COLUMN: OFF TO BRUNEI, BUT NOT AS 'BRUNEI BEAUTY'
MANILA, August 30, 2004 (STAR) BY THE WAY By Max V. Soliven - As Chairman of the Samahang Plaridel, the association of senior journalists, editors and publishers which honors the hero who led the patriotic "Propaganda Movement" that preceded and helped inspire our Revolution, Marcelo H. del Pilar, I’m happy to announce that, with the "blessing" of Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, we will be dedicating the park on Macario Adriatico street this morning as Plaza Plaridel.The groundbreaking ceremony will be held at 9 this morning, with Mayor Atienza presiding, along with this writer, our organization’s president Rolando G. Estabillo, executive vice president (former Press Secretary) Rod Reyes and our vice chairmen and board of directors Neal H. Cruz, Adrian Cristobal, Julius Fortuna, Isagani M. Yambot, Ben Rodriguez, Jullie Yap Daza, Carmen Guerrero Nakpil, Diosdado M. Beltran et cetera.
Whew! It’s difficult to name them all – since we come from The STAR, The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila Bulletin, Manila Standard, Manila Times, indeed all the major dailies and press agencies.
By coincidence, the Plaza Plaridel is just across the street from the Manila Zoo – so be careful which side of the street you go to this morning.
The occasion will be highlighted tonight with a reception hosted this evening by our Samahang Plaridel in the Ilustrados restaurant in Intramuros to celebrate the 154th birth anniversary of Del Pilar, who was born in Cupang, San Nicolas, Bulacan, in 1850.
"Plaridel," of course, was the nom de plume or pen-name, used by M. H. del Pilar when he co-founded the journal which became the official organ of the Propaganda Movement, La Solidaridad, in Barcelona, Spain, on February 15, 1889.
The first Editor of the journal, of course, was the firebrand from Iloilo, Graciano Lopez Jaena, who was the most eloquent public speaker in Spanish of the entire lot, despite his Ilonggo accent.
Our National Hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, also contributed to La Solidaridad, and was a good friend of Del Pilar and Lopez Jaena, although he subsequently clashed with them on matters of policy and other "differences" best described in Tagalog as tampo.
Another pen-name utilized by Del Pilar when he founded the Diariong Tagalog (The Tagalog Daily) in 1882 was "Piping-Dilat", which the way I translate it, "Wide-eyed" or "Open-eyed" Piping – the latter a nickname.
Del Pilar’s outspoken criticisms so angered the Spanish Governor of Manila, Diaz, that he was branded a pilibustero and "kontra-Espanyol" (anti-Spanish), and condemned by the Spanish Friars who virtually ruled the country with an iron hand. Faced with the prospect of arrest, he was forced to flee to Spain, ironically, to save himself. He arrived in Barcelona in early January 1889.
Why is Del Pilar popularly known by his pen-name "Plaridel," after which the town of Plaridel in Bulacan is named? All the heroes of our nationalistic and pre-revolutionary era used pen-names. Jose Rizal wrote under the pen-name of Dimasalang or Laong Laan. Antonio Luna, before he became the Revolutionary Army’s foremost and most brilliant general, used the nom de plume of Taga-ilog.
Mariano Ponce was Kalipulako, Tikbalang or Naning. Jose Ma. Panganiban wrote as Jomapa.
By the way, poverty and tuberculosis were what felled two of our most valiant revolutionary writers. Graciano Lopez Jaena died of T.B. in Barcelona on January 20, 1896.
He was soon followed by his buddy and co-editor Del Pilar, who succumbed to T.B. and hardship at the age of 45 on July 4, 1896.
Del Pilar never got to finish the book he was writing in Tagalog, entitled, Ang Kalayaan (Freedom). He had grown increasingly vocal about the fact that insureksyon (insurrection) was to the only "cure" for the agony of the Filipinos and the tyranny of the Friars.
He did not live to hear of the Unang Sigaw, the first cry of the Revolution, raised by his friend and Katipunan leader, Andres Bonifacio.
In case you want to know more about M.H. del Pilar, there’s an excellent book in Tagalog by Teo T. Antonio entitled Piping-Dilat (published by the Philippine Centennial Commission, UP Press (2000). The late Vice President Salvador "Doy" Laurel was the Centennial Commission Chairman and our Samahang Plaridel Vice Chairman, Adrian E. Cristobal, was the Editorial Board’s Editor-in-Chief.
Teo Antonio, who’s director of the Unyon ng Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL) and president of the Unyon ng mga Tagasalin sa Pilipinas (UNTAP), calls Del Pilar Ang Utak ng Himagsikan (the brains of the Revolution).
Where does that leave Ka Andres Bonifacio, whom we adore in our family? We’re Bonifacio "loyalists", dating back to both my Katipunero grandfather, Kapital Isabelo Soliven, and my wife’s grandfather, Colonel "Don Manuel" Quiogue. Should we call him "The Brawn"?
In any event, Mabuhay to Plaridel, our hero and our guide!
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The President’s travels won’t be over when she returns from Beijing on the evening of September 3, or the morning of September 4.
