TWENTIETH CONGRESS   
) 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ) 
First Regular Session  
 
) 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Introduced by Representative Rufus B. Rodriguez and 
Representative Maximo B. Rodriguez, Jr. 
House Bill No.  _____ 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
In all books written on Philippine History there is very scant account, if at all, of the 
revolutionary heroes of Mindanao in the revolution against Spain and the subsequent war 
against the Americans.  
In Teodoro Agoncillo’s Philippine History, the only account of Mindanao’s participation 
in the revolution was contained in one paragraph which stated that although the people in 
Mindanao was opposed to American sovereignty, the leaders particularly in Zamboanga 
quarreled among themselves such that when the Americans attacked Zamboanga, the town 
fell without much resistance from the quarreling Filipino leaders.  
In his later book entitled History of the Filipino People there was  even no mention of 
any revolutionary activity in Mindanao from 1896 to 1901. What was cited instead was the 
Bates Treaty between the Americans and the Sultanate of Sulu of August 20, 1899. 
In Gregorio Zaide’s The Pageant of Philippine History there were only three pages 
devoted to Mindanao’s participation in the Philippine Revolution which mentioned that during 
the closing days of 1898, the people of Palawan rose in arms, liberated Puerto Princesa and 
other towns; that in January 1899 the Christian inhabitants in Misamis, Cotabato and Surigao 
in Mindanao also rose in arms and drove away the Spanish  garrisons, which fled to 
Zamboanga; and that on May 13, 1899, the Christian revolutionists under the command of 
General Alvarez attacked the Spanish army in Zamboanga and later the Spaniards had to 
leave Zamboanga.  
Zaide also mentioned that when the first U.S. troops under Captain Pratt landed in Jolo 
on May 19, 1899, the Taosugs did not resist and on August 20, 1899 the so called Bates 
Treaty was concluded.  He continued by stating that on November 16, 1899, the American 
troops arrived in Zamboanga and made it a base to launch an intensive military offensive in 
Mindanao. He then briefly recounted the Battle of Agusan Hill and the assault of Macahambus 
Cave both in Cagayan de Oro by the Americans.  
In Dr. Sonia M. Zaide’s The Philippines: A Unique Nation (with Dr. Gregorio F. Zaide’s 
History of the Republic of the Philippines), only two paragraphs were devoted to Mindanao. 
The first paragraph stated that in April 1899 the Filipino patriots of Zamboanga captured a 
large storage of machine guns and rifles  from the Spanish gunboats in Basilan and with these 
arms, they attacked the Spaniards in Basilan and Zamboanga.  In Misamis, Surigao and 
Cotabato, the Christian Filipinos also adhered to the cause of Philippine Independence. The 
second paragraph was an account of the singing of the Bates Treaty.  
In Eufronio M. Alip’s Philippine History: Political, Social and Economic, there was no 
mention at all on the revolution in Mindanao. In his later book entitled Political and Cultural 
History of the Philippines nothing was mentioned about the revolution  in Mindanao except a 
passing reference to the Mohammedan elements in Mindanao which supported the cause of 
the revolution.  
In Anotnio M. Molina’s The Philippines Through the Centuries there was a short 
account on the revolution in Mindanao, which stated that a sergeant and a corporal attached 
to the 68th Regiment garrisoned in Jolo, succeeded in winning members for the Katipunan to 
which they were secretly affiliated.  On 4th september they rose in arms and engaged the 
government troops in various skirmishes.  However, the movement was quickly suppresed 
July 21, 2025
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and trials were summarily conducted, with two sergeants, five corporals, and two soldiers 
being sentenced to death. 
In his book, Molina also mentioned the rebellion of the 69th Regiment in Iligan on 
