Unsa Ang Kasingkasing Sa Magbabalak

(Sinulat ni Dra. Gardeopatra Quijano)

                Sa may igo na akong kabuot, sa mahibalo na akong mobati, gibalik ko pagbasa ang matahum balak ni Longfellow EVANGELINE nga nabasa nako sa diha pa ako sa unang tuig sa hay iskol.  Nakapangotana ako unsa kaha ang kasingkasing sa magbabalak?  Apan nakita ko ang hulagway ni Longfellow nga puti ang ulo.  Ug midugang ako sa pagpangotana:  Matigulang ba ang pagbati sa magbabalak?  Nakita ko sa mga garay ug mga pulong sa naasoy nga magbabalak nga gipintal niya ang katataw sa mga talan-awon, ang kalunhaw sa mga dahon nga gihanig sa maanindot nga kaagi sa duh aka batan-ong naghinigugmaay, ang kahumot sa mga balak nga gihalad unta alang sa katumanan sa mga damgo ni Evangeline ug Gabriel.

                Ang tanang mga magbabalak, sumala sa ilang kaagi nagsugod pag panulat sa panahon nga mabaskog pa ang ilang lawas ug mihunong sa pagpang-gahi na sa ilang mga bukog—sa paghunong ug pitik sa ilang kasingkasing.  Sila lahi sa ubang mga binuhat.  Sa panahon sa kalinaw sila malipayon; sa panahon nga sila daugdaogon sa palad makabaton sila ug kaisog pag-awit, bisan sa atubangan sa kamatayon ihagawhaw nila ang katapusang garay nga nagtagik tungod sa pagsugot ug pagtuon.  Ang ilang pagbati walay pagkaluya; ang kahumot sa ilang gugma mangalimyon sukad sa kinailadman sa ilang kalag.

                Inig hisgot nato sa magbabalak dili mahimo nga iwakli ta ang iyang mga balak.  Matud pa ni Coleridge; “Kay ang balak mao ang bulak ug kahumot sa tanang kahibalo sa tawo, sa iyang mga hunahuna, sa iyang mga pagbati ug pinulongan.”  Daghan kitag mga bulak ug silang tanan mga honi, mga bulak ug mga pako—mga matahum ug matam-is sila, mahumot ug matulin sila nga molupad sa kahanginan ug dakpon ug salusaluon sa atong kaliwatan.  Daghang ang maani sa mga hunahuna nga gihablon sa mga magbabalak sa ilang mga sinulat:  Pagtulon-an nga malungtaron, ang lagdasanon katungdanan gipataas, ang kaguol nahimong labing balaan u gang kinabuhi sa tawo nakakaplag halawom nga kahulugan ug pagbati.  Karong bag-o migula ang matahum basahon ni Floripinas, “Kasingkasing Sa Magbabalak”.  Kini maoy lain niyang tampo alang sa atong “literatura”, sunod sa iyang “Basahon sa mga Balak”.  Gisubay nako ang “KASINGKASING SA MAGBABALAK” gikan sa gumaranon, balaknon ug tinuhoanon nga dapit ug nalingaw ako pag-ayo sa mga hunahuna ni Floripinas.  Nakita ko nga ang iyang mga pulong nahulog ngadto sa ilang dapit daw kaugalingon sila didto—dili mabalhin, dili mailisan ug dili mabuyag tungod sa ilang pagkamaayong pagkapili ug pagkagamit.  Mao rag dunay gahum malamaton ang ilang pagkahablon.  Sa kahapsay, kasayon ug kananoy sa hinagpong sa matag laray sa balak ni Floripinas anaa hikaplagi ang giingon ni Sir Sidney nga THE PLANET-LIKE MUSIC OF POETRY.

                Si Floripinas nga dili lain ni Mons. Fernando Buyser, ingon sa ako nang giingon sa unahan walay pagkaluya sa pagbati.  Gilukdo niya ang 58 ka tuig, apan ang iyang kasingkasing kanunay nag-awit sama sa usa ka malipayong batan-on.  Ang iyang mga hunahuna usahay padan-agan sa mga bitoon, usahay palingkoron sa kinataliwad-an sa mga balak, usahay palimisan sa masihag nga gabon ug usahay pa gayud paduyanon sa nagabulok-bulok nga balangaw.  Dili siya motagam bisan gihibalag niya ang mga kalisud aron modangat ngadto sa mga kamot sa mga tawo ang iyang mga balak kay ang kalag sa magbabalak dili mopahulay pag-awit.  Dili usab siya mohunong kay ang makusog ug matin-aw nga tubod bisan sap-ongan mangita gayud ug kadahili-an sa iyang mabugnawng tubig ug, sa kinailadman sa kasingkasing ni Floripinas nagdilaab ang matahum ug balaanon pagbati.

                Unsa ang “KASINGKASING SA MAGBABALAK”?  Ukba ug tan-awa ang iyang sulod.  Pamatia ang honi sa iyang mga pinitik; tipigi ang mga bulawan nga gihambin sa iyang subok ug uban sa usa ka tuhog nga sampagita ihalad sa ampoanan sa atong nasud.

BAG-ONG KUSOG. Hunyo 24, 1938

SOURCE:

Buyser, Fernando Aquino (1941). Unsa Ang Kasingkasing Sa Magbabalak. BALANGAW: Pungpong Sa Mga Balak ni FLORIPINAS (pp. 256-258). Siyudad sa Sugbu.

The other church dedicated to the Santo Niño

Monday, May 20, 2013

Just walking distance from the monumental Basilica Minore del Santo Niño is another church dedicated to the Child Jesus―the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) Cathedral of the Holy Child. The location of this Aglipayan church, in a quiet street in Old Parian, is reflective of its partly obscured history. Yet, discovering it gives one an interesting take on the story of Christianity not only in Cebu but in the Philippines.

