LUCIANO SAN MIGUEL
(1875-1902)
MANY
historians claim that General Miguel Malvar (1865-1911) of Batangas Province
was the “last Filipino general to surrender” to the Americans. The date of his
surrender was April 16, 1902. He was a brave man.
Caviteños, on
the other hand, may well take pride in the fact that General Luciano San Miguel
of Noveleta was probably the last Filipino general to die fighting the
Americans. Wounded seriously, San Miguel, according to an eyewitness account by
an American soldier, “raised his revolver and fired one wavering shot… A split
second later came the retaliatory shot from the rifle of an American sergeant,
and General San Miguel pitched forward, shot through the head.”
The heroic
incident happened during an encounter in the Coral-na-Bato, municipality of
Bobosco, near Antipolo, Rizal Province, on the morning of March 27, 1903 or 11
months after Malvar’s surrender.
On January
15, 1903, about two years after the capture of General Aguinaldo in Palanan,
Isabela, General San Miguel was “elected” supreme commander of all existing
insurgent forces fighting the Americans. The document on his elevation to the
highest command was found in San Miguel’s pocket following his heroic death in
Coral-na-Bato. The Filipino resistance movement suffered a great loss in this
encounter because two other Filipino generals were killed in the same
encounter: General of the Brigade Julian Santos and General Benito Sta. Ana.
San Miguel
was born in Noveleta on January 7, 1875. Only 21 when the Philippine Revolution
broke out, he was one of the Magdiwang commanders who figured prominently in
the Battle of Dalahikan on November 9-11, 1896. The Magdiwang forces in this
sector were under the overall command of General Santiago Alvarez,
captain-general of the Magdiwang government. A real patriot, San Miguel
sacrificed his life in defense of his country.
San Miguel
represented the province of Negros Oriental in the Revolutionary Congress in
Tarlac, Tarlac.
[Sources: (1)
“General Luciano San Miguel,” a brief biographical sketch in Noveleta: Its
History and People, prepared by a group of Rural Service Participants in
Noveleta, Cavite, January 1-15, 1979; and (2) Sol H. Gwekoh, “ General Luciano
San Miguel,” an unpublished manuscript dated May 29, 1973, Archives Section,
Main Library, Gonzalez Hall, University of the Philippines.]