On August 30,1850 Marcelo H. del Pilar was born in Sitio Cupang, San Nicolas, in Bulacan, Bulacan.His father, Leon Hilario was thrice gobernadorcillo of Bulacan town. Del Pilar was adopted after the 1849 Claveria decree, which also caused the changing of Mercado to Rizal. His mother was Blasica Gatmaytan,the prefix Gat denoting Tagalog aristocracy.Marcelo was ninth and second to the youngest of the Hilario children of six boys and four girls who started bearing the Del Pilar surname.
Macelo's first teacher was his mother.Later , he went to Manila and studied under Mr. Flores. He attended the College of San Juan de Letran and the University of Sto. Tomas where he studied law.
His first bitter experience with the Spanish friars was when he was charged with a very high baptismal fee when he acted as a god-father to a boy,so he went to another church. Then again ,his eldest brother,Fr. Toribio, with Frs. Gomez Burgos and Zamora was arrested.He was encarcerated in Malolos ,then,with hands tied together by a rope attached to the horse's reins, was paraded on the streets of Malolos and Bulacan, on the way to Manila.The young Marcelo asked the captain of the guards if his brother could be given a horse to ride or stop to bless their very sick mother , but was not allowed.
After he became a lawyer in 1886, Del Pilar spent his time writing for the Diariong Tagalog. He attacked the Spanish priests in his articles and defended the weak.The Spaniards were angry and planned to deport him.When he found this out, he left for Spain in October, 1888.
In Spain, he continued his attacks on the Spanish officials in the Philippines through the La Solidaridad, of which he became its second editor up to 1895.He used the pen-name "Plaridel" in his writings.
He organized the Filipinos in Spain into freemasonry , and joined the propaganda movement where he criticized the cruelties in the Philippines and fought for his country's cause.
He did not earn anything from his writings. He published pamphlets and booklets out of his own money or money he received from his friends.When he no longer received money from home and his friends, he went hungry and sick.He died in desolation, despair and bitter loneliness in the land of his enemies on July 4,1896 in Barcelona, at the age of 46.
The eight long years in Spain of Marcelo del Pilar's life was a monumental sacrifice for his fight against the Spaniards' maladministration and injustices, He spent the whole of his life in a great effort for the welfare of his country and fellowmen.
Sometime before his death, his wife wrote him of the burning of their house in Cupang. he wrote back: "The criminal hired for the job is misled by his ignorance of my sincere love for him and our country.
Nothing is left of the fearless newspaperman's property today, except a piece of land on which their house stood and which was burned by his enemies.A shrine has been built on this site.A marker at its center is a pedestal with a bust of Marcelo del Pilar on its base. At the foot of the pedestal is a small tomb where the remains of the hero have been kept.
References:In The Grade School _July, 1964
Sunday Chronicle , August 25, 1962
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