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Bago City relives historic 1898 revolt
Source: Manila Bulletin
Author: Bernard L S Diamante
Date: 2010-12-01
 
The City of Bago in Negros Occidental relived a glorious moment in the country’s history with the 12th Al Cinco de Noviembre “Sigabong sang mga Kanyon”, an annual festival celebrating the liberation of Negros from Spain.

The event marks the unified uprising of Negrenses against remnants of Spanish forces on November 5, 1898 led by Gen. Juan Araneta, a local sugar baron, which led to the surrender of the latter.

Dubbed the “historic bluff that freed Negros from Spanish rule”, the event relives one of the greatest military strategies during the Philippine Revolution when Filipino troops surrounded enemy position in Bacolod using fake rifles and cannons.

By arriving in the afternoon, Araneta was able to deceive the Spaniards that he had a well-armed army of 2,000 men composed mostly of sugar cane workers. Their bayonets were actually made of nipa stalks and their cannons made up of rolled sawali mats painted black, and what they really had were three rifles, a pistol and several bolos.

Meanwhile, Gen. Aniceto Lacson led the freedom fighters in Silay and Talisay towns north of Bacolod.

Spanish governor Isidro de Castro, seeing he was greatly outnumbered, surrendered to the two Filipino generals the next day, thus ending more than three centuries of colonization.

After the capitulation, the revolutionaries gathered at the Provincial House for Araneta’s victory speech and the raising of the Philippine flag. The victorious generals began forming the cantonal republic of Negros and started framing a constitution. November 5 has since been declared as Negros Day.

Based on this historic event, “Sigabong sang mga Kanyon” was born in 1996. Although not a single shot was fired in 1898, Bago City introduced an innovation to add pomp and color to the celebration, this time with the participating groups from the barangays competing on the loudness of their home-made steel cannons rolled in sawali mats.

Groups perform a contemporary street dance depicting the events surrounding Al Cinco de Noviembre.

According to Bago City mayor Ramon Torres, the festival immortalizes the valor of their Negrense forbears and their desire to have an independent nation.

Because of its unique character, the festival was named Best Tourism Event Cultural Category in 2009 and 2010 by the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines.

He said that the celebration also aims to position the city as a “home of historical and natural treasures”. A first stop is Araneta’s iconic bronze monument on horseback proudly standing in the city plaza, as if leading his troops in liberating Negros.

Also in the city square is the St. John the Baptist Church where Araneta raised the Philippine flag when he overran the Spanish garrison in Bago.

A must-see is the 1906 Balay ni Tan Juan, Araneta’s American era mansion, which is now a community museum which houses his personal memorabilia as well as relics and antiques attesting to the city’s checkered past.

Nature lovers can frolic in the rejuvenating waters of Kipot and Pataan, which are both twin falls, or at the various private mountain retreats—The Quiet Place Farm Resort, Humberto’s Farm Resort, and Pataan Mountain Resort.

Beach lovers can bask in the sun at Jara Beach resort which offers a breath-taking vista of Panay and Guimaras islands.

According to Torres, Buenos Aires Mountain Resort and the Rafael Salas Park and Nature Center, which the city government owns and operates, are among the top tourist hideaways in the province.

A new tourist attraction, he said, is the Bago River Cruise at the Bantayan Park, patterned after the popular Loboc River Cruise in Bohol.

With the confluence of heritage sites, God-given attractions, a vibrant culture, and hospitable people, he is confident that the city can truly live up to its calling.
 

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