Zoilo José Sangalang Hilario[2] (June 27, 1892 – June 13, 1963) was a Filipino poet, playwright, lawyer, politician and linguist. He is known for his poems written in both the Spanish and Kapampangan.[3] languages, as well as a distinguished researcher of the Kulitan script and Kapampangan orthography.[4]

Zoilo Hilario
Member of the House of Representatives of the Philippine Islands from Pampanga's 2nd district
In office
June 2, 1931 – June 5, 1934
Preceded byMacario Ocampo
Succeeded byJosé Fausto
Personal details
Born(1892-06-27)June 27, 1892
San Fernando, Pampanga, Captaincy General of the Philippines
DiedJune 13, 1963(1963-06-13) (aged 70)
Pampanga, Philippines
Political partyNacionalista Party
SpouseTrinidad Vasquez
Children4
Parent(s)Tiburcio Hilario (father)
Adriana Sangalang (mother)
Alma materLiceo de Manila, Escuela de Derecho de Manila
Occupationpoet, playwright, politician, linguist
NicknameJusto Fiel[1]

Biography edit

Zoilo Hilario was born in San Fernando, Pampanga to parents Tiburcio Hilario and Adriana Sangalang.[5] He learned his cartilla from the school of Modesto Joaquin in Bacolor. He earned his bachiller en artes in the Liceo De Manila and then enrolled for his law course at Escuela de Derecho, where he graduated in 1911 and passed the bar the next year.

 
Zoilo's father, Tiburcio Hilario statue and historical marker

After finishing his studies, he devoted more time to writing poetry. His first book of poetry in the Spanish language, Adelfas (de la lira filipina), was published in 1913. Another book of Spanish poems, entitled Patria y Redención, was published in 1914. In 1917, he won a contest sponsored by the Casino Español de Iloilo with his poem El Alma Española.[6] He also became an esteemed member of Jardín de Epicuro, an elite literary society founded by Fernando María Guerrero. This organization was founded in the outskirts of Ermita and was fundamental to the invigoration of the modernist style in the Philippines.[7] He then embarked on a career in politics as a member of the Philippine Partido Nacionalista. From 1915 to 1931, he served as the secretary of the Provincial Council of Pampanga.

In 1923, backed and financed by the local members of the Philippine Partido Nacionalista, Zoilo Hilario founded the Central Luzon-based mutual-aid organization for laborers named Katipunan Mipanampun (Mutual Protection Association).[8] Most of its recruits came from the literate provincial middle class – teachers, workers, local politicians and the less impoverished smallholders and tenants in the barrios. Its membership grew rapidly, reaching a claimed 15,700 in less than two years.[9] It also had an auxiliary women's section known as the "Amazonas". Joining the organization required undergoing elaborate masonlike initiation rituals (said to last three days).[10] Known for its promotion of nationalism, the organization encouraged not only the regular conduction of flag ceremonies, but it also encouraged support of the local cottage industries as it required its members during campaigns and town parades to always wear locally-made native dresses such as the bamboo hats, the barong Tagalog and the abaca cloth trousers. Lasting until 1924, the Katipunan Mipanampun represented the largest counter-organization against tenant radicalism, providing counter-demonstrations to those of the more radical peasant unions while promoting the ideals of peace and order.[11] As a result, the more radical provincials regarded the Katipunan Mipanampun as a straightforward landlord front organization, although more conservative elements within the provincial Nacionalista circles viewed Zoilo Hilario and his associates with suspicion and charged them with arousing unwarranted expectations as Hilario himself reportedly maintained a progressive stance upon his return to the legislature.[12]

In 1931, he was elected as a congressman, representing his province Pampanga.[13] In 1938, he was named as one of the first members of the National Language Institute (or Surian ng Wikang Pambansa in the local Filipino language) by the then president Manuel L. Quezon. He also served as a judge in Ilocos Sur from 1947 to 1954, and rose to become a judge of the Court of the First Instance (juez de primera instancia) from 1954 up to 1960, when he finally retired.

