Euro Filipino Journal: History

Filipinos Respected in Spain

July 13, 2016 Admin 0

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Spain as a country is very much intertwined with the history and culture of the Philippines, having been its colonial master for almost 4 centuries, until the Philippine Revolution of 1898.  It remains an important destination for Filipinos who may want to see places and monuments associated with the country’s national heroes.  Nowadays a vibrant and active Filipino community lives, works and carries on as new Spanish-Filipinos. 
 
Ipinagmamalaki ni Consul General Cookie Feria ng Embajada de Filipinas ang Filipino community sa Espanya. 
 
Bukod kasi sa kanilang sipag at tiyaga sa trabaho, marami na rin sa kanila ang unti-unting nag-iisip ng negosyo upang umangat ang katatayuan. 
 
Malakas din ang impact nila sa mga Kastila na mataas ang tingin sa kanila at humahanga sa kanilang dalang kultura sa bansang ito. 
 
Maging ang matataas na opisyal sa pamahalaan ng Espanya ay mga Pinoy din ang hanap na empleyado kung mga pamilya nila ang pag-uusapan. 
 
Dagdag niya, “Their employers also are the movers and shakers here, diba? The mga government officials here in Madrid, their employees are Filipinos… when the (city) President’s nurse stepped down, I got a phone call from the secretary of the President asking me to find a Pinay to take care of her parents. Doesn’t that say something great about us, how Spanish think of FIlipinos…” 
 
Tinatayang may mahigit mga 45,000 Pinoy sa buong Espanya at bagama’t marami sa kanila ang nagtatrabaho sa mga bahay-bahay, marami rin ang nagpapatakbo ng mga establishments dito na nagbibigay sa kanila ng idea at experience sa business. 
 
Ayon kay Ms Feria – “It is a good indication of Filipinos trying to branch out from being employees to being employers and entrepreneurs, little by little they are growing, it’s a learning experience. You see that the establishments are basically one man operations you know and basically they are actually still catering to the Fil community; it would be nice to see them cater to the local community, the Spanish community, maybe by way of opening up restaurants, maybe other services for instance… A lot of Filipinos here we are the waiters in the restaurants or the cooks — why can’t they be the owners, they are the ones who practically run business… That would be the logical step.” 
 
Ayon kay Congen Feria ang importante lang dito ay marunong ka ng wikang Kastila upang makapag-business ka at makapag-take advantage sa mga suportang ibinibigay ng Spanish government sa mga migrante. 
 
Ang wikang Kastila ay hindi mahirap para sa mga Pinoy dahil sa ating kasaysayan, at dahil mula high school hanggang kolehiyo ay pinag-aaralan natin ito sa Pilipinas. 
 
Sa totoo lang nakatutuwang marinig na maging ang mga kabataang naglalaro ng basketball sa Madrid, pati ang mga manonood, ay Kastila ang usapan. 
 
Ang Madrid ay puno rin ng mga bagay-bagay na Pinoy na mabibili halimbawa sa mga antique markets o shops tulad ng paintings, carvings, mga mapa atbp na dala ng mga Kastilang nanggaling sa atin noong unang panahonm nang ang Pilipinas ay nasasakop pa ng Espanya. 
 
Mayroon din ditong mga permanent exhibits sa mga museo tungkol sa Pilipinas at ang mayaman nitong kultura. 
 
Hindi rin mahirap ma-inspire ang mga Pinoy dito dahil magpunta lang sila sa Avenida de Filipinas, sa metro Islas Filipinas, ay makikita nila doon ang rebulto ni Dr Jose Rizal na replika ng nasa Luneta, at mababasa pa ang kabuuan ng kanyang tulang Mi Ultimo Adios sa Kastila at Filipino, nakaukit sa plakeng bronze. 
 
Kinumpirma naman ni Ambassador Joseph Bernardo ang magandang katatayuan ng mga Pinoy sa Espanya. 
 
Ayon kay Ambassador Bernardo, “Napakagaling ng community natin dito. Wala tayong problema at iginagalang sila ng mga Kastila at mahal na mahal sila para silang miyembro ng mga pamilya.” 
 
Umaasa rin siya na lalong darami ang mga Filipino entrepreneurs sa Espanya pagdating ng araw.
 
 
 
 
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Spain as a country is very much intertwined with the history and culture of the Philippines, having been its colonial master for almost 4 ...

