Aurelio Alvero: Traitor or Patriot?

Historians are traditionally fascinated by "neglected" figures as well as by what some would term "losers". Aurelio Alvero (1913-58) is, in my opinion, one who can be classified in both of these categories. Filipinos today probably have never heard of him or, if they have, most likely know him simply as a convicted traitor. Yet his brilliance is undeniable, and his burning if often erratic passions make him a person whose unfortunate fate continues to intrigue and attract me. Moreover, Alvero's undeniable literary prowess which led ultimately to a seemingly unquenchable if unfortunately quixotic political ambition reminds one of such a contemporary literary-political "loser" as Peru's Mario Vargas Llosa or even perhaps America's own Gore Vidal. While this paper cannot deal with Alvero's remarkable literary achievements in both English and Tagalog, it will attempt to record and to examine his peculiar political career. To some few contemporary Filipinos, Alvero is still seen as "the poet of the people", "the spokesman of all Filipinos with a vision", "an ideal nationalist committed to his country's cause". To most who know of him today, however, the verdict of the immediate postwar Philippine People's Court which found Alvero guilty of collaboration with the Japanese marks him as the prototype traitor who sold out his country to the enemy. His years in prison, 1945-47 and 1950-52, again despite their stunning literary productivity, have sadly reduced his repute among his countrymen still more. Aurelio Alvero, also known after 1945 by his self-generated pen name Magtanggul Asa, was born on 15 October 1913 in Tondo, Manila.(1) He was the son of Emilio Alvero y de Vera, painter, art-glass artist and interior decorator, and Rosa Sevilla y Tolentino, writer, social worker and educator and founder of the Instituto de Mujeres, one of the oldest schools for women in the Philippines. Alvero studied at the Centro Educativo y Instructivo and completed his primary education at the Instituto de Mujeres. He later graduated from the Ateneo de Manila high school and then went on to study law and education simultaneously at the University of Santo Tomas. He received the A.A. degree in 1933, the B.S.E. in 1935 and his law degree cum laude in 1937. Among his honours at university were the following: 1931-32 Gold Medal, Law Oratorical Contest Society Editor, The Varsitarian 1932-33 Silver Medal, UST Liberal Arts - Education Debate Assistant Literary Editor, The Varsitarian Editor, The Thomasian Rector Tamayo Gold Medal for Poetry 1933-34 Bronze Medal, Law Oratorical Contest Poetry Editor, The Thomasian 1934-35 Editor, The Spectrum Representative, Law Student Council Gold Medal, Law Bicentennial Oratorical Contest Laureate Crown and Gold Medal, Law Bicentennial Ode Contest President, Education Seniors' Association The above honours clearly identify Alvero as a superb orator, debater and poet. At the age of 21 he published his first book of poems entitled Moonshadows on the Water. In the preface John Jefferson Siler, Alvero's English professor at Santo Tomas, wrote: Here are some of the best lyrics written in the Philippines. There are several poems in this book that any English writer could feel pleasure in signing his name to.... I do not hesitate to say "1896" is one of the finest flowerings of lyric patriotism in the entire range of English poetry. Alvero's poetry was praised unstintingly by the critic Cornelio Faigao of the Philippines Free Press, as well as by such literary arbiters as Alfred Litiatco of the Graphic and Federico Mangahas of the Tribune. At various times Alvero taught English at San Beda College, and Tagalog and national history at U.S.T. meanwhile lecturing at the Instituto de Mujeres on whatever his mother might need from year to year. Along with his evident literary ability, Alvero nurtured his political concerns. He was one of the early founders of the Young Philippines, a fringe nationalist party of the 1930s. …