Euro Filipino Journal: People

Euro Pinoys Part 2

August 26, 2016 The Mail Man 0

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<span style="font-size: large;">Euro Pinoys Part 2</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">By: Dr. Michael Tan</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When one of my graduate students (now a colleague in the faculty) had to attend a conference in Tarragona, Spain, two years ago, she found herself in a bind: Her relatives, who were living in Madrid and Barcelona in Spain and in Rome, Italy, all insisted that she visit them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In last Wednesday’s column I cited statistics from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) reporting that there were some 866,000 Filipinos living in Europe, half of them permanently.  Spain ranks only fifth in the number of Filipino residents, surpassed by Italy, the United Kingdom, Greece, France and Germany.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Some of these Filipinos have lived in Europe for many years, with children and even grandchildren and, as my opening report shows, often involve entire clans, if not barangays, who follow the footsteps of an initial pioneer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The migrants are in various professions, sometimes marked by changing demand across time. The fairly large population in Germany goes back to the 1970s when Filipino nurses were in great demand, with another ongoing exodus of nurses and midwives to the United Kingdom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I’ve wondered about our Euro Pinoys leaving an imprint in their host countries. Has the Filipino sweet tooth convinced some Europeans to go for sweet wines or sweet spaghetti sauce, for example?  If we hear occasionally of Filipino-Americans doing well in competitions like “American Idol,” I’ve also heard of Euro Pinoys making it into similar European competitions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">‘Balik Euro Pinoys’</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In recent years we’ve been seeing a growing number of “balik Euro Pinoys,” mostly older ones who have come home to retire, living comfortably off their pensions, which are relatively high because of Europe’s social welfare systems.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps on a smaller scale, we’re also seeing younger Euro Pinoys coming home, usually children of intermarriages who cash in on their Eurasian features to model, or enter the movies. Then there are the Azkals, the football team, the members of which are the result of growing up in countries that appreciate football (soccer) more than the Americans.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I wonder what they bring home in terms of expectations shaped from their life in Europe. Do they imbibe the liberal social attitudes of western Europe toward sex and sexuality, for example? Do they get exasperated, having benefited from the generous national health services of Europe, in contrast to our own which is left pretty much to free market forces—that is, pay out of your own pocket?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I wonder, too, if the Euro Pinoys are watching how Europe is dealing with tribalism and regionalism.  When European friends, usually academics, cite our regional loyalties—national elections are still marked by the “Ilokano vote,” “Bisaya vote,” or “Bikol vote,” for example—as a cause of underdevelopment, I remind them that Europeans have been even more “tribal” than we are: nations emerging within nations, rising, sometimes expanding aggressively and through warfare, only to disintegrate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It’s not just in Eastern Europe that it’s sometimes hard to keep track of countries; it also happens in Western Europe, where there are threats of secession—the Scots in the United Kingdom, or the Catalonians and the Basques in Spain.  The Italians, although on the surface united with one language, are still marked by a strong regionalism that goes back to the Middle Ages when Italy did not exist and instead there were city-states, maritime republics and papal states.  It was not until the 19th century that one Italian nation-state emerged.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Not surprisingly, ultranationalist ideologies have taken off from the tribalism, and thrived. These ideologies have led to so many conflicts, including the two world wars. The European Union was in fact a response to these ideologies, an attempt to bring the “tribes” together, finding common cause in that vague concept called democracy.  I often hear political scientists saying that Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) will have difficulty surviving because its members are so different from one another. But the European Union brings together even more diverse cultures.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Insularity</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The United Kingdom’s decision to exit the European Union should not be surprising either. While it was able to bring together England, Scotland, Wales and part of Ireland, its unity has been tense, Scotland being the most restless in recent years.  Look at the map and you will see how geography may have shaped its national mindset. Great Britain is one huge island about double the size of Luzon, and the entire United Kingdom looks so isolated from continental Europe. Geography does contribute to insularity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And insularity includes a fear of outsiders.  Brexit (Britain Exit) was a reaction to the European Union’s policies on the free movement of Europeans, with UK citizens convinced that they were being too generous with other Europeans—for example, Polish workers.  There’s irony here because it has been relatively easy to become a UK citizen (or subject, given it is still a monarchy), so the faces of the British aren’t quite white anymore.  Who would have thought, 50 years ago, that there would be a mayor of London described as coming from a “British Pakistani” family?  Might we see, in the not too distant future, references to “British Filipinos”? There are a growing number of Filipinos who carry UK passports, including some through same-sex civil unions and marriage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">My point is that the political systems and governance of European countries, so different from our own copied from Mother America, just might capture the imagination of Euro Pinoys who, if they return to the Philippines, might want to introduce innovations based on European models, whether in more equitable healthcare coverage, or even more radical changes. Italy’s Parliament, for example, includes seats reserved for Italian citizens living overseas.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Those, of course, are macro changes. I think change is happening on the individual level: Euro Pinoys come home with new tastes in food and architecture (with real estate companies trying to cash in, offering subdivisions with an Italian touch). Some aspects of culture are more quick to pick up than others: I don’t know if Filipino-Italians have acquired a taste for classical music and opera, for example. (I was at an affair at UP Diliman last night showcasing our athletes and dance groups, and one presentation—ballet—drew audibly mixed reactions.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I also wonder what happens to Filipinos who study in Europe for a few years and come home. Many are in government service, charting policies and implementing important projects. Does their stay in Europe give them new insights?  Or, even more radically, a different way of looking at issues and problems?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Source: http://opinion.inquirer.net/96806/euro-pinoys-2</span></div>
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Euro Pinoys Part 2 By: Dr. Michael Tan When one of my graduate students (now a colleague in the faculty) had to attend a conference...

