Mabini's writings

OSAKA--Apolinario Mabini is one of my favorite heroes and one who I wish would get the attention and close study that he truly deserves. Jose Rizal left us with 25 volumes of assorted writings, completely translated from the original Spanish and German into English and Filipino, and yet he remains, to my mind, understudied.

With Mabini there is even fewer published material: two volumes of his writings in Spanish (only one volume has so far been translated from the original Spanish and published by the National Historical Institute); and, in English, we have a volume of his collected correspondence and his short account, "La Revolucion Filipina," translated by Leon Maria Guerrero.

We know that Mabini destroyed many of his papers shortly before his arrest in 1896, but I am optimistic more material will come to light in libraries outside the Philippines.

In the US Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. are papers from the Malolos Republic that contain, on the margins, Mabini's handwritten replies and recommendations to the president. In the Newberry Library in Chicago is a record of Mabini's brief imprisonment in the Bilibid national penitentiary outside Manila. Surely there is more and all that is needed is a researcher with the sense and skill of a bomb-sniffing dog. One day I hope to read all that is extant and write as much on Mabini as I have done on Rizal.

Mabini's writings are crying out to be read and those who read him will be surprised to find out that he can still speak to our generation. While some people would like to use these writings to hail Mabini as a prophet, someone who saw (or foresaw) many of the socio-political and economic problems we face today, I read Mabini and weep because I know he was not clairvoyant.

The fact that Mabini remains relevant today is proof that we have not progressed much in the past century. Perhaps this centennial year, we will go beyond the floral offerings and speeches and at least get all of Mabini's works translated and have these publications disseminated to schools and the general public. It would also be fitting that the new expressway in Batangas province now known by the dull and generic name, STAR Tollway, be renamed the Mabini Tollway so that Filipinos will be made to remember him.

I regret missing the commemoration of the centennial of his death yesterday. There were two sites for this remembrance: in his birthplace in the village of Talaga in Tanawan town in Batangas, and in the humble house of wood and nipa leaves where he died on May 13, 1903.

The latter is the shrine along the Pasig that I have visited every year for over 15 years now. I usually sit on the polished floor and look intently at Mabini's chair, trying hard to imagine what this frail man was like, this quiet paralytic who ran the affairs of the First Philippine Republic, someone who is considered the first prime minister and the first foreign secretary of the Philippines. That despite being on the fringes of power he lived and died a humble man in what is now a shrine near the Nagtahan Bridge in Manila is quite inspiring. It wasn't even his house, just a house where he lived and died.

This shrine is always clean and well kept because it has few visitors. Not only is it relatively off the tourist and school excursion route but it can also be difficult, at times, to enter the Presidential Security Group (PSG) compound. The shrine was spruced up for the President's visit Tuesday, and I hope the PSG and the National Historical Institute can agree on ways to allow easier access for school groups without sacrificing security.

Mabini was also remembered in our consulate in Osaka in a simple commemoration organized by consul general Antonio P. Villamayor. Fortunately, I did not have to deliver a lecture but even so I spent the past week rereading Mabini. He actually left a brief bio-data in a diary written when he was in exile in Guam. If I were burdened with the task of introducing him today as a guest speaker, I would simply say, "Ladies and gentlemen the prime minister and foreign secretary of the First Philippine Republic, Señor Don Apolinario Mabini," but these brief notes are the points he would want to be known:

"I was born in 1864 in Tanawan, Batangas. I went to school in Manila in 1881. I spent 1882-83 in Bawan. I returned to Manila to take a course in philosophy in 1884-85. I spent 1886-87 in Lipa. During this time I obtained the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and [accreditation as a] high school teacher. I studied law in 1888 and graduated in 1894. I was paralyzed in January 1896. I was imprisoned by the Spaniards in October of that year, and released in June the following year. I was with [Emilio] Aguinaldo from June 1898 until May 1899. In December 1899 I was captured by the Americans, and deported to Guam in January 1901."

Mabini died on May 13, 1903, a victim of cholera, contracted, it is said, from taking contaminated carabao's milk. Yet Mabini lives through his book, "La Revolucion Filipina," which is not just a history but an analysis of its strengths and weaknesses. It opens with a dedication to his mother, who worked hard to provide him with an education. Mabini wrote:

"Now, wishing to place on your grave a wreath woven by my own hands, I dedicate this humble work, to your memory; it is a poor thing, unworthy of you, yet the best so far woven by the artless hands of your son."

There is Mabini, an example of humility in greatness.

Comments are welcome at aocampo@ateneo.edu