War in the Philippines 1898

July 13, 2016 Admin 0

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Battle of Alapan</td></tr>
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The Diary of Lieut X. 
 
Reviewed by Jun Terra 
 
Spontaneous 
 
He tried to see the events through the eyes of others, one of them, the pilot of one of the Spanish ships that sank. He interviewed participants as well as observers like the Frenchman, known as the Commander, who lived between Cavite and Manila, a long-time resident of the Philippines. More importantly he went on fact-finding missions. One of these occasions was when he and a party of nine went on board one of the American ships to survey the aftermath of the naval battle: “Each brought his own equipment for expedition, binoculars, cameras, pencils, note pads, etc. I am determined to scrutinize every detail..” he said. 
 
On May 30, he wrote: 
 
“We visited the markets of Binondo and San Miguel. There is an enormous crowd of Tagals and Chinese. Baskets full of fish and delicious fruits are everywhere…there is an abundance of lively colours and movements…people discussing among themselves…and yet fighting began this morning. very early, at Las Pinas, at the very threshold of Manila..” 
 
On June 7, our intrepid diarist observes: “Martial law is declared…there are a few speedy executions without trial…the atmosphere in the city is tense. The Tagals are not threatening the merchants, bankers and businessmen who are all foreigners…Aguinaldo could have benefitted from this bold coup de force if Admiral Dewey had not officially prevented him from doing so…Manila is no longer recognizable as the city it used to be. Escolta is sad almost desolate. The Chinese have fled, the shops are closed, there are no more strollers, no more buyers, no more coquettish ladies…and the off-key piercing voices of the Tagals, the mandolins the guitars.” 
 
Philippines’ central role in the Pacific 
 
Manglapus could not be more mistaken when he says that Lieut X “could not be expected to perceive through the mote in the eye of the Frenchman.” Far from it, throughout the diary, Ernest Motsch shows very sharp powers of analysis and strong sense of geopolitics. He looked at events beyond narrow French interests in the Philippines and the region. He saw the impotence of France to influence events in the Philippines with sadness, even as he noted the strategic importance of the country: 
 
“An incomparable situation now exists. Manila is the key to the Far East, being the geometric center from which all places radiate where colonies are of utmost importance to the powers with interests in the Pacific. With Manila at the center, having a radius equal to five days at sea, one can establish a circumference consisting of all the important commercial routes and all the trade between the north of Asia and the South of Europe, the Far East, Australia and the United States…The strategic importance of the Philippines in the Pacific is superior to that of the Azores in the European context. Besides this, the Philippines has a bigger surface area, a larger population and countless natural resources. These islands and Cuba are Spain’s most beautiful colonies…these fertile lands feed some 10 million and can sustain easily some three or four times that number.” 
 
And he analysed events in the Philippines within the wider context of the emergence of the vast Pacific Basin as one of the most important areas in the future history of the world. In another prophetic observation Lieut X could well have been speaking of today’s Pacific Basin where the whole of the world is once again rushing to control or at least be a significant participant in the enormous tradeopportunities in the area and partake of its riches, when he wrote: 
 
“Today, we are witnessing the creation of a new sphere of commerce in the Pacific. The immense basin which lies between the Russian part of Asia, China and Australia, on one side, ad the two Americas, on the other, is destined to be an area of immense wealth. From now on, the future is assured for those who settle in these areas, and power is assured to those who will rule over them. Europe in its blindness, does not realise that if England and the United States agree to dominate both the west and the western pacific, there will soon be no place left for other countries.” 
 
Does this not echo Seward’s panegyric, sans the rhetoric on America’s manifest destiny to rule the area, quoted earlier? 
 
His analysis of foreign contention over the Philippines uncannily confirms Mabini’s view that the Americans, the Spaniards and the Europeans coveted the Philippines. It is as though they read each other’s mind. Lieut X writes: “the struggle for the possession of the islands (July 26) has assumed such proportions that the United States would not know how to accept the loss of the spoils of war.” In the meantime, the various interests were waiting in the wings, ready to pounce should there be any mistake on the side of one of the principal protagonists: “the unstable situation is responsible for the feverish activities and nervousness of the Germans. This is also the reason for the friendship, colored with envy, shown by the British towards the Americans from whom they are still awaiting compensation for their services. Then there are the contrite and watchful Japanese. The appetites of all are whetted by the prey. Each one wants to take his bite and remove his piece but dares not, since each is fearful of the other.” 
 
