EMILIANO RIEGO DE DIOS (1864-1926)
A HISTORICAL document dated August 10,
1898, shows that the Emiliano Riego de Dios was the “general governor” of
Cavite. This means that after the appointment Mariano Trias as secretary of
finance in the Aguinaldo cabinet on July 15, he was, succeeded by Riego de Dios
as politico-military governor of Cavite.
It
would seem, however that Riego de Dios did not stay long as politico-military
governor because he was soon appointed head of a 500-man expedition to the
Bicol region, staying there until mid-October of 1898. Assisting Riego de Dios
on the command staff of the expedition were two Caviteño senior officers, Col.
Aniano del Rosario of Imus, and Lt. Col. Pedro Aguinaldo of Kawit. On November
23, Aguinaldo appointed Riego de Dios as vice-president of the diplomatic
commission to Europe and the United States to work for the recognition of
Philippine Independence proclaimed in Kawit on June 12. Headed by Felipe
Agoncillo, the commission failed to accomplish its mission.
Riego
de Dios was later appointed head of the Filipino junta in Hongkong. He was assisted
by Isidoro de Santos. It was in his capacity as head of the junta that Riego de
Dios sent a letter to U.S. President William McKinley, warning the latter that
“the Americans may conquer the entire Philippines but they will never crush the
Filipinos’ aspiration to be free and independent.
Born
on September 7, 1864 to a middle class couple, Sotero Riego de Dios and Jorja
Loyola, Emiliano obtained his early education in his native town of Maragondon.
Then, he took his segunda eszenansa
in the San Juan de Letran College in Manila, and later pursued his A.B. course
in the Ateneo de Municipal. However, he failed to obtain his bachelor’s degree
because, disgusted with his professors’ method of teaching, he left Ateneo and
returned to Maragondon to help his parents run the family farms.
Emiliano
was gobernadorcillo and later capitan municipal of Maragondon when the
Revolution broke out. He and his two brothers, Vicente and Mariano, were guests
of Emilio Aguinaldo on the eve of the annual fiesta in Kawit, July 21, 1896,
when they were inducted into the Katipunan. At that time then, was yet no
Magdalo-Magdiwang conflict, so Emiliano joined the Magdiwang Council in San
Francisco de Malabon and eventually became its ministro de formento.
In
the Tejeros Convention of March 22, 1897, Emiliano was elected secretary of war
of the new revolutionary government. The Riego de Dios brothers voted for
General Emilio Aguinaldo as president of the revolutionary government instead
of Andres Bonifacio or Mariano Trias of the Magdiwang Council. They believed
that Aguinaldo, having won most of his battles against the Spaniards, was the
right man to head the revolutionary government.
It
was Emiliano who advised Aguinaldo to commute the death sentence meted out to
the Bonifacio brothers (Andres and Procopio) by the Council of war. His younger
brother, Mariano, who was a member of the Council, did not sign the verdict
because he believed it was too harsh and that the Bonifacio’s should just be
sentenced to banishment for the duration of the revolution.
Emiliano
served as secretary general of the Associacion de los Veteranos de la
Revolucion headed by General Emilio Aguinaldo. He married Gregoria Riel of
Mragondon by whom he had three children: Gorgonio, Juan and Magpuri. He died on
his farm in Maragondon on February 4, 1926, at the age of 62. Given full
military honors he was buried, at the instance of General Aguinaldo and Senate
President Manuel L. Quezon, in the “ Libingan ng mga Bayani” at Cementerio del
Norte, Manila.
[Sources:
(1) Monograph written by Judge Juan R. Narvaez of Maragondon; (2) Prominent Caviteños. Copyright by E.A.
de Ocampo; (3) Emilio Aguinaldo, Mga
Gunita ng Himagsikan, 1964; and (4) Memoirs
of General Artemio Ricarte
(Manila, National Historical Commission, 1963).]