MAXIMO INOCENCIO 91833 – 1896)
AT THE age of 63 (another source says 64) Maximo Inocencio was the oldest of the Thirteen Martyrs of Cavite. Simply because he was a Freemason, he was implicated in the Cavite Mutiny of 1872 and was subsequently deported on Cueta in Spanish morocco, Africa (another source says Cartagena, Spain). After ten years in exile he returned to the Philippines and resumed his flourishing business as building and bridge contractor, shipbuilder, sawmill operator, hauler of logs and transporter of firewood from Mindoro, Mariveles, and Padre Burgos, Tayabas (now Quezon) Province.
Son of Tranquillo Inocencio, a seaman making voyages to and from Mexico, and Ana Maria Franco, of Spanish ancestry, Maximo was born on November 18,1833, in the old town of Cavite (now Cavite City). Although one source identifies him as an architect, little is known about his schooling. One biographer (Ignacio Villamor) says that “ with chisel and hammer he (Inocencio) worked his way to wealth, amassing one of the largest fortunes in the province.”
Parenthetically, Aguinaldo as his headquarters used Inocencio’s mansion in Cavite before transferring to Bacoor on July 4, 1898. Bearing the Hongkong-made Filipino flag. Aguinaldo left the mansion shortly after lunch on June 12, 1898, and headed for Cavite el Viejo (now Kawit) to proclaim Philippine independence from the central window of his ancestral home.
A substantial and highly respected citizen, Inocencio was implicated in the planned uprising in Cavite by Alfonso de Ocampo, the assistant provincial warden, who squealed on the names of his companions after being subjected to third degree by Spanish investigators. De Ocampo revealed that according to plan, fireworks from the bodega of Inocencio would signal the start of the uprising.
After a summary trial Inocencio, with 12 ill-fated companions, was executed at Plaza de Armas, outside the Fort of San Felipe, on September 12, 1896. Dumped into a common grave in barrio Caridad, Inocencio’s body was later exhumed and interred in a niche in the Porta Vaga Church. His wife, Narcisa Francisco, and nine children, four of whom reached maturity, survived him.
[Sources: (1) Prominent Caviteños in the Philippine History. Copyright by Estaban A. de Ocampo, 1941; (2) A. E. Manuel, Dictionary of Philippine Biography, Manila, 1973; (3) Eminent Filipinos. Manila, National Historical Commission, 1965; and (4) Gregorio F. Zaide, Great Filipinos in History. Manila, 1970.]