Euro Filipino Journal: Heroes

Filipinos Respected in Spain

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Spain as a country is very much intertwined with the history and culture of the Philippines, having been its colonial master for almost 4 centuries, until the Philippine Revolution of 1898.  It remains an important destination for Filipinos who may want to see places and monuments associated with the country’s national heroes.  Nowadays a vibrant and active Filipino community lives, works and carries on as new Spanish-Filipinos. 
 
Ipinagmamalaki ni Consul General Cookie Feria ng Embajada de Filipinas ang Filipino community sa Espanya. 
 
Bukod kasi sa kanilang sipag at tiyaga sa trabaho, marami na rin sa kanila ang unti-unting nag-iisip ng negosyo upang umangat ang katatayuan. 
 
Malakas din ang impact nila sa mga Kastila na mataas ang tingin sa kanila at humahanga sa kanilang dalang kultura sa bansang ito. 
 
Maging ang matataas na opisyal sa pamahalaan ng Espanya ay mga Pinoy din ang hanap na empleyado kung mga pamilya nila ang pag-uusapan. 
 
Dagdag niya, “Their employers also are the movers and shakers here, diba? The mga government officials here in Madrid, their employees are Filipinos… when the (city) President’s nurse stepped down, I got a phone call from the secretary of the President asking me to find a Pinay to take care of her parents. Doesn’t that say something great about us, how Spanish think of FIlipinos…” 
 
Tinatayang may mahigit mga 45,000 Pinoy sa buong Espanya at bagama’t marami sa kanila ang nagtatrabaho sa mga bahay-bahay, marami rin ang nagpapatakbo ng mga establishments dito na nagbibigay sa kanila ng idea at experience sa business. 
 
Ayon kay Ms Feria – “It is a good indication of Filipinos trying to branch out from being employees to being employers and entrepreneurs, little by little they are growing, it’s a learning experience. You see that the establishments are basically one man operations you know and basically they are actually still catering to the Fil community; it would be nice to see them cater to the local community, the Spanish community, maybe by way of opening up restaurants, maybe other services for instance… A lot of Filipinos here we are the waiters in the restaurants or the cooks — why can’t they be the owners, they are the ones who practically run business… That would be the logical step.” 
 
Ayon kay Congen Feria ang importante lang dito ay marunong ka ng wikang Kastila upang makapag-business ka at makapag-take advantage sa mga suportang ibinibigay ng Spanish government sa mga migrante. 
 
Ang wikang Kastila ay hindi mahirap para sa mga Pinoy dahil sa ating kasaysayan, at dahil mula high school hanggang kolehiyo ay pinag-aaralan natin ito sa Pilipinas. 
 
Sa totoo lang nakatutuwang marinig na maging ang mga kabataang naglalaro ng basketball sa Madrid, pati ang mga manonood, ay Kastila ang usapan. 
 
Ang Madrid ay puno rin ng mga bagay-bagay na Pinoy na mabibili halimbawa sa mga antique markets o shops tulad ng paintings, carvings, mga mapa atbp na dala ng mga Kastilang nanggaling sa atin noong unang panahonm nang ang Pilipinas ay nasasakop pa ng Espanya. 
 
Mayroon din ditong mga permanent exhibits sa mga museo tungkol sa Pilipinas at ang mayaman nitong kultura. 
 
Hindi rin mahirap ma-inspire ang mga Pinoy dito dahil magpunta lang sila sa Avenida de Filipinas, sa metro Islas Filipinas, ay makikita nila doon ang rebulto ni Dr Jose Rizal na replika ng nasa Luneta, at mababasa pa ang kabuuan ng kanyang tulang Mi Ultimo Adios sa Kastila at Filipino, nakaukit sa plakeng bronze. 
 
Kinumpirma naman ni Ambassador Joseph Bernardo ang magandang katatayuan ng mga Pinoy sa Espanya. 
 
Ayon kay Ambassador Bernardo, “Napakagaling ng community natin dito. Wala tayong problema at iginagalang sila ng mga Kastila at mahal na mahal sila para silang miyembro ng mga pamilya.” 
 
Umaasa rin siya na lalong darami ang mga Filipino entrepreneurs sa Espanya pagdating ng araw.
 
