Mayor Maximo Suniel, Congressmen Pedro Baculio and Emmanuel Pelaez: the Distinguished Gentlemen behind the Cagayan de Oro City Charter

On June 15, 1950, President Elpidio Quirino signed R. A. 521, a law that converted the Municipality of Cagayan de Misamis into a chartered city. This year, 2025, marks the 75th or Diamond Anniversary of Cagayan de Oro as a city. That historic event in 1950 was just a few years after the country’s devastation caused by the Second World War. On the other hand, there was the joy of American and Filipino victories over the Japanese. There was also the glory of the independence granted by the United States to the Philippines on July 4, 1946, which was just a year after the end of the war. Those memories were still fresh in the Kagay-anons’ mind on that charter day.                                                                

The Japanese surrendered to the American and allied Forces on September 2, 1945, which formally ended the war. A year later, an election was held on April 1946 that resulted to the election of Manuel Roxas as president. Three months later, on July 4, 1946, the United States granted independence to the Philippines thus ending the country’s commonwealth status.                                                                    

In Cagayan de Misamis, in the aftermath of the war and the granting of the country’s independence, the municipality went through the process of rehabilitation and reconstruction of damaged infrastructures. Government institutions had to be re-established. Local government officials at that time saw the need to elevate Cagayan to a city Status. In this regard, the municipal council created a three-man committee led by treasurer Maximo Suniel to promote the conversion of Cagayan into a chartered city. Relative to that move, Pedro Baculio who was the congressman of Misamis Oriental sponsored bill 2829 for that purpose. In 1948, President Roxas died of a heart attack and Vice President Elpidio Quirino took over as president who then appointed Maximo Suniel as Mayor of Cagayan.   

                                                 

The term of the first congress expired in 1949 with the bill not yet enacted into law. Emmanuel Pelaez who succeeded Pedro Baculio as the representative in Misamis Oriental worked for the passage of bill in congress. The bill was signed into law by President Quirino on June 15, 1950. Cagayan de Misamis became a chartered city by virtue of R. A. 521. Immediately after the signing, the president sworn in Maximo Suniel as the mayor of the newly created city. The word “Misamis” was removed from the name and in its place was the Spanish word “Oro” which means gold. Oro was an appropriate word addition because Cagayan River is known for the presence of gold sediments and nuggets as well as the hospitable and friendly dispositions of the residents which are considered as golden traits. Thus, the official name of the newly charted city was Cagayan de Oro. The signing of the charter was 4 years after the Philippines independence and 5 years after the war.   

The distinguished gentlemen behind R. A. 521:       

                                                                   

Maximo Yparraguirre Suniel was born in Carascal, Surigao on November 18, 1898. At age 24, he became the municipal treasurer of Mambajao, Camiguin. He moved to Cagayan de Misamis as a municipal treasurer on January 24, 1924. When war broke out, he joined the resistant movement against the Japanese. After the war he was given back his job as a treasurer. On September 25, 1947, the municipal council created a three-man committee to work for the conversion of Cagayan into a city. In 1948 he was appointed as the mayor of Cagayan. Upon the signing of President Quirino of R. A. 521 of the city’s charter, the president immediately sworn in Maximo Suniel as the mayor of the new city. Thus, Maximo Suniel was the last mayor of Cagayan de Misamis, and the first mayor of Cagayan de Oro City.     

                                                                                                                                        

Pedro Salvador Baculio, a lawyer, was born on October 19, 1909. He was the acting governor of Misamis Oriental on August 1, 1945, which at that time included the island of Camiguin and Cagayan de Misamis. He represented the province in the first congress from 1946 to 1949. In Mar 1953 he was the appointed mayor of the new city of Cagayan de Oro. The loss of President Quirino that he supported in the election of 1953 cut short his stint as Mayor in December 1953. As a congressman, he was responsible for sponsoring a bill in 1948 to convert the municipality of Cagayan de Misamis into a City. 

