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MIS Capitol Bataan
The Arrival of the Spaniards in the Philippines
With the first mass at Limasawa on Leyte Island on March 31, 1521, Magellan solemnly established what was to become the long Spanish presence in the Philippines. Divine Providence so ordained it that even after the death of Magellan on Mactan Island in the central region of the archipelago, King Charles I of Spain continued to send expeditions to the east. Charles, however, was not successful in these enterprises --and it was Iris successor, King Philip II, who claimed the glory of having his group of islands, which was eventually named after him, among the list of Spanish dominions. It was during his reign and under his patronage that Miguel Lopez de Legazpi reached Leyte in February 1565.
By the year 1571, Rajah Matanda and Rajah Soliman, who reigned amongst the communities on the island of Luzon, were already vassals of the Spanish crown. It was only a matter of time before the immediate neighborhood of Manila eventually capitulated without bloodshed.
But further away from these environs, it was necessary for the conquistadores, as the Spaniards were called, to use arms. So Legazpi sent Martin de Goiti and Juan de Salcedo on the mission to subjugate the natives.
De Goiti was assigned to conquer the region known as Pampanga, of which Bataan was then a part. In this expedition, he was accompanied by Rajah Lacandula, who reigned over Tondo, Manila. This was fortuitous for De Goiti, for when the native chiefs realized this, they did not offer much resistance since the presence of the Tondo king augured well for them. They were weekly pacified and, like him, they acepted Spanish sovereignty.
De Goiti's early retum to Manila from Pampanga seems to have aborted the Spanish sojourn and settlement in the areas farther away from Manila, including Bataan.
But the Spaniards did reach Bataan - not as conquerors, but as missionaries.
Dutch Attack on Abucay & Samal
The first Dutch attack on the Philippines was led by Admiral Olivier van Noort, who landed in Albay in December 1600. On Saturday, June 22, 1647, the Dutch fleet appeared on the shores of Abucay.
In Samal, three enemy ships also attacked. However, they had hardly fired their cannons when they were driven away by the Filipino-Spanish soldiers, with the same courage as in Abucay.
In less than four days, there were 600 soldiers gathered to face the enemy should they return, as what actually happened. On July 11, 150 Dutch soldiers landed in Abucay led by the third in command of the fleet, to sack the town and take off with the livestock.
At the same time, Samal was also being sacked by the enemy when the troops of Captain Francisco Gomez Pulido arrived as reinforcement, having been sent by General Juan de Chavez from Abucay. Pulido, aided by the troops of Francisco Palmares, drove away the enemies, including the heretic who conquered Abucay. There were 14 killed on land and two were taken prisoners. It was not known how many were killed at sea, but undoubtedly, there were many of them. The rest managed to reach their ships anchoring at Mariveles Point, but an epidemic finally wiped out all of them.
After this event, the Governor General ordered that the dead be buried with honors for their loyalty to God and Country.
The British Invasion of Orion
The friendly relations between Spain and England were shared on August 15, 1761 by the signing of the Family Compact executed among the Spanish, French and Italian Bourbons. But even before Manila could hear of this, by the next year, 13 English ships, commanded by Admiral Samuel Cornish, with three to four thousand troops, entered Manila.
Due to lack of food, the British had to extend their invasion to the provinces surrounding Manila – San Pablo in Laguna, Santa Cruz de Malabon in Cavite, Pandi in Bulacan, including Caloocan, Navotas, and San Juan del Monte.
And it was at this period that the British thought of invading Bataan, and set their sights on landing in Orion.
However, before they were able to land and station themselves at the town-convent, General Anda had already heard of the news. Immediately he ordered 60 of his men, under D. Manuel Aspilla, to board their wagons and proceed at once from Guagua (Wawa, Pampanga) to Bataan where they were joined by 200 natives with their bows and arrows.
Separating 16 of Anda’s soldiers and 50 bowmen of Bataan to take possession and guard the only way by the river leading to the sea, the principal detachment marched towards the convent. But they had not yet completely surrounded it when the British soldiers began to run for the beach in confusion.
However, before they reached the shore, there was a short exchange of fire on the road by the river leading to the sea where a number of Spanish-Bataan men-of-war were waiting.
In this encounter, there were six or seven Englishmen and one native of Bataan killed.
