By Ericson Dublas
Shrine Curator II, Museo ni Mariano Ponce
Today, we remember the 160th Birth Anniversary of Mariano Ponce y Collantes, known as the workhorse of the overseas Filipino reformist movement in the late 19th century, and one who encountered extraordinary challenges during his studies at the Universidad de Santo Tomas (UST) in Intramuros, Manila. This, at a time, when most of the Filipino propagandists in Europe passed and obtained their degrees with flying colors in premier colonial universities. But unlike his fellow illustrados who bore their sobresaliente grades, young Mariano Ponce had a different experience because as a student, it took him four years to finish three academic years.
Based on the surviving records of Ponce from UST dated 1881-1885, it indicated that he spent a considerable amount of time trying to finish his medical course. The question left to us is “why?” The answer lies not only in his existing academic records, but also on the effects of natural calamities and epidemics on students’ education in the 1880s.
Three gentlemen from Baliwag Polytechnic College led by Atty. Robert John Donesa, Mr. Giovanni Labao, and Mr. Sammy Manalaysay conducted research at the UST Archives, resulting to the rediscovery of Mariano Ponce’s academic records from 1881-1885. According to Atty. Donesa, a historian from Baliwag, the grading system of UST in the late 1900s consisted of the following:
| Grade | Translation | Acronym |
| Sobresaliente | Excellent | Se |
| Notable Aprovechado | Very Good | N |
| Bueno | Good | B |
| Mediano | Fair or Poor | M |
| Aprobado | Passed | A |
| Suspenso | Conditioned | s |
| Reprobado | Failed | R |
This grading system used by the Dominican-run UST in Intramuros in the late 19th century became the thrust of scrutinizing the academic life of Ponce as a medical student.*
Martriculados en curo preparatorio de Medicina, UST, 1881.
In his 1881 academic record, the young Mariano Ponce (19 years old) enrolled in Preparatorio de Medicina (Preparatory Medicine) with three subjects namely, Ampliacion de Fisica (Advanced Physics) under Catedratico (Professor) Fray Jenaro Buitrago, Ampliacion de Quimica (Advanced Chemistry under Catedratico Don Jose Gort y Gijo, and Ampliacion de Historia Natural (Advanced Natural History) under Catedratico Don Castro Eleva. The academic year of 1881 had more than sixty students from different age brackets with fifteen as the youngest and the oldest at twenty-eight years old. Majority of Ponce’s classmates were from Manila; others from Pangasinan, Pampanga, Cavite, Batangas, Laguna, and as far as Cagayan, Ilocos Norte, Capiz, Iloilo, Negros, and Palawan. Ponce also had three Peninsulares classmates from Barcelona and two from Madrid. Ponce, the lone Bulaqueño from the class hailed from Baliwag.
Full academic record of UST where Mariano Ponce (red box) initially enrolled in UST, 1881.
However, all of Ponce’s grades in 1881 were small three “s” or suspenso which meant conditioned or almost failed, and he needed to take removal examinations for all his subjects during his first year in UST. Unfortunately, he did not take his removal examinations in 1881, thus failing his first year in UST. Interestingly, a prominent revolutionary fellow named Galicano Apacible from Balayan, Batangas belonged to the same class with Mariano Ponce in 1881. But Apacible received a Bueno or good grades and passed all the subjects.
In 1882, Ponce re-enrolled all his previously failed subjects under the same professors in UST. This time, he passed all his subjects and obtained capital “A” grades or aprobado meaning he survived to take his second year of preparatory medicine.
Mariano Ponce received passing grades in his 1882 academic year in UST.
During Ponce’s academic year in 1882, the declining number of students for each subject was noticeable from over sixty to just more than fifty new enrollees and re-enrollees. This time, Ponce was not the only Bulaqueño in the class; he was joined by Ambrosio Marasigan y Alabado from Paombong, and Gregorio Santillan y Lorenzo and Pablo Fernando y Ampon from Bulakan. The eldest in class was thirty years of age and the youngest was fifteen. Just like his previous year, Ponce had Spaniard classmates, one from Pamplona and Barcelona.
At the age of 21, Ponce officially enrolled in his first year of medicine in 1883 after passing his second stint in preparatory course. He took three subjects: Anatomia General e Histologia primer curso (General Anatomy and Histology), Anatomia descriptiva primer curso (Descriptive Anatomy I) and Ejercicios de Osteologia y dissection primer curso (Exercises in Osteology and Dissection I). His professor in all these subjects was Don Rafael Ginard. The number of students drastically dropped to half compared to the almost fifty enrolled students in 1882.
Academic record of UST, 1883.
Mariano Ponce’s incomplete academic record in UST, 1883.