 Emmanuel Neri Pelaez was born on November 30, 1915, in Medina, Misamis Oriental. He topped the 1938 bar exam with a rating of 91.3%. He succeeded Rep Baculio as the Misamis Oriental representative in congress on December 30, 1949. In that capacity he worked for the passage of the bill filed by Rep. Baculio. Pelaez’ effort helped in the signing of the bill to become R. A, 521 that converted Cagayan into a chartered city. In the 1953 election he ran for senator and won. In the 1959 election, he won as vice president in tandem with Diosdado Macapagal who was elected president. In the Macapagal administration, Pelaez was also appointed as Secretary of Foreign Affairs. His differences with Macapagal caused his resignation of the post, and he later transferred to the Nacionalista Party where he made himself available as its presidential nominee. During the party convention to select the party candidate for president, Senate President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. who topped the bar in 1939, bolted the Liberal Party to join the Nacionalista and challenged Pelaez in the presidential nomination. In the convention marred with allegations of coercion and vote buying Marcos defeated Pelaez as the party’s presidential candidate. In the election that followed Marcos defeated Macapagal to become the new president of the Philippines. After his vice presidency, Pelaez served as a congressman, as a senator and as a member of Batasan Pambansa in the Martial law period. During president Corazon Aquino’s term of office, he was appointed as the Ambassador to the United States in 1986.                                     

Pelaez was one of the most popular political personalities in the Philippines at the prime of his political career. He was an admired and beloved figure of the people of Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental who fondly called him “Maning. He was the first person in Mindanao to top the bar exam. He was also the first politician from Mindanao to become vice president of the Philippines. His ambition to become the President of the Philippines was within a hair’s breadth had Ferdinand Marcos Sr. not seized from him that opportunity.

The Higaonons, The Early Inhabitants of Cagayan de Oro

 

The name Higaonon is derived from three Bukidnon words which are “higa” or living, “goan” or mountain and “onon” or people. And it goes to say that Higaonon means people living in the mountain or people living in the wilderness. Another version of the origin of the word is that “higa” means coastal plain, and “goan” a verb that means to ascend to the mountains. This suggests that Higaonons were once living in the coastal areas who later moved to the mountains.                                                                                                                                                                 

Before the Spaniards came to this place which is now called Cagayan de Oro, there was a Higaonon village called Himologan which was along the river called Cagaiang. Its leader was Datu Salangsang. During that time Islam was already the widespread religion especially in the western and south western parts of Mindanao. A Muslim leader named Sultan Kudarat from Cotabato was the paramount ruler in great parts of Mindanao, and his area of influence reached as far as the Himologan village. Despite the predominance of the Islamic faith, Datu Salangsang and his people remained polytheistic animists although they had to pay tribute to Sultan Kudarat for protection.

In 1622 recollect missionaries Fray Francisco de la Madre de Dios and Fray Juan de San Nicolas with the help of Magdalena Bacuya, who was the Christianized grandmother of Datu Salangsang, sailed from Butuan to Himologan. Reaching there, they wanted to Christianize the natives, but realizing that doing so might provoke a reprisal from the Sultan and might put the village at risk of a Moro attack, the priests withheld their action. They went back to Butuan to seek help, and Fray Agustin de San Pedro, later known as El Padre Capitan went to Himologan. After a brief stay there, he decided to move the village inhabitants to a promontory which is now the site of Saint Augustine Cathedral and Gaston Park. El Padre Capitan trained the natives on fighting skills and built a wall fortification which he called “Fuerza Real de San Jose” to repel Moro attacks.

Over the years, migration of people particularly from the Vizayas such as Cebu and Bohol have shaped the present demographic character of Cagayan de Misamis, now Cagayan de Oro which is a largely Christian and Cebuano speaking city. There are also considerable number of minorities such as Chinese, Maranao and people coming from other parts of the Philippines and Mindanao. Higaonons who mostly live in the hinterlands of the city call people living in the lowlands as “Dumagats”. The Higaonons have considerable population in barangays such as LumbIa, Besigan, Bayanga, Tumpagaon, FS Catanico, Tignapuluan, Pagalungan, Tablon, Dansolihon, Tagpangi, Cugman, Mambuaya. Taglimao, San Simon, Tuburan and Pigsag-an.

