REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

BACOLOD CITY COLLEGE

TEACHERS EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

Readings in Philippine History

GROUP 5 MEMBERS:
Acot, Ana Jane M.
Andeo, Jelyn Marie M.
Arroyo, April Lyd V.
Bagallon, Rhiane May G.
Baring, Eulyn Mae C.
Buenafe, Cheryl E.
Cabasingan, Rica E.
Castañeda, Sofia E.

BSED 1E FILIPINO

Sub. Teacher: Rhod Torbela, LPT, PhD

TOPIC: In-Depth Study of Local History and Culture

Bacolod, Negros Island and Western Visayas

SUBTOPICS:

1. Green Beach Liberation Marker, Pulupandan

2. Pfc Theodore C. Vinther, (Monument found in Bacolod Public Plaza)

3. Fr. Mauricio Ferrerro, OAR Builder of Bacolod

4. 50 Iloilo’s First in Philippine History

 GREEN BEACH LIBERATION MARKER, PULUPANDAN

 It was here that the historic event of American Liberation Forces landed
without any opposition or bloodshed on the beaches of Pulupandan.
 March 29, 1945, occurred. They were joined by the Filipino Guerillas to drive
the enemy forces from Negros.
 This marker stand still at Barangay Zone-1 and demonstrates the importance
of the area’s past and valor. It also boosts the pride and awareness of the new
generation of Filipinos with their rich cultural heritage.
Filipino guerillas of the 7th Military District, under the leadership of former
USAFFE officers Colonel Salvador Abcede and Major Ernesto Mata, controlled
two-thirds of the Negros Island before the U.S. Forces landed in 1945. The
estimated 13,500 Japanese soldiers were mostly limited to key areas in the island
as the Negros guerillas, composed of 14,000 troops, tirelessly engaged them in
series of combat operations. With a vast intelligence network, the Negros guerillas
provided Allied forces wuth vital information on the shipping lanes of the enemies
in the Visayas passages.
On March29, 1945, the American troops landed unopposed on the shore of
Pulupandan as the weakened Japanese Forces began to move inland to the
mountains of Northern Negros to make their last stand against the Allied Forces.
The landing in Pulupandan marked a turning point in the battle to liberate Negros
Island from the clutches of the Japanese Forces during World War II.

GREEN BEACH LIBERATION STONE MARKER

 PFC THEODORE C. VINTHER (MONUMENT FOUND IN BACOLOD
PUBLIC PLAZA)

WHO IS PFC THEODORE C. VINTHER?

American soldier killed in battle. Theodore Vinther enlisted in the United States
Army Infantry from San Francisco, California on April 15, 1942, service number
39837735. He was assigned to the 185th Infantry Regiment, 40th Infantry
Division, which was engaged in operations to liberate the Philippines. His platoon,
under Second Lieutenant Aaron Hanson, was tasked to capture Bago Bridge intact.
The bridge was located near Bacolod City, Occidental Negros, Philippines.
Vinther volunteered to be one of the men to cross the bridge, which was rigged
with explosives, under enemy fire, to overtake the explosives control point. It was
5am the morning of March 29, 1945. Vinther was mortally wounded at the bridge
after killing two Japanese soldiers, one of whom was but a few feet from the
electrical controls. The capture of this bridge sped the advance of the 40th Infantry
Division by two days and took the Japanese by such surprise that they rapidly
abandoned the City of Bacolod--they were unable to execute their plans to burn
and destroy the city and to inflict pain and death on the civilians as they did in
other cities of the nation. According to a local historian, Modesto Saonoy, Vinther
was evacuated to Iloilo where he died. For the valor demonstrated in capturing the
bridge, all the members of the platoon, including Vinther, were awarded bronze
star medals. Vinther was posthumously awarded with Purple Heart. PFC Vinther
was not married and had no children. A temporary monument was created soon
after his death, and was replaced by a permanent memorial in the Plaza of the City
of Bacolod.

