In what is now a residential area in Barangay Sto. Niño in the City of San Fernando in Pampanga stands a single-story brick structure. This is the San Fernando Train Station, inaugurated in February 1892 as part of the Bagbag-Mabalacat stretch of the Manila-Dagupan Railway. This train station figured in the 1942 Death March where thousands of Filipino and American prisoners of war who were suffering from hunger, fatigue and various illnesses after being forced to march from Bataan were herded into box cars and transported to Capas, Tarlac.

The same train station bears witness to an earlier episode in Philippine history, the 1896 Revolution. It was here on 27 June 1892 that Dr. Jose Rizal made a brief stopover in San Fernando to talk to people he hoped to recruit as members of La Liga Filipina, the civic group he wanted to establish to pursue reforms under Spanish colonial rule. Among those he met was Tiburcio Hilario, a lawyer who would later emerge as the revolutionary governor of Pampanga at the turn of the 20th century.

As the “Brains of the Revolution in Pampanga,” Tiburcio Hilario, my great-grandfather, played an important role not only in the history of the province but also in the nation’s epic struggle for independence and freedom.

What little we know today about him, apart from his friendship with Rizal, with whom he shared an intense love of country and a fervent wish to see the country freed from oppressive colonial rule, was that he graduated from the University of Santo Tomas.

When he began his law practice, it soon became apparent that he would not countenance oppressive rule by the Spaniards. He was able to hold a prominent position at a time when Filipinos were hardly given an opportunity to have a voice in the colonial government. For a while he was an ad interim judge of the Court of First Instance in Pangasinan.

On 7 July 1892, the colonial government prohibited the distribution of pamphlets critical of the Catholic Church or advocating national unity. As an advocate of peaceful reforms like Rizal, he was arrested along with his brother Cecilio and imprisoned in Bacolor. They were later exiled, he to Siasi in Sulu and his brother to Balabac in Palawan.

It was Tiburcio who urged his cousin, Marcelo H. del Pilar, to leave for Spain to escape arrest and imprisonment for his anti-government activities.

During the second phase of the revolution, Tiburcio and his brother Cecilio escaped from Manila and went into hiding in Bacolor. By this time, the revolution had gained momentum.

Tiburcio was elected in absentia as revolutionary governor of Pampanga. After taking his oath of office, he embarked on his new role with zeal and appealed to both the rich and the poor to contribute cash and food to the cause of the revolution. Many responded to his appeal.

On 21 June 1899, when Aguinaldo and his staff moved from Angeles to the town of Tarlac, which had been made the capital of the Republic, Tiburcio turned over to persons authorized by Aguinaldo the collection of money from Pampanga for the use of the Philippine government in Tarlac province.

On 7 July, he was appointed as representative of Iloilo to the National Congress. On 14 July, the Congress elected its officers, headed by Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista as president. He was elected as one of two vice-presidents.

On 14 August 1899, he was appointed justice of the Supreme Court, with Apolinario Mabini as the chief justice.

When the Americans found out that he was the revolutionary governor of Pampanga, he was left with no choice but take an oath of allegiance to the United States.

Tiburcio continued his legal practice in Pangasinan, where he stayed for two years. The last important case he handled as a lawyer was the defense of five men who were accused of rebellion against the Americans. He succeeded, along with other lawyers, in having some of them acquitted in court.

Tiburcio Hilario died on 18 February 1903 from scarlet fever, the only such case in Philippine medical history.

In her book, Ambassador Rafaelita Hilario Soriano, a granddaughter of Tiburcio, pointed out that his role as a reformer, propagandist and rebel leader had not been properly acknowledged by other historians because he was not a general but a lawyer. “He had a more politically sophisticated set-up with him at the helm which included a military arm under General Maximino Hizon and a propaganda arm under the playwright Aurelio Tolentino. Governor Hilario was an intellectual, a lawyer who organized Pampanga’s revolution and who during his incumbency as Governor observed international law in the treatment of prisoners in the province.”

The present generation may not be aware of Tiburcio Hilario and his contributions to our nation’s quest for freedom, but commemorative events such as what the city government of San Fernando did last Saturday on the occasion of his 165th birth anniversary, serve to keep his legacy and ideals alive to inspire Filipinos today of the need to defend our independence at all costs.

In his own way and at a crucial juncture in our nation’s history, Tiburcio Hilario not only helped lay the strong foundations of Pampanga’s future progress in various fields of endeavor but also contributed to shaping the consciousness of Filipinos to cherish and protect the independence and freedom that we enjoy today.