After his retirement, he devoted his time to his writings. In 1962, Zoilo Hilario compiled a typewritten book entitled Bayung Sunis (New Rhythm). A chapter of this book was dedicated to Kapampangan orthography, with a section devoted to inform the readers how to read and write the Kapampangan script.[14] He also wrote the following plays in the Kapampangan language: Mumunang Sinta (First Love), Sampagang E Malalanat (Unfading Flower), Bandila ning Filipinas (Flag of the Philippines) and Juan de la Cruz, Anak ning Katipunan (Juan de la Cruz, son of Katipunan).[15]

Even after his retirement, he continued his involvement with the government by being the legal adviser to former president Emilio Aguinaldo. In 1962, he was appointed as a member of the Philippine Historical Commission by then president Diosdado Macapagal.[16] He died in 1963, leaving behind his widow, Trinidad Vasquez of Negros Occidental, and two daughters, Rafaelita and Evangelina. His third book of Spanish poems, Himnos y Arengas, was published posthumously in 1968 by his family and with the collaboration of Joaquín P. Jaramillo as editor of the book and Francisco G. Tonogbanua as its publisher.[17] In 1982, through the efforts of the National Historical Institute and the local government of Pampanga, his bust and a historical marker was unveiled in his hometown San Fernando, as a tribute for his contributions to his province.[18]

 
Zoilo's statue in Pampanga

Works edit

Poetry in Spanish edit

  • Adelfas (de la lira filipina) (1913)[19]
  • Patria y Redención (1914)[20]
  • Himnos y Arengas (1968)[21]

Poetry in Kapampangan edit

  • Bayung Sunis (1962, republished in 2015)[22]

Kapampangan plays edit

  • Mumunang Sinta
  • Sampagang E Malalanat
  • Bandila ning Filipinas
  • Juan de la Cruz, Anak ning Katipunan

