Feature: Misamis Occidental towns and cities named after local heroes

By Rutchie C. Aguhob

Wednesday 13th of June 2012

Misamis Occidental has found a way to honor the nation's heroes as it named some of its towns as a tribute to them.

Foremost of these heroes are Jose Protacio Rizal, Graciano Lopez-Jaena, Marcelo Hilario Del Pilar, and Andres De Castro Bonifacio, after whom four of the province’s 14 towns are named: Calamba, Lopez-Jaena, Plaridel, and Bonifacio.

The triumvirate of Rizal, Lopez-Jaena, and Del Pilar had strongly manifested their nationalism and love of country in the publication “La Solidaridad,” which they founded and circulated, in Spain.

Born on June 19, 1861, to parents Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonzo in Calamba, Laguna, Rizal changed his name from Mercado when he enrolled at the Ateneo de Manila to escape the wrath of the Spaniards who were after the Mercado’s.

His books “Noli Me Tangere” and “El Filibusterismo,” on social commentaries in the Philippines under the Spanish Colonial rule were among those that led him to die by musketry from the Spanish soldiers in Bagumbayan on Dec. 30, 1896.

Lopez-Jaena was a Filipino journalist, orator and a revolutionary, who was well-known for his written work in La Solidaridad and his contribution to the Philippine Propaganda Movement.

Born to parents Placido Jaena and Maria Jacoba Lopez in Jaro, Iloilo, Graciano died of tuberculosis on January 20, 1896 and was succeeded by Del Pilar as editor of La Solidaridad.

On the other hand, Del Pilar, popularly known by his pen name “Plaridel,” pushed for the Filipinos’ active participation in government affairs, freedom of speech and of the press.

He also pushed for freedom of assembly under social and political equality before the law and died on July 4, 1896, just a year before the declaration of independence from Spain by Emilio Aguinaldo.

Bonifacio was founder of the Kataastaasang Kagalanggalangang Katipunan (KKK) ng mga Anak ng Bayan (Highest and Most Respected Society of the Children of the Country), a secret society that sought for the country’s independence from the Spaniards through an armed revolution.

On August 29, 1896, during a mass gathering of the KKK in Caloocan, Bonifacio tore his “cedula” or community tax certificate, issued by the Spaniards to the Filipinos signaling the start of the revolution, which event was called the “Cry of Balintawak.”

Unlike the national heroes, however, Ozamiz and Tangub, two of the province’s three (3) cities are named after the late Senator Jose Fortich Ozamiz and the late Governor Alfonso D. Tan, respectively, but whose heroism have legal bases.

Republic Act 6736 which was enacted into law on Aug. 4, 1989, recognizes Ozamiz, a hero and martyr, whose birth anniversary, on May 5, every year, has been declared a special working day in the province.

Elected First Representative of Misamis to the House of Congress from 1931-1935 and to the 16th Constitutional Convention representing the lone district of Misamis Occidental in1936, Ozamiz was the first and only Senator to come from the province and nominated as Assistant Minority Floor Leader of the Senate.

A reserve officer of the United States Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) with the rank of Major, in World War II, Ozamiz was arrested for his involvement with the guerilla movement and executed by the Japanese on February 11, 1942, while in prison at Fort Santiago.

And while Tangub City takes its name from the term “tangkub,” a Subanen word for rice container made up of tree bark woven together by rattan strips, it is also incidental that the late Alfonso D. Tan, its first City Mayor, whose family name is contained in the first syllable of the word, has been cited for his contribution to the education of the youth.

Tan has been recognized for putting up an elementary school in all the city’s 55 barangays, which he built with jalousie windows for good ventilation along the national highway for easy access by the pupils.

Appointed Governor of Misamis Occidental by the late President Corazon C. Aquino, during her incumbency, Tan was also credited for setting up the foundation of two (2) educational institutions in the city.

These are the Governor Alfonso D. Tan College (GADTC), which is city-owned and the Northwestern Mindanao State College of Science and Technology (NorMinCST), which is state-owned.

He is honored with the conduct of an Alfonso D. Tan Memorial Lecture, a gathering of city officials, school heads and students taking up history subjects from both colleges, as among the activities of the city’s foundation anniversary held in February of every year. (PIA-10 Mis. Occ.)