The Inhabitants of the Philippines Part 12

1st grade Katipun word Anak nang bayan.

2nd grade Ka.n.a.l word Gom-bur-za. [8]

3rd grade Bayani.

Andres Bonifacio, a warehouse-keeper in the service of Messrs. Fressel & Co., of Manila, was the guiding spirit of this society, and at the meeting of 1st January, 1896, the Supreme Council was elected as follows:--

President Andres Bonifacio.

Fiscal and Doctor Emilio Jacinto o Dison, alias Ping Kian.

Treasurer Vicente Molina.

Councillors Pantaleon Torres.

Hermengildo Reyes.

Francisco Carreon.

Jose Trinidad.

Balbino Florentine Aguedo del Rosario.

K K K Z LL B

The members of the Katipunan were poor people--writers, common soldiers, washermen, mechanics, and tenants on the friars'

estates. They subscribed small sums monthly for the purchase of arms, and for other expenses. Bearing in mind how many conspiracies had been denounced to the priests by the women, the leaders of this movement gave their meetings the outward appearance of benevolent a.s.sociations, and directed the members to represent the society to their wives in that light.

Later on a woman's lodge, with twenty-five members was organised, under the presidency of Marina Dison, but the women were not informed of the true object of the society.

Fray Eduardo Navarro, Procurator of the Augustinians, in a cleverly-written work, ent.i.tled 'The Philippines; a Study of Certain Matters of Moment,' published in 1897, prints under No. 3 of the Appendix the t.i.tle granted by the Walana Lodge, No. 158, certifying that "our dear sister, Purificacion Leyva, has been initiated in the degree of Companion-Mason at the session of 8th April, 1894."

On reading this work, I infer that the friars considered the Katipunan a Masonic body, but this is a mistake. The Katipunan adopted some of the Masonic paraphernalia, and some of the initiatory ceremonies, but were in no sense Masonic lodges.

The programme of the Katipunan was, in its own words, "to redeem the Philippines from its tyrants, the friars, and to found a communistic republic." This was simple and direct, and they meant it.

How many men were affiliated to this society cannot be known. Estimates range from 10,000 to 50,000 members. I think there can be no doubt that it was the most potent factor in the insurrection of 1896, and that its members, unlike the Creoles and Mestizos, were ready to give their lives for their cause.

CHAPTER X.

THE INSURRECTION OF 1896-97.

Combat at San Juan del Monte--Insurrection spreading--Arrival of reinforcements from Spain--Rebel entrenchments--Rebel arms and artillery--Spaniards repulsed from Binacayan--and from Noveleta--Mutiny of Carabineros--Prisoners at Cavite attempt to escape--Iniquities of the Spanish War Office--Lachambre's division--Rebel organization--Rank and badges--Lachambre advances--He captures Silang--Perez Dasmarinas--Salitran--Anabo II.

The Augustinians take credit to themselves that one of their order, Father Mariano Gil, parish priest of Tondo, discovered the existence of the revolutionary conspiracy, on the 19th August. But already on the 5th of July a lieutenant of the Guardia Civil had declared in a written report that there were over 14,000 men belonging to the valley of the Pasig, affiliated to the conspiracy.

A council of the authorities was convened on the 6th of August, but nothing was done. On that same date, however, the Governor of Batangas telegraphed that a discovery of arms, ammunition and Republican flags had been made at Taal. In consequence of this, General Blanco ordered some arrests to be made.

On the 19th, Father Gil gave information to General Blanco that he had discovered the existence of a secret revolutionary society, and two days later Blanco reported to the Government in Madrid that there existed a vast organization of secret societies.

At this time the garrison of Manila consisted of some 1500 men, most of them being natives. As arrests were being continually made, the members of the Katipunan, or those suspected of being such, left their homes and took to the woods although very poorly equipped with fire-arms.

