Remembering Claro M. Recto
By Tony P. Fernandez
The year was 1950. The place was the Malate church in Manila. I was attending a Sunday mass and stood on the aisle because the church was full. Then suddenly he appeared: Don Claro M. Recto. He stood next to me, comfortable, refined and elegant in his plain white suit.
The earth seemed to sink beneath me. I remember saying to myself: “Wow! Claro M. Recto himself!”
Recto looked at me and smiled. It was a gesture I’ll never forget because Don Claro M. Recto was at the time an icon in Philippine politics. And there I was standing next to a man who will be written about in Philippine history. Oh, how I wished to have exchanged a few words with him. But that was not to be. When the mass was over, Recto walked to his car and before it sped away, he waved to some bystanders who recognized him.
A staunch nationalist
Recto was a staunch nationalist and the most prominent voice defending the sovereign rights of the Filipinos whose writings and speeches in Congress were highly critical of U.S. policy specially the U. S. military bases in our land.
Those of us who were young students of that generation had nothing but admiration for this man and considered him as the spokesman in our revolt against U.S. domination and against the American military bases.
In short, I stood next to a hero that Sunday morning for Don Claro is now esteemed by millions of Filipinos and a shrine in Philippine history.
Today’s Filipinos know how so militant a nationalist was Recto, but many might not realize that the great patriot was a product of the Spanish culture and its legacies to the Filipino people. He contended that Spanish culture has become so much part of the Filipino spirit and identity that to abolish these would impoverish our culture. Indeed, as a young aspiring writer, Recto was one of the most influential writers in the Spanish language and one of the finest poets in the Spanish language which he mastered along with English which he also mastered with brilliance.
He fought throughout his life for teaching Spanish in our schools along with Dr. Jose Rizal�s important works: the Noli and Fili.
Valuing our Spanish heritage
But after entering politics, Recto became less preoccupied to the world of letters, but kept the old faith and remained loyal to it and continued to value our Spanish heritage arguing that Spain’s enduring legacy was part of our Filipino culture.
Recto produced pages of prose and poetry in Spanish and won the Zobel Prize for Spanish literature even as he was speaking out in defense of his people�s rights in the crusade for the emancipation of the Philippines from American domination and the attainment of complete and real sovereignty of the Filipino people.
The Filipino historian Renato Constantino, in his book The Making of a Filipino, paid tribute to Recto�s contribution in our historic struggle for emancipation by stating that: “Recto�s doctrinal views in their entirety constitute a definite historic contribution which makes him part of the real history of our people; and his development proved that only the decolonized Filipino is a real Filipino.”
“It is terrible to die in a foreign country”
In 1960, the Spanish government invited Recto to visit Spain as its guest. The pilgrimage to Spain was to have been the most satisfying old dreams of Recto because of his sustaining affection for Spanish. The dream was not to be fulfilled. The pilgrimage was to remain unfinished.
Recto never reached Spain. He suffered a heart attack in Rome and died on October 2, 1960. He was 70.
According to an article written by Nick Joaquin, Don Claro M. Recto�s mind remained clear to the end. Said he in anguish: “It is terrible to die in a foreign country.”
Those were his last words.
*** This article about Don Claro M. Recto (born February 8, 1890) first appeared online here at emanila.com, and reposted to emanila*pilipino on Feb 25, 2003. Tony Fernandez is based in Montreal, Canada. Please click here to know more about Tony.
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