ILOILO – This province commemorated the100th death anniversary of General Martin Teofilo Delgado yesterday with Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea as guest of honor.
The commemoration was held at the historic public plaza of Santa Barbara, site of the first raising of the Philippine flag outside Luzon on Nov. 17, 1898 five months after General Emilio Aguinaldo declared Philippine independence from Spain in Kawit, Cavite on June 12, 1898.
This pioneering revolutionary act led by Delgado in the Visayas and Mindanao is now known as “The Cry of Santa Barbara” and also marked the inauguration of the Revolutionary Government of the Visayas.
Delgado was the general-in-chief of the Revolutionary Army in Iloilo province during the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American War.
He was also first civilian governor of Iloilo province during the American colonial era of the Philippines, first appointed by the Americans and then winning election in his own right.
Delgado was born on Nov. 11, 1858 in Santa Barbara to a wealthy Spanish mestizo family and died Nov. 12, 1918. His parents were Don Jacinto Delgado and Gabriella Bermejo.
He went to school at the Santa Barbara Parochial School and St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary, then known as Seminario de San Vicente Ferrer, in Jaro, and later Ateneo Municipal in Manila.
At the age of 25, he was appointed teniente mayor of his hometown and capitan municipal, positions under the Spanish colonial government.
On Oct. 28, 1898 Delgado marched into Santa Barbara and took control of the municipal building. On that same day, simultaneous uprisings took place in towns across Iloilo.
The Spanish forces under the command of Spanish Governor General Diego de los Rios surrendered to Delgado and on Dec. 25, 1898 the Philippine flag was raised at Plaza Libertad in Iloilo City (then a municipality).
As the military governor of the province and general-in-chief of the army, Delgado challenged the American forces led by General Hughes using guerrilla tactics.
On Feb. 2, 1901 Delgado formally surrendered in Jaro to the American military governor, Edmund Rice.
Up to the time of his surrender, Delgado was the chief insurgent leader on the island of Panay. He was recognized by the Americans as “the ablest leader” on the island and appointed as the first governor of Iloilo province upon the establishment of the civil government on April 11, 1901.
A statue was erected in Delgado’s honor at the plaza of Santa Barbara in 1998 during the centennial of Philippine Independence./PN
