The historical value of "Tres De Abril"

If the Americans have their "Fourth of July," and the Mexicans celebrate their "Cinco de Mayo," while the Taiwanese people have their Double Ten festivities every tenth of October, we Filipinos do have our own "Doce de Junio" and we Cebuanos commemorate annually our "Tres de Abril." These are the important milestones in the peoples' struggles for freedom, liberty and democracy.

These important days are celebrated every year to remind us, especially the younger generation, of the many sacrifices selflessly made by our ancestors in order to lay down the foundation of our nation as a sovereign and independent state. These dates always bring back poignant memories of many heroes who lost their lives defending our homeland from invaders who subjugated our land and oppressed our forefathers.

The Battle of Mactan, the Cry of Pugad Lawin, the Batlle of Tirad Pass are all milestones in Philippine history that marked the heroism of our people. The names of Andres Bonifacio, Apolinario Mabini, General Antonio Luna, General Artemio Ricarte, General Gregorio del Pilar followed the footsteps of Lapulapu, Sultan Kudarat and Francisco Dagohoy. The Philippines is the cradle of noble heroes, the land of the brave and the home of the fearless.

The ninth of April is marked as Araw ng Kagitingan for it was the day when Corregidor and Bataan, our last bastion, fell into the hands of the Japanese. No less than 67,000 ill-fed, ill-equipped, sick and tired Filipino soldiers were forced by the Japanese Imperial Army to walk under the scorching heat of noon sun from Bataan to San Fernando, Pampanga. Together with 11,796 Americans and 1,00 Filipino Chinese, they walk in the historic Death March and ended with not less than 12,000 of them who died along the way due to exhaustion, heat stroke or were executed for attempting to escape.

In Cebu, Tres de Abril is the most glorious day in our history. This day marks the historic victory of Cebu's local revolutionaries who were armed only with bolos and spears against the guns, cannons and bombs of the Spanish colonizers. Our own version of Luzon's Andres Bonifacio and Ilocos' Diego Silang was Pantaleon Villegas whose nom de guirre was Leon Kilat due to his speed, dynamism as well as quick and decisive moves which inspired the Cebuanos to join the Katipunan in this part of the country. He was precisely dispatched by Bonifacio to lead and train the Cebu's forces against the Spaniards.

On April 2, 1898, in a farm near what is now called Punta Princesa, Leon Kilat met secretly with the core group of revolutionary leaders composed of Luis Abellar, Potenciano Alino, Bonifacio Aranas, Justo Cabajar, Daniel Canedo, Silvestre Canedo, Simeon Canedo,  Wenceslao Capalla, Juan Climaco, Pascasio Dabasol, Jaime Enriquez, Nicanor Enriquez,  Hilario Felix, Luis Flores, Eugenio Ginez,  Nicolas Godinez, Florencio Gonzales,  Mariano Hernandez, Estanislao Larua, Francisco Llamas,Nicomedes Machacon, Alejo Minoza, Jacinto Pacana, Candido Padilla, Ambrocio Pena and the famous Arcadio Maxilom. The agenda was the battle on the next day.

The original plan was to attack on April 8 which was a Good Friday. The strategy was to hit when the Spanish soldiers least expected and the day when all the Spaniards would be busy with Church activities. But there was a traitor who tipped the Spanish commander. Thus, Leon Kilat immediately changed the date to April 3, which was Palm Sunday. The Spanish soldiers' guns were pointed downwards without cartridges. It turned out to be a bloody carnage where many Spanish soldiers died. Their guns were not loaded and the forces of Leon Kilat attacked from all directions with bolos, spears, sticks and stones, slingshots and all kinds of makeshift bladed weapons.

The victorious revolutionaries surrounded Fort San Pedro aiming to starve the Spanish soldiers by isolating them from reinforcements. But it was a short-term victory, A few days later, a battleship arrived from Manila. The Filipinos were bombarded with cannons, thereby driving them to the mountains. Leon Kilat withdrew to the south. In Carcar, he was betrayed by a meztizo Judas who murdered him in his sleep. General Arcadio Maxilom took command of the remaining forces until the end of the revolution.

The noble warriors of Tres de Abril remembered that date as a defining moment in our history. Today, as we look back to the daring struggles of our local heroes, we should reflect on the importance of our freedom, our liberty and our human rights. We should not allow the current political conflicts between the Marcoses and the Dutertes to becloud the nobility of our race, the dignity of our bloodlines, and the lofty aspirations of our heroes to build a just and humane society. a society of peace, justice and democracy.

We should remember Tres de Abril as the mark of our nobility as a people and as a nation of gallant men of honor and courage.