Works on the Propaganda Movement have given us many examples of individuals whose lasting friendship with each other transcended geographical and ethnic boundaries. We know of the deep friendship between Jose Rizal and the Austrian scholar, Ferdinand Blumentritt. Another example can be seen in the close working partnership between Marcelo del Pilar and Mariano Ponce as the two province mates worked tirelessly over the newspaper, La Solidaridad. On the other hand, history also speaks of the friendship that dissolved between two of the movement’s leading individuals, Jose Rizal and Marcelo del Pilar.

Despite all these examples, we know little of what friendship actually meant for the propagandists themselves. How did they define friendship? What qualities constituted a friend for these young Filipino men? More importantly, how did they utilize these friendships in their struggle for reforms in the country? In this paper, I explore the concept of friendship from the points of view of the propagandists. I maintain that friendship for these young men was linked intimately with their love for the Philippines, and subsequently, it became an integral component in their work for reforms. I argue that if not for the networks of friendships that the propagandists established across transnational boundaries, the whole business of propaganda may not have even been possible in the first place.