A Change of Hands

It was a different Christmas for the Cebuanos of 1898. The Spaniards had left on Christmas Eve and Cebu was free or so they thought. Unknown to them, the Spaniards had ceded the Philippine Islands to the United States some two weeks earlier.

On 19 February 1818, American Brigade General Marcus P. Miller, who earlier had successfully occupied Iloilo sent Captain Charles Cornwell, Commanding officer of the U.S. gunboat Petrel to Cebu.

On 21 February 1899 at around 11 a.m., the U.S. gunboat Petrel finally docked at the Cebu Port. It was not too soon afterwards that Cebuano leaders had to contend with the choice between surrendering to American might or burning the city and fight.

At about 8 a.m. on the following day, Pablo Mejia, prominent Cebuano personality, accompanied by the British consul, gave to Cornwell the document surrendering Cebu.

A certain Lt. Bull, head of a naval company, hoisted the American flag at Fort San Pedro on the next day.

The hoisting of the Star-Spangled Banner symbolized the start of almost half a century of direct American rule.

Milestones

3 April 1898. Leaders of the Republic in Cebu, under Luis Flores, regrouped their forces and rededicated themselves to the fight for freedom, culminating with Cebu’s liberation from Spanish rule in December 1898.

10 April 1898. The Spaniards in Carreta, Cebu City, executed Candido Padilla of San Nicholas. Padilla was a prominent supporter of the Anti-Spanish revolution in Cebu.

Source from Sun*Star Weekend