Nínay

Pedro A. Paterno (1857 - 1911) was a Filipino poet, novelist, and politician, infamous for being a turncoat. Born in Manila, Paterno was born into a large family of thirteen children to his father, Don Máximo Paterno and his second wife, Doña Carmen de Vera Ignacio. Considered to be a "child of privilege in a society of limited opportunities,” Paterno enjoyed a certain degree of notability after finishing his studies at Ateneo de Manila University. At just fourteen of age, he left his home country to study in Spain at the University of Salamanca and later the Central University of Madrid. Over the next twenty-two years, Paterno would immerse himself in Spanish culture, producing his first literary work, Influencia Social del Cristianismo, and being awarded the Order of Isabella the Catholic in 1893. It was during this time that Paterno would publish his most famous work, Nínay. Predating what would later come to be known as the National Epic of the Philippines, Touch Me Not, Nínay would make history as the first novel written by a Native Filipino. Despite this accolade, Paterno’s legacy would be forever stained by his actions in the trial of José Rizal and with the Philippine Revolutionary Society thereafter. Accused of inciting a Philippine revolutionary group called the Katipunan through his literature, Paterno opted to distance himself from the group and instead offer his services to mediate the tension between the remaining revolutionaries who resided in the village of Biak-na-Bato and the Spanish government. While Paterno was able to negotiate a truce between the two parties (effectively ending the Philippine Revolution), he was essentially abandoned by his people for selling out his country to foreign interests. He died alone of cholera on April 26, 1911.