Provenance:
Don Pedro Alejandro Paterno (1857– 1911) and
Doña Luisa Piñeyro de Lugo y Merino (Sra. de Paterno, d. 1897)

ABOUT THE WORK

Segismundo Moret y Prendergast was a seasoned and influential member of the Spanish government, with a career spanning several decades, overlapping Pedro Paterno’s own stay in the Spanish capital. He was a friend and ally of Paterno who cultivated him assidously, building monuments, probably arranging his prominent appearance in La Ilustracion Filipina, and filing regular political and intelligence reports from Manila where Paterno had settled in his new post as the first Filipino director of the Museo-Biblioteca de Filipinas. It’s a revealing snapshot of Philippine politics of the time — and Paterno’s own concerns and frame of mind. Historian Mr. Jim Richardson reflects on the letter as follows : “Paterno’s professions of loyalty to Spain may well have been more sincere than those of the revolutionists. In this letter he reports to the Minister on his meeting with the revolutionists on April 26 and on the visit they made the following day to see Governor General, Basilio Agustin, to whom they reiterated their “firm adhesion to Spain”. Was Paterno instrumental in the murder of Feliciano Jocson? Santiago Alvarez (Ch.67) recalls that (at the meeting) Paterno “prepared a statement accusing Feliciano Jocson of sabotaging the peace treaty of Biac-na-Bato and assigning Gen. Pio del Pilar the grave task of arresting Jocson.” In his letter to Moret, Paterno says just this: “Mande coger al perturba Sr Feliciano Jocson y ido ya entregado al Gobierno. Ha muerto (que en paz descanse).” In the postscript to his letter, Paterno seems to be fretting that all his efforts are not being sufficiently appreciated in Madrid