The New Filipino Newspaper in Barcelona, 1888-1889

CHAPTER Seven The New Filipino Newspaper in Barcelona, eighteen eighty-eight to eighteen eighty-nine

Mariano Ponce Opens Negotiations

While Del Pilar was engaged in seeking the downfall of the friars in the Philippines, the nationalist movement in Spain was getting on its feet again after the fiasco of España en Filipinas. The antagonisms which had rent the Madrid colony and wrecked the newspaper, however, were still at work, and the main scene of activity shifted from Madrid to Barcelona. Here Del Pilar's influence, acting through his disciple Mariano Ponce, was felt in a new movement that was destined to pass eventually under Del Pilar's control.

Ponce, a native of the province of Bulacan, had been one of a group of students in Manila who became involved in the nationalist ferment from frequent talks with Del Pilar. Even before his departure from the Philippines, he had already been caught up in the enthusiasm for Filipino customs and folklore then being stimulated in Manila, writing articles on the folklore of his home province.

In eighteen eighty-seven he left for Spain, arriving in Barcelona in June of that year to continue his medical studies. Here he quickly became active in the nationalist movement. Seeing the languishing state of España en Filipinas, he took it upon himself to send copies to Manila, trying to interest his friends there in supporting this Filipino organ. Though the funds arrived too late to save the paper, interest in the project had been aroused in Manila, and Ponce was encouraged to work for the revival of España en Filipinas.

Infected by the nationalist contagion spread by Del Pilar back in Manila, Ponce seems to have undertaken some journalistic activity on behalf of the Philippines. Beginning in January eighteen eighty-eight articles entitled "Cartas de Filipinas" began to appear in the Barcelona newspaper La Publicidad, already known for its sympathy to the Filipino group. These "letters," dealing with Del Pilar's activities in the Philippines and praising Quiroga's efforts at reform, are almost certainly Ponce's work. He seems to have had little confidence in his own writing ability, however, and soon ceased to write, but remained active in having articles sent him by Del Pilar published. He also took over from Máximo Viola, who was returning to the Philippines, the responsibility of sending copies of Rizal's Noli into the country.

Ponce devoted his main efforts, however, to providing an organ of Filipino opinion in Spain. As a result of his appeal to the Philippines for funds to sustain España en Filipinas, interest had been aroused among the group associated with Del Pilar, and Pedro Serrano wrote to Ponce asking that the former staff of the defunct newspaper draw up an estimate of costs for a new or revived paper. At Ponce's request, Lete drew up the estimate and had a circular printed, which was sent to the Philippines for the purpose of soliciting funds for the new enterprise.

Lete naturally assumed that he would again be editor of the paper, but it soon became apparent that the resentments over España en Filipinas were yet astir. In Spain and in Manila, Rizal was generally favored as editor. Ponce wrote to him on six October eighteen eighty-eight asking if he intended to remain in England. If he were to come to Spain, most Filipinos would want him as editor.

Rizal replied from London, declining the honor, since he wished to devote himself to further study of the Philippines and its history to prepare for writing on the country's problems. Solid scholarly preparation, he stressed, was needed for the struggle which lay ahead, so as to be able not only to carry on the struggle, but "to rout the enemy." For such study there was no better place than the British Museum with its priceless collections.

During October various members of the Madrid colony went to Barcelona to see the exposition then taking place, and conferred with Ponce on the difficulties involved in the question of editorship. Antonio Luna returned to Madrid determined to prevent Lete from assuming the position, and made a new appeal to Rizal to accept it.

When Rizal's reply appeared to leave an opening for acceptance, Luna wrote back assuring him that of the thirty Filipinos who met together in Madrid, at least twenty-five were for him, and the opinions of the other five were unknown. If elected with virtual unanimity, would he accept? If Rizal were unwilling, Luna declared himself ready to elect Llorente, for Lete's triumph would only mean further schisms in the colony. Ponce too, apparently convinced by Luna, wrote that he sensed general opposition to Lete, and urged Rizal to accept,

though he realized that his studies in London were of great importance for the Philippines.

In spite of these appeals, Rizal seems to have hesitated, partly because of his desire to continue studying in London, partly because past experience led him to doubt the usefulness of a Filipino paper in Spain or of political activity outside the Philippines in general. He would rather devote himself to the political and cultural education of his people.

Lete, meanwhile, had received a letter from Antonio Regidor in London, telling of disquieting divisions in the various Filipino colonies in Europe over the opposing candidacies of Lete and Llorente, and urging him in the interests of peace to resign in favor of Rizal. Whether this action of Regidor was taken in concert with Luna or whether it was a feeler inspired by Rizal (who was in close contact with Regidor at this time), it seems to have precipitated the crisis. Lete was now fully aware of the opposition to himself. Though he declined Regidor's suggestion, he decided to relinquish the post of editor after conferring with Ponce in Barcelona.