October 21, 1898 and the Marine Forces joined by Filipino land troops rising in arms in Lanao 
in November, 1898. He also mentioned that early in April 1899 as the remaining Spanish 
troops in Mindanao converged in Zamboanga port, ready for repatriation, the Filipinos, led by 
the patriots of Zamboanga took over. 
In Conrado Benitez’s History of Philippines, there was no mention on the revolution in 
Mindanao as if nothing happened in Mindanao during the period of the Philippine revolution 
from 1896 to 1901. 
The above survey of the history books written by our more prominent historians clearly 
shows that there was disregard of, or even bias against, the heroic participation of the people 
of Mindanao in the revolution against Spain and the fight against American rule from 1896 to 
1901. 
It is a fact that in different places in Mindanao, the people rebelled against Spain and 
later fought the Americans who replaced the Spaniards.  
The revolution against Spain was started in Northern Mindanao in Iligan City when a 
group of disciplinarios (Filipino soldiers under the Command of Spanish Military Officers) 
adhered to the cause of the Katipuneros and mutinied against the Spanish army in the early 
months of 1897. They killed all their Spanish officers and left again. These disciplinarios who 
numbered 300 soldiers belonged to the Third and Fourth Companies of the regular Spanish 
Army stationed in Iligan.  
They went to Cagayan but found it heavily defended by the Spanish Regiment No. 72 
and the Tercio de Voluntarios de Cagayan, a group of Cagayan volunteers who were primarily 
responsible for the defense of the town. They skipped Cagayan. In an encounter at Sta. Ana, 
Tagoloan, the disciplinarios were defeated and some of them went on to Bukidnon and lived 
there with the Bukidnons and some went on to Surigao.  
Before the Spaniards departed from Misamis Oriental the people organized a new 
government based upon the laws and regulations of the Revolutionary Government at 
Malolos. The first resolution passed by the Provincial Council contained provisions to fight any 
invader, to organize armed forces and to secure arms and ammunition.  
Later, Anselmo Abejuela arrived from Manila. He had been appointed by the 
Revolutionary government of Malolos as the Military chief of the province. He organized the 
local forces and continued the war preparation but later resigned due to poor health.  
In the Battle of Cagayan, the Americans had occupied Cagayan without resistance. 
However, General Nicolas Capistrano had ordered all rebel forces to meet at Gango Plateau, 
12 kms. southeast of Cagayan, on the same day that Cagayan was occupied by the 
Americans. Joining the rebels were Bukidnons who came to help the Cagayan revolutionaries. 
On April 7, 1900, the Cagayan Revolutionaries attacked the American barracks and 
thus started the Battle of Cagayan, for almost an hour, the battle and raged on. Capt. 
Apolinario Pabayo of the macheteros succeeded in entering the barracks and wounding some 
Americans but was himself killed. Two American soldiers were killed and eleven wounded. On 
the side of the revolutionaries, 53 were killed, while 18 were wounded. The Americans had 
superior might and so General Capistrano’s troops had to retreat.  
In the fight against the Americans, the Bukidnon lumads had promptly responded to 
the appeal of their coastal brothers. In the Battle of Cagayan, fifteen Bukidnon patriots died. 
They also helped not only in warfare but also by giving quarters and provisions during the war. 
In the Battle of Agusan Hill on May 14, 1900, Capt. Vicente Roa led the Cagayan 
Revolutionaries in the east in an encounter with the 40th Regiment U.S. Volunteer Infantry. 
Captain Roa, when told that all his men had been killed, kept on fighting with this revolver until 
he ran out of ammunition. When he fell, an American soldier snatched one of his medals of 
honor. On Agusan Hills lay dead 34 brave soldiers of the First Company of the Mindanao 
Battalion with their gallant captain.  


