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Philippine History - Philippine Revolution
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Philippine Revolution
When the Revolution began in 1896, Spain had been ruling the Philippine Islands for over three centuries. Power was centered around the colonial government in Manila and the Church, although in reality it was a frailocracia, --the Dominican friars exercising more power than the civilian government due to the stringent control of the Church over the populace. Because of the imposition of excessive taxes and forced labor on the indios (as the Filipinos were called), several revolts occurred in the middle and latter part of the 19th century, all without success. The Spaniards implemented the age-old strategy of divide et impera - divide and rule. The government would conscript Filipino troops from the Tagalog provinces to suppress a revolt in the Ilocos, and would quell a Visayan uprising largely with the help of troops recruited from Pampanga province. This caused hatred and discord among the indios who were never to unite until the late 19th century.
A combination of external and internal factors precipitated the revolution. The archipelago was opened to foreign trade during the mid-19th century, aided by the launching of the Suez Canal in 1869. Along with the import of goods came an inflow of Western thought, such as the pursuit of liberty and independence. Schools, organizations, literature and other means fostering these ideals were considered subversive and banned by the colonial administration and the entrenched frailocracia. The Filipinos who were influenced by these liberal concepts were the same people who benefited from foreign trade--the ilustrados, members of the prosperous merchant class who sent their sons to study at universities in Spain and elsewhere in Europe. Many of these students, chief among them José Rizal and Graciano López Jaena, would organize a reform organization, called the Propaganda Movement.
The internal factor was the execution of three Filipino priests. During the mid-19th century, a campaign was initiated by Father Pedro Pelaez calling for the “naturalization” of Filipino parishes--the turnover of churches to native-born Filipinos. After Pelaez’s death in an earthquake, the crusade was led by Fathers Mariano Gómez, José Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora.
The frailocracia was adamantly opposed to reforms and looked for pretext to arrest the trio. They had their opportunity when a mutiny in the fort in Cavite was aborted. Although the rebellion was led by a disaffected military officer and did not involve the priests, the civil government and church hierarchy nonetheless accused them of conspiracy. After a swift trial, the priests--known collectively and posthumously by the acronym Gomburza--were executed by garrote in February 17, 1872, at Bagumbayan in Manila. The sympathetic archbishop of Manila refused the order that they be defrocked and instead directed the pealing of church bells as a sign of mourning.
The execution enraged many Filipinos, and years later, an ilustrado by the name of José Rizal would later acknowledge this as the one event that changed his life.
Propaganda Movement
A group of Filipino ilustrados in Madrid shocked by what they saw as the disparity between Spain and her colony, organized the “Propaganda Movement”. Among its members were Rizal, López Jaena, the political exile Marcelo del Pilar, Mariano Ponce, and the Luna brothers--Juan and Antonio. They published a fortnightly newspaper in Spanish called La Solidaridad. Its aim was to expose corruption and atrocities in the Philippine colony. The publication lasted from 1889 to 1895. Copies of it were smuggled into the Philippines and were read surreptitiously behind closed doors.
In its later years, because of differences in opinion, the movement suffered a division. One faction supported del Pilar as its leader, while the other supported Rizal. To resolve the dispute, Rizal volunteered to pack his bags and leave Barcelona, where the group was by now based. Rizal's departure would signal its slow and steady downfall. With the subsequent demise of both López Jaena and del Pilar the group failed to witness the fruition of their dream for internal reform in the colony as well as their hopes for representation in the Spanish Cortes. However, through the La Solidaridad, they not only voiced out their outrage to their readers in Spain and the rest of the western world, but conveyed their protests to their countrymen which gave rise to greater dissent and discontent.
La Liga Filipina
Rizal returned to the Philippines in 1892 and established La Liga Filipina. The progressive organization continued Rizal's aim of implementing reforms inside the colony. Despite its avowed aims for peaceful reforms, the government felt threatened by its existence and had it disbanded. They were especially disturbed by one clause in its Declaration calling for "defence against all violence and injustice" and arrested Rizal on July 6.
The coalition subsequently splintered into two factions with differing agenda. The moderate wing reorganized itself as Cuerpo de Compromisarios with the purpose of providing funds for La Solidaridad. The radical wing, led by a warehouse clerk named Andrés Bonifacio, reorganized into a secret organization called the Katipunan whose aim was to gain independence from Spain.