 
 
 
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Spain as a country is very much intertwined with the history and culture of the Philippines, having been its colonial master for almost 4 ...

Getting To Know Graciano López Jaena

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This past year of 2015 sparked a renewed interest in the study of Philippine National Heroes.  Thanks to the movie Heneral Luna, people became aware of the fiery general's exploits and eventual demise.  Yet, behind the adventures in the battlefield, there were others who waged war using pen instead of pistol. Graciano López Jaena (December 18, 1856 – January 20, 1896) was a journalist, orator, revolutionary, and national hero from Iloilo, the Philippines, who is well known for his newspaper, La Solidaridad. 
 
Philippine historians regard López Jaena, along with Marcelo H. del Pilar and José Rizal, as the triumvirate of Filipino propagandists. Of these three ilustrados, López Jaena was the first to arrive in Spain and may have begun the Propaganda Movement, which was a movement based in Spain that advocated the reform of the then-Spanish colony of the Philippines and which eventually led to the armed Philippine Revolution that begun in Manila in 1896. The Propaganda Movement was a key step towards a Philippine national identity. 
 
His parents sent López Jaena to Jaro to study at St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary which had been opened under the administration of Governor General Carlos María de la Torre y Nava Cerrada. While there, he served as a secretary to an uncle, Claudio López, who was the honorary vice consul of Portugal in Iloilo. His ambition to become a physician convinced his parents that this was the better course of action. 
 
López Jaena sought enrollment at the University of Santo Tomas but was denied admission because the required Bachelor of Arts degree was not offered at the seminary in Jaro. Instead he was appointed to the San Juan de Dios Hospital as an apprentice. Unfortunately, due to financial problems, he dropped out and returned to Iloilo to practice medicine. 
 
During this period, his visits with the poor began to stir feelings about the injustices that were common. At the age of 18 he wrote the satirical story "Fray Botod" which depicted a fat and lecherous priest. Botod’s false piety "always had the Virgin and God on his lips no matter how unjust and underhanded his acts are." This incurred the fury of the friars. Although the story was not published, a copy circulated in Iloilo but the friars could not prove that López Jaena was the author. 
 
He got into trouble for refusing 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. López Jaena continued to agitate for justice and finally went to Spain when threats were made on his life. López Jaena sailed for Spain in 1879. There he became a leading writer and speaker for Philippine reform. 
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López Jaena pursued his medical studies at the University of Valencia but did not finish. Once Rizal reproached Lopéz Jaena for not finishing his medical studies. Graciano replied, "On the shoulders of slaves should not rest a doctor's cape." Rizal countermanded, "The shoulders do not honor the doctor's cape, but the doctor's cape honors the shoulders." 
 
He then moved to the field of journalism. Losing interest in politics and academic life, he soon enjoyed his life in Barcelona and Madrid. However, his friends forgave him these indiscretions due to his talent with words. Mariano Ponce who was another of the Filipino propagandists in Spain observed, "... a deafening ovation followed the close of the peroration, the ladies waved their kerchiefs wildly, and the men applauded frantically as they stood up from their seats in order to embrace the speaker." Rizal noted, "His great love is politics and literature. I do not know for sure whether he loves politics in order to deliver speeches or he loves literature to be a politician." 
 
In addition he is remembered for his literary contributions to the propaganda movement. López Jaena founded the fortnightly newspaper, La Solidaridad. When the publication office moved from Barcelona to Madrid, the editorship was succeeded to Marcelo H. del Pilar. His talent can be seen in the publication Discursos y Artículos Varios (Speeches and Various Articles). 
 
López Jaena died of tuberculosis on January 20, 1896, eleven months short of his 40th birthday. The following day he was buried in an unmarked grave at the Cementerio del Sub-Oeste of Barcelona. He died in poverty. 
 
His death was followed by Marcelo H. del Pilar's on July 4 and on December 30 by José Rizal's by firing squad, thus ending the great triumvirate of propagandists. His remains have not been brought back to the Philippines.

Articles Barcelona Continent Heroes People Spain Getting To Know Graciano López Jaena

This past year of 2015 sparked a renewed interest in the study of Philippine National Heroes. Thanks to the movie Heneral Luna, people be...

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Filipinos Respected in Spain

Getting To Know Graciano López Jaena

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