What the indian ought to know and understand; by Agapito Bagumbayan.
This latter article is a mirror in which the purpose of the paper is
reflected; it reads remarkably like a composition of Pedro Paterno,
the visionary who claims for the peoples of the Archipelago a glorious
pre-Spanish history and civilization. The following citations from
the article will give some idea of the whole publication.
"In these islands, which were previously cared for by our true
neighbors of Malaysia at a time when the Spaniards had not as yet set
foot upon the land, there existed a complete abundance and a state of
welfare. Our friends the neighboring kingdoms, and especially Japan,
brought commerce to our shores which formed the most abundant market,
and there was found everything necessary, wherefore it was the richest
country and its customs were all very good [80]. Everyone, youths and
advanced in years and even the women, could read and write according
to our manner of script."
The article goes on to say that upon the arrival of the Spaniards the
natives only made friends with them after that Legazpi had performed
the ceremonies of the pacto-de-Sangre [81] with one of the indio
petty sovereigns.
"The Spaniards," says the writer, "have perverted us with their bad
customs and have destroyed and obliged us to forget the noble and
beautiful customs of our country."
Noble and beautiful customs: Compulsory defloration of young girls,
as a result of the belief that a girl who died a virgin could not
enter heaven! Could anything be more noble and beautiful?
Kalayaan purported to be and was always considered as the soul of
the defunct Solidaridad (see note 24). It was printed in the Tagalog
dialect and died, as it was born and had lived--in shame.
Note 94. Pio Valenzuela testified (fols. 582-591) that on the 22nd
of August he was informed by Josefa Dizon that her son Jose together
with Bonifacio had fled from Manila. Valenzuela thereupon fled also,
following them, and reaching Caloocan about 8 p. m. There he found
Bonifacio with some twenty others. Andres informed them that they
must not separate as it was now time to commence the armed rebellion,
the plot of the Katipunan having been discovered. From Caloocan they
went to Balintauac arriving about 11 p. m. Here they met a certain
Laong with a group of men. They remained in the pueblo Sunday,
Monday and Tuesday preparing for the onslaught they were to make
upon the Spaniards, which was fixed for the 29th of the same month,
the plans being that they should advance in groups upon Manila,
killing the Spaniards and also the indians and Chinese who refused
to follow them, "dedicating themselves to the sacking of the city,
robbery and incendiarism and to the violation of women." Many Chinese
were murdered and their stores robbed.
Whilst in the fields of Balintauac distribution was made of bolos and
ten revolvers, the latter stolen from the Maestranza of Manila. On
Tuesday evening preparations were made to meet the attack of the
Spanish troops which had been sent out in persecution of the rebels,
and the first conflict took place. Valenzuela also stated that the
greater part of the people who formed the rebel forces were drawn,
catechised and initiated all in a moment by the fanatic Laong, who
was practically the active chief of the revolt, and who directed in
person the attack upon the Chinese stores.
About 5 pm. on the 29th five hundred men under a "leader of Pasig"
appeared on the scene at the waterworks. They at once took possession
of the building and of the persons of the workmen. Their first
intention was to stop the machinery so that no one need be left
in charge thereof when orders should be received for a start for
Manila. The engineer however, reminded the chief that if such a thing
was done their brethren in Manila would die of thirst. This excuse
carried the day and the chief decided to leave some workmen there under
the condition that the engineer and others who wore moustaches should
shave, and that all should dress like indians, and that the engineer's
wife should dress like a native woman and prepare food for his men. The
party finally set out on their way. They tried to avoid an encounter
with the troops composed of artillery and infantry, 65 men in all,
stationed at the powder works. In avoiding this handful of defenders
they fell afoul of other troops which gave them a good sharp reception.
As to those who, repenting, desired to return to a legal status, it
is difficult to form an opinion, on account of the contrary evidence
adduced in connection therewith. Isabelo de los Reyes already cited,
in a futile attempt to justify the acts of the Katipuneros, claims
that some of the chiefs opposed the plan of the armed resistance as
contained in the propositions of Bonifacio, claiming that it would
be a great and useless sacrifice, to say nothing of the imprudence of
such an act, to launch forth against an armed force without possessing
better arms than a few bolos and lances. He claims that Bonifacio
listened to the advice and was on the point of acting upon it, but
was compelled to take the step he did in declaring the revolt, by
the attitude of his 500 followers. The authority for this statement
was Pedro Nicodemus, who was the commander of the said group, a man
who was as ignorant as he was blood-thirsty.
