The Battle of Tres de Abril Series - April 10, 1898 (Easter Sunday) Part 3
The book “Ang Kagubot sa Sugbo 1898” provides a narrative of what happened on April 3, 1898 (which fell on Palm Sunday) and the following days. It was authored by Manuel Enriquez dela Calzada, it contains the articles written by veterans and witnesses of the Cebuano uprising against Spain. The entry on Holy Saturday was written by Don Elpidio Rama and Raimundo Enriquez while the entry on Easter Sunday was written by Elpidio Rama and Isidoro N. Enriquez. This is the adaptation of CEBUpedia of the article written in Cebuano:
The Execution of Candido Padilla
“The mass of Fr. Toribio was meek, unlike the usual manner he presides. He read the prayers of the mass with loud voice, which was trembling, a voice that empathizes, a voice from the heart or a voice for the soul. Nothing was skipped, no error, and everything followed the precepts of the Mass. No one attended the Mass of Fr. Toribio and it was only the acolyte, Isidiro Enriquez, who was inside the church, but all the doors of the church were kept open.
(CEBupedia note: Candido Padilla, a former Capitan of San Nicolas before the uprising was described by Michael Cullinane in his book as the wining candidate as Gobernadocillo of San Nicolas. When it was annexed and became part of the city, though having won the election, he was demoted to the rank of Juez de Paz (Justice of the Peace). C. Padilla had the support of Fr. Jorge Romanillos, he was one who appealed for the lowering his sentence before Governor Adolfo Montero, but Governor General Enrique Zappino declared that all the candidates were ineligible. Soon to hold the position was the appointee Ceferino Abadia.)
There is confusion as to the exact relationship of Candido and Toribio, as in the book of Enriquez, it said that Toribio was an uncle of Candido, while Cullinane said that they are cousins. This is how Cullinane described Fr. Toribio: “Fr. Padilla was the first cousin of Candido Padilla, a leading organizer of the April 1898 uprising in Cebu, and the brother of Paulina Padilla, whose house in San Nicolas was among those used for the planning of the uprising.”
In another chapter it mentions an article of the Nueva Fuerza (the periodical of Don Vicente Rama) December 26, 1918 issue criticizing Cebu City’s municipal council when it voted to name a street after him (referring to Fr. Toribio nicknamed Pari Biyo), to honor his role in the Tres de Abril uprising.
(To be continued)
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