On the other hand, Rizal had become convinced, either through Regidor or through other correspondents in Madrid, like Aguirre, that opposing his candidacy to Lete's would only deepen the divisions in the Filipino colony. Without waiting to hear from friends whose advice he had sought on the matter, Rizal renounced further interest in the editorship.

He refused, however, to name his choice between Lete and Llorente, since the latter was his friend and he resented Lete's refusal to review the Noli in España en Filipinas and to publish some of his articles. By supporting Llorente against Lete or taking the position himself, he would seem to be spiting Lete. Having made this renunciation, Rizal proceeded to show the depth of his resentment by declaring that if Lete were chosen editor, he would not contribute to the paper, though he would give it moral support.

The divisions within the Filipino colony could scarcely have been sharper or more bitter. Presumably Llorente too refused to accept the editorship of the paper since there is no further mention of him. Early in December, Rizal showed himself somewhat disposed to reconsider his decision on learning that the Filipino colony wanted him in spite of his renunciation. Shortly thereafter he made a short trip to Barcelona, where he met Ponce personally for the first time and renewed contacts with López Jaena, Fernando Canon, and the other members of the Filipino colony there. Undoubtedly the question of the newspaper was among the subjects discussed, judging from the quickening pace of subsequent events.

The Filipino Colony of Barcelona

By Christmas, Rizal was back in London. At the traditional New Year's Eve banquet in Barcelona, a new organization called "La Solidaridad" was founded, with Galicano Apacible as president, López Jaena as vice-president, Manuel Santa María as secretary, Ponce as treasurer, and José Ma. Panganiban as auditor. Rizal was elected honorary president. Rizal's letter accepting the latter distinction shows that the purposes of the society were fairly general, but designed to promote Filipino nationalist interests.

Previously the Barcelona colony had launched tentative efforts to work for the homeland, particularly in October eighteen eighty-eight, when the Colony held a banquet to honor Morayta and Manuel Labra, two Spaniards who had joined a group of Filipinos from Madrid to form the Asociación Hispano-Filipina to advocate reforms for the Philippines.

The organizers of the banquet seem to have been Ponce and López Jaena, who had recently made Barcelona his residence. To turn the banquet into a propaganda tool for the ends of the association, leading journalists had been invited. This was a tactic adopted in Madrid in earlier years, and would be resorted to more frequently in the future.

The speeches extolled cooperation between Peninsulars and Filipinos, all sons of a common Mother Spain, and reiterated the need to extend to the Philippines the rights and liberties that belonged to all Spaniards. López Jaena in particular, in what was apparently the principal speech, denounced in impassioned rhetoric the exploitation of the Islands by the horde of functionaries and friars, by whom, he declared, the Filipinos had "for three hundred years been oppressed, degraded, condemned, and tormented." Let the friars be expelled totally from the Islands, and the Philippines will become "the paradise of humanity on earth." Ponce, Canon, Lete, and others asked for reforms in somewhat more moderate tones, declaring that in the Philippines there were no filibusteros, only loyal sons of Spain seeking necessary reforms.

A few days later the Madrid newspaper La Voz de la Patria commented sarcastically that it was not strange to find the Masons Morayta and Labra taking part in a banquet directed against the religious orders, but this was hardly to be expected of Filipinos who professed themselves Catholics and loyal sons of Spain. Such is the result, the article declared, of the attitude of certain authorities in the Philippines, who, instead of aiding the patriotic work of the religious orders, apparently propose to assist the rapidly increasing number of filibusteros there to plunge these precious jewels of Spain into a disastrous civil war.

In the next two weeks there were further articles arguing that the friars were necessary for Spain to hold the Philippines. To seek their expulsion was merely the first step of a filibusterismo disguising itself under a cloak of patriotism. To these efforts to identify all attacks on the friars with an anti-Catholic revolutionary movement against Spain, López Jaena and Morayta replied in La Publicidad with further obscuring of the issues, declaring that there was no relation at all between being opposed to friars and being opposed to Catholicism, much less with any sedition against the mother country. This was to be the major point of the journalistic polemic of the succeeding years, into which both sides would submerge many of the other real issues at stake.

Around the end of November or the beginning of December, Benigno Quiroga returned from the Philippines, having been replaced as director of civil administration. His relations with Governor-General Weyler had been strained, but when he was replaced by a new political appointee, he was offered instead the position of intendente. This Quiroga declared himself willing to accept only on condition that he be given a free hand to institute various reforms, among which was the expropriation of the lands of the friars. Most likely he deliberately imposed conditions he knew would not be granted, but in any case he was given a commission for the Peninsula.

On his arrival in Barcelona the Filipino colony held a banquet in honor of Quiroga and of Manuel Gómez Florio, the civil governor of Bulacan who had cooperated with Del Pilar in his antifriar activities in Malolos. López Jaena's speech, the only one preserved, is a violent attack on the friars in the guise of a panegyric on Quiroga. The latter was exalted as a worthy successor to Mendizábal and Antonio Romero Ortiz, and proclaimed the "legendary hero of future Filipino liberties."