Further on Isabelo states that "in the famous reunion of Balintauac,
in the solemn moment of the breaking forth of the revolt (August,
26th 1896) Andres Bonifacio as president of the Supreme Council of the
Katipunan, explained that the plot had been discovered, and that in
order to save those who were compromised and who had not up to that
time been arrested, it was necessary to launch forth to the fight,
although the arms with which they should fight had not yet arrived
from Japan."
Granted however the character of Bonifacio, his aims and the methods
he adopted to carry out his ideas, such an excuse as that of Reyes
argue but little in pro of the good judgement or better said the good
faith of its author. Bonifacio was anxious for the first blow of the
revolt to be struck that he might not lose the confidence of those
who had intrusted him with the undertaking and who had been fooled
into the idea that the Katipunan forces were so powerful that nothing
could resist their onward course once they had been started on their
way. And to suppose that Bonifacio was to be so easily influenced by
a few petty chiefs is to show a complete ignorance of the character
of the hero of the Katipunan. If the opposition of the said petty
chiefs really occurred it was probably inspired more by fear of
the consequences than by the true spirit of repentance, for if the
cruelties and abuses said to have been committed by the Spaniards
were the cause of the revolt, what need was there of such a repentance?
The prestige enjoyed by Bonifacio among the katipuneros was natural
enough, in as much as he was the father of the Katipunan, the
illegitimate offspring of filipino freemasonry, itself a legitimate
child of the Spanish family of universal freemasonry.
"The Katipunan," says the author of an exposition to Congress, dated
1900 and published at the printing office of the El Liberal, "the
worthy and legitimate [82] child of Andres Bonifacio, was founded in
his own house in calle Sagunto (Tondo) between six and seven in the
evening of the 7th of July 1892. Andres Bonifacio gathered together
his best friends, Teodoro Plata, Valentin Diaz, Ladislao Dina,
Deodato Arellano, and Ildefonso Laurel, to whom he proposed the
necessity of the creation of that Superior Association of the Sons
of the People, whose only aim should be that of the independence
of the people under a Spanish protectorate or in default of that,
of Japan. Those assembled took to the idea with great enthusiasm and
at once commenced the propaganda of the same.
Note 95. One thing which clearly demonstrates the state of fanaticism
and moral degradation to which the Katipunan fell, was the savage
manner in which they treated the Religious prisoners who fell into
their hands. Disrespect for all authority and especially that of
the clergy, was one of the chief fruits of the work of propaganda
carried on by Rizal and other of the separatist element, aided and
abetted by the Bible societies who gave moral as well as practical
assistance to their labors.
As fanaticism increased, this want of respect became more intense
and eventually led to a thirst for the blood of those whose greatest
crime was the excessive favor they had extended to the indian, to
whom such a thing as gratitude was unknown [83].
As we have seen, the intention of the Katipuneros was the annihilation
of the Spaniards, irrespective of class or condition. The parish
priest being the strongest support of the administration was the
target for the bitterest treatment at the hands of the rebels.
Among the number of those parish priests murdered by the Tagalog
rebels were P. Toribio Moreno; Recolet, parish priest of Silang;
P. Toribio Mateo, Recolet and parish priest of Perez Dasmarinas; and
the lay brothers: fray Luis Garbayo and Julian Umbon, these latter were
murdered in San Francisco de Malabon. Upon the Estate of Imus, then
property of the Recolet Corporation, now in the possession of a large
London Syndicate, were most brutally murdered the following Recolets:
P. Jose Ma. Learte, ex-Provincial and parish priest of Imus, P. Simeon
Marin, ex-Definitor and parish priest of Maragondon, P. Agipito
Echegoyen, parish priest of Amadeo, P. Faustino Lizasoain, parish
priest of Bailen, and the lay-brothers:
Roman Caballero, Jorge Zueco del Rosario, Damaso Goni, Bernardo Angos,
Victoriano Lopez.
It is affirmed by eye-witnesses that these victims to Tagalog
fanaticism were saturated with petroleum and burned alive.
