Mateo Noriel Luga

General Mateo Noriel Luga (1860-1868?, Ilocos Norte– April 9, 1935, Manila), with the nom-de-guerre of Alimokon,[1] was a Filipino revolutionary who left Isabela province to join the 1896-1898 Philippine Revolution in Manila. He also participated in the consequent Philippine–American War in Luzon but was later appointed in April 1899 by Philippine President Emilio Aguinaldo and then Secretary of War Antonio Luna to assist in the resistance in Cebu.[2] In January 1900, Luga joined the last major battle to be fought openly in said island, the Battle of Sudlon.[3] After the fall of Sudlon, Luga and most of the revolutionaries of Cebu resorted to guerrilla warfare against the Americans which would last until the surrender of Philippine President Emilio Aguinaldo in 1901.[4]

Following his revolutionary activities, Luga would join the Philippine Constabulary in 1904 with the rank of Third Lieutenant until 1914 when he resigned from service with the rank of Captain.[5] After his military service, he would work under the Philippine Refining Company and will later transfer to the Public Lands Commission.[6] He passed away in 1935 due to cancer. Despite not having been a Cebuano, his exploits in the Philippine-American War in Cebu gained him the distinction of being one of the 100 prominent natives of Cebu.

  1. ^ Savellon, Romola (2001). "Mateo Luga: The Tribal Filipino as Revolutionary". Cultural Heritage Monograph Series on Local History. 1. Cebu: Cebu Normal University: 5.
  2. ^ Alfara, Celestino (March 7, 1924). "The 25th Anniversary of the Estabilshment of the Philippine Republic: An Interview of General Mateo Luga". Bag'ong Kusog (in Cebuano). p. 2.
  3. ^ Mojares, Resil (1999). The War against the Americans: Resistance and Collaboration in Cebu, 1899-1901. Ateneo de Manila University Press. pp. 51–53.
  4. ^ Ango, Junald Dawa (March–June 2012). "Anti-American Resistance and the Beginnings of the Public Schools in Cebu, 1899-1906". Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society. 40 (1–2): 39. JSTOR 24410332 – via JSTOR.
  5. ^ Luga, Jose Mathew (2012). Hero or Unsung? Alimokon- Mateo Noriel Luga; A Life History of a Revolutionary (1868? – 1899) (Bachelor's thesis ed.). Baguio City: University of the Philippines, Baguio. pp. 5–6.
  6. ^ Palafox, Quennie Ann (September 4, 2012). "An Ibanag Soldier in the Visayan Revolutionary Forces". National Historical Commission of the Philippines. Retrieved August 17, 2024.