CARLOS V. RONQUILLO (1877-1841)
THE SWORD and the pen may well symbolize the life of Carlos V. Ronquillo, the pride of Kawit. He had been a major in the Philippine Revolution before he became a crusading journalist. Although born in Floridablanca, Pampanga, on October 31, 1877, the son of Jose Ronquillo and Flora Valdez, he actually grew up in Cavite el Viejo (now Kawit), hometown of his father. After his finishing his early studies in Kawit, Ronquillo enrolled at the Escuela Normal Superior in Manila. A brilliant student, he joined the faculty of the institution after his graduation in 1895.
Shortly after the outbreak of the revolution he returned to Kawit and became General Emilio Aguinaldo’s secretary and chronicler of the Revolution. A signer of the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, he joined Aguinaldo in his exile to Hongkong. He took advantage of his brief stay in the British Crown Colony to study English.
Appointed major in the revolutionary army upon his return to the Philippines, Ronquillo became the military aide of General Daniel Tria Tirona, commander of the military expedition to the Cagayan Valley. When Cagayan fell to the Americans, Ronquillo fled to Tierra Virgen and upon General Aguinaldo’s instructions, organized his own guerilla unit for the purpose of blocking the army advance. The Americans captured him during the skirmish in the Cordillera Mountains. He was imprisoned for four months until 1900.
After the end of Philippine-American War Ronquillo Studied at the Escuela de Derecho in Manila where he later obtained an I.I.B. degree. Reflecting his deep-seated patriotism, Ronquillo was arrested which by the Americans, the first time on April 16, 1903 for his failure to surrender the Filipino flag used by his Cagayan Battalion, and the second time on March 18, the following year for his display of the Filipino flag which was prohibited until 1919 when the Filipino-controlled Philippine Legislature repealed the Flag Law enacted by the Philippine commission.
Possessing a good command of both Tagalog and Spanish, Ronquillo started writing in the Spanish daily, La Verdad (The Truth). Then he became editor of Muling Pagsilang, the Tagalog section of El Renacimiento (The Rebirth), 1905-1910, after which he edited the Taliba (The Sentinel), one of the TVT Newspapers (Tribune, Vanguardia, and Taliba), until his death on October 18,1941.
Ronquillo belong to Akademya ng Wikang Tagalog, Aklatang Tagalog, and Panitik Kabite, of which he was the president. He was married twice, the first time to Flora Leaño of Cagayan, and, after the latter’s death, the second time to Eulalia Rodriguez of Maraviles, Bataan. He was also the author of several books.
[Sources: (1) Sol H. Gwekoh, “Crusading Journalist,” Hall of Fame, Sunday Times, October 21, 1965, and (2) E. Arsenio Manuel, Dictionary of Philippine Biography, Manila, 1973.]