Ponce was a doctor of medicine and journalist from Baliwag, Bulacan. In Spain in the 1890s, he was the managing editor of La Solidaridad and a member of the Asociacion Hispano-Filipino. From 1907 to 1910, he represented the second district of Bulacan in the Philippine Assembly. Mariano Ponce, historical researcher and bibliophile, wrote extensively on Philippine history, folklore, biography and other studies for the Propaganda Movement. Born in Baliuag, Bulacan on March 23, 1863, he obtained his A.B. degree at Letran in 1885, and at Santo Tomas took up medicine which he completed at the Universidad Central de Madrid. In Madrid he was head of the literary section of the Association Hispano-Filipino, a society of Filipino expatriates and their Spanish friends working for the Propaganda. Later he became general manager of La Solidaridad. Ponce stayed in Spain up to 1896, and then joined Jose Ma. Basa, Galiciano Apacible and other Filipino expatriates in Hongkong to raise funds for the revolutionary cause. He became secretary to Aguinaldo during the General''s exile in Hongkong in 1897 and prepared a draft for a revolutionary government. In July 1898, he went to Japan as a diplomatic envoy and stayed in Yokohama until the fall Hongkong, Singapore, Cambodia and Siam. Ponce returned to the Philippines in 1908 and in the following year was named editor of El Renacimiento. He was also elected to the first Philippine Assembly, representing the second district of Bulacan. He died in Hongkong on April 26, 1917, while enroute to China to visit his friend, the great Chinese leader, Sun Yat Sen, whose biography he had written and published in 1914. Some of his significant works are Efemerides Filipinas, a chronology of important events in Philippine history; Filipinos Celebres, a collective biography; and Bibliografias, a collection of book reviews on Philippine studies. Photo shows the prolific man-of-letters from Baliwag, Bulacan who worked closely with Jose P. Rizal and Marcelo del Pilar in the propaganda movement of the 1890s. He was largely responsible for winning Japan''s sympathy for the Filipino revolutionary cause in 1898.