Katipunan
On the night of July 7, 1892, members of the defunct Liga, Ladislao Diwa, Teodoro Plata, Valentín Díaz, and Deodato Arellano, joined Bonifacio to found the Katipunan in a house on Calle Azcarraga (now Claro M. Recto Avenue). Bonifacio was hailed as the Supremo (supreme leader). With the nation's total liberation as its ultimate purpose, the secret society's immediate goal was to institute a government to be installed upon the overthrow of the Spanish administration. They raised funds to purchase weapons and sought the help of a Japanese ship docked in Manila as middleman, but failed in the attempt. Eventually, the men got hold of a small number of smuggled and stolen firearms; however, the majority of the militants were only armed with iták and bolos, locally-made machete-like knives.
To spread their revolutionary ideas, they published the newspaper Kalayaan (Freedom). It was edited by Emilio Jacinto and printed (along with other Katipunan documents) on a printing press purchased with proceeds from the lottery winnings of Francisco del Castillo and Candido Iban, who would later found the Katipunan in Panay. To mislead the Spanish authorities, it carried a false masthead declaring Marcelo del Pilar the editor and Yokohama the site of the printing press. The newspaper was published only once, before the katipuneros, having been alerted of the organization's discovery by the Spaniards, destroyed their printing press. They then moved their operations to the offices of Diario de Manila where one other edition of the paper was printed in secrecy.
It did not take long before Katipunan membership swelled in numbers, its aims and ideals spreading to other provinces. By March 1896, councils were being organized in the towns of San Juan del Monte, San Felipe Neri, Pasig, Pateros, Marikina, Caloocan, Malabon and surrounding areas. It later dispersed to the provinces of Bulacan, Batangas, Cavite, Nueva Ecija, Laguna and Pampanga. It also included women among its ranks, with the first female inductee in 1893. From a measly 300, the Katipunan grew to an army of more than 30,000 which made Bonifacio confident that liberation of the Katagalugan (as he called the Philippines) was imminent.
Cry of Pugadlawin
Two katipuneros, Teodoro Patiño and Apolonio dela Cruz, were engaged in a bitter personal dispute. The former, Patiño, deciding to seek revenge, exposed the secrets of the Katipunan to his sister who was a nun, who in turn revealed it to a Spanish priest, Father Mariano Gil. The priest was led to the printing press of Diario de Manila and found a lithographic stone used to print the secret society's receipts. A locker was seized containing a dagger and secret documents.
Several arrests ensued which included some of the wealthiest ilustrados. Despite their denial, many of them were executed. It was speculated that Bonifacio intended for the events leading to their arrest to happen in order to coerce the wealthy into joining the Katipunan.
The news immediately reached the top leadership of the organization. Panic-stricken, they immediately called a meeting of the remaining members, first in Kangkong and then in the house of katipunero Juan Ramos in Pugadlawin in Balintawak. The first meeting yielded nothing. On the second meeting, Bonifacio, fed up with the seemingly-endless squabbling, tore up his cedula (residence certificate) and cried Mabuhay ang kalayaan ng Pilipinas! (Long live Philippine Independence!). It was a cry to arms and was echoed by the majority of the men in attendance. On August 24, 1896, the Revolution had begun.
The first armed encounter between the Spanish colonists and a small group of the Katipunan took place in Pasong Tamo in Caloocan and signaled a small victory for the revolutionaries. The first battle of note occurred in San Juan del Monte in Manila. The katipuneros were winning initially, but were subsequently defeated by reinforcements summoned by Governor-General Ramón Blanco. Bonifacio then ordered his men to retreat to Mandaluyong.
Death of Rizal
Not long after their disastrous defeat in San Juan (the site is now known as Pinaglabanan, Tagalog for "battleground"), several uprisings occurred in nearby provinces. Governor-General Blanco decided to place eight provinces under martial law. These were Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Pampanga, Tarlac, Laguna, Batangas, and Nueva Ecija. They would later be represented in the eight rays of the sun in the Filipino flag. Arrests and interrogations were intensified and many Filipinos died from torture.
When the revolution broke out, Jose Rizal was living as a political exile in Dapitan and had just volunteered to serve as a doctor in Cuba, where a similar revolution was taking place. Instead of taking him to Barcelona from where he would be sent to Cuba, his ship, acting upon orders from Manila, took him instead to the capital where he was imprisoned in Fortaleza (Fort) Santiago. There he wrote his famous valedictory poem and awaited his execution which came on December 30, 1896 after a military trial. Although Rizal opposed the Katipunan from the beginning, he became a hero of the revolution through his martyred death and his incendiary writings critical of Spanish rule. His execution fanned the Filipinos' anger and ensured that the revolution would stay.
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But history is neither watchmaking nor cabinet construction. It is an endeavor toward better understanding.
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