Jose Rizal

JOSE RIZAL, the national hero of the Philippines and pride of the Malayan race, was born on June 19, 1861, in the town of Calamba, Laguna. He was the seventh child in a family of 11 children (2 boys and 9 girls). Both his parents were educated and belonged to distinguished families. His father, Francisco Mercado Rizal, an industrious farmer whom Rizal called "a model of fathers," came from Bian, Laguna; while his mother, Teodora Alonzo y Quintos, a highly cultured and accomplished woman whom Rizal called "loving and prudent mother," was born in Meisic, Sta. Cruz, Manila. At the age of 3, he learned the alphabet from his mother; at 5, while learning to read and write, he already showed inclinations to be an artist. He astounded his family and relatives by his pencil drawings and sketches and by his moldings of clay. At the age 8, he wrote a Tagalog poem, "Sa Aking Mga Kabata," the theme of which revolves on the love of ones language. In 1877, at the age of 16, he obtained hi s Bachelor of Arts degree with an average of "excellent" from the Ateneo Municipal de Manila. In the same year, he enrolled in Philosophy and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas, while at the same time took courses leading to the degree of surveyor and expert assessor at the Ateneo. He finished the latter course on March 21, 1877 and passed the Surveyors examination on May 21, 1878; but because of his age, 17, he was not granted license to practice the profession until December 30, 1881. In 1878, he enrolled in medicine at the University of Santo Tomas but had to stop in his studies when he felt that the Filipino students were being discriminated upon by their Dominican tutors. On May 3, 1882, he sailed for Spain where he continued his studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid. On June 21, 1884, at the age of 23, he was conferred the degree of Licentiate in Medicine and on June 19,1885, at the age of 24, he finished his course in Philosophy and Letters with a grade of "excellent."

Marcelo H. Del Pilar

Marcelo Del Pilar was born in Kupang, Bulacan, on Aug. 30, 1850, to cultured parents. He studied at the Colegio de San Jos and later at the University of Santo Tomas, where he finished his law course in 1880. Fired by a sense of justice against the abuses of the clergy, Del Pilar attacked bigotry and hypocrisy and defended in court the impoverishedvictims of racial discrimination. He preached the gospel of work, self-respect, and human dignity. His mastery of Tagalog, his native language, enabled him to arouse the consciousness of the masses to the need for unity and sustained resistance against the Spanish tyrants. In 1882 Del Pilar founded the newspaper Diariong Tagalog to propagate democratic liberal ideas among the farmers and peasants. In 1888 he defended Jos Rizal's polemical writings by issuing a pamphlet against a priest's attack, exhibiting his deadly wit and savage ridicule of clerical follies. In 1888, fleeing from clerical persecution, Del Pilar went to Spain, leaving his family behind. In December 1889 he succeeded Graciano Lopez Jaena as editor of the Filipino reformist periodical La solidaridadin Madrid. He promoted the objectives of the paper by contacting liberal Spaniards who would side with the Filipino cause. Under Del Pilar, the aims of the newspaper were expanded to include removal of the friars and the secularization of the parishes; active Filipino participation in the affairs of the government; freedom of speech, of the press, and of assembly; wider social and political freedoms; equality before the law; assimilation; and representation in the Spanish Cortes, or Parliament. Del Pilar's difficulties increased when the money to support the paper was exhausted and there still appeared no sign of any immediate response from the Spanish ruling class. Before he died of tuberculosis caused by hunger and enormous privation, Del Pilar rejected the assimilationist stand and began planning an armed revolt. He vigorously affirmed this conviction: "Insurrection is the last remedy, especially when the people have acquired the belief that peaceful means to secure the remedies for evils prove futile." This idea inspired Andres Bonifacio's Katipunan, a secret revolutionary organization. Del Pilar died in Barcelona on July 4, 1896. Del Pilar's militant and progressive outlook derived from the classic Enlightenment tradition of the French philosophes and the scientific empiricism of the European bourgeoisie. Part of this outlook was transmitted by Freemasonry, to which Del Pilar subscribed.

Mariano Ponce

Mariano Ponce (March 23, 1863 May 23, 1918), was a Filipino physician, writer, and active member of the Propaganda Movement. In Spain, he was among the founders of La Solidaridad and Asociacion Hispano-Filipino. Among his significant works was Efemerides Filipinas, a column on historical events in the Philippines which appeared in La Oceania Espaola (18921893) and El Ideal (19111912). He wrote Ang Wika at Lahi (1917), a discussion on the importance of a national language. He served as Bulacan's representative to the National Assembly. Ponce was born in Baliwag, Bulacan where he completed his primary education. He later enrolled at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran and took up medicine at the University of Santo Tomas. In 1881, he traveled to Spain to continue his medical studies at the Unversidad Central de Madrid. There he joined Marcelo del Pilar, Graciano Lpez Jaena, Jos Rizal and other Propagandists in an antiSpaniard movement. This espoused Filipino representation in the Spanish Cortes and reforms in the Spanish colonial authorities of the Philippines. He was the co-founder of La Solidaridad with fellow cofounder Graciano Lpez Jaena. Ponce was also the head of the Literary Section of the Asociacion Hispano-Filipina, created to aid the Propaganda Movement where he served as secretary.
[1]

In La Solidaridad, his works included daily editorials on history, politics, sociology and travel. He also created himself many alias as well. His most common names are Naning, his nickname; Kalipulako, named after Lapu-Lapu; and Tigbalang, a supernatural being in Filipino folklore.
[2]

Ponce was imprisoned when the revolution broke out on August 1896 and was imprisoned for forty eight hours before being released. Fearing another arrest, he fled to France and later went to Hong Kong where he joined a group of Filipinos and Filipino-Chinese, who served as the international front of the Philippine revolution.

