Graciano López Jaena

Graciano López Jaena was born in Jaro, Iloilo, in the Captaincy General of the Philippines in the Spanish Empire on December 18, 1856. His parents were Plácido López and María Jacoba Jaena. He was baptized as "Graciano López y Jaena" on December 20, 1856, at Jaro Church by Plácido de Isana, and his godfather was Rufino Justiniano. Feeling that the priesthood was the most noble profession, his mother sent him to study at the St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary in Jaro. While there, he served as a secretary to his uncle, Claudio López, who was the honorary vice consul of Portugal in Iloilo. ==Public Holiday==

December 18, Lopez Jaena's birthday, is a public holiday every year in Iloilo province and Iloilo City. ==Legacy==

and Graciano Lopez Jaena appear on the obverse side of a 5 peso Philippine banknote circulated between 1951 and 1974. In his honor, the Jaro Plaza was renamed the Graciano López Jaena Park, where there is also a statue of him. The Graciano Lopez Jaena Foundation Inc works to continue his legacy and supports various public recognition of his life and work, such as the Dr. Graciano Lopez Jaena Poetry Contest. The municipality of Lopez Jaena in Misamis Occidental is named after him. An Order of DeMolay Chapter, a youth fraternal group for young men originating in freemasonry, was founded around 1965 in Jaro, and named Graciano Lopez-Jaena Chapter because Lopez Jaena was the first and foremost Freemason from Jaro. Numerous streets throughout the Philippines are named after him in his honor. ==Notable works==

• Fray Botod (Big-Bellied Friar) • La Hija del Fraile (The Daughter of a Friar) • Esperanzas (Hope) ==In popular culture==

• Portrayed by Ricardo Cepeda in 1996 TV Series Bayani, in episode Graciano López-Jaena: Fray Botod (1874) ==References==