(THREE major historical events of Cagayan de Oro happened in the months of April, May and June. These are the three battles that the Kagay-anons and the Misamisnons waged against the Americans during the start of the Philippine - American war in the Misamis Province namely, the Battles of Cagayan de Misamis, Agusan Hill and Macahambus Hill. One of the prominent figures in this historic period was General Nicolas Capistrano. However, little is known about the life of this man except from what the historian Filomeno M. Bautista wrote in his book about that war and the important role that Capistrano played as the head of the local resistance army called the Liber Troop. This columnist is grateful to Mr. Dino C. Nable, great grandson of Gen. Capistrano who gave a copy of the biography of his Lolo Kulas that was written years ago by the latter's son, Jose Vicente. In this article, I will be referring from said biography and from the Bautista Manuscripts.)
rNicolas Capistrano y Fernandez was born in a small barrio of Marungko, Bulacan to Francisco Capistrano, a gobernadorcillo of Angat and Juana Fernandez. He was the third of eleven brothers and sisters.
Capistrano consistently excelled in his studies from the local parochial school of Sta. Monica de Hippo in Angat to San Juan de Letran in Manila where he finished his high school with the help of the Agustinian friars. He enrolled in the same college for his Bachiller de Artes degree and graduated with the highest honors. He then entered the seminary of San Juan de Letran for priesthood but left on the third year of his studies and went to the Unibersidad de Santo Tomas to study law.
While he was still a law student, Capistrano opened a private school in Manila in the high school level as a mean to support himself. He was also actively involved in the local movement for independence. It was at this time that he met his future wife, the beautiful Cecilia Trinidad, who was the then reigning "La Estrella de Quiapo" (The Star of Quiapo). She belonged to the affluent and musically-talented clan of the district of Sta. Cruz, Manila.
In 1895, Capistrano graduated as Licenciado En Leyes an equivalent of an attorney with the rank of Meritissimus. He later married Cecilia. Since his revolutionary activities placed him in danger of being arrested by the Spanish colonial authorities, he took his young bride of three months to Cagayan de Misamis with the hope of starting a new life in the capital town of northern Mindanao. They came upon the invitation of Don Ramon Neri y San Jose, an illustrado and member of the prominent Neri clan.
In Cagayan, Capistrano quickly established a successful law practice. He opened the town's first and only high school and was known as "El Professor" to many of his student who came from prominent families of the Misamis Province. He and his wife welcomed the birth of their first child, a son named Ramon. They also built a big house that covered the entire block of what is today's Capistrano, Pacana, Borja and Rizal streets.
But the idyllic life of the young couple was shaken by a whirlwind of national and international events that would greatly affect them as well as the rest of the nation. In mid 1898, Spain and the United States signed what is now known as the Treaty of Paris. For the sum of $20 million, America "bought" the Philippines from Spain, thus, ending the 333 Spanish colonial rule in the archipelago. In December, 1898, Lt. Cristobal Aguilar, the last Spanish military governor of the Misamis Province, turned over the control of the local government to a five-man junta before he and the other Spaniards left for Spain.
The people of Misamis Province immediately held their first local elections with representatives from the Emilio Aguinaldo revolutionary government whom they chose to be politically aligned as observers. Then, a two day grand celebration of the inauguration of the First Philippine Republic in Cagayan de Misamis was held in January 10, 1899. The people were to experience what it meant to be free from colonial rule for the next 15 months.
On February 4, 1899, the war against the United States broke out and by the end of the year, the news of the subsequent American invasion of the provinces in Luzon and the Visayas reached Misamis. The people begun training and preparing for the defense of the province. They signed a covenant to fight in order to preserve their freedom from another colonial rule in Club Popular. The War Board headed by Don Pio Roa Alcala chose the 35 year old Capistrano to head the local revolutionary forces with the rank of General. He accepted the position on condition that his assumption to duty will start only when the Americans invade the province.
On March 30, 1900, American warships unloaded soldiers near the mouth of Cagayan River, after their spies reported that the Macabalan wharf was heavily fortified. The American forces entered town and fully occupied it without firing a single shot. Meanwhile, Capistrano and thousands of men and women went up to the hills and camped near the Gango plateau. There, the general rallied his forces and declared war against the United States. (To be continued next week)