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| Pampanga |
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| MACABEBES : THE HEROES FOR ALL SEASONS The Macabebes, for all their history as a people, have acquired stature bigger than life itself. When I say Macabebes, I don't mean, of course, their descendants that are now enterprising traders and magnates in the fishing and motion picture industries. I refer to their forefathers, historic people that traversed time starting as brave warriors under Tarik Soliman and ending up as scouts working towards the pacification of the country that was engulfed in an insurrection during the early 1900's. I think the time has come for Pampanga to erect a huge monument in their honor. Yes, a monument for them not just in front of the Macabebe town hall, but in front of the capitol building in the City of San Fernando! (Maybe culturally-minded people like Ivan, Lino, Geronimo, Robby, Edwin, Andy, Josie, Krag and Dr. Eva can lead in presenting a resolution to the provincial board on this for consideration.) For all I know, the Macabebes were an epitome of courage, personifying the oft-repeated moro-moro epic line, "Qng leun o tigri, e cu tatacut, queca pa!" With their bravery and loyalty to the conquistadores, they helped in the unification of all ethnic groups and in bringing the archipelago under one rule. With their help, Spain (through Mexico at first and then all by herself later) was able to establish an empire made up of many different barangays or little nations. They were instrumental in the forging of a nation and which they kept intact for three centuries through well-oiled maintenance. They kept other foreign invaders at bay; they fought against the Chinese, the Portuguese, the Dutch, the British, as well as the Moros of the southern isles. They were often sent to trouble spots all over the islands just like what the PNP is doing now, and were directed to suppress rebellions before they had the chance to conflagrate. Even during the British occupation of Manila, when the seat of government was transferred to Bacolor (the capital of Pampanga then) for two years, they still went about with their work to fulfill their duties as soldiers. They successfully suppressed isolated uprisings that emerged such as those led by the likes of Silang and Palaris in the north. If those rebelious efforts were not subdued and nipped in the bud, as well as the other revolts that arose from time to time, Spain would have lost its grip on the islands and we would have gone back into becoming independent barangays and with no more united nation to speak of. But the Macabebes ensured the solidarity and continued existence of the united islands under one government. They prevented its break-up and kept it under control - something Spain alone could not have done, considering that its manpower was too slim to enforce group control. In short, the Macabebes made it possible for Spain to keep the country together, and made it easy as well for America to keep it as a united group of islands which was also all together in one big piece when in the long run it was granted independence. (Let's not delude ourselves. We did not win independence through a revolution although it's true that we struggled for it and could have eventually overthrown the Spanish regime; we were just granted one by the U.S. following long appeals and negotiations in the senate.) Where would we be now if there were no Macabebes? I think they did more for the Philippines than Rizal, Bonifacio, Aguinaldo, Abad Santos, Aquino or any of the men we revere and salute as heroes. While these individual heroes were exemplars of nationalism and some even died for their native land, Macabebes and their contribution can not be downplayed nor even compared to. For theirs was the hand that rocked the cradle of a united colony for almost three and a half centuries. Theirs was the hand that helped forged unity among all barangays with different ethnicities and upon such a foundation of which our country, the Philippines, was born. Hail to these conquering heroes! *************************************************************************** from Andro Camiling Here's one version about the Macabebe Scouts as written by Florentino Rodao and Felice Noelle Rodriguez in "The Philippine Revolution of 1896 - Ordinary Lives in Extraordinary Times" - pp. 95-97. "For nearly three centuries, the province of Pampanga had supplied Spain with ist "most trusted mercenaries" for garrisons in the islands and foreign expeditions to the Marianas, Moluccas, and Vietnam. Such loyal service won Pampango commanders high ranks in the colonial military and, on occasion, substantial landed estates in their home province (Larkin 1993, 29). When the Filipino Revolution had erupted in 1896, Col. Eugenio Blanco, a Spaniard with large estates near the town of Macabebe, organized his Filipino clients into a regiment, making the town and its province a fist of loyalism within a region of revolt. (I met and discussed a few years ago with Judge Blanco, a descendant of Col. Blanco, about the life and times of his ancestors. He is probably now in his late 80s and reside in northern California - Andro) In June 1898, heavy fighting between the revolutionaries and the retreating Spanish troops around Macabebe inflicted heavy casualties upon the local population. When Spain ceded sovereignty over the Philippines to America in early 1899, many of the 270 men in its Seventy-Second Macabebe Regiment, stranded in Manila and fearful of retribution, shipped out to join a Spanish garrison in the Caroline Islands. Those who remained slipped back into Macabebe when the American troops later occupied their town (Woolard 197, 3-13, 71). Acting on General Lawton's instructions, Lieutenant Batson again wrote headquarters in July 1899 with a detailed plan of "using a force of Macabebes in connection with military operations in and near the Province of Pampanga". Originally, the US Army was looking for "pontoniers", native boatmen to facilitate its advance through the delta's swampy terrain (Franklin 1935, 1). "In view of the friendly attitude of the Macabebes and their manifest desire to cooperate with the American forces," explained the lieutenant," it has suggested itself to me... to arm one hundred ... young men with Cavalry carbines and provide them with native bancas [canoes]." Not