Euro Pinoys

August 24, 2016 The Mail Man 0

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<span style="font-size: large;">Euro Pinoys</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">By: Dr. Michael Tan</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I was reading about a meeting of the leaders of Italy, France and Germany—the European Union’s three largest countries—and their optimism that they will continue to move forward even after Brexit (Britain Exit).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That got me thinking about Filipinos in Europe, and of the Philippines and Europe.  We, and the world, think of the Philippines as very Americanized, forgetting that Europe did influence us as well through more than 300 years of Spanish colonialism.  (A three-year British occupation, mainly of Manila, was almost insignificant in terms of cultural or political influence.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We think of the Spanish influence mainly in terms of language. Although Castillan Spanish was spoken only by a minority even during the Spanish colonial period, many words—in areas ranging from food to philosophy—entered our local languages.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Then there’s religion, Roman Catholicism specifically, even if we practice it mixed with pre-Hispanic beliefs and practices.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">What we tend to overlook is the Spanish influence on political thought and governance. Some of our laws go back to the Spanish Civil Code of the 19th century.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The 19th century was a time of ferment in Spain and Europe as liberalism rose and spread. Spain had several liberal governments and their reforms in government reached the Philippines, such as expanding the educational system in our islands. Rizal and fellow reformers were inspired by these liberal ideas, at first seeking not independence but representation in the Cortes, the Spanish Parliament.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The 20th century was marked by American colonialism, and, many will say, neocolonialism, and we seemed to lose our awareness of Europe. But in the last 50 years or so we have seen a resurgence of ties with Europe through our overseas Filipinos.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">400,000 Euro Pinoys?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">To project how our interactions might shape our future, let’s look at some of the statistics from the 2013 survey of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO). These statistics are important for projecting how the Philippines might develop in the future, not just through remittances but through ideas, world views, lifeways. (The statistics are available online and can be downloaded. Search for Stock Estimate of Overseas Filipinos, Commission on Filipinos Overseas.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Let’s get the big picture first. The CFO has figures for overseas Filipinos in every country in the world, broken down to “permanent,” “temporary” and “irregular.” North America still account for the largest percentage of overseas Filipinos, with some 3.5 million Filipinos in the United States and 721,000 in Canada. Together that’s about 40 percent of all overseas Filipinos. More than 90 percent of the Filipinos in the United States and Canada are there permanently.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Europe, which includes Turkey and Russia in the CFO census, is home to about 866,000 Filipinos, or 8 percent of the total population of overseas Filipinos. About half of them are classified as permanent. Many are married to local residents and, needless to say, have “hyphenated” children—Filipino-British, Filipino-Italian, etc. That would mean more than 400,000 “Euro Pinoys,” if we count only the permanent residents.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The European countries with the largest numbers of Filipinos are Italy (271,946), the United Kingdom (218,126), Greece (61,716), France (48,018), Germany (47,214), Spain (42,804), the Netherlands (21,789), Switzerland (20,910), Cyprus (19,948) and Norway (18,088).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It seems all of the European countries have Filipinos, the three tiniest Filipino communities being in Bosnia and Herzegovina (10), Moldova (9) and Montenegro (7).  The Vatican has 3,490 Filipinos, all temporary and, presumably, mostly Catholic priests and nuns.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The kind of interactions overseas Filipinos have with host countries depends on their type of residence and work. Permanent residents would, of course, be much more absorbed into the mainstream of their adopted country, to the point where they might not even intend to return to the Philippines.  While retaining a sense of being Filipino—for example through food—the Filipino identity will fade, even disappear as early as the second generation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Temporary” and “irregular” overseas Filipinos do interact as well with their host cultures, some with hopes that they can become permanent residents and citizens.  As with permanent residents, they will pick up new languages quickly, which facilitates interactions with their hosts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Euro politics</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">What I hope we can see in the near future is a research on how “Euro Pinoys”—permanent or temporary—perceive governance and politics in Europe, as well as culture, and how this affects their perceptions of and expectations for the Philippines.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The political systems in Europe are very different from ours, which is practically a duplicate of the American presidential system, complete with electoral circuses. European countries use different parliamentary forms. The French has a hybrid  with a president and prime minister (which President Duterte favors). Italy has a complicated system; it also has a president and prime minister, and allows for an “additional member system” (similar to our partylist), which requires 4 percent of the national vote to earn a seat in parliament.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Political parties in Europe are marked by very real differences that run the spectrum of political philosophies from the extreme right to socialist and communist parties;  and if that’s not enough, there are also powerful Green parties with their platforms based mainly on environmental issues.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Some of the parties go back in time, but there are also “upstarts” with new programs, like Podemos (We Can!) in Spain, and other parties reacting to—and blaming—traditional politics for their economic crises.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Living in the Netherlands as a graduate student, I often felt Europe, Western Europe in particular, had reached a “post-State” situation, where government is almost incidental. Politicians are not the powerful VIPs we see here, surrounded by bodyguards and assistants.  In the Netherlands even prime ministers are known to bike, and there was one Scandanivan prime minister who would ride taxis so he could interview the drivers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Western Europeans are also generally more liberal than the Americans (I use the term here to refer to the United States), especially on social issues. The Netherlands is usually stereotyped as the extreme in liberalism, with legalized sex work and marijuana.  Same-sex marriages are legal in 13 European countries, and same-sex civil unions in 12.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Considering the large numbers of Filipinos in Europe, will we see European ideas changing our politics and our social views?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I’ll do a second part to this “Euro Pinoys” column on Friday, with a focus on what we might learn from Europe’s vacillation between narrow nationalism and a broader sense of a European Union.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Source: http://opinion.inquirer.net/96751/euro-pinoys#ixzz4IHktbwbb </span></div>
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People Spain Stories Euro Pinoys

