Benigno Ramos

Summary

See Pugad Baboy for the Filipino comic character Igno who shares this name.

Benigno "Ben Ruben" Ramos y Pantaleón (February 10, 1892 – disappeared 1945) was a Filipino author, writer, organization founder, politician, and was an advocate for the independence of the Philippines from the United States who collaborated with Japan.

Benigno Ramos
Born
Benigno Ramos y Pantaleón

(1892-02-10)February 10, 1892
Disappeared1945 (aged 52–53) according to most sources
Philippines
NationalityFilipino
Other namesBen Ruben
Occupation(s)Author, writer, politician
Known forAdvocate for the independence of the Philippines from the United States
author, writer
Founder, Sakdalista movement, Ganap Party, Makapili
Political partyGanap Party
Other political
affiliations
Nacionalista (until 1930)
MovementSakdalista

Educated in Bulacan, Ramos went to work there as a teacher.[2] Later, whilst based in Manila, he entered the civil service and by 1928 had risen to a high position with the Senate Staff. He became a member of the Nacionalista Party and a close associate of Manuel L. Quezon but this came to an end in 1930 when he joined a wildcat strike by teachers in the capital, causing Quezon to demand his resignation. Ramos did so but became a figure of anti-Quezon agitation, setting up a Tagalog language newspaper Sakdal which gained a wide circulation in rural areas.[3]

Ramos reconstituted his followers as the Sakdalista movement. Gaining as many as 20,000 members the group launched an attempted uprising in May 1935 but this was quickly crushed and Ramos went into exile in Japan.[4]

Ramos returned to Manila on August 28, 1938 on board the German passenger ship Gneisenau.[5] He became leader of the Ganap Party which contested the 1941 elections (although Ramos himself was imprisoned during the vote).[6] During the Japanese occupation this group became part of the KALIBAPI governing coalition, whilst Ramos formed the Makapili, a militant youth movement that aimed to limit the power of José P. Laurel and to provide soldiers for Japan.[7] The followers of Ramos and his ally Artemio Ricarte were eventually armed by the Japanese in December 1944 by which time the Americans had already landed.

Accounts differ on what happened to Ramos after the fall of the Second Philippine Republic; some claim that he was killed in an airplane crash in Baguio along with the retreating Japanese.

Aside from his political activism, Ramos was also noted as a writer of poetry with a collection Mga Agam-agam at Iba Pang Tula due for publication.[8]

References edit

  1. ^ "Film # 007773631 Image Film # 007773631; ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSMN-GQ9N — FamilySearch.org". FamilySearch. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  2. ^ David R. Sturtevant, 'Sakdalsim and Philippine Radicalism', Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 21, No. 2. (Feb. 1962), p.201
  3. ^ Sturtevant, op cit
  4. ^ Philippines Resistance Movements
  5. ^ Grant K. Goodman, 'Review of Origins of the Philippine Republic. Extracts from the Diaries and Records of Francis Burton Harrison by Francis Burton Harrison and Michael P. Onorato', Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 34, No. 3. (May 1975), p. 864
  6. ^ 'Bedroom Campaign' from Time, November 24, 1941
  7. ^ Jovito Salonga, 'A tribute to Dr. Jose P. Laurel'
  8. ^ Link to publication of Ramos' poetry book Archived June 24, 2007, at the Wayback Machine