He did not look at events only from one point of view , from that of the French, but from all the contending forces, giving a particularly sympathetic attention to the point of view of the Filipinos or Tagals as he calls them. 
 
Ameican Duplicity 
 
More pointedly, he saw that the Americans did not really come to help the natives but to replace the Spaniards: 
 
“I have been observing these Filipinos for almost a year. Once again they find themselves being oppressed, a state from which they thought they had been freed…they had not conquered the Spaniards but rather they found themselves once again beneath the yoke, except that this time their chains were riveted by the Americans…the Americans, desirous of becoming masters of the Philippines, are beginning to behave as the Spaniards did. They too are convinced that there is barely any difference between the natives and monkeys..” 
 
Anticipating Dewey’s testimony to the US Congress, Motsch says: “the Filipinos are only a pretext for securing a stronger position in the country. There certainly has never been a question of returning the islands to them.” 
 
In fact, from early on in his diary, he voiced out his doubts several times about American sincerity and intention, almost shadowing Mabini’s prophesies. On the other hand he also rebukes the Spaniards who “prefer vengeance to the most noble of interests.” “Spain,” he continued,”would rather deliver the Filipinos to the United States than recognize them as a nation born of her colonization. In spite of high-sounding words, the narrow-mindedness of the Spaniard is evident.” Each event, as it developed, convinced him of American hegemonic intent and European impotence before the advancing American juggernaut. 
 
Aguinaldo dithers 
 
His analysis of Aguinaldo’s actuations during this period and the direction which the events were taking should be another confirmation to scholars and historians of the need to re-examine more closely Aguinaldo’s role in the ultimate defeat of the revolution in the hands of the US, the new coloniser: 
 
“June 2, Aguinaldo has not lost time. Within a few days he has established a revolutionary government in Cavite…The American squadron is in no position to attack Manila. It has exhausted its ammunition and is waiting for new supplies…Asiatic cunning is not evident in Aguinaldo. He appears to have implicit faith in the ability of the Americans to bring independence to his country which shows a limited knowledge of history. One must hold to what one has, and if this is not done from the start, one eventually loses one’s rights to his possessions. As long as the American soldiers have not landed, Aguinaldo remains master of ths situation. With the arrival of each American regiment from San Francisco the threats to the young republic increase…the provinces around Manila are all in a state of rebellion… If Aguinaldo has or pretends to have, such confidence in the Americans, this is not shared by the Tagals. Actually they are neither for the United States nor the Spaniards, they hope to use one against the other.” 
 
In an earlier entry dated May 29 long before the American reinforcements arrived Lieut X underlined the revolutionary forces’ dominant position: “Essentially, the insurgents are at the moment the masters of the situation. It is their word that prevails on land.” 
 
Aguinaldo’s failure to analyse the situation properly and push on for the capture of Manila and the surrender of the Spanish authorities – when American reinforcements had not yet arrived, while they were short of ammunition, and while the enthusiasm of the revolutionary forces was at its peak, flushed by victories in the provinces and at the gates of Manila is an area that historians ought to study in detail. 
 
Why did he trust the Americans so much, despite being rebuffed by Dewey on several occasions? Why was he so obedient to Dewey ( “He was most obedient, he did what I told him to do,” said Dewey)? Did he enter into some secret deal, or was he just naive? Why did he not listen to the wise counsel of Mabini, and the demands of his own fighters who were in control of the situation and were ready to enter Manila? Had the revolutionary forces captured Manila and demanded surrender from the Spanish authorities, they would have been in a stronger negotiating position vis-a-vis the Americans and the international community. Why did Aguinaldo allow himself to be dictated by Dewey not to enter the city at this point when the revolutionaries had the upper hand? Capturing the city could have prevented the Spanish authorities from surrendering to the Americans and giving them the rights of a victor to occupy the city, and gain a foothold in the country. 
 
Lieut X admiringly observes the loftiness of spirit that propelled the Philippine revolution and how well the Filipinos understood it: 
 
“In their manifestos and their proclamations, as well as their gatherings, it is remarkable that the Filipino leaders are haunted by the French revolution. Added to this is a religious undertone which recalls the American independence. Whether one likes it or not, these Indians are talking of a republic, of liberty, equality, fraternity, of a natural law reminiscent of western concepts. All revolutions resemble one another, based on the vindication of an ideal and of human dignity. It says a great deal for the Filipinos that this sublime symbol is recognised.” 
 
