essay written by marcelo h del pilar

Marcelo H. del Pilar

Marcelo Hilario del Pilar y Gatmaitán

Pen name: Pláridel

Born August 30, 1850, Bulacan

Died July 4, 1896, Old Hospital de la Santa Creu, Barcelona, Spain

He studied at the University of Santo Tomas, where he earned a law degree in 1880. 

Dasalan at Tocsohan (1888) and Diariong Tagalog (1882)

F ounded the newspaper "Diariong Tagalog"

Succeeded La Solidaridad

Role in the fight for Philippines Independence: Satirical writer

Explainer Video

Dasalan at Tucsohan

One of Del Pilar's most notable satirical works is "Dasalan at Tocsohan" (Prayers and Mockeries), a collection of witty and biting essays that mocked the corrupt friars and highlighted their abuses within the church. 

The text's message was to condemn the Friars by criticizing them for being God, and that the people should request forgiveness from the Friars since they became more conscious of the biases that oppressing the Friars had a reason. 

Cornell Notes:

Questions & Cues 

Who is Marcelo Del Pilar?

Where did he study? 

Founder of Diariong Tagalog

What are the notable works of Marcelo Del Pilar?

August 30, 1850 – July 4, 1896

He studied at the University of Santo Tomas, where he earned a law degree in 1880.

Del Pilar was a prolific writer and journalist. He wrote numerous articles and essays that criticized the Spanish government's policies in the Philippines.

Dasalan at Tocsohan (Prayers and Jokes)

Caiigat Cayó (Beware)

La Soberanía Monacal en Filipinas (Monastic Supremacy in the Philippines)

Pasióng Dapat Ipag-alab nang Puso nang Tauong Babasa (Passion That Should Inflame the Heart of the Reader)

La Frailocracia Filipina (The Friarocracy of the Philippines)

Sagót ng España sa Hibic ng Filipinas (Spain's Answer to the Grievances of the Philippines)

Del Pilar died in Barcelona, Spain, in 1896. He was only 45 years old. He is considered one of the most important figures in Philippine history.

In 1888, he moved to Spain, where he became editor of the newspaper La Solidaridad.

He founded the newspaper Diariong Tagalog, which became a voice for the Filipino people.

Del Pilar's works were instrumental in the Philippine Revolution. They helped to raise awareness of the injustices suffered by the Filipino people under Spanish rule. They also inspired Filipinos to fight for their freedom.

Reflection :

Marcelo Hilario del Pilar y Gatmaitán, known by his pen name Pláridel, was a prominent Filipino nationalist and satirical writer. He was born on August 30, 1850, in Bulacan, Philippines. He studied at the University of Santo Tomas, where he obtained his law degree in 1880. One of Del Pilar's most notable contributions was the founding of the newspaper "Diariong Tagalog" in 1882. The publication served as a platform for expressing nationalist sentiments and promoting social and political reforms. He also co-founded the newspaper La Solidaridad along with the Jose Rizal and Graciano Lopez.

Marcelo's style of writing is satirical or mockery using the prayers. Reading "Dasalan at tucsohan" for me is kind of sad, funny, and insulting at the same time  because it's like a form of blasphemy. Like the example above "Amain Namin" where it conveys a very strong message of opposition to the oppression of the priest that time. It also uses vulgar words like "sumpain" meaning "to condemn or cursed" to emphasize his critique. But Del Pilar only used satire to expose the hypocrisy and corruption within the religious institutions . Although, aside from satirical writings, he also succeeded as the editor of the newspaper La Solidaridad from Graciano Lopez.  T he newspaper La Solidadridad become the mouthpiece of the propaganda movement . 

Overall, Marcelo Hilario del Pilar was a significant figure in the Filipino nationalist movement, known for his satirical writings and his contributions to newspapers like "Diariong Tagalog" and "La Solidaridad." Del Pilar's influence extended beyond satirical writing. He co-founded the newspaper "La Solidaridad" alongside Jose Rizal and Graciano Lopez. As the editor of "La Solidaridad," he played a crucial role in making it the mouthpiece of the propaganda movement, which aimed to raise awareness about the plight of the Filipino people under Spanish colonial rule and advocate for reforms.  

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To the young women of malolos: summary and analysis.

Jose Rizal’s legacy to Filipino women is embodied in his famous essay entitled, “To the Young Women of Malolos,” where he addresses all kinds of women – mothers, wives, the unmarried, etc. and expresses everything that he wishes them to keep in mind. 

Related pages:

To the Young Women of Malolos Full Text

To the Young Women of Malolos Short Version

“To the Women of Malolos” was originally written in Tagalog.  Rizal penned this writing when he was in London, in response to the request of Marcelo H. del Pilar.  The salient points contained in this letter are as follows:

• The rejection of the spiritual authority of the friars – not all of the priests in the country that time embodied the true spirit of Christ and His Church.  Most of them were corrupted by worldly desires and used worldly methods to effect change and force discipline among the people.
• The defense of private judgment
• Qualities Filipino mothers need to possess – as evidenced by this portion of his letter, Rizal is greatly concerned of the welfare of the Filipino children and the homes they grow up in.
• Duties and responsibilities of Filipino mothers to their children
• Duties and responsibilities of a wife to her husband – Filipino women are known to be submissive, tender, and loving.  Rizal states in this portion of his letter how Filipino women ought to be as wives, in order to preserve the identity of the race.
• Counsel to young women on their choice of a lifetime partner

Rizal’s Message to Filipino Women

The responsibilities of filipino mothers to their children, qualities mothers should possess.

• Be a noble wife.
• Rear her children in the service of the state – here Rizal gives reference to the women of Sparta who embody this quality
• Set standards of behavior for men around her.

Rizal’s Advice to Unmarried Men and Women

• A noble and honored name
• A manly heart
• A high spirit incapable of being satisfied with engendering slaves.
• Filipino mothers should teach their children love of God, country and fellowmen.
• Filipino mothers should be glad and honored, like Spartan mothers, to offer their sons in defense of their country.
• Filipino women should know how to protect their dignity and honor.
• Filipino women should educate themselves aside from retaining their good racial values.
• Faith is not merely reciting prayers and wearing religious pictures. It is living the real Christian way with good morals and manners.

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Marcelo H. del Pilar, icon of Philippine journalism

WHILE still a young man, Marcelo H. del Pilar already knew how to plant the seeds of nationalism, and to rise and stand up against the abuses of the colonial rulers. Mariano Ponce, narrated that as a high school student in 1880, del Pilar frequently met with a group of students in Trozo, Tondo –the birth place of Andres Bonifacio and where Philippine Masonry and the Katipunan were conceived by their organizers.

In 1882, Del Pilar was a member of the group that founded the first bilingual newspaper- Tagalog and Spanish- in the Philippines, Diariong Tagalog. Though the publisher was ostensibly Francisco Calvo Munoz, a peninsular treasury official in the Philippines, the real moving spirit behind the paper were Del Pilar, who acted as editor of the Tagalog section, and Basilio Teodoro Moran, the business manager.

The newspaper was funded by several traders from Malolos, Bulacan, from where Del Pilar had formed around him a group of relatives and associates who shared his nationalistic interests.

The regime of Governor-General Fernando Primo de Rivera had seen a considerable realization of freedom of the press, and the Diariong Tagalog took full advantage of this relative liberty to speak out in favor of various reforms, as well as to promote a moderate gospel of nationalism. One of the notable articles that saw print was the “El Amor Patrio” of Rizal, translated into eloquent Tagalog by Del Pilar titled “Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa”.