Bataan Revolts Against Spain
The townsfolk of Bataan embraced the faith and culture introduced by the Dominican fathers who settled on their land. But, the Spaniards later realized, the people were not such a submissive lot in the face of extreme abuses. Like their counterparts in other provinces around the archipelago, the Bataan natives strained against the tightening noose of subjugation and plotted to shed off the foreign burden.
The Uprising of 1600
Tremors of war in Bataan began as early September 1, 1660. On that day, the Council of Mayors from different parts of Pampanga, the province of which Bataan was then still a part, met without due consideration to the then Alcade Mayor.
The point at issue was the uprising which began when a worker cutting timber in Bataan for the construction of the ship San Sebastian in Cavite, attacked his foreman in retaliation for the extreme abuses against him. His cause had been taken up by his fellow workers, who collectively denounced the abuses committed against them, including that they were not paid on time and, if it all, they were unjustly paid, and that because of this, some of them had already died of hunger.
Emotions were then at fever pitch, it was said, so that even if the governor, Sabiano Manrique de Lara, appeared at the head of the troops, bringing money, he would not have succeeded in pacifying the insurgents.
They had already burned the warehouse of the Dominicans when a Dominican priest, Fr. Pedro Camacho, helped by three other Augustinian friars, tried to pacify them by giving them a ration of rice enough to last for a month.
But all was in vain. The rebels took their families to the mountains, formed themselves into a band, and occupied Lubao and Bacolor, which was then the capital of Pampanga, using the churches as their quarters and holding the Alcade Mayor hostage.
News of this rebellion reached Manila on October 4 of the same year. At once, eight artilleries with 300 Spanish soldiers with the best military men, including Japanese and Mardicas, were dispatched. The forces drove the rebels to other provinces, particularly Pangasinan, where they were led by Andres Malong. However, majority of them remained and were pacified. And, having made it clear that they were not against all Spanish sovereignty but were only for justice, no penalty was meted out to them. On the contrary they received 14,000 pesos which were due to them, as was clear from the Royal Cedula.
Since then, except for the 1787 Tobacco Monopoly unrest in Samal and some occasional attacks of pirates, bandits and Aetas which caused the death of Father Antonio Perez in 1727, Bataan became a very peaceful province until the year 1898 when the insurrectos murdered Fathers David Varas, Domingo Cabrejas and Jose de San Juan.
With the first mass at Limasawa on Leyte Island on March 31, 1521, Magellan solemnly established what was to become the long Spanish presence in the Philippines. Divine Providence so ordained it that even after the death of Magellan on Mactan Island in the central region of the archipelago, King Charles I of Spain continued to send expeditions to the east. Charles, however, was not successful in these enterprises --and it was Iris successor, King Philip II, who claimed the glory of having his group of islands, which was eventually named after him, among the list of Spanish dominions. It was during his reign and under his patronage that Miguel Lopez de Legazpi reached Leyte in February 1565.
By the year 1571, Rajah Matanda and Rajah Soliman, who reigned amongst the communities on the island of Luzon, were already vassals of the Spanish crown. It was only a matter of time before the immediate neighborhood of Manila eventually capitulated without bloodshed.
But further away from these environs, it was necessary for the conquistadores, as the Spaniards were called, to use arms. So Legazpi sent Martin de Goiti and Juan de Salcedo on the mission to subjugate the natives.
De Goiti was assigned to conquer the region known as Pampanga, of which Bataan was then a part. In this expedition, he was accompanied by Rajah Lacandula, who reigned over Tondo, Manila. This was fortuitous for De Goiti, for when the native chiefs realized this, they did not offer much resistance since the presence of the Tondo king augured well for them. They were weekly pacified and, like him, they acepted Spanish sovereignty.
De Goiti's early retum to Manila from Pampanga seems to have aborted the Spanish sojourn and settlement in the areas farther away from Manila, including Bataan.
But the Spaniards did reach Bataan - not as conquerors, but as missionaries.
Dutch Attack on Abucay & Samal
The first Dutch attack on the Philippines was led by Admiral Olivier van Noort, who landed in Albay in December 1600. On Saturday, June 22, 1647, the Dutch fleet appeared on the shores of Abucay.
In Samal, three enemy ships also attacked. However, they had hardly fired their cannons when they were driven away by the Filipino-Spanish soldiers, with the same courage as in Abucay.
In less than four days, there were 600 soldiers gathered to face the enemy should they return, as what actually happened. On July 11, 150 Dutch soldiers landed in Abucay led by the third in command of the fleet, to sack the town and take off with the livestock.