It is like a Catholic Church in many respects: the sprinkling of tequitequi-like reliefs in the façade, the raised altar, the religious icons and the carrozas they are mounted on, and so on. Unlike other Christian denominations that were created or established in the Philippines during the turbulent turn of the 19th century to the 20th, the IFI did not entirely reject Catholic symbols and traditions but retained many of them. This is owed to the fact that IFI’s first Obispo Maximo, the Ilocano, Gregorio Aglipay, was a former Catholic and so too were most of its early priests.

The beginnings of the IFI was intertwined with the Revolution of 1896, with Aglipay as the vicario general castrense of Aguinaldo’s forces. In fact, Aglipay and Aguinaldo were in Cebu in 1903 when the construction of the IFI Cathedral of the Holy Child in Mabini Street commenced. It was finished the following year. The Aglipayan church had earlier established itself in the province prominently in the town of Santa Fe in Bantayan Island and in Labangon in Cebu City. There was also an Aglipayan cemetery in Labangon where many revolutionaries who passed away in the early 1900s were buried.

Its involvement with protest and clamor for independence lingered in the first half of the 20th century.  Testament to this is the list of prominent patriots that supported the fledgling church. The “maverick” statesman, publisher and writer, Vicente Sotto, was one of them. He reputedly gave a portion of his earnings from his publication Ang Suga to make the building of the cathedral possible. Rev. Juan Quijano, the well-known writer and independence advocate, served as the cathedral’s coadjutor form 1917 to 1919. Quijano’s daughter, Gardeopatra, who eclipsed her father’s fame as an outspoken suffragette, novelist and poet also attended mass services here.

The IFI Cathedral of the Holy Child is the seat of a Diocese which administered believers in Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, Samar, Masbate and Mindanao before the outbreak of World War II. Its first bishop, Rt. Rev. Jose Evangelista, served from 1904 to 1917. The virtuoso poet of the Sugbanon language, Rt. Rev. Fernando Buyser, also served as bishop of the Diocese from 1931 to 1945.

The first parish priest of the Cathedral was Diego Rivera from Ilocos who served from 1904 to 1912. Fr. Rivera’s remains were buried in the ground below the church’s altar when he died. These were later exhumed. A curious visitor to the cathedral today may have the chance to see some of his remains.

These interesting tidbits of the IFI’s Cathedral of the Holy Child and much more are waiting to be discovered during this year’s Gabii sa Kabilin on May 31, 2013 from 6 p.m. to 12 midnight.

For more information about Gabii sa Kabilin, please contact (032) 418-7234 loc. 703, or visit www.facebook.com/rafi.org.ph, or follow @rafiorgph on Twitter. To reserve your tickets, you may also visit www.rafi.org.ph/event/2013-gsk-reserve. (by Florencio Moreño II/Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc.)

SOURCE:

Moreño, Florencio II (20 May 2013). The other church dedicated to the Santo Niño. Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc.  Retrieved from http://www.rafi.org.ph/news-highlights/church-dedicated-santo-nino/

Ang Basahon Sa Mga Balak Ni Mons. F. Buyser

(Sinulat Ni Hal. Basilio Binaoro)

                Sa gikan ako sa Manila sa naghinapus ang bulan sa Enero ning tuiga ug sa akong pagduaw kang Mons. Fernando Buyser sa iyang kombento sa Siyudad sa Sugbu, iya akong gihatagan sa duha ka gasa, ang KASINGKASING SA MAGBABALAK ug KASAKIT UG KALIPAY.  Gipasalamatan ko siya ning iyang pagtagad kanako.

                Sa didto na ako sa bapor “Luzon” nga akong gisakyan pauli sa Tangub, Misamis Oksidental, nga akong gipuy-an, gibasa ko dayon ang mga basahon sa dakung kahinangop.  Nalingaw ug nahimuot ako sa katahum ug kaanindot sa mga garay nga maayong pagkatagik, sa kahapsay sa iyang hunahuna ug kabatid sa dagang nga motadlas sa handurawan sa kinabuhi ug ang pag-awit sa kalipay ug pagdanguyngoy sa kasakit.  Mao kiniy magbabalak . . . . . . !  Nakaingon ako.  Matuod diay kadtong giingon nga “El poeta nace, no se hace”.  Ang magbabalak matawo, dili mabuhat.

                Samtang nagabasa ako sa dakung kalipay ug midimdim sa dugos sa katam-is sa iyang mga basahon, usa ko ka bag-ong higala sa bapor, kuno taga-Mandawe, misakay paingon sa Kotabato sa pagpangita sa maayong kapalaran didto sa yuta sa Matahum Saad, miduol kanako ug nangutana:

                --Gabasa ka man diay sa mga balak ni Monsenyor Buyser.  Natagbaw ka ba niana, Ginoo Binaoro?.

                --Natagbaw pag-ayo.  --Mitubag ako

                --Tinuod bitaw . . . . Pagkamaayong mobalak nianang Sunata!  Unsa no?

                --Oo, miyango ako.

                --Nan . . . Unsa may ikahukom mo sa iyang mga balak?. --Wala ug dili ko angay mohukum.  Ako usa lamang ka ubus nga magsusulat sa dila ug katitikang bisaya nga wala gani mailhi.  Angayan maoy mohukum sila si Mduon. Vicente Rama, Filemon Sotto, Manuel C. Briones, Nicolas Rafols ug uban pa kay sila mao ang mga Bitoon sa katitikang bisaya.