A letter of Jose Rizal dated October 12, 1886, revealed to his older brother Paciano Rizal that he cannot translate the word “Freiheit” and “Liberty” in Filipino language. Rizal admitted that he only knew the words “kalayaan” and malaya” through Diariong Tagalog.

Del Pilar gave birth to the spiritual, political and nationalistic sense of the word “kalayaan”. The dictionary made by Tomas Pinpin dated 1610; Buenaventura in 1613, and Noceda in 1860 did not mention the word “kalayaan or malaya”.

It was said that Padre Mariano Sevilla used the word “kalayaan” in his prayer booklet which means “kalangitan” or heavens – a condition of a soul that can pass through any prison without any hindrance. Prosperity was also embedded in the word “kalayaan” for those persons who had attained glory. (Veneracion: 2012).

But Del Pilar gave the emphatic meaning of the word “kalayaan” in political and nationalistic sense. Proof of this, the revolutionary newspaper of Katipunan adopted the name “kalayaan” from the article also of Marcelo H. del Pilar with the same title where he profoundly explained the meaning and the essence of the word for the freedom of his country.

Of all the forerunners of the revolution, Del Pilar was the one who inspired most Andres Bonifacio. So intimately was Del Pilar connected with the Katipunan, and so highly was he regarded by its leaders, that Bonifacio reverently copied the letters of Del Pilar to his brother-in-law, Deodato Arellano, considering them as sacred relics and, together with the letters that he himself received, as guides for action. “(Zaide, 1956)

He even moved the second president of Katipunan, Roman Basa to support the secret propagation of La Solidaridad, and Apolinario Mabini reported that Andres Bonifacio the third president of Katipunan, collected some funds to support the political program of La Solidaridad.

Majority of the famous patriots supported the leadership of Del Pilar not only in the propaganda but also in the establishment and management of Philippine Masonry, all for the liberty of the ountry through the power of the press.

Del Pilar was meanwhile occupied with other literary activities on two different fronts. From the end of 1887 he began to write political articles that he sent to his friend and disciple, Mariano Ponce, then a university student in Barcelona.

In articles, published in republican newspapers there, he attacked the political power of the friars in the Philippines, argued against the system of deportation by administrative decree, and presented an eloquent defense of Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere against the critique of Father Font, using the pseudonyms Piping Dilat and Plaridel.

While waging a fight in Spain against the friars and in favor of political rights, he was working on another level in the Philippines for the same ends. To counteract the influence of Father Rodriquez’s pamphlets, he wrote, under the pseudonym Dolores Manapat, a Tagalog pamphlet entitled Caiingat Cayo, parodying the title of Father Rodriguez.

In it he defended Rizal, and attacked the friars as traffickers in religion, adulterating the religion of Jesus, etc. Other pamphlets and broadsides were circulated in Malolos and in Manila in this time, and Del Pilar and his associates were responsible for their circulation, if not their actual publication.

In the information given by the parish priest of Malolos, Father Felipe Garcia, when the expediente was being prepared for Del Pilar’s deportation in October 188, Father Garcia mentioned the manuscript copies of an article entitled “Dudas,” being circulated in the province.

This is undoubtedly was Rizal’s article España en Filipinas.

He also mentioned the pamphlet Viva España, Viva el Rey, Viva el Ejercito fuera los Frailes!, which was a collection of the various expositions presented to Centeno and Terrero before and just after the manifestation on March 1, 1888.

The arrival of Marcelo H. del Pilar in Barcelona on January 1, 1889, gave organization and the much-needed leadership to the propaganda campaign. Relatively older than the rest (he was 38 years old at that time), already a professional and adept at propaganda, he was empowered to act as the delegate of the Junta de Propaganda, the Philippine arm of the campaign.

In Spain, while Graciano Lopez Jaena was nominally the editor and founder of La Solidaridad, Del Pilar increasingly became the driving force behind the paper as he worked energetically in setting up the paper. He gradually took over more and more of running the paper. When he finally decided to go to Madrid, the paper went with him. It could not go on without him.

Once in Madrid, Del Pilar would gather around him all the organized Filipino groups in Spain, and proceeded to expand the movement in the Philippines as well. During the early months of La Solidaridad, other activities had been going on in Madrid and in Barcelona, and Plaridel being the moving spirit of the Filipino campaign worked for an all-out, massive propaganda works.

As it turned out, La Solidaridad proved to be an effective propaganda organ both for influencing Spanish politicians and for combating the prestige of the friars in the Philippines so much to Del Pilar’s liking that he gave more and more of his time to the paper.

A study in Spain reported that del Pilar and Wenceslao Retana went to the Spanish Congress to distribute their respective newspapers to the lawmakers. La Solidaridad and La Politica de España en Filipina ultimately became a forum of debate in which their respective contributors challenged one another through their scathing and daring editorials.

They openly exhibited their opposing views regarding the proper way of governing the Philippines from the points of view of both the colonist and the colonized. La Politica was a staunch defender of mainland interest, racial superiority and particularly was imbued with the feeling and sense of everything Spanish.

The eventual independence, or at least full autonomy, was the goal Del Pilar had in mind along with Ponce, Rizal and other propagandists.

The program of La Solidaridad and the complex organization surrounding it was professedly assimilationist, but it seems clear that the assimilationist program was much more a strategy or a first step than the ultimate goal. (Schumacher, 2005)

The love and respect that everyone professed for Rizal, Marcelo del Pilar and all the other patriots who collaborated with them in the great work of national regeneration manifested clearly and openly in the political aspirations of the Filipinos.

That the La Solidaridad had faithfully interpreted those aspirations was likewise shown by the fact that its expenses were met by Filipinos residing in the islands, who there thus risking their personal safety and interest.

This will prove that Marcelo H. del Pilar was not only a reformist-propagandist as he was branded in Philippine Historiography.

He was regarded by Governor General Ramon Blanco as “el Alma del Separatismo en Filipinas” The true soul of separatism in the Philippines far more dangerous than Rizal.

According to his fellow patriot and propagandist Mariano Ponce, “… Tireless propagandist in the political struggle, formidable in his attack, expert in his defenses, accurate in the strokes of his pen, unyielding in his arguments, whose knowledge and formidable intelligence commanded the respect even of his enemies, whom he had defeated more than once in contests of the mind”.

And the revealing pronouncement of Marcelo H. del Pilar to his brother in law and the first president of the Katipunan before the known founding of the Katipunan dated March 31, 1891:

In the Filipino Colony there should be no division, nor is there: one are the sentiments which move us, one the ideals we pursue; the abolition in the Philippines of every obstacle to our liberties, and in due time and by the proper method, the abolition of the flag of Spain as well (“la abolicion en Filipinas de toda traba a nuestras libertades, y a su tiempu y conveniente razon la del pabellon de Espana tambien (Marcelo-Ka dato. Ep. Pilar, 1:246).)

This is not a declaration of pure-blooded reformist it came from the nationalistic bosom of Marcelo H. del Pilar to abolish the flag of Spain means complete independence and self-government. The Philippine Insurgent Records reported that another pamphlet of Del Pilar was distributed in different plazas in Manila titled “Ministerio dela Republica Filipina”.

Long before Bonifacio and Aguinaldo proclaimed the Philippine Republic it was already the political idea and part of propaganda of Plaridel.

