An Unknown “Ilonggo” Football Legend of the 1920's

 An Unknown “Ilonggo” Football Legend of the 1920's

(By: DinggolAranetaDivinagracia - November 14, 2018)

“On October 7, 1896, a son was born to Don Eduardo Alcantara a Spanish national and a mestisa Spanish-Ilongga Doña Victorina Riestra Camilan in the military fort of Commandancia (now Concepcion) in Northern Iloilo, Philippines.

The fort was later converted into a school and the whole area was separated as a civil district and called Concepcion; along with other “arrabals” or towns (Sara, San Dionisio, Ajuy, Lemery, etc.) that were also created by the Spanish authorities. The Alcantara’s youngest child was named Paulino who would later become a “Superstar” in the field of football worldwide.” --dinggol.d~~~

From INM Archives:

ILOILO CITY— As the World Cup fever nears its climax in South Africa, basketball-crazy Filipinos should know that they have a hero to inspire them to switch to football as a national passion.

And it’s not the great Pelé of Brazil, Argentinian legend Diego Maradona or the current world top player Lionel Messi, also of Argentina, or heartthrob Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal.

Long before these heroes burst into the global football scene, there was Iloilo-born Paulino Alcantara.

Alcantara, born to a Spanish military officer and an Ilongga mother on Oct. 7, 1896, is considered to be one of the sport’s legends, especially in Spain.

While he is largely unknown to Filipinos and even Ilonggos, he is revered in the world football community with tributes and memorial sites devoted to him in the Internet. ‘‘He may be unknown even to the young players, but he is an icon to many of us,” said Pablito V. Araneta, also from Iloilo and former vice president of the Philippine Football Federation (PFF), which groups around 35 football associations in the country.

Alcantara scored an astonishing 357 goals in as many games played, or an average of one goal per game, as a striker of the Futbol Club Barcelona (Barcelona Football Club) where he played from 1912 to 1927, according to the club’s website.

Barcelona star. He also helped Barcelona, one of the top clubs in the current Spanish league, win five Spanish championships and 10 Catalan League championships, the first professional football league in Spain during that period.

His strength was legendary. Medium built and lacking the physique of a professional athlete, he, nevertheless, earned the title “El Romperedes (Net Breaker)” on April 30, 1922, after a powerful kick 35 yards from the goal ripped the net in a game between Spain and France. ‘‘For many years after, children from Barcelona would recall that moment and would wish to do the same as the man from the Philippines,” according to Alcantara’s profile in the FC Barcelona website.

Except for online accounts, however, there is little information on Alcantara and his family. Araneta said a research conducted by PFF in 2007 during the commemoration of the centennial of Philippine football showed that Alcantara’s father was a Spanish military officer stationed in Iloilo. Other accounts identified his mother as surnamed Riestrá.

No official record. Ilonggo historian and lawyer Rex Salvilla said he has not come across official records of Alcantara and his family, which could explain why he is not well known among Ilonggos.

Salvilla noted that Alcantara was only 2 years old during the Philippine Revolution in 1898. His father, being a Spanish official, could have gone home and brought his family to avoid imprisonment or could have surrendered before taking his family with him to Spain, Salvilla said.

But according to various accounts posted in the website, Alcantara came to Spain when he was 14 years old, a year before he debuted with FC Barcelona. He returned to the Philippines in 1916, or when he was 20 years old, and played for two years with the Bohemians, a Filipino football club.

He returned to Spain and resumed playing with his club in 1918 where he rose to become a legend.

On the other hand, in it’s Philippine football centennial issue, the Pinoy Football Magazine, published by the PFF, said Alcantara became the youngest player to wear the FC Barcelona jersey when he started playing for the club when he was 15.

Missing the Olympics But more than becoming a football star, Alcantara was dedicated to becoming a doctor and did not play in the 1920 Olympic Games to study medicine.

He retired from football in 1927 to dedicate his time to medicine but he briefly coached the Spanish national team in 1951, which was unbeaten in the three matches that he steered the team.

Alcantara died in Barcelona on Feb. 13, 1964, at the age of 67, according to the FC Barcelona website.

It was also during Alcantara’s peak that the Philippines became an Asian football powerhouse with the country bagging the gold in the 1913 Far Eastern Games, the forerunner of the Asian Games.

Routing Japan. While Alcantara missed the 1913 games, he played four years later as part of the national team that routed Japan15-2 in their match in Tokyo.

Japan was among the Asian teams that qualified in the round of 18 in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. ‘‘That rout of Japan was the highest that the Philippines had advanced in international football,” Araneta said.