“Prelude to the Fil-American War” 
 
In anticipation of things to come Lieut X observes the behaviour of the Yanks when they landed: 
 
“A considerable number of American troops seen at close range show no sign of order or discipline. It is obvious why the Germans look down disdainfully on them. They look like an army organised for manhunts…The American soldiers are hefty and tall but appear narrow in the chest in relation to their height….. It seems their Achilles heel is tuberculosis. These men who exude self-confidence are more comfortable wearing cowboy outfits than military uniform…they all wear gaiters and belts of cartridges. During the day they are in their best behaviour and pay for all their purchases. At night they rid themselves of their inhibitions, drink excessively and, when quite drunk on whisky, become unbearable savages, killing at the slightest provocation. They do not unleash their brutish behaviour on each other but on the natives. As soon as they see one, the manhunt begins. This sport enjoyed by these who champion humanity was inherited from their forefathers, who pursued the redskins and the negroes. This war has certainly given Americans the opportunity for magnificent manhunts in the Philippines and Cuba at very little cost.” 
 
In contrast he notes how in the areas controlled by the Filipino revolutionaries: 
 
“Order reigns in most areas in spite of the war and that a high level of discipline is observed. Some excesses, naturally, have been committed, but which war has ever been exempt from them? In any event, there have been no massacres or shedding of blood. 
 
Retaliations have been limited to certain forms of vengeance directed mainly towards the monks…A certain method is evident in this revolution. Their troops are not very different from the regular troops, and they handle their arms rather well…Neither does the discipline of the Tagals suffer by comparison with the mediocre standards of the Americans.” 
 
In another entry Lieutenant Aime Motsch notes that the Filipinos would not easily accept subjugation, since they were aware, after all, that they defeated the Spaniard forces in actual combat. He writes sagely: 
 
“The real wealth of a country lies in the people themselves. They represent the work force, the land, the culture, the enterprises all of which cannot be sustained without them…A Filipino rebellion is not simply a political movement, it has the capacity to stop life itself. This is why exploiting the Filipinos could be a grave error on the part of the Americans. If it is their intention to make the Philippines their private fiefdom, they will have to eliminate the Filipinos or reduce them to slaves.” 
 
With the Americans gaining the Philippines through duplicity and not wanting to relinquish this prize; given Spain’s unbending pride dictating it to cede the Philippines to the US at the Treaty of Paris, rather than recognise defeat in the hands of its former colony; and given furthermore that the Filipinos would not allow themselves to be enslaved once more so soon after they had freed themselves at great sacrifice, the stage was set for the Filipino-American war. 
 
In his last entry dated August 31, 1898, Lieut X prophetically writes: “If the Filipinos deserve freedom, all they need to do is to have a mass uprising.” The following year, war between the Filipinos and the Americans would erupt. 
 
This war that would determine the shape and direction of Philippine history in the 20th century broke out in February 1899. Towards the end of the first decade of the century when the war petered out, more than 250,000 Filipinos had died in a terrible war defending their revolution and brief independence. The Americans, on the other hand, gained the piece they needed for their grand design on the Pacific, and a rich colony whose economy, politics and culture they still largely dominate with the help of their native collaborators long after they have relinquished direct political control. 
 
 
 
The Diary of a French Officer on the War in the Philippines, 1898 by Lieutenant X, Translated from the original French by Marietta Enriquez de la Haye Jousselin, Published by the National Historical Institute, T.M. Kalaw St., Ermita, Manila, Philippines, 1994
 
 
 
 
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Articles Contributors History Jun Terra Philippines War in the Philippines 1898

Battle of Alapan The Diary of Lieut X. Reviewed by Jun Terra Spontaneous He tried to see the events through the eyes of others, ...

Cebu's Ice Age Carabao

July 13, 2016 Admin 0

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Bubalus cebuensis, a name new to science, is the one that was recently given to the pygmy ancestor of the present-day carabao or water buffalo that stands 6 feet tall and weighs up to a ton. Bubalus cebuensis was only 2.5 feet and weighed a mere 160 kilograms. 
 
Its fossilized bones were found in a cave-like depression in a remote mountain in Cebu 50 years ago in 1958 by mining engineer Michael Armas who was looking for phosphates. He kept the bones, then in 1995, he showed them to a friend, Dr, Hamilcar Intengan, a Philippine-born physician at Chicago’s St. Bernard Hospital who was visiting his family in Cebu. Intengan took the bones to Chicago’s famous Field Museum for identification. 
 