It is also noteworthy to mention the recent study of The Journal of Communication SEECI (Spanish Society for the Study of Communication Iberoamericana) founded in March 1997 by a group of teachers of Journalism and Communication Studies at the University of Madrid (Spain) in 2000 by Enrique Rios, had an article that read in part:

Although Marcelo H. del Pilar has a mausoleum in Manila as one of its leaders, we believe that justice was not done with him, because he had one of the most enlightened minds, and undoubtedly was the main brain that pointed the way to the revolution after its death, and in their contacts with Deodato Arellano, was the inspiration for the Katipunan. We ask for the rehabilitation (rectification in the proper place of del Pilar in the country’s pantheon of heroes).

Although they are not Filipinos, but by understanding the significant role played by Del Pilar, his tireless efforts in propaganda, organizing secret societies and defending press freedom, SEECI was asking since 2000 a rehabilitation and justice for “Plaridel” in the Philippine national pantheon. How much more we, Filipinos and this country are the very reason of Marcelo H. del Pilar’s lamentations and sacrifices.

From the account of del Pilar himself, Filipinos can realize and be reminded as well that his death is worthy to be commemorated and celebrated as the National Press Freedom Day not only in words but more so in principles and actions:

I believe it unnecessary for me to remind you of the circumstances that compelled me to abandon the Philippines since October 31, 1888. I was not moved by a desire to increase my personal wealth, for I had there all the element for advancement, my clientele, my interest, etc. neither was I moved by the fear of being exiled, although there I have no worse fate for the father of a family than to place a distance of three thousand leagues between him and his loved ones.

I came here for the purpose of rendering a more effective service to our unfortunate country. I came here to try by all peaceful means within the law to obtain needed reforms for my country, to look for solution that might, directly or indirectly, guarantee in the Philippines the rights of the people already guaranteed in the rest of Spain, thus raising the standard of our living and making our people ready for future progress.

Great was the task before me. Without wealth, without other help than the sanctity of our cause and my faith in the future, I saw before me as you well know, all the forces of reaction arrayed against us. Patriotism and friends gave me their support, and this support the enterprise less onerous and my decision to fight more firm.

The campaign was started. Press, rostrum, public and private circles, primaries, meetings at Masonic Temples, personal relations, political and personal friends, in short, all means of propaganda to further the needed reforms in the Philippines, have been utilized to create an atmosphere to keep our ideals alive. Some with their donations, others with their pen, some with their speech, others with their personal influences, all with a disinterested enthusiasm, Filipinos, Peninsular Spaniards and foreigners, have contributed to strengthen our patriotic enterprise to redeem a disenfranchised people.

It is unnecessary to mention here the results of this united endeavor. The frantic attempts of our enemies to obstruct the campaign are sufficient evidence that our efforts are successful. After failing with their threats, after failing with their cajolery, they descended from their Olympian heights and decided to measure their powerful force with our feeble strength.

They started newspapers and hired good writers, with no knowledge of the justice of our demands. When you consider the scant means at our disposal, we could not have obtained the small victories we have won and the splendid triumphs gained except from our implicit faith in the sanctity of our cause and the inner moral urge from knowing we were right. – M.H. Del Pilar, August 1892, Madrid

Plans were prepared in Madrid and the organization in the Philippines cooperated in their execution. During the three or four years that the correspondence lasted, the communion, the understanding and the harmony between the thinking brains and the obedient limbs were so perfect that, in spite of the distance that separated them, they seemed to belong to a single physical body.

The letters from Del Pilar and the other directive elements in Spain were awaited in the Philippines with the same anxiety and their instructions followed with the same spirit of discipline as an army listens to and carries out the orders of its general in command. And, vice versa, the letters from the Philippines lifted the hearts and filled with enthusiasm the breasts of those who worked in Spain. (Kalaw, 1956)

Without the direction of Del Pilar in Madrid, the Philippine propaganda could never have done what it did.

Unto the last breath of La Solidaridad, Del Pilar did not forsake his duties to the newspaper as editor-writer, commentator, management and publisher for seven years fighting for press freedom as well as the freedom of the country. His influence did not cease in La Solidaridad, his writings continued its influence in the Katipunan organ “Kalayaan” his patriotic examples and his revolutionary spirit moved the leaders of the Katipunan.

And unto his death at the Hospital de la Santa Cruz of Barcelona ward, bed no. 11 he said, “Tell my family I could no longer engage anything with them, I will die in the hand of my loyal friends. Go on and continue the campaign for the redemption and freedom of our country.”

Del Pilar passed away at 1:15 a.m., July 4, 1896.

On August 30, 1896, – birth date of Marcelo H. del Pilar – Andres Bonifacio attacked the Spanish garrison “El Polvorin” for the freedom of our country.

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Why the Spaniards Feared Marcelo H. Del Pilar More Than They Did Jose Rizal

When it came to being a judge of their enemies, the Spaniards were often spot-on, inerrant. They identified threats and nipped them in the bud. After all, they weren’t a global superpower for nothing. Spain had numerous enemies, but for its colonial government in the Philippines, the most potent was Marcelo H. Del Pilar.

Such was the Spaniards’ fear of Del Pilar that Governor-General Ramon Blanco described him as “the most intelligent of the Filipino politicians, the true soul of the independence movement, very superior to Rizal.”

Governor-General Ramon Blanco (in office 1893-1896)

"Very superior to Rizal" —t hey feared him more than they feared the national hero. More important, they considered him the engine of the independence movement among Filipinos.

For the Spaniards, Del Pilar was a force to reckon with, not only equaling Rizal in wit and prose, but even surpassing him in clout and political prowess. Being wary of him was only pragmatic.

Del Pilar Came from a Powerful Family

Del Pilar was born to a family with a storied history. Like Rizal , Del Pilar’s ancestry traced back to the principalia or the noble class of Filipinos, who originally descended from former datus . His mother, Blasica Gatmaitan, was a descendant of ancient Tagalog nobility. Historian and journalist Leon Ma. Guerrero (1915-1982) wrote that  the prefix “Gat” in Filipino surnames (Gatdula, Gatmaitan, etc.) indicated noble ancestry or being descended from the great datus.

His father, Julian Hilario Del Pilar, had been a three-time gobernadorcillio (“little governor”) of Bulacan, the highest position that Filipinos could hold in government at that time, and then later served as the clerk of Bulacan’s provincial governor.

The Del Pilars controlled vast tracts of agricultural land. They cultivated rice and sugarcane, and maintained a number of fish ponds. They also owned a mill. Compared with the  Rizals who controlled rice farms, the Del Pilars were significantly wealthier. Their connections to government also afforded them more influence, which especially worked out for them against the powerful friars.

Why Del Pilar Was Such a Threat

Among the Ilustrados of the Propaganda Movement, it was Del Pilar who was most vociferous in his writings. He, together with Graciano Lopez Jaena and  Rizal, are considered as the triumvirate of the propagandists. If Lopez Jaena was most potent in orating and  Rizal’s bread and butter was writing novels, Del Pilar  specialized in parodies.

As a firebrand, Del Pilar operated with blasphemous humor to wage war on the friars. With his use of the Tagalog language instead of Spanish (Rizal used Spanish), his propaganda in the Philippines became a double-edged sword: a castigation of the friars which agitated them, and a call to action among Filipinos. His works, Caiigat Cayo ( Be Like the Ee l) and Dasalan at Tocsohan ( Prayers and Mockeries ) are examples of this. For mass effect, he printed these in pamphlet formats and distributed widely in the provinces.

Filipino Ilustrados in Madrid, Spain (1890)

Guerrero described Del Pilar as a writer who had a sense of mass publicity, which was something that came difficultly for Rizal. For Rizal, the Spanish language was a weapon of refined eloquence. For the Pilar, Tagalog was a language that was more realistic, direct, and forceful.  Guerrero described it as “ruthless, unscrupulous, popular, and tremendously effective.”

