THE Propaganda Movement, which is part of the longer reform movements during the Spanish colonization, is one of the most important and defining movements in the birth of the nation sans the revolutionary movement. Its writings reminded us of our distinct identity as a people which we used to tell the Spaniards to treat us as their equal, for them to implement reforms and even to dismantle the colonies. And it can be argued that the Propaganda Movement in Europe was formally launched as a literary movement by the controversial Pedro Alejandro Paterno.

When Paterno was 14, he was sent to Spain to study law where he realized that coming from the Philippines, he must assert himself in the world of the titled Spaniards. His father, Maximo Molo Agustin Paterno, was part of the student demonstrations of 1869-1870 and was exiled to the Marianas in connection with the Cavite Mutiny of 1872. His sister, Dolores, was a musician who composed the tune 'La Flor de Manila,' which was the title of a poem written by their mother, Carmen de Vera Ignacio. The tune would later be become the famous song, 'Sampaguita.'