Emilio Jacinto

Today in Philippine History (Philatelic Edition):

DECEMBER 15, 1875

Emilio Jacinto (December 15, 1875 -  April 16, 1899), a writer, revolutionary leader and one of the greatest military genius in his time was born in Trozo, Tondo, Manila to Mariano Jacinto and Josefa Dixon. 

He studied at Colegio de San Juan de Letran and took up law at the University of Santo Tomas but failed to finish the course because of the constant abuses of his Spanish classmates. 

He joined the Katipunan at the age of 19 and became known as the “Brains of the Katipunan.” 

Together with Andres Bonifacio and Pio Valenzuela, they formed the core leadership of the Katipunan and started the revolution against Spain. 

He was Bonifacio’s adviser and wrote the Kartilya which became the primer of the Katipunan and contained its rules and regulations. 

Jacinto edited the Ang Kalayaan, the newspaper of the Katipunan. A wide reader, his favorite books include the French Revolution and how to make gunpowder and dynamite. He learned a lot about the art of war, weapons of war and military strategies. 

He looked up to Dr. Jose P. Rizal and Marcelo H. del Pilar as among his inspirations to become a good writer. He wrote “A La Patria” which was based on Rizal’s “Mi Ultimo Adios” and signed using his pen name “Dimas-Ilaw.” 

Jacinto fought the Spaniards during the Philippine Revolution and the Americans in the Philippine-American War. 

In 1899, he was critically wounded in a battle in Majayjay, Laguna which led to his death but some accounts narrate that he died after contracting malaria.

(Design, concept, stamps and research: Richard Allan Uy) All rights reserved

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