Some historians even put forward the theory that Del Pilar masterminded the Katipunan, making him a dangerous enemy of the state.

“Proof of this are the facts that the by-laws of the Katipunan were submitted for approval by Bonifacio to Del Pilar, that Bonifacio used the letter of Del Pilar sanctioning the organization to recruit adherents, and that the Kalayaan, official organ of the Katipunan, carried the name of the absent Del Pilar as editor,” wrote Guerrero .

How Del Pilar had a Friar Arrested

It wasn’t only his writings that struck fear among the Spaniards, especially among the friars. Rather, they feared his political prowess and his ability to use that to muster support from powerful people, including fellow Spaniards.

According to Guerrero , a friendship with the Spanish provincial governor of Bulacan proved useful. When a controversy over the control of public funerals erupted, he convinced the governor to arrest the friar-curate (today’s equivalent of a parish priest) who opposed its transfer to civilian authorities.

Del Pilar Lobbied for Filipinos While in Spain

After Del Pilar printed a series of indelicate publications about the Governor-General of the Philippines and the Queen-Regent of Spain, the friars successfully instigated and accused him of being anti-Spanish. He was also pinned as an advisor of anti-friar elements in the country, which was not far from truth. Because of fear of imminent exile and deportation, Del Pilar quickly boarded a ship to Spain in 1888. There, he once again worked his political talent and befriended important Spanish politicians to lobby for the welfare of Filipinos and subsequent assimilation of the Philippines into Spain.

In 1889, he succeeded Lopez Jaena as editor of La Solidaridad , affectionately called La Sol or the Sun. He became its most prolific writer and long-time editor for six years until 1895.

During those five years as La Solidaridad’s editor, Del Pilar singlehandedly ran the paper, and consequently, became the backbone of the entire Propaganda Movement. Funds for the paper were sporadic, coming from various sympathizers in the Philippines. When funding stopped in 1895, Del Pilar used his own money to keep it running. It came to a point that Del Pilar became so poor that he  scavenged for cigarette butts to smoke just to keep himself warm.

Although he was well-off in his hometown, he was nothing but excessively frugal in Spain. Antonio Valeriano, who did a biography on Del Pilar, wrote that the hero also suffered homesickness and heartbreak because of the reform’s failures.

Mariano Ponce, who was with Del Pilar days before he died in 1896,  told Valeriano of the pathetic conditions of Del Pilar:

“I witnessed the sleepless nights he spent because of insomnia and his endless thinking. His mind was always full of thoughts and questions needing to be studied and analyzed deeply. And afterwards, when sleep had completely eluded him, he would get up in the cold of the winter night and start working until daylight.”

On top of this, Del Pilar missed many meals because of his extreme poverty, and suffered from tuberculosis, the disease that killed Lopez Jaena months earlier.

Del Pilar Died Thinking He Failed the Country

Knowing that he didn’t have much time left to live, Del Pilar decided to travel back to the Philippines. However, because of being emaciated and severely weakened by tuberculosis, Ponce took him to a hospital. There, he spent a month where his condition only worsened. He died merely weeks after being admitted.

His final words to Ponce were: “Pray to God for the good fate of our country. Continue with your work so you can attain joy and freedom for our beloved motherland.”

Del Pilar died a without a single peso to his name. Even more gut-wrenching was the fact that he died depressed thinking he had failed his country.

Somehow, history has footnoted the extensive narrative of Marcelo H. Del Pilar as the most vigorous propagandist in acute favor of Bonifacio , Rizal, and other notable heroes. The point is not to diminish the greatness of the aforementioned, but to recognize the equal heroism and sacrifice of the Filipino whom the Spaniards feared the most.

Marcelo H. Del Pilar Shrine in Bulakan, Bulacan

References:

Dasalan at Tocsohan: Schumacher, John N. (1997). The Propaganda Movement, 1880-1895: The Creation of a Filipino Consciousness, the Making of the Revolution. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press.

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Propaganda Movement

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• American Historical Association - The Story of Propaganda
• GlobalSecurity.org - José Rizal and the Propaganda Movement

Propaganda Movement , reform and national consciousness movement that arose among young Filipino expatriates in the late 19th century. Although its adherents expressed loyalty to the Spanish colonial government, Spanish authorities harshly repressed the movement and executed its most prominent member, José Rizal .

Public education did not arrive in the Philippines until the 1860s, and even then the Roman Catholic Church controlled the curriculum. Because the Spanish friars made comparatively little effort to inculcate a knowledge of Castilian , less than one-fifth of those who went to school could read and write Spanish, and far fewer could speak it. The Filipino populace was thus kept apart from the colonial power that had been ruling it for more than three centuries. After the construction of the Suez Canal in 1869, sons of the wealthy were sent to Spain and other countries for study. At home and abroad, a growing sense of Filipino identity had begun to manifest , and in 1872 this burgeoning nationalism spawned an armed insurrection. About 200 Filipino soldiers at the Cavite arsenal revolted , killed their officers, and shouted for independence. Plans for a similar demonstration in Manila failed. The rebellion was quickly suppressed and led to wholesale arrests, life imprisonment, and the execution of, among others, three Filipino priests, whose connection with the uprising was not satisfactorily explained.

In 1888 Filipino expatriate journalist Graciano Lopez Jaena founded the newspaper La Solidaridad in Barcelona. Throughout its course, La Solidaridad urged reforms in both religion and government in the Philippines, and it served as the voice of what became known as the Propaganda Movement. One of the foremost contributors to La Solidaridad was the precocious José Rizal y Mercado. Rizal wrote two political novels— Noli me tangere (1887; Touch Me Not ) and El filibusterismo (1891; The Reign of Greed )—which had a wide impact in the Philippines. López Jaena, Rizal, and journalist Marcelo del Pilar emerged as the three leading figures of the Propaganda Movement, and magazines, poetry, and pamphleteering flourished.

While López Jaena and Pilar remained abroad, in 1892 Rizal returned home and founded the Liga Filipina , a modest reform-minded society that was loyal to Spain and breathed no word of independence. As with the Cavite mutiny, the Spanish authorities overreacted to a perceived threat to their rule. They promptly arrested and exiled Rizal to a remote island in the south. Meanwhile, within the Philippines there had developed a firm commitment to independence among the somewhat less privileged class. Shocked by the arrest of Rizal, these activists formed the Katipunan under the leadership of Andres Bonifacio , a self-educated warehouseman. The Katipunan was dedicated to the expulsion of the Spanish from the islands, and preparations were made for armed revolt. There had been many Filipino rebels throughout the history of Spanish rule, but now for the first time they were inspired by nationalist ambitions and possessed the education needed to make success a real possibility.

On August 26, 1896, Bonifacio issued the Grito de Balintawak (“the Cry of Balintawak”), calling for an armed uprising against the Spanish. The centre of the revolt was in Cavite province, where Filipino independence leader Emilio Aguinaldo first came into prominence. Spain sent reinforcements until there was an army of 28,000, along with a few loyal regiments of Filipino soldiers. A stiff campaign of 52 days brought about the defeat of the insurgents, but the Spanish once again endeavoured to work against their own interests. Although Rizal had no connection to the uprising or Katipunan, the Spanish military arrested him and, after a farcical trial, found him guilty of sedition . He was executed by a firing squad in Manila on December 30, 1896.