PADRE MAURICIO FERRERO (1844-1915):

(Augustinian Recollect Builder of Bacolod)

A native of Arnedo, La Rioja, Spain,

Mauricio Ferrero was born on 22 September
1844.He professed the three monastic vows of poverty,
chastity and obedience on 30 June 1863 at the convent of
the Augustinian Recollect Province of Saint Nicholas of
Tolentino in Monteagudo, Navarra. He chose Our
Lady of Vico,patron saint of his hometown Arnedo as
his religious patroness.Thus, his Marian religious
appellation was Fray Mauricio Ferrero de la Virgen de
Vico. In the adjoining city of Calahorra, La Rioja, after
his theological formation Fray Mauricio received his presbyteral ordination on 19
December 1866. On 23 January 1868 he joinedthe 59th missionary group of seventeen
Recollect priests, theology studentsand three religious brothers. They left the convent
of Marcilla, Navarra, where he had finished his theological formation, and headed for
the port of Cádiz in southern Spain.
The group boarded the frigate Reina de los Ángeles at Cádiz on 31 January 1868,
which rounded the Cape of Good Hope and finally docked at Manila four and a half
months later, on 15 June 1868.

 FIRST PASTORAL ASSIGNMENTS

A month after arrival, on 18 July 1868, Padre Mauricio was assigned to the
island-parish of Agutaya, one of the five Augustinian Recollect parishes in the vast
Cuyo Archipelago, as compañero [companion, assistant] of its parish priest. In
September 1868-May 1870, he administered the Immaculate Conception Parish in
Culion, another island-curacy in the Calamianes group
of islands. On 2 May 1870, to learn the Visayan Hiligaynon language, Padre Mauricio
was sent to the parish of Valladolid along the western coast of Negros. Negros was in a
state of spiritual and economic stagnation for several decades. The Spanish Ministry of
Colonies and the governor general which directly—both ecclesiastically and civilly—
governed Negros Island, in consultation with the Dominican Bishop Romualdo Jimeno
of Cebu, firmed up the decision to hand it over to one of the four religious orders in
Manila on 27 May 1848. Two days later, the Recollect prior provincial accepted the
offer. Governor General Narciso Clavería then decreed on 20 June 1848 the
adjudication of the spiritual administration of Negros Island to the
Augustinian Recollects.

Fray Mauricio professed his vows at the Convent of Monteagudo, Navarra on June 30 1863.
 Fray Mauricio Ferrero de la Virgen de Vico finished his theological formation at the Convent in Marcilla,
Navarra in 1868. He became the prior of its religious community in 1894-1897.
 Parish priest of San Sebastian Parish of Bacolod

Padre Mauricio was assigned to the vacant San Sebastian Parish of Bacolod in
November 1871 and took official possession of the curacy in the Negros capital as
parish priest on 23 December 1871. The last parish curate Padre Mariano Avila must
have resigned due to health reasons. The eminent Recollect historian of Negros, Angel
Martinez Cuesta, writes in his list of parish priests that the diocesan cleric Padre Juan
de Dios was first parish priest of Bacolod and his parochial administration lasted three
years: 1754-1757.

After 2 months in Agutaya Island, Padre Mauricio was parish priest of the
Immaculate Conception Parish in Culion Island in September 1862- May 1870.

 San Sebastian Parish Church in Bacolod

The crowning glory of Padre Mauricio—doubtless his most lasting legacy to

Bacolod and to the whole Negros Island—is the magnificent, solid church, made of
finely-cut coral stones from Guimaras. 8 The parish priest commenced the construction
of the temple of God in 1876 and the future cathedral was blest and inaugurated on 20
January 1882 by the Dominican Bishop Mariano Cuartero of Jaro.

Padre Mauricio’s temple—elegant, grandiose and spacious—turned into the

cathedral in 1932 with the erection of the Bacolod Diocese which included the islands
of Negros and Siquijor. The temple had a gilded retablo, well-lighted interior and thick
solid walls with rose-windows. Two galleries of arches are supported by round pillars.
Its two sturdy bell-towers loom over the city park and streets.
 As vicar provincial of southern Negros and vicar forane

On 7 May 1888, Padre Mauricio was appointed as vicar forane by Fray

Leandro Arrué, Augustinian Recollect bishop of Jaro. To the vast ecclesiastical
jurisdiction of the Diocese of Jaro, a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Manila, belonged
Negros, Panay, Romblon, Calamianes, Jolo,
parts of Mindanao since its creation on 27 May 1865. Due to the rapid growth of
Christian population and consequent foundation of more parishes, the sole Recollect
Vicariate of Negros and Siquijor was divided in June 1851 into two: West Coast
Vicariate and East Coast Vicariate.

The newly-elected Recollect prior provincial Father Fidel de Blas de la

Asunción signed on 25 June 1888 the appointment of Padre Mauricio as vicar
provincial of Southern Negros which at that time consisted of Talisay,
Murcia,Valladolid and all other parishes south of Bacolod.

