MALACAÑANG

MANILA

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES

PROCLAMATION NO. 864

DECLARING AUGUST 30, 1996, AND FOR EVERY YEAR THEREAFTER, AS MARCELO H. DEL PILAR DAY

WHEREAS,

Marcelo Hilario del Pilar, born on August 30, 1850 in Kupang, San Nicolas, Bulacan, is one of our revered Filipino heroes noted for his fearless writings denouncing the abuses of friars and their oppression of the Filipinos during the Spanish regime;

WHEREAS,

in 1892 Marcelo H. del Pilar founded the first Tagalog daily, the Diariong Tagalog, which denounced Spanish maladministration of the Philippines and later edited the newspaper, La Solidaridad, which championed the cause for greater Philippine autonomy;

WHEREAS,

in the words of Governor General Ramon Blanco, then Chief Executive of the erstwhile Philippine colony, del Pilar, was “the most intelligent leader, the real soul of the separatists”;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FIDEL V. RAMOS,

President of the Republic of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby declare August 30, 1996, and for every year thereafter, as Marcelo H. del Pilar Day to commemorate the birth anniversary of this noble hero who dedicated his life to the cause of freedom. The said shall be normal working day.

DONE

in the City of Manila, this 29th day of August in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Ninety-Six.

(Sgd.)

FIDEL V. RAMOS

By the President:

(Sgd.)

LUIS C. LIWANAG II


Acting