World’s No. 169. The international football federation Fifa currently ranks the Philippines 169th out of 207 member-countries in men’s football.

Despite the Filipinos’ preference for basketball and boxing, football players and fans have increasingly drawn their inspiration from Alcantara’s exploits to raise local awareness and passion for the sport.

A life-size statue of Alcantara was unveiled at the PFF office at the PhilSports Complex in Pasig during the football centennial commemoration in 2007, said PFF general secretary Chito Manuel.

In Alcantara’s home province of Iloilo where football is popular especially in Barotac Nuevo town, dubbed the ‘‘Football Capital of the Philippines,” players and fans can readily cite Alcantara as proof that Filipinos can do well and even be among the greatest in the international football arena. “We don’t have to stop at watching the World Cup and cheering for our idols. A hundred years ago, an Ilonggo already showed us the way to greatness,” said Duffie Botavara, president of the Barotac Nuevo Footbal Club.

~~~~~~~~~~ oo0oo ~~~~~~~~~~~ 

According to primo Pablito V. Araneta who later became Secretary General of PFF, the wooden life-size statue of the Ilonggo football legend of the 1920’s, Paulino Riestra Alcantara of Concepcion, Iloilo was donated by our primo Tonypet Araneta to the Philippine Football Federation (PFF).

Incidentally, what remains today of the former Spanish military stronghold "Commandancia" in Northern Iloilo, are the two old Spanish cannons on display by the entrance of the Municipal Hall in Concepcion, Iloilo - Philippines said El Capitan Miguel Alerta.

(Main source: An article by Alfredo Roces and personal contributions from Miguel Alerta of Concepcion and Pablito Araneta of Barotac Nuevo, both in the Province of Iloilo, Philippines) ~~~

The “Cry of Sta. Barbara” in Iloilo, Philippines on November 17, 1898

  Today in Ilonggo History, the 17th of November

The “Cry of Sta. Barbara” in Iloilo, Philippines on November 17, 1898

(By: DinggolAranetaDivinagracia - November 17, 2018)

“The Manilans celebrate the “Cry of Balintawak” on August 26th every year, also known as the “Cry of Pugad Lawin” as the first salvo of the Katagalogan revolution against Spain.

The Ilonggos, likewise, celebrate the “Cry of Santa Barbara” on the 17th of November in Iloilo as the first cry of freedom in the Visayas.” --dinggol.d~~~

Patrocinio “Tia Patro” Gamboa y Villareal dubbed as the 1898 revolutionary “Heroine of Jaro” in Iloilo, Philippines was born on April 30, 1865 to the wealthy and prominent couple in Jaro, Don Fermin Gamboa and Doña Leonarda Villareal de Gamboa.

She was an avid reader of the writings of Dr. Jose Rizal and her fellow “Jareño” Graciano Lopez Jaena of the Propaganda Movement that developed her intense patriotic fervor. Against her parents objections, she got seriously involved in the 1898 revolution against Spanish authorities by soliciting war contributions from friends and relations including Chinese traders in Iloilo and by nursing wounded revolucionarios in the fields of battle.

On November 17, 1898 the brave ilongga patriot from Jaro, Patrocinio “Tia Patro” Gamboa y Villareal, with a concealed weapon and a newly made flag hidden inside her native garment called “patadyong” diverted the attention and successfully avoided thorough inspection by the “guardia civil” at strategic checkpoints in Iloilo. She convincingly acted as the bickering and nagging wife to her meek and supposedly henpecked husband Honorio Solinap, a Teniente of the Iloilo revolutionary forces on their way to Santa Barbara some 16 kilometers away from Iloilo City riding on a horse-drawn buggy.

Upon their arrival, “Tia Patro” handed to Don Martin T. Delgado, a replica of the flag made in Hong Kong by Doña Marcella Agoncillo of Taal, Batangas prepared by the women of Jaro and a saber; a gift from his erstwhile adversary Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo who had earlier in Kawit, Cavite declared the Revolutionary Government of the Philippines a.k.a. the "Katagalogan Republic".

Earlier, sometime in August, at the meeting inside the Santa Barbara catholic church convent, the assembly elected the following officials of the revolutionary government: Roque Haplasca Lopez - President; Vicente Franco - Vice President and Secretary of Interior; Venancio Concepcion - Secretary of Finance; Ramon Avanceňa as the Secretary of State; Jovito Yusay- Secretary of Justice; Julio Hernandez-Secretary of War and Fernando Salas - Secretary General.

Don Martin Teofilo Delgado y Bermejo was chosen General-in-Chief of the Revolutionary government, while Dr. Pablo Soriano Araneta a Physician-Surgeon as the Commanding General of the Panay Revolutionary Forces and Chief of the Expeditionary Forces in the Visayas.