The present Cathedral of San Sebastian in Bacolod, constructed in 1876-1882,

a lasting tangible legacy of the Recollect parish priest Mauricio Ferrero.

 Construction of the new kumbento

Padre Maurcio began the construction of the new kumbento of

Bacolod in 1891. He finished the kumbento in 1894. In the provincial chapter
of 1894, the fifty-year-old religious curate of Bacolod was elected prior of the
Recollect community of religious priests, brothers and professed students and
rector of the theology school at Marcilla, Navarra, Spain.
  Rector of the Recollect convent and theologate of Marcilla, Navarra
Obedient to the will of the superiors, as he had vowed to be when he
professed the evangelical counsels in 1863, he left his beloved San Sebastian
Parish of Bacolod and travelled to far-off Spain for his new assignment. His
confrere Padre Florencio Aranda received the parochial reins.

At the end of his 1894-1897 term as rector of Marcilla, Padre

Mauricio returned to Bacolod as parish priest. He headed the 98th Recollect
missionary expedition of eighteen priests and two religious brothers, who
boarded the steamer Isla de Luzón at Barcelona on 11 September 1897 and
reached Manila exactly a month after on 10 October.

 Revolution in Negros
Padre Mauricio was again named vicar provincial of Southern Negros
Occidental on 26 March 1898 and vicar forane on 1 April. During the
Philippine Revolution in Negros on 5 November 1898, he was confined to the
kumbento and could not leave town, not unlike his aging confrere Fr. Fernando
Cuenca in Talisay. He was later moved to Himamaylan and joined his
imprisoned confreres, who had been arrested in various rectories in Negros,
in the provincial jail in Bacolod which he had constructed years before. They
boarded S/S Montserrat and left for Manila where they arrived on 7 February
1899.

 Post-Revolutionary situation
In February 1902, Padre Mauricio was back in Bacolod and stayed in
his beloved town until 30 December 1909 when he turned over the parish to
his successor and townmate Padre Francisco Vega de la Virgen de Vico. He
resigned from his post for health reasons. Padre Mauricio served the parish
of the capital of Negros Island and later of Negros Occidental for a total of 33
years, long enough to be rightly deemed as the “Father of Bacolod City” on
account of his missionary zeal, evangelization efforts, and various
infrastructure projects and tangible legacies that live on till today.

 Epilogue
Padre Mauricio’s arrival in 1871 signaled great portents to come in Bacolod.
Under his direction, the future cathedral (1882) and the kumbento(1894) which turned
into the Bishop’s house in 1941 were constructed. The cemetery, mortuary chapel,
Puerto San Juan [headquarters of the Guardia Civil and the provincial jail], kumbento
[the old building of La Consolacion College now demolished] were likewise completed
during his term. Deservedly, the concrete statues of Fr. Mauricio and Fr. Fernando
Cuenca, garbed in their Recollect habit, stand at the entrance of San Sebastian
Cathedral, doubtless in recognition of and gratitude to the Recollect priests’
contributions to the whole Negros Island. At age 71, Fr. Mauricio passed away at San
Nicolás Convent, Intramuros, Manila on 8 December 1915.

Timeline of Padre Mauricio Ferrero OAR

by Emmanuel Luis Romanillos/Jorr S. Rabacal OAR

•1844 September 22 Birth at Arnedo, La Rioja, Spain.

•1863 June 30 Profession of monastics vows at Monteagudo, Navarra.
•1866 December Ordination to the priesthood in Calahorra, La Rioja.
•1868 January 31 Departure from Cádiz, Spain, of 59th Augustinian
Recollect mission of 20 friars including Fray Mauricio.
•1868 June 15 Arrival of the twenty missionaries in Manila.
•1868 July Assistant priest in Agutaya in the Calamianes Islands.
•1868 September Parish priest of Culion in the Calamianes.
•1870 May 2 In Valladolid, Negros, he learned Visayan Hiligaynon.
•1871 December 23 Parish priest of Bacolod in Negros.
•1888 May 7 Vicar forane of Negros.
•1888 June 25 Vicar provincial of the Southern Negros Island.
•1894 -1897 Prior of the Convent of Marcilla, Navarra, Spain.
•1897 November 1 Parish priest of Bacolod for the second time.
•1898 March 26 Vicar provincial of Negros Occidental.
•1898 November 5-6 The Revolution in Bacolod. Fray Mauricio was placed
under convent arrest until 10 November when he was
moved to Himamaylan and back to Bacolod in February
•1899 to join his confreres who traveled to Manila.
•1902 February 28 Parish priest of Bacolod for the third and last time.
•1909 December 30 Resignation at age 65 as parish priest.
•1915 December 8 Demise at San Nicolás Convent, Intramuros, at age 71.
 50 ILOILO’S FIRST IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

1.Iloilo is the site of the Malayan landing in the Philippines according to the maragtas
legend

2. The oldest Chinese settlement in the country-Molo. When the Spaniards came to
Iloilo in 1570, they reported that a large Chinese community already existed in the
place.

