ILOILO CITY – Iloilo has been urged to rebrand Graciano Lopez Jaena, the national hero whose 167th birth anniversary is celebrated on Monday, December 18.
SCHOLAR Frank Villanueva talks about saving Graciano Lopez Jaena, Iloilo’s foremost national hero. (Tara Yap)
Canada-based scholar Frank Villanueva told Manila Bulletin that Ilonggos must find creative ways to celebrate and save the image of Lopez Jaena, whose role in Philippine history is gradually being diminished.
“Same old, same old ‘celebrating’ or ‘commemorating’ Lopez Jaena's birthday. These are two different words with different meanings. To commemorate is just to remember and to take things as they are. To celebrate is to highlight Lopez Jaena's legacy and importance,” a dismayed Villanueva said.
Villanueva, an Ilonggo, noted how popular historians and scholars are trying to erase Lopez Jaena’s role in the Propaganda Movement which inspired Filipinos to revolt against Spanish colonizers.
“The new triumvirate is now Jose Rizal, Marcelo del Pilar, and Mariano Ponce. Lopez Jaena’s role has been eroded,” Villanueva said.
Lopez Jaena was the founding editor of La Solidaridad, the newspaper published by the Reformists as exiles in Barcelona, Spain.
The Ilonggo hero is also known for his work “Fray Botod,” a satire that illustrated the abuse of Spanish priests during the colonial period.
Villanueva reiterated the key points of his October talk “Saving Graciano Lopez Jaena: The Case Against Him and His Role in the Propaganda Movement” which was sponsored by the Center for West Visayan Studies (CWVS) at the University of the Philippines (UP)-Visayas.
To reverse the current tide, actions must be taken sooner than later, he said.
He suggested a sardine-lantern parade which would be a satirical attempt against scholars who portrayed Lopez Jaena as low-class with no manners for allegedly eating sardines with his bare hands.
“The idea can be used for the Lopez Jaena movement to clear his name and negative association with eating sardines using his bare hands,” Villanueva said.
Villanuea also suggested to tap the Filipino community in Barcelona, where Lopez Jaena died of tuberculosis in 1896. The hero was buried in an unmarked grave.
“Maybe a marker for Lopez Jaena can be installed,” he said.
Villanueva said saving Lopez Jaena’s name should not be focused on the trivial approach of history. “Instead, it should be fun and creative to be able to make the younger generation of Ilonggos acknowledge the hero’s role in Philippine history.”
He challenged not only members of the Dr. Graciano Lopez Jaena Foundation Inc. but also all Ilonggos to do their part for the national hero from Iloilo.