Life,Glory and Death The story of the Cuatro Aliños

The lives of the less famous Filipino heroes are Incomplete at best and they are enigmatic at worst. Our heroes today have been cultivated by centuries of Folklore, Teachings and Hearsay and today many Filipino heroes like Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio are praised for their contributions to Filipino society today wether directly or indirectly, But let us take a moment to breach the barrier of animosity towards our less known filipino heroes and let us peer into their lives, their Life,Glory and Death.

The less well known filipino hero we will be covering is not one person but three? The Tres Aliños.
The three brothers hail from what was in the 1800s the small town of Talisay. The three brothers are known for their prowess in military command against both the Spanish and American Colonizers their leadership lead the Cebuanos to revolution.

Lets first start with a introduction. Dr. Richel Bacaltos, the head of the Talisay City College, said these valiant heroes, who may not be known to many, were native of the city who also risked their lives to free the nation from oppression. Originally, there was Tres Aliños  Felix, Hilario and Potenciano who are all generals. But an addition was their youngest Sulpicio who was a colonel. The name of the Tres Aliños still stuck though so we will be calling them the Tres Aliños in this Article but with the addition of Sulcipio a more appropriate name would be The Cuatro Aliños. The first record of their heroism is detailed in “History of Talisay City” by Ricardo Patalinjug and Rogelio R. Murcia Jr. when the brothers engaged in battle in mordern day Barangay San Isidro but were beaten back by overwhelming fire from the Guardia Civil, which is like a police force for towns in the Spanish colonial period.

The next record of their heroism is also in the book “History Of Talisay” when the brothers lost the battle in San Isidro they proceeded to attack the Guardia Civil building in Talisay (Which is somewhere in modern day Uldog) and the Spanish sugar mill called “Maquina De Vapor” the attack commenced around 8:00 PM and started. Spanish forces lead by Sgt. Muscoso and a soldier of unknown rank named Eugenio Baldomero who may also be the head of the Spanish sugar mill.

Meanwhile in San Nicolas to the north the Spanish forces were busy raiding the house of Presco Arbeu who was suspected of being part of the Katipunan. Earlier, General Montero was informed by Father Tomas Gimenez about the surprise attack of the katipuneros through a confession of a certain Potenciana from Pardo. Thus, he instructed his cazadores, guardia civil, voluntarios locales and carraveneros to watch the men of San Nicolas grouping themselves together without the presence of soldiers and shoot them if necessary. He had now assumed command of the Spanish forces, not trusting his men completely. This was on the night of April 2nd and the early morning of April 3rd. The next day the Famous battle of Tres de Abril occured.

The fate of the four brothers is disputed but their are many theories. For the fate of Potenciano he lived the revolution and lived through the Philippine-American war and his descendants are in Mindanao and Visayas, The fate of Felix and Hilario is that they either died during the war or escaped to Dumaguete after the battle of Barili, for Sulcipio there are no records for what happened to him.

Though it is disputed today if the battle of Tres De Abril was inspired by the happenings of April 2 in Talisay or if the attack in Talisay was just a “early gunshot” in the war there is no doubt that even if they are not well known today aside from in the minds of College students studying in history class, the Tres Aliños contributed in their own way to the freedom of Cebu and the Philippines from the Spanish Empire.