                --Tinuud, apan sa imo lamang kaugalingong hunahuna tingali makapahayag ka, dili usa ka hokum.  Dili ba mao?.

                --Wala ako makatingog.  Mihangad ako sa langit ug nagahunahuna unsay takus kong ikasulti.  Apan sa tapus ang pila ka gutlong milabay, ako siyang gisayran.

                --Alang kanako lamang, ang iyang mga balak mapuslanon kaayo ug angay basahon sa tanan.  Pagkatahum sa iyang mga garay, kaanindot sa mga handurawan nga iyang gibalay, kalarinong moawit sa kalipay ug kabatid mohubit sa kasakit!.  Ang iyang “estilo” orihinal kayo, dili sama sa ubang mga magbabalak nga madaling mohulad sa uban nga ilang nabasahan, sumala sa mga sumbong nga gibalita sa BISAYA sa miaging mga tuig.  Labut pa usab, ang diwa sa iyang mga balak kanunay gihalad sa Yutang Natawhan ug tinuhoan.  May katarungan si Dr. Ildefonso Alcantara sa pag-ingon: “Ang akong asawa ug mga anak kanunay nagabasa sa dakung kahinangop sa iyang mga balak ug niini nakadaginot ako sa panahon sa pagtudlo kanila sa gugma kang Bathala ug sa Yutang Natawhan, kay nahatakdo sa akong mithi.”  Giawhag usab niya ang gugma kang Bathala aron kita dili masalaag ning madanglog nga dalan sa kinabuhi, kaya ang tinuohan da man gayud ang makatul-id sa hiwing hunahuna sa tawo.  Miingon usab si G. Sulpicio Osorio: “Ang mga balak ni Mons. Buyser maoy mga balak nga nagpintal sa nagkadaiyang bulok ug nagkalainlaing katahum sa gugma, sama sa gugma kang Bathala.”

                --Dugay na ba ikaw nakaila ning bantugang magbabalak? --misuna pag-usab.

                --Dugay na, gikan pa sa akong pagtuon sa siyudad sa Sugbu.  Ang iyang ngalan daan nang bantug tungud sa mga balak nga nahamantala sa mantalaan “ANG SUGA” ni Mduon. Vicente Sotto.  Niadtong panahona nihit pa ang mga magbabalak sa dilang bisaya.  Dunay usa ka balak niya nga migula sa “ANG SUGA” sa mga tuig 1906 kun 1907 nga matahum kayo.  Akong nahiangayan kadto ug ang tanang nakabasa kaniya miangay usab.  Sa iyang mga balak nga nasulat sa mga basahon niya, wala ko kini makita.  Pagkaanugon!  Kadto iyang gisulat sa wala pa siya mapari, sakay sa usa ka bapor nga magaadtoan sa lungsod sa Baybay, Leyte, diin siya nahimong usa ka opisyal sa bapor.  Ning balaka iyang gipintal sa dakung katahum ang mga balud sa dagat nga gipikas sa dulong sa bapor; iyang giawit ang kinabuhing mapait sa usa ka magsasakay sa taliwala sa katugnaw sa kagabhion, sa mabugnawng huyohoy sa hangin, sa tun-og ug sa alisbo ug pinisik sa dagat nga nangapusa nga mopasigad sa iyang aping, ug ang mga alon nga dagku nga iyang nalantawan nga mihulga sa iyang kinabuhi.  Mitumang malipayon sa iyang katungdanan aron lamang sa kalampusan sa iyang mga mithi.

                --Hain man kaha karon kanang balaka? –mibalik pagpangotana kanako.

                --Dili ako makatug-an kanimo.  Nawala tingali kay gani ang tag-iya wala man makapakita kanato.  Ug . . .

                Dinhi mibudyong ang bapor “Luzon” ug midunggo sa Kolambugan.  Ang akong higala nahakiros, wala mahimuyo, ug sa kalit nanamilit kay manaug.  Mipig-it sa akong kamut, sa daliang paglakaw.  Kaanugon sa akong higala nga wala ko maila!  Ang iyang pamayhon ug panulti nagpaila nga siya usa ka magsusulat sa mga mantalaan kay diha ako makatuon sa matam-is ug matahum pinulongan ni Cervantes.

                Ang balak mapuslanon kayo ug angay atong hatagan sa atong pagtagad.  Ang mga tawo sa Luzon, labi na gayud ang mga tagalog, mahigugmaon sa mga balak.  Ang “Florante ug Laura”, basahon sa balak ni anhing Francisco Baltazar gidangaan sa BALAGTAS-nabasa sa kadaghanan sa mga tagalog, sa dakung kahinangop.  Sa mga koronasyon sa mga Rayna sa Kaanyag niadtong dapita, ang mga magbabalak kanunayng gisangpit, maingon pananglit nila ni G. Florentino Collantes ug ni anhing Jose Corazon de Jesus.  Dinhi usab sa Kabisay-an duna usab ing daghang mahigugma mamati sa mga balak, apan dili mamalit sa mga basahon niini nga gipamaligya sa mga tindahan ug kadalanan.  Sa didto ako sa usa ka higayon sa lungsod sa Pagadian, lalawigan sa Sambowangga, dinapit ni Gobernador Ranillo ug Dr. Medalle, aron sa pagtambong sa koronasyon sa ilang Rayna sa Kaanyag sa Petit Carnival, nakita ko nga ang balak gihimut-an sa tanan.  Sa wala pa kasugdi ang tulomanon kanunay kong madungog ang mga pangotana sa sulod sa awditoryum kon duna bay balak ug kinsay mobatbat.  Gawas kang Gdor. Ranillo nga maoy mipurongpurong, ang tanang bahin sa tulomanon daw wala kahimut-i sa mga mitambong, apan sa diha nga gipaila na ang bahin sa pagbalak, ang mga tawo nalipay ug gidawat sa mga pakpak.  Dinhi mitindog ang usa ka ambungang batan-on, lison ang lawas, igong gitas-on ug ang pamayhon nagpaila nga siya sugbuanon.  Mibalak sa tumang kahilum sa awditoryum, nga namati sa dakung kahinangop.  Gibatbat niya sa dakung kasayon ang mga matahum handurawan sa magbabalak ug ang mga damgo niini sa kabulahanan sa kinabuhi.  Oh katahum sa mga garay nga gitagik, nga nakatandog sa balatian sa namati!  Human sa iyang pagbatbat, gidawat siya sa masipang pakpak nga milungtad sa dugay, labaw pa kasipa sa pagsulod sa Rayna ug Konsorte sa awditoryum.