 
In the Battle of Macahambus, the Cagayan revolutionaries in the west had fortified 
Macahambus case. On June 4, 1900, Capt. Eliot of the 40th Regiment decided to capture 
Macahambus cave. As the Americans climbed the narrow trail to the fortress, the 
revolutionaries ambushed them from their trenches. Nine Americans soldiers were killed and 
more than ten were wounded. Only one died, Apolinario Nacalaban and three were wounded 
on the side of the Cagayan revolutionaries.  
 
In the Surrender of General Capistrano on April 6, 1901, the Misamis Phase of the 
Filipino-American war ended after about a year.  
 
There were people from Misamis Occidental who fought with Aguinaldo’s forces in 
Luzon. One of them was Mariano Garcenes, a Spanish mestizo who returned to Misamis after 
the signing of the Pact of Biak-na-Bato. Upon his return, he joined the resistance group 
organized by Simeon Ledesma.  
 
On May 14, 1900 Captain Lambdin of the American forces with 40 men who were 
stationed at Loculan, 4 miles east of Misamis, were attacked by Misamis revolutionaries armed 
with daggers. Fifty seven revolutionaries were killed and twenty wounded. Because of superior 
weapons, the revolutionaries were repulsed.  
 
The revolutionaries in Misamis Occidental were headed by Rufino Deloso. His force of 
400 insurgents continued the struggle against the Americans by raising funds from the people, 
securing arms and initiating encounters with the Americans.  
 
There were no less than twenty encounters between the revolutionaries and the 
Americans in Misamis Occidental from May 14, 1900 up to January 6, 1901. 
To the natives of Oroquieta-Launguan area, Capitan Daligdig led numerous assaults 
against the Oroquieta garrison of the Americans. He was known as brave, a fencing expert 
and possessed with supernatural powers.  
On January 27, 1899, Severino Reyes, organized the Corp of Liberators (Cuerpo de 
Libertadores) equipping them with arms to maintain public order and defend Camiguin against 
invaders.  
 
On February 12, 1899 General Simeon Gonzales who had been appointed by Gen. 
Aguinaldo as the Military Chief of Mindanao arrived in Camiguin and commended the local 
revolutionaries on their war preparations. 
 
On December 6, 1899, American gunships appeared along the coast of Camiguin. 
Gunship No. 5 dispatched a small boat to attack a banca which was aligning for port space. 
The Cuerpo de Libertadores defended the banca and volleys of shots were exchanged. The 
small boat retreated and went back to the gunship which then shelled the island for 3 to 4 
hours.  
 
On December 10, 1899, Gunship No. 5 of the Americans destroyed the steamship 
Minerva, owned by the provincial government when it resisted the assault by the gunship at 
the waters around Cagayan. On March 31, 1900, the Americans were able to take over the 
capital town of Mambajao.  
 
The Gonzales family of Surigao was headed by Don Juan or Jantoy. In 1892, the 
Spanish governor of Surigao exiled the brothers Simon and Wenceslao Gonzales for their 
anti-Spanish activities to Jolo. They would have been vanished to the Marianas Islands but 
Fr. Pastells, Superior of the Jesuits intervened on time. Simon and Wenceslao returned to 
Surigao after almost four years of exile in Jolo.  
 
In April 1896, the Spanish governor again exiled Simon and Wenceslao to Manila. 
Earlier, their brother Florendo was executed by Spanish authorities in Cebu for his Katipunan 
activities there. Both men never got to Manila because war broke out between Spain and the 
U.S. and they were detained in Iloilo.  
 
  In September 1896, they obtained permission to go to Hong Kong. They stayed only 
for a short time there and they later went to Manila where they got in contact with Aguinaldo 
revolutionaries. After September 15, 1898, they attended sessions of the Malolos Congress. 
On January 2, 1899, Aguinaldo appointed Simeon Gonzales as Military Commander of 
Mindanao and Wenceslao as Governor of Surigao. On February 11, 1899, they returned 
triumphantly to Surigao.  
 


 
Returning in triumph to Surigao, the Gonzales brothers declared it a free territory and 
part of the Republic of the Philippines and with the assistance of their legal supporters 
imprisoned the priests and missionaries, Jesuits and Benedictines alike.  
 
Simon was the first person to hoist the Philippine flag at Casa Real in Surigao while 
Wenceslao became the first person to hoist the Philippine flag in Butuan on January 14, 1899. 
 
When the Spanish-American war erupted, General Simon Gonzales and Governor 
Wenceslao Gonzales made military preparations and geared the people in Surigao and 
Agusan for assistance against the Americans. However,  their nationalistic efforts were 
thwarted when Prudencio Garcia, the general from Banganga, executed a coup d’ etat and 
toppled and arrested the Gonzales after only 83 days in power.  
 
The year before, specifically on September 23, 1898 this Prudencio Garcia had taken 
matters into his hands and led a swift and successful uprising against the undermanned 
Spanish detachments at the Banganga-Cateel line on the Pacific coast of Surigao. After 
deposing the Spanish officers and other government officials, he installed himself as head of 
the new local government unit.  
 
On April 4, 1899, Garcia’s men took Simon and Wenceslao, together with their father, 
Don Juan to the beach of Cortes where they were shot to death. Later, Gen. Garcia peacefully 
welcomed the Americans upon their arrival in Surigao.  
 
From the Jesuit Missionary letters from Mindanao, we learn that the people in Central 
Mindanao also rose up against the Spaniards. From the letter of Mariano Suarez to the Mission 
Superior, the father reported the plans of the deportees in Cotabato to rise against Spain as 
early as November 1896. However, this was aborted by alert Spanish authorities.  
 
