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Oct. 31 is Quintin Salas Day

My eldest sister had a delusion of grandeur when she was around 6-8 years old.  She used to boast that she was so special because the town of Dumangas, Iloilo  held a parade everytime her birthday rolled around on October 31.  That day holds a distinct place in my childhood memories for being the day when I would be brimming  with intense envy. I tried my best to look nonchalant even though deep inside I would be whining, ” Why couldn’t there be a marching band playing “Dahil sa Iyo” , smart CAT officers saluting with their swords, and baton-twirling majorettes in their puffy skirts on my birthday, too?” 

We realized, when we grew older, that the parade was not for her, but for the town hero, Col. Quintin Salas. That burst my sister’s delusional bubble and ended her bragging. Good.

Spending countless hours playing tikyo around the hero’s  monument at the town plaza taught me a thing or two about him.  He  was a revolutionario who fought against the Spaniards and then later on against the American colonizers.  Aside from these bits of info,  I  am ashamed to admit that I don’t really know much. I’ve always been curious why they held the parade on October 31. Why not have it on some other day? They could have spared me from so much mental agony.   Was it his birthday or death anniversary?  Do they still even  do it these days?  I’ve been thinking that if I am proud to call Dumangas my hometown, I must at least try to get to know my town hero a little better.  So I googled Col. Quintin Salas and  read up on my local history.  I copied the article and pasted it here. Read on if you feel the same way I do.

Filipino Patriot and Hero: Colonel Quintin Salas

Quintin Salas was one of eleven children born to Nicolas Salas and Nicolasa Dicen in Dumangas, Iloilo on the island of Panay on 31 October 1870.

In the 1890s Quintin Salas was serving the Spanish colonial government as Teniente Mayor (Vice-Mayor) and later as Capitan del Pueblo (Municipal Captain) of Dumangas when he was made commander of the local Filipino volunteer militia. These voluntarios were organised by the Spanish to suppress uprisings against their authority as had already begun in Luzon.

In secret communication with the revolutionary leaders of the province, Quintin Salas, upon acquiring men and arms, turned Revolucionario and convinced his men to join the rebellion against Spain by leading the uprising in Dumangas on October 28, 1898.

Salas and his troops liberated the surrounding towns, confiscated the firearms of the cuadrilleros (police), set prisoners free, and seized public documents. He was commissioned a full colonel and designated chief of operations for the central zone of Iloilo Province by General Martin Delgado, general of the Ejercito Libertador (as the revolutionary army of Panay was then known). On December 5, 1898 the revolutionary government of the Visayas pledged its allegiance to the principles of the Malolos Congress.

But then, another foreign master came, this time the Americans as the victor in the Spanish-American war. The Philippines was ceded to the U.S. for $20 million with a guarantee to protect the property and business rights of Spanish citizens. The Treaty of Paris was signed on December 10, 1898. Eleven days later, U.S. President McKinley issued the “Proclamation of Benevolent Assimilation” which expressly indicated America’s intention to stay permanently and assume control and disposition of government – an open declaration of its war of aggression against the peoples of the Philippines.

Thus, armed hostilities between U.S. imperialism and the Filipino peoples began in a revolutionary war of national liberation and by the use of gunboat diplomacy the Philippines became a colony of the United States.

Salas was with Delgado when the revolutionary army entered Iloilo City on December 25. But while the Filipinos were attacking and capturing the few remaining Spanish garrisons, the U.S. was preparing to capture the Visayas.

When a U.S. occupying force was sent to Iloilo in March 1899, Salas and the other revolutionary leaders of Panay denied the American request to land in Iloilo and instead made preparation to defend the province. They dug trenches along a 10km battleline and waited, facing Guimaras Strait and the might of U.S. naval power. Salas was among the leaders at the battlefront.

From February to September, Salas held his ground in Balantang until American reinforcements arrived forcing his troops to retreat. He’d earned the respect of his people, and even the enemy called him “General” Salas.

With the fall of Cabatuan, the last capital of the revolutionary government in Panay, many of the Visayan leaders surrendered to the Americans, but Quintin Salas, together with six Ilonggo generals and the remaining revolutionary troops, chose instead to wage guerrilla warfare against the Americans. He surprised them with night assaults and daytime ambushes. The Salas guerrilla forays lasted for more than two years.

But finally, the generals and other guerrilla leaders surrendered and Salas found himself alone. He was persuaded to give up by his friends and former comrades-in-arms and, realising that further resistance would be futile as well as destructive of lives and properties, he laid down his arms in October 1901, nine months after his commanding general surrendered.

In 1908, exiled from Iloilo, he went to Manila, graduated from the Escuela de Derecho with a degree of Bachelor of Laws, was admitted to the Bar in 1912, and practiced law for a while until he was allowed to return to Iloilo. Quintin Salas died of tuberculosis on January 24, 1917. His only surviving child, Rosario, became the first Ilonggo woman lawyer.