FELICIANO CABUCO
[1885-1896]
THE YOUNGEST of the Thirteen Martyrs of Cavite, Feliciano Cabuco, 31, Freemason, was best prepared to pay for plotting to overthrow the Spanish regime in the Philippines.
According to his prison mate, Alfonso de Ocampo, who attempted to commit suicide after having squealed on his companion in the revolutionary conspiracy, it was in the house of Cabuco where the secret meetings were held by the group. Upon learning that Spanish soldiers were coming to arrest him, Cabuco according to de Ocampo, said, “Donde morir uno, asi mismo moriren todos”[Where one dies, so also all must die]; and then he added in Tagalog, “May panahon din sila!’ [They will also have their day of reckoning!]
The son of Jose Cabuco, a former cabeza de barangay, and Felipa de Leon, Feliciano Cabuco was born on June 9, 1865[?] in Caridad, Cavite Puerto [now Cavite City]. He studied his first years of segunda enzenanza in the private school of Jose Basa y Enriquez. He was a clerk in the Canacao Hospital when he joined Freemasonry and later the Katipunan.
Cabuco was married to Marcela Bernal of Caridad by whom he had two sons who died in infancy. Buried in a common grave after their execution, his remains were later interred in the Cavite monument to the Thirteen Martyrs.
[Sources: [1] E. A. Manuel, Dictionary of Philippine Biography; [2] Gregorio F. Zaide, Great Filipinos in History, 1970; [3] Prominent Cavitenos in The Philippine History, Copyright by Esteban A. de Ocampo, 1941; [4] Cavite Independent, September 1, 1956; and [5] Esteban A. de Ocampo, “Aguinaldo Centennial,” Manila Times, September 12, 1969.]