Dionisio A. Sy’s “A Short History of Cebu 1500-1890S” and “The Anti-Spanish Revolution in Cebu”

Dionisio Amora Sy, the Old Guard of Cebuano History (February 24, 1941 - July 13, 2020) lives on, thanks to the Guivelondo Family of Cebu. On April 8, 2021, Sy’s book was re-launched at the Palm Grass, the Cebu Heritage Hotel, along Junquera St., Cebu City.

This is the 4th edition of the book, which started as a mimeographed copy in September 1979. A second edition was printed in 1996, then the third in 2008 published by the Southwestern University.

The 4th edition (2021) is published by the Tres de Abril Inc. coinciding with the 123rd commemoration of the Battle of Tres de Abril (1898) and the hotel’s 4th Grand Opening Anniversary. The book is available at the lobby of the hotel.

“Revolution evokes in the popular mind images of conflicting ideologies and interests, dramatic personalities, bloodshed, destruction of private and public property, and at time, instances of “man’s inhumanity to man”. Another theme, that of continuity and change, excites the interests of students of history.”

He further wrote “Although the second study presented here, the Anti-Spanish Revolution in Cebu, is more strictly a chronicle than a history, we consider it appropriate to include general considerations in Cebuano history prior to the revolution. And in this introductory treatment, we will take as our guide the theme of continuity and change.”

The book is a rich repository of Cebu’s history from commerce and trade, Christianity and the Cebuanos, the Cebuanos’ rise in revolt against Spain and how the revolution continued from Sudlon.

Sy closed his book with the following words addressed to the present generation and those to follow: “Hopefully, other studies dealing with subsequent decades of the Cebuanos interaction with each other, with other cultural groups and with the elements of Nature will soon come off the press. These studies could provide today’s Cebuanos a blueprint of their past with which to analyze the present and plot a course to the future.”

God bless Cebu, long live the Cebuanos.