Higaonons speak dialect which is different from the mainstream Cebuano. Their dialect which is called “Binukid” is a variant of the Manobo dialect. It is not intelligible with Cebuano, Maranao or dialects of other ethnic groups living in the surrounding areas. Although most Higaonons are conversant with Cebuano, their dialect is not intelligible to Cebuanos or to Maranaos. With the passing of time, younger Higaonons have become more fluent with Cebuano than the dialect of their parents. And there is a danger that the succeeding generations might lost the dialect of their ancestors due to their adaptation of the language spoken by the mainstream population of Northern Mindanao.

Although the Higaonons have embraced the Christian faith, they retained some traces of their animistic beliefs and practices. Some still invoke the help of nature spirits in activities such as planting, hunting and other endeavors. Higaonons subsist mainly on farming as their means of livelihood. They also engaged in gold panning and fishing in the river, and on hunting games in the wild. Parts of their social, cultural, political and other activities revolve around the Datu who is a respected person in a community who acts as a leader, a counsellor, a dispute mediator or even as a medicine man.

The Higaonons are gentle and friendly people who are also fierce when provoked. They are an indigenous people in the city who remain proud and loyal to their traditions and cultures despite the political, social and demographic changes that have taken place with the passing of time.

 

 

Fort Pilar, Zamboanga City

 

The Spaniards during the colonial era built military fortifications in some strategic places of the Philippines to protect established communities from raids and incursions especially from pirates and Moros. In Mindanao forts were also built. Some of them were demolished and others did not survive the ravages of time. But there are still others that exist today.

In the tip of the Zamboanga Peninsula Jesuit priest Melchor de Vera with the approval of Spanish Governor General Juan Cerezo de Salamanca built a fortification called Fort San Jose on June 23, 1635.  That date was also the founding of Zamboanga. The military fort was to protect the place called Jambangan from Moro pirates as well as attacks from Sultans of Mindanao and Sulu.

Due to lack of manpower, Spanish, Peruvian and Mexican builders had to import additional workforce from Cavite, Bohol and Panay for the construction of the fortification. The mix of different people from various places in the Philippines with diverse dialects under the control of the Spaniards may explain the development of Chabacano, a Spanish pidgin dialect spoken in Zamboanga because people had to communicate with each other in an understandable language, in that particular situation the Spanish.

The fort was attacked by the Dutch in 1646. It was abandoned by the Spaniards in 1662 to reinforce the Spanish administration in Manila which was under the threat of the Chinese pirate Koxinga who earlier defeated the Dutch. The attack however did not happen.

After it was destroyed by the pirates and raiders, Jesuit missionaries rebuilt the fort in 1699. Upon order of Spanish Governor General Manuel de Bustillo Bustamante Y Rueda Spanish engineer Juan Sicarra rebuilt the fort in 1718. The fort was then renamed Real Fuerte de Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza.

The years that followed saw attacks on the fort and a violent incident. In 1718 Dalasi, king of Bulig with about 3,000 Moro pirates stormed the fort but were repulsed by the defenders. In 1798, the British cannoned the Fort and in 1872 it was a scene of mutiny of 70 prisoners.

Marian relief

In 1734, a Marian relief was built on the eastern wall of the fort. It was named Nuestra Señora del pilar de Zaragoza (Our Lady of the Pillar of Zaragoza). The Virgin Mary of the Pillar became the patroness of Zamboanga. The outdoor Marian Shrine become a place of devotion and worship to some faithful who believe that the Lady of the Pillar is miraculous. Tradition has it that Virgin Mary made several apparitions. It is said that she first appeared to a soldier near the gate of the Fort on December 6, 1734. During an earthquake on September 21, 1897 in the Zamboanga Peninsula, it was said that some visionaries saw the Virgin Mary floating in the air in Basilan Strait and raised her right hand to stop the onrushing waves thus preventing the onslaught of Tsunami in Zamboanga.

On May 1899 during the Spanish-American War, the Spaniards surrendered the fort to the Filipino revolutionaries led by General Vicente Alvarez. On November 19, 1899 the fort was captured by the Americans. During World War II, the fort was occupied by the Japanese. American and Filipino troops recaptured it in 1945. The Americans officially turned over the fort to the Philippine government on July 4, 1946.