Fear was entertained for the safety of of several Dominican Fathers
who held parishes near by, and therefore P. Buenaventura Campa,
P. Francisco Cabenas and fray Natalio Esparza immediately set
out in search for them. Regardless of the great risk they ran in
falling into the hands of the bloodthirsty Katipuneros, these three
heroic Dominicans casting aside all thought for self and all care
for their own welfare [84] set out for Naic in the steam launch
Mariposa. Difficulties were encountered from the start. The native
captain and engineer conspired to prevent the carrying out of the
attempted rescue. P. Buenaventura calling up the refractory captain
told him that he and his companions were firm in their purpose and
that progress must be made. The captain pleaded inability for want of
coal. Then hoist the sails, said P. Campa. There are none replied the
captain. Then take my habit and those of my companions and make sails
of them, thundered the Padre. The captain gave in and the journey was
continued. Naic was reached; they failed to find their companions but
were in time to save the unfortunate wife and children of Lieut. Perez
Herrero; they discovered them barefooted and wellnigh mad with terror,
dressed in native clothes and hidden in a nipa shack. P. Galo Minguez,
parish priest of Naic, Padres Nicolas Pena and Jose Digne and the
laybrothers Saturnino Garcia and Jose Pedida had succeeded in escaping
from the clutches of the rebellious Tagalogs, having fled to Labay
from whence they made their way to Corregidor, meeting there those
who had come to seek them in the Mariposa.
The Augustinian Father P. Piernavieja was another victim to
fanaticism. This Father has been termed medio loco [85] and in
all truth he was so if the possession of a presence of mind such
as that shown by P. Piernavieja is to be termed craziness. True
it is that he was at times gifted with a strange turn of mind. He
had, during the many years he administered the parish, established
therein a christian communism. When the revolt broke out he was
held as a prisoner and obliged to invest himself with the authority
of an Archbishop. Had the revolt prospered and P. Piernavieja lived,
undoubtedly he would have been made Archbishop of Manila by the Tagalog
discontents. P. Piernavieja was shrewd enough to take well to his new
office. He was once called upon to anoint the chiefs and rulers, as the
kings and emperors of olden time were anointed by the Church. Padre
Piernavieja told them that olive oil was not suitable for such a
purpose and therefore proceeded to anoint them with cocoanut oil such
as is used by the natives for their lamps! Under pretext of his office
of Bishop this strange old man claimed liberty to make his pastoral
visits and when he succeeded in securing this liberty which was readily
granted to him, he overran all that part of the province in the hands
of the insurgents, secretly collecting all kinds of information, which
he immediately sent his superiors in Manila. This information reached
the military authorities and would have become of utility to them for
the carrying out of the campaign had it been prosecuted as a military
campaign should have been. But the Padre's messenger was eventually
captured with messages in his possession. When questioned as to the
source of the information, and where he was taking it, he told all,
and as a result Padre Piernavieja was condemned to death as a traitor
to a cause to which he had never held allegiance. As a punishment he
was tied to a tree exposed to the burning rays of the tropical sun,
and thus left to the mercy of the voracious birds and insects, dying
of hunger, thirst and of terror in the midst of inconceivable torments.
Padre David Veras, Dominican, was another of the many victims of
the Katipuneros. He was the parish priest of the pueblo of Hermosa
in the province of Bataan. When the insurgents attacked the pueblo
they captured P. David, and after cutting off both his hands, dragged
him to the most distant of the ten barrios of that pueblo, and there
hacked him to death with bolos and hatchets mutilating his body in
a horrible manner, and throwing the corpse on to a dung heap.
In the early dawn of the 25th of December 1896, in Morong province
of Bataan, Padre Domingo Cabrejas, Recolet, was murdered at the altar
while offering up the holy sacrifice of the Mass, his blood staining
the sacred linen and the steps of the altar. The katipunero murderers
hurriedly hid the body in the church and fled.
Padre Jose Sanjuan, also Recolet and parish priest of Bagac was
another victim. To name all those who suffered barbarous treatment at
the merciful hands of the insurgents would be a well-nigh impossible
task. Recalling the acts of those fanaticised sectarians, one might
almost recall the barbarities and brutalities of the diabolical
Nero. Certainly the ancient Chinese and Japanese were scarcely
more excessive in their treatment of the unfortunate missionaries
they tortured in their attempt to stamp out the christian faith;
and even the Chinese boxers of our days could have taken lessons
from the disciples of Filipino freemasonry. Many, many are the
unfortunate missionaries whose blood cries to heaven for vengeance
and this vengeance of the God of Justice will one day fall upon this
people. Even in our own days we cannot shut our eyes to the fact of the
existence of the well marked track of the hand of Divine Justice as it
passes here and there throughout the land, calling now upon this one,
now upon that, to pay his debt even to the last farthing. The track
of the finger of God has been remarkably distinct in this archipelago
and many are the cases in which that finger moving slowly and silently
along has pointed out the unfruitful tree which the scythe of death
shall cut down.
