Marcelo H.

del Pilar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the name of school, see Marcelo H. del Pilar National High School.
Not to be confused with Gregorio del Pilar.
This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is del
Pilar and the second or maternal family name is Gatmaitán.

Marcelo H. del Pilar

Marcelo H. del Pilar, ca. 1889

Born Marcelo Hilario del Pilar y Gatmaitán

August 30, 1850

Bulakan, Bulacan, Captaincy General

of the Philippines

Died July 4, 1896 (aged 45)

Barcelona, Spain

Resting Marcelo H. del Pilar

place Shrine, Bulakan, Bulacan, Philippines

Nationality Filipino

Other names Plaridel (pen name)

Alma mater University of Santo Tomas

 Occupation Writer, lawyer, journalist, and
freemason

Organization La Solidaridad

Spouse(s) Marciana del Pilar (1878–1896; his

death)

Children 2

Marcelo H. del Pilar (born Marcelo Hilario del Pilar y Gatmaitán;[1] August 30, 1850 –
July 4, 1896), better known by his pen name Plaridel,[2] was a Filipino writer, lawyer,
journalist, and freemason. Del Pilar, along with José Rizal and Graciano López Jaena,
became known as the leaders of the Reform Movement in Spain.[3]
Del Pilar was born and brought up in Bulakan, Bulacan. At an early age, he became a
critic of the monastic rule in the country (the Spanish friars). He was suspended at
the University of Santo Tomas and jailed in 1869 after he and the parish priest
quarrelled over exorbitant baptismal fees. In the 1880s, he expanded his anti-friar
movement from Malolos to Manila. He went to Spain in 1888 after an order of
banishment was issued against him. Twelve months after his arrival in Barcelona, he
succeeded López Jaena as editor of the La Solidaridad (Solidarity).[4] Publication of the
newspaper stopped in 1895 due to lack of funds. Losing hope in reforms, he planned to
lead a revolution against Spain. He was on his way home in 1896 when he
contracted tuberculosis in Barcelona. He later died in a public hospital and was buried in
a pauper's grave.[5]
On November 30, 1997, the Technical Committee of the National Heroes Committee,
created through Executive Order No. 5 by former President Fidel Ramos, recommended
del Pilar along with the eight Filipino historical figures to be National Heroes.[6] The
recommendations were submitted to Department of Education Secretary Ricardo T.
Gloria on November 22, 1995. No action has been taken for these recommended
historical figures.[6] In 2009, this issue was revisited in one of the proceedings of
the 14th Congress.[7]
Early life (1850–1880)
Birth and family background

register Marcelo H. del Pilar's baptismal

A replica of Marcelo H. del Pilar's ancestral house and birthplace in Bulacán, Bulacan.
This is now a museum-library housing del Pilar memorabilia.[8]
Marcelo Hilario del Pilar y Gatmaitan was born on August 30, 1850, in Cupang (now
Barangay San Nicolás), Bulacán, Bulacan.[9] He was baptized "Marcelo Hilario" on
September 4, 1850.[1][10] The surname of Marcelo's grandmother "del Pilar" was added
to comply with the order of Governor-General Narciso Clavería in 1849.[11]
Del Pilar's parents belonged to the principalía (upper class). The family owned rice and
sugarcane farms, fish ponds, and an animal powered mill.[12] His father, Julián Hilario
del Pilar, was a well known Tagalog speaker in their town.[13] He was also a well known
poet and writer. Don Julián served as a "three-time" gobernadorcillo (municipal mayor)
of his pueblo (town) and later held the position of oficial de mesa (government clerk) of
the alcalde mayor (provincial governor).[14] Blasa Gatmaitán, del Pilar's mother, was a
descendant of the noble Gatmaitáns. She was known as "Doña Blasica".[10]
The ninth of ten children, del Pilar's siblings were: Toribio (priest, deported to
the Mariana Islands in 1872),[15] Fernando (father of Gregorio del Pilar),[16] Andrea,
Dorotea, Estanislao, Juan, Hilaria (married to Deodato Arellano),[17] Valentín, and María.
The share of the inheritance of each child was very small and del Pilar renounced his
share in favor of his siblings.[2]
Early education (mid 1850s–1869)
Del Pilar learned to play the piano, violin, and flute at an early age.[18] He learned his
first letters from his paternal uncle Alejo del Pilar, the clerk of the court of Quiapo in
1860.[19] He began his studies in the school of Sr. Hermenigildo Flores.[20] He later
transferred at the Colegio de San José in Manila.[9] After obtaining his Bachiller en
Artes, he pursued law at the Universidad de Santo Tomás.
Interruption of law studies at UST (1869)[edit]
In 1869, del Pilar acted as a padrino or godfather at a baptism in San Miguel,
Manila.[15] Since he was not a resident of the area, he questioned the excessive
baptismal fee charged by the parish priest. The parish priest was outraged by his action.
As a result, the judge, Félix García Gavieres, sent del Pilar to Old Bilibid Prison (then
known as Carcel y Presidio Correccional). He was released after thirty days.[21]

Historical marker of the Cavite Mutiny in 1872.

