MANUEL ARTIGAS Y CUERVA
(1866-1925)
Manuel Artigas y Cuerva, biographer,
bibliographer, historian and
journalist, was born in Tacloban, Leyte, on October 15, 1866, to Miguel Artigas y Rodriguez, a native of
Cadiz, Spain and Soledad Cuerva y
Molina of Bulacan. His parents originally settled in Baler. They moved to Leyte in 1860, in the company
of Soledad's father who was an officer in the artillery corps of the Spanish
army.
Manuel's father died in Albay in 1874 and
was buried there. His mother then sold
all their properties in Leyte and moved to Manila. She deposited the proceeds of the sale, together with a sum won
in a lottery, with Russel, Sturgis and
Co. This American investment firm,
however, went bankrupt and so the Artigas family was left in a preca
rious financial condition.
Despite this setback the orphaned family
managed to settle in Manila. Manuel was first sent to the Colegio de la
Immaculada Concepcion and then transferred to the Ateneo Municipal as an alumno
interno de beca. He was admitted to the University of Santo Tomas where he studied medicine for three years.
He later enrolled at the Colegio de San
Juan de Letran and in 1883, after passing a competi tive examination, was
admitted into the government service.
An ambitious man, Manuel denied himself
the pleasures of a social life and isolated himself inhis room toiling and
laboring. Day and night he was to be found with pen in hand writing on various
aspects of Philippine history. Among his significant works are: Manual de empleado; El Municipio Filipino; Historia Municipal de
Filipinas desde los Primeros Tiempos de la Dominacion Espaņola hasta nuestros
Dias-Manila; El Procedimento Administrativo y la Jurisdiccion
Centencioso-Administivo y la Jurisdicion en Filipinas-Manila; Diccionario
Tecnico-histerico de la Administracion de Filipinas-Manila; El Faro
Administrativo; Historia de las Revoluciones Filipinas; Biblioteca Nacional
Filipina-Manila; El Parlamento Filipino-Manila; La Primera Imprenta del
Filipinas-Manila; Glorias Nacionales;
EI General Antonio Luna Nevicio-Manila; Resenas Historica dela
Universidad de Santo Tomas de Manila; La Civilizacion Filipinas-Manila; Reseņa
Historica de la Provincia de Leyte- Manila; Historia de la Instruccion Publica
en Filipinas; Bibliografia
Medico-Famtaceutica, these and many other articles were published
in numerous periodicals and journals.
In 1907, he was appointed assistant
librarian in the Philippine Section of the American Circulating Library.
Through his initiative, Act No. 1849 creating the Philippine Public Library was
passed by the Philippine Assembly. In
1919 he was appointed curator of the Filipiniana division, and after passing
the librarians' examination on
September 7, 1911, he was designated chief of the division. On June 12,
1915, he was named acting chief of the Philippine Library, and in 1921, designated as acting director. The
collection of Philippine books in the
library increased from 829 volumes in December, 1907 to 20,744 volumes in December 1914 when he completed the
first half of his term.
Artigas was a member of the: Real Sociedad
Economica de Amigos del Pais, during the Spanish regime of the Philippine
Academy; of the Comite Organizador del Tercer Centenario de la Imprenta en
Filipinas held on August I, 1909; of the Junta Oganizadora Ejecutiva de las
Fiestad del Tercer Centenario de la Real y Pontifica Universidad de Santo
Tomas; of the executive Board of Asociacion Historico-Geografica de Filipinas
and of the Academia de la Lengua Filipina. In 1915, he was made an honorary
corresponding member of the Real Sociedad Geografica de Madrid, and in 1916 the
same honor was accorded him by the Real Academia de la Historia, and the
Academia Hispano-A mericana de Cadiz.
After a lingering illness, Artigas died of
heart disease in Manila on
April 2, 1925. He was survived by his wife
Luisa Losada y Mijares by whom he had 12 children. He left his family nothing
but his books. Since he had to publish them himself, little was left of the
family's resources. Thus his wife had to go into dressmaking to support herself
and her children: Artigas may have died poor, but his works constitute a
valuable inheritance.