"For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God; visiting the sins of the
fathers upon the children until the third and fourth generation."
Note 96. Some there are who see in every event which takes place,
the protecting or avenging hand of Providence. Others there are who
laugh to scorn the idea that Providence should concern itself in
such matters.
The hand of Providence surely has manifested itself of late in this
archipelago, here protecting the one from a cruel torture, there
permitting the sacrifice of a martyr to the faith or a martyr to duty
and honor, and the integrity of the Spanish nation. Here giving one
over to a just punishment, there pointing out another as an object
for Divine vengeance.
Is proof needed perhaps that the finger of the avenging hand of Divine
justice has left its well-marked path in the Philippines? Then we
have a notable case before us. A few months ago, a steamer, the Rio
de Janeiro, left the Orient bound for the port of San Francisco,
Cal. Within sight of the city, almost within sight of the crowds
who stood upon the wharf in expectation of the ship's arrival,
the good vessel, by the will of God who rules over all things,
went to the bottom, carrying with her, among other passengers,
a man who was morally and physically responsible for the greater
part of the barbarities practiced upon the long suffering Spanish
prisoners, Religious, Civil and Military, at the hands of the Tagalog
revolutionists. With that man disappeared from the land of the living
his whole family, together with state and private papers of unknown
value. How often before in the past history of the world has the God
of Justice obliterated whole families and even whole nations!
And who shall say that the hand of Divine Justice has not protected
as well as avenged. For many months the katipuneros had woven a
fine-meshed net around the Spanish population of the Philippines,
a labor the more easily accomplished in the same degree as the
scandalous carelessness of the Blanco administration became more and
more marked. Blanco himself was a freemason [86] and was always, like
our present civil administration, surrounded by friends of his own
choice, people who at no time suffered from an excess of patriotism;
and the few honorable exceptions which did exist were, unfortunately,
persons whose good moral influence was powerless to better a situation
which day by day became worse [87].
This net already woven was set, and it needed but the given signal
for its string to be tightly drawn and the unsuspecting prey would
immediately fall into its folds, to be redeemed only by a barbarous,
cruel death. But providence is merciful as well as just, and in her own
time opened up a way of escape for the coveted prize of the katipunero
savages. This opening was no other than Teodoro Patino, himself a
member of the diabolical society, the plot of which he was to reveal.
Patino was one of the many compositors in the printing establishment of
the Diario de Manila. He was an indian of but little importance both
as regards his abilities as a workman or as a katipunero: he was one
of the thousands of unknowns from which have sprung so many of those
sadly famous ignorantes and others of our own days. But he was destined
to act an important part in the society to which he belonged: a part
however not in the programme of proceedings drawn up by the society.
A discussion took place one day as to the subscription the said
Patino should pay into the common funds of the society, and heated
words passed between him and his companions on the subject. From words
they came to blows; and as Patino was one against many he came out of
the tussle second best, having received a good sound thrashing for
daring to differ from the majority. To satisfy his injured feelings
he looked around him for some one from whom he could expect sympathy,
and he bethought himself of his sister who was a pupil of the College
of Mandaloya, under the care of the Augustinian Nuns. To his sister
he repaired and to her he told his tale of woe, making mention at the
same time of a certain society to which he and his assailants belonged.
The sister startled by what her brother related, questioned him
closely, as only a woman can question when she wishes to get to
the bottom of anything. Having been a pupil of the Augustinian Nuns
for a considerable time and preserving in her heart sentiments of
gratitude little known among the peoples of the Archipelago, she was
much hurt to hear of the plans mapped out by the Katipunan for the
brutal destruction of those who had always been so good and kind to
her and her brother. And before Patino could tell all his tale, his
sister had bidden him good-bye and gone off in search of the Mother
Superior of the College, to whom she immediately told all she knew
of the affair. The two women trembling with fear for the safety of
the lives of so many hundreds of innocent victims, hurriedly sought
the presence of the Rev. Padre Mariano Gil, Augustinian, and parish
priest of Tondo. This Rev. Father, realizing the enormity of the
Katipunan plot, advised them to send Patino to him without delay.
