Brief History of Barangay T. Padilla

          Let us continue in learning more about the history and culture of the recent venue of a fire accident which razed 220 - 250 houses and left 2,000 families homeless, but continues to rise up from its fall, Barangay T. Padilla...

          In the Revolutionary history of Cebu, the name of Reverend Father Toribio Padilla, at one time the Parish Priest of Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, is associated. He was a brother of Candido Padilla, President of the Cebu Chapter of Katipunan.

            When the rebellion against the Spanish misrule in the Philippines erupted in Cebu on April 2, 1898, the entire priests in the city of Cebu, Spanish and Filipino alike, took protective shelter inside Fort San Pedro. All but one, Father Toribio Padilla, alone, stayed in his convent by the side of the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.

            His act bred the Spanish suspicion that he was a sympathizer of the Katipuneros. When the Cebu uprising was quelled after the death of Leon Kilat, Padre “Siyo” (as he was affectionately called by his parishioners) was disrobed and confined at Semenario Conciliar de San Carlos. A friar was designated to take his place as Parish Priest at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.

            When the Americans came, Father Toribio Padilla was reinstated as Parish Priest of his former church. This religious post and distinction he held until 1904. He died in 1906, a virtual hero for the cause of the Revolution, a grateful citizenry named a street after him. The Barrio that grew along this street was also named after him.

SOURCE: T. Padilla Barangay Hall