ON NOVEMBER 5 this year, Negrenses commemorate again the annual Cinco de Noviembre, our Provincial Day and the 123rd anniversary of this historic event for Negros Occidental.
In keeping with its commitment to assist the provincial government in its programs related to the history and culture of our Province, the Negros Occidental Historical Council Inc., with the support of the provincial government, conducts its various programs on local history on November 4 and 5 this year.
As in the past year, these activities are intended to help our province, especially our youth, to meaningfully recall and appreciate our local history and culture and in particular, notable Negrenses who gave much of their talents, efforts and resources toward contributing to the Province wide movement to bring about a better life for our people.
In response to our column title, Negrenses today need to first clarify the convergence on local and national history. All Negrenses, as with all Filipinos, should of course be knowledgeable about our national history. However, we also need to give due importance to our local history especially to our leaders and fellow Negrenses who have generously dedicated much of their lives to our province, even above and beyond the call of duty.
This is precisely the significance of our November 5, 1898 uprising against the Spanish colonial command in Negros. Our people, led by Aniceto Lacson for the northern forces and Juan Araneta for the southern forces brought about the historic Cinco de Noviembre revolutionary events in the history of our province. The story of these exceptional events has been told and written about in media and other sources of information which we hope will be more widely disseminated among our people.
Some memorable aspects of the Cinco de Noviembre event were interesting efforts of Negrense leaders to outwit the Spanish forces in Negros. Notable among this action of the Negrense revolutionaries were their unique strategy to surprise the Spanish command in such a short period of time and deciding after their planning sessions on November 3 to start the uprising on November 5.
Together with these surprise movements, the Negrenses also used their ingenuity and imagination to paint bamboo and coconut tree materials to look like cannons and firearms from a distance.
Considering in those days that there were no modern telecommunication available as are widely used today, the surprising speed of Negrenses in their communication systems were exceptional.
Some historical researchers point out that the most remarkable aspects of the success of the Negrense uprising were the ability of the leaders who were mostly land owners to rally their workers in support of the revolution especially the decision of the Negrense leaders to set aside their differences or self-interest and to unite in one coordinated provincewide movement and thus overcame the Spanish forces.
This column therefore recommends to our people to join the historic commemoration of the Cinco de Noviembre as one of the most notable historical events that Negrenses can be proud of and emulate for the welfare of our people today and in the coming years.
What then are the causes of this uprising in Negros against the Spanish rule?
By the 1890s, the sense of oppression and injustice by the Spanish colonial system had grown more wide spread. This was reinforced by the increased attitude of the Negrenses, many of whom studied in Manila or abroad and the entry of foreign ideas through wider educational and economic opportunities.
These were among the activities of the notable Negrenses leaders who guided the province during those historic years. If consequently, as the sages tell us, history offers important lessons for mankind, there are some essential learnings for Negrenses today on this historic period.
It is vital therefore, to consider these valuable lessons for, to paraphrase the historian George Santayana, a people who forget or ignore the lessons of history could repeat the errors of the past.
This column therefore recommends to our people in the province to become more familiar and join the historic commemoration of the Cinco de Noviembre as one of the most notable historical events that Negrenses can be proud of and can emulate for the wellbeing of our province today and in the coming years.
For farther information contact NOHCI Tel: 433-2574.