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Sunday, April 04, 2004
Absences steal thunder from Leon Kilat’s rites
By RENE MARTEL
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
AS IF the past no longer mattered.
Only three Cebu City Hall elected officials, among them descendants of Katipuneros like Vice Mayor Michael Rama and Councilor Arsenio Pacaña, attended yesterday’s 106th commemoration of the Battle of Tres de Abril.
No other descendants of the Katipuneros led by Pantaleon “Leon Kilat” Villegas were present, aside from Rama and Pacaña.
Absent during the event were the rest of the members of the Cebu City Council and Mayor Tomas Osmeña, who was supposed to give a message.
Rama did not have a prepared speech, and simply greeted those around who endured the heat of the sun to attend the commemoration.
And if only his colleagues were around, they would have heard Pacaña speak of the need to remember that the present is the result of the struggles of the past.
San Nicolas Proper Barangay Captain Cenon Bacus also spoke in stirring Cebuano about how Leon Kilat and the Katipuneros met at the back of San Nicolas cemetery over a century ago to assert freedom.
The meeting led to the encounter in what used to be Calle Valeriano Weyler on Easter Sunday, April 2, 1898 that left four Spanish soldiers and two Katipuneros dead.
The Guardia Civil retreated to Fort San Pedro after the clash and the Katipuneros controlled the whole city before Spanish reinforcements arrived on April 6.
Pacaña said that although we already have relative peace, there is still a need to fight back, not against invaders, but against so many challenges of the times.
“Manghinaut lang ta nga ang gi-ula nga dugo sa mga tawo kaniadto dili mahanaw sa atong galamhan (Let’s hope that the blood our ancestors shed won’t disappear from our consciousness),” he said.
Representatives from the Department of Education led by Dr. Leonilo Oliva; Brig. Gen. Cesar Gopilan, Central Command deputy commander for administration; and civic groups like the Knights of Columbus and the Knights of Rizal offered flowers at the marker.
The commemoration started with a mass, followed by a short program held in the street, which was temporarily closed to traffic. RHM
(April 4, 2004 issue)
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