<div class="image-200">
<img loading="lazy"   src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources/jose_rizal_marcelo_del_pilar_mariano_ponce.webp"   alt="Jose Rizal, Marcelo del Pilar and Mariano Ponce"/>
<div>
Leaders of the reform movement in Spain: Left to right: Rizal, del Pilar, and Ponce
</div>
</div>

<p>
Although some recent institutional commemorations give his date of birth as March 22, 1863, many biographical notices and reference works still record March 23, 1863 as his birthday. What is not in doubt is that Ponce emerged as one of Bulacan’s foremost sons and a key architect of the political and intellectual currents that shaped the late nineteenth‑century Filipino nationalist awakening.
</p>
<h2>
Early life and education
</h2>
<p>
Mariano Ponce was born in Baliuag, Bulacan, the eldest of seven children of Don Mariano Ponce and Maria Collantes de los Santos. He spent his early years and primary schooling in his hometown before moving to Manila for secondary studies in the private schools of Juan Evangelista, Hugo Ilagan, and Escolastico Salandanan.
</p>
<p>
After completing secondary education, he enrolled at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts (Bachiller en Artes) in 1885. Ponce then pursued medicine at the University of Santo Tomas but soon decided to continue his medical training in Spain, a decision that would draw him into the heart of the Propaganda Movement.
</p>
<p>
In 1881 (some sources say 1887), he left for Europe and registered at the Universidad Central de Madrid, completing his medical degree there. In Madrid he came into close contact with Jose Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Graciano Lopez Jaena, and other Filipino ilustrados who were developing a program of peaceful reform within the Spanish empire.
</p>
<h2>
The Propaganda Movement and La Solidaridad
</h2>
<p>
While in Spain, Ponce became a core member of the Propaganda Movement, which campaigned for representation of the Philippines in the Spanish Cortes, equality before the law, freedom of the press, and an end to arbitrary exile and clerical abuses. He assisted Graciano Lopez Jaena in founding La Solidaridad in 1889 and quickly emerged as one of its most reliable organizers and editors.
</p>
<p>
As managing editor and one of the initiators of La Solidaridad, Ponce not only contributed articles but also handled the practical work of keeping the paper alive - overseeing deadlines, subscriptions, printing, and distribution. He also headed the Literary Section of the Asociacion Hispano‑Filipina, a society of liberal Spaniards and Filipinos formed to support the reform campaign, where he served as secretary.
</p>
<p>
In the pages of La Solidaridad, Ponce wrote extensively on history, politics, sociology, and travel, often under the pen names "Naning" (his childhood nickname), "Kalipulako" (after the hero Lapu‑Lapu), and "Tikbalang" (a figure from Philippine folklore). Through these essays he helped articulate a historical consciousness that linked pre‑colonial resistance figures to the modern struggle for rights and dignity under Spain.
</p>

March 23, 1863: Mariano Ponce was born in Baliuag, Bulacan