Patino presented himself at the convento and underwent a close
examination at the hands of Padre Mariano. At first little progress
was made, as Patino feared both the anger of the authorities and
that of his fellow katipuneros, who would doubtless take revenge upon
him according to the laws of the society, for his tale-telling. And
in spite of the fact that he tried at every turn to avoid telling
the naked truth, and to escape here and there by professions of
ignorance, he eventually manifested to P. Mariano Gil all he knew
of the society, of its plans and of its resources. After a long and
tedious conversation, the patriotic Augustinian was gratified with
the knowledge of where to lay his hands upon hidden documents etc.,
which would throw much light upon the purposes of the society of
cut-throats. P. Gil immediately set to work to disclose the hidden
secrets.
"Without losing a moment," writes P. Mariano Gil, to a friend who
had asked of him the true story of what took place on that memorable
occasion, "I sent notice to the Lieut. of the Veterana of this
sub-division, D. Jose Cortes, to whom in the presence of the denouncer,
Patino, I communicated the most necessary data, giving him at the same
time the names of all those persons in the printing establishment who
were compromised, commencing with the two who signed the receipts,
Policarpo Tarla and Braulio Rivera, indicating to him the manner of
procedure for the detention of all those complicated.
...................................................................
... "I decided, confiding in God, to go alone to the printing
establishment, at a time when none of the workmen should be present."
The writer goes on to explain how he made known his mission to D. Ramon
Montes and two other Spaniards who, astonished at the news, aided in
the search for the documents, stones etc. After a half hour's search
the lithographic stone was discovered, and like a tiger springing
upon its prey, the zealous son of St. Augustine pounced upon it, as
though he feared that the very roof of the building should fall in
upon it and bury it beneath its rubbish out of reach of his hands. A
proof was taken from the said stone, of the Katipunero receipts,
and P. Gil immediately set off in the direction of the Veterana of
Tondo where he met Patino, who recognized the receipt as authentic,
and two hours later the Patriotic Augustinian saw his efforts crowned
with the confession of guilt of the delinquents, the two previously
named, figuring at the head of the list. Having performed this, P. Gil
humbly wended his way back to his parochial dwelling, satisfied to
have been an instrument of divine Providence for the unravelling of
one of the most bloodthirsty plots ever invented by the perverse mind
of embruted mankind.
At midnight was discovered in the locker of Policarpo Tarla, in the
same place, a dagger, the regulations of the Katipunan and several
documents having connection with the said society, all of which,
together with the famous lithographic stone, were handed over by
Sr. Montes to the Veterana.
On the following day P. Gil discovered in the house of one of his
parishioners a dagger identical to the one mentioned, also several
receipts in Tagalog with the key of the symbolic language in which
they were printed.
"This", affirms P. Gil, "is the truth of the discovery."
There can be little doubt that Patino was directly inspired more by the
thrashing he received than by providence, although it is not possible
to deny that the thrashing and the consequent divulging of the secrets
of the Katipunan were providential. And as regards to his repentance,
I doubt judging from the character of the average indian, whether he
really felt repentant till the enormity of the crime to which he was
an abettor was brought home to him by P. Mariano Gil. Be that as it
may. The ways of Providence are hidden from us and we can seldom see,
with our human eyes, more than the actions of the human reason. Yet
the truth remains, that whether directly or indirectly inspired by
providence it was Patino's action which saved Spain "from an unending
series of bitter experiences."
Note 97. What has, up to this present, been written concerning these
stirring events has been taken chiefly from the reports made by
Gen. Blanco to Sr. Canovas. Whether from ignorance or from malice,
these reports contained about as many errors as words. From these
Sr. Diaz evidently took the statement that the sister of Patino was a
pupil in the College of Looban, whereas P. Mariano Gil himself states
that it was that known as the Orphan Asylum for Girls at Mandaloya.
