Why Ilonggo journalists are respected all over the world

“When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.”  —Tecumseh

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

WHETHER we are in Iloilo, Capiz, Aklan, Antique, Guimaras, Negros or in Gloucester, England; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Berlin, Germany; Kyoto, Japan; Pretoria, South Africa; Tuscany, Italy; Bordeaux, France; Stockholm, Sweden; and the United States of America, Ilonggo journalists are highly regarded.

It’s not only because of their skills, it’s in the Ilonggo blood.

More importantly, it’s because of Graciano Lopez Jaena.

When you’re Ilonggo and happen to be a journalist in a foreign land, you’re held in high esteem; invited in important affairs and given credentials to attend and cover international events and festivals. 

And because of his talent and the way he fought the “enemies”, the pride of Jaro, Iloilo City, who died in poverty, would have been a celebrity today in his own style, and could have earned for his account millions of social media followers vis-à-vis the superstars in the Vlog and TikTok generation.  

But Lopez Jaena, the first ilustrado to arrive in Spain, belonged in the generation where Filipino heroes had to offer their lives in a unique fashion and circumstances so their country could gain freedom from colonizers.

 

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Born on December 18, 1856 and died on January 20, 1896, Lopez Jaena was not only an outstanding journalist, but was also an orator at par with the country’s and even the Asia’s best.

He started the Propaganda Movement against our Spanish colonizers and became revolutionary when he formed a triumvirate with Dr. Jose Rizal and Marcel H. del Pilar.

But he became well known for his newspaper, La Solidarid.

No wonder contemporary journalists in Iloilo and Negros today flood the community with newspapers despite the advent of Internet, a technology that almost emaciated general newspaper circulation and readership.

Almost every lover of letters and literature and freedom-loving Ilonggos who wanted to communicate to the world and expressed nationalistic sentiments through the printed medium would want to become newspapermen or own and manage a newspaper.

As a nobody, Lopez Jaena was first sent by his parents to study at St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary in Jaro, which had been opened under the administration of Governor General Carlos María de la Torre y Nava Cerrada.

In the seminary, the Ilonggo national hero served as a secretary to Claudio Lopez, his uncle who was the honorary vice consul of Portugal in Iloilo.

Because of his ambition to become a physician, Lopez Jaena convinced his parents that he needed to enroll in a university in Manila.

He was denied admission at the University of Santo Tomas because he did not have a Bachelor of Arts degree when he was at the Jaro seminary.

Lopez Jaena was eventually appointed to the San Juan de Dios Hospital as an apprentice but dropped out due to financial difficulties. He decided to return to Iloilo.

His assimilation with the poor ignited his feelings about the injustices common in that era.

 

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Lopez Jaena’s potentials as a reformer and writer became apparent at the age of 18 when he wrote the satirical story “Fray Botod” which depicted a fat and lecherous priest.

Lopez Jaena ribbed Fray Botod’s false piety which “always had the Virgin and God on his lips no matter how unjust and underhanded his acts are.”

The story was not published, but a copy circulated widely in Iloilo. The infuriated friars could not prove that Lopez Jaena was the author, thus he became off the hook, so to speak, temporarily.

The son of Jaro refused 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 town, thus he was pilloried.

He continued to agitate for justice. When he received threats on his life, he sailed to Spain in 1879, where he pursued the Propaganda Movement.

In the land of our colonizers, Lopez Janea became a leading writer, propagandist, and speaker for reform of the homeland.

He finally pursued his medical studies at the University of Valencia but did not finish, thus incurring the ire of Rizal.

Lopez Jaena defended why he did not finish his medical studies by saying, “On the shoulders of slaves should not rest a doctor’s cape.”

“The shoulders do not honor the doctor’s cape, but the doctor’s cape honors the shoulders,” Rizal intoned.

The national hero died of tuberculosis in poverty on January 20, 1896, 11 months short of his 40th birthday.

He was buried in an unmarked grave at the Cementerio del Sub-Oeste of Barcelona the following day.

Marcelo H. del Pilar’s death followed on July 4. Rizal was killed on December 30 by firing squad in Bagumbayan.

Their deaths ended the great triumvirate of Filipino propagandists, but their works contributed in the liberation of their compatriots from the Spanish colony.

Lopez Jaena’s remains have not been brought back to the Philippines.

 

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NO DISHWASHING LIQUID? Let's grab the laundry detergent. A teaspoonful of liquid laundry detergent in a basin of hot water will cut grease on dirty dishes equally well (though we may want to wear gloves, as detergent can be drying to hands).

IF WE'RE LOW ON SILVER POLISH, LET'S USE TOOTHPASTE: Plain, non-gel toothpaste (without additives like whiteners) can rid small silver pieces of light tarnish without damaging the surface. Moisten the silver piece; apply a bit of toothpaste to our finger. Rub gently and rinse, then buff with a soft cloth. Source: Goodhousekeeping

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two Iloilo dailies.—Ed)