It took Larry Heaney, the Field Museum’s curator of mammals, only 15 minutes to recognise that the bones were those of a mammal and were those of a pygmy and not a baby’s and one which had never been found on Cebu. By examining the pattern of the teeth Heaney, a specialist in Philippine fauna, established that the bones came from a smaller version of a buffalo. 
 
Heaney is a world authority on the biological phenomenon called “island dwarfism” which traces size reduction to limited food supplies. Smaller animals would be more successful breeders under such conditions. 
 
Heaney himself, lead author Darin Croft of Case Western Reserve University, paleontologist John Flynn of the American Museum of Natural History, and archeologist Angel Bautista of the National Museum of the Philippines, documented their findings in the Journal of Mammology. 
 
Heaney dated Bubalus cebuensis to the Pleistocene during the Ice Age, some 100,000 years ago. He said that the Cebu buffalo lived 100,000 years ago when most of the island was covered by tropical savanna, a collection of grassland and scattered trees that formed an ideal habitat. He surmises that it probably disappeared when the Ice Age ended and the savanna disappeared as it got warmer and wetter. 
 
Heaney says the Philippines is a treasure trove of natural history. Of the country’s 200 species of mammals, more than two-thirds are found nowhere else in the world. Only Madagascar has a higher percentage of endemic mammals, he adds. 
He is at pains to point out that “The concentration of unique mammal species in the Philippines is among the very highest in the world, but so is the number of threatened species.” 
 
The Bubalus cebuensis is one of only two known species of dwarf buffalos that have evolved in the Philippines. The other is Bubalus mindorensis), popularly known as tamaraw, which is 20% bigger and is found on the island of Mindoro. While bubalus cebuensis has been extinct for a long time, bubalus mindorensis is on the verge of extinction due to the destruction of its forest habitat. If the present rate of destruction continues, it might not be long before the tamaraw goes the way of its relative, Bubalus cebuensis and the next generation of Filipinos would know the tamaraw through only photographs and bones preserved in natural history museums. 
 
[2007]
 
 
 
 
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Articles Contributors History Jun Terra Philippines Cebu's Ice Age Carabao

Bubalus cebuensis, a name new to science, is the one that was recently given to the pygmy ancestor of the present-day carabao or water buf...

Why People of Negros Celebrate Independence on Cinco de Noviembre (Nov. 5)

March 27, 2016 Tech Reporter 0

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The 5th of November is a special day in 
Negros Island.  The Negros Revolution, now commemorated and popularly 
known as Al Cinco de Noviembre or Negros Day, was a political movement 
that in 1898 created a government in Negros Island in the Philippines, 
informally ending Spanish control of the island and resulting in a 
government run by the Negrense natives, at least for that part of the 
archipelago and for a relatively short period. The newly established 
Negros Republic would last for approximately three months. American 
forces landed on the island unopposed on February 2, 1899, ending the 
island's independence. 
 
 
Prelude to revolution 
 
It has been stipulated that the Spanish 
civil and religious authorities in Negros did not initially suspect that
 the sugar barons and traders of the island would participate in an 
uprising against Spain.[1] The clergy in Negros had not acquired vast 
tracts of land, unlike their counterparts in the island of Luzon. Negros
 had become a rich province and "the local leaders were content, sharing
 even in many instances the social privileges of the Spanish elite."[2] 
 
Negros did not seem enthusiastic about 
the August 23, 1896 Cry of Balintawak and the subsequent revolt headed 
by the Tagalog Katipuneros.[3] Rather, it disapproved the same as 
battalions of volunteers were organized in Bais, Valladolid, La Carlota,
 and Isabela in order to defend the island. There had been, however, 
early on, attempts by various groups on the grassroots level to revolt 
against the Spanish colonizers by figures like Diyos Buhawi and <a href="http://talonggo.blogspot.com/2014/11/papa-isio-negrense-revolutionary.html" target="_blank">Papa Isio</a>. 
 
However, a greater part of the sugar 
planters soon began to sympathize towards the proposed ends of the 
insurrection, until two years later, such sympathy bore fruit when these
 same sugar planters broke out in open revolt. By that time, Aniceto 
Lacson, a rich landlord of Talisay City had joined the Katipunan, and 
Juan Araneta, Rafael Ramos, Carlos Gemora, Venura, and other leaders of 
what would become the revolution of 1898 were negotiating with their 
comrades in Iloilo and were arming themselves. 
 