Euro Pinoys By: Dr. Michael Tan I was reading about a meeting of the leaders of Italy, France and Germany—the European Union’s thre...

Filipinos Respected in Spain

July 13, 2016 Admin 0

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<span style="font-size: large;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ipinagmamalaki ni Consul General Cookie Feria ng Embajada de Filipinas ang Filipino community sa Espanya.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Malakas din ang impact nila sa mga Kastila na mataas ang tingin sa kanila at humahanga sa kanilang dalang kultura sa bansang ito.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Maging ang matataas na opisyal sa pamahalaan ng Espanya ay mga Pinoy din ang hanap na empleyado kung mga pamilya nila ang pag-uusapan.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">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…”</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">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.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sa totoo lang nakatutuwang marinig na maging ang mga kabataang naglalaro ng basketball sa Madrid, pati ang mga manonood, ay Kastila ang usapan.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mayroon din ditong mga permanent exhibits sa mga museo tungkol sa Pilipinas at ang mayaman nitong kultura.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Kinumpirma naman ni Ambassador Joseph Bernardo ang magandang katatayuan ng mga Pinoy sa Espanya.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">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.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Umaasa rin siya na lalong darami ang mga Filipino entrepreneurs sa Espanya pagdating ng araw.</span>
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Articles Contributors Gene Alcantara Heroes History People Philippines Spain Filipinos Respected in Spain

Spain as a country is very much intertwined with the history and culture of the Philippines, having been its colonial master for almost 4 ...

London-based Filipina Nurse Is A Martial Artist Too!