In October 1898, Fr. Suarez wrote to the Superior about the plot of Spanish Infantry to 
mutiny.  However, the Spanish governor learned of the plot and the infantry men were 
disarmed, shackled and detained at the barracks. 
 
In November 1898, the Spanish authorities executed by firing squad in Cotabato forty-
nine of those who plotted against the Spaniards.  
In Pollok, Maguindanao, Father Baltazar Ferrer also wrote to the Mission Superior on 
December 7, 1898 that a conspiracy, probably planned jointly with those in Cotabato, was to 
take over the two gunboats of the Spaniards namely the Gardoqui and Bravo by killing the 
officers of the ships. But their plot was discovered and twenty-two persons were apprehended 
and brought on board the Panay to Isabela.  
 
In the same letter, Fr. Ferrer also mentioned the arrival a month earlier of more than 
370 political exiles and convicts. Shortly on arrival, 101 were executed, same in Malaybalay 
and Baras and others in Parang. 
 
After the Spanish withdrawal from Cotabato, Datu Piang declared himself Sultan of 
Mindanao. On January 6, 1899, with a thousand warriors, he occupied Cotabato and later on 
Tamontaka. The churches and convents were badly damaged and the pent-up wrath of the 
Maguindanao against the Christian colonizers reached a peak of expression. The memory of 
indio participation against the Maguindanao was still very strong.  
 
However, Datu Piang’s reign in Cotabato was short-lived. In December 1899 American 
occupation forces arrived in Pulangi, putting an end of the armed conflicts.  
 
Although Datu Piang co-opted with the American establishment, resistance to 
American rule was led by Datu Ali a descendant of the Buayan ruling family and former follower 
of Datu Uto. Datu Ali attempted to raise the whole Cotabato Valley in revolt. His fortress in 
Cotabato was the largest ever constructed in Mindanao. It would easily hold five thousand 
men. Although this fortress/garrison was eventually overrun and taken by the Americans he 
was not captured. Datu Ali of Buayan was the last Muslim of reknown to resist American rules 
through armed means.  
 
At the beginning of Philippine revolution, a sergeant and a corporal attached to the 68th 
Regiment garrisoned in Jolo succeeded in winning members for the Katipunan. On the 4th of 
September, 1896, the native soldiers rose in arms at Fort Alfonso XII and engaged the 
government troops in various skirmishes. However, the movement was quickly suppressed 
and trial was summarily conducted with two sergeants, five corporals and two soldiers 
sentenced to death. The rest of those arrested were condemned to life imprisonment.  


 
By 1898, the repercussions of the revolution in Luzon were felt in Zamboanga where 
General Vicente Alvarez led the revolutionaries against the remaining Spanish contingents.  
 
In April 1899, the rebels had captured a large storage of machine guns and rifles from 
Spanish gunboats off Basilan and on May 13, 1899 they began a siege of Zamboanga. The 
Spaniards finally evacuated the town; but at embarkation, Montero, a Spanish general was 
fatally wounded.  General delos Rios surrendered the city to Gen. Alvarez on May 18, 1899 
and evacuated his troops to Manila the next day.  
 
After the Spanish evacuation, a petty civil war between the principalia of Zamboanga 
and faction of the revolutionary militia broke out. On March 16, 1899 the American attacked 
Zamboanga with little resistance from the battle-weary citizens.  
 
In Jolo, when the U.S. troops under Captain Pratt landed on May 18, 1899, the 
Tausugs did not resist. In July 1899, Military Governor Otis sent General John Bates to Jolo 
to negotiate an agreement with Sultan Jamalul Kiram II of Sulu. On August 20, 1899, the Bates 
Treaty was concluded establishing friendly relations between the Sultanate and the U.S. 
 
The Philippine revolution of 1896 caused no significant reaction in Davao. In 
November, 1896 Fr. Saturnino Urios, Superior of the Jesuits in Davao, wrote how much they 
thank God for the people in Davao continued to be friendly, unaffected by the revolution.  
 
In September, 1898, the Spanish officials in Davao received orders to vacate the place 
and turn over the government to the local authorities. When the Spaniards left Davao in mid 
January 1899, a new council of government was installed but other refused to abide by it and 
so anarchy reigned in Davao.  
 
