ARCADIO
(1846 - )
Eloquent Advocate of the
Separation of the Church and State
Lawyer, diplomat and framer
of the Malolos Constitution, Arcadio del Rosario y
Narciso was born on
Del
Rosario served as subdirector of internal revenue, and, later, as notary public
for the provinces of Pampanga and Tarlac. He joined the revolutionary caused in 1897 as one of the
Filipino exiles who composed the so-called Hong Kong Committee, which served as
government-in-exile for Aguinaldo and his followers after the Pact of
Biak-na-Bato. Disharmony caught up with the wake of Commodore George Dewey’s
victory over the Spanish fleet in the Battle of Manila Bay. It was split into
two factions, one favoring with the annexation of the
Upon his return to the
In his defense of the
church state-union, Calderon argued that all state had state religions, that
the separation of the church and the state was utopian in concept and was
impractical, that the Filipino clergy need no to be feared because they had
demonstrated their unwavering patriotism, that the Catholic Church was the only
bond between the Tagalogs and other linguistic groups, and that the separation
of their church and states was suicidal. In response Del Rosario said that it
was not the clergy which he weary about but the papacy, whi9ch had influenced
the temporal matters such as state policies not just in the
The bitter debate over the
church-state union took much of the time of the Malolos Congress, with the
issue remaining unresolved for more than a month.
This Provision has since
been adopted by subsequent Philippine constitutions, including that of 1987.
In 1899, Del Rosario
rejoined the Hong Kong Committee, which had been renamed the Hong Kong
Revolutionary Committee, to campaign for international recognition of the
fledgling Philippine Republic. The committee served as a listening post and
propagandas agency for the revolutionary government, aside from functioning as
its procurement office for the acquisition of arms and other supplies for the
Filipino forces now fighting the Americans. It also conducted diplomatic negotiations
with foreign governments and vigorously opposed the signing and ratification of
the Treaty of Paris by the US Senate.
After the fall of the
Republic, Del Rosario returned to
Myla A. Pilapil
Cell #: 09176614143
Tel. No. 043-9212038