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15 Bicolano martyrs given honors in June

12 rites in Naga CityJuan Escandor Jr., Shiena Barrameda | Inquirer Southern Luzon 2:01 AM | Thursday, June 12th, 2014

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NAGA CITY, PhilippinesPresident Benigno

Aquino III will be in Naga City Thursday for the

116th anniversary of Philippine Independence,

where he is expected to deliver his

Independence Day address and acknowledge

the 15 Bicolano martyrs of the Philippine

Revolution.

Naga City Mayor John Bongat said the President would raise the flag at Plaza Quince Martires

at the heart of the old central business district here where a monument, once described as an

elaborate wedding cake by historian and Inquirer columnist Ambeth Ocampo, immortalized

the 15 Bicolano martyrs who fought the oppressive colonial government during the 1896

Revolution.

Naga Councilor Gabriel Bordado said the plaza was chosen venue for the event, dubbed

Kalayaan 2014, mainly because of its contribution to history, plus the fact that Naga is one of

the oldest cities in the Philippines, next only to Cebu and Manila.

The President will stay in Naga for two hours, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., because he has a

schedule in Manila at 11 a.m. on the same day, he said.

The Bicolano martyrs were given a 21-gun salute on June 4, 2012, the 115th year since 11 of

them were felled by firing squad in Bagumbayan Field (Luneta). It was the first time they were

given such honors.

On Dec. 29, 1896 the Spanish colonial governments Council of War issued the death penalty

against the 15.

Three of the martyrs, all deemed illustrados of their time, were priestsGabriel Prieto, Severino

Diaz and Innocencio Herrera. The others were businessmen and persons who held positions in

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Spanish colonial society: Ramon Abella, Manuel Abella, Domingo Abella, Leon Hernandez,

Tomas Prieto, Cornelio Mercado, Mariano Ordenanza, Macario Valentin, Mariano Melgarejo,

Mariano Arana, Florencio Lerma and Camilo Jacob.

Four of the 15 Bicol martyrs were not given the death penalty. Ramon Abellason of Manuel

Abella and elder brother of Domingo Abella, and Arana were ordered exiled to the Isle of

Fernando Po in West Africa, which was once a colony of Spain. Hernandez and Ordenanza were

ordered imprisoned at the Bilibid.

Arrested on Sept. 16, 1896, the 15 were brought to Manila aboard a steamer named Isarog

and then imprisoned at the Bilibid, according to Tito G. Valiente, a public anthropologist and

writer, presently connected with the School of Social Sciences of Ateneo de Manila University

and Ateneo de Naga University.

Valiente also gave credit to the countless and faceless Bicol martyrs, including women, who

fought during the 1896 Revolution, when he honored the sacrifices of the 15 Bicol martyrs.

Prof. Danilo Gerona, Bicol historian, said January 4, the date of execution of the 15 Bicol

martyrs, fell on a Monday, which he said was among the first spectacular official acts carried

out by the Spanish government in 1897, which had just celebrated Christmas and New Year.

The Bagumbayan Field which had already earned its notoriety as the place for execution was

once again filled with a crowd. This was probably the same crowd who witnessed Rizals

execution five days earlier. But the crowd gathered on this day, a journalist noted, was far

thicker than the previous executions. Among those present were the family members of the

condemned who came early, the most prominent of whom was the Abella family, Gerona told

the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

He said there were meticulous ceremonies observed which made the public execution

spectacular.

In this particular event, it commenced with the march of the prisoners to their execution site.

From their respective detention cells, the prisoners were marched out to Luneta. When the

prisoners were finally marched in the square, the women immediately spotted Manuel (Abella),

but it took a longer time to recognize Domingo (Abella). He was tall, sturdy and handsome

when they last saw him. At the end of the line of prisoners was one bent, like an old man,

encumbered by many wounds. When they finally recognized this prematurely aged man as

Domingo, Conchita (the sister of Domingo) had difficulty restraining her mother from running

to him, Gerona narrated, citing documents he researched from the archives in Spain where he

made a thorough research on the history of Bicol in the 1990s.

Gerona said the Spanish authorities immediately ordered the families of the 15 Bicol martyrs

to bury their dead within the day to prevent any outpouring of sympathy from the public.

According to Jose Barrameda Jr., writer and book author of Bicols contemporary history, the

first commemoration of the 15 Bicol martyrs happened on March 3, 1941 based on a program

he obtained that honored them.

The 15 Bicol martyrs monument, which was built in 1926, was designed by Crispolo Zamora

and sculpted by Jose Barcena.

Lt. Gen. Hernando DCA Iriberri, commanding general of the Philippine Army, was also expected

to attend the flag raising ceremony for the Independence Day rites at the plaza on Thursday

(June 12) with President Aquino and other government officials.

Iriberri visited Bicol on Tuesday to award 35 soldiers from the 31st Infantry Battalion (31IB) in

Juban, Sorsogon, who recently scored success in the governments counter-insurgency

operations against the New Peoples Army rebels in Sorsogon, specifically the encounter in May

in Sitio Hukdong, Barangay Balocawe in Matnog town in Sorsogon wherein five communist

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