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| Subj: Traitors? (put in web) Date: 3/31/2005 7:33:35 AM Pacific Standard Time From: EITURLA To: FromLynn "Dugong aso!" It is a character trait shared by many known nationalists and patriots who at one time collaborated with the enemy during the dark period of our history. Recto, Laurel, Aquino Sr., Vargas, Paredes, Roxas - they supported the Japanese either willingly or for convenience, and for being so, they were "dugong aso". And didn't Gen. Aguinaldo willingly take his oath of loyalty to the U.S. government just a few days after his capture? He too was a "dugong aso". It is but natural during colonial times to be either a rebel or a "dugong aso". "Dugong aso" means canine devotion to one's master. For what other animal could be more trusted and be more loyal to its owner than the dog? If the Pampangans did not join the Tagalog revolution soon enough, it was most probably because they felt being treated quite all right by the colonial power. They were a favored group. For one thing if the Spaniards did not abuse their authority on them, why would they revolt against them? For what reason? For what cause? There was no sense of nationalism yet then to drive them into fighting against them. After all they were (and were with) the powers-that-be for three and one quarter of a century. A governor-general, in his letter to the King, once described them as the "Castilians of the Indios", mostly on account of all the invaluable services they rendered. There was even a saying then that a group of "4 Spaniards" actually consisted of three Pampangans and only one white Spaniard. And while there were Pampangans deployed in the regular army, there was a special crack regiment composed solely of Macabebes. This is one reason why Pampanga has no Rizal, Luna or del Pilar in the pantheon of heroes. Instead it has Laxamana, Palaot, Manalastas and others whose feats have been downplayed and whose roles are relegated into the background by historians. They are not considered heroes simply because they brought glory to Spain (and not to the Philippines) by defeating the Chinese, the Dutch and other foreign invaders and by supressing rebellions in different parts of the islands. It is said that in 1891, Jose Rizal, then already a Mason, travelled to Pampanga to appeal to the natives there for support to his newly-formed La Liga Filipina and to stop the recruitment of mercenaries from the region. It was a Pampangan revolt that the Spaniards feared the most. For what could really be more formidable than the very same soldiers that underwent training in their own forts in Ternate. That's why when many of them defected from the Spanish army, Aguinaldo and his men found it easy to defeat the greatly weakened enemy in battle after battle. It was this loyal group, this "dugong aso" group, that stuck it out with the Spaniards for better or for worse. It was they too that the new colonizers found it convenient to enlist to serve as scouts in rounding off the "fugitives" and "insurrectos". History has it that they helped capture the 35-year old Aguinaldo in his hideout in the mosquito-infested jungles of Palanan where according to one writer, he would just have perhaps died of malaria instead of reaching the ripe age of 95. Or if he had not been captured he would have suffered a bullet in his chest early in life during his encounters with the Americans. Ironically, these brave and "treacherous" Macabebes never at any moment in life swore loyalty to the man they allegedly "betrayed". Were they "dugong aso"? Yes, for their dog-like bravery and loyalty. But were they traitors? You be the judge. Lynn |
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