A commemoration

Ioverheard Jobers Bersales of the University of San Carlos talk about what transpired at Palm Grass last April 3 being properly the function of the Cebu City library and museum. Palm Grass, a heritage hotel, celebrated the 1898 “skirmish” between the Spanish colonial forces and Cebuano freedom fighters with a talk, a cultural presentation and a feast.

The other day was Tres de Abril, an important moment in the history of Cebu City but which City Hall officials didn’t give much of a fuss about. There were actually efforts in the past by Cebu City officials to commemorate the uprising, which happened on a Palm Sunday of that year. But those efforts were mostly visible only when Michael Rama was mayor.

The activity was themed “Abtik Pa’s Kilat,” an obvious reference to the name of the leader of the uprising, Pantaleon Villegas a.k.a. Leon Kilat. I was drawn to it mainly because it was headlined by Resil Mojares’s talk. I was sure listening to Cebu’s lone National Artist (for Literature) talk would be worthwhile. I wasn’t missing that.

Mojares talked lengthily about Tres de Abril, partly using as source a book on the Cebu uprising written by Michael Cullinane. Mojares’s style of speaking is devoid of bombast and is more conversational and gentle than fiery. But the information did cascade like water from a brook. It was like listening to a story told by your father during bedtime.

Palm Grass always makes it a point to honor descendants of those who participated in the struggle against Spanish colonial rule. They were again honored on that day, and Mojares noted that a list of those uprising participants could be found in Cullinane’s book.

I actually am not interested in the list because I know no Wenceslao would be there. Tres de Abril is a mainly Cebu City undertaking. Our ancestors were from the Camotes group of islands.

One interesting point Mojares mentioned was that among the prominent names in the city, that of the Osmeñas was mentioned as siding with the Spaniards. The young Sergio Osmeña Sr., Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s grandfather, was an apologist for the Spanish-led government and criticized the mainly Tagalog struggle waged by the Katipunan.

This could partly be the reason why the current mayor is lukewarm as far as commemorating Tres de Abril. I wouldn’t go as far as labeling the older Osmena’s action as opportunism, but it surely came from the same root as the actions of the current balimbings. Commemorating Tres de Abril would, therefore, be awkward for the mayor.

Mojares’s talk was followed by the launching of an album of Cebuano songs produced by Palm Grass, complete with a video presentation of the songs. Taking the lead in the video mixed with stage presentation was the group called Bag-ong Teatro Junquera that included some street children. I like some of the songs and feel these could go viral if posted on YouTube.

I have said this before and Jobers reiterated it. Commemorating events like Tres de Abril should properly be the function of the government. That City Hall isn’t doing this is unfortunate.