Unexpected on February 6, the tercios revolutionarios armed with riffles went on a 
rampage killing their senior officer, his wife and a young relative. Others joined them and 
proclaimed themselves masters of the town. Somehow the Jesuits managed to convince the 
tercios to return. However, one of the principales, a friend of the lieutenant killed by the tercios 
fired a bullet killing the latter’s murderer and so fighting ensued. However they were later 
pacified and peace finally settled down.  
 
These accounts clearly show that in all regions of Mindanao there were revolutionary 
activities waged by the community first against the Spaniards then later against the Americans.  
 
Although there was not much direct participation of the Muslims in Mindanao in the 
Philippine Revolution from 1896 to 190, first against the Spaniards and later against the 
Americans, focus should be made on the Muslim’s indispensable role in helping the Philippine 
Revolution through their continuous resistance against Spanish rule specially during the years 
immediately preceding the 1896 revolution.  
 
In 1880, Datu Uto became the most powerful datu in the Pulangi area. The Spaniards 
decided to conquer the Datu to demonstrate that the Maguindanao have no chance against 
the might of the Spaniards.  
 
In 1884, a fierce battle between the Spaniards and the forces of Datu Uto in Tumbao 
took place but the Datu’s man there was defeated. But Datu Uto remained unconquered such 
that in 1886 Governor General Terero had to personally lead the punitive campaign against 
the Datu. After more than a year of fighting, Datu Uto was forced to sue for peace through a 
letter. The Spaniards content by the letter abandoned their expedition. This expedition was 
criticized in Manila for its very large expenses.  
 
Gen. Valeriano Wreyler succeeded Governor Terero as Governor General in 1888. He 
strengthened the Spanish forces in Cotabato but decided to conquer first the unconquered 
Maranaos.  
 
On August 21, 1891, the Spaniards under Governor General Valeriano Wreyler 
attacked the Maranas at Fort Marawi under Datu Amai Pakpak. Unaware of concealed pits oo 
ditches planted with sharpened bamboo sticks and covered with plants and vines, many 
Spaniards fell and got killed. However, they succeeded in scaling the fort’s wall and defeated 
the defenders. Anai Pakpak escaped death.  
 
But Wreyler three days later abandoned the fort in fear of Maranaos who were already 
massing for an assault on the Spaniards. They returned to Iligan.  
 


In March 10, 1895, Gov. General Ramon Blanco with a force of about 3,000 troops 
aided by countless volunteers marched to Marawi. After severe fighting including hand to hand 
encounters and with heavy losses on both sides, Blanco’s superior power succeeded in 
planting the Spanish flag upon the fort for the second time. But it was at the cost of 18 
Spaniards dead and 197 wounded.  
The conquestadores of Spain have met their match in the Islam’s warriors of Mindanao 
and Sulu because after 300 years of fighting the Moros preserved their independence, religion 
and culture. The Muslims had staged a bitter and uninterrupted warfare against the might of 
Spain for a period of 337 years.  
The Moro Wars became a factor in the development of the Philippine Revolution. The 
Wars sapped the energies of Spanish officials and gave them little opportunity to strengthen 
the Spanish hold on Luzon, thereby creating a situation favorable to a revolutionary 
movement. While the Christian natives were taxed and recruited into forced labor in support 
of the campaign against the Muslims, the Spanish authorities failed to protect Christian 
settlements from Muslims ravages. Thus, the Moro wars too, helped create sources of 
discontent which combined with other dynamics responsible for the Philippine Revolution.  
Statistical data show that the Politico-Military Government of Mindanao begun 
incurring a deficit spending of 439,920.03 pesos in 1884; at Insular level a comparison shows 
that the staggering deficit accounted for 1,846,718.01 pesos and the budget for the 
succeeding years before the 1896 Revolution reflected the same trend. The budget 
immediately preceding the Revolution,that of 1895-1896, reflected the war department getting 
the lion’s share of 4,045,061.34 pesos. A good percentage went to salaries of the clergy and 
support of the church amounting to 1,045,540 pesos. At the outbreak of the 1896 Revolution, 
the Insular Government had at its disposal a limited force consisting of two squadrons of 
cavalry, one battalion of engineers, one artillery regiment, and seven regiments of infantry. Six 
of these infantry regiments were then in Mindanao for the Lake Lanao campaign, but some of 
these were immediately recalled.  
Because substantial Spanish forces were concentrated on these places of Mindanao 
including the forces along the trocha of the isthmus, Spanish forces in Manila were too weak 
to suppress the revolution. Therefore, in its contextual aspects, the activities of the Moros 
along the isthmus, the relationship of the Moros and the Subanen and the concentration of the 
Spanish forces in Mindanao contributed to the success of the Philippine revolution of 1896. 
Burdened with financial constraints, the Spaniards could not fight two fronts at the 
same time, so, they fixed their attention to Mindanao. Because of this, their control in Luzon 
was eased as the big bulk of their forces was sent to the south. It was during the period that 
the Katipunan spread all over Luzon. Therefore, there is enough reason to believe that the 
Moro resistance had contributed in the strengthening of the Katipunan because without the 
military campaign in Mindanao, there would have been enough Spanish forces in Manila to 
check their activities.  
The Moros may not have taken part in the actual combat during the revolution, but their 
unwavering resistance to Spanish domination is enough contribution to the cause of freedom. 
Their resistance and offensive operations undermined the Spanish plan to subjugate totally 
the archipelago. Enormous amount of money for the improvement of the army and the navy 
were spent, leaving behind other services for the colony, which resulted in dissatisfaction 
among Spanish subjects. This dissatisfaction, among others was one of the reasons of the 
revolution. Revolution is change and change is a process, in short, a revolution does not 
happen at a flick of fingers, but develops until it matured. The Philippine Revolution, therefore, 
was the climax of the process, the mutiny of the determination of the Filipinos to be free.  
The Moro resistance, raids and piracies therefore, were the Moro contributions in the 
fight against the colonizers that reached the climax in the Philippine Revolution of 1896. 
From the discussions above, it is clear that the people of Mindanao, the Christians, 
Muslims and lumads had participated in the Philippine Revolution that culminated in Philippine 
independence that we are now celebrating.  


