Remembering Tres de Abril

CEBU, Philippines - Last year, April 3 fell on a Black Saturday.

But who remembered that the day was twice an important occasion for Cebuanos? Certainly not many. I scanned the newspapers after Holy Week last year and saw a lot of news about the upcoming May 2010 elections and a few articles on the recently concluded Lent, but not a single story recalled the Tres de Abril Uprising—the beginning of the Cebuano’s participation in the Philippine revolution.

A few days later, on April 9, we celebrated the Araw ng Kagitingan. The historic event was commemorated with a national holiday, newspaper articles, radio plugs, and a marathon tracing the 102-kilometer Death March. That day reminded us of the courage and sacrifices, even death, of Filipino soldiers who fought to defend our country.

I hope we could also remember, even in a much simpler way, the same courage and sacrifices of the Cebuano Katipuneros who also fought in our defense during the Tres de Abril.

Can you remember them who died during the uprising?

Do you recall a certain Januario Gabrillo? He was the first martyr of our revolution: he died of torture in a dark cell in Fort San Pedro. Have you heard of Gregorio Salazar and Titoy Saceda who were killed during the battle of Tres de Abril, and Eugenio Gines, Arsenio Cabreros, and Dionisio Abellar, who were wounded?

How about Frisco Abreu, Toefisto Cavan, and Florencio Gonzales? These three Katipuneros were shot together, without trial, somewhere near the site of the present Cebu Technological University. While Olimpio Regis, Emilio Regis, and Candido Padilla were executed in Carreta. All six died along the road, which was later called Los Martires Street in their honor. That street, however, had been renamed for someone else’s honor decades ago.

Jose Abelgas, Luis Abellar, Crisogono Bermejo Franco, Fortunato Gonzales, Raymundo Jurado, Luciano Machacon, Nicomedes Machacon, Solomon Manalili, Precioso Padilla, Simplicio Sacedon, Tranquilino de los Santos, and Crispulo Valderrama, according Dionisio Sy’s book on Cebu’s revolution, were some of those arrested and summarily executed by the vengeful Spaniards and fanatic loyalists after the Tres de Abril Uprising, but other names would be permanently forgotten.

At the intersection of the Tres de Abril Street and V. Rama Avenue is a decaying stone marker stained dark brown by nature, time, and neglect. On its face are written a few lines describing what occurred on April 3, 1898: “Ang Madugong Linggo ng Palaspas” (The Bloody Palm Sunday).

Tres de Abril will fall on a Sunday this year; I hope we could make a better commemoration than the last. (FREEMAN)