On the 17th of November, 1898, General-en-Gefe Martin T. Delgado declared the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Visayas and Mindanao in Santa Barbara town plaza after the three-starred Philippine Flag was hoisted amidst a joyous crowd.

However, six days later this was replaced by a Politico-Military Government on November 23, 1898, composed only of the Visayas, because the Ilonggo leaders finally preferred instead, a federal arrangement composed of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, as a logical substitute because of its indigenous elements. Moreover, since the Visayans did not want to recognize the supremacy of Aguinaldo and the Tagalogs over their own government.

With the merger of both the Central and Western Visayas cantonal governments on December 2, 1898; the Panay government based in Iloilo was renamed "Estado Federal de Bisayas" or the Federal Republic of the Visayas, patterned after the U.S. Federal and Cantonal government of the Swiss Confederation.

Earlier, Capitan Martin T. Delgado of Sta. Barbara together with Quintin Salas of Dumangas, Pedro Monteclaro of Miag-ao and Adriano Hernandez of Dingle and others from Iloilo, led the Volunteer Battalion of Ilonggo contingents under the Spaniards who fought against the army of Gen. Emilio Famy Aguinaldo in Cavite and Pampanga in Luzon. These military expeditions were mostly financed by the Iloilo elites, more notably by industrialist Don Eugenio Jalandoni Lopez of “Salog” (Jaro) married to Doña Marcela Felipe Villanueva, and by shipping magnate Don Felix de la Rama of “Parian“ (Molo) married to Doña Concepcion Araneta.

This was before the "Comite de Conspiradores" was formed in Molo, Iloilo on March 18, 1898 that served as the nucleus of the covert Revolutionary Movement in Panay Island that spearheaded the revolution against Spanish subjugation and later versus U.S. invasion of the Ilonggo nation.

Don Martin T. Delgado secretly worked for the Visayan instead of the Spanish cause and later organized for an open armed rebellion against the Spanish authorities. Several Visayan Generals among them Don Raymundo Melliza and Dr. Pablo Araneta conferred and chose Delgado as “General en Jefe de los Tropas del Ejercito Libertador de Visayas y Governador Politico-Militar” who led the “Cry of Freedom” at Santa Barbara in Iloilo --exactly one hundred twenty years ago today. ~~~

The Ferocious Bald Eagle and the Two-Day Old Chick

The Ferocious Bald Eagle and the Two-Day Old Chick

(By: DinggolAranetaDivinagracia - November 2, 2018)

“On December 27, 1898, the ferocious bald eagle swooped down to Madya-as, waited for several weeks, then brutally attacked and began the emasculation of the two-day old chick.” --dinggol.d~~~

The Semi-Weekly Gazette and Bulletin of Williamsport, Pennsylvania reports on the capture of Iloilo, issue of Feb. 14, 1899. (By Associated Press)

Manila, Feb. 14 -(9:35 a.m) -The United States forces under Brigadier General Miller captured Iloilo, capital of Panay and seat of the so-called government of the Visayan Federation on Saturday last after a bombardment........ “

Thus, was the "manifest destiny" of our December 25, 1898 short-lived nationhood, the “Estado Federal de Bisayas” or The Federal Republic of the Visayas at the turn of the last century.

Adding insult to injury, the new foreign invaders branded our forebears; the brave revolucionarios and fearless patriots as superstitious cultists, brigands, bandits, and insurrectionists. Maybe “Uncle Sam” was ignorant of the fact that we were an infant but already a sovereign Nation-State with a legitimate form of government two days earlier, when Spain formally surrendered to our forebears. Or perhaps, knew but still refuse to know as the onward march of greed and modern imperialism substituted almost four(4)hundred years of colonialism.

To entertain the negative notion, a mind-set that today we cry over spilled milk over this unfortunate encounter, this travesty of history is not only absurd but sheer ignorance.

The objective is not only to remind the whole world of this historical blunder, this diplomatic faux pas ---but more importantly, to instill in the minds and enshrine in the hearts of the young and future generations of Ilonggo and Visayan, a legacy of their proud and noble heritage --nipped in the bud by a socratic irony of fate.