                Ang mga moros mahigugmaon usab sa mga balak.  Usa ka higayon niana didto sa baryo sa Lala, munisipyo sa Kolambugan, Lanaw, kuyog sa duha ka higala, namusil kami sa dakung patag sa Balingbing sa babuy ihalas ug, sa tapus ang tulo ka takdang baktas nga walay among nakuha, mipahulay kami ug mipasilong sa landung sa usa ka dakung lawaan.  Samtang nagpahulay kami ug nangaon sa among balon, nadungog namo sa udtong tutok sa adlaw usa ka awit nga minoros.  Mitindog ako ug akong gilantaw; nakita ko dili halayo kanamo usa ka balay sa usa ka moros, walay silingan, nga sa silong usa ka lalakeng  moros nag-awit ug tubagon sa itaas sa awit gihapon tingog sa usa ka babaye.  Nagtinubagay sila.  Nahibulong ako niadto ug akong gipangotana ang usa sa akong kauban sa kahulogan niadto.  Kanang ga-awit nga lalake-matud niya-nangulitawo nianang babaye sa taas nga wala nato makita.  Ang amoral sa mga moros ipaagi sa awit.  Kanang maayong pagkagaray kay maoy ilang batasan.  Ang mga balak sa mga moros daku kaayog kapuslanan ug ang maayong mobalak ilang gitagaan sa maayong pagtagad.

                Sa makausa pa makaingon ako nga sanglit mapuslanon ang mga balak sa katilingban, angayan gayud basahon ang mga balak ni Mons. Buyser.

BAG-ONG KUSOG Pibrero 28, 1941.

SOURCE:

Buyser, Fernando Aquino (1941). Ang Basahon Sa Mga Balak Ni Mons. F. Buyser. Balangaw: Pungpong Sa Mga Balak ni Floripinas (pp. 249-255). Siyudad sa Sugbu

The First Obispo Maximo, Monsignor Gregorio L. Aglipay

Monsignor Gregorio Aglipay y Labayan
First Obispo Maximo of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente

A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF
SUPREME BISHOP GREGORIO AGLIPAY Y LABAYAN
(May 5, 1860 - September 1, 1940)

Gregorio Aglipay y Labayan was born in Batac, Ilocos Norte on May 5, 1860, the third child of Pedro Aglipay Cruz and Victoriana Labayan Hilario who came from a small family of poor farmers.[1] Gregorio’s mother died when he was only one-year old and was raised by his maternal grandmother from whom he learned his first letters. Gregorio enjoyed a normal childhood and learned to work hard on the farm with his uncles. As an adventuresome boy he liked to climb the tallest trees and to swim in the dangerous currents of the river. It was during this young age that he first experienced a personal encounter with colonial authority causing his resentment against the Spanish regime. He was arrested with his uncle and taken to the tribunal for failure to meet their quota in planting tobacco.[2]

In 1879, Gregorio Aglipay went to Manila for his secondary education supported by his uncle, Francisco Amor Romas, who was a menial employee of the Dominican Sisters School of Santa Catalina. [3] He enrolled in a private school in his first two years and transferred in his third year in Letran as a working student, a job he obtained through the help of the Dominican Sisters. He could be described as a late bloomer as seen in his academic records. While he got consistent average grades in his four years at Letran, he blossomed when he transferred to the University of Santo Tomas to become a topnotch student. As the historian William Henry Scott puts it, “a topnotch student with an average of 1.25, took the national prize in Psychology, Logic and Moral Philosophy (1.0 or Sobresaliente), and served as proctor (pasante) in that subject, i.e., a kind of academic master-sergeant who drilled the other students in recitations.” [4]

He graduated at the University of Santo Tomas in 1881, and made acquaintances with people who later on became prominent figures in the Philippine Revolution, like Felipe Agoncillo, Ladislao Diwa, Jose Luna and Marcelo H. del Pilar, and with younger contemporaries at Letran like Apolinario Mabini, Isabelo delos Reyes, Daniel Tirona and Emilio Aguinaldo, to name a few. [5]It was during his senior year that he was motivated to enter the seminary instead of becoming a lawyer, as influenced by his fencing partner, Jose Rizal, a senior medical student at the University of Santo Tomas. [6]

In 1883 at the age of 23, he entered the Vigan Seminary where his classmates included men who were also destined to play their role in the Revolution like Fathers Mariano Gaerlan and Mariano Dacanay who were tortured in 1896 and Father Valentin Rubio who was executed during the Candon uprising of 1898. [7] The rector during his seminary years was the energetic Fray Celedonio Mateo de San Jose. Years later when Gregorio Aglipay became the Obispo Maximo of the IFI, he heard from Fray San Jose these words, “You will not have forgotten those years you spent by my side in the Seminary in Vigan, or of our discussions of theological and moral topics, during which I had the pleasure of hearing your arguments based on the doctrines of St. Thomas…You, Father Gregorio, did not show any inclination to disobedience, much less of rebellion, during the time you were at my side.” [8]

