ABOUT THE WORK

The contents of this heart-rending letter of the suffering of Marcelo Hilario del Pilar, one of the greatest heroes of the Propaganda Movement — and of the Philippine Revolution — has appeared in various publications and Philippine history books (from Teodoro Agoncillo to Renato Constantino) as well as textbooks. It contains the detail that every schoolboy knows about M.H. del Pilar — that he would pick up cigarette butts on the street just to have a drag of tobacco. Del Pilar’s poverty served a heroic purpose, however. “There are many kinds of heroism. There is the heroism of the martyrs like Rizal, pure and spotless victims offered in atonement for the sins of mankind. There is the heroism of the fighters like Bonifacio, bold and gallant in the vanguard of the struggle”, wrote Leon Ma. Guerrero. “And there is also the heroism of those who, like Del Pilar, work and make their sacrifices in the sustained devotion of their daily tasks. Theirs is not the spectacular glory of the battlefield or the tragic splendor of the scaffold. But it is nonetheless heroic to starve for an ideal, to be lonely among many enemies, to suffer indifference and ignorance, to die a beggar and lie buried in a borrowed grave. Such was the heroism of Del Pilar.” M.H. del Pilar chose to stay marooned in Madrid, pretty much penniless, working night and day, writing some 150 essays and 66 editorials for the newspaper La Solidaridad. (He did not come from an especially rich family although his father was gobernadorcillo thrice over in Bulacan and he was descended from the noble Gatmaitans.) He was said to have been an even better writer than Jose Rizal, specializing not just in the Spanish of the politicians and intellectuals but also in Tagalog for the man on Manila’s streets. He had been forced to escape to Spain after making enemies of the friars. He refused to return home ‘unlike Rizal’, unwilling to risk the retribution on his family and friends that Jose Rizal’s return had rained on Calamba. As it was, his home had been burned — while he was in Spain — by what he suspected were his enemies in the Church. Ultimately, at the end of his rope, Del Pilar begs his wife to find a way to get him home to Manila where he can find work. Del Pilar, more over, was venerated by Andres Bonifacio, as much as — if not more so — than José Rizal. Bonifacio had, in fact, sent Del Pilar the Katipunan by-laws for his comment and approval. He selected his brother-in-law, Deodato Arellano, as one of the founders of the KKK; and the letters of Del Pilar that Arellano had given him would serve as his signposts of how he hatched the Philippine Revolution. Bonifacio would copy out these letters painstakingly and would use the prestige of Del Pilar’s name to recruit Katipuneros. Indeed, there is much of Marcelo H. del Pilar that can be seen in Bonifacio’s strategies and actions. Bonifacio would name him as the editor of the KKK newspaper, Kalayaan. Del Pilar had chosen that word to best translate the French ‘Liberté.’ He had dragged himself to Barcelona in July 1896, expecting to finally sail back to Manila where he was determined to join the Revolution, carefully planned by Andres Bonifacio with his guidance. Events and ill health overtook him and he perished just a month before the Cry of Balintawak. He would also become known in another conflict as the uncle of another tragic figure from the Philippine-American War, the boy-general Gregorio H. del Pilar. M.H. del Pilar is also recognized as patron saint of Filipino journalists, who have named their association, the ‘Samahang Plaridel’ after his pen name, taken from one of Bulacan’s most famous river. -Lisa Guerrero Nakpil