Remembering the “Batalla de Tercero de Abril”

The third of April in the year 1898 marked a landmark in Philippine history, particularly, the annals of the struggles of Cebuanos at those times when Filipinos were only armed with bolos, spears, and a few guns taken from ambushed guardia civiles. Our forefathers might have been outnumbered and disadvantaged by inferior weapons and lack of formal military training, but they were never wanting of gallantry, courage, and passion to defend our country’s honor, national dignity, and the freedom of our people. What our heroes lacked in terms of armaments and ammunition, were more than made up for in the intensity of their aspirations to rid our land of invaders, exploiters, colonizers, and oppressors.

Thus, on Palm Sunday in 1898, the Filipino warriors, members of the Katipunan, disguised in clothing as if they were going to the church in San Nicolas, marched intermittently and sparsely from Guadalupe, along Calamba, in what is now known as Vicente Rama Avenue, towards the corner of what is now called the Tres de Abril street. Their bolos and spears were carried by civilian-looking younger men and women who walked to the same direction. The Spanish forces, having spied that there was an unusual movement of men, blocked the way of the advancing Katipuneros. A Spanish blocking force led by one Sergeant Pedro Royo accosted the Filipinos and told them to go home. When the Katipuneros acted defiantly, they were fired upon by Royo’s men. The battle of Tres de Abril had begun.

The background of such a historic event started when sometime in the early days of January and February 1898, General Emilio Aquinaldo, the leader of the Philippine Revolution, dispatched a young and dynamic warrior, Pantaleon Villegas, from Bacong, Negros Oriental, to organize the Cebu revolutionaries. He was famous under the nom de guerre “Leon Kilat’’ (in whose honor, a major street has been named from P. del Rosario all the way to Colon Street. Leon Kilat held a secret meeting during the dark of night on March 11, 1898, inside a sugarcane plantation in Labangon, Cebu. It was then that the uprising was planned and the Katipunan in Cebu was organized under Leon Kilat’s command.

On the fourth of April, the Spanish forces were compelled to flee to Fort San Pedro protected by the Spanish gunboat Maria Cristina. On the seventh of April a Spanish reinforcement arrived, consisting of 500 men under the command of one General Tejero aboard the boat Don Juan de Austria. Such superior men-at-arms and training compelled the Filipinos to retreat towards San Nicolas. Leon Kilat went to Carcar where he was betrayed and killed in his resting home. That is why there is a big monument to Leon Kilat in Carcar towards the St. Catherine Church, and which is visible from the highway to and from Cebu City.

The Battle of Tres de Abril is one of Cebu history’s glorious moments and should be remembered with pride, respect, and a sense of honor and dignity as freedom-loving people.