Professional Documents
Culture Documents
GROUP 7 Case Study La Solidaridad
GROUP 7 Case Study La Solidaridad
GROUP 7 Case Study La Solidaridad
LA SOLIDARIDAD
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
The National Engineering University
ARASOF-Nasugbu Campus
R. Martinez St., Brgy. Bucana, Nasugbu, Batangas, Philippines 4231
Tel. Nos.: 0917 867 7276 | Email Address: gened.nasugbu@g.batstate-u.edu.ph
Graciano Lopez Jaena was born on December 18, 1856 in Jaro, Iloilo. He came from a lowly
family which has strong values in education and religion. His father Placido Lopez, is a general
repairman while his mother, Maria Jacoba Jaena is a seamstress. He studied at the Seminario
Tejaro and at an early age: he was placed under the care of Reverend Francisco Jayme who
enhanced and developed his skills in speech. Since his ambition was to become a doctor, he tried
to enroll at the University of Santo Tomas but was deprived of access due to lack of
requirements.
While in the city, he worked as a trainee at San Juan de Dios Hospital but due to poverty he
was forced to return home to Iloilo and continued his practice there. His encounter with other
less fortunate Filipinos opened his eyes to the maltreatment and abuses of the Spaniards. He
campaigned to voice out the injustices and wrongdoings of the Spanish colonizers. “Fray Botod”,
the story’ of a fat and corrupt priest angered the friars more, thus his life was put in danger. He
flew to Spain to avoid conflict but continued his battle. He was the leader in the literary faction
and became its speaker, He pursued his study of medicine at the University of Valencia but did
not complete the course and instead shifted to journalism.
Graciano Lopez Jaena, the orator and journalist was best remembered for being the founder
and the.first editor of “La Solidaridad”, in Barcelona, on February 15, 1889. Along with Marcelo
H. del Pilar and Jose Rizal, he was one of the pillars of the Philippine reform movement which
eventually galvanized the country’s struggle for freedom during the late 19th century. He died a
poor man but had he lived longer. his accomplishments would have doubtless been greater. Jaena
died of tuberculosis on January 2O, 1896 in Barcelona, Spain.
Background of the Document/ Primary Sources
The proposal to publish a newspaper to spread their ideals came with the ideals with the
idea of forming a Filipino organization in Madrid in 1876. But the concept of uniting the Filipino
community in Spain died an early death, yet the thought of coming out with a newspaper
remained. On March 7, 1877, the first issue of the newspaper, España en Filipinas made it’s
appearance in the streets of Madrid. It was edited by Eduardo de Lete and came out at least four
times a month. The paper was officially issued to combat the anti-Filipino attitudes of some
Spanish writers who began writing diatribes against the ideas of assimilation. It was moderate in
its outlook and, at first, “not openly opposing “existing institution” (Schumacher, 2002) but “to
sustain in the arena of the press all those solutions which tend to renew once more the open-
minded policy of assimilation, traditional in overseas Spain”. España en Filipinas lived a short
life, lasting only 16 issues with the last one put out in September of 1877. In spite of the end of
España en Filipinas, Ponce continued to solicit funds to up “an organ of Filipino opinion in
Spain”. (Schumacher, 2002) There were immediate positive results. Funds were contributed by
interested parties along with proposal that Ponce and Rizal (who was beginning to show his
leadership among the Filipinos in Spain) should be the editors of the planned newspaper. Both
declined. Lete, on the other hand, assumed that he will be asked to be an editor again
considering his experience with the Espana en Filipinas. But it was because of the debacle of the
newspaper that many of this countrymen opposed his taking up the responsibility again. In fact,
Lete was also blamed for the growing schism between the Filipinos caused by his handling of the
newspaper. The decision to appoint a director for the planned newspaper became deadlocked.
Unable to solve the problem of removing the condition of choosing an editor that came with the
contributions, Ponce along with the other Filipinos, decided to put up a newspaper with their
own money.
The La Solidaridad was founded on February 15, 1889 in Barcelona by Galicano Apacible,
Jose Ma. Panganiban, Mariano Ponce, Pablo Rianzares Bautista, and Santiago Icasiano. The
main proponent of the news-paper project, however, was Ponce, who became administrator and
the business manager of the newspaper. The newspaper began with funds these men contributed.
Paez mentioned that Ponce and Bautista gave 10 reales Fuertes each while Panganiban gave
three duros.” (Paez, 1980 as cited by Artigas y Cuerva, 1913). The most distinguished
contributors included Graciano López Jaena, Marcelo H. del Pilar and Jose Rizal. The action
program defined by La Solidaridad was completed. The publication fought against conservative
reaction by fiercely criticizing an “apparent power wielded by the clergy”. This issue became a
cliché in the twentieth century, when American literature promoted that concept. However, few
researchers have shown the point in time in which the work produced by contributors to La
Solidaridad supported liberal ideas and reforms implemented in the archipelago. The Soli was
Del Pilar's "periodiquito," a tabloid-sized newspaper that was roughly 20.5 × 28 cm (the size of a
sheet of bondpaper), rather than a broadsheet. The text was printed in two columns, with the first
page having the most of the illustrations, which were scarce overall. The newspaper's size and
thickness were important for its target audience, which included readers in the Philippines. In
connection to with the purpose of La Solidaridad, its main audience focuses on the Philippines.
The country, its people, its government, and its relationship with other countries, with the
oppressive governance delivered by the Spaniards, our Filipino propagandists contested the right
of our country and our people in defending our democratic rights that have always been taken
from us. The administrators of Soli knew that the newspaper would enrage the friars and the
colonial authorities, so they prepared it to be smuggled or secretly mailed to get past the
government censors in the islands. A regular edition of the newspaper had about 12 pages, but
there were issues with 16 pages or more. The primary source on the story of La Solidaridad was
surprisingly rare in the Philippines until recently. But its history could be followed through the
letters of its staff and contributors. A meticulous researcher, Manuel Artigas y Cuerva viewed
and made notes on the pre-war newspaper collection in the government archives and the National
Library. One of the bibliographical entries he wrote was that of the La Solidaridad, which he
include in his work “El Centenario de la Imprenta”, a series of articles in the American period
magazine Renacimiento Filipino which ran from 1911-1913. Here he cited a published
autobiography by reformist turn revolutionary supporter, Timoteo Paez as his source. However,
no known copy of this autobiography in any library here in the Philippines today.
It is also unfortunate that there is no complete set of the La Solidaridad here in the Philippines
today. Speciments that were in the National Library of the Philippines during the American
period were destroyed during Wprld War II. A few issues were discovered in 2011 in the
University of Santo Tomas Archives by it’s archivist, Prof. Regalado Trota Jose, after it was
placed in storage following an exhibit in the late 1970’s. The paper sought to put political
pressure on the Spanish government, and, though not initially revolutionary, it helped spawn a
united front for Filipino independence.
ReferenceS:
file:///C:/Users/Mark%20Joshua/Downloads/119%20(2).pdf
file:///C:/Users/Mark%20Joshua/Downloads/118%20(1).pdf
https://philippine-trivia.com/trivia-about-graciano-lopez-jaena/?
fbclid=IwAR0B3nXCeTL4ayUrDuSLECrizGj1c94MV1hzlP2BoDR3ms147LM8_1mrNpo
https://www.slideshare.net/allynjoycalcaben/la-solidaridad-and-the-propaganda-movement
https://philippinepresshistory.wordpress.com/2015/05/21/ii-revolutionary-press-la-solidaridad-
and-the-propagandists/