See also edit

External links edit

References edit

  1. ^ Donoso, Isaac (30 April 2013). "Crónica de Filipinas en la Poesía de Zoilo Hilario". Kritika Kultura (in Spanish) (20): 221. doi:10.13185/KK2013.02010. hdl:10045/33151. ISSN 1656-152X.
  2. ^ Donoso, Isaac (30 April 2013). "Crónica de Filipinas en la Poesía de Zoilo Hilario". Kritika Kultura (in Spanish) (20): 207. doi:10.13185/KK2013.02010. hdl:10045/33151. ISSN 1656-152X. Vamos a hacer una "Crónica de Filipinas" empleando la poesía de un autor que pasó todos los estadios transcendentales de la modernidad filipina, y acabó experimentando en carne propia el peso del tiempo: Zoilo José Hilario y Sangalang (1892–1963)
  3. ^ "Hilario, Zoilo". CulturEd: Philippine Cultural Education Online. Archived from the original on 11 February 2019. Naging mahalaga ang kaniyang librong Bayung Sunis na naglalaman ng kaniyang tula sa wikang Pampango, pagpupugay sa mga bayani at mga manunulat ng Pampanga, gayundin ang kaniyang mga prinsipyo sa pagtula at mga saliksik sa alpabeto at ortograpiyang Pampanggo.
  4. ^ Pangilinan, Michael Raymon M. "Assessing the current status of the Kapampangan "pre-Hispanic" script". A few months before his death in 1963, Kapampangan writer Zoilo Hilario of the Akademyang Kapampangan, compiled a typed-written book of his work entitled Bayung Sunis (Hilario, 1962). In his chapter on orthography, Hilario also devotes a section on how to read and write the Kapampangan script. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. ^ "Hilario, Zoilo". CulturEd: Philippine Cultural Education Online. Archived from the original on 11 February 2019. Isinilang siyá noong 27 Hunyo 1892 sa San Fernando, Pampanga kina Tiburcio Hilario at Adriana Sangalang.
  6. ^ Hilario, Zoilo; Hilario Lacson, Evangelina V (1968). Himnos y arengas: obra filipina ; colección de poesías (in Spanish). Nueva Era Pr. p. 1. OCLC 253287655. En el concurso poetico abierto por el Casino Español de Iloilo en 1917, fue laureado por su poesía titulada Alma Española.
  7. ^ Donoso, Isaac (30 April 2013). "Crónica de Filipinas en la Poesía de Zoilo Hilario". Kritika Kultura (in Spanish) (20): 217. doi:10.13185/KK2013.02010. hdl:10045/33151. ISSN 1656-152X. En efecto, este órgano prácticamente ha pasado desapercibido, pero su importancia parece fundamental en la dinamización de las formas modernistas bajo Guerrero, principal poeta filipino que influiría en los jóvenes provincianos llegados a Manila. Por la vida de la Manila de entreguerras, el círculo literario se localizaría en los alrededores del barrio de la Ermita, barrio bohemio por antonomasia de la capital filipina, y cuna de los Guerrero, Balmori y otras familias importantes en el panorama literario de la época. Zoilo Hilario, por su insistencia en el concepto de "adelfas", y por el tono de su poesía, jugaría un papel destacado en el cenáculo.
  8. ^ Richardson, James Andrew (1984). The genesis of the Philippine Communist Party (phd). SOAS University of London. p. 82. doi:10.25501/SOAS.00028972. In 1923, with a view to redressing this unequal balance, a group of local Nacionalistas launched a competing Capampangan mass organisation, the Katipunan Mipanampun (Self-Help Society). The Katipunan's chief instigator and president, Don Zoilo Hilario, came from a family prominent as lawyers and political leaders in the province since the Spanish period; his uncle had served in the republican congress, his father as revolutionary governor. Himself a lawyer, Zoilo gained his own reputation as a vernacular poet and patriotic orator, travelling all over the Campampangan region to declaim at civic occasions and crown the queens at barrio fiestas.
  9. ^ Richardson, James Andrew (1984). The genesis of the Philippine Communist Party (phd). SOAS University of London. p. 82. doi:10.25501/SOAS.00028972. This obituary was too premature by far, and in fact Katipunan membership was at this time growing by leaps and bounds, reaching a claimed 15,700 in less than two years.
  10. ^ Richardson, James Andrew (1984). The genesis of the Philippine Communist Party (phd). SOAS University of London. p. 83. doi:10.25501/SOAS.00028972. There were elaborate initiation rituals (said to last three daysl), mutual benefit schemes, and drives to promote nationalism, Christian ethics and a belief in the dignity of labour.
  11. ^ Larkin, John A. (1993). Sugar and the Origins of Modern Philippine Society. University of California Press. pp. 195–196. ISBN 9780520079564.
  12. ^ Richardson, James Andrew (1984). The genesis of the Philippine Communist Party (phd). SOAS University of London. p. 83. doi:10.25501/SOAS.00028972. Conservative die-hards within provincial Nacionalista circles, on the other hand, charged Hilario and his associates with arousing unwarranted expectations, and when finally returned to the legislature Hilario did reportedly maintain a progressive stance.
  13. ^ Richardson, James Andrew (1984). The genesis of the Philippine Communist Party (phd). SOAS University of London. p. 82. doi:10.25501/SOAS.00028972. Throughout the 1920s he was a perennial Nacionalista candidate and eventually, in 1931, he was elected to the House of Representatives to sit for Pampanga's second district.
  14. ^ Pangilinan, Michael Raymon M. "Assessing the current status of the Kapampangan "pre-Hispanic" script". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  15. ^ "Hilario, Zoilo". CulturEd: Philippine Cultural Education Online. Archived from the original on 11 February 2019. Bukod sa pagiging makata, kinilala rin siyá bílang mandudula. Ilan sa kaniyang mga isinulat ay ang Mumunang Sinta, Sampagang E Malalanat, Bandila ning Filipinas at Juan de la Cruz, Anak ning Katipunan.
  16. ^ "Hilario, Zoilo". CulturEd: Philippine Cultural Education Online. Archived from the original on 11 February 2019. Noong 1962 ay itinalaga naman siyá ni Pangulong Diosdado Macapagal na kasapi ng Philippine Historical Commission.
  17. ^ Donoso, Isaac (30 April 2013). "Crónica de Filipinas en la Poesía de Zoilo Hilario". Kritika Kultura (in Spanish) (20): 207. doi:10.13185/KK2013.02010. hdl:10045/33151. ISSN 1656-152X. Póstumamente, y en la tardía fecha de 1968, la familia Hidalgo pudo dar espléndido homenaje a la figura de Zoilo al publicar un volumen con sus últimas poesías inéditas: Himnos y Arengas, Manila, Nueva Era Press, 1968 (fig. 3). La familia agradecía en nota en inglés la colaboración de Joaquín P. Jaramillo como editor del libro, y Francisco G. Tonogbanua por su publicación.
  18. ^ "Hilario, Zoilo". CulturEd: Philippine Cultural Education Online. Archived from the original on 11 February 2019. Noong 1982, nagpugay sa kaniya ang National Historical Institute at ang pamahalaang lokal ng Pampanga sa pamamagitan ng inagurasyon ng kaniyang rebulto.
  19. ^ Adelfas (De la lira filipina). Primer tomo / Zoilo J. Hilario | Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes.
  20. ^ Hilario, Zoilo J (1914). Patria y redencion: poesias (in Spanish). Imp. y Lit. de Juan Fajardo. OCLC 635783641.
  21. ^ Hilario, Zoilo; Hilario Lacson, Evangelina V (1968). Himnos y arengas: obra filipina ; colección de poesías (in Spanish). Nueva Era Pr. OCLC 253287655.
  22. ^ Hilario, Zoilo J; Samson, Lucena P; Hilario, Zoilo J; Hilario, Zoilo J (2015). Bayung sunis. ISBN 9789710197637. OCLC 946589681.