On August 1, 1973 Fort Pilar was declared as a national cultural treasure. Today the fort is placed under the administration of Regional Museum of the National Museum which makes the fort its regional headquarters.

Today, the fort is a major tourist attraction of the city. The original walls are still intact, and is protected by a metal fence around them. On the eastern side of the fort’s wall is the relief of the Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza and below it is an altar. The shrine is enclosed and protected with metal fence.

Historical marker

courtyard and museums

At the entrance of the fort is a historical marker. Visitors can go inside the fort passing through the security personnel of the National Museum for free. In the center inside the fort is a courtyard. And adjacent to the walls are buildings which house the museum containing different artifacts and materials of the marine life of Zamboanga, Basilan and Sulu. Visitors can view the display in the museum for free. They are required though to take off their shoes to view the displays and they are not allowed to take picture with a DSLR camera. They can only take pictures with a smart phone, and that they will not use flash or take video with their phone.

preserved marine life

lantaka

colonial era bell

ramp

a walkway and a bastion

Visitors can climb to the rampart of the Fort through the ramp that connects it. On top is a walkway where they can see the scene below including the sea and the Santa Cruz Islands. At corner of the walls are bastions with security guards manning a guard house. Also on the bastions is parapet with merlons and crenels. In the days of old these structures might have given a defender a vantage position from the attackers who were on the ground below.

 

The Men of "A" Co, 41st Inf. Bn in the Battle of Camp Barkat, Tipo-tipo, Basilan

A military operation to carry out Oplan Kansulod was conducted by 41IB, 4ID, PA in the area of Tipo-Tipo, Basilan from 22 to 30 January 1979 to clear objectives from the control of secessionist Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebels. During that time Muslim secessionist rebellion was still at its peak in Mindanao.  

Tipo-Tipo, Basilan where my battalion was deployed was a poor municipality with small population of mostly Muslim Yakan tribe. It was one of the hot spots where bloody armed encounters between government soldiers and Moro rebels frequently took place. The municipality has a rolling terrain with low hills and plains. The vegetation in the surroundings are coconut trees, coffees, forests especially in elevated grounds and scattered small areas of under developed corn or rice fields. There are also balono and balite trees especially along the unpaved road connecting the municipality to Lamitan. Because of the armed conflict, the people converged in the municipality proper or in the small villages and leaving large areas uninhabited.   

The battalion’s operating units were composed of Alpha and Bravo Companies. I was assigned as one of the platoon leaders of Alpha Company. During that time I was a 26-year old lieutenant, and most of my men were younger than me. The other platoon leaders were Lt Feliciano Lao and Lt Reynaldo Gonzales who was also the executive officer. Our company commander was Lt Isidro Reyes.

Our operational area was a place that was abandoned by the populace. In it were few dilapidated houses that were long unoccupied. Seldom did locals venture there lest they would be mistaken for a rebel. There were coconut trees and coffees with unharvested ripe berries. Flying lemurs or “kagwang” unmindful of our presence did their routine gliding from one coconut tree to another. If not for the chirping of birds or sound of other wild animals the place would be totally still. In the evening the roar of pump boat in the coastal village of Bojelibung was audible. Despite the serene atmosphere, past incidents served to warn those who would be there that it was a dangerous place to stay because the enemies were seasoned warriors who were veterans of many battles not only in Basilan, but also in neighboring islands. And they had much familiarity with the terrain as well as the local populace to boot.

Initially, the operation went smoothly as planned. The company was able to clear out all its early objectives. The enemies were dislodged and fled away after brief skirmishes.Then final phase of our operation came. The exit point was the small village of Limboupas. On our route of advance was a certain area that was called Camp “Barkat”. But in there was no camp at all and there were no inhabitants. That place was virtually a battle ground with a notoriety of being the site of battles between government soldiers and MNLF rebels where both sides suffered heavy casualties.

In the afternoon, after lunch, Alpha and Bravo Companies broke camp for the conclusion of the operation. Bravo Company moved ahead of Alpha. After several minutes we followed suit. And hours later as we moved on, we heard sound of gun fires. At first, we thought that there was no cause of concern because gunfire sound was just common occurrence in the locality even in ordinary days. But the sound kept getting louder and louder so that we sensed that something was amiss. Over the radio, Lt Reyes called Bravo Company. It was the radioman who answered him that they were being ambushed. Later, there was no longer reply when Lt Reyes asked for more information which alarmed him.