Note 98. The following sketch of P. Mariano Gil is taken from the
Heraldo de Madrid which in its number of the 6th October 1896, said:
"P. Gil was born in Carreon de los Condes (Palencia) on the 2nd of
July 1849. Whilst still young he entered the Augustinian College of
Valladolid. His studies concluded, he passed to the Philippines where
he filled the duties of parish priest in several Tagalog pueblos. Till
recently he has been holding the position of parish priest of Tondo,
a suburb of Manila. He was fortunate enough to discover the plot
of the insurrection on the 19th of August last, denouncing it at an
opportune moment. The Spaniards gathered in manifestation to the palace
of the Governor General; Sr. Blanco did not condescend to receive them
and they therefore went at once to pay their respects to P. Gil and
the Archbishop, both of whom congratulated them for their patriotic
attitude. A newspaper of Manila, El Espanol, published the picture
of the parish priest of Tondo; but scarcely had the first copies
of the paper appeared on the street, than General Blanco ordered
their suppression, commanding that a new edition be printed omitting
the said picture and the laudatory phrases which the El Espanol had
dedicated to the eminent Augustinian, from this time a note-worthy
patriot to whom the public did a justice which General Blanco either
did not know how, or did not wish to do him."
Speaking of this patriotic Padre, Sr. Castillo y Jimenez [88] says:
"His character is gruff; he asks nothing, he demands; he does not
beseech, he asks; and what he demands and asks is just and lawful,
because it bears in its essence the benefit of mankind, aiding the
unfortunate, warding off their dangers, delivering them from the
attacks which envy and vengeance might deal out to pacific and humble
people. He is inflexible with the reprobate and disloyal, magnanimous
with those who have been deceived; proud with the haughty and humble
with the weak, and in his generous life has wiped away many tears,
distributed much bread to the poor, and many times proportioned
assistance to the needy that they should not fall into want."
The good work done in the discovery of the diabolical plot of the
Katipunan, has very naturally been the object of a great amount
of bitter criticism at the hands of the separatist element, which
has never pardoned the valiant Augustinian for springing their
carefully laid traps. He was denounced in the lodge rooms of Filipino
freemasonry, from one of which was despatched a letter directed to
him and bearing his picture, as will be seen in the accompanying
illustration. His discovery was depreciated and belittled, and made
to appear a farce. His patriotism was called into question and his
very life was placed in imminent danger.
However the torrents of lies that have poured forth against him have
not, and can not obliterate the truth.
Isabelo de los Reyes to belittle the labors of discovery of P. Gil,
affirms that Antonio Luna notified Blanco of the existence of the
association previous to the discovery of P. Gil. Be that as it may;
the secret police had also notified Blanco of what was going on. Three
times did the Archbishop of Manila do the same, and so also did
the other prelates of Manila and Prior of the Convent of Guadalupe,
and Lieut. Sityer [89]. But this does not lessen the value of Padre
Gil's discovery, but rather adds to its importance. For whilst Blanco
was sufficiently posted on the matter to be able to judge of the
necessity of taking immediate proceedings, there was wanting that
healthy stimulus which was given by P. Gil. A stubborn carbuncle
often needs the aid of the lance: P. Gil's discovery was the lance
which brought to the surface the putrid matter which nature could
not, of herself, eject. This putrid matter extending itself, would
have brought about the mortification of the whole body, had not the
surgeon applied his lance in good time. And although the lance of
the surgeon brought pain to the patient it saved her for the time,
giving back to her a state of relative health.
Note 99. The first executions which took place were those of four
rebels captured in flagrante in San Juan del Monte. These were Sancho
Valenzuela, Eugenio Silvestre, Modesto Sarmiento and Ramon Peralta. Of
these Valenzuela was the only one of any importance. Sarmiento was
a cabeza de barangay [90] of Santa Ana where he owned a small nipa
house which he rented out, performing at the same time the office of
cook and house boy to the tenant. On the way to execution he met his
tenant-master and, in a nonchalant manner, greeted him with as pleasant
a Buenos dias Senor, as if he were on the way to some joyous function
or a grand "meet" at the cock-pit. Before his execution Valenzuela
also showed a spirit of coolness and serenity, signing his last will
and testament with a firm hand, and smiling. Both showed the spirit
of men thoroughly fascinated by some superior power, neither realizing
the crime they had committed nor the punishment they were to undergo.