Juan Luna

Juan Luna y Novicio (October 23, 1857 December 7, 1899) was a Filipino painter, sculptor and a political activist of the Philippine Revolutionduring the late 19th century. He became one of the first recognized Philippine artists. His winning the gold medal in the 1884 Madrid Exposition of Fine Arts, along with the silver win of fellow Filipino painter Flix Resurreccin Hidalgo, prompted a celebration which was a major highlight in the memoirs of members of the Propaganda Movement, with the fellow Ilustrados toasting to the two painters' good health and to the brotherhood between Spain and the Philippines. Regarded for work done in the manner of the Spanish, Italian and French academies of his time, Luna painted literary and historical scenes, some with an underscore of political commentary. His allegorical works were inspired with classical balance, and often showed figures in theatrical poses. Born in the town of Badoc, Ilocos Norte in the northern Philippines, Juan Luna was the third among the seven children of Don Joaquin Luna de San Pedro y Posadas and Doa Laureana Novicio y Ancheta. In 1861, the Luna family moved to Manila and he went to Ateneo Municipal de Manila where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree. He excelled in painting and drawing, and was influenced by his brother, Manuel Luna, who, according to Filipino patriot Jos Rizal, was a better painter than Juan himself. Luna enrolled at Escuela Nautica de Manila (now Philippine Merchant Marine Academy) and became a sailor. He took drawing lessons under the illustrious painting teacher Lorenzo Guerrero of Ermita, Manila. He also enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts (Academia de Dibujo y Pintura) in Manila where he was influenced and taught how to draw by the Spanish artist Agustin Saez. Unfortunately, Luna's vigorous brush strokes displeased his teacher and Luna was discharged from the Academy. However, Guerrero was impressed by his skill and urged Luna to travel to Spain to further pursue his studies.

Antonio Luna

Antonio Luna de San Pedro y Novicio-Ancheta (October 29, 1866 June 5, 1899), an Ilocano born in Manila, was a Filipinopharmacist and general who fought in the PhilippineAmerican War. He was also the founder of the Philippines's first military academy, which existed during the First Philippine Republic. [1] He was regarded as the most brilliant of the Filipino military officers during the war. Succeeding Artemio Ricarte as commander of the Philippine Revolutionary Army, he organized professional guerrilla soldiers later to be known as the Luna sharpshooters. His three-tier defense, now known as the Luna Defense [2] Line, gave the American troops a hard campaign in the provinces north of Manila. He was born in Urbiztondo, Binondo, Manila. He was the youngest of seven children of Joaqun Luna de San Pedro, from Badoc, Ilocos Norte, and Spanish mestiza Laureana Novicio-Ancheta, from Luna, La [3] Union (formerly Namacpacan). His father was a traveling salesman of the products of government monopolies. His older brother, Juan, was an accomplished painter who studied in the Madrid Escuela de [4] Bellas Artes de San Fernando. Another brother, Jos, became a doctor. At the age of six, Antonio learned reading, writing, and arithmetic from a teacher known as Maestro Intong. He memorized the Doctrina Christiana (catechism), the first book printed in the Philippines.
[3]

Common Catholic vocal prayers were all included in the book. The primary goal of the book

was to propagate the Christian teachings in the Philippines. He initially studied at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1881.
[3]

He went on to study literature and chemistry at the University of Santo Tomas, where he won first

prize for a paper in chemistry titled Two Fundamental Bodies of Chemistry. He also studied pharmacy, swordsmanship, fencing, and military tactics, and became a sharpshooter. On the invitation of his brother Juan in 1890, Antonio was sent by his parents to Spain, to acquire a licentiate (at Universidad de Barcelona) and doctorate (at Universidad Central de Madrid) in Pharmacy.
[3]

Graciano Lopez Jaena

Graciano Lpez Jaena (December 18, 1856-January 20, 1896) was a journalist, orator, revolutionary, and national hero from Iloilo, thePhilippines, who is well known for his newspaper, La Solidaridad. Philippine historians
[who?] [1] [2]

regard Lpez Jaena, along with Marcelo H. del Pilar and Jos Rizal, as the triumvirate of

Filipino propagandists. Of these three ilustrados, Lpez Jaena was the first to arrive in Spain and may have founded the genesis of the Propaganda Movement. His parents sent Lpez Jaena to Jaro to study at St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary which had been opened under the administration of Governor General Carlos Mara de la Torre y Nava Cerrada. While there, he served as a secretary to an uncle, Claudio Lpez, who was the honorary vice consul of Portugal in Iloilo. His ambition to become a physician convinced his parents that this was the better course of action. Lpez Jaena sought enrollment at the University of Santo Tomas but was denied admission because the required Bachelor of Arts degree was not offered at the seminary in Jaro. Instead he was appointed to the San Juan de Dios Hospital as an apprentice. Unfortunately, due to financial problems, he dropped out and returned to Iloilo to practice medicine. During this period, his visits with the poor began to stir feelings about the injustices that were common.
[citation needed]

At

the age of 18 he wrote the satirical story "Fray Botod" which depicted a fat and lecherous priest. Botods false piety "always had the Virgin and God on his lips no matter how unjust and underhanded his acts are."
[citation needed]

This

incurred the fury of the friars. Although the story was not published, a copy circulated in Iloilo but the friars could not prove that Lpez Jaena was the author. He got into trouble for refusing to testify that certain prisoners died of natural causes when it was obvious that they had died at the hands of the mayor of Pototan. Lpez Jaena continued to agitate for justice and finally went to Spain when threats were made on his life. Lpez Jaena sailed for Spain in 1879. There he became a leading writer and speaker for Philippine reform.

Name : Maria Shiela Cuizon Grade : 7 Section : Generosity ( 5 ) Teacher : Mrs. Oriesga