Lauro Dimayuga of Lipa: Forgotten Ilustrado

Lauro Solís Dimayuga of Lipa, Batangas, stands as one of the more obscure but significant figures in the late Propaganda and early Revolutionary periods of the Philippines in the late nineteenth century.

Although overshadowed by national heroes such as José Rizal and Marcelo del Pilar, Dimayuga’s life illustrates how provincial ilustrados — educated men of the provinces — actively participated in the reformist struggle against the Spanish colonial government and paid the ultimate price.

Born around 1870 to Don Catalino Dimayuga y Reyes and Doña Filomena Solís y Metra, Lauro belonged to a prominent Batangueño clan whose intermarriages tied them to families like the Aguileras, Roxases, and Kalaws.

The image above is AI-generated and attempts to depict Ilustrados in an establishment somewhere in 19th century Spain. It does not intend to portray any particular Filipino Ilustrados in Spain at the time.

This elite background provided him the means to pursue higher learning. He earned his bachelor’s degree at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila with honors. Afterwards, he was sent to Spain for further studies.

There, his father Don Catalino entrusted him to the care of José Rizal, who corresponded with the elder Dimayuga about Lauro’s health and conduct.

There are some accounts, albeit unverifiable, of Lauro having studied Law at the Universidad Central de Madrid. However, Batangas History, Culture, & Folklore is unable to verify this or if he, indeed, obtained a degree in the said program of studies.

What is certain is that Lauro moved in the same reformist circles as Rizal and other Filipino expatriates in Madrid and Paris.¹

While in Europe, Dimayuga became a member of Indios Bravos, the reformist society founded by Rizal, and also joined the Asociación Hispano-Filipina, which lobbied for political reforms in the Philippines.

He wrote satirical pieces such as Las Bellas Lipenses and Una Frase de Amor, works that critiqued social hypocrisy and highlighted local Batangueño identity.²

His writings reveal that even from abroad, he remained engaged with the life and image of his hometown.

Returning to Batangas during the 1890’s, Dimayuga’s reformist activities soon attracted the attention of colonial authorities. Branded a filibustero — a revolutionary or subversive and, therefore, a threat to Spanish colonial rule.

He was arrested in Lipa and imprisoned. In 1897 — the same year as the execution of many Cavite rebels and reformists — he was executed by the Spanish authorities.³

Typical of the era and the prevailing political climate, Lauro’s execution came without a fair trial. Only his late twenties, his life ended before his promise could fully be fully fulfilled.

Dimayuga left behind a wife, María Boria del Valle, and one son, Carlos Juan Rafael Valentín Dimayuga, born in Sampaloc, Manila, in 1892.

Carlos later became a journalist, spent much of his career in Vietnam, and married Marie Jeromine Canavaggio, thus linking the Batangueño line to a French-Vietnamese branch of descendants still living in France today.⁴

Lauro Dimayuga’s story, preserved in part by the notes of Teodoro M. Kalaw and the registries of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, deserves greater recognition. His life bridges provincial Batangas, the reformist expatriate circles in Europe, and the Revolution in the Philippines.

For Lipa and Batangas at large, he stands as a reminder that the struggle for reform and independence was not confined to Manila or Cavite alone; but was lived and fought by Batangueños willing to risk everything.