Happy birthday, Heneral Luna

Antonio Luna was born in Binondo 149 years ago, on October 29, 1866, the youngest of seven children.

He studied literature and chemistry at school, and later earned a doctorate in pharmacy. He also wrote for La Solidaridad under the pen name Taga-ilog.

He was a swordsman and a man of letters, known for his hot temper just like his older brother, the artist Juan.

But history remembers him most as a soldier on the battlefield, a general who bravely went up against better armed, better trained American forces in a series of battles at the turn of the century during the Philippine-American War.

He met his death, however, at the hands of fellow Filipinos, ambushed by Capt. Pedro Janolino and men of the Kawit battalion—men he had earlier dismissed or who had felt the lash of his sharp tongue—in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija. It is not known for certain who had ordered Luna's assassination; what is known is that he went down fighting, stabbed and shot several times by Janolino and his men.

Heneral Luna, an independent film released earlier this year, brought the general back to the forefront of Filipinos' minds. The actor who portrayed him, John Arcilla, noted that Luna was a complicated man who has been misunderstood as a "mad dog" that needed to be put down. Instead, he said, we should remember the patriotism and courage by which Luna lived his short life, and remember that we do not have to be perfect, and that we do not always have to win, to prove our love for our country. — BM, GMA News