Gregorio Aglipay was ordained to the priesthood on December 21, 1889 on the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle at the old Dominican Church in Intramuros. The ordaining bishop was a retired Spanish Dominican missionary from Tongking, Msgr. Bernabe Garcia Cezon, titular bishop of Biblios.[9] He celebrated his first sung mass on New Year’s Day of 1890 in Santa Cruz Church in Manila with the canons of the Manila Cathedral, Fathers Faustino Sanchez Luna and Teodoro Revilla as his sponsors. [10] He proved himself as a zealous Catholic priest and was assigned as coadjutor [11] in many different parishes in Luzon. He served in 1890 in Indang Cavite; 1891 in San Antonio, Nueva Ecija; 1892-96 in Bocaue, Bulacan; in the latter months of 1896 in San Pablo, Laguna; and lastly in Victoria, Tarlac until July 1898.[12] It was possible that his early contact and involvement with the cause of the Katipunan [13] happened when he was an assistant in one of the parishes mentioned above.

A written document proved his direct participation in the revolution when he took the responsibility of leading the local Katipunan chapter known as Liwanag (i.e. Light) in Victoria, Tarlac in March 1897[14]. His prominence as a revolutionary priest and staunch Ilocano nationalist carried him to the seat of political power to become the lone clergy representative to the Malolos Congress in 1899.[15] Earlier, the President of the Revolutionary government, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, appointed him as Military Vicar General [16] on October 20, 1898. Following his appointment, Aglipay issued two Manifestos on the 21st and 22nd of the same month strongly reminding the clergy of the political gains of the Revolution. [17]

Aglipay was also appointed by Bishop Hevia Campomanes as Ecclesiastical Governor of the Diocese of Nueva Segovia on November 15, 1898, after the latter abandoned his see as a bishop and became a political prisoner of the revolutionaries in Aparri, Cagayan. It was on this event where Bishop Campomanes acceded to Aglipay’s request to ordain sixteen seminarians to take care of the vacant parishes in the Diocese of Nueva Segovia.[18] In his exercise of authority as ecclesiastical governor he took the administrative power to appoint priests, not an episcopal function like ordination or consecration. On April 29, 1899 Gregorio Aglipay was excommunicated and accused of “usurpation of ecclesiastical jurisdiction”.[19] Aglipay defended himself in his Fourth Manifesto as military Vicar General issued on August 19, 1899, echoing the legitimacy and triumph of the revolution that crushed the validity of Spain’s authority based on Patronato Real. [20] On October 23, 1899 an important clergy conference was convened to provide temporary regulations for the one already existing and had come to be known as the Paniqui Assembly. It was attended by twenty- three Filipino priests presided by Father Aglipay and they produced a Provisional Constitution of the Filipino Church. This Assembly had no intention to separate from Rome but was rather aimed to provide the necessary measures to prevent chaos in a diocese abandoned by the Spanish bishops.[21]

Aglipay was also a Guerilla Padre who fought against the American imperialists. The fighting which broke out between the U.S. and Filipino forces on February 4, 1899 prompted Aglipay to withdraw to Ilocos Norte to organize an armed resistance. He established his headquarters in Kullabeng (Pinili, Ilocos Norte), and led a good number of fighters. Aglipay adopted the classic tactics of hit-and -run raids on enemy garrisons and installations.[22]

Due to Aglipay’s successes, he was reported by General Otis to Washington that, “by his military operations in the field proved himself to be abler as a soldier than a bishop.” [23] The American soldiers also felt embarrassed by the Guerilla Padre and the Ilocano populace. This situation heightened their ire on Aglipay as manifested in a letter written by an American soldier to his family saying that, “I would rather send a bullet through one of these black-robed cut-throat robbers than Aguinaldo”. [24]

The most popular image that Aglipay portrayed was that of a leader in the struggle for religious independence following the footsteps of martyred Filipino priests Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora.[25] Like the three, he led in the articulation of the demands of the native Filipino clergy to be fully recognized for their capabilities and to have them receive appointments on an equal basis with those of their Spanish counterparts. This was in view of the fact that they had received the same formation, training and most importantly the same sacrament of ordination to the priestly vocation. With Aglipay’s commitment and love of the Church, he wrote to the clergy in his First Manifesto:

“Because of our sacred ministry we are called to defend in these islands the immaculate purity of the Catholic religion, it is very necessary that we take advantage against the avalanche of impiety which always take politico-social disturbances to infect the purest tradition...” [26]

In his love for the Church and his country he wrote in the Second Manifesto:

“The Revolution, having triumphed and the independence of our Motherland having been solemnly proclaimed by a regularly- constituted government, patriotism imposes on us, in the first place, the duty to acknowledge it as fait accompli inasmuch as we clearly see that its purposes, as regards the Catholic religion that the Filipino people profess, tend to preserve it in all its purity; and we must not only recognize it but we must incorporate it by means of our forces and in consonance with the character of our mission to the effective realization of its noble ends without doubting even for a moment that those ends were and are to liberate our people from foreign domination...” [27]

Some weeks after President Emilio Aguinaldo was captured in Palanan, Isabela, Aglipay was forced to surrender to the Americans in April 1901. [28] From here he shifted to parliamentary struggle and continued the battle for political independence and the campaign for the rights of Filipinos to govern the Philippine Church. He even dialogued with the American Protestants as early as 1901 [29] for a possible alliance in establishing a Church run by Filipinos. But the opinion to separate from Rome was already gaining ground as seen in the events beginning in January 1902, an opinion that Aglipay himself was expressing alongside with his friends when he celebrated his birthday on May 8, 1902 at Kullabeng.

