Calle de Voluntarios Macabebes
It recalls the Filipino volunteers from Macabebe, in Pampanga, who stayed loyal to Spain at the end of the Philippine war and emigrated to the mainland in 1900.
The name travels to the province of Pampanga, on the island of Luzon, where the town of Macabebe was reputed to be the most loyal to the Spanish Crown in the whole archipelago. In 1897 one of its sons raised a regiment of volunteers there to fight the insurgents.
When the war turned and many native units deserted to the revolutionary side, the men of Macabebe held their ground. Out of ammunition, they buried their rifles and held out for four days with machetes and spears against far better-armed forces. With the war lost, a group chose to sail for Spain: they reached Barcelona in June 1900 and were welcomed as heroes.
Madrid gave them this street in the Chopera district, beside the plaza de Legazpi, in a corner where several streets recall the old overseas possessions. What was celebrated here as loyalty was read in the Philippines as betrayal.