On 30th August a party of the rebels under Sancho Valenzuela, Modesto Sarmiento, and others had a fight with some native cavalry and Guardias Civiles at San Juan del Monte near Manila. The rebels lost heavily in killed, their chiefs were taken prisoners and shot on the 4th September, at the Paseo de la Luneta.

A Spanish artilleryman was murdered by some rebels at Pandacan about this time, and martial law was proclaimed.

The Guardia Civil, all native soldiers, was now concentrated in Manila abandoning their outlying posts. After many vacillations and contradictory cablegrams to the Government in Madrid, General Blanco now definitely asked for large reinforcements.

On September 1st, the people of Noveleta revolted and killed a captain and a lieutenant of the Guardia Civil and three days later the rebels penetrated to the town of Caridad, close to Cavite.

Early in September rebels were in arms, and dominating great part of the Provinces of Manila, Cavite, Batangas, Bulacan, Pampanga and Nueva ecija.

By the middle of the month rebel bands appeared in Tarlac, Pangasinan, Laguna, Morong and Tayabas.

On the 9th September, the Cavite rebels attacked San Roque, which is close to the town of Cavite, and burned part of it. On the 12th, thirteen persons who had been convicted by a court-martial of complicity in the revolt were shot in Cavite.

The cables from General Blanco to the Madrid Government were all this time misleading and contradictory, and showed that he had no grasp of the state of affairs. These dispatches were subjected to severe criticism in the Heraldo, a Madrid newspaper.

By the middle of September troops arrived from Zamboanga and other southern stations, and the garrison of Manila was brought up to 6000 men, two-thirds of whom were natives. Reinforcements were sent to Cavite, for the rebels were in great force about Silang, Imus, and Noveleta.

On the 17th September another attack was made by the rebels on San Roque, but was repulsed.

On the 1st October the mail steamer Cataluna arrived with a battalion of marines from Spain, greatly to the delight of the Spaniards, who gave the force an enthusiastic reception.

Next day the ss. Monserrat arrived with more troops, and from this time forward troops kept pouring in.

Still General Blanco remained on the defensive in and around the city of Manila and the town of Cavite, and repulsed attacks made by the rebels on the magazines at Binancayan and Las Pinas.

The rebels were now firmly established over the rest of the Province of Cavite. The natural features of this part of Luzon made the movements of regular troops extremely difficult. The country abounds in rivers which run from south to north parallel to each other at short distances. They run at the bottom of deep ravines, which present excellent positions for defence. Many of these rivers have dams across them and the sluices in these might be opened by the defenders, or the dams could be blown up in case a column of the a.s.sailants should be entangled in the ravine below, when they would inevitably be overwhelmed in the descending torrent.

In places the country could be flooded and thus be rendered impa.s.sable for troops.

But the industry of the rebels, skilfully directed, had added enormously to these natural advantages. From the reports of eye-witnesses I can affirm that the entrenchments of the Tagals were colossal. Tagals and Boers have demonstrated that a compet.i.tive examination is not necessary to enable fighting-men to entrench themselves. The Tagal lines ran from the delta of the Zapote River to Naic in an almost unbroken line, approximately parallel to the coast.

They were doubled and trebled in front of villages or towns and across the roads.

The trace was en cremaillere, the section being 6 feet thick at the top and 8 feet high, the exterior face vertical, with a revetment of bamboos fastened together with rattans. It was in fact a bank of earth built up against a strong bamboo fence.

The defenders fired through loop-holes left in the parapet, and were very well covered, but they could only fire straight before them and horizontally.

The defences of the towns had thicker and loftier parapets; in some cases there were three tiers of loop-holes properly splayed.

The insurgents were very insufficiently armed, and at first there were ten men to a rifle. The man who was reputed the best shot carried the rifle and cartridge belt, and if he was killed or wounded in an engagement, the next best shot took the weapon and continued the fight. In the early actions there was scarcely ever a rifle left on the ground by the insurgents.

The only cannon the rebels had at first were some ancient bra.s.s swivel guns called falconetes or lantacas, which they took from the estate-houses at Imus and Malabon.