Acting with dispatch, Lt Reyes then ordered his platoon leaders and key NCOs to advance toward the direction of the gun fires. Along the way, the radio man of Bravo and some NCOs who were separated from their comrades emerged, joined us and narrated the incident. Finding the site of the encounter, the company continued its advance. But as we get near, we were met with a deafening sound of fires accompanied by hail of bullets. Because of the heavy fires, the men had to crawl and creep using bushes and young coconut trees as concealment and cover. At times, amid the heavy exchange of fires, I could hear the whizzing of bullets just a few inches over my head.

Our advance ended in an place where there was an open area that looked like an abandoned cornfield. Further advance was difficult because it would render us a sitting duck of enemy snipers. The enemies could not advance to us either because they too would be exposed to the same predicament. In our position we only had bushes and young coconut trees to protect ourselves. The enemies on the other hand had a more vantage position being in a higher forested ground.  

From their respective positions the two sides exchanged intensive fires. The officers and the key NCOs had to tell their men to control their fire lest they ran out of ammunition. In the heat of the gun battle, our machine gunner was hit by a sniper bullet on the leg. Lt Reyes had to order the medics to bring him to the rear for treatment. The fierce firing continued and neither side could get the upper hand because the space separating them was an open field which could make an advancing soldier or a rebel a sure hit of a bullet.

As the fighting continued, the late afternoon was inching into the evening, and with it the volume of fires gradually dwindled. When darkness fell, the firings on both sides stopped but they were just observing each other. The officers told their men to dig in, hold their positions and prepare to brace themselves for an assault by the enemy. We felt that the enemy was just there in the near vicinity but they were probably expecting us to initiate the attack. But nothing came to happen that evening until the break of dawn.

When morning came reinforcing troops from the battalion headquarters with an Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) joined the company. Even with more troops in the scene, the rebels still gave their parting shoots before withdrawing from the area. And shortly thereafter, the dead were recovered and the wounded were evacuated.

The battle of Camp Barkat, Tipo-Tipo, Basilan was a memorable and cherished event in the mind of the officers and men of Alpha Company as well as Bravo Company, 41^st Infantry Battalion who participated in it. Kudos to the heroic soldiers especially those who were wounded or gave up their lives. I would also like to pay tribute to the late retired Colonel Isidro Reyes who as a lieutenant commanding our Company was able to weather the storm despite the overwhelming odds against us. With his good leadership, he was able to hold at bay the well positioned and numerically superior enemies with only one fatality in Alpha Company. I also extend my deep appreciation to our gallant machine gunner, the late Pfc Santiago who lost his life in the battle.

SM CDO Downtown Premier Grand Opening

Thousands of people came to shop or to see what the new mall has to offer for sale. Outside, the flow of vehicular traffic was slowed down because of the large number of people who wanted to drop by the mall to do their shopping activity. This was the sight on May 12, 2017, during the grand opening of the Henry Sy, Sr. owned SM CDO Downtown Premier which is the largest SM mall in Mindanao and the second in Cagayan de Oro and Northern Mindanao.

Constructed on the site of the former Coca Cola Plant, the SM CDO Downtown Premier is composed of a 5 story mall with 200 plus stores and a 12 story BPO with 8 floors of office space. The new business establishment is equipped with a parking space of 1,500 vehicle slots, and an underground water catchment basin to reduce the risk of flooding during heavy rains.

The new five story mall offers the public three level SM stores, SM hypermarket and seven cinemas consisting of the first ever large screen format theater in Mindanao, two director club theaters for intimate screening and four digital cinemas with 2D and 3D technologies, The new mall has also service center, specialty stores, restaurants, bowling centers, food hall, sky hall, sky garden and origami inspired wall.

 

 

SM CDO Downtown Premier is expected to boost the local economy with the added tax revenue that can be collected by the city. It will also give business and employment opportunities to the local populace. The SM BPO alone can already generate as many as 4,000 Information Technology jobs to qualified applicants. The opening of SM CDO Downtown Premier for business is expected to further enhance the image of Cagayan de Oro as a major business and tourist destination in Mindanao.

