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. ~~~