The Prince of Filipino Orators

Graciano Lopez Jaena was born on December 18,1856 in Jaro, Iloilo.In his boyhood, he studied in the parochial school of his town.While yet a student, in his satirical novelette, "Fray Butod", he rediculed the Spanish friar who became very fat for eating too much and living in luxury at the expense of poor Filipinos whom they abuse.He had incurred the hatred of the friars .Soon after,he had to leave his hometown and sail to Spain to save his life.He stayed in Spain for almost 15 years ,fighting for the rights of his people.One of his fondest dreams was to represent the Philippines to the Spanish Cortes.This dream didn't come true, but his speeches served a way as the first bullets that fired the opening guns of the Revolution that was soon to follow.

Graciano was the founder and first editor of the famous"La Solidaridad", an organ which Filipino reformers and Spanish liberals used to propagate their beliefs. With pen dipped in gall, he wrote articles  asking for radical reforms in his country, among which were , freedom of the press, freedom to carry on lawful business, and freedom to form societies and associations.According to him, these three are the bases of liberty from which "comes the happiness of the individual ,of the family and of the society."

The greatest orator of the propaganda was a gifted writer.He wrote his biting editorials and articles in a cafe. He wrote them between drinks and with surprising ease and while surrounded by his friends. He was mighty with the pen. In one of his articles published in "La Solidaridad" , entitled"En Tinieblas", he lambasted the biased Spanish writers for their absurdities.

Graciano Lopez Jaena was considered to be the greatest Filipino orator of his time. While in Spain, he worked hard with his tongue and pen,to obtain liberty fo his countrymen. He knew at heart that the Spaniards did not know anything about the Philippines, much less, what was happening in our country. So, with his powerful voice, he tried to sell the Philippines to Spain. Everywhere he went, he talked of his native land. In one of his famous speeches, he described the Philippines as :"The blue sea is her veil, her crown, the beautiful sky studded with brilliant stars. Whoever has not seen those islands,of the East,has not seen one of the loveliest regions on Earth".

On another occasion, he was one of the principal speakers at a banquet to which rich and powerful Spaniards were invited .When his turn came, he rose. He was thin and lean,yet imposing and magnetic.His audience looked at him intensely and wondered what he would say. The subject of his impassioned speech was no other than his favorite:_ liberty, especially that of his country and countrymen. He began to speak soft and low. Then his quivering voice grew more and his words came thick and fast. With all his eloquence, he told in passionate language the untold sufferings of his country under the iron heels of Castilian despotism.His hearers were so overwhelmed that one of them, a ranking Spanish diplomat, rose from his seat and  rushed to the masterful orator and embraced him with tears in his eyes.

Again, on the occasion of the 399th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of the New World, the minister of Valenzuela was so impressed by his speech that he embraced  Lopez Jaena after his speech. As an orator, he had an unusual way of swaying his audience. He had no peer as an orator. Senior Felix M. Roxas ,the second mayor of Manila, called him "the great political orator from Jaro".According to him,one of Graciano's favorite themes which in his discussions he always maintained was the incomparable qualities of the Filipino women. He declared that she should be given facilities and should be encouraged to develop her aptitudes. So, he has the perfect right  to be considered the precursor of the women's movement in this country. Those who have promoted his participation in the different activities in which she now shines have only continued in the course in which the great political orator from Jaro persistently indicated.

Indeed, according to General Jose Alejandrino , a revolutionary leader who have lived with Graciano in Spain during the propaganda campaign, the famous Ilonggo Cicero was always able to charm his listeners.In political meetings and reunions,of the Masonic lodges in Spain he was the most applauded speaker.He could sway his audience even if he knew very little about the subject he was talking about.His ability as an orator spread throughout Spain. Well-known in the Spanish republican circles,he was once urged by a committee of the Spanish Republican Party to tour the country to give speeches to various political clubs and spread the republican ideas in the old Metropolis. The first Filipino masonic lodge called "Revolution" was founded by Lopez Jaena in Barcelona and was recognized in April 1889 by the Grande Oriental Español headed by Don Miguel Morayta.

Truly,this extraordinary Filipino, this great son of the South,ought to be enshrined in the hearts of his countrymen. He deserves a better honor than what we have been giving him.No wonder,even when he was still living and active in his propaganda work, his friends and admirers in Spain published a collection of his speeches and other works thereby saving them for posterity. His speeches are too precious to lose and be forgotten. They won for the great son of Jaro, an everlasting fame and a niche in our country's Hall of Fame. Lopez Jaena  died a poor man in Barcelona,Spain on January20,1896,far away from his native land, yet,he was exceedingly happy and contented with the thought of dying for a glorious cause_that of the freedom and independence of his country. He is dead but his name will always be on the lips and his memory in the minds of his people for whom he had labored so long and well. 

Many of our countrymen still do not know him well as one of our national heroes and the only Visayan patriot that reached the stature of Rizal and Plaridel.

References: _Philippine Journal of Education  ,January1986   ;In the Grade School, January,1967

The Brain of the Katipunan

 Emilio Jacinto, the right hand of Andres Bonifacio was born on December 15,1875, in Troso , Manila. They were poor. When his father, Mariano Jacinto died, he lived with his mother Josefa's brother, Don Jose Dizon , who enrolled him at San Juan de Letran College. Then, he transferred to the University of Sto. Tomas  to take up law. He was a very bright student and was unusually serious for his age. .However, he did not finish the law course because he joined the patriotic association of which Andres Bonifacio was the head. He devoted much  time to the work of this association ; devised its secret code, established a printing press, and in time made himself its recognized leader, second to Andres Bonifacio .To Bonifacio, he was an adviser , a secretary and a fiscal. He founded and edited the Kalayaan, the newspaper of the Katipunan which informed the people of the activities of the association. He wrote the Kartilla, the primer of the Katipunan which contained its rules and regulations. He was the author of the pamphlet embodying the ideals of the Katipunan and of other writings regarding it. He used a penname "Dimasilaw" in his writings and in Katipunan, his pseudonym was "Pinkian".

Emilio Jacinto, the youngest (19 years old) and most intellectual Katipunero, was the greatest writer of the Katipunan.. He wrote "Liwanag at Dilim", a series of articles of human rights, liberty, equality, labor and love of country. He also wrote a poem in Spanish, "A la Patria", which echoed the same sentiments of Rizal's  Last Farewell .He wrote "Katwiran"? an essay addressed to the motherland. He also worked with Bonifacio in the article, "Sa mga Kababayan".He supervised the printing of the Kalayaan, the first issue of which came out in January , 1896. He was not only of great value to the Katipunan, because of his writings and his  brilliance  as a soldier, but also because of his knowledge of wielding iron into weapons and manufacturing gunpowder and dynamites  which were used by the Katipuneros in fighting against the Spaniards. He was recognized as the "Brain of the Katipunan".

In the life of Jacinto, his ideal was Jose Rizal , whom he admired for his ethics  in his writings, and Marcelo del Pilar was his model in the field of politics. Because of this, his published writings were distinct from the rest and earned exceptional admiration of the many.

During the first revolutionary battle at Balintawak and Pasong Tamo, Bonifacio appointed Jacinto as the military commander in the North, covering the provinces of Rizal (Morong),Nueva Ecija, Bulacan  and the city of Manila. In one of the battles of Majayhay, Laguna, he was wounded and died on April 16, 1899 at the age of 24 years old  His remains was interred at the Veteran's Cemetery in Manila North Cemetery.

References _A Brief History of the Philippines   ,Bulwagan ng mga Bayani  , Philippines: A Unique Nation