It is unfortunate that for a hundred years our historians have disregarded the heroic 
deeds of the people of Mindanao by merely mentioning them in passing, it at all.  
But a hundred years is not too late to correct our history books. A hundred years could 
not suppress the recognition that is due to our heroes in Mindanao. It is about time to declare 
as national heroes Nicolas Capistrano, Apolinar Velez, Vicente Roa and Apolinario Pabayo 
from Misamis Oriental, Rufino Deloso, Simeon Ledesma and Capitan Daligdig from Misamis 
Occidental; Simeon and Wenceslao Gonzales of Surigao; Datu Uto and Datu Ali of Cotabato; 
Amai Pakpak of Marawi and Vicente Alvarez of Zamboanga.  
Only by recognizing the heroic struggle of the people of Mindanao against colonial rule 
and by declaring as national heroes the Mindanaoans who fought so that this nation may be 
free and independent can we achieve a truthful and truly national celebration of the Philippine 
Centennial and the unity of the entire Filipino people.It is high time that we correct the injustice 
inflicted on our brothers in the South. Now is the opportune time to give recognition where it 
is due.  
Approval of this timely measure is therefore most earnestly sought. 
 RUFUS B. RODRIGUEZ 
  MAXIMO B. RODRIGUEZ, JR. 


TWENTIETH CONGRESS 
) 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ) 
First Regular Session 
) 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Introduced by Representative Rufus B. Rodriguez and 
Representative Maximo B. Rodriguez, Jr. 
House Bill No.  _____ 
AN ACT 
TO DECLARE AS NATIONAL HEROES THOSE WHO LED THE REVOLUTION AGAINST 
SPAIN AND THE UNITED STATES IN MINDANAO 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assembled: 
SECTION 1.  Short Title – This act shall be known as the “Mindanao Heroes Declaration Act”. 
SEC 2. Declaration of Policy – It is hereby declared that the Filipino Nation recognizes the 
heroic acts of the people in all the regions in the country in the revolution against Spain in 
1896 and subsequently the fight against the Americans in 1898 so that this nation will be free 
and independent.  
SEC 3. Objectives – The Objectives of this Act are: 
a) to correct the bias against the heroic participation of the people from the different
regions of the country outside of Metro Manila and adjacent regions in the revolution against 
Spain and the United States: 
b) to develop local writers to write about their local heroes in the revolution against
Spain and the United States. 
c) to recognize the long delayed heroism of the people in other regions outside of Metro
Manila and the adjacent regions in revolution against Spain and the United States. 
d) to lay the groundwork for the rewriting of Philippine history to incorporate the heroic
deeds of our brothers and sisters in the other regions and make our Philippine history truly 
national and complete; and  
e) to make the centennial celebration of our Philippine Independence complete with
the due recognition of the participation of the different regions of the country in the revolution 
against Spain and the United States.  
SEC 4. The following are declared National Heroes for their heroism in the revolution against 
Spain and the subsequent war against the American occupation forces: 
1. From Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro:
a) General Nicolas Capistrano, the leader of the Cagayan revolutionaries who
waged a one-year war against the Americans in 1900-1901 and led the
attack of the Cagayan revolutionaries, assisted by Bukidnon lumads,
against the Americans in the Battle of Cagayan of April 7, 1900.
b) Colonel Velez, who commanded the revolutionaries in the west of Cagayan
de Oro and victoriously led the defenders in the Battle of Macahambus
2172


