Senior Supt. Jesus Gaquing, who was director of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO), walks in front of the headquarters during its inauguration in August 2009.
(CDN FILE PHOTO)
The headquarters of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) has been renamed after a Cebuano revolutionary hero who was known as the last general to surrender to the American colonizers.
Senior Supt. Noel Gillamac, director of CPPO, said the proposal he sent to the Philippine National Police (PNP) main office was approved on Dec. 1.
The police headquarters in Sudlon, Lahug, Cebu City is now called Camp General Arcadio Maxilom.
The name was considered since the lot for the camp was donated by the Cebu provincial government in 2009, Gillamac told reporters.
Before that, it was the only police camp known by its generic description instead of the name of a public figure.
Gillamac said he wanted Cebuanos to easily remember the camp’s name.
“I will put a signage at the corner of the national highway going to the headquarters so people will know,” he said.
An arch will also be installed at the main gate.
The police headquarters in Cebu City is Camp Sotero Cabahug. The Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) is in Camp Sergio Osmeña.
The Cebu provincial government and Tuburan municipal council supported the choice of name for Camp General Maxilom.
The CPPO used to share office space with PRO-7.
In 2009, then Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia inaugurated the current building in its new location in Sudlon.
Maxilom was a native of Tuburan town.
He replaced Pantaleon Villegas, better known as Leon Kilat, after the latter was treacherously murdered in Carcar, southern Cebu in April 1898.
He then became the military commander of the Kataastaasang Kagalanggalangang Katipunan (KKK) Cebu and built camps in Pardo and in Sudlon, Lahug where the present camp is located.
In December 1898, a short-lived victory took place, after General Maxilom wrote a letter to the Spanish authorities asking them to surrender. They later asked for three days to vacate. But the Treaty of Paris was signed by Spain and Americans selling the Philippine islands to the United States.
When American colonizers arrived, Maxilom continued fighting for Cebu’s independence while others made peace.
Some rebels were later even given positions by the Americans either through appointments or elections.
Maxilom was the last general to surrender to the Americans.
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