Miracle of a Rallos
An entry of the book “Ang Kagubot sa Sugbo, 1898” tells the story of the miracle of a member of the wealthy Rallos clan of Cebu. This was written by Mrs. Soledad Rallos Bayloies. It is the 30th story of the book written by Manuel Enriquez dela Calzada.
Don Florentino Rallos, who became Cebu City’s first elected municipal president on January 10, 1899, was a junior clerk (escribiente-subalterno) of the office of Gen. Adolfo Montero, the last Governor of Cebu. He had a brother by the name of Mauricio Rallos, who married Maxima Bunjok (the other members of the clan changed the spelling to Bonjoc), who were residents of Carmen, Cebu. The couple owned a vast land that supported them.
Though originally from Carmen, the couple often came to Cebu City to visit their son Filomeno who was studying at the Seminario de San Carlos. The couple however was unaware of KKK Cebu’s uprising against the Spaniards. When they came to Cebu City on the last part of April 1898, they were arrested by the Spanish authorities as they failed to answer the question “Quien vive?” -- which was to be answered by Viva España -- to mean that they were not insurgents. They were accosted by the Spaniards at the boundary of Mabolo and Mandaue. Mauricio Rallos was then brought to the Kutta (Fort San Pedro).
Despite the appeals of Don Florentino Rallos, the governor did not listen. The parish priest of Carmen also made an appeal, yet it was ignored. The entire family of Mauricio and Maximo, with their seven children, came to live in Cebu City to be closer and to be in touch of the latter’s imprisonment.
The family had no one to turn to except to pray. They prayed for the intercession of the Mary of Mount Carmel, the mother of Jesus Christ. It was on a Sunday dawn that Mauricio came out of the fort, walking towards the firing squad. They arrived at Carreta when it was still dark, and they were about to read of his sentence. Mauricio bade goodbye to his family while hands tied, then his son Filomeno whispered that he would be the one to die. He exchanged place with his father and became the one who had his hands tied. The Spanish authorities did not discover the exchange as it was dark and the two had similar profile and size. Mauricio gave his necklace to Filomeno; it had a pendant of the Virgin. When the drum was played and the burst of gunfire followed, Filomeno fell with two wounds: one with entry wound to the right portion of his stomach and the bullet exiting his body, while the other one on the side of his heart but hit the end of the pendant and Filomeno -- nicknamed “Minoy” -- was alive and asked for water.
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