By the middle of August 1898, as 
numerous rumors of a coming insurrection in the Visayas spread, a number
 of parish priests sought refuge in Iloilo. The Negrense revolutionaries
 agreed that the revolt would begin on November 3, 1898. It was to be 
led by Aniceto Lacson with Nicolás Gólez of Silay City as deputy 
commander. South of Bacolod City, the revolt would be led by Juan 
Araneta of Bago City with Rafael Ramos of Himamaylan City as deputy 
commander. 
 
Chronicle of the revolt 
 
November 3 
 
 
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4IlR_ujv4zJ9THia-VEf2571OU6qOpY2Pm_EHLCZrwEX_jYbnpi-Iv_Qt5y-stua0rBYtRjElwDUYss4C3TdRVkEGWkkxqhKs3UAiVGKWwDbVLD49c1dmYc3tObxTrrhmpyXWDTR5XXE/s1600/negros013.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4IlR_ujv4zJ9THia-VEf2571OU6qOpY2Pm_EHLCZrwEX_jYbnpi-Iv_Qt5y-stua0rBYtRjElwDUYss4C3TdRVkEGWkkxqhKs3UAiVGKWwDbVLD49c1dmYc3tObxTrrhmpyXWDTR5XXE/s1600/negros013.jpg" /></a> 
Aniceto Lacson rode to Silay. A 
committee headed by Lacson and acting for the province included Gólez, 
Leandro Locsin and Melecio Severino assembled and decided to begin the 
revolt on November 5. They then advised Juan Araneta of their decision. 
 
November 4 
 
Juan Araneta, from one of his haciendas 
in Ma-ao, advised all the southern mayors to begin the revolt the 
following day. In the afternoon, a woman from Kabankalan Norte (the 
present-day barrio of Eustaquio López) in Silay told priest Tomás 
Cornago of the impending revolt, even though the planning for the same 
was held secretly. He inquired of his friend, Doroteo Quillama, cabeza 
of the barrio, seeking to verify the report. The cabeza claimed no 
knowledge of the revolt. That same afternoon, groups of armed men passed
 the haciendas of Silay, and proceeded towards the town. The guardia 
civil in Silay were, however, unable to report this to Bacolod; the 
rebels had cut the telegraph lines in Talisay the day before.[4] 
 
November 5 
 
The revolt began in Central and Northern
 Negros in the morning and by the afternoon had spread to other towns 
such as San Miguel and Cadiz. In Silay, Lt. Maximiano Correa, commanding
 the Spanish garrison, had ten Spanish cazadores (Spanish, literally, 
"hunters") and seven Filipino civil guards. They were entrenched inside 
the municipal building, but surrendered without a fight when they 
realized that the townspeople were determined to burn the building to 
the ground should there be resistance. The Silay parish priest, Eulogio 
Saez, a businessman named Juan Viaplana, and José Ledesma persuaded the 
Spanish forces to lay down their arms, but in order to save face, the 
lieutenant had it appear in the official records that the capitulation 
was the result of a bloody battle with "dead and wounded littered all 
over the field of battle".[4] Ten Mauser and seven Remington rifles were
 surrendered by the garrison. Later, a flag similar to the design of the
 Filipino flag embroidered by Olympia Severino and her sisters was 
hoisted by the victorious townspeople. 
 
 
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In Bacolod, the governor of the 
province, Isidro de Castro, sent a force of 25 cazadores and 16 civil 
guards to engage a swarm of rebels seen camping near the Matab-ang 
River. After a brief skirmish, they withdrew, leaving two of their 
number dead. The Governor decided to make a stand in the Bacolod Convent
 (presently the Bishop's Palace, the rectory of the San Sebastian 
Cathedral), where hundreds of Spanish families had taken refuge. They 
waited for the attack, but it did not come. 
 
 
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November 6 
 
 
In the morning, the rebels advanced upon
 Bacolod. Lacson and Gólez approached from the north, crossing the 
Mandalagan River. Araneta with a thousand bolo-men took positions at the
 Lupit River in the south-east of Bacolod. The wily revolutionaries 
augmented their lightly armed forces with "cannon" made of bamboo and 
rolled amakan, and "rifles" carved out of wood and coconut fronds. The 
bluff worked; de Castro was persuaded that it was useless to defend the 
capital. 
 
