Diego de los Ríos

Diego de los Ríos y Nicolau
116th Governor-General of the Philippines
In office September 1898 – December 10, 1898
Preceded by	Francisco Rizzo
Succeeded by	Post abolished Emilio Aguinaldo as Philippine President and Wesley Merritt as Military Governor of the Philippines
Personal details
Born	(1850-04-09)April 9, 1850 Madrid, Spain
Died	November 4, 1911(1911-11-04) (aged 61) Extremadura, Spain

Diego de los Ríos y Nicolau (9 April 1850 - 4 November 1911) was the last Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines.

Governor-General of the Philippines

Government in Iloilo

He became the governor during the Spanish American War with the capital at Iloilo on August 13, 1898.

Desiring to save the Visayas and Mindanao from the fate that had befallen Luzon, de los Rios asked Spain to grant some reforms demanded by representative citizens of Iloilo. He issued in Iloilo a proclamation to the people of the Visayas calling on them to establish a "Council of Reforms" to be made up of 24 leading citizens, 12 of whom would be selected by popular vote and another 12 to be appointed by the governor-general himself.

The granted reforms, however, satisfied only a few ilustrado leaders. The revolution in Iloilo is heated up. As agreed upon by the Ilonggo leaders, the general uprising against the Spanish authorities in Panay, particularly in Iloilo, took place on October 28, 1898. On that day onward, the interior towns of the province were liberated from Spanish control. By the first week of November, only Jaro, Molo and Iloilo remained in the hands of the Spaniards. On November 21, Jaro was delivered by the Spanish government to the Ilonggos.

His term as governor-general effectively ended on December 10, 1898 when the Treaty of Paris was signed.

With the Spanish army being besieged by the revolutionary troops in the positions which they held in Iloilo and Molo, and being threatened by a decisive attack, the Spanish government under De los Rios eventually opened up negotiations with the Ilonggos. The outcome of the negotiations was the evacuation of Molo and Iloilo City by the Spanish troops and their subsequent surrender to the native forces under the command of Gen. Martin Delgado at Plaza Alfonso XII (now Plaza Libertad) on December 23, 1898.

He left Iloilo to transfer his capital to Real Fuerza de Nuestra Señora La Virgen del Pilar de Zaragoza in Zamboanga bringing with him the remnants of his colonial forces in the Visayas on the eve of the surrender of the Spanish forces in Visayas to the Ilonggo revolutionaries in December 24, 1898.

Government in Zamboanga

The Governor-General upon his arrival at Fort Pilar on December 24, 1898, immediately made preparations for the setting up of the last bastion of defense for Spanish sovereignty in the Philippines. He pulled out the colonial forces in Cotabato and Lanao and consolidated and concentrated them all at Fort Pilar. Unknowingly, General Vicente Alvarez with his revolutionary forces in Zamboanga is planning a full-scale attack against the fort.

Siege of Fort Pilar

Main article: Siege of Zamboanga

The Governor-General of Mindanao Island, General Jaramillo, transferred his command to General Montero, ex-governor of Cebu, and left for Manila with General Rios in Dec. 1898. On 23 May 1899, the Spanish departed for Manila aboard the s.s. Leon XIII, General Montero succumbing along the way to a mortal wound he received in one of the rebel assaults.

In Manila

General Diego de los Rios evacuated the Visayas Islands by bringing his troops to Manila in January 1899, before their departure to Spain. The general remained in Manila until 3 June 1899, trying to secure the release of Spanish prisoners from the rebels. General Nicola Jaramillo then took over negotiations.

References

• Spanish Governors of the Philippines
• Gen. Alvarez-Greatest revolutionary hero
• The Iloilo culmination of the declaration of Philippine Independence
• [1]

External links

• El general Ríos: notas biográficas. ABC. 13 November 191. p.13