The execution of Rizal breathed new life into the insurrection, and the Philippine Revolution spread to the provinces of Pangasinan, Zambales, and Ilocos. With the destruction of the U.S. battleship Maine on February 15, 1898, in the harbour of Havana, Cuba, and the subsequent wave of public indignation, hostilities erupted between Spain and the United States . The exiled Aguinaldo returned to the Philippines on May 19 and announced renewal of the struggle with Spain. The Philippines declared independence from Spain on June 12 and proclaimed a provisional republic with Aguinaldo as president. With the conclusion of the Spanish-American War , the Philippines, along with Puerto Rico and Guam, were ceded by Spain to the U.S. by the Treaty of Paris, on December 10, 1898. The Filipino struggle for independence would continue through the Philippine-American War and would not be achieved until after World War II .

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Jose Rizal’s Essays and Articles

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Articles in Diariong Tagalog

“El Amor Patrio” (The Love of Country)

This was the first article Rizal wrote in the Spanish soil. Written in the summer of 1882, it was published in Diariong Tagalog in August. He used the pen name “Laong Laan” (ever prepared) as a byline for this article and he sent it to Marcelo H. Del Pilar for Tagalog translation.

Written during the Spanish colonization and reign over the Philippine islands, the article aimed to establish nationalism and patriotism among the natives. Rizal extended his call for the love of country to his fellow compatriots in Spain, for he believed that nationalism should be exercised anywhere a person is. 

“Revista De Madrid” (Review of Madrid)

This article written by Rizal on November 29, 1882 wasunfortunatelyreturned to him because Diariong Tagalog had ceased publications for lack of funds.

Articles in La Solidaridad

“Los Agricultores Filipinos” (The Filipino Farmers)

This essay dated March 25, 1889 was the first article of Rizal published in La Solidaridad. In this writing, he depicted the deplorable conditions of the Filipino farmers in the Philippines, hence the backwardness of the country.

“A La Defensa” (To La Defensa)

This was in response to the anti-Filipino writing by Patricio de la Escosura published by La Defensa on March 30, 1889 issue. Written on April 30, 1889, Rizal’s article refuted the views of Escosura, calling the readers’ attention to the insidious influences of the friars to the country.

“Los Viajes” (Travels)

Published in the La Solidaridad on May 15, 1889, this article tackled the rewards gained by the people who are well-traveled to many places in the world.

“La Verdad Para Todos” (The Truth for All)

This was Rizal’s counter to the Spanish charges that the natives were ignorant and depraved. On May 31, 1889, it was published in the La Solidaridad.  

"Vicente Barrantes’ Teatro Tagalo”

The first installment of Rizal’s “Vicente Barrantes” was published in the La Solidaridad on June 15, 1889. In this article, Rizal exposed Barrantes’ lack of knowledge on the Tagalog theatrical art.  

“Defensa Del Noli”

The manuscripts of the “Defensa del Noli” was written on June 18, 1889. Rizal sent the article to Marcelo H. Del Pilar, wanting it to be published by the end of that month in the La Solidaridad.

“Verdades  Nuevas”(New Facts/New Truths)

In this article dated July 31, 1889, Rizal replied to the letter of Vicente Belloc Sanchez which was published on July 4, 1889 in ‘La Patria’, a newspaper in Madrid. Rizal addressed Sanchez’s allegation that provision of reforms to the Philippines would devastate the diplomatic rule of the Catholic friars.

“Una Profanacion” (A Desecration/A Profanation)

Published on July 31, 1889, this article mockingly attacked the friars for refusing to give Christian burial to Mariano Herbosa, Rizal’s brother in law, who died of cholera in May 23, 1889. Being the husband of Lucia Rizal (Jose’s sister), Herbosa was denied of burial in the Catholic cemetery by the priests.

“Crueldad” (Cruelty),

Dated August 15, 1889, this was Rizal’s witty defense of Blumentritt from the libelous attacks of his enemies.

“Diferencias” (Differences) 

Published on September 15, 1889, this article countered the biased article entitled “Old Truths” which was printed in La Patria on August 14, 1889. “Old Truths” ridiculed those Filipinos who asked for reforms.

“Inconsequencias” (Inconsequences)

The Spanish Pablo Mir Deas attacked Antonio Luna in the Barcelona newspaper “El Pueblo Soberano”. As Rizal’s defense of Luna, he wrote this article which was published on November 30, 1889.

“Llanto Y Risas” (Tears and Laughter)

Dated November 30, 1889, this article was a condemnation of the racial prejudice of the Spanish against the brown race. Rizal remembered that he earned first prize in a literary contest in 1880. He narrated nonetheless how the Spaniard and mestizo spectators stopped their applause upon noticing that the winner had a brown skin complexion.

“Filipinas Dentro De Cien Anos” (The Philippines within One Hundred Years)

This was serialized in La Solidaridad on September 30, October 31, December 15, 1889 and February 15, 1890. In the articles, Rizal estimated the future of the Philippines in the span of a hundred years and foretold the catastrophic end of Spanish rule in Asia. He ‘prophesied’ Filipinos’ revolution against Spain, winning their independence, but later the Americans would come as the new colonizer

The essay also talked about the glorious past of the Philippines, recounted the deterioration of the economy, and exposed the causes of natives’ sufferings under the cruel Spanish rule. In the essay, he cautioned the Spain as regards the imminent downfall of its domination. He awakened the minds and the hearts of the Filipinos concerning the oppression of the Spaniards and encouraged them to fight for their right.

Part of the essays reads, “History does not record in its annals any lasting domination by one people over another, of different races, of diverse usages and customs, of opposite and divergent ideas. One of the two had to yield and succumb.” The Philippines had regained its long-awaited democracy and liberty some years after Rizal’s death. This was the realization of what the hero envisioned in this essay.

Dated January 15, 1890, this article was the hero’s reply to Governor General Weyler who told the people in Calamba that they “should not allow themselves to be deceived by the vain promises of their ungrateful sons.” The statement was made as a reaction to Rizal’s project of relocating the oppressed and landless Calamba tenants to North Borneo.

“Sobre La Nueva Ortografia De La Lengua Tagala” (On The New Orthography of The Tagalog Language)

Rizal expressed here his advocacy of a new spelling in Tagalog. In this article dated April 15, 1890, he laid down the rules of the new Tagalog orthography and, with modesty and sincerity, gave the credit for the adoption of this new orthography to Dr. Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera, author of the celebrated work “El Sanscrito en la Lengua Tagala” (Sanskrit in the Tagalog Language) published in Paris, 1884.

“I put this on record,” wrote Rizal, “so that when the history of this orthography is traced, which is already being adopted by the enlightened Tagalists, that what is Caesar’s be given to Caesar. This innovation is due solely to Dr. Pardo de Tavera’s studies on Tagalismo. I was one of its most zealous propagandists.”

“Sobre La Indolencia De Los Filipinas” (The Indolence of the Filipinos) 

This logical essay is a proof of the national hero’s historical scholarship. The essay rationally countered the accusations by Spaniards that Filipinos were indolent (lazy) during the Spanish reign. It was published in La Solidaridad in five consecutive issues on July (15 and 31), August (1 and 31) and September  1, 1890.

