A Man Of Many Talents

Because of conditions obtaining at that time, the Spanish regime saw the Filipino flourished writing in Spanish. The talented Dr. Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera was one of the important prose writes of this period.

Dr. Pardo de Tavera was born in 1857. He took his degree in medicine from the Sorbonne in Parish, and later, undertook serious research work in medicine and in linguistics in Europe.

Being a well-travelled man, he was assigned by General Emilio Aguinaldo as the secretary of diplomacy of the First Philippine Republic. Later on, he drifted into the world of journalism and politics and, finally, into public service and letters.

The works of Paro de Tavera were quite plenty. As historian, he had to his credit the following: Reseña Historica de Filipinas Desdu Su Descubrimiento Hasta 1903,. Las Costumbres de los Tagalos de Filipinas, El Sanscrito en la Lengua Tagalog, El Mapa de Filipinas del P. Murillo Velarde aand Consideraciones Sobre el Origen del Nombre de Los Numeros en Tagalog. He also edited published Una Memoria de Anda y Salazar.

Among Padro de Tavera's distinguished essays were: "The Heritage of Ignorance", "The Filipino Soul", "The Character of Rizal", and "The Conversation of the National Type". These serious essays, originally written in Spanish, gained for him wide acclaim and respect throughout the country.