On this date in 1897, days after Philippine independence hero Jose Rizal was shot by the Spanish, 13 martyrs to the same cause suffered the same fate at the same execution grounds.
The 13 Martyrs of Bagumbayan (not to be confused with the 13 Martyrs of Cavite; it was a bakers’ dozen special on Filipino martyrs during the Philippine Revolution) consisted of:
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Domingo Franco (Wikipilipinas | Philippine National Historical Institute (pdf))
Numeriano Adriano
Moises Salvador
Francisco Roxas (Wikipilipinas)
Jose Dizon (Wikipedia | Wikipilipinas)
Benedicto Nijaga (Philippine National Historical Institute (pdf))
Cristobal Medina
Antonio Salazar (Philippine National Historical Institute (pdf))
Ramon A. Padilla (Philippine National Historical Institute (pdf))
Faustino Villaruel (Wikipilipinas)
Braulio Rivera (Philippine National Historical Institute (pdf))
Luis Enciso Villareal
Eustacio Manalac (Philippine National Historical Institute (pdf))
They were casualties of Spanish pressure against the revolutionary Katipunan and/or its Rizal-rounded parent organization La Liga Filipina.
Not all this grab-bag of sacrificial patriots were really firebreathing revolutionaries. But the (serious) divisions among Filipino activists and revolutionaries were of small import to the Spanish, who (as the 13-strong martyr batches suggest) went in for the wholesale school of repression.
Perhaps most notable in this day’s batch was Francisco Roxas, one of the Philippines’ wealthiest men. Despite his liberal sympathies, he’d refused the more radical Katipunan’s shakedown for financing, only to have that organization vengefully place his name on a membership list the Spanish were sure to find. (Roxas maintained his innocence, but accepted his unsought martyr’s crown and never betrayed his fellows.)
On this day..
- 1915: Mewa Singh, Sikh martyr-assassin
- 1800: Kyra Frosini, Ioannina socialite
- 1769: John Martin Andrew, John Fielding prey
- 2017: Christopher Wilkins, straight talker
- 1957: Jack Gilbert Graham, terror of the skies
- 1830: William Banks, housebreaker
- 1909: The Pollet gang, breaking the French moratorium
- 1951: Harley LaMarr, dutiful son
- 1801: Chevalier, bomb plot scapegoat
- 2010: Salah ibn Rihaidan ibn Hailan Al-Johani, Medina serial rapist
- 2003: Nobody in Illinois
- 1944: Galeazzo Ciano and four other Italian Fascists
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