A 17-year-old descendant of Marcelo H. Del Pilar is using personal letters and family stories to offer younger Filipinos a more relatable look at the national hero through a pop-up exhibit in Makati City.
“This exhibit aims to try and reach the younger audiences through a method that isn’t a textbook, that isn’t shrouded behind historical facts, figures, and historical events,” he told BusinessWorld in an interview.
“It tries to make him more relatable, make him more approachable, make him easier to learn about, and I really hope that that will be the case when young people visit this exhibit,” he added.
Mr. Del Pilar, who used the pen name Plaridel, was known for his work as a propagandist, laying the ideological groundwork for the Philippine Revolution of 1896.
The collection features personal letters from Mr. Del Pilar to his daughters, Sofia and Anita, during his time in Spain between 1889 and 1895. The young curator noted that the hero’s “forward-thinking opinion” on women’s rights during an oppressive time is one of the highlights in these letters.
“My exhibit is mainly about trying to emphasize the character behind the man and emphasize his devotion to his family as well as his devotion to his country,” Mr. Pineda said.
“He writes constantly about how women should be given more rights…and it’s really admirable that he stood up for his beliefs,” he added. “He stuck to his guns, and he was stubborn in the fact that he was willing to basically die on that hill and for the stuff he believed in.”
The exhibit also displays the hero’s popular works, Dasalan at Tocsohan and La Solidaridad, from Museo ni Marcelo H. del Pilar at Sitio Cupang, Bulacan.
Dasalan at Tocsohan is a satirical piece that Mr. Del Pilar wrote under the pen name Plaridel in 1888 to expose the greed and corruption during the Spanish colonial period.
Meanwhile, La Solidaridad, a newspaper that the Filipino propagandist served as editor-in-chief of, published essays, exposés, poems, and speeches on the abuses of the Spanish friars in the country.
“Having the privilege of being directly related to him means that my family has personal stories,” Mr. Pineda said. “I think that gives me an extra perspective, and it therefore strengthens my ability to curate exhibits and to try and spread my message to other people.”
The Lolo Marcelo: The Man Behind the Hero (Reflections on the Legacy of Marcelo H. Del Pilar) will run until Oct. 17, 2026, at the 2F Lobby of Ayala Museum’s Diorama Experience Gallery in Makati City. — Almira Louise S. Martinez