The proclamation of the IFI by the Union Obrera Democratica headed by Isabelo de los Reyes, Sr. on August 3, 1902 caught even Aglipay by surprise. In fact, it took him more than a month to accept “with a soul most grieved” in leading the new Church because of the division it will cause to the Filipino people. But believing its cause, the courageous and nationalist prelate accepted the leadership of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente. For thirty-eight years he guided the new Church with determination and commitment as seen in the contents of the early documents of this Church and through his valiant actions. As a nationalist and democratic person, he led an IFI that exemplified the participation of the laity in the affairs of the Church. He elevated the Church to use the vernaculars in worship and a form of liturgy that expressed the culture of the Filipino people. As Supreme Bishop he allied himself with the nationalist and most radical political parties during his time like the Sakdalistas and later on even with the Socialist and Communist Parties. He actively involved himself in the parliamentary struggle and ran as the candidate for President of the Republic in 1935. His candidacy was supported by his own Republican Party in alliance with other nationalist political parties forming what they called the Coalition of the Oppressed Masses. As an ecumenist, he opened the door of the IFI for cooperation with other Churches and initiated dialogue and possible alliances with the other Churches like the Old Catholic Church and the Episcopal Church. [30]

During the twilight of his historic life, Bishop Aglipay got married before reaching his seventy-ninth birthday to Pilar Jamias of Sarrat, Ilocos Norte, who was sixty-four years old at that time. The marriage was officiated by Bishop Fernando Buyser and standing as sponsors were his Unitarian friends, Dr. Louis Cornish and his wife. The wedding was held at the IFI Church in Tondo on March 12, 1939.[31] Bishop Aglipay explained that, “he had to marry in order to set an example for his followers, particularly the priests, that they could get married in conformity with the liberal teachings of his church.”[32] They begot a daughter before their marriage named Liwliwa. She served as Philippine secretary of the Rationalist Society of London and secretary to Bishop Aglipay in translating English letters for his contacts abroad. Aglipay called her “my hope and partner in my struggles for the ideals of justice and humanity.” [33] She was born on February 24, 1913, studied at the University of the Philippines but unfortunately died before reaching her twenty-fifth birthday on February 17, 1938, or thirteen months before the marriage of her parents. She was buried in the Pasay Municipal Cemetery. It was said that the other reason for Aglipay’s marriage was very personal and sentimental. It was “in order to comply with the young Liwliwa’s dying wish.”[34]

Bishop Aglipay died on September 1, 1940, during the advent of another foreign domination in the country, the Japanese invasion. On his death the then incumbent President Quezon said:

“I have learned with profound sorrow of the death of Monsignor Aglipay. His services to the country during the revolution were of inestimatable value and marked him as a Filipino patriot of the first rank. In this respect our people should forever be grateful to him. I became his personal friend since 1907 and have felt great affection for him throughout these years, even during the presidential campaign when we were political opponents.”[35]

The deepest tribute that captivated the life and ministerial journey of Bishop Gregorio Aglipay for more than eighty years was heard from the message delivered by the Ilocos Norte Governor Roque B. Ablan, Sr. during the necrological service in his address entitled, “Bishop Aglipay the Man and Patriot”:

“It is not for us to assess in terms of dogmatic evaluation his contribution to the cause of Christianity and the brotherhood of man; it is not for us to judge his philosophy in bringing man nearer to God for that question has not been solved throughout the years to the satisfaction of all mankind, but no one can deny that whether in the bloody battlefields, in the sacred prescient of his cathedral, and in the routine of his everyday life, he had one possessing obsession and that was to serve his country that the Filipino nation might live and that the Filipino people merit the respect that is its due...

Bishop Aglipay received for heritage a duty and that duty he discharged to the full measure of his ability. That duty was to collaborate with others to form a heterogeneous mass into a compact whole to be known as the Filipino nation...

Whether fighting in the battlefields, in his Church, or in politics, nobody can deny him of courage, his tenacity, and his sincerity of purpose, qualities which in themselves alone entitle a man to the respect of his time and of history in anytime...”36

(Presented by the Rev. Dr. Eleuterio Jose Revollido during the 150th Birthday Celebration of Supreme Bishop Gregorio L. Aglipay, May 8, 2010 at the IFI, National Cathedral, Taft Avenue, Manila)

[1] William Henry Scott, Aglipay before Aglipayanism, Quezon City: National Priest Organization, 1987, p. 5. Also in AB-RRP, vol. 1, p. 3. NB: According to baptismal register he was baptized on May 9, 1860 on the feast of St. Gregory of Nazianzus though Aglipay himself celebrates his birthday every May 8. Scott opined that maybe his family assumes that he was born a day before he was baptized. His two brothers were Benito who died at the age of 12 and Canuto who lived until 1920. The latter was one time Chief of Police of Victoria, Tarlac where Gregorio himself was assistant parish priest. The Revolutionary government was established in that town in June 1898.

[2] Ibid., 6. The Tobacco Monopoly regulations at that time required that in certain provinces every farmer should plant a fixed quota of plants, while in other areas it was strictly illegal to grow the crop at all.

[3]Ibid., 7. One version of a story why Aglipay decided to go to Manila was to escape his father’s forced engagement to a girl he did not love. But Scott said that his decision was better explained by his desire to pursue education rather than settle down to a farmer’s life at the age of 16. His defiance to custom may be seen also as an example of the strong- willed determination which would later lead to defiance of Spanish political control and Roman ecclesiastical authority.