However, Ponce’s grades were unknown and his academic record in 1883 showed nothing about it. But it can be noticed in the document that he paid his first installment fee of eight pesos for the first plazo (term) but his second term is blank, hence no grade was given to him. It seems that he dropped out from the course and stopped studying for some reason because he did not pay another eight pesos for the second installment fee, nor the additional four pesos for the examination fee. Two of his other Bulaqueño classmates also failed to complete this academic year: Gregorio Santillan y Lorenzo dropped out, and Pablo Fernando y Ampon got a conditional grade and did not take extraordinary examinations.
Academic record of UST, 1884.
In 1884, Ponce returned to UST and re-enrolled all the subjects he dropped in the previous year. This time, he paid the matriculation fees for the first and second term, including the examination fee. Ponce obtained a grade of Suspenso (conditioned) in the preliminaries and to pass the academic year, he took an extraordinary examination. Extraordinary examinations were given to students who got conditioned or incomplete grades, quite like our present-day removal exams. Ponce passed the extraordinary examination and was given a grade of Aprobado (passed) in his repeated first year in the college of medicine. He then continued his second year in 1885, his last academic year in UST.
Mariano Ponce’s passing grade for academic year 1884 in UST.
In 1885, Ponce, who was 23 years old then, matriculated his second year in the college of medicine. This time, he took four subjects; Anatomia general e Histologia segundo curso (General Anatomy and Histology II), Anatomia descriptiva segundo curso (Descriptive anatomy II) and Ejercicio de Disseccion segundo curso (Exercise in Dissection II) under Don Antonio Jimenez Baena and Fisiologia, Higiene Privada y Publica (Physiology and Private and Public Hygiene) under Don Carlos Nalda. Out of the enrolled thirty-four students of local and Spanish descent during the said academic year, only half of the class passed including Mariano Ponce who obtained Aprobado (passed) grade. He did not enroll in the following year and left for Spain to continue his studies in 1887.
Academic record in 1885 in UST where Ponce passed his final year in UST.
After looking at the academic records of Mariano Ponce in UST, one might think that he was not a brilliant student, far from the likes of young Apolinario Mabini and Jose Rizal. However, these archival documents must be contextualized to avoid making hasty generalizations regarding Ponce’s academic life.
To clearly understand his life as a student, we need to determine possible factors that resulted to Ponce’s low grades and repetitive years in UST. Analyzing other primary documents together with validation and corroboration of historically significant events during 1881-1885 may reveal something about the context of his student life in the late 19th century Manila.
There were two factors which directly affected Ponce life as student between 1881-1885. First, there was widespread cholera in Manila that resulted in hundreds of deaths and severely interrupted the economy of the colonial capital and nearby towns and provinces. Second, late 19th century Manila was struck by various natural disasters and calamities such as earthquakes and typhoons that devastated major infrastructures which included schools and university buildings.
The cholera epidemic of 1882-1883 resulted in massive significant deaths. The disease arrived in Manila from Zamboanga and Iloilo on 21 August 1882, and killed one out of ten people before subsiding in October. The epidemic led to the creation of sanitary and quarantine protocols, establishment of welfare organizations to aid affected areas of the cholera death toll, and the closure of Manila parish cemeteries and nearby structures such as schools and universities.
Following the surge of cholera, Jose M. Cecilio (a friend and former classmate of Rizal) reported the situation on the ground to Jose Rizal in a letter on 28 August 1882:
“…Cholera has invaded Manila and its districts and caused considerable ravages. It has also invaded the greater number of provinces in the south… Because of this terrible guest we are few in the house, many having gone home to their respective towns. Vicente Gella is still here. He was already to go home… but no boat would take him, and the poor man is left with anxiety to leave.”
The year 1882 was the last year of Rizal studying in UST while it was Ponce’s second year of re-taking preparatory medicine. It was also the year when classes were unexpectedly suspended in all learning institutions. Students were sent back to their respective towns and provinces. Jose M. Cecilio’s letter to Rizal on 19 October 1882 confirmed these lockdowns and indefinite class suspension due to the severity of cholera outbreak in Manila. Cecilio stated;
“Your friends and fellow townsmen have gone to their towns where they are remaining until now on account of the closing of the schools. These will open soon in as much as cholera cases are few nowadays. According to the medical meeting held in the Civil Government, the epidemic remains in the city and it is advisable to take care so that it would not rebound as it is happening today in some districts.”
