Spanish cannon unearthed in Valenzuela

A Spanish-made cannon, half-buried in a defaced historical marker dedicated to the memory of an American infantry officer who died while fighting against Filipino freedom fighters during the early years of the Fil-American War, was unearthed yesterday in a bid by the Museo Valenzuela Foundation (MVF) to restore a neglected memorial.

The STAR gathered yesterday that the diggings at the marker on Flaviano street at the boundary of barangays Karuhatan and Malinta, both of Valenzuela City were initiated on the request of the MVF’s chairman of the board of trustees, Fr. Mar Arenas.

City Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian said yesterday he is all for the restoration of the historical marker after all had been cleared with the proper authorities including the National Historical Institute (NHI).

He said he is also awaiting word from the US government or its representatives in the country on the project.

Arenas requested the assistance of the City Engineering Office (CEO), through the city Cultural Affairs Office, to dig up the cannon for appropriate restoration.

Residents of the area where the neglected marker stood said the place, according to their elders, used to be either an armory or a cuartel (camp) occupied by the Spanish guardia sibil right into the end of the Philippine revolution in 1898.

The nine-foot cannon, settled on a 50 square meter lot, showed the marking "Trubia 1859" engraved on the base part. Trubia is a place in Asturias, Spain, where the cannon was most probably cast.

Oldtimers said that four iron cannon balls stood in a pile beside the cannon, but for some reason disappeared one day, probably appearing in some junkshop nearby for recycling into cookware.

A marker showed "In memory of Col. Henry Clay Egbert, Brigadier General of the 22nd US Army who was mortally wounded on this spot while leading his regiment, the 22nd US Infantry in an encounter in Manila on March 26, 1899."

Information gathered from the web showed Egbert was a native of Pennsylvania and was a hero of the Spanish-American War.

Prior to his assignment to the Philippines, he was wounded in the Cuban war.

His wounds had not completely healed when he was dispatched to the Philippines in 1899. He sailed and arrived in the country on March 4, 1899.

He died on the very spot where the defaced marker now stands "while leading a bayonet charge against the insurgents in Malinta, Philippines where he received a wound from which he died on March 26, 1899." — Jerry Botial