A 21-gun salute for 15 Bicol martyrs

In celebration of their 115th year of heroism, a 21-gun salute was bestowed on the “15 Bicol martyrs,” immortalized in a 30-foot monument at Plaza Quince Martires in Naga City, during a ceremony early Wednesday.

Jose B. Perez, program facilitator, said the 15 heroes of the 1896 Revolution against the Spanish colonial regime received the military honor after the entrance of colors and wreath offering at the foot of the monument.

Once described by historian Ambeth Ocampo as an “elaborate wedding cake,” the monument is topped by a woman symbolizing the Motherland with her fallen son. Two muses stand guard on both sides of the second level where an eagle is perched at the center. Around the circular base are carvings of the 15 martyrs.

Ocampo wrote that the martyrs were jailed for complicity with the Katipunan.

Death sentence

Tito G. Valiente, guest speaker of the commemoration rites, said that like the national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, 11 of the 15 martyrs were meted the death penalty by the Spanish government’s Council of War on Dec. 29, 1896.

“They were shot by firing squad at Bagumbayan Field (Luneta) on Jan. 4, 1897. Their tragic death for the Motherland came five days after Rizal met the same fate in the same place,” said Valiente, an anthropologist and writer, who is now connected with the School of Social Sciences of Ateneo de Manila University and Ateneo de Naga University.

Three of the 15 martyrs were priests—Gabriel Prieto, Severino Diaz and Innocencio Herrera. The others were businessmen and persons with positions in society—Ramon Abella, Manuel Abella, Domingo Abella, Leon Hernandez, Tomas Prieto, Cornelio Mercado, Mariano Ordenanza, Macario Valentin, Mariano Melgarejo, Mariano Arana, Florencio Lerma and Camilo Jacob.

Four did not get the death penalty, They were Ramon Abella, son of Manuel Abella and elder brother of Domingo Abella; Arana, who was exiled to the Isle of Fernado Po in West Africa, which was once a colony of Spain; and Hernandez and Ordenanza, who were brought to the Bilibid.

Arrested on Sept. 16, 1896, the 15 were brought to Manila aboard a steamer named “Isarog” and imprisoned at the Bilibid, Valiente said.

Essence of heroism

During Wednesday’s rites, Valiente reflected on the martyrdom of the 15 with a quote from Spanish poet Pablo Neruda. “You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming,” he said of the essence of their heroism.

He said the martyrs were emulated and their death envisioned to bring good tidings to the “Patria (Fatherland).”

Valiente also gave credit to the countless and faceless Bicol martyrs, including the women, who fought the oppressive colonial government during the 1896 Revolution.

Bicol historian Danilo Gerona said a meticulous ceremony was observed during the public execution of the 15 martyrs.

“Among those present were the family members of the condemned who came early, the most prominent of them was the Abella family,” he said, citing documents he researched from the archives in Spain in the course of a study he was making on the history of Bicol in the 1990s.

Gerona said the ceremony started with the march of the prisoners from their detention cells to their execution site in Luneta. When the prisoners were finally led to the square, the women immediately spotted Manuel Abella but it took them a longer time to recognize Domingo Abella.

Gerona said Domingo was “tall, sturdy and handsome” when the women last saw him. During the march, he looked like an “old man, encumbered by many wounds.”

In his account, the historian said Conchita, Domingo’s sister, had “difficulty restraining Domingo’s mother from running to him (Domingo).”

Gerona said the Spanish authorities immediately ordered the families of the martyrs to bury their dead within the day to prevent any outpouring of sympathy from the public.

1941 program

According to Jose Barrameda Jr., writer of Bicol’s contemporary history, the first commemoration of the 15 Bicol martyrs happened on March 3, 1941, based on a program he had obtained.

The monument, built in 1926, was designed by Crispolo Zamora and sculpted by Jose Barcena.

Representatives from the Naga City government, Philippine National Police, Philippine Army, descendants of the Bicol martyrs, who were acknowledged and given plaques of appreciation, and other guests attended the commemoration rites.