Aside from the cholera outbreak, Manila was visited by a terrible typhoon and destroyed most of the houses built from light materials. According to a report of Samuel Kneeland in 1883,
“The typhoon was the most severe that has visited the islands for fifty years. Houses were unroofed, vessels driven ashore, whole villages prostrated, trees torn up by roots; metal plates, tiles, timbers, and heavy weights were carried to great heights and distances. Millions of property were destroyed in the city and its suburbs… and general distress and business prostrations are the result.”
Looking back at the time when Ponce was in UST in 1882, despite the sudden suspension of classes due to cholera, he still managed to obtain a passing grade for the said academic year. However, students were obliged to do self-study and take examinations the moment class suspensions were lifted.
For his academic year in 1881, Ponce dropped his subjects because he was unable to settle his remaining tuition fees aside from his initial payment for the first term. He did not intentionally drop his subjects but was forced to, due to personal issues.
Another possible reason is the earthquake that hit Southern Luzon and Manila in July 1880. Also known as the 1880 Southern Luzon earthquake, it was considered one of the most destructive tremors in Philippine history. Records of tremors and aftershocks that were published in Diario de Manila were collected and compiled into a small volume titled, “Los Terremotos en Filipinas en Julio de 1880.” The 1880 earthquake collapsed structures in Manila including churches, government buildings, schools, and universities. According to a report from the Japan Gazette:
” The damages at present ascertained in the public and private buildings are very considerable, but it is not even possible yet to estimate approximately the loss of materials which must have run up to an important sum.”
Churches in Intramuros and its nearby suburbs were reportedly heavily damaged by the 1880 earthquake. Some of these churches are near to premier Catholic-run universities such as Santo Domingo church in Intramuros where UST was originally located before transferring to Quezon City in 1954.
“San Agustin and San Franciso (churches) very seriously damaged, Santo Domingo, and San Sebastian appear not to have suffered, but we hear the walls are cracked through level with the ground and they will both have to come down.”
For students like Ponce, the massive earthquake of 1880, the cholera epidemic, and the devastating typhoon of 1882 left an unimaginable place for a student to study or even for people to live. During these years, the calamities affected teaching formats of schools and universities and the learning of their students. However, as observed through the academic records of Mariano Ponce, natural calamities did not hold back some students from enrolling in their classes to attain education.
Mariano Ponce’s experience as a student in UST is parallel to students in present time when the Covid-19 pandemic emerged. Educational systems tend to be disrupted when catastrophes occur. The cholera epidemic of 1882 happened more than a hundred years from the Covid-19 pandemic, but there are similar experiences that affect students despite being in different generations.
For Mariano Ponce, grades are just LETTERS not numbers. He confronted a challenging time in university when natural disasters persisted. It is true that his academic grades were generally low, but majority of his classmates had similar grades too. In fact, as we look at his historical biography, his grades did not diminish his achievements because his academic performance did not dictate his success in life. Mariano Ponce was an ordinary student, in an extraordinary time and he became more extraordinary as he belonged to the pantheon of illustrious Filipino heroes of our nation.
SOURCES
Primary Sources
____________. Academic Records of Mariano Ponce from 1881-85, UST Archives.
____________. The Japan Gazette, A Fortnightly Summary of the Political, Commercial, Literary and Social Events of Japan: Vol. 26, Yokohama, 1880.
____________. The American Journal of Science, Volume 121. The earthquake of the Philippine Islands, 1880.
Samuel Kneeland. The Typhoon at Manila, Philippine Islands, 1882.
Secondary Sources
Agoncillo, Teodoro A. History of the Filipino people Edition: 8th ed., Garotech Publishing, Quezon City, 1990.
Santillan, N.M.R and M.B.P Conde, Kasaysayan at Kamalayan, LIKAS, Quezon City, 1998.
Veneracion, Jaime B. Kasaysayan ng Bulakan, Bahay-Saliksikan ng Kasaysayan, Germany. 1986.
Constantino, Renato. The Philippines: A Past Revisited, Quezon City, 1975.
Diokno, Maria Serena I and Ramon Villegas, Kasaysayan: the story of the Filipino people. Vol.4, Life in the colony, Asia Publishing Company, 1998.
Mojares, Resil B. The Itineraries of Mariano Ponce, Philippines, 2013
Veneracion, Jaime B. Mariano Ponce Y. Collantes: Dangal ng Lahing Pilipino. NHCP, 2018.
Veneracion, Jaime B. Mariano Ponce y Collantes: Makabayan, Bayani. NHCP, 2016.
_____________. Naning: Mariano Ponce 150th Birth Anniversary Commemorative Lectures and Selected Artcicles form La Solidaridad, NHCP, Manila, 2013.
Acknowledgements
Bulacan Provincial Library
Baliwag Polytechnic College
Atty. Robert John Donesa
Mr. Giovanni Labao
Mr. Sammy Manalaysay