[4] “Real y Pontifica Universidad de Santo Tomas: Libro de Matricula de Estudios Generales y de Aplicacion de Segunda Ensenanza.” 1876-1877, 1877-1878, 1878-1879, 1880-1881 and 1882-1883; and Libro de Matriculas y Calificaciones,” 1871-1889 ; quoted in W. Scott, Aglipay before Aglipayanism, p. 10.

[5] Ibid.,p.11

[6] Tomas S. Fonacier, Ph.D., Gregorio Aglipay: A Short Biography, Manila: Philippine Education Co., 1954, p. 20. Quoted in Crisostomo A. Yalung, ed., Archdiocese of Manila: A Pilgrimage in Time 1565-1999, Manila: The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila, 1999, p. 284. Also in W. Scott, oc., p.10.

[7] W. Scott, oc., p.11.

[8] Letter dated Uberaba (Brasil) January 7, 1903, IFI Archives (St. Andrew’s Theological Seminary, Quezon City): OM1.1/1903-1910/Box 1, Folder No. 2) quoted in W. Scott, oc., p. 12.

[9] AB-RRP, Vol. 1, p. 17. He was ordained to the priesthood together with Valentin Rubio of Badoc, Ilocos Norte, who was executed in connection with the Candon uprising of 1898.

[10] Ibid., 19. Scott said that Aglipay continued his friendship with Sanchez Luna, a popular preacher at that time, even after he became an IFI Obispo Maximo. He made mention of his letter to Aglipay in 1904 commenting on the Fundamental Epistles saying, “As doctrine, the Fundamental Epistles are not bad, and I see Isabelo in them; but what rules for your fellow bishops?” Letter dated Gerona January 7, 1904, IFI Archives OM1.1 Box 1, Folder 2. quoted in W. Scott, oc., p. 16.

[11] It was a position of an assistant priest to a Spanish friar. The historical record based on the testimony of Bishop Hevia Campomanes, the Bishop of Nueva Segovia to the Taft Commission on August 7, 1900 clearly revealed Bishop Campomanes discriminating attitude towards the native by saying that their education and capacity were much lower, weak and frail compared to the Spaniards. Regarding Aglipay, he said, “He has not a good presence… half as well educated as many other native priests.” See AB-RRP, Vol. III, pp. 26-28.

[12] Ambrocio M. Manaligod, Gregorio Aglipay: Hero or Villain ,Manila: CFA, 1977, p. 12. Also in W. Scott, oc., p. 16.

[13] NB: It started as a secret society calling for an armed revolution to overthrow the Spanish colonial government and was founded in 1892 by a working class Andres Bonifacio. This was a shift from the elite reformism led by Jose Rizal in the establishment of La Liga Filipina to a lower-class radicalism. See Abinales and Amoroso, State and Society in the Philippines, pp. 109-11.

[14]Mayor Jose Villarte, Resena Historica del Pueblo de Victoria, 1940. Transcript in the possession of the Municipal Office of Victoria, Tarlac; quoted in W. Scott, oc., 18. It was said that while in Victoria, Aglipay gave aid to the revolutionaries and employed thirty carpenters who in reality were revolutionists in touch with the Katipunan. It was told that these men saved the forces of the insurgent General Macabulos from annihilation at the hands of the Spanish General Lachambre. See also AB-RRP, vol. 1, p. 36.

[15] AB-RRP, vol.1, p. 60.

[16] NB: This title was explained by Aglipay by saying that, “The Philippine government, relying on my will and overlooking my lack of merit, has recognized me as Vicario General Castrense - that is to say, Chief Ecclesiastical Superior of those under arms during the Revolution. This means, all Filipinos. For this reason, I am likewise Superior to all Filipino priests who, as such, should all be appointed Military Chaplains for the duration of the war.” see AB-RRP, Vol.III, pp. 92-3.

[17] Ibid., p. 99. English translation by William Henry Scott in the early 80’s given to students of IFI history at St. Andrew’ Theological Seminary. Part of the Second Manifesto says, “The Revolution is a fact of force which imposes itself, its motives and ends being just, as those of our Revolution undoubtedly are, because it is and will always be in conformity with the eternal principle of right and justice to liberate a country oppressed by the arbitrariness of a corrupt power that denies all conciliation, all concessions, and lastly, the fulfillment of Pacts solemnly concluded. What evil could we do by acknowledging the Government constituted in our country which nobly invites us to help in its endeavor to civilize and regenerate our beloved Motherland?”

[18] Upon his visit to the provinces in the north as military vicar general, he found out that the parishes were abandoned because the friars either fled or were imprisoned. He gathered the former seminarians in Vigan and took them to Bishop Jose Hevia Campomanes for ordination. The ordination of eight priests and eight deacons happened in Alcala, Cagayan on November 26, 1898. See AB-RRP, vol. 1, pp. 65-75, see also Yalung, Archdiocese of Manila: A Pilgrim in Time, 289-290. One of the newly ordained priests was Juan Jamias who joined Aglipay in the IFI and later on became his brother in- law after marrying his sister Pilar Jamias. During the IFI leadership controversy of 1946, Juan Jamias was elected Supreme Bishop by the Fonacier faction while the other group elected Isabelo de los Reyes, Jr. The legal battle that ended in 1955 Supreme Court decision in favor of Bishop de los Reyes, resulted in the faction the Independent Church of Filipino Christians (ICFC). Bishop Santiago Fonacier who was behind its establishment was married to Carmen Marcelina Amor Jamias y Ver, the niece of Juan Jamias.

[19] AB-RRP, Vol. 1, p. 89. Scott commented on this event saying, “As anomalous as his position may have been, however, Jesuit Superior Father Pio Pi did not hesitate to make use of it to secure the release of two Jesuit prisoners of war…(Aglipay) re-open schools in Ilocos…persuade some Dominican sisters in Cagayan to teach in Vigan,” W. Scott, oc., p. 26.

