| Pedro Paterno | |
|---|---|
| 2nd Prime Minister of the Philippines | |
| In office May 7, 1899 – November 13, 1899 |
|
| President | Emilio Aguinaldo |
| Deputy | Trinidad Pardo de Tavera |
| Preceded by | Apolinario Mabini |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished (Position next held by Ferdinand Marcos) |
| Member of the Philippine Assembly from Laguna's First District | |
| In office October 16, 1907 – May 20, 1909 |
|
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Potenciano Malvar |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 17, 1857 Manila, Philippines |
| Died | April 26, 1911 (aged 54) Manila, Philippines |
| Political party | Katipunan |
| Alma mater | Ateneo de Manila University |
| Profession | Poet Novelist |
Pedro Alejandro Paterno y de Vera-Ignacio,[1] also spelled Pedro Alejandro Paterno y Debera Ignacio (born on February 17, 1857 - died on April 26, 1911; in some references the birth date is February 27, 1858 while the death date is March 11, 1911)[2] was a Filipino politician, as well as a poet and novelist.[3]
His intervention on behalf of the Spanish led to the signing of the Pact of Biak-na-Bato on December 14, 1897, an account of which he published in 1910. Among his other works include the first novel written by a native Filipino, Ninay (1885), and the first Filipino collection of poems in Spanish, Sampaguitas y otras poesías varias (Jasmines and Other Poems), published in Madrid in 1880.[4]
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Pedro Paterno was born on the 17th of February , 1857. He was one of 13 children of wealthy spouses Don Maximo Paterno and Dona Carmen de Vera Ignacio. He finished Bachiller en Artes in Ateneo de Manila . He gained fame with his conclusion. He still continued studies at University of Salamanca. Here he took courses Philosophy and Theology, then he moved to the Central University of Madrid where he also graduated expertise in law in 1880 .
He is called the mediator of the Spaniards and Filipinos to achieve peace deal with the Spaniards. According to him, because Spanish is less than a hundred people with incoherence in the Philippines. But is firmly opposed by the people because they want to fight for true freedom of the Philippines.
At the trial of José Rizal in 1896, it was suggested that Paterno, along with Rizal, had incited the Katipunan because they had both written about the ancient Tagalog civilization. As evidence for their complicity, the Spanish prosecution cited Paterno's earlier work "Antigua Civilización" as promoting ideas which had "consequences both erroneous and injurious to Spanish sovereignty." Nobody moved against Paterno, however, because he was close to a significant number of Spanish officials - both military and civilian - who could vouch for him. Thus, Paterno, like many others of the Manila elite, distanced himself from the events of the Katipunan revolution.[3]
In 1897 the Philippine revolutionary forces led by Emilio Aguinaldo had been driven out of Cavite and retreated northwards from town to town until they finally settled in Biak-na-Bato, in the town of San Miguel de Mayumo in Bulacan. Here, they established what became known as the Republic of Biak-na-Bato.[5]
In late July, 1897, Paterno voluntarily presented himself to Governor General Fernando Primo de Rivera, whom he had known while living in Spain, and offered his services as a mediator.[3]
Because many highly-placed Spaniards of the time thought Paterno held great sway over the natives, Primo de Rivera accepted Paterno's offer. He called for a truce, explaining his decision to the Cortes Generales: "I can take Biak-na-Bato, any military man can take it, but I can not answer that I could crush the rebellion."[5]
Paterno left Manila on August 4, 1897 and found Aguinaldo five days later. This began a three-month-long series of talks which saw Paterno constantly shuffling between Manila, Biyak-na-bato, and some areas in Southern Luzon where a number of revolutionary chiefs held sway. During the negotiations, Paterno's wife Luisa died on November 27, 1897.[3]
In ceremonies on December 14-15 that year, Aguinaldo signed the Pact of Biak-na-bato. He proclaimed the official end of the Philippine revolution on Christmas Day, and on left for Hong Kong via the port of Dagupan on December 27.[5]
He returned to Manila on January 11 amidst great celebration, but was spurned by Primo de Rivera and other authorities when he asked to be recompensed by being granted a dukedom, a seat on the Spanish Senate, and payment for his services in Mexican Dollars.[3]
He served as prime minister of the first Philippine republic in the middle of 1899, and served as head of the country's assembly, and the cabinet.
With the Philippine-American War after the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1898, he was among the most prominent Filipinos who joined the American side and advocated the incorporation of the Philippines into the United States.
He died of cholera on April 26, 1911. His literary work was not appreciated until several decades after his death.
Despite Paterno's prominence in the many upheavals that defined the birth of the Philippine nation during his lifetime, Paterno's legacy is largely infamous among Philippine historians and nationalists.
Philippine historian Resil Mojares notes that:
History has not been kind to Pedro Paterno. A century ago, he was one of the country's premier intellectuals, blazing trails in Philippine letters. Today he is ignored in many of the fields in which he once held forth with much eminence, real and imagined. No full length biography or extended review of his corpus of writings has been written, and no one reads him today.[3]
Much of this is attributed to Paterno's penchant for turncoatism, as described by historian Ambeth Ocampo, who sums up his career thus:
Remember, Paterno was one of the greatest "balimbing" [turncoats] in history (perhaps he was the original balimbing in Philippine political history). He was first on the Spanish side, then when the declaration of independence was made in 1898, he wormed his way to power and became president of the Malolos Congress in 1899, then sensing the change in political winds after the establishment of the American colonial government, he became a member of the First Philippine Assembly.[4]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Apolinario Mabini |
Prime Minister of the Philippines 1899 |
Succeeded by Abolished (Position next held by Ferdinand Marcos) |
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