Adriano Hernández

Adriano Hernández y Dayot (September 8, 1870 – February 16, 1925) was a Filipino revolutionary, patriot, and military strategist during the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine–American War.

Early life
Hernández was born on September 8, 1870, to Don Fernando Hernández of Valladolid, Spain and Doña Lucía Dayot of the principalía class of Dingle, Iloilo. His maternal grandfather, Don Juan Marcelino Dayot, and uncle, Don Luís Cantalicio Dayot, had served as gobernadorcillos of Dingle. He was a Spanish mestizo who studied at the Escuela Católica de Dingle (Dingle Catholic School) and later at the Ateneo Municipal in Manila. His elder brother, Gen. Julio Hernández y Dayot, later became the Secretary of War of the Federal State of the Visayas during the revolutionary period. His two younger siblings were Consuelo and Pilar.

Hernández was fully engaged in agriculture from 1890 until October 1898 when the second phase of the Philippine Revolution against Spain during the Spanish–American War broke out.

Military career
During the Philippine Revolution, Hernández organized a revolutionary movement in Iloilo against the Spanish colonial authorities and then from 1898, against the United States. He was the leader of the Cry of Lincud which started the Philippine Revolution in Iloilo on October 28, 1898, along with his older brother Gen. Julio Hernández y Dayot, his first cousin and aide-de-camp Maj. Estefano Muyco y Dayot, Maj. Nicolas Roces, and Lt. Col. Francisco Jalandoni, at Barrio Lincud in Dingle. This victorious event is known today as the first armed uprising for independence in the province of Iloilo. He then became an aide to General Martín Delgado because of his knowledge in military strategy. He was designated Chief of Staff of the revolutionary government in the Visayas in November 1898 and represented the province of Iloilo at the Malolos Congress.

During the Philippine–American War, Hernández led the guerrilla movement in the province until he surrendered in 1901.

Post-war life


Hernández declined to hold public office under the Americans in 1901 following his surrender. After the revolution ended with his properties destroyed, he emigrated with his family to Negros Occidental where he managed the Compañía General de Tabacos de Filipinas for seven years. He was the premier town councilor of Silay, Negros Occidental from 1904 to 1906. In 1907, he became a member of the first Philippine Assembly, the first nationally elected legislative body in the Philippines which was the lower house of the Philippine Legislature of the American colonial Insular Government as a member of the Nacionalista Party for Iloilo's 4th legislative district, which was dominated by the hacendado class who owned the vast hacienda estates that made up most of the cultivated land in the Philippines. In 1912, he was elected as the fifth governor of Iloilo. A practicing farmer, Hernández became the first Filipino director of the Bureau of Agriculture in 1916, which had been headed by American colonial officials before his tenure. This was part of the Filipinization policy of the American colonial government, following the Jones Act of 1916.

Hernández died on February 16, 1925 after his health failed due to relentless work.

Commemoration

 * Camp General Adriano D. Hernandez in Dingle, Iloilo was named in his honor. It serves as headquarters of the 301st Infantry Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division of the Philippine Army. The initial seven hectares of grassland of the 37-hectare military training camp was donated by his first cousin, Dingle municipal president Don Luís R. Dayot, to form the said military camp several years before World War II.
 * The Cry of Lincud Heroes memorial in Lincud, Dingle was erected in his honor on the site of the initial uprising.
 * The Gen. Adriano Dayot Hernandez monument is a bronze monument located in the Dingle town plaza erected in his honor.
 * Hernandez Street, the main thoroughfare in Poblacion, Dingle, was named in his honor.

Personal life
Hernández married Carmen Gavira y Mapa of Jaro, Iloilo and had six children with her: Lucía, Fernando, Alfonso, José, Ramona, and Guillermo.

Lucía married Ángel Manzano of Teverga, Spain. Tingting Cojuangco and Edu Manzano descend from this line. Fernando became Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeals. Alfonso, who was involved with the Bureau of Plant Industry, married Ma. Macandita Estrella R. Dayot, his father's first cousin and daughter of Dingle gobernadorcillo Luís Cantalicio Dayot (1853–1861, 1869–1873). José, a national poet and writer in Spanish, was the 1927 Premio Zóbel awardee for his poem Lo que vimos en Joló y en Zamboanga. Ramona married Alejandro Legarda, Sr. The couple owned one of the first Art Deco houses in Manila built in 1937. Another son, Guillermo, was a Spanish, English, and Filipino sportscaster and sports editor.

Adriano and Carmen had an adopted daughter, Dolores Strong Hernández. Hernández also had another daughter with Guadalupe Dairo, Dolores D. Hernández, who became a town councilor of Dingle.