negros revolution

Negros Revolution and formation of Republic of Negros[edit]

Flag of the short lived Negros Republic

Main articles: Negros Revolution and Republic of Negros

From 3 to 6 November 1898, the Negrense peoples rose in revolt against the local Spanish colonial government headed by politico-military governor Colonel Isidro de Castro. The Spaniards decided to surrender upon seeing armed troops marching in a pincer movement towards Bacolod. The revolutionaries, led by General Juan Araneta from Bago and General Aniceto Lacsonfrom Talisay, bore fake arms consisting of rifles carved out of palm fronds and cannons of rolled bamboo mats painted black. By the afternoon of 6 November, Col. de Castro signed the Act of Capitulation, thus ending centuries of Spanish colonial rule in Negros Occidental.

In memory of this event, every November 5 is observed as a special non-working holiday in the province through Republic Act № 6709, signed by President Corazon Aquino on 10 February 1989.

On 27 November 1898, the Cantonal Republic of Negros unilaterally proclaimed independence, but this was short-lived as the territory became a protectorate of the United States on 30 April 1899. The state was renamed the Republic of Negros (Spanish: República de Negros) on 22 July 1899, and eventually dissolved by the United States and annexed by the U.S. Military Government of the Philippine Islands on 30 April 1901.

The leaders of the short-lived republic were:^[8]

• Aniceto Lacson, November 05, 1898 – July 22, 1899 (to November 27, 1898, in Negros Occidental)
• Demetrio Larena, November 24, 1898 – November 27, 1898 (in Negros Oriental)
• President of the Constituent Assembly José Luzuriaga, July 22, 1899 – November 06, 1899
• Secretary of War Juan Araneta
• Civil Governor Melecio Severino, November 06, 1899 – April 30, 1901
• Secretary of Justice Antonio Ledesma Jayme, November 05, 1898 – July 22, 1899

Formation of regions[edit]

Regions were first formed on September 24, 1972 when the provinces of the Philippines were organized into different 11 regions by Presidential Decree No. 1 as part of the Integrated Reorganization Plan of President Ferdinand Marcos. Negros Occidental was assigned to Western Visayas (Region VI) and Negros Oriental was assigned to Central Visayas (Region VII).

Early initiatives[edit]

The movement for a single-island region started in the 1980s when officials of both provinces proposed a one-island, one-region unit. At the time, Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental were the only provinces in the Philippines situated in the same island but belonging to two different administrative regions with regional offices located in neighboring Panayand Cebu. This led to the filing of House Bill No. 1477 titled "An Act Merging the Province of Negros Occidental and Oriental into One-Island Region." They argued, among others, that the two provinces "nestle in one common island; have common fowls and beasts in the forest; share the same soil in our plains and mountains; benefit and suffer together from the rivers that snake through our land; and our ancestors roamed the same length and breadth without complications of political, social, economic, religious and lingual obstacles."

The proposal was continued through talks between former Governor Bitay Lacson of Negros Occidental and the late former Governor Emilio Macias of Negros Oriental in 1990. Their successors, former Governor Rafael Coscolluella and former Governor (now Representative) George Arnaiz took the initiative further, first identifying Kabankalan in Negros Occidental and the neighboring municipality of Mabinay in Negros Oriental, with the two situated on or near the geographic center of the island, as joint regional centers. However, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) turned down the proposal for lack of funds to effect the merger.^[9]

Revival of proposal[edit]

In 2013, the one-island region talks were continued by Negros Oriental Representatives Pryde Henry Teves and George Arnaiz and Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. with Representative Alfredo Marañon III and Coscolluela.^[10] They pointed out that while the creation of a new region will entail substantial costs to the government, it will be advantageous to the people of both provinces because they would not need to travel by sea anymore to process transactions in the regional offices.^[11] They also claimed that a one-island region would also result to better coordination between both provinces in tourism, peace and order, environment, development planning, disaster management and road infrastructure. Edward Du, pre