Graciano Lopez Jaena, 168

By Herbert Vego

IF he were still alive, Graciano Lopez Jaena would have turned 168 years old today, December 18. On this date in 1856, the only Ilonggo national hero was born.

That is why today is a regular holiday in the City and Province of Iloilo, pursuant to Republic Act No. 6155 signed by the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. in 1970.

Graciano Lopez Jaena stands out as the founder/editor of the fortnightly La Solidaridad, the cornerstone of the Propaganda Movement which sparked the armed revolution against the Spanish government in the Philippines in 1896.

He remains “alive” in history books and in a biography written by the late Ilonggo historian and former Iloilo provincial board member Demy P. Sonza, “Mightier than the Sword,” published in 1964.

According to this book, Graciano Lopez Jaena was often seen walking around the Jaro Plaza in the mornings of 1890s.

Graciano was born to a poor family in Jaro, Iloilo City. His father, Placido López, worked as a repairman; his mother Maria Jacoba Jaena, a seamstress. Poverty, however, did not deter the couple from sending him to study at St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary, which still remains “as it was” on Seminario St.

So, why Lopez Jaena? Shouldn’t it be Jaena Lopez?”

Normally, yes, but Graciano Lopez Jaena was actually a pen name fusing the surnames of his father and mother.

He caught public attention after a gossipy leaflet, “Fray Botod,” made reference to the local priests as ignorant, abusive, lecherous and immoral. Although no one could prove that the 18-year-old Graciano wrote the satire, the Spanish authorities suspected it was he.

Thus, he had to sail to Madrid, Spain in 1880 to evade potential harm in his own country. There he won friends because of his eloquence in the Spanish language. He joined the Masonry in 1882 under the Masonic name Bolivar.

There was no turning back. Graciano Lopez Jaena had found his niche in oration and journalism. In a triumvirate with Jose Rizal and Marcelo Del Pilar, he delivered speeches to demand independence from Spain. He personally conveyed this demand before the Spanish officials in Madrid, Spain.

It was in Madrid where Lopez Jaena, Rizal and Del Pilar laid the foundation of the Propaganda Movement through the La Solidaridad, aimed at galvanizing the pliant Filipino masses into fighting for independence.

While he would like to be a physician, having actually pursued medical studies in Valencia, Spain, he ran short of earning an MD degree. But he went as far as filling the position of an apprentice at the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Manila and later came home to Jaro to practice medicine.

It was not for the money, since most of his patients were poor and unhappy with the subhuman life that they had to endure. On the contrary, his immersion with them somehow fired his passion to speak and write on their behalf.

Lesser written of Luna was his love for a woman he had left behind, Elena, to whom he had promised marriage. Unfortunately for her, Lopez Jaena had to indefinitely postpone it “sa tamang panahon.” That opportunity was not to materialize. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 39 on January 20, 1896 in Barcelona, Spain.

But he is immortalized through his monument at Plaza Jaro. Like Lopez Jaena, I often spend my morning walks there.

-oOo-

CONGRATS, NEW LAWYERS

ONE of the 3,962 passers out of the 10,483 who took the 2024 Bar is the Daily Guardian’s VP-External Affairs Lcid Crescent Fernandez, one of two sons of this paper’s founder, Lemuel Fernandez, and Cheer Fernandez.

He finished Law at the University of the Philippines-Visayas (UPV), leveling up from an earlier degree, Bachelor of Science in Marketing.

So far, his concentration has been in business, being VP-External of this paper, the Daily Guardian, and chief executive officer of Prometheus, Western Visayas’s leading full-service marketing agency and public relations firm. He was honored as one of the Young Leaders of the Year at the 15th Asia CEO Awards at Manila Marriott Hotel on October 8, 2024.

Another new lawyer who caught our attention is a winsome lady, Marmie G. Castillano, a daughter of Engr. and Mrs. Mario Castillano. She finished Law (Juris Doctor) at Arellano University in Manila. She is also a graduate of Accountancy (cum laude) and Masters in Business Administration.  Like Fernandez, she has been doing a professional job, being a certified public accountant. Now, a CPA-lawyer, she certainly will go places.

-oOo-

‘BOOM’ IN CONSTRUCTION

IN our “Tribuna sang Banwa” radio program on Aksyon Radyo last Sunday 1:15-2:15 p.m., we called the attention of Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas about the noisy building construction at Simon Ledesma in Jaro.

“We can’t sleep at night because of the noise,” complained a resident, Engr. Aurora Alerta Lim, retired administrator at Central Philippine University (CPU). She was obviously referring to the sound of the boom hammer.

Ma’m Au, has your barangay captain not acted on the problem?