by
Vic Larato
ZAMBOANGA CITY, May 17, (PIA) - - The city government will lead Zamboangueños in the
celebration of “Dia de Gen. Vicente S. Alvarez” on Friday, May 18, pursuant to
City Ordinance No. 334 of 2008.
A commemorative program will be held on
Friday to be led by Mayor Celso Lobregat and relatives of Zamboangueño hero,
Gen. Alvarez at his monument on Normal Road, Baliwasan. The program will be
preceded by wreath-laying ceremony.
Born on April 5, 1862, Gen. Alvarez was the
5th son of Don Alejo Alvarez y Villasis and Isadora Solis. He finished his
early education at the Liceo de Zamboanga at inside the fort. He later went to
Ateneo de Manila and, with a scholarship from the government, he enrolled at
the Spanish Military Academy. The closing of the academy cut his studies short.
He then joined the Spanish government service as cuarto official in Mindanao.
Largely through his father’s friendship with Governor-General Romano Blanco, he
was promoted to segundo mayor, with offices in Malacanang. Here he saw first
hand the brutalities on Filipinos by the Spaniards, which drove him into the
Katipunan fold.
On February 15, 1895, the young Alvarez was
sent by the Spanish government on a special mission to Jolo, to patch up the
differences between Sultan Kiram II and Datu Jukarnain. Alvarez’s tact and
strong personality brought the warring factions together, and peace reigned in
Jolo, an achievement for which the Sultan conferred on him the title of “Datu
Tumaggung” with all the privileges and the authority to rule over the subjects
of the sultan in Zamboanga and Basilan. Alvarez personally reported to the
governor-general about the accomplishment of this mission.
When he returned to
Zamboanga, Alvarez gathered all the able-bodied men—Christians and Muslims
including the convicted and the condemned, all to be under his command to fight
a common enemy, first the Spaniards and then the Americans. When the revolution
broke out in Zamboanga in March 1898, Vicente Alvarez along with Isidro Midel
and Melencio Calixto was appointed head of the revolutionary government in
Zamboanga and Basilan with the rank of brigadier general of the infantry.
As
such, Alvarez ordered Col. Victorio Oloriz, then chief of staff of the Spanish
forces in Zamboanga, to surrender. Alvarez and his men then besiege the Spanish
garrison. In short and bloody battle that followed, Gen. Gonzales Monteiro was
mortally wounded and relinquished his post to Oloriz. This put an end to the
battle, and the revolutionary forces took complete control of Zamboanga. (JPA/VL/CIO/PIA9-ZBST