The Battle of Bayan, Lanao Province

At the start of the 20^th century during the American occupation of the Philippines which was then an unincorporated territory of the United States, the Americans were able to bring stability and order to Luzon and the Visayas Islands. But in some parts of the island of Mindanao, the Moros, its indigenous Muslim inhabitants, were not about to submit to the American regime, and preferred to live according to their own traditions, religious belief and tribal rule. The Moros’ distrust and animosity to outsiders came to a head in the Lanao Province when Maranao Moros killed two US soldiers from the 27^th Infantry Regiment and stole their Krag-Jorgensen rifles. Lieutenant General Adna Chaffee, the American military governor of the Philippines, gave ultimatum to the Sultan of Bayan to surrender the perpetrators along with the stolen rifles or face adverse consequences.

   

With an order from Brigadier General George Davis, the commander of Philippine Department, Colonel Frank D. Baldwin, the Commanding Officer of the 27^th Infantry Regiment prepared a force to launch a punitive expedition on the strongholds of recalcitrant Moros. He organized his troops numbering 1,025 infantry from his own unit and 65 men from 25^th Field Artillery Battery. This was augmented by 10 six-mule teams, 40 packs mule ran by civilian packers, and 300 hired Maguindanao Moro porters to help carry some of troops’ supplies and equipment. Six hundred men from the 10^th and 17th regiments were temporarily moved to Malabang, to occupy the base left behind by the 27^th Infantry and to act as reserve of the operating troops. It was an arduous trek for the operating troops from their base in Fort Corcuera in Malabang, Lanao to their objective in the southern shores of Lake Lanao. They had to cut through thick forests, waded seemingly bottomless mud and endured the bites of malaria causing mosquitoes.

Along the way they lost their Maguindanao porters because they refused to carry food provisions containing pork and they were replaced with 40 pack mules. On May 1, 1902, the Americans reached their objective after a trek of 17 days that covered a distance of about 32 miles. Col Baldwin then put up a camp. Beyond their location at the lake, they saw on the high ridge two cottas, one at Binadayan and the other at Pandapatan with red battle flags signifying that their occupants were ready to do battles. They could also see figures of combatants carrying rifles on the wall.

On May 2, 1902, Colonel Baldwin sent an ultimatum to the Sultan of Bayan who he believed to be at Cotta Binadayan to surrender before 12 noon. But the ultimatum fall on deaf ears as the Sultan did not reply to the ultimatum until it expired at the specific hour, and an armed confrontation was inevitable. The Americans first attacked Cotta Binadayan which was pounded by artillery fires followed by infantry assault. The cotta’s weak defense enabled the Americans to easily overcome the few defenders manning it with only one killed on their side. They later found out that the Sultan of Bayan and his main force of about 600 men including 150 sent by other datus had moved to the other cotta for their ultimate fight.  

At around 4 PM of that day, the Americans made a siege on Cotta Pandapatan. After passing through a valley, they had to overcome obstacles of layered trenches and some concealed pits filled with sharpened bamboo sticks. Advancing with support of artillery fires, the Americans cut down some Moro defenders at the wall. Their lack of scaling ladders prevented them from penetrating the cotta. When they attempted to breach the main entrance, the Moros launched a counter attack. A close up hand-to-hand combat ensued between the two opposing sides. The creeping darkness, the thick fog and the heavy rain made the situation difficult for the Americans and they had to retreat. Although they were beaten back, the Americans inflected heavy damage to the cotta as well as to the morale of the Moros defending it.

Amid darkness, rain and flashes of thunder, the Americans reconsolidated their forces at the cotta in Binadayan to prepare for the next attack. In the meantime, the troops of the Field Artillery Battery took the task of retrieving the dead and the wounded soldiers.