Cavite mutiny (1872)
During the time of the Cavite Mutiny in 1872, del Pilar was living with a Filipino priest
named Mariano Sevilla.[15] Sevilla was deported to the Mariana Islands along with del
Pilar's eldest brother, Fr. Toribio Hilario del Pilar, due to allegations of being one of the
organizers of the uprising.[22] The deportation of Fr. Toribio resulted in the early death of
del Pilar's mother.
Activities after the Cavite mutiny and marriage (1873–1878)
Out of the university, del Pilar worked as oficial de mesa in Pampanga (1874-1875) and
Quiapo (1878-1879).[23] In the month of February 1878, he married his second cousin
Mariana (the "Chanay/Tsanay" in his letters) in Tondo.[24] The couple had seven
children, six girls and one boy: Sofía, José, María, Rosario, María Consolación, María
Concepción, and Ana (Anita). Only two girls, Sofía and Anita, grew to adulthood (five
children died before becoming adults).[25]
Frequent visitors of del Pilar's Tondo house were young students of Manila. One of
them, Mariano Ponce, became one of his colleagues in Spain.
Return to UST and graduation (1878–1880)
In 1878, del Pilar resumed his law studies at the UST.[24] He earned his licenciado en
jurisprudencia (equivalent to a Bachelor of Laws) in 1880.[26] After finishing law, he
worked for the Real Audiencia de Manila (Royal Audience of Manila).
Although practicing law in Manila, del Pilar spent more time in his native province. There
he seized every occasion - baptisms, funeral wakes, weddings, town fiestas, and
cockfights at the cockpits - to educate the common tao (masses) about the conditions of
their native country.[27] He also exposed the abuses of the Spanish friars and colonial
authorities.
Anti-friar campaign in the Philippines (1880–1888)
Diariong Tagalog (1882)
Del Pilar, together with Basilio Teodoro Moran and Pascual H. Poblete, founded the
short-lived Diariong Tagalog (Tagalog Newspaper) in 1882.[15] Diariong Tagalog was the
first bilingual newspaper in the Philippines and was financed by the wealthy Spanish
liberal Francisco Calvo y Muñoz. Del Pilar became the editor of the Tagalog
section.[28] José Rizal's essay El Amor Patrio was featured in the newspaper. Del Pilar
translated it into Tagalog language, Ang Pagibig sa Tinubúang Lupà (Love of
Country).[29]
Anti-friar activities in Malolos (1885)

The pre-1863 lithograph photo of Malolos Cathedral before the earthquake that tore
down its clock tower in 1863. This was one of the sites of del Pilar's anti-friar activities.
Malolos became the center of del Pilar's anti-friar movement. The first success of the
movement was in 1885, when the liberal Manuel Crisóstomo was
elected gobernadorcillo by the citizens of Malolos. Shortly after this victorious event, del
Pilar, together with the cabezas de barangay (chiefs of the barangays) of Malolos,
argued with the town's friar curate on the list of taxpayers. The friar curate wanted to
bloat the tax lists, a move meant for the parish's financial gain.[30]
The Binondo incident (1887)
In 1887, during an upcoming fiesta in Binondo, the notorious incident occurred between
the natives, Chinese, and Chinese mestizos. The gobernadorcillo de
naturales (gobernadorcillo of the natives) of Binondo, Timoteo Lanuza, requested Fr.
José Hevia Campomanes, the friar curate of Binondo Church, to prioritize the natives
over the Chinese in the fiesta.[31] Fr. Hevia rejected Lanuza's request and decided not to
attend the celebration. Most of the attendees of the fiesta were the gobernadorcillos of
Manila and the natives. A few days after the celebration, Fr. Hevia was removed as friar
curate of Binondo by the liberal governor-general Emilio Terrero. The organizer of the
fiesta, Juan Zulueta, was a disciple of del Pilar.[32]
Benigno Quiroga, 1894
Implementation of Quiroga's decree on funerals (1887)
On October 18, 1887, Benigno Quiroga y López Ballesteros, the Director General of
Civil Administration in Manila, issued an executive order prohibiting the exposition of
dead bodies of cholera victims in the churches.[33] Crisóstomo, the gobernadorcillo of
Malolos at that time, proclaimed Quiroga's decree by means of a parade led by a brass
band. Friar Felipe García, the friar-curate of Malolos, aggravated the authorities by
parading the body of the servant of Don Eugenio Delgado. Upon the advice of del Pilar,
Crisóstomo addressed the problem to the Spanish governor of Bulacan, Manuel Gómez
Florio. Gómez Florio reprimanded the fighting friar parish priest.[34]
Establishment of schools in Bulacan (1888)
On January 21, 1888, del Pilar worked for the establishment of a school of "Arts,
Trades, and Agriculture" by drafting of a memorial to the gobernador civil (civil governor)
of Bulacan.[35] This was signed by the gobernadorcillos, ex-gobernadorcillos, leading
citizens, proprietors, industrialists, professors, and lawyers of the province.

