BY MARY JOY CAVAÑAS
ILOILO City – The city government will lead the commemoration of the 167th birth anniversary of Graciano Lopez Jaena in Jaro plaza today, Dec. 18.
This year’s celebration has the theme, “Honoring the Most Noble Son of Iloilo City.”
“Ready naman ang tanan. Ga-partner kami sa City Tourism Office sa preparation para sa Graciano Lopez Jaena Day,” said Mathilde Treñas, special assistant to the mayor, on Friday, Dec. 15.
Dr. Randy Madrid from the University of the Philippines (UP) will be the guest speaker. Expected to attend also are members of the Graciano Lopez Jaena Foundation.
Treñas said flag-raising and wreath-laying ceremonies will be held at the Graciano Lopez Jaena Park.
“Ang usual naton nga activity, bale ma-participate man ang PNP (Philippine National Police) and then ma-wreath laying kita. Bale may flag-raising, wreath-laying, volley fire and taps,” Treñas said.
She added: “Significant gid ini because nga si Graciano Lopez Jaena isa ka Ilonggo kag naghatag dungog sa aton bilang Ilonggo. That’s why gina-celebrate ta gid every year ang iya nga birthday.”
Other attendees are city government’s department heads and executive assistants, Liga ng mga Barangay officials, school heads, and boy scouts, among others.
Dec. 18 of every year is a special non-working holiday in Iloilo city and province to mark the Ilonggo hero’s birth anniversary.
Lopez Jaena was considered the “first Filipino propagandist” in the struggle for freedom from Spain. Historians regard him, along with Dr. Jose Rizal and Marcelo H. del Pilar, as the triumvirate of propagandists that challenged Spanish rule in the Philippines.
Lopez Jaena 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.” He reaped the friars’ fury and thus left Jaro for Spain in 1879.
In Spain, Lopez Jaena founded and edited La Solidaridad, a newspaper that aimed to galvanize Filipinos to into demanding independence. He also gave fiery, nationalistic speeches. There he met Rizal and del Pilar.
Believing that “the pen is mightier than the sword,” he personally conveyed his demand for freedom in a speech before Spanish officials in Madrid, Spain on April 27, 1883./PN