President GMA will fly to Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei Darrusalam, for the wedding of the Crown Prince, the son of Sultan Bolkiah. The royal wedding will take place on September 9 – but the Reception will be held the following evening, on September 10.
Instead of "overnighting" in Brunei, La Presidenta will fly down to Davao City – yes, in Mindanao – where she will stay in the Marco Polo Hotel (which, incidentally, is "owned" for the most part by the Sultan of Brunei – it was bought by his brother Prince Jeffrey, who’s now under... er, "audit" and inventory). In short, "out in the cold".
Davao, after all, is only an hour and a half away by jet from Brunei’s capital. It’s inevitable that the Chief Executive may even hold a "Malacañang of Mindanao" session while in Davao City.
Then she will jet back to Bandar Seri Begawan for the reception in the Royal Palace.
Oil-rich Brunei may be small in population – only 341,000 in number – but it has one of the biggest per capita incomes; i.e., US$14,980 per annum. The Philippines’ per capital is only US$983, while Singapore’s is about US$20,665.
Brunei’s population is 71 percent Muslim, 67 percent Malays, 16 percent Chinese, and non-Malay indigenous six percent.
* * *
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto C. Romulo will be the guest of honor and speaker at the "Diplomatic Night" of the Manila Overseas Press Club (MOPC), on September 17 (a Friday).
The gala dinner, which is one of the MOPC’s traditionally major events, will be held in the grand Ballroom of the Westin Philippine Plaza Hotel in Manila, starting at 7 p.m.
Secretary Romulo, whose middle name is Gatmaitan (his mother Asuncion Gatmaitan hails from Malolos, Bulacan), is actually a "very close" relative of "Plaridel", whose full name was Marcelo H. del Pilar y Gatmaytan.
Bert is also a proud relative of the most famous and romantic military hero of the Revolution, a nephew of M.H. del Pilar; namely, the 23-year-old boy General Gregorio del Pilar, a fellow Bulakeño.
General del Pilar, "protecting" the retreat of the Revolutionary Republic’s President and commander-in-chief Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo made a last stand, with 60 of his men, at Tirad Pass in the mountains – the Thermopylae of our struggle – to delay the advance of the pursuing Americans.
The battle took place on December 2, 1900. Del Pilar, rallying his men, a perfect "target" astride his white horse, was shot down by an American sniper with a Krag rifle.
On the young officer’s body, when they stripped him of everything he wore, the American major, a fellow named March, found Del Pilar’s diary. In it, he had written: "The General (Aguinaldo) has given me the pick of all the men who can be spared and ordered me to defend the pass. I realize what a terrible task is given to me. And yet I feel that this is the most glorious moment of my life. What I do is done for my beloved country. No sacrifice can be too great."
Richard Henry Little, a correspondent of the Chicago Tribune, was there – and he paid Del Pilar the admiring tribute of a foe in his account of the encounter.
Etched in the hearts of all Filipinos should be the foreign journalist’s closing lines as he described the American columns marching past his corpse on their triumphant way up to the mountain: "We carved not a line and we raised not a stone, but we left him alone in his glory."
* * *
Although he was already well known as GMA’s Executive Secretary, the MOPC "Diplomatic Night" affair will introduce Bert Romulo’s foreign policy thinking to the diplomatic and consular corps and the foreign community, as well as to our own business and economic leaders, to the foreign correspondents, and finally, give us a preview of what he intends to say when he addresses the United Nations in New York on September 28th.
Secretary Romulo will leave for the United States on September 22, probably headed for Washington, DC as his first stop there. (By the way, since we’ve been speaking of Bulacan, his wife, Rosie Lovely Tecson Romulo, also belongs to one of the most prominent families in Bulacan.)
Romulo holds a Doctor of Laws from the University of Madrid (1963), a Bachelor of Laws from Manuel L. Quezon University (1958), and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting-CPA, from De La Salle University (1954). He was born in Camiling, Tarlac, on August 7, 1933.
He has had one of the most distinguished careers in both branches of government, the legislative and the executive.
As a Senator from 1987 to 1998, he was Majority Leader of the Senate for five years, and responsible for many of the important banking, business and economic laws. Fifty-five of those laws were authored and sponsored, when they were both senators, by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Romulo authored or sponsored among others the "New Central Bank Act" R. A. 7653, creating the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas; the Philippine Veterans Bank Act (R.A. 7169); the Social Security System Act (R.A. 8282); the Salary Standardization Law (R.A. 6758); Libraries Law (R.A. 7743); Vital Organ Donation Act (R.A. 7170); Joint Legislative-Executive Development Council (LEDAC) Law (R.A. 7610); Rural Bank Act (R.A. 7353); and the Kalakalan ng 20 Law – the "Law of 20" – R.A. 6810. Also the Early Retirement Act, benefits for Military Veterans, etc.
Romulo has been Secretary of Budget and Management (February 1986 to March 1987); Secretary of Finance (January 26 to June 7, 2001); Executive Secretary from June 8, 2001 to August 27, 2004.
Most of all, he’s a gentleman and a man of honor. We will be privileged to honor him as our MOPC guest speaker.
Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi
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