PAST FORWARD: Celebrating and knowing about ‘Tres de Abril’
Jobers Reynes Bersales
It took 179 Sanicolasnons (residents of San Nicolas) led by Leon Kilat (the ‘nom de guerre’ of Pantaleon Villegas) just about 90 minutes to drive all the Spanish in Cebu to the relatively safe confines of Fort San Pedro or face their wrath that Palm Sunday of 1898. The event, known as Tres de Abril, is now largely forgotten by the present but it marked that historic moment when Cebu finally — if not belatedly — rose up in revolt against 333 years of Spanish rule.
For many decades thereafter, ‘Tres de Abril’ was marked with much pomp and ceremony, including parades by surviving revolutionaries — they were called ‘mangugubut’ — and their offspring, until the 1970s when even the site of the historic encounter between the Spanish ‘guardia civil’ and these brave 179 that fateful afternoon became I think a gasoline station and now a vehicle emissions testing facility. All the plans to put up a grand monument there fell to nothing more than political promises even until now.
Fortunately, to mark the 121st anniversary of this historic event, Palm Grass Hotel is hosting today and tomorrow a play entitled “Abtik Pas’Kilat.” It will be performed free of charge by Bag-ong Teatro Junquera at the Albert van Gansewinkel Hall of the University of San Carlos, just a stone’s throw away from the hotel, from 2 to 4 pm and again at 7 to 9 pm. Teatro Bag-ong Junquera, by the way, is a performing arts group organized by Palm Grass Hotel from among the youths in the three barangays surrounding Gen. Junquera Street where it is located.
This Wednesday, April 3rd, the hotel has lined up a series of events including a reenactment of the revolt by the aforesaid theater group, a video about the liberal Spanish governor of Cebu, Gen. Inocencio Junquera from 1893 to 1895, and a talk entitled, “Cebu’s Freedom Fighters” by our very own National Artist for Literature, Dr. Resil Mojares. I hope to see all of you dear readers on these events.
And now for the ten things you ought to know about the Tres de Abril revolt, in the April 6, 1928 issue of “Bag-ong Kusog,” we learn from the ‘mangugubut’ Francisco Ma. Labrador the following:
1. Teopisto Cavan hid the original document containing the roster of members of the Cebu Katipunan in a bottle that the Guardia Civil never found when they ransacked his house following his arrest.
2. Francisco Ma. Labrador was the one who stamped the ‘anting-anting’ (amulet, see illustrations) on sheets of paper with Latin words: one in the form of a triangle was placed on the forehead and another one, a circle, was placed on the tongue when the ‘mangugubut’ carried out the revolt to protect them from bullets.
Anting-anting in the form of a triangle with Latin words placed on the forehead of the mangugubut to protect them from bullets.
Anting-anting that the ‘mangugubut’ placed on their tongue to protect them from bullets.
3. Leon Kilat appointed Anastacio Rama with measuring and determining the type of cloth for the ‘casulla’ or chasuble, an apron-like outer garment marked with anti-anting inscriptions that were worn by the ‘mangugubut‘ over their Katipunan uniform.
4. Crispin Echevarre was charged with measuring the length of the ‘baraw’ (dagger) carried by the ‘mangugubut’ presumably for close-quarters or hand-to-hand combat.
5. Gregorio Padilla was the ‘mangugubut’ who advised Leon Kilat to move the uprising to Palm Sunday, April 3rd, in lieu of the original Good Friday, April 8, for the uprising to commence.
6. It was Justo Kababajar who led the triumphal shouts of “Mabuhi ang Katipunan” during the uprising.
7. Severo “Iray” Padilla was the one who thought of cutting telegraph lines during the uprising so that the authorities in Manila and elsewhere would not immediately know of the uprising.
8. Francisco Llamas opened the gates of the Carcel de Cebu (now Museo Sugbo) to release fellow Katipuneros and those suspected or falsely-accused of being members.
Leon Kilat, the Katipunan leader of the Tres de Abril revolt.
9. Leon Kilat killed three and wounded 43 Spanish soldiers or ‘cazadores’ (literally, hunters) with his sword. The wounded were brought to the infirmary of the Seminario-Colegio de San Carlos beside Plaza Independencia (the old campus, destroyed during the American liberation of Cebu in 1945, was located to the left of the plaza when facing the fort). All of them died a week later.
10. Riding his white horse, Leon Kilat attempted to storm the fort from the plaza on April 5, Holy Tuesday, but was faced with a barrage of bullets and cannon fire. One cannon ball landed so close to him that he fell off his horse but was unscathed and merely dusted his uniform off—one of event that mangugubut saw as evidence of how powerful the Katipunan leaders ’kalaki’ or ‘anting-anting’ was.
So there you have it. To learn more and celebrate this historic victorious event, please find time to join all the events I just mentioned. This much we can do if only to show that Cebuanos do know how to remember its heroes.
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