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ORDINANCE NO. 2022-096

AN ORDINANCE MANDATING THE ERECTION OF A MONUMENT TO HONOR THE MEMORY OF BROTHERS TOMAS AND LUDOVICO AREJOLA OF NAGA CITY AND PUBLICLY RECOGNIZE THEIR HEROISM WHICH HELPED THE CAUSE THAT GAVE BIRTH TO THE FILIPΙΝΟ ΝΑΤΙON, AND PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR:-

Authored by: Hon. Jose B. Perez

EXPLANATORY NOTE

AS AN Explanatory Note, the author of this Ordinance is taking the liberty to adopt the short biographies of Ludovico and Tomas Arejola written by local historian, the late Jose V. Barrameda, Jr. which had been published in the Bicol Mail issues of January 15 & 22, 2008 under the article entitled “The Bicol Martyrs of 1896 Revisited”:

General Ludovico Arejola y Padilla was born in Nueva Caceres (present day Naga) on 31 January 1861, and his younger brother, Tomas, on 18 September 1865, also in Nueva Caceres.

Both took their secondary education at the Seminario Conciliar (now the Holy Rosary Minor Seminary in Naga), then went to Manila to finish their Bachelor of Arts degrees in Colegio de San Juan de Letran. Ludovico went on to study law at Letran but illness forced him ro return to Nueva Caceres. Tomas finished a surveyor course while studying law at the University of Santo Tomas. While Ludovico stayed in Nueva Caceres, Tomas left for Madrid, Spain, in August 1888, and continued his law studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid.

Ludovico, meanwhile, was arrested with his father, Antonio, and other Bicolanos (the total count to date is 79) in the mass arrests following the discovery of the Katipunan in Manila. Tortured and incarcerated, father and son were eventually deported with others to Fernando Poo Island, a Spanish penal colony off the west coast of Africa. Amnestied and released, he and his father made their way back to the Philippines, where Ludovico lost no time in visiting General Emilio Aguinaldo. Initially assigned by Aguinaldo to solicit contributions for the revolution, he was eventually appointed a colonel assigned to organize the Milicia Territorial in Ambos Camarines and Catanduanes.

When the Americans landed in Calabanga on 19 February 1900 as part of their invasion of Bicol, Ludovico was left to defend Nueva Caceres by General Antonino Guevara, the Magdalo military chief in Camarines, who decamped for Albay. Outnumbered, outgunned and untrained, Ludovico and his milicianos retreated to Minalabac where he brought together the scattered and disbanded troops.

On 10 March, still holding the rank of colonel, he was acclaimed commander-in-chief of the reorganized army by 10,000 Bicolano partisans in Taban, Minalabac, with Elias Angeles, who had his own troops that had fought in Agdagñan, Baao, and Bernabe Dimalibot as his lieutenant colonels with the functions of military chief and chief of staff, respectively. He set up his general headquarters in Mata, Minalabac. Thereafter, he directed all-out guerrilla warfare all over Camarines Sur against the militarily superior American army. His aged father and other members of the Arejola family (including women, and Tomas who was abroad) joined in the resistance efforts. Despite privation, a dearth in arms, illness, and an enemy that waged what amounted to a scorched earth policy in the province, Arejola continued to rally his men and refused early offers of peace by the Americans.

On the third offer, on 25 March 1901, accompanied by Ludovico’s brother, Fr. Leoncio Arejola, American cavalry officers 1st Lt. George Curry and 2nd Lt. George Moseby convinced Ludovico to sign the peace agreement in Taban, Minalabac. On 31 March, under the Philippine national flag and with 1 colonel, 3 lieutenant colonels, 5 majors, 21 junior officers, and about 800 men, Brigadier General Arejola marched to Nueva Caceres where he was accorded full military honors with his troops.

He declined an offer of governorship of Ambos Camarines by Philippine Commission President William Howard Taft. Later he accepted the post of Clerk of Court of the First Instance in Nueva Caceres. He devoted himself to the welfare of the Bicolano war veterans through the Asociacion de Veteranos de la Revolucion which he headed in Camarines Sur, and continued to advocate for the total independence of the Philippines almost to the day of his death.

He had eight children (one son and seven daughters) by his first wife, Teodora Imperial; and a son and a daughter in his second marriage. He died on 21 May 1934 and was interred in the Peñafrancia cemetery in Nueva Caceres.

