17/11/2023
Immersing into our rich history makes us appreciate our identity as a nation even more 🇵🇭
Viva Visayas!
Viva Filipinas!
125𝙩𝙝 𝘼𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙁𝙡𝙖𝙜-𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙁𝙡𝙖𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙑𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙮𝙖𝙨
17 November 2023
STA. BARBARA, ILOILO - One Hundred Twenty Five years ago today, Filipino revolutionaries from the provinces of Panay gathered around the historic church of Santa Barbara, Iloilo where a 'first' was to take place. Led by General Martin Delgado freedom loving Ilonggos raised the Philippine flag amidst shouts of "Viva Filipinas"!
Delgado, a native son of Santa Barbara, had seized control of the town from the Spanish in solidarity and support of the widening revolution against colonial rule. Born on 11 November 1858, he came from a mestizo family and had worked as a school teacher for a number of years. He later became teniente mayor and later municipal captain of Santa Barbara before 1896.
The outbreak of the revolution in Iloilo began a few months after the proclamation of Independence in Cavite with Delgado leading a volunteer Spanish militia unit. In defiance of the Spanish, he took over key sites in Santa Barbara and effectively liberated the town for the nascent Filipino government. A flag in the design of the one first unfurled in Cavite el viejo after the victory at Alapan was smuggled into the town from Jaro. The heroic journey of Patrocino Gamboa and Honorario Solinap across Spanish lines to deliver the flag to Delgado is memorialized by a historical marker in Iloilo City's Jaro Plaza. The growing success of the Filipino fight for independence forced the Spanish into Iloilo City which they evacuated on Christmas eve of 1898. The next day, 25 December 1898, the victorious Filipino forces under Delgado raised the Philippine flag in Iloilo City for the first time.
The commemoration of significant historical events like this, outside the well trodden areas of Manila, seeks to remind us of the scope and depth of our fight for independence. What is often taken for granted is the scale of our struggle that beyond the capital, countless Filipinos joined in the campaign for our national liberation woven together in the ideal of a free Philippines.
The National Historical Commission of the Philippines joins the whole nation, and especially the people of Iloilo in celebrating this historic milestone in our development as a nation.
