Republic of Negros

History

From November 3 to 6, 1898, the Negrenses began to revolt against the Spanish Empire‘a colonial government, headed locally by politico-military governor Colonel Isidro de Castro. The Spaniards decided to surrender upon seeing armed troops marching in a pincer movement towards Bacolod, the chief city of the island. The revolutionaries, led by Generals Juan Araneta, from Bago and Aniceto Lacson, from Talisay, were actually carrying fake arms consisting of rifles carved from palm fronds and cannons of rolled bamboo mats painted black, and cannonballs of coconuts painted black. On 5 November, Spanish officials surrendered themselves to native troops. A provisional government was then established with Aniceto Lacson as President, and a notice of this was transmitted by Melecio Severino to President Emilio Aguinaldo on Luzon. On November 27, 1898, the unicameral Congress of Deputies (Spanish: Congreso de Diputados) met in Bacólod and declared the establishment of the Republican Canton of Negros (Spanish: Cantón Republicano de Negros). The Congress of Deputies acted as a constituent assembly to draft a constitution.

Motivated by either economic interests or sheer realpolitik, the hacendero-led cantonal government surrendered to invading U.S. forces on March 4, 1899, following the outbreak of hostilities between the nascent First Philippine Republic and the U.S. military government which had been established during the Spanish–American War, and came under U.S. protection on April 30, 1899 as a territory separate from the Philippine Islands. A constitution for a Federal Republic of Negros, which proposed two governors, a U.S. military governor and a civil governor elected by voters of Negros, was framed by a committee sitting in Bacólod and sent to General Otis in Manila, proclaimed to take effect on October 2, 1899. The Negros government operated smoothly under this constitution until the province of Occidental Negros was established on April 20, 1901, and annexed to the Philippine Islands by the United States simply as the "Republic of Negros".

Leaders

The leaders of the short-lived republic were:

Commemoration

November 5, popularly referred to by the Negrenses as Cinco de Noviembre, has been officially observed since 1989 as a special non-working holiday in Negros Occidental. The republic itself has been commemorated in a historical marker in the main square of Bago, on which is inscribed:

REPÚBLICA DE NEGROS

In this plaza of Bago was proclaimed the República de Negros by the revolutionary forces led by general Juan Anacleto Araneta, 5 November 1898. Witnessed by Ananías Diokno, representative of the Central Revolutionary Government. This Republic acknowledged the authority of the First Philippine Republic under Emilio Aguinaldo.