2013, September 5. Mariano Ponce - 150th Birth Anniversary
Litho Offset.
Amstar Company, Inc. Perf 14
Singles, Miniature Sheets of 10
10p Mariano Ponce with La Solidaridad Newspaper -
Singles (100,000)
Miniature Sheets of Ten (10,000)
First Day Covers: Manila
Phlpost Official FDC envelope
Masonic Cover
MARIANO PONCE - WRITER, REVOLUTIONARY
HERO
Mariano Ponce (March 23, 1863 – May 23, 1918.
Initiated in Madrid and became
Secretary of Logia Revoluccion and Logia Solidaridad 53. He also
became a 33° A&AR mason under the auspices of the Gran Oriente
Español.
Mariano Ponce was a physician, writer, and
active member of the Propaganda Movement. In Spain, he was among the
founders of La Solidaridad and Asociacion Hispano-Filipino. Among
his significant works was Efemerides Filipinas, a column on
historical events in the Philippines which appeared in La Oceania
Española (1892–1893) and El Ideal (1911–1912). He wrote Ang Wika at
Lahi (1917), a discussion on the importance of a national language.
He served as Bulacan's representative to the National Assembly.
In La Solidaridad, his
works included daily editorials on history, politics, sociology and
travel. He also created himself many alias as well. His most common
names are Naning, his nickname;
Kalipulako,
named after Lapu-Lapu; and Tigbalang, a supernatural being in
Filipino folklore.
Ponce was imprisoned when the revolution
broke out on August 1896 and was imprisoned for forty eight hours
before being released. Fearing another arrest, he fled to France and
later went to Hong Kong where he joined a group of Filipinos and
Filipino-Chinese, who served as the international front of the
Philippine revolution.
In 1898, Emilio
Aguinaldo chose him to represent the First Philippine Republic.
Ponce was tasked to draft a framework of the revolutionary
government. In 1898, Emilio Aguinaldo selected him as a
representative of the First Republic to Japan. He traveled to Japan
to seek aid and purchase weapons. During his stay he met with the
founder and First President of the Chinese Republic; Sun Yat-Sen.
Through discussions and negotiations, Dr. Sun and Ponce became close
friends. Dr. Sun introduces Ponce to a Filipino-Japanese man named
José Ramos Ishikawa, who assists Ponce in purchasing weapons and
munitions for the revolution. But the shipment did not reach the
Philippines due to a typhoon off the coast of Formosa.
Mariano returned to
Manila with his wife, a Japanese girl named Okiyo Udanwara.In 1909,
he was made director of "El Renacimiento" (The Renaissance). He also
joined the "Nacionalista Partido" (National Party) and established
"El Ideal" (The Perfect), the party's official organization. Ponce
later ran for a seat in the Philippine Assembly and was elected
assemblyman for the second district of Bulacan. Ponce wrote his
memoirs, "Cartas Sobre La Revolución" (Letters on the Revolution),
he died in the Government Civil Hospital in Hong Kong, on May 23,
1918. His remains are now interred in the Cementerio del Norte,
Manila.
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