Pedro Payo y Piñeiro, O.P.(1814 – 1889) was the 24th Archbishop of Manila who took
charge in 1876 until his death in 1889.
Anti-friar protest in Manila (1888)
On the morning of March 1, 1888, the principales of the districts of Manila and the
nearby provinces (led by Doroteo Cortés and José A. Ramos) marched to the office of
the civil governor of Manila, José Centeno García.[18] They presented
a manifesto addressed to the Queen Regent. This manifesto, entitled "Viva España!
Viva el Rey! Viva el Ejército! Fuera los Frailes!" (Long live Spain! Long live the King!
Long live the Army! Throw the friars out!), was believed to be written by del Pilar. [30] The
manifesto enumerated the abuses/crimes of the friars and demanded their expulsion
from the Philippines including Manila Archbishop Pedro P. Payo himself. A week after
the demonstration, Centeno resigned and left for Spain. Governor-general Terrero's
term also ended the following month. Terrero was succeeded by acting governor-
general Antonio Molto.[36]
Del Pilar's defense of Rizal's Noli Me Tángere (1888)
José Rodríguez, an Augustinian priest, authored a pamphlet entitled ¡Caiñgat Cayó!: Sa
mañga masasamang libro,t, casulatan (Beware!: of bad books and writings, 1888). The
friar warned the Filipinos that in reading Rizal's Noli Me Tángere (Touch Me Not) they
commit "mortal sin". On August 3 of the same year, del Pilar wrote Caiigat Cayó (Be as
Slippery as an Eel) under the pen name Dolores Manapat. It was a reply to
Rodríguez's ¡Caiñgat Cayó!.[37]
Later activities in the Philippines and escape to Spain (1888)
Valeriano Weyler succeeded Molto as the governor-general of the Philippines.
Investigations were escalated during Weyler's term. Gómez Florio, the Spanish
governor of Bulacan and del Pilar's friend, was removed from his position. An arrest
warrant was issued against del Pilar, accusing him of being a filibustero (subversive)
and heretic. Upon the advice of his friends and relatives, del Pilar left Manila for Spain
on October 28, 1888.[38]
The night before he left the country, del Pilar stayed at the house of his fellow
Bulaqueño, Pedro Serrano y Lactao. Together with Rafael Enriquez, they wrote
the Dasalan at Tocsohan (Prayers and Mockeries), a mock-prayer book satirizing the
Spanish friars.[39] They also wrote the Pasióng Dapat Ipag-alab nang Puso nang
Tauong Babasa(Passion That Should Inflame the Heart of the Reader).[40]

A copy of La Solidaridad, the principal organ of the Reform Movement in Spain.

