Al Cinco de Noviembre

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor CHERYL CRUZ Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

Today is a non-working holiday in Negros Occidental as we celebrate the Negros Revolution of 1898 that ended Spanish rule over the land and led to the formation of the Cantonal Government of Negros or the Negros Republic.

It was exactly 117 years ago when Negrense revolutionaries, led by General Juan Araneta who marched from Bago, and General Aniceto Lacson, who attacked from Silay, pulled a fast one over the Spanish authorities.

The rebels managed to surround the municipal building of Silay and convince the commander of the Spanish garrison to lay down their arms and surrender without a fight after allowing Lieutenant Maximiano Correa to save face by indicating in official records that the capitulation was the result of a bloody battle with “dead and wounded littered all over the field of battle”.

In Bacolod, the governor of the province, Isidro de Castro, was persuaded that it was useless to defend the capital after the wily revolutionaries augmented their lightly armed forces with fake weapons such as rifles carved from palm fronds and cannons made out of rolled bamboo mats painted black. The revolution ended on November 6, 1898 with the unconditional surrender of the capital and minimal bloodshed.

From that unlikely but successful revolution rose the Cantonal Republic of Negros that was technically a sovereign republic when it welcomed the American forces that landed on the island on February 2, 1899. Our republic went under the protection of the United States as a separate state from the rest of the Philippine Islands on April 30, 1899 and was renamed the Republic of Negros on July 22, 1899 until it was dissolved and annexed back to the Philippine Islands on April 30, 1901.

Al Cinco de Noviembre reminds Negrenses of how we were able to outwit our colonizers and earn our freedom once upon a time. That taste of freedom may have been fleeting but its duration shouldn't belittle what continues to be a particularly impressive accomplishment of our forefathers.

If we were able to buck the odds and win what should have been a losing battle against our Spanish rulers 117 years ago, today's holiday should inspire us to work together to come up with brilliant solutions to succeed against whatever that may pose a challenge to our society today.*