Luis Abellar, Cebuano KKK martyr in the uprising against Spain

Cebu City honors this Cebuano martyr by renaming a portion of a street named St. Niño which starts from the Don Bosco Training Center up to the boundary between Barangay Pasil and Barangay Suba. The street naming is by virtue of City Ordinance No. 1750 enacted on March 3, 1999.

A portion of the ordinance tells who the honoree was: “WHEREAS, the late Luis Abellar was arrested summarily executed by the Spaniards together with Tranquilino delos Santos of Pagina (Pahina), Nicomedes Machacon, Luciano Machacon and Precioso Padilla.”

The book of Michael Cullinane “Arenas of Conspiracy and Rebellion in the late Nineteenth-Century Philippines” with the subtitle “The Case of the April 1898 Uprising in Cebu” gives a more detail of who Abellar was:

“In addition, Mariano Hernandez, Luis Abellar and others have been credited with recruiting fellow employees of the Smith Bell and Company Warehouse.” - the said personalities are the catalyst of organizing the KKK Cebu.

Luis Abellar was mentioned in the same book as one of the affluent members of the community: “The principals involved in the rebellion were those led by a relatively small group of deeply committed municipal officials (Candido Padilla, Jacinto Pacana, Andres Abellana, Francisco Llamas, Luis Abellar and Teopisto Cavan), men whose power over the municipality was being increasingly challenged by residents and families aligned with the emerging Spanish and wealthy Filipino community of the greater urban area.”

Abellar was said to be 58 years old during the uprising, married, and lived in San Nicolas (at that time a municipality of its own, separate from Ciudad de Cebu), he was the Teniente of Pasil, he was recruited by A. Oclarino and designated as head of one the five cabecillas for San Nicolas.

Luis Abellar was not the lone member of the Abellar Clan who chose to rise against Spain. There was also Dionisio Abellar who was active during the Battle of Tres de Abril and thereafter.

Luis Abellar had a son by the name of Emeterio Abellar who was interviewed on February 26, 1976. The article featuring this interview appeared in the “The Freeman” April 3, 1976 edition. It was written by Susan T. Go and entitled “The Last Living Witness to Tres de Abril”.