José Ruiz de Luzuriaga, a rich 
businessman who was deemed acceptable to both rebels and Spanish 
authorities was sent to mediate. At noon, a delegation from each of the 
major belligerents met at the house of Luzuriaga. The rebel delegation 
included Lacson, Araneta, Gólez, Locsín, Simeón Lizares, Julio Díaz, and
 José Montilla. In an hour, it was agreed by both sides that "Spanish 
troops both European and native surrendered the town and its defenses 
unconditionally, turning over arms and communication" and "public funds 
would be turned over to the new government". 
 
 
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrrj_XfJalZk-5GYmh4gjGohEYOij_c8xVlqP5_zOkmVNb-Xzv0IyVPJZChjUJb06mWaE3VmKkLjGYcwSC1jzyA8MryMj-BBrPYnMx_y6kIeG5cuwU121u-nNlRQu6NkK_EKjubxLGqLg/s1600/negros010.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrrj_XfJalZk-5GYmh4gjGohEYOij_c8xVlqP5_zOkmVNb-Xzv0IyVPJZChjUJb06mWaE3VmKkLjGYcwSC1jzyA8MryMj-BBrPYnMx_y6kIeG5cuwU121u-nNlRQu6NkK_EKjubxLGqLg/s1600/negros010.jpg" width="253" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Historical marker commemorating the surrender of Spanish forces in 
Bacolod in 1898. Installed at the Fountain of Justice in 2007.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>

November 6, 1898, therefore, is the day that the revolution in Negros concluded.[5]:476 
 
 
 
The Spanish signatories of the surrender
 document included Isidro de Castro, Braulio Sanz, Manuel Abenza, Ramón 
Armada, Emilio Monasterio and Domingo Ureta. Those who signed for the 
Negros revolutionary forces were Aniceto Lacson, Juan Araneta, Leandro 
Locsin, Simeón Lizares, Julio Díaz, and José Montilla.[6] 
 
Forty-seven eminent Negrenses formulated
 and ratified a constitution to create a new republic. Signatories 
included among others Aniceto Lacson, Juan Araneta, Simeón Linárez, 
Antonio L. Jayme, Eusebio Luzuriaga, Nicolas Gólez, Agustín Amenabar, 
Rafael Ramos and Rosendo Lacson.[6] 
 
 
Notes and references 
 
  1  Calma, Ma. Cecilia C. and Concepcion, Diana R.: The Revolution in 
Negros., Raison D'Etre, University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos 
Research Planning and Development Office, Bacolod City, 1998 
  2  Sa-onoy, Modesto P.: Negros Occidental History., Today Printers and Publishers, Bacolod City, 1992 
  3  Cuesta, Angel Matinez, OAR: History of Negros., Historical Conservation Society, Manila, 1980 
  4  Sa-onoy, Modesto P., Parroquia de San Diego, Today Printers and Publishers, Bacolod City, Philippines, pp. 49-50 
  5 Foreman, J., 1906, The Philippine Islands, A Political, 
Geographical, Ethnographical, Social and Commercial History of the 
Philippine Archipelago, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 
  6 "Zamboanga: The Greatest Republic in History (Part 10): The Uprising
 in Negros". Zamboanga Today Online. 2005-08-09. Retrieved 2009-10-23. 
  7 Jose Paolo Ariola (November 7, 2006). "El cañon de Cinco de Noviembre". SunStar Philippines. Retrieved 2006-11-18. 
   8 "Negros Occidental to commemorate Al Cinco de Noviembre". Sun.Star Bacolod. 2006-11-03. Retrieved 2009-10-12. 
 
 
------
 
 
 
 
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Essays History Spain Why People of Negros Celebrate Independence on Cinco de Noviembre (Nov. 5)

The 5th of November is a special day in Negros Island. The Negros Revolution, now commemorated and popularly known as Al Cinco de Novi...

