Aurora marks ‘Siege of Baler’ tomorrow
BALER, Aurora – National and local officials will lead tomorrow the 109th anniversary of the immortal Siege of Baler, the historic saga of 50 Spanish soldiers who held out for more than a year inside the stone church of this capital town even after the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898.
Sen. Edgardo Angara, his son House Deputy Majority Leader Juan Edgardo Angara and Gov. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo will lead the rites which coincides with the sixth anniversary of the Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day.
The Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day, which seeks to celebrate annually the cultural and historical ties of friendship between the two countries, and which was embodied in RA 9187 authored by Angara, is observed every 30th of June every year since 2003. June 30 has been declared a special non-working holiday in the province.
The Siege of Baler refers to the memory of 50 Spanish soldiers who held out for 335 days from 1898 to 1899 inside the stone church to continue fighting in a lost battle against attacking Filipino soldiers under then President Emilio Aguinaldo.
Only 33 of the Spanish soldiers survived and surrendered to Aguinaldo’s forces after they were officially informed that the Spanish colonial government had surrendered to American forces following the victory of the American fleet under Admiral John Dewey over the Spanish armada in the Battle of Manila Bay in May 1898.
The surviving cazadores were cited for their uncommon valor by the Philippine revolutionary government with Aguinaldo later issuing a presidential decree recognizing them not as prisoners of war but friends and granted them a safe-conduct pass to
Angara-Castillo said the siege remains a living symbol of the gallantry and heroism of the Spanish soldiers and that war can bring out the best in people who share the same values. “Yesterday’s enemies can be today’s friends,” she said.
Rep. Angara for his part, said the province can prosper economically as a tourist attraction just like
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