoun used him as a pawn in his own power plays to drive the country into revolution. The Captain-General was shamed into not extending his tenure after being rebuked by a high official in the aftermath of Basilio's imprisonment. This decision to retire would later on prove to be a crucial element to Simoun's schemes. Father Bernardo Salví – a Franciscan friar who served as the former parish priest of San Diego in Noli Me Tángere, and now the director and chaplain of the Santa Clara convent. The epilogue of the Noli implies that Salví regularly rapes María Clara when he is present at the convent. In El fili, he is described as her confessor. In spite of reports of Ibarra's death, Salví believes that he is still alive and lives in constant fear of his revenge. Father Hernando de la Sibyla – a Dominican introduced in Noli Me Tángere as the curate of Binondo, who now serves as the director and chaplain of the University of Santo Tomas. He is described as a liberal friar who prefers reason. Father Millon – a Dominican who serves as a physics professor in the University of Santo Tomás. Quiroga – a Chinese businessman who aspired to be a consul for China in the Philippines. Simoun coerced Quiroga into hiding weapons inside the latter's warehouses in preparation for the revolution. Don Custodio – Custodio de Salazar y Sánchez de Monteredondo, a famous "contractor" who was tasked by the Captain-General to develop the students association's proposal for an academy for the teaching of Spanish, but was then also under pressure from the priests not to compromise their prerogatives as monopolizers of instruction. Some of the novel's most scathing criticism is reserved for Custodio, who is portrayed as an opportunist who married his way into high society, who regularly criticized favored ideas that did not come from him, but was ultimately, laughably incompetent