The second execution took place in Cavite, thirteen rebels being
shot. These were Francisco Osorio, Maximo Inocencio, Luis Aguado,
Victoriano Luciano, Hugo Perez, Jose Lallana, Antonio San Agustin,
Agapito Conchu, Feliciano Cabuco, Mariano Gregorio, Eugenio Cabezas and
two constables of the public prison of the province. These constables
had pressed into their traitorous service a number of the muchachos of
the prison. Francisco Osorio was a very wealthy Chinese half-caste. He
had been honored by Spain with several honors, among them the Grand
Cross of Carlos III. He was very intimate with the authorities in
Cavite. His father, a wealthy Chinee, and his cousin, a doctor,
both denounced him at the moment of his execution.
"After the reading of the sentence," says an eye-witness, "in front
of the square which we formed, he commenced to cry, asking pardon of
the General and of all Spaniards; he affirmed that he was a Spaniard
and that he would never conspire again against the country in which
he had been educated, and he cursed the freemasons who in Madrid had
initiated him into the hatred of religion and the fatherland. The
doctor his cousin, turning to him, said: Silence Osorio! don't cry so;
what will the Spaniards benefit from your repentance; but the miserable
fellow paid no attention to him, and asked to be allowed to kiss the
Spanish flag before he died. This permission was not granted."
Maximo Inocencio was the proprietor of a large store and was a
contractor to the Arsenal. He had been previously arrested for
implication in the revolt in Cavite in 1872. At that time he escaped
but was afterwards pardoned; the signal rocket was to be fired from
his storehouse in Cavite.
Luis Aguado was also a contractor for the Arsenal.
Victoriano Luciano, a chemist, was a wealthy half-caste who had not
lived long in Cavite.
Hugo Perez, was an indio. He was the venerable of the masonic lodge. In
his house were discovered two large photographs in which the majority
of the thirteen persons executed were photographed in the form of
a triangle; a book with a triangle and other masonic insignia on
its front page, and four important letters of anti-Spanish masonic
propaganda.
Lallana was a tailor, and some say a peninsular Spaniard. For a while
he was chief of police of Cavite and had been a corporal of Marines.
Antonio San Agustin was an indian, a petty merchant and a man who
could scarcely bear the sight of a Spaniard.
Agapito Conchu was a master of a primary school, and a half-caste. He
had once been detained in the time of Despujols but granted his
liberty. Apart from his school, he gave lessons to some of the children
of the Spanish families of the town, including the daughter of the
Governor of Cavite.
Cabuco was an escribiente [91] of the administration of State; and
Eugenio Cabezas a watch-tinker.
These executions were followed by that of a member of the Guardia
Civil, Mariano Magno, in Nueva Ecija. Magno had always been noted for
his lack of obedience to his superiors, his hatred of discipline and
ill-feeling in general towards Spaniards. Fifteen others were shot in
Iligan on the 28th of October of the same year. Many others suffered
the like penalty in different parts of the Archipelago.
Note 100. Those sentenced to deportation were, for the most part, sent
to Jolo, Puerta Princesa, Balabac and to the penitentiary colonies.
To the first named place were sent 69 persons of all kinds and
conditions, trades and occupations. Among them was a Juan Cuadra,
a chemist in Ermita. To Puerta Princesa went 53, and to Balabac 56
both lots well assorted. Those most compromised in the insurrection
were sent to Fernando Poo, these numbering some 200. Three hundred
more were sent to Mindanao. Among the 200 sent to Fernando Poo were
merchants, compositors, silversmiths, book-binders, carriage painters,
laundrymen, escribientes, a clerk of the Puerta del Sol on the Escolta,
hat-makers, tailors, laborers, students, lawyers and among them the
irrepressible jack-in-the-box, Thomas William of the Rosary (Tomas
G. del Rosario); telephone operators, school-teachers and three members
of the secret police; among the rag and tag of the good-for-nothings,
and as chief of them, was the famous translator of the scriptures,
Pascual H. Poblete [92].
Note 101. Apolinario Mabini was born in the pueblo of Tanauan,
province of Batangas, and was the son of parents of the poorer and
lower classes. He came to Manila as a lad and received his secondary
education in the College of San Juan de Letran at the hands of
the Dominican Fathers, taking the degree of professor. Later on he
was employed in the Intendencia and by careful saving and by steady
application he continued his studies for law and concluded his course
at the University of Santo Tomas also at the hands of the Dominicans
who spared no efforts on behalf of his success. From the University
he received the title of Licentiate of Law in 1895.