A piece of England forever Philippine

March 04, 2003 El Talonggo 0

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— by Gene Alcantara There is a bit of London that will forever be Philippine.  It is a house on 37 Chalcot Crescent NW1, on Primrose Hill, just off Regents Park, owned many many years ago by the Beckett family.  One can approach it from two tube stations, southward from Chalk Farm or westward from Camden Town.  If one happens to be visiting the London Zoological Gardens, it will just be about 10 minutes walk across the road in a northerly direction. The three-storey, white painted house with spear-like metal fencing in black, is easy to spot in the rows of identical terrace houses on the crescent.  For it is the only one with a blue circular plaque to the left of the black front door saying that Dr Jose Rizal, Filipino hero, lived there in 1888-1889.  The way though that the house has become for all intents and purposes a pilgrimage site for Filipinos visiting the British isles, one would think Rizal lived there for a long long time. I suppose he did not have to live there for very long.  For whatever period of time he spent in that house had been absolutely productive for both the birth of the Philippine Republic, and the pride of Filipinos nowadays not just as a nation of heroes, but as one with a rich cultural heritage.  The house was of course Rizal’s base when he came to England for scholarly pursuits.  It is important because under its roof he undoubtedly contemplated the state of his country and what he was going to do to bring about a better future. While he was a boarder in the house, Rizal worked on three major literary undertakings–his annotations of Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, his philological studies with a view to producing a Philippine dictionary and grammar book, and most importantly his sequel to Noli Me Tangere.  During this time he was prolific in political writing as well as correspondence with family and friends.  Rizal was supposed to have done some sculptures during this period too although I have never set eyes on any of them at all. Chalcot Crescent is located fairly centrally and is a stone’s throw away from the residence on Elsworthy Terrace of his good friend, Dr Reinhold Rost, librarian of the India Office Library and who gave him access to Morga’s book.  Across the park, the British Library would probably have been a good hour’s walk away.  The major sites of attraction of London would have been also mere walking distance from where he was staying. It is a pleasant surprise therefore to find that Rizal had also actually traipsed from there to London’s more distant but less affluent East End to continue his work with Filipinos.  He apparently set up a Filipino young men’s club in the Dalton area near Hackney to ensure that his kababayans of that time were always conscious of national issues.  Rizal should probably also be given the title of ‘Father of Filipino Community Organizations in Britain’.  A lot of Filipinos nowadays own houses in London’s East End where prices are generally cheaper, but I do not think many of them realize that the hero was active in their community a hundred years ago. I wish I had a copy of the second volume (1888-onwards) of Epistolario Rizalino which the Biblioteca Nacional de Filipinas published in 1930.  It ought to have details of Rizal’s community organization work in London.  It would be fascinating to see which Filipinos were here then, what they did, what they talked about and possibly where they met regularly.  Maybe the Filipino community can discover another historical site in London.  But this time, maybe the government or some rich Filipino benefactor could purchase the property and turn it into a Philippine center or museum. The Filipino community continually seeks role models for their children born or growing up in Britain.  The Philippines however is strangely bereft of credible modern heroes who could be turned into icons of role model proportions, and whatever Filipino breakthroughs are made to date in Britain relate usually to the theatrical stage.  So looking back to the heroes of a century ago, with their imperfections and individual tragedies, is a safer bet.  For theirs at least are monumental achievements with which it is less difficult to identify.  However, one cannot simply identify with these heroes in scholarly books or in newspaper articles.  What they need is a place to go to where they could see visually what these heroes looked like and what sort of things they did when they were here for the country.  One solution is to have a house devoted to Filipino heroes who lived in London. The Chalcot Crescent house is apparently owned by an American lawyer who rents out the property to visiting Americans.  Apart from the Philippine Ambassador, his wife and embassy staff and the Knights of Rizal  who every June 19 pay tribute to Rizal with a floral offering at the house, I know of nobody else who was ever let into the house to feast his or her eyes upon whatever historical artefact remains inside, particularly the two rooms Rizal occupied as bedroom and receiving room.  This is a tragedy for the Filipino community, and a shame indeed for the Filipino nation.  How could the nation allow such a historically valuable property slip through its hands?  Its non-Filipino tenants probably cannot even begin to appreciate how much this landmark means for Filipinos around the world. This property (and the Dalton one, if it ever gets discovered) ought to become more than just a site to pose at for souvenir photographs.  I would like to see it as a testament to Anglo-Filipino relations, to the ties that bind both countries to each other in the spirit of friendship, trade, cultural and even political cooperation.  That is my fervent hope for Filipinos in Britain who have long been in need of an enduring place to meet with pride.  A place where people can bring their families and friends.   A place which can showcase the best of Filipinos, old and even new.  A piece of England forever Philippine. 
[2003, London] 
 
Photo credited to Mr. Ronaldo Samson Adoptante
 
 
 
 
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Articles Cribs History News Travel Travel-Europe UK A piece of England forever Philippine

— by Gene Alcantara There is a bit of London that will forever be Philippine. It is a house on 37 Chalcot Crescent NW1, on Primrose Hill,...

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