© 2013 by Jensen DG. Mañebog (@jensenismo)
“You will remember that, walking on the Pascode Recoletos … I told you: "Watch out, for some fine day we shall wake up quarrelling without knowing why." You laughed at my witticism and so did I … that occurred to me without reason as a vague presentment.”– Marcelo H. Del Pilar’s letter to Jose Rizal (July 20, 1892)
ALSO KNOWN BY HIS PEN NAME Plaridel,Marcelo Hilario del Pilar y Gatmaitan was a Filipino writer, lawyer, and journalist. A prominent figure in the Propaganda Movement, he was a co-publisherand the second and last editor of La Solidaridad, the society’s publication.
He was born on August 30, 1850 to a wealthy family in Cupang (now Barangay San Nicolas), Bulacan, Bulacan. His father, Julian Hilario del Pilar, was a three-time ‘gobernadorcillo’ (municipal mayor) and his mother, Blasa Gatmaitan, was a descendant of the renowned Gatmaitan clan. The ninth of ten children, Marcelo’s siblings, among others, were: Toribio (a priest deported to the Mariana Islands in 1872),Fernando (the father of General Gregorio del Pilar),and Hilaria (who was married to Deodato Arellano, elected secretary of Jose Rizal’s La Liga Filipina).