3.The first place to put up a Christian church in the Philippines was Jalaud (Dumangas)
in what is now the barangay of Ermita, in 1566.

4. The first seat of the alcadia de Panay with the jurisdiction over Panay. Romblon and
western negros in 1570.

5. the first school for boys in the Philippines was founded in tigbuan by the famous
Jesuit priest and historian, Pedro Chirino in 1592.

6. The first instructions by the British into the Philippines was in 1587 when Thomas
Cavendish attacked the Arevalo shipyard in an attempt to destroy the galleon
"Santiago" which was the under construction.

7. The oldest Christian church in western visayas and the only church in the region to
be declared as an UNESCO world heritage site.

8. The province that produced the biggest quantity of textile (just, sinamay, cotton)
during the Spanish era.

9. The first province to have a foreign firm (loney & Co.) And the first vice consulate
(British) in 1856.
10. The first province to export sugar to Australia, Britain, Canada and the united
states' starting in 1859.

11. The first province to import machineries directly from Europe starting in 1863.

12. The first American vice consulate in the Philippines established in 1864 with
Wright B. Loring as the first US vice consul in Iloilo.

13. The first province to have a protestant community; a protestant cemetery was
established at Iloilo in 1866.

14. The oldest existing college in Western visayas- colegio de San Jose, founded in
1872.

15. The first bookstore in the Visayas and Mindanao- Libreria La Panayana, established
in 1877 by Mariano Perfecto.

16. The first department store in the country Hoskyn's, established in 1877 by Herbert
Peter, Henry, and Franklin Hoskyn.

17. The first drama in Hiligaynon, "ang babae nga Huwacan," written by Cornelio
Hilado in 1878 and first published in 1884.

18. the first bank outside manila - the Iloilo branch of the Hongkong and Shanghai
Banking Corporation established in April 2, 1883.

19. The first provincial branched of the Chartered Bank opened on April 4, 1883.

20. The first newspaper and printing press outside Luzon - El Porvenir De Visayas,
founded in 1884 by Diego Jiminez Frades.

21. The first and now the oldest almanac in the visayas and Mindanao- almanaque
Panayanon, founded by Mariano Perfecto in 1884.

22. the first province to have a cosmopolitan or international business community.

23. The only province to have two cities during the Spanish time Iloilo city,
inaugurated on February 7, 1890; and Jaro chartered on march 7, 1891.
24. The first city, after manila, to have direct shipping lines to Australia, Hongkong,
china, Singapore, Europe, and America.

25. The first province to have a collage offering courses in commerce, engineering,
chemistry, arts and trades - the Escuela Professional de Oficios y Arte's founded by
Royal Order on 9 May 1890.

26.The biggest province in population, income and economic production during the
whole 19th century.

27.The first city outside manila to have a telephone system. Starting June 1. 1894.
covering Ilo-ilo, La Paz, Jaro, Mandurriao, and Molo.

28.The first city, after manila. To be connected to the major cities of the world by cable
beginning on November 6, 1897.

29.The first provincial capital to have electricity starting 1890.

30.The first provincial branch of the Banco Español Filipino de Isabel II (now Bank of
the Philippine Islands), opened in 1987.

31.The oldest machine shop in the South-Taller Bisayas de Strachan MacMurray, first
establish in the in the 1980s and incorporated in 1919.

32.The first province outside Luzon to fly the Filipino National flag on November 17,
1898, in the Sta Barbara during the inauguration of the Revolutionary Government of
the Visayas.

33.The biggest army outside luzon during the Philippines Revolution and the
Philippine-American War, headed by General Martin Delgado.

34.The oldest bakery in the Visayas and Mindanao- Panaderia de Molo established in
1899 by Marciana Jason.

35.The first hospital put up by the Americans in the Philippines- Iloilo Mission
Hospital, founded in 1900.
36.The first Baptist Church in the Philippines- Jaro Evangelical Church, organized in
1901.

37.The first public elementary school during the American regime- Baluarte
Elementary School in Molo, founded by Rosendo Mejica in 1901.

