RAFAEL PALMA (1874-1939)
Although, a native Manileño, Rafael
Palma, journalist and historian, after taking residence in Cavite for a few
months, ran in 1907 for representative in the First Philippine Assembly. He was elected – a tribute to the good sense
of the Caviteño electorate – because Palma, in the perspective of history,
stands today as one of the best specimens of the Filipino race. In the words of the late President Quezon,
Palma was “a patriot, a scholar, and one of the noblest characters that ever
lived.” As a public servant, he left a
record of service truly worthy of emulation: He died “poor in material possessions,
but immensely rich in achievements.”
President of the University of the
Philippines for 10 years, 1923-1933, Palma set a tradition of high-minded
idealism, intellectual independence, and opposition to religious
obscurantism. The aim of education, he
said, is “to seek new paths, to show new light upon man’s conscience in order
to enhance the longing for a happier life…”
Born in Tondo, Manila, on October 24,
1874, to a couple of modest means, Hermogenes Palma, a government accountant,
and Hilaria Velasquez, Palma was the third of four children. His youngest brother, Jose, the poet-soldier
of the Revolution, wrote the lyrics of the Philippine National Anthem.
Finishing his A.B. course at the Ateneo
de Manila, he went on to take up law at the University of Sto. Tomas. But before he could graduate with an L.L.B.
degree, the Philippine Revolution broke out, and he promptly joined General
Antonio Luna’s newspaper, La
Independencia, the first issue of which appeared on September 3, 1898. After the assassination of Luna in
Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, on June 5, 1899, Palma continued running the paper,
its printing press aboard a railroad coach being transferred from place to
place until it was no longer possible to publish it because of the rapid advance
of the American forces.
Palma then went to Cebu and helped Sergio
Osmeña and Jaime C. de Veyra put out the daily El Nuevo Dia (The New Day), until strict American censorship forced
the paper to close, Palma returned to Manila, passed the bar examinations, and
then launched a new daily, El Rancimiento
(The Rebirth). He was married to
Carolina Ocampo, daughter of his publisher, Martin Ocampo. But the needs of a growing family forced him
to quit the newspaper and engage in the more lucrative law practice.
Palma was a successful and famous
barrister when he ran for the First Philippine Assembly in 1907. Two years later he was appointed member of
the Philippine Commission, the upper house of the legislature at the time. Upon the establishment of the bicameral
Philippine legislature in 1916 under the Jones Law, Palma decided to run for
senator in the fourth senatorial district comprising Manila, Laguna, Rizal, and
Bataan. He was elected. But while serving his term as senator,
Governor General Francis Burton Harrison appointed him secretary of the
interior at the same time.
In 1923 Palma was appointed president of
the University of the Philippines, a position he occupied with great
distinction until 1933 when he resigned because of differences of opinion with
then Senate President Quezon on the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act. A year later he was elected delegate to the
1934-1935 Constitutional Convention.
Palma was the author of the Commonwealth
prize-winning biography of Jose Rizal in the Spanish division. The work was translated into English under
the title Pride of the Malay Race by
Supreme Court Justice Roman Ozaeta (New York, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1949). He also wrote the two-volume Historia de Filipinas, published in
facsimile edition, by the University of the Philippines Press, in 1968. Palma died on May 24, 1939. He was survived by his wife and four
children.
[Sources: (1) Rafael Palma, My Autobiography, Manila, 1934; (2)
Jorge C. Bocobo, “On Rafael Palma,” The
Tribune, Manila, May 21, 1939; (3) Eminent
Filipinos. Manila, National
Historical Commission, 1965; (4) “Rafael Palma Centenary Symposium,” Abelardo
Hall, U.P., November 29, 1974; (5) Gregorio F. Zaide, Great Filipinos in History, Manila, 1970; and (6) Biodata furnished
by Governor Remulla’s office.]