Rizal argued that Filipinos are innately hardworking prior to the rule of the Spaniards. What brought the decrease in the productive activities of the natives was actually the Spanish colonization. Rizal explained the alleged Filipino indolence by pointing to these factors: 1) the Galleon Trade destroyed the previous links of the Philippines with other countries in Asia and the Middle East, thereby eradicating small local businesses and handicraft industries; 2) the Spanish forced labor compelled the Filipinos to work in shipyards, roads, and other public works, thus abandoning their agricultural farms and industries; 3) many Filipinos became landless and wanderers because Spain did not defend them against pirates and foreign invaders; 4) the system of education offered by the colonizers was impractical as it was mainly about repetitive prayers and had nothing to do with agricultural and industrial technology; 5) the Spaniards were a bad example as negligent officials would come in late and leave early in their offices and Spanish women were always followed by servants; 6) gambling like cockfights was established, promoted, and explicitly practiced by Spanish government officials and friars themselves especially during feast days; 7) the crooked system of religion discouraged the natives to work hard by teaching that it is easier for a poor man to enter heaven; and 8) the very high taxes were discouraging as big part of natives’ earnings would only go to the officials and friars.

Moreover, Rizal explained that Filipinos were just wise in their level of work under topical climate. He explained, “violent work is not a good thing in tropical countries as it is would be parallel to death, destruction, annihilation. Rizal concluded that natives’ supposed indolence was an end-product of the Spanish colonization.

Other Rizal’s articles which were also printed in La Solidaridad were “A La Patria” (November 15, 1889), “Sin Nobre”   (Without Name) (February 28, 1890), and “Cosas de Filipinas”   (Things about the Philippines)  (April 30, 1890).

Historical Commentaries Written in London

This historical commentary was written by Rizal in London on December 6, 1888.

“Acerca de Tawalisi de Ibn Batuta”

This historical commentaryis believed to form part of ‘Notes’ (written incollaboration with A.B. Meyer and F. Blumentritt) on a Chinese code in the Middle Ages, translated from the German by Dr. Hirth. Written on January 7, 1889, the article was about the “Tawalisi” which refers to the northern part of Luzon or to any of the adjoining islands.

It was also in London where Rizal penned the following historical commentaries: “La Political Colonial On Filipinas” (Colonial Policy In The Philippines), “Manila En El Mes De Diciembre” (December , 1872), “Historia De La Familia Rizal De Calamba” (History Of The Rizal Family Of Calamba), and “Los Pueblos Del Archipelago Indico (The People’s Of The Indian Archipelago )

Other Writings in London

“La Vision Del Fray Rodriguez” (The Vision of Fray Rodriguez)

Jose Rizal, upon receipt of the news concerning Fray Rodriguez’ bitter attack on his novel Noli Me Tangere, wrote this defense under his pseudonym “Dimas Alang.” Published in Barcelona, it is a satire depicting a spirited dialogue between the Catholic saint Augustine and Rodriguez. Augustine, in the fiction, told Rodriguez that he (Augustine) was commissioned by God to tell him (Rodriguez) of his stupidity and his penance on earth that he (Rodriguez) shall continue to write more stupidity so that all men may laugh at him. In this pamphlet, Rizal demonstrated his profound knowledge in religion and his biting satire.

“To The Young Women of Malolos”

Originally written in Tagalog, this famous essay directly addressed to the women of Malolos, Bulacan was written by Rizal  as a response to Marcelo H. Del Pilar’s request.

Rizal was greatly impressed by the bravery of the 20 young women of Malolos who planned to establish a school where they could learn Spanish despite the opposition of Felipe Garcia, Spanish parish priest of Malolos. The letter expressed Rizal’s yearning that women be granted the same chances given to men in terms of education. In the olden days, young women were not educated because of the principle that they will soon be wives and their primary career would be to take care of the home and children. Rizal however advocated women’s right to education.

            Below are some of the points mentioned by Rizal in his letter to the young women of Malolos: 1) The priests in the country that time did not embody the true spirit of Christianity; 2) Private judgment should be used; 3) Mothers should be an epitome of an ideal woman who teaches her children to love God, country, and fellowmen; 4) Mothers should rear children in the service of the state and set standards of behavior for men around her;5) Filipino women must be noble, decent, and dignified and they should be submissive, tender, and loving to their respective husband; and 6) Young women must edify themselves, live the real Christian way with good morals and manners, and should be intelligent in their choice of a lifetime partner.

Writings in Hong Kong

“Ang Mga Karapatan Ng Tao” (The Rights Of Man)

This was Rizal’s Tagalog translation of “The Rights of Man” which was proclaimed by the French Revolution in 1789.

“A La Nacion Espanola”(To The Spanish Nation)

Written in 1891, this was Rizal’s appeal to Spain to rectify the wrongs which the Spanish government and clergy had done to the Calamba tenants.

“Sa Mga Kababayan” (To My Countrymen)

This writing written in December 1891 explained the Calamba agrarian situation .

“Una Visita A La Victoria Gaol” (A Visit To Victoria Gaol), March 2, 1892

On March 2, 1892,Rizal wrote this account of his visit to the colonial prison of Hong Kong. He contrasted in the article the harsh Spanish prison system with the modern and more humane British prison system.

“Colonisation Du British North Borneo, Par De Familles De Iles Philippines” (Colonization Of British North Borneo By Families From The Philippine Islands)

This was Rizal’s elucidation of his pet North Borneo colonization project.

“Proyecto De Colonization Del British North Borneo Por Los Filipinos” (Project Of The Colonization Of British North Borneo By The Filipinos)

In this writing, Rizal further discussed the ideas he presented in “Colonization of British North Borneo by Families from the Philippine Islands.”

“La Mano Roja” (The Red Hand)

This was a writing printed in sheet form. Written in Hong Kong, the article denounced the frequent outbreaks of fires in Manila.

“Constitution of The La Liga Filipina”

This was deemed the most important writing Rizal had made during his Hong Kong stay. Though it was Jose Ma. Basa who conceived the establishment of Liga Filipina (Philippine League), his friend and namesake Jose Rizal was the one who wrote its constitution and founded it.

Articles for Trubner’s Record

Due to the request of Rizal’s friend Dr. Reinhold Rost, the editor of Trubner’s Record (a journal devoted to Asian Studies), Rizal submitted two articles:

Specimens of Tagal Folklore

Published in May 1889, the article contained Filipino proverbs and puzzles.

Two Eastern Fables (June 1889)

It was a comparative study of the Japanese and Philippine folklore. In this essay, Jose Rizal compared the Filipino fable, “The Tortoise and the Monkey” to the Japanese fable “Saru Kani Kassen” (Battle of the Monkey and the Crab).

Citing many similarities in form and content, Rizal surmised that these two fables may have had the same roots in Malay folklore. This scholarly work received serious attention from other ethnologists, and became a topic at an ethnological conference.

Among other things, Rizal noticed that both versions of the fable tackled about morality as both involve the eternal battle between the weak and the powerful. The Filipino version however had more philosophy and plainness of form whereas the Japanese counterpart had more civilization and diplomacy.

Other Writings

“Pensamientos De Un Filipino” (Reflections of A Filipino)

Jose Rizal wrote this in Madrid, Spain from 1883-1885. It spoke of a liberal minded and anti-friar Filipino who bears penalties such as an exile.

“Por Telefono”

This was a witty satire authored by “Dimas Alang” (one of the hero’s pen names) ridiculing the Catholic monk Font, one of the priests who masterminded the banning of the “Noli”. Published in booklet form in Barcelona, Spain, it narrated in a funny way the telephone conversation between Font and the provincial friar of the San Agustin Convent in Manila. 

This pamphlet showed not only Rizal’s cleverness but also his futuristic vision. Amazingly, Rizal had envisaged that overseas telephonic conversations could be carried on—something which was not yet done during that time (Fall of 1889). It was only in 1901, twelve years after Rizal wrote the “Por Telefono,” when the first radio-telegraph signals were received by Marconi across the Atlantic.

