If you noticed that monument as you enter the municipality of E. B. Magalona from Silay City, here in the northern part of the province of Negros Occidental in the Philippines, you must have wondered who he is.
He is Capitan Elias Magbanua, standing under the Philippine sun during the day and quietly hiding in the dark at night. He faces west, perpetually watching the sun set on his beloved motherland.
He is raising his sword with his right hand and a pistol on his left as if to remind his fellow Negrenses who pass him by that we should appreciate and preserve the independence they fought for more than a hundred years ago, and that the memories of their armed struggled against foreign colonizers should be remembered every time we see his monument.
This monument is to commemorate the stand by Capitan Elias Magbanua and his Ilonggo and Negrense fighters against American soldiers on August 19, 1899, at Sitio Guintabu-an in the town of Saravia, now E. B. Magalona.
And if you think that Sitio Guintabu-an is way off from Victorias City (next to E. B. Magalona in the north) and that Victoriahanons had nothing to do with this event in our island's history, let me tell you about the story that would make you feel connected to it every time you pass by E. B. Magalona.
After Spain finally turned over Las Islas Filipinas (as well as Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guam) to the Americans in 1898 through the Treaty of Paris signed by both countries on December 10, 1898, it was time the G.I. Joe's took over the archipelago.
Unfortunately for the Americans, and even though Filipinos were known for their hospitality, they didn't get the warmest of receptions in most of the places they landed on.
In the Negros island, although the Negrenses gave the Americans a less difficult time settling in, there were clandestine groups in the island who had deep resentment against another colonizer that was about to rule the country again.
In 1899, when the guerrilla movement against the Americans had been set up in the southern part of Negros, it was time to strengthen the northern front.
And with the help of the more established and experienced guerrilla leaders from Panay, one of whom was General Martin Teofilo (read blog here) my forebear, the northern towns of Saravia, Victorias, Manapla and Sagay started to organize as well.
According to Mr. Modesto Sa-onoy, a Negrense historian, hacenderos and illustrados from this northern part of the island contributed to the underground resistance, including the Montinolas of Victorias (read blog here). The movement must have started when it was officially announced that the Philippines was sold to the Americans, wasting no time but to organize and solicit contributions from the rich families without catching the attention of the new colonizers.
In August 1899, however, the Americans, with the help of their own spies and network of sympathizers, discovered the unusual volume of supplies from Panay island that were being transported up to the highlands in the north of Negros island.
These supplies were not the only help that came from Iloilo. Experienced Ilonggo guerrillas also quietly landed in Negros to help the resistance, led by Capitan Elias Magbanua. These Ilonggos were more experienced as they were just fresh from booting out the Spaniards from Iloilo months before, on December 25, 1898, to be exact.
That was the day when the last Spanish governor-general, Diego de los Rios, officially surrendered to General Martin Teofilo Delgado at Plaza Alfonso XIII, now called Plaza Libertad. (Incidentally, when King Alfonso XIII married Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg in 1906 in Madrid, a bomb was thrown on their wedding procession as it was passing Calle Mayór on its way back to the royal palace. The bomb, hidden in a bouquet of flowers, was thrown from the assassin's hotel room balcony at the sixth floor, which I made sure I visited when I was in Madrid years ago. Being my namesake, the king's personal history was part of my itinerary that time. The bomb killed 24 bystanders and people from the wedding procession. The groom and the bride were unhurt, except for her wedding gown that got splattered with horse's blood.)
Back to the Negrense and Ilonggo soldiers.
In August 1899, reports of Negrense policemen from Silay and Talisay disappearing from their posts reached the Americans. These policemen abandoned their posts bringing with them their firearms and this alarmed the Americans, confirming their fear of an uprising in the making.
(American soldiers torturing a Filipino soldier
through waterboarding. The Filipino soldier is being held down and a pipe is used to funnel water
to his mouth to give him a drowning feeling. The other American soldiers watch in amusement
as if it was just another fun spectacle.)
(Photo credit: PRI Public Radio International)
And on August 19, 1899, a Saturday, in order to surprise the guerrillas and to quell a revolt, a contingent of American soldiers raided the newly constructed headquarters at Sitio Guintabu-an in the old Saravia.
Although Capitan Magbanua, his Ilonggo soldiers as well as his new recruits from Saravia, Victorias, Silay, Talisay and other areas in the north were no match to the superior weapons of their enemies, and the fact that they were taken by surprise and not as well trained compared to the American combatants, they gave their enemies a lasting lesson that was not about warfare but about gallantry, patriotism and the love of country.🙏
Capitan Elias Magbanua stood his ground until his last breath, fending off the enemies for hours in order for his men to escape. Capitan Magbanua's stand is being compared by historians to that of General Gregorio del Pilar when he also fought the Americans at the Battle of Tirad Pass.
Elias Magbanua was given the rank of a captain when he joined the revolution against Spain in 1898 as he was educated. His older brother, Pascual, was also a revolutionary but mysteriously died at 25.
Her sister, Teresa Magbanua, though, was the most famous of the three, who were all born in Pototan, Iloilo, to a well-to-do family. Teresa had successful battles against the Spaniards and had led troops against the Americans. As she was an expert equestrian, she rode a horse to her battles earning her the title the 'Visayan Joan of Arc'. Teresa, in her old age, sold some of her properties during the Japanese Occupation to contribute to the underground movement against the Japanese, making her, in a way, the only revolutionary to have fought the three colonizers.
Photo credit: Wikipedia
While I was digging the historical information about this chapter, I realized we have a lot of heroes in this part of our island, heroes who, like Capitan Elias Magbanua and his fighters, definitely deserved to be up there standing on a monument, unlike some alleged hero whose proclaimed descendants had created based on a twisted piece of history that's bereft of any evidentiary support to back up the supposed deed and worse, without any public acceptance (read blog here).😡
The next time you pass by Capitan Elias Magbanua's monument near E. B. Magalona, you now know that his battle at Sitio Guintabu-an on that day of August 19, 1899, was closer to home than you might have thought.
As Victoriahanon recruits had fought beside him and that families from Victorias contributed money, food and supplies to his resistance, we should all remember that our Victoriahanon forebears showed their bravery, heroism and love of country during the Philippine-American War that lasted from 1899 until 1902.
By the way, Elias Magbanua was just 19. 😢
Chapter 21 - President Ramon Magsaysay and his Victorias connection
Complete blog history: "Angg Kasaysayang sang Victorias"
#history #Philippinehistory #Victorias #NegrosOccidental #blog #blogger
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