April 16, 2016 Tech Reporter 0

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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ9IMQ_paZcRiKhdu-uuduO7EndpPWG35TymCJRJZaoP-ZSw1GtS-gbSPMXeOJbpVz1LER17xnAcwVAZLDVwVnMC5oKf1UC4SUtbOBDtVkBZ7P1OfcuCvfn4zMyUtTbnsSDeC65lt2rsw/s1600/cielito05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ9IMQ_paZcRiKhdu-uuduO7EndpPWG35TymCJRJZaoP-ZSw1GtS-gbSPMXeOJbpVz1LER17xnAcwVAZLDVwVnMC5oKf1UC4SUtbOBDtVkBZ7P1OfcuCvfn4zMyUtTbnsSDeC65lt2rsw/s400/cielito05.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">There's more than meets the eye with Filipina nurse, Cielito Seguritan.  With her petite frame, no one would even assume that this lady is a martial artist.  Not only is she into the martial arts, she is also a writer and educator.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Put that together and voila!  You have a writer of a book on the Grand Master of Kali-Eskrima-Arnis, Percival Pableo.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Cielito has always wanted to be a journalist.  However, she became a nurse and then realized that nursing expands to so many areas.  Thus, continuous studies brought her to document and publish other discoveries in medicine.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvKAEXhUMih4AJvfJW2MQZffnWbDK_bDXQJ1Apx1K8D0GVREpAoBtyD6qE3HbgWLpXBQh8wlRbixNoVF91WE7f9HJfNGeeK7VElHCsb36mOzQ-nBOVyKByMMg4HjzKVnGCsYc8CYE9Ku0/s1600/cielito02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvKAEXhUMih4AJvfJW2MQZffnWbDK_bDXQJ1Apx1K8D0GVREpAoBtyD6qE3HbgWLpXBQh8wlRbixNoVF91WE7f9HJfNGeeK7VElHCsb36mOzQ-nBOVyKByMMg4HjzKVnGCsYc8CYE9Ku0/s400/cielito02.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Currently, Cielito Seguritan Caneja is a Respiratory Clinical Nurse Specialist at Chelsea Westminster Hospital London United Kingdom.  Her job is also combined as a Clinical Researcher specialising in Asthma, COPD, Medical Service Development and Interventional Bronchoscopy. She is also an Educator for Medical Students in the Imperial College London and is a speaker/ faculty for numerous Interventional Respiratory Bronchocopy Courses in London United Kingdom and travels extensively in Europe to lecture and teach.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Not content with resting on her Bachelors Degree in Nursing from Philippines, she continued on to receive a Masters Degree in Nursing, Clinical Education in Thames Valley University London UK and Independent Nurse Practise in Kings College University of London UK.  Having completed multiple multi-national researches which are considered world class by FDA and MHRA regulations and standards, Cielito also pursues her passion in Clinical Research and lately focusing on the Law and Ethics of Medical practice. She continues on her PhD in Respiratory studies and had published multiple clinical publications.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Her motivation to continue doing clinical research is to see the great change in the quality of life of her patients.  “To see them smile and come back on their follow up hospital visit feeling better” </span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ5uXBSbIUA2E-xBN6AZRZCYZng2fRzXyGB5e_KV2SxCI27FSqTbPEMZZ0tXmtpnZWf7Up286CNgR1CvPpDkLs4eWQW1VjxzyfoV2-hacTjVGnUwCjFxuX3_EBrYTh1-4fZ3RXwGmOV_8/s1600/cielito01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ5uXBSbIUA2E-xBN6AZRZCYZng2fRzXyGB5e_KV2SxCI27FSqTbPEMZZ0tXmtpnZWf7Up286CNgR1CvPpDkLs4eWQW1VjxzyfoV2-hacTjVGnUwCjFxuX3_EBrYTh1-4fZ3RXwGmOV_8/s320/cielito01.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eskrima-Kali-Arnis book authored by Cielo Caneja y Seguritan</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">On her being a martial artist, our Cielito is an Eskrima World Champion and British National Champion, propagating and promoting Filipino Martial Arts.  The book she authored on Kali-Eskrima-Arnis, is now a resource within various libraries such as Bodleaian Library at Oxford University, The National Library of Scotland, The National Library of Wales and Trinity College Dublin.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">With all that has been in her journey, Cielito looks back in her humble beginning from a family of farmers in Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines.  As any normal Filipino who brims with nostalgia, Cielo always looks forward to go back home in the panoramic farms at the Cordillera Mountains. </span><br />
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People Stories UK London-based Filipina Nurse Is A Martial Artist Too!

There's more than meets the eye with Filipina nurse, Cielito Seguritan. With her petite frame, no one would even assume that this lad...

Getting To Know Graciano López Jaena

April 12, 2016 Tech Reporter 0

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<span style="font-size: large;">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.<br /><br />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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">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."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">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."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">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).</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">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.

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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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