RAFAEL PALMA (1874-1939)

ALTHOUGH, a native Manileo, Rafael Palma, journalist and historian,

after taking residence in Cavite for a few months, ran in 1907 for
representative in the First Philippine Assembly. He was elected a tribute to
the good sense of the Caviteo electorate because Palma, in the
perspective of history, stands today as one of the best specimens of the
Filipino race.

In the words of the late President Quezon, Palma was a

patriot, a scholar, and one of the noblest characters that ever lived. As a
public servant, he left a record of service truly worthy of emulation: He died
poor in material possessions, but immensely rich in achievements.
President of the University of the Philippines for 10 years, 1923-1933, Palma
set a tradition of high-minded idealism, intellectual independence, and
opposition to religious obscurantism. The aim of education, he said, is to
seek new paths, to show new light upon mans conscience in order to
enhance the longing for a happier life
Born in Tondo, Manila, on October 24, 1874, to a couple of modest means,
Hermogenes Palma, a government accountant, and Hilaria Velasquez, Palma
was the third of four children. His youngest brother, Jose, the poet-soldier of
the Revolution, wrote the lyrics of the Philippine National Anthem.
Finishing his A.B. course at the Ateneo de Manila, he went on to take up law
at the University of Sto. Tomas. But before he could graduate with an L.L.B.
degree, the Philippine Revolution broke out, and he promptly joined General
Antonio Lunas newspaper, La Independencia, the first issue of which
appeared on September 3, 1898.

After the assassination of Luna in

Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, on June 5, 1899, Palma continued running the

paper, its printing press aboard a railroad coach being transferred from place
to place until it was no longer possible to publish it because of the rapid
advance of the American forces.

Palma then went to Cebu and helped Sergio Osmea and Jaime C. de Veyra
put out the daily El Nuevo Dia (The New Day), until strict American
censorship forced the paper to close, Palma returned to Manila, passed the
bar examinations, and then launched a new daily, El Rancimiento (The
Rebirth).

He was married to Carolina Ocampo, daughter of his publisher,

Martin Ocampo. But the needs of a growing family forced him to quit the
newspaper and engage in the more lucrative law practice.
Palma was a successful and famous barrister when he ran for the First
Philippine Assembly in 1907. Two years later he was appointed member of
the Philippine Commission, the upper house of the legislature at the time.
Upon the establishment of the bicameral Philippine legislature in 1916 under
the Jones Law, Palma decided to run for senator in the fourth senatorial
district comprising Manila, Laguna, Rizal, and Bataan. He was elected. But
while serving his term as senator, Governor General Francis Burton Harrison
appointed him secretary of the interior at the same time.
In 1923 Palma was appointed president of the University of the Philippines, a
position he occupied with great distinction until 1933 when he resigned
because of differences of opinion with then Senate President Quezon on the
Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act. A year later he was elected delegate to the 19341935 Constitutional Convention.
Palma was the author of the Commonwealth prize-winning biography of Jose
Rizal in the Spanish division. The work was translated into English under the
title Pride of the Malay Race by Supreme Court Justice Roman Ozaeta (New
York, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1949).

He also wrote the two-volume Historia de

Filipinas, published in facsimile edition, by the University of the Philippines

Press, in 1968. Palma died on May 24, 1939. He was survived by his wife
and four children.
[Sources: (1) Rafael Palma, My Autobiography, Manila, 1934; (2) Jorge C.
Bocobo, On Rafael Palma, The Tribune, Manila, May 21, 1939; (3) Eminent

Filipinos.

Manila, National Historical Commission, 1965; (4) Rafael Palma

Centenary Symposium, Abelardo Hall, U.P., November 29, 1974; (5)

Gregorio F. Zaide, Great Filipinos in History, Manila, 1970; and (6) Biodata
furnished by Governor Remullas office.]

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