Del Pilar, Marcelo Hilario << dehl pee LAHR, mahr SEHL oh ee LAH ree oh >> (1850-1896), a Filipino journalist and lawyer, became a national hero of the Philippines, an island country in the southwest Pacific Ocean. In the late 1800’s, Del Pilar encouraged reform movements to free the Philippines from Spanish and Roman Catholic rule. Spain ruled the Philippines from the 1500’s until 1898, during which time the Catholic clergy held considerable power.
Marcelo Hilario del Pilar y Gatmaitan was born on Aug. 30, 1850, in the barrio (neighborhood) of San Nicolás, in the municipality of Bulacan (now Bulakan), near the city of Manila. Del Pilar studied philosophy and law at Manila’s University of Santo Tomás. In 1872, Del Pilar’s brother, Toribio, was deported for his suspected role in the Cavite Mutiny, a failed, short-lived uprising against Spanish rule.
In 1882, Del Pilar helped found Diariong Tagalog, an early Tagalog-language newspaper in the Philippines. Tagalog is one of the main languages of the Philippines. Del Pilar—using the pen name “Plaridel”—backed liberal causes and campaigned against the conservative rule of local clergy, including the powerful Manila Archbishop Pedro Payo. In 1888, Del Pilar fled to Spain to avoid arrest. In Barcelona, Spain, Del Pilar became editor of La Solidaridad, a journal that encouraged reforms in the Philippines. There he worked with other notable expatriate Filipinos José Rizal and Graciano López Jaena.
Del Pilar issued numerous rebellious pamphlets that were smuggled into the Philippines. His work helped inspire the Katipunan, a secret Filipino revolutionary society. Del Pilar published La Solidaridad until funding for the journal ran out in 1895. He died of tuberculosis in Barcelona on July 4, 1896.
