MARIANO L. CRISOSTOMO
(1862
– 1913)
Delegate
to the Malolos Congress
Born
in Malolos, Bulacan on
Crisostomo attended a local school. He
completed his secondary education at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran, where
he also acquired his Bachelor of Arts degree. Thereafter, he enrolled at the
Meanwhile, he began to be involved in
political activities. He joined the “Caja de Jesus, Maria, y Jose,” an
organization founded by del Pilar, Mariano Ponce,
Pedro Serrano Laktaw, and others to help indigent but deserving students and,
more important, to fight “intellectual myopia” in Philippine society. This
organization was superseded by the “Caja de Propaganda,” country and aided the
Propaganda Movement in
The later 1880’s and the early 1890’s
were times of social and political ferments in the country. The ilustrados were
advocating political reforms, even as the seeds of national liberation were
slowly being planted in the minds of many by the ideas of Dr. Jose Rizal. In
1892, the year Rizal was banished to Dapitan by the Spanish government, Andres
Bonifacio established the Katipunan, an offshoot of the La Liga Filipina which,
unlike the government. Two years later, Crisostomo joined the subversive
organization. He himself headed one of his local branches, whose membership
encompassed not only his home
Fortunately, following the signing of
the Pact of the Biak-na-Bato in December 1897, he was released. The pact, however, was soon dissolved in
owing to infractions committed by both sides. Thus, General Emilio Aguinaldo
made the clarion call to renew the struggle for absolute freedom from Spanish colonization,
Crisostomo, along with thousands of other revolutionaries, heeded the
summons. He served as Auditor in Isidro
Torres’ army, actively participating in military actions in Macabebe, Pampanga.
Subsequently, he was designated general secretary of the Universidad Literaria
Filipinas (later renamed Universidad Cientifico-Literaria de Filipinas), when
it was established in October 1898.
The highlights of his political career
occurred in that same year, when he served as a delegate to the Malolos
Congress, which drafted the Philippine Constitution in November. Later, he
accepted his nomination as a member of the seven-man revolutionary Supreme
Court, which was headed by Apolinario Mabini as Chief Justice.
In February 1899, the American replaced
the Spaniards as the enemy of the Filipinos when war walked out between
erstwhile allies with the shooting of a Filipino soldier by an American sentry
in San Juan del Monte. Although the Filipinos tried gallantly to hold out as
long as they could, they eventually gave up after General Aguinaldo was captured
in 1901 by the Americans with the aid of their Filipino collaborators.
Realizing they had no other recourse but to work for reforms within the new
order itself, most of them heeded the call to surrender once it was made by the
victors.
Crisostomo was among those who joined
the new regime. He became Bulacan’s provincial fiscal for three years, from
1901 to 1904. He subsequently resumed his law practice and engaged in newspaper
works, establishing his fellow Bulaceños a paper he named Plaridel. He served
as its director, and wrote for it in his native Tagalog as well as in Spanish.
His local influence grew. Consequently, he was lured twice into running for
public office, losing however, each time, to his opponent. He likewise engaged
actively in business, particularly in nipa production. Aside from organizing
Bulacan’s Liga Agraria, and the association of nipa producers, he co-founded
the Liceo de Manila.
Crisostomo was 28 when he married his
fiancé, Filomena Lopez, in February 1890. They had several children. He died on
Leonisa
A. Rocillo
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