Pantaleon V. Kardenas, the Cebuano-Mis-ocanon Literary Man
Pantaleon V. Kardenas was born in Barili on July 27, 1894. He established the pioneering Barili Petit Press. He had his apprenticeship in the press and wrote under Father Juan B. Alcoseba.
Alcoseba built the old church of Barili in 1899 and the Sta. Ana Church on June 26, 1914. To honor the priest, a street in Barangay Poblacion, Barili, Cebu, is named after him.
Alcoseba also set up in Barili the “Imprenta del Asilo” at the Asilo’s compound. The Barili Printing Press of Kardenas printed Don Vicente Sotto’s “Mga sugilanong Pilipinhon” (ironically, government libraries in Manila have preserved copies of the writings of Vicente Sotto. Here in Cebu, we do not have such preserved copies).
Just like the famous the men of arts and literature of the past in Cebu, among them Don Sergio Osmeña Sr., the Sotto brothers, Kardenas went to the Colegio de San Carlos (now University of San Carlos) and the San Juan de Letran, the college Alma Mater of Don Filemon and Vicente Sotto.
Among the writings of Pantaleon V. Kardenas is the book about Rizal entitled: “Rizal: Bayani ug Sinakit.” Significantly, the Barili Press of Cebu had printed numerous nationalistic biographies and novels.
A decade after his marriage, Pantaleon V. Kardenas migrated to Ozamiz (named after Senator/Governor Jose Fortich Ozamiz, whose roots could be traced to Cebu. The city was formerly called Misamis and renamed by virtue of Republic Act 321 on July 16, 1948, few years after the execution of Ozamiz, who was governor of Misamis Occidental during World War II).
The Barili Petit Press of Kardenas was later renamed as the Barili Printing Press in 1923, and was moved to Sanciangko Street, Cebu City, in 1933 and renamed as Hamabad Press. When Kardenas went to Ozamiz he also brought with him his printing press, this time he called it the “Imprenta Filipina” but this was unfortunately destroyed by a fire in 1940. National Artist Professor Resil Mojares, in his book “Cebuano Literature,” said that there was an interview with the widow of Pantaleon by the name of Maria Gloria vda. de Kardenas in Ozamiz on February 22, 1973.
Pantaleon briefly became the editor of the publication “Batan-ong Dila” of Father Juan Alcoseba from 1909 to 1911. Among the numerous writings of Kardenas are “Sa Akong Payag,” “Halayo Kanimo,” “Ubos sa Magtalisay,” and “Ang Sinakit ug Bagumbayan (Kinabuhi ug mga binuhatan ni Dr. Jose Rizal”.
His “Rizal: Bayani ug Sinakit” is considered the best biography of Rizal, having won first prize in the Rizal biography writing contest sponsored by Vicente Sotto in 1948. Pantaleon Kardenas died in Ozamiz on January 17, 1959.
- Latest