only could these Macabebes, make ten miles an hour, but, he wrote, "their manner of using paddles, render their movement through the water almost noiseless" (Batson 1899 cited in Franklin 1935, 2)." General Otis gave permission for formation of a single company to test the Macabebe Scouts (Woolard 1975, 9, 41) "So instructed, on 3 September 1899, Lieutenant Batson paddles eight miles down the Pampanga River in a banca "without escort" and introduced himself to the mayor of Macabebe, asking assistance in recruiting 100 local men to serve as "scouts" (soldiers sent ahead to get information about the enemy's position, strength, etc. - Andro). The mayor called a meeting of thw town's young men and over a hundred veterans of the Spanish Army - all "subalterns and noncommissioned officers in Colonel Blanco's regiment" - volunteered to serve the US Army. Finding them "intelligent men" who understood Spanish, Batson abandoned his idea of using "white soldiers" as his sergeants and enrolled Macabebes for those slots as well. Among those so recruited was Federico Fernandez, a Filipino who had been a captain in Colonel Blanco's regiment and would now render "services" ... "most valuable" as Lieutenant Batson's interpreter (Franklin 1935, 3-4, 7, table E-2). "The Philippine Revolution of 1896 - Ordinary Lives and Extraordinary Times": "Over the next two months, the Macabebes proved themselves reliable and Lieutenant Batson returned to their town several times to raise five full companies of 128 men each - all veterans of the Spanish Army. The lieutenant's last recruitment in late October makes him seem an instrument of Filipino destiny. When General Lawton ordered formation of two more companies, Batson's Macabebe soldiers paddled him downriver through the night, covering sixty miles without rest and reaching their town the next morning. There the lieutenant asked the mayor "to select for me 128 young men who had seen previous service" (Franklin 1935, 7, 8, table E-2). After the men were "enrolled, uniformed, armed and equipped" in the space of a few hours, they marched out of town double-time, overtook Lawton's column, and joined the firing line on 24 October - all in just five days. Not only were these veterans willing, they were, as it turned out, most able. In their first engagement, the Macabebes attacked Aguinaldo's elite Manila Battalion and captured their entrenched position, inflicting thirty-four casualties and capturing fifty-nine soldiers "including their commanding officer". During the next month, Lieutenant Batson's 640 Macabebes battled their way across Central Luzon in pursuit of General Aguinaldo, fighting "ten severe engagements" and suffering "every hardship incident to a campaign in the Philippines" without a single desertion (Batson 1900 in Franklin 1935, 5 , table E-4). As the war wound down into pacification, Lieutenant Batson wrote the US Army's Adjutant General in March 1900 asking for a commission as colonel of volunteers to recruit a regiment of Macabebe cavalry. "These soldiers under General Blanco were considered the best troops Spain had in the Philippines," Batson explained, "and remained loyal to Spain until the sovereignty of the islands passed to the United States, since which time they have been equally loyal to the United States." Not only was their intelligence "somewhat superior to the other tribes," but they were "fearless in battle and it is almost impossible to ambush them." After six months of arduous campaigning, "there was not a single desertion. In addition to their "unusual bravery," the cost of a Macabebe unit "would not exceed 1/4 the cost of a regiment of our own people" (Franklin 1935, 1-6). Accepting this suggestion, the US Army reorganized Batson's scouts into the Philippine Cavalry Squadron and enlisted them as irregulars for a year. In March 1901, the Macabebes won lasting notoriety when, disguised as revolutionaries, they marched into a remote mountain hideout and captured General Aguinaldo (Woolard 1975, 56, 86). When the fighting spread to other islands and regions in the archipelago, local American commanders, feeling the same need, formed their own scout contingents. By June 1901, the US Army had scout units in the Cagayan Valley, the Ilocoa, Panay, Negros, Samar, and Leyte. In every case, their service was exemplary. After Congress mandated withdrawal of US volunteers in July, these native scouts thus represented the solution to a serious manpower problem. As an efficient and cost-effective force, Filipino troops could sustain the 500 US Army posts scattered across the archipelago (Franklin 1935, 11; Woolard 1975, 54)." It is also noted that loyalty aside, it was their snappy drill that assured the Philippine Scouts' survival. As fighting subsided, the civil government tried to assert its control over all native troops, sparking a protracted bureaucratic battle with the US Army that threatened the Scouts with integration into the Constabulary. At this critical juncture, the Scouts were given a chance to display their precision drill at the St. Louis World Fair. During the summer and fall of 1904, the Scouts' First Battalion of 1,369 men was on duty at the Fair, parading in impressive formations several times a day before vast crowds. They provided twenty-four honor escorts for visiting dignataries, gave band concerts to tens of thousands, and marched before an estimated million people. "Their camp was a model of cleanliness," reported one Army officer, writing in the Infantry Journal:"Discipline was perfect. Their drill was precision itself. Any regular organization might be proud of a similar performance." During President Theodore Roosevelt's inaugural in March 1905, the Scouts again impressed spectators as their snappy formations marched down Pennsylvania Avenue (Woolard 1975, 121-30, 132-34; Franklin 1935, 18). After such performances, the Scouts took their place in the catalogue of transformative triumphs that marked American colonial role in the Philippines. Over the next ten years, the Scouts won accolades from their American commanders, whether in batle or barracks, that contributed to their survival. In 1909, the commander of the Philippine Division, Gen. William P. Duvall, issued a major study of the Scouts, describing them as "eager and quick to learn and with exemplary ardor for field service." |
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