“La Instruccion” (The Town Schools In The Philippines)

Using his penname “Laong Laan”, Rizal assessed in this essay the elementary educational system in the Philippines during his time. Having observed the educational systems in Europe, Rizal found the Spanish-administered education in his country poor and futile. The hero thus proposed reforms and suggeted a more significant and engaging system.

Rizal for instance pointed out that there was a problem in the mandated medium of instruction—the colonizers’ language (Spanish) which was not perfectly understood by the natives. Rizal thus favored Philippine languages for workbooks and instructions.

The visionary (if not prophetic) thinking of Rizal might have been working (again) when he wrote the essay. Interestingly, his call for educational reforms, especially his stand on the use of the local languages for instruction, is part of the battle cry and features of today’s K to 12 program in the Philippines ... continue reading  (© 2013 by  Jensen DG. Mañebog )

Jensen DG. Mañebog , the contributor, is a book author and professorial lecturer in the graduate school of a state university in Metro Manila. His unique textbooks and e-books on Rizal (available online)  comprehensively tackle, among others, the respective life of Rizal’s parents, siblings, co-heroes, and girlfriends. (e-mail:   [email protected] )

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Did M.H. del Pilar dream in color?

Marcelo H. del Pilar (1850-1896) was editor of La Solidaridad (Solidarity), the fortnightly newspaper in Spain that called for reforms in the colonial Philippines. He is immortalized not just in our history textbooks and monuments of bronze and marble; his name is found on schools, streets, and town plazas. When I was a boy, people still pronounced the street in Ermita with his name in the Spanish fashion: “E-meh Hat-che del Pilar.”

In Bulacan we have a town named Plaridel, which was but one of his many pen names. During his long journalistic career he used anagrams, jumbling the letters of his name to form: Carmelo L. O. Crame and D.M. Calero. He used Kupang, the name of his birthplace. He also used Hilario, which, contrary to popular belief, was a surname rather than a first name. His family was known as Hilario before the Claveria decree of 1849 that rationalized the use of surnames in the Philippines and that gave him a double surname (like Juan Ponce Enrile). But he shortened Hilario del Pilar by using “H.” and further shortened his full name by dropping his maternal surname or middle name Gatmaitan.

Del Pilar was also known as Dolores Manapat, a name developed from his inverted initials. He published strongly worded essays best described in Filipino as “maanghang,” that led him to use the pen name “Siling Labuyo,” whose English translation reminds us of the American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Aside from the official commemoration of Del Pilar’s birthday in Bulacan tomorrow, the association of journalists called Samahang Plaridel will have its own memorial in the fashionable restaurant row, Remedios Circle, where a rousing bronze statue by Jullie Lluch was installed and ironically locked behind iron bars by an overprotective local government. All these point to the sad fact that Del Pilar is but a name in textbooks, a hero remembered once a year on his birthday, a hero who wrote a lot for a nation that does not read. Speeches will be read about his contribution to the birth of the nation, to the cause of press freedom, etc., but how many of his countrymen have read him? How many of us even know how lonely he was in Spain, separated from his wife Marciana (Tsanay) and his two daughters Sofia and Anita?

In Del Pilar’s heartbreaking letters to Tsanay, we see his homesickness. How he missed Philippine food and celebrated when he and his friends had sinigang and lechon in Spain. All his letters inquire about his children and express his longing to see and hug them again. He catalogues all of his ailments, such that a doctor can probably diagnose from his symptoms what brought about his death in 1896, a month shy of the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution in Balintawak and two years shy of the declaration of Philippine Independence in Kawit.

Writing from Madrid in August 1893, Del Pilar shed tears resulting from a dream:

“Si Sofia hindi sumusulat sa akin. Wala akong balita sa ineng kong si Anita. Parati kong napapanaginip na kandong ko si Anita at kaagapay si Sofia, sa paghahali-halili kong hinahagkan, ay inuulit-ulit rau sa akin ng dalaua: ‘Dito ka na sa amin, tatay, huag kang bumalik sa Madrid.’ Nagising akong tigmak sa luha, at gayon mang sinusulat ko ito ay di ko mapigil-pigil ang umaagos na luha sa mga mata ko.”

Not all dreams were sad; sometimes Del Pilar had funny dreams, like one detailed in a letter of June 1893 that made him wake up laughing. He had laughed so loudly that “Naning” (Mariano Ponce?) came into his room to check on him:

“One day, according to my dream Eugenio the Painter went to the house carrying a canvas where he would paint a group portrait of the most notable people in town. The faces of Capitan Pedro, Capitan Ramon and Capitan Jacinto were already painted on the canvas together with others. Eugenio then said that the portrait of Antonio Roxas resembled me. If you wish, he said, I would just paint a moustache (bigote) on my brother in law Toniong and you will be in his place since he doesn’t want to pay me anyway. I laughed and replied ‘How will you include me in the painting when I’m not as important a person like the others?’ Then everyone laughed heartily including Ka Teang, Sofia, Balbina and Ramon. Nevertheless, Eugenio was very determined that just putting a bigote on the face of Toniong would change it to my face and he was convincing us to buy what he was selling. Then Ramon said to me, controlling his laughter, ‘Marcelo, just shave off your bigote and you will look like Antonio in the portrait!’ Everyone laughed even harder and Eugenio was surprised why we were all laughing. This is why I woke up laughing.”

I can only wish that a professional medical doctor or a psychiatrist can go through Del Pilar’s letters to reveal new insights into a hero who was once flesh and blood like you and me before we fossilized him into monuments and official commemorations. All these years I have been writing about the human side of our heroes and have drawn criticism for peddling what has been described as “historical tsismis.” I would like to think that getting to know Del Pilar and other heroes as people does not bring them down from the pedestal, but makes them more inspiring. To know that heroes are human makes us know that we, too, can aspire to be heroes. That we don’t need to wear those body-hugging lycra outfits or need superpowers to become heroes ourselves.

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Social connect, marcelo h. del pilar and the ideas of the revolution 0 3847.

When thinking of Filipino heroes, the mind turns to figureheads of history who were embroiled in the armed struggles at the turn of the twentieth century. Thoughts turn to the likes of Emilio Aguinaldo, Antonio Luna, and Andres Bonifacio. History puts emphasis on the fruits of nationalistic thought over the seeds. And then, when asked about revolutionary writers, the mind turns immediately to Jose Rizal, and after a pause, perhaps then they will finally land on Marcelo H. del Pilar. 

Marcelo H. del Pilar was born in Bulakan, Bulacan on the 30th of August 1850. His family belonged to the principalia —the noble and ruling class of educated, upper-class families in the Spanish Philippines. He benefited from their family’s place in society and qualified for higher education. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in 1860 from the Colegio de San Jose, and pursued law and philosophy from the University of Santo Tomas (like Rizal). 

History heralds Del Pilar as a writer, a lawyer, a freemason, and the Father of Philippine Journalism. But what is fascinating about del Pilar was the growth of his ideas which mirrored the propaganda movement and the later revolution. 

History heralds Del Pilar as a writer, a lawyer, a freemason, and the Father of Philippine Journalism.

Historians label del Pilar’s early movement as anti-friar. In his youth, del Pilar was sentenced to thirty days at the Carcel y Presidio Correcional or the Old Bilibid Prison. This was because, at a baptism where he acted as godfather, he had questioned the excessive baptismal fee charged by the parish priest. But his later writings will show that to call him anti-friar and to call his agitation simply matters of religious contention is simplistic. 