38.The first provincial public high school in the country loilo high school, organized
1902.

39.The first nursing school in the islands- Nurses Training School of Iloilo Mission
Hospital (now CPU College of Nursing) founded in 1906. It turned out the first Filipino
graduate nurses in 1909.

40.The first zarzuela in Hiligaynon. "Ang Capitan", by Valente Cristobal, staged in

Iloilo in 1903.

41. The first and only railway line outside Luzon- Philippines Railway Co. Constructed
starting 1906.
42. The first novel in Hiligaynon. "Benjamin" by Angel Magahum, published in 1907.
43. The oldest school paper in the Philippines- The Central Echo of Central Philippine
University, first published in 1916.
44.The first Filipino-Chinese association- the Iloilo Filipino-Chinese Chamber of
Commerce, formed in 1911.
45. The oldest Chinese school in the country - Iloilo Chinese commercial school (now
Iloilo central commercial school), founded in 1911.
46. The first concrete road in the country -the "Montinola Highway" from the Forbes
Bridge to the Jaro Plaza, cemented in 1910 with cement imported from Japan.
47. The first provincial Library - established on October 29, 1916. As the first branch
of the National library.
48. The oldest international business organization in the nation- Iloilo international
chamber of commerce organized by Esteban de la Rama in 1924.
49. The first car assembly plant in the Philippines - owned by taller bisayas de Strachan
and MacMurray, which assembled the German Car "Daimler" in the 1920s.
50. The first golf club in Asia Iloilo golf and Country Club in Sta. Barbara.

OLDEST GOLF CLUB

IN ASIA
 FIRST EVANGELICAL CHURCH IN THE PHILIPPINES

FIRST PROVINCIAL PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL IN THE COUNTRY

Resources:
https://negrosfest.wordpress.com/municipality-of-pulupandan/
https://negrosislandproperties.com/cities-towns/pulupandan/
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56758218/theodore-c-vinther
https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=357452
https://allaboutiloilophilippines.blogspot.com/p/test.html?
m=1&fbclid=IwAR1jUcWd9s_LbMvZK31U9BKoTomsq022bHSk8hTGiGVcg_JgcD
YEBC2DwMU
https://youtu.be/3CFq2VvcWNM
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q=Iloilo+Mission+Hospital&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjNnPyiwpT7AhU3xosBHQX
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cCegQIABAA&oq=Iloilo+Mission+Hospital&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzIHCAAQgAQ
QEzIHCAAQgAQQEzIHCAAQgAQQEzIHCAAQgAQQEzoECCMQJzoHCCMQ6g
IQJ1CLG1ihJWD9K2gBcAB4AIABgQGIAfkBkgEDMC4ymAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzL
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7&biw=1242&rlz=1C1UEAD_enPH997PH997#imgrc=ns0P50pafAKmcM
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q=the+Iloilo+branch+of+the+Hongkong+and+Shanghai+Banking+Corporation&tbm
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cCegQIABAA&oq=the+Iloilo+branch+of+the+Hongkong+and+Shanghai+Banking+
Corporation&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzoECCMQJ1CCFFiCFGC9IWgAcAB4AIABqgG
IAbUCkgEDMC4ymAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWfAAQE&sclient=img&ei=Ig
RlY5-qFfOPr7wPyaGm-
Ak&bih=597&biw=1242&rlz=1C1UEAD_enPH997PH997#imgrc=a5nx-
OdTmbLlgM
https://www.google.com/search?
q=FIRST+BANK+OUTSIDE+MANILA&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjRvZLkwZT7A
hWHBaYKHYUlDV8Q2-
cCegQIABAA&oq=FIRST+BANK+OUTSIDE+MANILA&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzo
ECCMQJzoHCCMQ6gIQJzoECAAQQzoFCAAQgAQ6CAgAEIAEELEDOgsIABC
ABBCxAxCDAToHCAAQgAQQAzoECAAQHjoHCAAQgAQQE1DVGViKVmDS
XmgBcAB4AIABwAGIAa4ekgEEMC4yNpgBAKABAaoBC2d3cy13aXotaW1nsAE
KwAEB&sclient=img&ei=wANlY9HdMIeLmAWFy7T4BQ&bih=597&biw=1242&r
lz=1C1UEAD_enPH997PH997#imgrc=2VB8qZWAjii_UM
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WgQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=Western+visayas-
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biw=1242&rlz=1C1UEAD_enPH997PH997#imgrc=M0Zo-ZqlshxyBM