In the morning of the following day as the Americans prepared for their final assault, they noticed that the red battle flags of Cotta Pandapatan were replaced by four white flags indicating that the Moros were now willing to negotiate peacefully with the Americans instead of fighting it out with them till the end. But the Americans attacked the cotta anyway. Their superiority in armaments was brought to bear against their enemies. In the fight they killed the Sultan of Bayan and his brother. They also captured 83 remaining Moros. However, they reported that of Moros who surrendered only 9 were left because the rest were killed while attempting to escape. The cottas were dismantled by the American soldiers and they took with them kampilans and kris as souvenirs of the battle. At the site of the battle, Camp Vicar was established by the Americans the next day. The name of the camp was in honor to Lieutenant Thomas A. Vicars who was one of the American soldiers that was killed in the battle. Captain John J. Pershing was designated as the commander of the camp.

The result of the battle was a lopsided win for the Americans. The Moros took a heavy casualty of about 400-500 killed, 9 captured and 39 escaped combatants. Total casualties of the Americans were 11 dead and 42 wounded soldiers.

When report of the battle reached President Theodore Roosevelt Jr., he sent a message congratulating the troops for their combat achievement. Behind the scene, however, he was mad at Lieutenant General Adna Chaffee, the military governor of the Philippines for opening  up a new front of an armed conflict in the south when he was about to declare that the Philippines was already pacified.

On the part of General Chaffee, he thought that Colonel Frank Baldwin was impetuous, somewhat insubordinate and incompetent. He thought that had Captain John Pershing not developed friendly and cooperative relations with the Datus on the northern shore of the lake, they could have made a grand coalition to fight the Americans in Bayan. In fact, they stayed neutral and stood down during the battle. Not long thereafter, Col Baldwin was promoted but General Chaffee saw to it that he should be shipped out from the Moro land. Captain John Pershing took over Baldwin’s command. 

A Display of People's Solidarity for Peace in Cagayan de Oro

On the morning of August 2, 2013, different sectors of society expressed their solidarity against acts of terror and violence which were perpetrated by still unknown person or group who was responsible for the deadly bombing at Kyla’s Bistro in Lim Ket Kai Arcade in Cagayan de Oro on July 26, 2013. The blast claimed the lives of 8 persons and injured more than 40 others.  The large number of casualties who were mostly medical professionals and medical sales representatives who came from different parts of the Philippines to attend a medical convention in the city made headlines in television, radio and newspapers. President Benigno Aquino III has ordered the police to conduct a thorough investigation of the incident and arrest the perpetrators.

Archbishop Antonio Ledesma

The activities of solidarity for peace started at 7 a.m. with a mass at the blast site at Kyla’s Bistro. It was attended by the people who would participate in the march and the rally for peace. Archbishop Antonio Ledesma  officiated the mass. He was assisted by Monsignor Elmer Abacahin and Father Antonio Moreno S. J.                                                    

                                                                                                          

After the mass was the solidarity walk for peace which was participated by different sectors such as members of the civil society, professionals, businessmen, members of the Muslim community, representatives of public market vendors, government employees and members of law enforcement agencies such as the police and the army. The participants started at Lim Ket Kai Arcade passing through streets at Cogon Public Market, J.R. Borja Street and into their final destination which was the Kiosko Sa Kagawasan in Divisoria. Mayor Oscar Moreno and his wife Arlene were among those people who participated in the march.

Mayor Oscar Moreno with wife

At the Kiosko Sa Kagawasan a rally for peace was conducted with a short program. Representatives of different sectors made their speeches. Among them was the representative of the Muslim community and other sectors. Police Superintendent Michael John Deloso gave an update of the investigation regarding the incident. But so far there was hardly anything new to his pronouncements that were not known to the audience. Mr. Teddy Sabuga-a who spoke in behalf of Mayor Moreno announced a two million-peso reward to any person who could give information leading to the arrest of the real perpetrator of the bombing.

  

Cagayan de Oro is called the “City of Golden Friendship” because its people are known for their friendliness and hospitality to their visitors. Those traits in addition to the strategic location of the city in Mindanao are some of the reasons why Cagayan de Oro is a hub of investments, tourism and other economic activities that made it as one of the premier cities of Mindanao. Kagay-anons are saddened and outraged with the incident that caused embarrassment to their city. The bombing was an isolated incident, and it should not scare tourists and investors away from the city. Kagay-anons want a closure of the case with the arrest of the perpetrators and bringing them before the bar of justice.