Cave of June 4, 1900, where nine American soldiers were killed and more 
than ten wounded, and only one revolutionary died.  
c) Captain Vicente Roa who, on May 14, 1900, led the Cagayan 
revolutionaries in the east in an encounter with the 40th US Regiment where 
he was killed fighting, together with 34 Cagayano soldiers in the Battle of 
Agusan Hill.  
2. 
From Misamis Occidental: 
a) Simeon Ledesma who organized the first resistance group in Western 
Misamis against the Americans; 
b) Rufino Deloso who led a force of 400 revolutionaries and engaged the 
Americans in no less than 20 encounters from May 14, 1900 to January 6, 
1901; 
c) Capitan Daligdig, the lumad leader in the Oroquieta-Laungan area who led 
numerous assaults against the Oroquieta Garrison of the Americans.  
3.  
From Surigao 
a) The heroism of the brothers Simon and Wenceslao Gonzalez should be 
recognized. Simon Gonzales was appointed by General Aguinaldo as 
military commander of Mindanao, and Wenceslao as governor of Surigao 
on January 2, 1896. They declared Surigao and Butuan free territory and 
part of the Republic of the Philippines and they were the first to hoist the 
Philippine flag in these places. They made war preparations and prepared 
the people in Surigao and Agusan for resistance against the Americans. 
They were, however, both executed together with their father on April 4, 
1899, by another military leader of Surigao.  
4.  From Zamboanga: 
a) General Vicente Alvarez who led the revolutionaries against the Spanish 
forces which withdrew to Zamboanga from various parts of Mindanao. In 
siege of the Zamboanga, Montero, a Spanish general, was killed and 
General de los Rios surrendered the city to General Alvarez on May 8, 
1899. 
5.  From Cotabato and Maguindanao: 
a) Datu Uto must be credited for incessantly fighting the Spaniards from 1880 
to 1886. The Spanish expeditions against Datu Uto weakened the over-all 
military strength and financial resources of the Spaniards making them 
vulnerable a few years later to the revolution waged by the Katipuneros. 
b) Datu Ali organized and led the resistance in the Cotabato Valley to 
American rule. His fortress in Cotabato was the largest ever constructed in 
Mindanao easily holding 5,000 men.  
6. From Lanao: 
a) Amai Pakpak led the Muslim defenders of Fort Marawi in both the 1891 
assault by Spanish Governor General Valeriano Weyler and the 1895 
invasion of Governor General Ramon Blanco. Amai Pakpak died fighting 
the 3,000 Spanish troops.  
These heroic wars waged by our Muslim brothers sapped and diminished the military 
strength and divided the attention of the Spanish authorities. The Muslim resistance led the 
strengthening of the Katipunan because without the military campaign in Mindanao, there 
would have been more than enough Spanish forces in Manila to check the Katipunan.  
 


SEC 5. The National Historical Commission is hereby directed to undertake a full blown 
research on the life and the activities of the above declared National Heroes during the 
revolution against Spain and the war against the United States. The Commission is likewise 
tasked to publish a book on these National Heroes from Mindanao, to erect the monuments 
and the historical markers of the different sites of the war against the Spaniards and the 
Americans in coordination with the local governments of the area.  
 
SEC 6. Appropriation – The amount of the Thirty Million Pesos is hereby appropriated and 
given to the National Historical Commission to undertake the activities as provided in this Act.  
 
SEC 7. Effectivity - This act shall take effect after fifteen (15) days following its publication in 
the Official Gazette or in any newspaper of general circulation.  
 
Approved,