Del Pilar was also able to organize the Caja de Jesús, María y José, the objective of
which was to continue propaganda and provide education to indigent children. [41] He
managed the organization with the assistance of Mariano Ponce, Gregorio Santillán,
Mariano Crisóstomo, Lactao, and José Gatmaitán. Caja de Jesús, María y José was
later terminated and replaced by Comité de Propaganda(Committee of Propaganda) in
Manila.
Propaganda movement in Spain (1889–1896)
Del Pilar arrived in Barcelona on January 1, 1889.[42] He headed the political section of
the Asociación Hispano-Filipina de Madrid(Hispanic Filipino Association of
Madrid).[43] On February 17, 1889, del Pilar wrote a letter to Rizal, praising the young
women of Malolos for their bravery. These 20 young women asked the permission of
Governor-General Weyler to allow them to open a night school where they could learn
to read and write Spanish. With Weyler's approval and over the objections of Friar
Felipe García, the night school opened in the early 1889. Del Pilar considered this
incident as a victory to the anti-friar movement. Upon his request, Rizal wrote his
famous letter to the women of Malolos, Sa Mga Kababayang Dalaga Sa Malolos (To the
Young Women of Malolos), on February 22, 1889.[41]
La Solidaridad (1889)
On December 15, 1889, del Pilar succeeded Graciano López Jaena as editor of the La
Solidaridad.[4] Under his editorship, the aims of the newspaper expanded. Using
propaganda, it pursued the desires for: assimilation of the Philippines as a province of
Spain; removal of the friars and the secularization of the parishes; freedom of assembly
and speech; equality before the law; and Philippine representation in the Cortes, the
legislature of Spain.[44][45]
A photograph of the Ilustrados in Madrid (ca. 1890). Del Pilar is standing beside Rizal,
second row, sixth from right.
The conflict between del Pilar and Rizal (1891)
In 1890, a rivalry developed between del Pilar and Rizal. This was mainly due to the
difference between del Pilar's editorial policy and Rizal's political beliefs. [46]
On January 1, 1891, about 90 Filipinos gathered in Madrid. They agreed that
a Responsable (leader) be elected.[47] Camps were drawn into two, the Pilaristas and
the Rizalistas. The first voting for the Responsablestarted on the first week of February
1891. Rizal won the first two elections but the votes counted for him did not reach the
needed two thirds vote fraction. After Mariano Ponce pleaded to the Pilaristas, Rizal
was elected Responsable. Rizal, knowing the Pilaristas did not like his political beliefs,
respectfully declined the position and transferred it to del Pilar. He then packed up his
bags and boarded a train leaving for Biarritz, France.[48]Inactive in the Reform
Movement, Rizal ceased his contribution of articles on La Solidaridad.
After the incident, del Pilar wrote a letter to Rizal seeking apology for any mistakes he
had done. Rizal responded and said that he stopped writing for La Solidaridad because
of many reasons: first, he needed time to work on his second novel El
Filibusterismo (The Reign of Greed);[49] second, he wanted other Filipinos in Spain to
work also; and lastly, he could not lead an organization without solidarity in work.
Closure of La Solidaridad (1895)
From 1890 to 1895, del Pilar published La Solidaridad almost on his own as funding
was scarce in the Philippines. Publication of the fortnightly stopped on November 15,
1895. Before his death, del Pilar rejected the theory of assimilation. Planning an armed
struggle, del Pilar stated:

“ Insurrection is the last remedy, especially when the people have acquired the
belief that peaceful means to secure the remedies for evils prove futile. [50] ”

This statement inspired the Katipunan, a revolutionary organization founded by Andrés

Bonifacio.[51]
"Father of Philippine Journalism”
For his 150 essays and 66 editorials mostly published in La Solidaridad and various
anti-friar pamphlets, del Pilar is widely regarded as the "Father of Philippine
Journalism."[62]
Samahang Plaridel, an organization of veteran journalists and communicators, was
founded in October 2003 to honor del Pilar's ideals. It also promotes mutual help,
cooperation, and understanding among Filipino journalists.[63]
"Father of Philippine Masonry"

Professor Miguél Moráyta Sagrario

Del Pilar was initiated into Freemasonry in 1889.[64] He served as venerable master of
the famous Solidaridad lodge of Madrid. He became a close friend of Miguél Moráyta
Sagrario, a professor at the Universidad Central de Madrid and Grand Master of
Masons of the Grande Oriente Español.[65]
Del Pilar was directly responsible for the establishment of the first national organization
of Filipino Masons, the Gran Consejo Regional de Filipinas, in 1893. With this, he
earned the recognition as the "Father of Philippine Masonry." The Masonic Grand
Lodge of the Philippines is named Plaridel Masonic Temple.

In popular culture
Marcelo H. del Pilar was faced on the Philippine fifty centavo coin in 1967-72 and again
in 1983-94.

 Portrayed by Dennis Marasigan in the Filipino film, José Rizal (1998).[66]



Notable works
"La Solídaridad" ("Published")

 Caiigat Cayó (Be as Slippery as an Eel, 1888)[37]

 Dasalan at Tocsohan (Prayers and Mockeries, 1888) [39]
 Ang Cadaquilaan nang Dios (The Greatness of God, 1888)[67]
 La Soberanía Monacal en Filipinas (Monastic Supremacy in the Philippines,
1888)[68]
 Pasióng Dapat Ipag-alab nang Puso nang Tauong Babasa (Passion That Should
Inflame the Heart of the Reader, 1888)[40]
 La Frailocracía Filipina (Friarocracy in the Philippines, 1889)[69]
 Sagót ng España sa Hibíc ng Filipinas (Spain's Reply to the Cry of the Philippines,
1889)[70]
 Dupluhan... Dalits... Bugtongs (A Poetical Contest in Narrative Sequence, Psalms,
Riddles, 1907)[71]
 Sa Bumabasang Kababayan (unpublished)[71]

See also

 Gawad Plaridel Award

 La Solidaridad
 Philippine Revolution
 Propaganda Movement