Arcadio Maxilom
General Arcadio Maxilom y Molero (November 13, 1862 – August 10, 1924) was a Filipino teacher and hero of the Philippine Revolution.
Arcadio Maxilom | |
|---|---|
| Born | Arcadio Maxilom y Molero November 13, 1862 |
| Died | August 10, 1924 (aged 61) |
| Occupation | Teacher |
| Organization |  Katipunan |
He was born in Tuburan, Cebu to Roberto Maxilom, the town gobernadorcillo, and Gregoria Molero. His family were members of the local gentry, or principalía. He worked as a teacher in the local school before joining the Katipunan, whose activities in Cebu were led by a young Negrense, León Kilat.
After Kilat's betrayal and assassination, Maxilom continued the revolution in Cebu. Under his command, the Katipunan was able to regroup in the central highlands, which Spanish forces found impenetrable. On December 16, 1898, Maxilom wrote a letter to the Spanish authorities in Cebu, demanding that the latter surrender. Weary after incessant fighting, the Spaniards quickly responded, asking Maxilom for two to three days to leave the province. By Christmas Eve, the Spaniards had left, leaving behind only three Catholic clerics.[1] Self-rule would be short-lived. In the Treaty of Paris that ended the Spanish–American War, signed that month, December 1898, Spain sold the Philippines to the United States for twenty million dollars.
Maxilom is best remembered for stubbornly refusing to surrender to the American forces even as his fellow revolutionaries in Manila and Cebu were starting to capitulate or collaborate with the new colonial power.[2] He surrendered on October 27, 1901.[3]
Virtually forgotten after the revolution, Maxilom died in his hometown of Tuburan, after a long bout with paralysis,[4][5] on August 10, 1924. His funeral cortège, joined in by leading revolutionary figures including Emilio Aguinaldo, stretched some four kilometers, in what remains to this day the longest in Cebu's history.[4]
Mango Avenue, one of main thoroughfares Cebu City, was renamed Gen. Maxilom Avenue in honor of the general.
References
- Justimbaste 1998.
- Bersales 2007.
- Foreman 1906, p. 524.
- Bersales 2008.
- Wani 2005.
Sources
- Bersales, Joeber (4 October 2007). "Where is Gen. Arcadio Maxilom?". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Archived from the original on September 19, 2008.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Bersales, Jobers (24 July 2008). "Finding Maxilom's cannon". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Archived from the original on October 4, 2008.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Foreman, John (1906) [2011]. The Philippine Islands: A Political, Geographical, Ethnographical, Social And Commercial History Of The Philippine Archipelago, Embracing The Whole ... The Succeeding American Insular Government... (3rd ed.). Fisher Unwin. ISBN 978-1173730451.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Justimbaste, Emil (1 June 1998). "Recruitment and Beginnings". The Freeman. León Kilat and Cebu's Revolution. Archived from the original on October 27, 2009.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Wani, Rhoda (7 November 2005). "The Lives of Luis Flores, Julio Llorente, Juan Climaco and Arcadio Maxilom: Collaboration and Resistance in Cebu, 1898–1902". Archived from the original on 2012-02-16. Retrieved 8 November 2015.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)