That, notwithstanding insurmountable odds, our forefathers valiantly fought with dignity against those who trampled our sacred shores. And that we accepted defeat as a victory with a smile; knowing that once upon a time, we as a people in the Western and Central Visayas, spearheaded by the brave Ilonggos, had won our battle scarred freedom and legitimate independence. Thus, formally achieved the status as a truly independent and sovereign nation after almost four hundred years of foreign domination and subjugation under Spanish colonial rule and made world history as the first Republic in all of Asia --the Federal Republic of the Visayas! ... Padayon! ~~~

The U.S. Invasion of Iloilo, the seat of government of the Estado Federal de Bisayas.

“CINCO DE NOVIEMBRE” AND THE ILONGGO NATION

 

 

(Flag of the 1898 Negros Revolutionary Government)

“CINCO DE NOVIEMBRE” AND THE ILONGGO NATION

(By: DinggolAranetaDivinagracia - October 28, 2018)

“According to Dr. Jose "Joey" Dacudao, an Ilonggo Neuro-Surgeon in Butuan City, Philippines --all Filipinos are taught a narrow type of history from the point of view of historians based in Metro Manila, in accordance with a uniform educational curriculum concocted by Manila-based institutions and individuals, and enforced in all Philippine schools.

This is passed on as 'history of the Filipino people' or as some other euphemism. Yet nothing is farther from the truth.” --dinggol.d~~~

Yes indeed, Visayan history is DIFFERENT from Tagalog history, and yet what is officially passed in all Philippine schools is the latter.

It goes without saying that this is the history that we should be teaching to our school children in all traditional Visayan areas. Yet, the victorious saga of our Visayan heroes headed by our Ilonggo forebears were never included in text books and only relegated to the dustbin of history. Even historical marker of a great event, Spain’s formal surrender to our Revolutionary leaders on “Cinco de Noviembre-1898” took imperial Manila 109 years to decide and install. “Hamak mo ran Banwa!” ~~~

Ilonggo Nation Movement (INM) co-founder agurang Benjie Estuche once said: “It is rather speculative as it is without basis if we mean of history is that which had been written for us by our colonial and imperial (both foreign and local) masters.”

On November 5, 1898, the Independent Negros Republic was declared in Bago Plaza, Negros Occidental by Gen. Juan "Tan Juan" Araneta when Spanish authorities under Colonel Isidro de Castro, Politico-Military Governor of Negros Island capitulated.

Acta de Capitulacion of 1898:

The next day, the 6th of November, 1898 Negros Island Politico-Military Governor- Col. Isidro de Castro, on behalf of Don Diego de los Rios, last Governor-General of Spain in the Philippines signed the Formal Surrender Document "Acta de Capitulacion" in Bacolod City duly acknowledged by Gen. Aniceto Ledesma Lacson-Presidente, Gen. Juan “Tan Juan” Araneta-Secretary of War and other officials of the Negros Republic.

On Nov. 26, 1898, in a meeting of the Negros island cantonal government, Gen. Juan "Tan Juan" Araneta sponsored a resolution which was uninamously approved to set up a Federal Republic. "I proposed, that this island, after having attained its liberty and independence by means of a brilliant feat of arms, thus winning an honorable place in the concert of civilized nations, be governed by prestigious men in our country who knows its needs and understand its glorious ideals. For this reason I believe that the best government to realize the beautiful aspiration of our island, which is also that of the entire Filipino people, is that of a Federal Republic." This approved resolution was documented by Don Melecio Severino -Secretary General.

The “Cry of Sta. Barbara” in Iloilo The Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Visayas and Mindanao proclaimed by General-en-Gefe Martin T. Delgado during the November 17th “Cry of Sta. Barbara” in Iloilo, was replaced on November 23, 1898 by a politico-military government restricted only to the provinces in the Visayas after the Spanish garrison in Salog (Jaro) capitulated comparable to the "Siege of Baler" in Tayabas a year later.

The leaders preferred instead an arrangement of a National Federacy composed of the separate States Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao because of the many separate islands of the archipelagic Visayas and Mindanao. The Birth of the Federal Republic of the Visayas:

After a series of serious consideration and lengthy legitimate deliberations on nation-building it was decided to finally consolidate the cantonal governments in both Central and Western Visayas into the Panay government based in Iloilo and, thus, the "Estado Federal de Bisayas" or the Federal Republic of the Visayas was born on December 2, 1898. ~~~

(N.B: Dr. Jose "Joey" Dacudao is the National President of Save our Languages thru Federalism Foundation (SOLFED), Inc.)