A HUNDRED years since, places have already been patched, and long dead are the heroes that battled for freedom. And yet the memories remain and stories continue to be told.
Today marks the 120th anniversary of the Battle of Tres de Abril, the first victorious uprising in Cebu in all 333 years of the Spanish colonization. A story of victory, defeat and betrayal happened along the streets of Cebu.
On a Palm Sunday, April 3, 1898, an armed uprising was mounted by the Cebuano Katipuneros against the Spaniards. The Katipuneros were led by Pantaleon “Leon Kilat” Villegas who hailed from Negros Oriental. The Cebuanos and the Spaniards met at the crossroads of what are known now as V. Rama St. and Tres de Abril St. That was where it all erupted. The battle site stretched from what is currently the Taboan Public Market all the way to Barangay Labangon.
The Cebuanos were successful in battle and the Spaniards were defeated. Gen. Adolfo Montero, the Spanish governor of Cebu, ordered his troops to fall back to Kota San Pedro (Fort San Pedro). After three days, however, the Spaniards sent reinforcements and the Katipuneros were forced to flee. Together with Leon Kilat, they sought refuge in the southern town of Carcar, while not knowing that traitors were around them. In the morning of April 8, Leon Kilat was treacherously killed by his own aide-de-camp (personal assistant) Apolinario Alcuitas while sleeping in Carcar.
In preparation of the commemoration of the Battle of Tres de Abril, Palm Grass Hotel, Cebu’s only heritage hotel, initiated a video storytelling workshop on March 3 and 4. The workshop aimed to create Motion Graphics and Video on the Tres de Abril Uprising. It was led by UP Cebu alumnus and Hong Kong-based video creator Prospero Laput.
The participants were composed of selected Mass Communications students from the University of the Philippines Cebu (UP) and Fine Arts students from UP Cebu and the University of San Carlos (USC).
“It’s not only them trying to give back to the community. We are also getting the community to participate since we’re targeting the younger generation. We gathered them and made them participate so that they can give inputs from their perspective,” said Laput.
Ideals fueled by youth is one of the things that made the Katipuneros continue to push for freedom. Most of the Katipuneros who joined the revolution were very young. In fact, Leon Kilat was 24 when he led the uprising.
A desire strong enough to push for a better tomorrow, shaped by idealist minds of the younger generation, is the fuel our country needs. It is with this goal that Palm Grass Hotel found it necessary to host the event so that the participants will be able to connect to other young people who need to know the importance of the youth and their participation in achieving the freedom of our nation.
The outputs of the workshop will be shown to the public today at 3 p.m. during Palm Grass Hotel’s grand opening anniversary which coincides with the 120th anniversary of the Battle of Tres de Abril.
The first video “Padayon, Sizts! (#KilatLove4Cebu)” is written, directed and acted by UP and USC students. It is a modern retelling of what happened in the uprising 120 years ago. The second video “Suroy-Saysay (A Tres de Abril heritage walk)” is a light but probing conversation with Leon Kilat book author Emil Justimbaste regarding the heroes and events of the 1898 Cebu Revolution.