The 122nd anniversary of Tres de Abril

As an armchair historian in this time of quarantine, it’s high time for our parents who are home with their children to remind them that today is the famous Tres de Abril or 3rd of April a historic event way back in the year 1898 or 122 years ago, when the Katipuneros led by Leon Kilat or Pantaleon Villegas, from Negros Oriental, led a revolt against the Guardia Civil under Governor General Montero and defeated them at what is now corner V. Rama Avenue and Tres de Abril Street.

The Guardia Civil retreated to the Fort San Pedro and the Katipunan took control of Cebu City for at least four days until the Spanish cruiser Don Juan de Austria arrived with Gen. Tejeiro and 500 men and forced the Katipunan to retreat to the mountains of Cebu. Leon Kilat was killed by his aide-de-camp, Apolinario Alcuitas, on April 8, 1898. The rebels then withdrew out of the city a few weeks after he died. However, some of his generals, like General Maxilom, managed to capture some towns in the province such as Toledo and Balamban. This is our Cebu history where Cebuano Katipuneros captured Cebu City all on their own without any outside help.

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One major piece of news we gathered from Malacañang is that the “full might” of the law will be applied on those who harm or discriminate against health workers on the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19. It seems that there have been many reports about frontline workers being assaulted by people who accuse them of carrying COVID-19, prompting the DOH to seek increased police presence near hospitals.

The incidents include the splattering of bleach on the face of a healthcare worker in Sultan Kudarat and the splashing of chlorine on a nurse in Cebu. Some sectors have also expressed alarm over the refusal of some establishments to serve health workers and the reported eviction of some nurses from their dormitories.

This reminds me that Governor Gwendolyn Garcia slammed a group in Bogo City for reportedly starting a petition to ban the entry of local medical frontliners in their subdivision. After the organization moved to expel frontline doctors and nurses from the Cebu Provincial Hospital in Bogo from their subdivision for fear of COVID-19 contamination, Garcia went on to point out that the medical workers are putting their lives at risk in order to combat COVID-19.

Indeed many front liners risked their lives so that others may live! They should be given a special treatment rather than be ostracized! Garcia said she received this information from Association of Barangay Captains President and ex-officio Board Member Celestino “Tining” Martinez.

To address this issue, no less than PNP chief Archie Gamboa has directed all local police units to provide every possible assistance and security to medical staff and health workers. Gamboa said “the PNP is committed to apply the full might of the law against those who dare to harm our health workers and will do whatever it takes to protect them from crime, violence and any form of oppression and discrimination. We won’t let our heroes be harmed.” However he admitted that the suspension of mass transport systems has made it difficult for frontliners to report for work.

I saw on my Facebook page that some of our frontline nurses taking bicycles to work, which is obviously due to the fact that our public transportation has been shut down. So at this point I expect our Cebu City government to provide scheduled buses for our frontliners. Come now, didn’t we just received a good number of brand new buses? Let’s use them for this occasion so that this will no longer be an issue here.

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Now for some good news, it seems that the US, China, and France are looking into that hydroxychloroquine combo treatment to save the lives of patients having COVID-19 problems. I understand that some age-old medicines for malaria are now being tested on infected patients and I saw a chart that showed that at least 10 patients with COVID-19 were cured after getting this combo treatment.

So the huge question is do we have hydroxychloroquine in stock? I believe we might have it since we also suffered from the dreaded malaria. I hope that the Department of Health can look into this and hopefully try it on patients suffering from COVID-19.