Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera - Deserves a Second Look?

     

Trinidad Hermenegildo Pardo de Tavera y Gorricho (1857-1925). Filipino physician and historian. An outstanding Filipinologist who wrote notable scholarly works in various fields of Oriental and Philippine studies; language, anthropology, folklore, etc. His training and qualification as a doctor are immense. T

T. H Pardo de Tavera received his licentiate in medicine at the Faculté de Médecine de Paris and his bachelor in medicine also in the same institution. In the mid-1880s, he enrolled in École nationale des langues orientales vivantes (now Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales) and took courses under Pierre Étienne Lazare Favre. In December 1885, he received his diploma in the Malay language. 

One of Pardo de Tavera's book 'Plantas Medicinales de Filipinas' is an outstanding study on the different medicinal plants of the country. But as a politician, history seems to be unkind to T.H Pardo de Tavera. Perhaps he always went to the wrong side, feeling safe on his stance, he never took chances. He never tried the difficult and bold path like what Rizal did. Always mistrustful of Aguinaldo, he jumped to the American bandwagon when things started to look dim for the revolutionary. He, together with some notable "Balimbings" founded the "Partido Federal" with the aim of total assimilation to the US and making the Philippines a legitimate state in the American Union. Historian Teodoro Agoncillo once wrote: "Pardo de Tavera should have been shot for his betrayal of the Revolution"

 Reading some of TH Pardo de Tavera's works and some of his bibliography makes me want to say: "Cmon he deserves a second look".



Pardo de Tavera's opus on Philippine medicinal plants 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Father Francisco de Paula Sanchez: Rizal's Batman

Jose Rizal's Bomb Plot

Rizal's favorite- "THE COUNT OF MONTE-CRISTO"