At the same time, Samal was also being sacked by the enemy when the troops of Captain Francisco Gomez Pulido arrived as reinforcement, having been sent by General Juan de Chavez from Abucay. Pulido, aided by the troops of Francisco Palmares, drove away the enemies, including the heretic who conquered Abucay. There were 14 killed on land and two were taken prisoners. It was not known how many were killed at sea, but undoubtedly, there were many of them. The rest managed to reach their ships anchoring at Mariveles Point, but an epidemic finally wiped out all of them.
After this event, the Governor General ordered that the dead be buried with honors for their loyalty to God and Country.
The British Invasion of Orion
The friendly relations between Spain and England were shared on August 15, 1761 by the signing of the Family Compact executed among the Spanish, French and Italian Bourbons. But even before Manila could hear of this, by the next year, 13 English ships, commanded by Admiral Samuel Cornish, with three to four thousand troops, entered Manila.
Due to lack of food, the British had to extend their invasion to the provinces surrounding Manila – San Pablo in Laguna, Santa Cruz de Malabon in Cavite, Pandi in Bulacan, including Caloocan, Navotas, and San Juan del Monte.
And it was at this period that the British thought of invading Bataan, and set their sights on landing in Orion.
However, before they were able to land and station themselves at the town-convent, General Anda had already heard of the news. Immediately he ordered 60 of his men, under D. Manuel Aspilla, to board their wagons and proceed at once from Guagua (Wawa, Pampanga) to Bataan where they were joined by 200 natives with their bows and arrows.
Separating 16 of Anda’s soldiers and 50 bowmen of Bataan to take possession and guard the only way by the river leading to the sea, the principal detachment marched towards the convent. But they had not yet completely surrounded it when the British soldiers began to run for the beach in confusion.
However, before they reached the shore, there was a short exchange of fire on the road by the river leading to the sea where a number of Spanish-Bataan men-of-war were waiting.
In this encounter, there were six or seven Englishmen and one native of Bataan killed.
Bataan Revolts Against Spain
The townsfolk of Bataan embraced the faith and culture introduced by the Dominican fathers who settled on their land. But, the Spaniards later realized, the people were not such a submissive lot in the face of extreme abuses. Like their counterparts in other provinces around the archipelago, the Bataan natives strained against the tightening noose of subjugation and plotted to shed off the foreign burden.
The Uprising of 1600
Tremors of war in Bataan began as early September 1, 1660. On that day, the Council of Mayors from different parts of Pampanga, the province of which Bataan was then still a part, met without due consideration to the then Alcade Mayor.
The point at issue was the uprising which began when a worker cutting timber in Bataan for the construction of the ship San Sebastian in Cavite, attacked his foreman in retaliation for the extreme abuses against him. His cause had been taken up by his fellow workers, who collectively denounced the abuses committed against them, including that they were not paid on time and, if it all, they were unjustly paid, and that because of this, some of them had already died of hunger.
Emotions were then at fever pitch, it was said, so that even if the governor, Sabiano Manrique de Lara, appeared at the head of the troops, bringing money, he would not have succeeded in pacifying the insurgents.
They had already burned the warehouse of the Dominicans when a Dominican priest, Fr. Pedro Camacho, helped by three other Augustinian friars, tried to pacify them by giving them a ration of rice enough to last for a month.
But all was in vain. The rebels took their families to the mountains, formed themselves into a band, and occupied Lubao and Bacolor, which was then the capital of Pampanga, using the churches as their quarters and holding the Alcade Mayor hostage.
News of this rebellion reached Manila on October 4 of the same year. At once, eight artilleries with 300 Spanish soldiers with the best military men, including Japanese and Mardicas, were dispatched. The forces drove the rebels to other provinces, particularly Pangasinan, where they were led by Andres Malong. However, majority of them remained and were pacified. And, having made it clear that they were not against all Spanish sovereignty but were only for justice, no penalty was meted out to them. On the contrary they received 14,000 pesos which were due to them, as was clear from the Royal Cedula.
Since then, except for the 1787 Tobacco Monopoly unrest in Samal and some occasional attacks of pirates, bandits and Aetas which caused the death of Father Antonio Perez in 1727, Bataan became a very peaceful province until the year 1898 when the insurrectos murdered Fathers David Varas, Domingo Cabrejas and Jose de San Juan.
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