In Spain in 1888, Tomas continued his law studies but the outbreak of the Philippine revolution prevented him from being formally conferred with the degree. He befriended Rizal, Marcelo del Pilar, Jose Ma. Panganiban, and other Filipino notables in the Propaganda Movement, many of whom were Freemasons like him. With his writings and oratory he publicized and propagandized the Philippine cause abroad. He became a member of the Association Hispano-Filipina, headed by Miguel Morayta, but it became moribund in 1894. He joined the Colonia Organizada de Madrid, a reformist group, and was a director of Circulo Hispano-Filipino. He contributed articles to “España en Filipinas,” “El Pais,” “El Progreso,” “La Vanguardia Filipina,” “La Corespondencia de España,” “La Solidaridad, “Heraldo de Madrid,” ” La Publicidad,” La Voz de Ultramar,” El Filipino,” and to Isabelo de los Reyes’s “Filipinas Ante Europa,” a periodical so unremittingly Filipino that American authorities arrested and jailed Filipinos found in possession of it. In one dispatch to “Filipinas” worthy of the propagandizing genius of a de los Reyes, Tomas wrote about Ludovico and the exploits of the Bicolano soldiers in the Filipino American war in Camarines.

In 1901 he went to Singapore where he helped organize a revolutionary Philippine Committee. He proceeded to Hong Kong, then to Japan where he continued to work with the Filipino Committee headed by Mariano Ponce there. In Japan he underwent treatment for his chronic illness in the Tokyo Imperial Hospital.

Upon his arrival in the Philippines in 1906, he went home to Nueva Caceres where he was appointed by acclamation to run for, and was elected to, the First Philippine Assembly as representative of the First District of Ambos Camarines. In the historic First and Second Philippine Assembly from 1907 1911, the struggle for Philippine independence had shifted to the halls of Congress and Tomas distinguished himself in the ranks of ardent nationalists. Never neglectful of his other legislative duties, he procured funds for the building or repair of major infrastructures including the Nueva Caceres High School (the present day Camarines Sur National High School) and the original Naga Central School Gabaldon-type building and communication links in his province and even outside of it, filed 20 bills in Congress, vociferously opposed in 1907 a bill to increase from P20 to P30 the assemblymen’s allowance, and successfully worked for the pardon of political prisoners in Camarines, Albay, and Manila.

On 4 December 1909, as his first term as elected deputy drew to a close, he married Mercedes Caldera, a 16-year-old mestiza. He and Mercedes had no children. He died on 22 May 1926.

These two Nagueños, heroes both, on with a sword, the other with a pen, remain unhonored to this day in their own city.

ORDINANCE NO. 2022-096

AN ORDINANCE MANDATING THE ERECTION OF A MONUMENT TO HONOR THE MEMORY OF BROTHERS TOMAS AND LUDOVICO AREJOLA OF NAGA CITY AND PUBLICLY RECOGNIZE THEIR HEROISM WHICH HELPED THE CAUSE THAT GAVE BIRTH TO THE FILIPINO NATION, AND PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR:-

Authored by: Hon. Jose B. Perez

Be it enacted by the Sangguniang Panlungsod assembled:

SECTION 1. Short Title. This Ordinance shall be known and referred to as the “Tomas and Ludovico Arejola Ordinance of Naga City.”

SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. Monuments are memorials to historic events, places and heroes and their deeds and contributions to the building of our nation. They eventually become great landmarks of towns and cities that provide inspiration and legacy to our people, especially to our youth to whom shall be betrothed the life and destiny of our community and our nation in the next generations to come.

SECTION 3. Twin Objectives. While the initiative, starting off as a legislative measure, is long overdue, this Ordinance hopes to achieve an important task of erecting a monument for two overriding reasons:

1. To correct a grievous historical anomaly. The Arejola brothers (Tomas and Ludovico) are national heroes as their contributions to the birth of the Filipino nation could be considered as “national” in scope and not limited only to a local forum: Ludovico was one of the last Filipino generals to surrender to the Americans, while Tomas figured prominently in a very significant chapter of our history, the Propaganda Movement in Spain; he was later named a delegate to the Malolos Congress, and was commissioned by General Emilio Aguinaldo to represent the First Philippine Republic abroad. Compared to the 15 Bicol Martyrs (if comparison is necessary just to emphasize the point and without any intention to denigrate the heroism of the 15 Bicol Martyrs), the Arejola brothers, despite their privileged place in the community, intentionally and openly embraced the ideals of independence and consciously struggled and sacrificed for the revolutionary cause. Yet, unlike the 15 Martyrs with their grand monument and streets named individually after them, we have not honored the Arejola brothers even with a small marker; a street (or is it an alley?) was used to be named after Ludovico that measured 2.5 meters wide and about 75-80 meters long (and it could hardly be recognized now as it already bears a new name in Barangay San Francisco, this city). We have also named our main street in honor of Elias Angeles, and another important street after Felix Plazo; but both were just colonels under Ludovico during the Philippine-American War. The subordinates were amply remembered and honored but their superior officer was not when he is as deserving of such honor.
2. To finally recognize the exceptional heroism of true sons of Naga. The Arejola brothers were true-blooded Naguenos. They were born and raised in Naga (Nueva Caceres then). They studied in our seminary (Seminario Conciliar, now the Holy Rosary Minor Seminary) before leaving for Manila for higher studies and then to Spain (in the case of Tomas, to pursue his law degree and then to engage in the Propaganda Movement; while in the case of Ludovico, to connect with Tomas on their revolutionary activities after being exiled to Fernando Poo island off the west coast of Africa). Both returned to Naga to continue with their struggle for independence; and where eventually they chose to live for the rest of their lives (unlike many other Filipinos, in the past and present, who would have opted to live comfortably abroad). Both are buried here, at the Penafrancia cemetery. While we have bestowed honor upon Elias Angeles (a Tagalog from Pasig) and Felix Plazo (a native of Tigaon, Camarines Sur), it is indeed an anomaly why Naga’s very own sons have been continuously denied recognition. As aptly stated by the late historian Jose V. Barrameda, Jr., “these two Naguenos, heroes both, one with a sword, the other with a pen, remain unhonored to this day in their own city.”

SECTION 4. Arejola Monument Executive Committee. In order to expedite the construction of a fitting monument that shall articulate in its most artistic form the patriotic life and heroism of the Arejola brothers, there shall be created a special committee, to be known as Arejola Monument Executive Committee, that will plan, organize and help supervise the conception and erection of the monument, as well as identify the ideal site for the monument, with the added task of helping raise funds from both the private and public sectors to complement the limited resources that will initially be provided by the City Government.

SECTION 5. Composition. This Committee shall be composed of the following:

Chairman: The Honorable City Mayor
1st Vice-Chairman: Chairman, SP Committee on Culture and the Arts
2nd ViceChairman: Heir or Family Member of the Arejola Clan
Executive Director: Chief, Arts, Culture and Tourism Office
Treasurer: The City Treasurer
Secretariat/Spokesman: Department Head, CEPΡΙΟ
Members: The City Engineer
Chief, Plazas and Parks Maintenance Office
President, UAP Naga & Camarines Sur Chapter
President, Metro Naga Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Presidents of all Rotary Clubs in Naga City
Naga Society of Freemasonry
Rector, Holy Rosary Minor Seminary

The Committee may seek the assistance of local historians and artists in the conception of the monument befitting the heroism of the Arejola brothers.

SECTION 6. Appropriation. The initial amount of One Million and Five Hundred Thousand Pesos (P 1,500,000.00) that will start off the planning, conception and presentation of a miniature model monument, as executed by professional sculptor and artists shall be included in the next Annual Budget of the City Government of Naga.

SECTION 7. Fund Raising. The succeeding budget of the City government in the construction stage of the Monument shall be complemented by raising funds from the private sector, whether individual or commercial entities or organizations, as well as government instrumentalities and offices, including government-owned and controlled corporations, that will be asked to extend their fullest support in the promotion of patriotism, nationalism, and appreciation of the role of Filipino heroes in the historical development of our country.

SECTION 8. Implementing Rules and Regulations. The Executive Committee as herein created shall issue the necessary rules and regulations to implement the provisions and intent of this Ordinance until the completion of the Monument Project.

SECTION 9. Repealing Clause. All laws, decrees, orders, rules and regulations or other issuances or parts thereof inconsistent with the provisions of this Ordinance are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SECTION 10. Separability Clause. If any portion or provision of this Ordinance is declared unconstitutional, the remainder of this Ordinance or any provision not affected thereby shall remain in force and effect.

SECTION 11. Effectivity. This Ordinance shall take effect after fifteen (15) days following the completion of its publication in a newspaper of general circulation.

Enacted: November 22, 2022

WE HEREBY CERTIFY to the correctness of the foregoing ordinance.

JESSIE R ALBEUS
City Councilor & Acting Presiding Officer

GIL A. DE LA TORRE
Secretary to the Sangguniang Panlungsod

APPROVED:

NELSON S. LEGACION
City Mayor