He entered the office of the notary Numeriano Adriano to practice
law, and whilst there employed, was drawn by Adriano into the net of
masonry, joining the lodge Balagtas which was one of those founded
from the overflow of the original Filipino lodge Nilad. Adriano was
the venerable of the said lodge. When the Liga Filipina was formed
and had gotten well into working order Mabini was named a councillor
of the superior Council (see page 28). According to the testimony
of Moises Salvador (see page 296) Mabini was also secretary of the
Association of Compromisarios.
He was arrested as one of the chief instigators of the revolt and
after due trial was sentenced to death. The Spanish authorities
however, took compassion upon him because of his pitiful condition,
he being paralysed in the lower parts of the body [93]; so instead
of including his name in the list of those who expiated their treason
on the field of Bagumbayan, they foolishly gave him his liberty.
Once more free, Mabini left Manila for his own pueblo of Tanauan
where he lived quietly till Aguinaldo was brought over in 1898 by
Admiral Dewey to serve as a bush-beater to the American forces. Mabini
was thereupon carried from Tanauan to Cavite where he joined the
faithless Magdalo.
In Cavite he drew up a project of a constitutional law for the
Philippines. In the first page of this he affirmed that the precepts
of the Ten Commandments were an invention of the friars! And yet Mabini
was the Filipino Solomon. He instructed the people that they ought not
to believe in the said decalogue or practice what it commanded, but
that they should only practice the precepts of the Verdadero Decalogo
which he prepared and gave to the public as their spiritual guide.
Mabini very soon became radical and decidedly anti-American in his
ideas, and succeeded in attaining such moral ascendancy over Aguinaldo
that the latter ceased to be the leader of the people and the true
dictator of the Filipino republic, becoming a toy in the hands of a
man who could twist and turn him here and there at his will.
Mabini refused to take the oath of allegiance and was, on the 7th
of January 1901 deported under General Order No. 4 to the island of
Guam, as one of the persons "whose acts clearly demonstrate them to
be favorers or sympathizers with the insurrection."
Note 102. The advanced political ideas held and propagated by the
separatists were not bad in themselves; no particular objection can be
raised against them as political ideas. But when we consider by whom
and for whom these "reforms" were asked, we begin to appreciate the
necessity to which the indian was put of endeavoring to attain them
by armed struggle. Taking away the revolutionary basis upon which the
plans of the Liga were raised, nothing remains but the empty walls of
a roofless building. These walls or ideas are contained in the plans of
reforms drawn up by almost every jackanapes in the Liga who could write
down his thoughts with any amount of clearness. These plans agreed upon
certain points, chiefly representation in the Spanish parliament and
the expulsion of the Religious Orders. These two points appear to have
been the essence of the direct aims of the separatists (see p. 69).
Others called for the Spanish constitution with its consequences:
the liberty of the press and the liberty of associations. Liberty of
the press was ever an unknown quantity in the Philippines. The idea of
the liberty of the press is very beautiful when its liberties are not
abused; it was the abuse of what little liberty the press enjoyed,
in the latter days of Spanish rule, that induced the authorities
to impose such a close censure upon it as they did. Whatever may
be said in its favor, press censorship and such sedition laws as we
enjoy to-day in this nondescript piece of the world's surface, are
more proper of absolute monarchies than of territory of the U. S. of
America, although in our particular case we might as well be under the
despotic, ever deteriorating rule of Aguinaldo, as that of a body of
men whose intentions however good and sincere they may be, fall short,
when put into practice, of the proverbial ingenuity in governing,
of the famous Sancho Panza in his island of Barataria. Freedom of
the press is at times a blessing, and at others a curse. From 1888
to 1896 it would have been more of the latter than of the former;
for giving such a liberty to the separatists who asked it, would be
arming the enemy with the best arms.
As to liberty of associations. People in the Temperance world often ask
themselves, does prohibition prohibit? Some make themselves believe
that it does; but practice has shown what common sense tells each
and every one of us, that it does not; for if a man (and I do not
wish to be so ungallant as to exclude the ladies) cannot get what
he wants legally, he as a rule sees that he gets it somehow. And so
with the Filipinos who, denied the liberty of association, defied the
authorities and held their gatherings in secret and secluded places.
All these various political ideas were decidedly advanced in as much as
they had relation to a people in no way prepared to receive them. No
father would put a loaded revolver or an open razor into the hands
of his child; but those were the very things the separatists were
howling for.