2. Son of Don Julián Hilario del Pilar and Doña Blasa
Gatmaitan.
popularly known as Plaridel
leading propagandist for reforms in the Philippines
editor and co-publisher of La Solidaridad
born August 30, 1850 in Cupang, San Nicolas, Bulacan to
Julian del Pilar and Blasa Gatmaytan
died July 4, 1896 of tuberculosis, in Barcelona, Spain
3. He learned his first letters from his paternal
uncle Alejo.
In Manila he took a Latin course in the
school of Jose Flores and then transferred
at the Colegio de San Jose, where he
finished his Bachelor of Arts degree.
He also studied at the Universidad de
Santo Tomas, where he obtained his law
degree in 1880.
4. Marcelo H. del Pilar as a propagandist was
already established before an order for his
arrest forced him to flee the country in
1880.
5. - Marcelo H. Del Pilar -
served as editor of the
vernacular section of
the Diariong Tagalog (Tagalog
Newspaper).
6. On August 1, 1882, he put out Diariong
Tagalog, a nationalist newspaper. Here he
publicly denounced Spanish mal-
administration of the Philippines. His
attacks were mostly directed against the
friars whom he considered to be mainly
responsible for the oppression of the
Filipinos.
7. La Soberanía Monacal en
Filipinas (Monastic Sovereignty in
the Philippines) was among the
first pamphlets he wrote in Spain.
Wrote Caiingat Cayo, a defense
for Rizal’s novel, Noli Me Tangere
when the latter was attacked by
friars
8. Del Pilar began his campaign in 1869 writing petitions to
the colonial authorities, exposing abusive local civil and
religious officials.
He wrote the September 30, 1887, petition of the natives
of Binondo Manila, to the governor general.
He also wrote the November 20 and 21, 1887,
complaints of the Navotas folk against their friar-curate.
On March 1, 1888, the populace of Manila staged a
public demonstration against the friars.
9. Sought by the religious and civil
authorities, he escaped to Spain.
Before his departure, he organized Caja
de Jesus, María y José and Junta de
Programa.
10. Del Pilar arrived in Spain on January 1,
1889.
Del Pilar headed the political section of
the Asociación Hispano-Filipina founded in
Madrid by Filipinos and Spanish
sympathizers, the purpose of which was to
agitate for reforms from Spain.
11. He succeeded Graciano López Jaena as
the editor of the newspaper La
Solidaridad on December 15,
1889.
Lessthan a year after he arrived in Spain,
del Pilar realized the futility of the Filipino
campaign for reforms.
12. After years of publication from 1889 to
1895, La Solidaridad had begun to run out
of funds.
Its last issue appeared on November 15,
1895.
13. Months before the revolution, del Pilar
circulated in Manila and neighboring
provinces his political works entitled La
Patria and Ministerio de la Republica
Filipina.
He left with his friend Fernando Canon a
message for his daughter, saying that he
had received the sacraments of the church
before dying.
14. López Jaena had died six months earlier in
Barcelona in a similar hospital run by
the Sisters of Charity, and is said to have
retracted masonry and received
the sacraments as del Pilar did.
His remains were brought back in 1920 to his
final resting place, now known as Dambana ni
Plaridel under the National Historical
Institute located in San Nicolas, Bulacan,
Bulacan.
15. The Philippines: A Past Revisited. Renato Constantino
Marcelo
del Pilar was the greatest journalist
produced by the purely Filipino race.
We did not consider him an artful filibuster; at
times we saw in him the calculating
conspirator, the journalist gone astray, who
had no real hatred for the sovereign country,
through he showed he had it for the state of
affairs prevailing in the Philippines.