For instance, when the troops and laborers of Fort San Felipe in Cavite rose up in rebellion in January 1872, colonial officials and friars agreed that the mutiny could only have been organized at the hands of Filipino priests influencing their flock. The Spanish colonial government decided that to quash dissent, the failed mutineers and many innocent Filipino priests will be deported or executed. The priests Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora, collectively known as the Gomburza, were executed by garrote. Among the exiled was del Pilar’s eldest brother, Father Toribio H. del Pilar, whose expulsion to the Marianas Islands caused the early death of their mother. 

Events like these called Del Pilar’s attention to the oppression and exploitation routinely dealt by the Spanish crown on indios through the colonial government and priestly orders such that even the noble illustrados (as in the case of Del Pilar’s brother) were not exempt. 

In response, Del Pilar he took up the pen and wrote many articles expounding on acts of oppression and exploitation by the friars and the colonial government. Unlike Rizal, Del Pilar chose to write in Tagalog, not Spanish. He chose the language that was more widely used by his countrymen over what was fashionable. His works were mostly parodies. He used near blasphemous humor to narrate the inequality between the priestly class and the indios . 

Works such as Caiigat Cayo (Be Like the Eel) and Dasalan at Tocsohan (Prayers and Mockeries), contained humorous and sarcastic anecdotes which reflected a society rigidly and unequally divided by class and ethnicity. They were also published in pamphlet form to make them easier and more affordable to disseminate among the provinces. The indios thought it as entertainment but others saw Del Pilar’s works as food for thought and cause for reflection. 

It is important to remember that during this time, the friars of the Augustinian, Dominican and Franciscan orders held executive and control functions on the local levels of governance. They kept the census and tax records, supervised the selection of local officials, supervised education, maintained public morals, and reported incidences of sedition to higher authorities. This was their power over the ordinary folk, the unlettered indios . To go against them was a death wish, and yet that was exactly what Del Pilar did. 

Del Pilar lent his advice to the gobernadorcillo of Malolos. At del Pilar’s word, the gobernadorcillo had the town’s friar curate removed when the friar wanted to bloat the tax list for the parish’s financial gain. This is significant. An indio who was appointed as gobernadorcillo (a petty mayor) dared to censure and terminate the Spanish friar, all on Del Pilar’s advice. 

Del Pilar advised another gobernadorcillo to arrest a friar who had paraded the body of a cholera victim. Parading a cadaver increased the likelihood of spreading the epidemic and it violated an executive order of the Director General of Civil Administration in Manila regarding the exposition of cholera victims in churches. 

Later, Del Pilar wrote a manifesto addressed to the Spanish Queen regent enumerating the crimes of the friars and demanding their expulsion from the country, including Pedro P. Payo, the then Archbishop of Manila.  

More than being merely anti-friar, Del Pilar’s writings and actions can be read as part of the movement to remove individuals whose religious office and influence protected them even when they oppressed the indios. One could say that Del Pilar’s sentiments were not anti-clerical, per se, it just so happened that many of the exploitative people simply happened to be friars.  

For all Del Pilar’s efforts, in 1888, Valeriano Weyler, the new governor-general of the Philippines issued a warrant of arrest against Del Pilar. He was charged for being a filibuster and a heretic. To avoid imprisonment and execution, Del Pilar left his homeland, his wife, and his children in October 1888 and sailed for Spain. Yet even on foreign soil, he did not cease. He found a group of Filipino students, expatriates, and exiles in Madrid collectively working as the Propaganda Movement . He took up his pen and continued his endeavor of exposing the ills and abuses of the colonial government and the friars.  

In December of 1889, del Pilar succeeded Graciano Lopez Jaena as the editor of La Solidaridad . This was the organization and newspaper of Filipino liberals exiled form the Philippines and students attending Europe’s universities. By this time, the illustrados had become sufficiently wealthy to send their sons to Europe to study there. 

The aim of the Soli (nickname of the newspaper La Solidaridad ) was to increase Spanish awareness to the needs of its colony. Under Del Pilar’s editorship, he expanded the pursuit of Soli to include the assimilation of the Philippines as a province of Spain; the removal of friars and secularization of the parishes; securing for indios the freedom of assembly and speech and equality before the law; and Philippine representation in the Spanish Cortes , the legislature of Spain. These were privileges the indios did not have despite nearly 300 years of Spanish occupation. Del Pilar wrote for the rights of indios , to raise their standard of living and to ready them for future progress. 

In Spain, Del Pilar’s ideas and aspirations evolved from assimilation into reform, and eventually to revolution. Del Pilar noticed, however, that while news of the plight of the indios in the Philippines enjoyed the full support of the Filipinos in exile in Spain and gained traction among Spanish citizens, it was ignored by the Spanish crown and government. 

Del Pilar’s despondency and melancholy were recorded in his letters to his wife and friends in the Philippines from this period. He longed for home, and for true change. But Del Pilar’s resilience and perseverance were also notable. He continued the publication of La Solidaridad even as funding grew scarce. He reached into his own holey pockets and funded the newspaper himself. 

Despite Del Pilar’s effors, on November 15, 1895, La Solidaridad ceased publication. In tandem with the newspaper’s decline was Del Pilar’s descent into extreme poverty. He missed meals, and kept himself warm through winter by smoking cigarettes. It is no surprise that his health deteriorated. He suffered from tuberculosis, much like Lopez Jaena, the editor of La Solidaridad before him. The poverty that hounded their efforts was obvious. 

Unable to go back home, Del Pilar began to write to the leaders of the Propaganda movement who had also began founding secret societies dreaming of revolution. Del Pilar wrote to Bonifacio, and approved of the by-laws of the Katipunan. Del Pilar’s personal letters to Bonifacio were even copied down and given as a guide to the Katipunan’s first supreme leader, Deodato Arellano who was Del Pilar’s brother-in-law. To this day, his letters are regarded by historians as important documents of the revolutionary movement.

Del Pilar breathed his last on July 4, 1896, believing that he had failed in freeing his country from clerical abuse and the Spanish colonial system. His death—of disease on foreign soil—would later disqualify him when in 1901, the Philippine Commission searched for a national hero. And while he is often overlooked in favor of other heroes such as Andres Bonifacio and Jose Rizal, there can be no denial of the widespread contribution of his works. 

Marcelo H. del Pilar did not fight with the sword, and it is simplistic to say he fought with the pen. He fought with ideas—ideas of inequality, and of liberty, and of change. He wrote 150 essays, 66 editorials, and countless personal letters all dedicated to these ideas. His body of work reflects the belief that widespread societal change roots itself in an awakening of the mind. 

Curiously, after the Cavite Mutiny and after the Cry of Pugad Lawin, the colonial government arrested, deported and executed writers and thinkers thinking that they provoked the indios to revolt. And if there were no more writers and thinkers, then the indios who were of lesser intellect would not be able to see their oppression. True enough, the indios rose in revolt because someone opened their eyes to a colonial system designed to keep them subservient and lesser. Marcelo H. Del Pilar and other intellectuals like him opened the indios’  eyes. Because of his writings, the seed of his ideas of freedom bore fruit in the Philippine Revolution.  

Sources: 

Bernard, M. A (1974). The Propaganda Movement: 1880-1895. Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints, 22(1-2), 210-211. 

Constantino, Renato (1975). The Philippines: A Past Revisited. Quezon City: Tala Publishing Services. 

Villarroel, Fidel (1997) Marcelo H. del Pilar at the University of Santo Tomas. Manila: University of Santo Tomas Publishing House 

Zapanta, Lea S. (1967) The Political Ideas of Marcelo H. del Pilar. Quezon City: University of the Philippines. 

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