7-Historical: Role of Novaliches in campaign for RP ....
Balita News
Historical: Role of Novaliches in campaign for RP Independence recalled
By Severino C. Samonte
MANILA, June 6 (PNA) -- Little is known of the fact that
Novaliches, a former town now divided between Quezon City and
Caloocan City, also played an important role in the campaign for
Philippine Independence from Spain more than a century ago.
Proof of this is that toward the end of November 1896, a fierce
battle took place in Novaliches between a group of Katipuneros and
the Spanish soldiers then occupying the town which was founded in
1855.
In that Battle of Novaliches, the headquarters of the Spanish
troops in the town was seized, burned down and destroyed by the
raiding Katipuneros, although their leader, Gen. Luis Malinis, a
close aide of Katipunan founder Andres Bonifacio, was killed.
This little-known incident was narrated in a book "Ang Kasaysayan
ng Novaliches" (The History of Novaliches) written by historians and
researchers Prof. Rosalina M. Franco-Calairo of the University of the
Philippines-Los Banos and her son, Prof. Emmanuel Franco Calairo of
De La Salle University.
The book, published in 1997, was based on various historical data
and documents the mother-and-son team of historians were able to
gather after years of painstaking research at the National Archives,
the National Library, the De La Salle Library Filipiniana Section,
and the University of the Philippines-Diliman Library.
According to the book, Novaliches, during the revolution against
Spain, played a very important role since it served as a gateway
between the then neighboring provinces of Morong (now Rizal) and
Bulacan. Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo passed through the northeastern
portion of Novaliches adjacent to Montalban, San Mateo and Marikina
on his way to Norzagaray, Angat and Biak-na-Bato in Bulacan.
Andres Bonifacio, the founder of the Katipunan, had gone several
times to Novaliches to organize the revolutionary movement there. In
fact, he made the Tuliahan River in Novaliches as one of his
sanctuaries during the revolution, along with Balara in Marikina and
the Pamitinan Cave in Montalban, among others.
In the centenary edition of the "Memoirs of the Revolution,"
published in 1998 by the National Centennial Commission, the Cavite
Historical Society and A.T.S. and Associates, Gen. Aguinaldo also
cited Novaliches along with Caloocan, Marikina, San Mateo, Montalban,
Pasig, Mandaluyong, Las Pinas, Palanyag (now Paranaque), Antipolo,
Pateros, and Taguig as among the towns of Morong that participated in
the revolution.
The facts narrated in the Calairos' book confirmed similar
historical incidents contained in an earlier book, "The Katipunan and
the Revolution: Memoirs of a General," written by the late
revolutionary Gen. Santiago V. Alvarez and published in 1992 by the
Ateneo de Manila University Press. This earlier book was based on
General Alvarez's personal accounts of the 1896 revolution. Its
original text in Tagalog. was translated into English by former
University of the Philippines History Prof. Carolina S. Malay.
Alvarez, one of the brave generals of the Philippine Revolution
(1896-1902), was a son of the revolutionary leader Mariano Alvarez of
Cavite (1831-1924), after whom the town of Gen. Alvarez in that
province was named.
According to the same memoirs, the young Alvarez was a close aide
of Bonifacio. As such, he was able to keep notes about their
experiences, which eventually became the basis of the book.
Both the books of Alvarez and the Calairos narrated that in
November 1896, after Bonifacio and his party had left for Cavite from
Balara (then a part of Marikina), Gen. Luis Malinis prepared to
attack the enemy position at Novaliches, then a separate town since
Quezon City was not yet in existence at that time).
"He carried out the siege toward the end of November 1896. After
a pitch battle, the Sons of the People at noon burned the civil guard
headquarters and the chapel where the enemies had entrenched
themselves. Unfortunately, the brave General Malinis was killed by
the Spaniards, and his death turned the tide of battle," Alvarez
narrated in his book.
The death of Gen. Malinis and the arrival of reinforcing Spanish
troops from Manila and other areas enabled the enemies to soon retake
Novaliches from the Katipuneros.
Recognizing the heroism of Gen. Malinis in the Battle of
Novaliches, the Novalenos (people of Novaliches) have renamed the old
Novaliches- Polo Road leading to the former town of Polo (now
Valenzuela City) as Gen. Luis St. in his memory.
It is also because of the important role played by Novaliches in
the revolution why a street in Makati City, located near the old
Makati poblacion, has been named Novaliches, along with such other
historically noted places as Malolos, Biak-na-Bato, Pasong Tamo,
Barasoain, Kakarong, Kawit, Imus, Zapote, Pasong Tirad, Pateros, and
Antipolo, among others.
Another book entitled "Himagsikang 1896," published by the
Miranda Bookstore in 1995 based on a diary recording the 1896
Revolution from Jan. 1, 1896 to Dec. 31, 1896 and authored by Zeus A.
Salazar, E. Yulo, and A. Navarro, also confirmed that a battle
between the Katipuneros and the Spaniards took place in Novaliches on
Nov. 26, 1896.
It was just unfortunate that when the Americans took over the
Philippine government, Novaliches was reduced in 1901 to a barrio of
the then neighboring town of Caloocan. Thus, when historians began
writing the accounts of the revolution in the 1950s, Novaliches was
no longer existing as a town and its role in that revolution was not
mentioned anymore, having been eclipsed by Caloocan, together with
Quezon City which was formed in 1939.
This is the reason why its rightful place in the revolution is
now missing in the country's history (and needs to be rectified).
If not for its misfortune of being erased from the country's map,
as a town from 1855 to 1901, Novaliches deserves inclusion in the
list of historical places dubbed as the "Centennial Trail" by the
National Centennial Commission during the centennial celebration of
the country's independence last year.
Fortunately for the Novalenos, Congress has been cognizant of the
need to rectify that historical error. Proof: the Senate and the
House of Representatives passed in 1998 a bill reviving the former
town of Novaliches, this time as a city. The bill, principally
authored by Quezon City Rep. Dante V. Liban (LAMP), was signed into
law as Republic Act 8535 in February last year by then President
Fidel V. Ramos.
A plebiscite on the ratification of the cityhood of Novaliches is
expected to be held either in September or October, this year, under
the supervision of the Commission on Elections chaired by former
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Harriet Demetriou.
Once its cityhood is finally ratified. Novaliches will become the
second city to be inaugurated in Metro Manila and the entire country
under the administration of President Joseph Estrada, the first being
Valenzuela City which was ratified in a plebiscite held last Dec. 30.
(PNA) DCT/SS
PNA 06061054