Senyor Mentoy

A.Paulita Roa

THE President Ramon Magsaysay and Local Heroes Memorial in Plaza Divisoria was erected by City Mayor Justiniano R. Borja in 1962 and is the first of its kind in our country. On the side panel of this monument facing the RN Abejuela St. are the 25 names of  our local heroes–men who have done exceptional deeds in service to our city and country in times of war and peace.

Many of us are familiar with some of the names found in the Local Heroes Memorial like Apolinar Velez, Uldarico Akut or Tomas Saco, for these are names of  prominent streets in the city. However, there are other heroes that many know next to nothing about. Like Clementino Chaves.

He belonged to the landed Chaves clan of Portuguese descent. The family had vast holdings in Macasandig and Nazareth. Chaves was a young man who volunteered his services to the local army at that time when Cagayan de Misamis (Cagayan de Oro) was governed by local elected officials under the Aguinaldo revolutionary government. He was given the rank of  second lieutenant.

According to the late Judge Francisco X. Velez, Chaves was assigned to head a small group of men in Buntola Hill in Macasandig, in that crucial time when people were preparing for the eventuality that American troops would come and take full possession of Mindanao. He brought with him his black horse with silver accoutrements and a pair of fancy field glasses that he used to regularly scan Macajalar Bay.

Then, on March 30, 1900, he espied American warships unloading troops and war equipment near the mouth of Cagayan river. He then ordered their lone cannon to be fired for it was the agreed warning sign to the townspeople that the Americans have arrived.

He then went with hundreds of others to Gango Plateau to join the newly formed resistance army group known as the Liber Troop that was headed by Gen. Nicolas Capistrano. He was assigned as aide de camp to his brother-in-law, Col. Apolinar Velez., head of the Western Division whose headquarters was in Langaon near the upper Cagayan River.

After the June 4, 1900 Battle of Macahambus Hill, the Americans had many casualties that they staged a more aggressive campaign to capture and defeat the soldiers of the Western Division.

Historian Filomeno M. Bautista wrote that Lt. Chaves together with Lt. Aguedo Pimentel commanded a small fort in Supaksupak Hill. There they fired their cannons on the Americans who were on their way to take their fort. But the superiority of the enemy’s weapons made them retreat to another stronghold in Mindahulog before the fort was completely destroyed and the invading troops could reach it.

Chaves and Pimentel expected the Americans to attack them in Mindahulog but the latter went to a different directions. He then went to Maasin thinking that it was there where the enemy would pass the night and there he could attack them. He and his men reached a cave that night on the side of Dilimaantus Hill, lying in wait for the Americans to pass by but it never happened.

The following morning, they learned that the Americans were on their way to Langaon. So they left and proceeded to Iponan mountain where they found another cave that all could rest for several days since Chaves had malarial fever.

It was in this cave that an American soldier named Douglas presented himself to Chaves and offered his services to the rebels. However, Chaves had Douglas brought to the camp of Gen. Capistrano in the west on suspicion that he might be a spy and should be closely guarded.

In the meantime, the Americans continued to attack the remaining strongholds of Liber troops through heavy bombardments. They succeeded in capturing the forts of Mindahulog, Langaon and Macahambus. But to their disappointment, all the forts were already abandoned by the Liber Troop before they reached it so they burned the forts completely.

Lt. Pimentel decided to join the rest of the men of the Western Division in Talakag while Lt. Chaves remained in a cave in Iponan mountain while recuperating from malaria. The Americans went back to Cagayan without any severe encounter and without loss of life. On April 7, 1901, the first anniversary of the Battle of Cagayan de Misamis, the war was over with the surrender of the local resistance army to the Americans in the town plaza of Sumilao, Bukidnon.

Fast forward–on Aug. 27, 1962, Lt. Clementino Chaves popularly known as Senyor Mentoy, along with very few fellow revolucionarios were the special guests during the inauguration of the President Magsaysay and Local Heroes Memorial. They came in their rayadillo uniforms and were accorded with honors. Senyor Mentoy was the only one among the heroes that had the privilege of knowing and seeing his name in that memorial. It is my hope that what he has done for Cagayan will be known and not forgotten.