147th birthday of Mariano Ponce

Fr. Jose G. Burgos started the Reform Movement in the Philippines when he launched his newspaper El Eco Filipino in 1870 with the declaration “Filipinas para España, España para Filipinas” (Spain for the Philippines, the Philippines for Spain). The 1872 Cavite Mutiny ended his efforts. Dr. Jose P. Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar, and Don Mariano S. Ponce continued Father Burgos’ movement. They became the pillars of the Reform Movement. They became known as the “Grand Trinity of the Reform Movement.”

Don Mariano is one of the revered heroes of Bulacan Province and the Philippines. A physician, he was born in Baliwag, Bulacan, on March 23, 1863. He finished his Bachelor of Arts degree at the Colegio de San Juan Letran in 1885 and pursued higher studies at the University of Santo Tomas. In 1887, he went to Spain where he finished his medical studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid in 1889. While in Spain, he joined Del Pilar, Rizal, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Eduardo de Lete, and other Filipino expatriates and founded several organizations with the aim of improving the conditions in the Philippines.

Don Mariano helped organized the Association Hispano-Filipino. He also co-founded and served as the managing editor of the newspaper La Solidaridad, when it was founded in early 1889. He contributed many articles in the La Solidaridad, using the pseudonyms Kalipulaku, Naning,
and Tigbalang.

He was arrested by the Madrid authorities when the Philippine Revolution broke out in August 23, 1896. Released after a few months of imprisonment, Don Mariano left Spain and went to Japan.

Here, he was appointed by President Emilio F. Aguinaldo as the official representative of the new Filipino republic, with the task of working for the recognition of the new republic and procuring arms for the Filipino army.

In the course of his mission, Don Mariano befriended many other foreign patriots who were in Japan, including Sun Yat-sen of China. He succeeded in procuring two boatloads of arms with several Japanese officers and men who volunteered to serve in the Filipino army. The first boatload was sent aboard the ship Nunobiki maru but a storm sank this ship in July 1899. He procured another shipload of arms but news of President Aguinaldo’s capture by the Americans led him and his companions to decide to donate the arms to aid Sun Yat-sen’s libertarian efforts against the Manchu rulers of China.

After the revolution, Don Mariano Ponce continued his patriotic labors. He became a director of the El Renacimiento, the first Filipino nationalist newspaper. He co-founded El Ideal, the newspaper of the Nacionalista Party. Filipinos Celebres, Efemerides Filipinas, and Cartas Sobre la Revolucion were some of his scholarly works. He entered politics and was elected assemblyman of the 2nd district of Bulacan. He was on his way to China, as official guest of President Sun Yat-sen, when he fell ill and died on May 23, 1918.

Patriot, revolutionary hero, historian, scholar, and exemplary public official, Don Mariano Ponce was one sterling son of the Filipino race.
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Don Mariano Ponce was truly one of our greatest Filipino of our history.