| Cantonal Republic of Negros Republic of Negros República Cantonal de Negros República de Negros |
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| Unrecognized state | ||||
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| Location of Negros in the Philippines | ||||
| Capital | Bacolod | |||
| Language(s) | Hiligaynon, Cebuano and Spanish | |||
| Government | Republic | |||
| President | ||||
| - 1898-1899 | Aniceto Lacson | |||
| - 1898 | Demetrio Larena | |||
| President of the Constituent Assembly | ||||
| - 1898 | José Luzuriaga | |||
| Historical era | New Imperialism | |||
| - End of the Negros Revolution | November 27, 1898 | |||
| - Disestablished | April 30, 1901 | |||
The Republic of Negros (Spanish: República de Negros) was a short-lived revolutionary republic, and later, administrative division, which existed while the Philippines was under Spanish and American sovereignty. It took its name from Negros Island.
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From November 3 to November 6, 1898, the negros rose in revolt against the Spanish authorities 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 Lacson from Talisay, were actually carrying fake arms consisting of rifles carved out of palm fronds and cannons of rolled bamboo mats painted black. By the afternoon of November 6, Colonel de Castro signed the Act of Capitulation, thus ending Spanish rule in Negros Occidental. This event is commemorated in Negros Occidental every November 5 as the day the Negrenses bluffed the Spaniards to attain their freedom.
On November 27, 1898, the Cantonal Republic of Negros (Spanish: República Cantonal de Negros) was established. It came under U.S. protection on April 30, 1899. On July 22, 1899, it was renamed the Republic of Negros, but on April 30, 1901, this was dissolved by the United States.
In Bago City, the event was chronicled in a historic marker found in the City public plaza, which bears the following inscriptions:
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REPÚBLICA DE NEGROS |
” |
November 5 has been declared a special non-working holiday in the province through Republic Act. No. 6709 signed by President Corazon Aquino on February 10, 1989.
The leaders of the short-lived republic were:
| Aniceto Lacson November 5, 1898 - July 22, 1899 |
President |
| Aniceto Lacson November 5, 1898 - November 27, 1898 |
(President in Negros Occidental only) |
| Demetrio Larena November 24, 1898 - November 27, 1898 |
(President in Negros Oriental only) |
| José Luzuriaga July 22, 1899 - November 6, 1899 |
President of the Constituent Assembly |
| Juan Araneta | Secretary of War |
| Melecio Severino November 6, 1899 - April 30, 1901 |
Civil Governor |
| Antonio Ledesma Jayme July 24, 1854 - October 9, 1937 |
Secretary of Justice |