18 FEBRUARY

1903 - Tiburcio Hilario y Tuason, patriot during the Philippine Revolution and for a time, the Filipino-American War (1899-1914), dies from scarlet fever, a rare disease in the Southeast Asian country; elected in absentia as military/revolutionary governor of his Pampanga and known as the 'Brains of the Revolution in Pampanga,' Hilario, a cousin of the "Great Propagandist," Marcelo H. del Pilar, was appointed Justice of the Supreme Court under Apolinario M. Mabini in August 1899, six months into the Fil-Am War when the first Philippine Republic was on the run and under siege by the invading enemy United States forces; while in Dagupan to try to save Col. Vicente Prado from execution by the enemy Americans, Bald Eagle forces learned that he was Pampanga's governor and Tiburcio was forced to take his allegiance to the imperialist U.S. flag; Tiburcio later practiced law in Pangasinan where he helped handle the "rebellion" cases of compatriots Modesto Joaquin, Benito Vergara, Manuel Ruiz, Macario Goma, and Cristino Ongton and with the help of other lawyers, were able to successfully had them acquitted by the courts of the colonial American period.



Photo credit: http://www.andropampanga.com/governors.htm