[20] Patronato Real or Royal Patronage lies in the Medieval assumption that the pope held supreme authority over the entire globe including pagan world. Through the Papal Bull promulgated by Pope Alexander VI entitled Inter Caetera Divinae, Spain and Portugal divided the world granting them the full authority over all territories discovered and still to be discovered. The rulers of these two countries had dominion over their colonies, not only politically but also ecclesiastically, see David Bosch. Transforming Mission, New York:Orbis Book, 1991, p. 226. Also see AB-RRP, Vol.III, p. 210.

[21] NB: The old folks of barrio San Francisco (now Anao, Tarlac) insisted that the meeting was held in their humble chapel. The credence of this claim was the fact that the parish priest of Panique was not among the signatories of the Provisional Constitution. Scott made two important comments regarding it. First, its immediate effect, at least in theory, was to make the supreme ecclesiastical authority dependent on the Filipino clergy themselves and, second, its historic significance, “that the revolutionary cause was so just it would soon be recognized both by Vatican and the Great Powers. It was in that noble but naïve conviction that the Filipino president sent Aglipay to reconnoiter an escape route in the mountains of Bontoc in November 1899, and then disbanded the Philippine army and took to the hills.” See W. Scott, oc., pp. 30-32.

[22] Ibid., p.33. Even Schumacher, despite his aversion for Aglipay, is forced to admit that “Aglipay himself was of course a guerilla leader of undoubted ability and courage. For almost a year and a half he carried on guerilla warfare in Ilocos Norte, particularly in the area between Badoc and Batac, but ranging even to Loaog at times. All evidence indicates that he was the soul of the resistance. So serious did the situation become for the Americans that in late August 1900 the American Commander was proposing such drastic measures as declaring the entire male population of the area rebels and treating them accordingly. Earlier, his superior officer, Lieutenant Colonel Howze had reported to headquarters: ‘From a very careful investigation in every direction, I find the causes for the outburst to be: first, the fanatical influence Padre Aglipay has over the average man in this province; Aglipay poses and is known as the Filipino government . . . The greatest number has risen against us because of the fanatical influence Aglipay has over them”. John N. Schumacher, Revolutionary Clergy: The Filipino Clergy and the Nationalist Movement, 1850-1903, Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1992, p. 35.

[23] Annual Report of the War Department for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 1900, Part 4, p. 316; quoted in W. Scott, oc., p. 35.

[24] U.S. Military History Institute: Spanish-American War Survey: Milton G. Nixon family correspondence, April 1, 1900; Ibid., p. 37.

[25] They were Filipino secular priests who were garroted by the Spanish colonial government on February 17, 1872 after being implicated in the Cavite Mutiny.

[26] AB-RRP, Vol.III, p. 95. The English translation was made by William Henry Scott given in one of his lectures on Philippine Church History when the author was his student at St. Andrew’s Seminary, 1980.

[27] Ibid., p. 98.

[28] Scott commented that “the greatest compliment to his reputation as a patriot was unwittingly paid him by General J. Franklin Bell after the Ilocano surrender: He requested permission to keep one cavalry unit in the field in case the Guerilla Padre changed his mind”. See W. Scott, oc., p. 35.

[29] Ibid., p. 39. Accompanied by Isabelo de los Reyes, Sr, Aglipay’s meeting with the Protestants will be discussed in chapter four.

[30] NB: The Six Fundamental Epistles, the 1903 Doctrine and Constitutional Rules, the IFI Liturgy and Aglipay’s activities as Supreme Bishop will be discussed in chapters four and five.

[31] AB-RRP, vol. 1, 500.

[32] Leon O. Ty, “Gregorio Aglipay: Priest, Soldier, Politician,” Philippine Free Press, Sept. 7, 1940, 36-37 quoted in AB-RRP, vol. 1, p. 498.

[33] Liwliwa or Consuelo in Spanish was a progressive lady like Bishop Aglipay. This could be seen with her letter to Helen Auerbach, wife of James Allen, the friend of her father and President of the Communist Party in the USA, regarding her contacts with the Sakdalistas. She said in her letter, “I have some Sakdalista friends and they give me accounts of what they stand for and what they do. I am enclosing a memorial of the Sakdalista party. It was presented to the congressional delegation of the U.S. on Nov. 13, 1935.” See, James S. Allen, The Radical Left on the Eve of War: A Political Memoir, Quezon City: Foundation for Nationalist Studies, 1985, pp. 22, 107, 114.

[34] AB-RRP, vol. 1, p. 500.

[35] Bayan (Manila), September 1940, p.1.

[36] Necrological message of Gov. Roque B. Ablan (Sept.15, 1940). Quoted by W.H. Scott in his message delivered for the commemoration of the 30th death anniversary of Bishop Aglipay, St. Andrew’s Theological Seminary, Quezon City in September 1970.

SOURCE:

The First Obispo Maximo, Monsignor Gregorio L. Aglipay (n.d.). In Iglesia Filipina Independiente. Retrieved from http://www.ifi.ph/a-biographical-sketch-of-the-first-obispo-maximo

Today’s View: The Aglipayan Church in my Hometown

But in the 1970s, at the height of the student movement to which I belonged, I learned about the history of the Aglipayan Church or the Philippine Independent Church founded by Gregorio Aglipay and Isabelo de los Reyes. I found out, to my remorseful realization, that it was the Church of the Filipino revolutionaries!

By DON J. PAGUSARA

Davao Today
June 27, 2013

In my hometown, the Church of the Aglipayan Sect was just a block away from that of the Roman Catholic Church. It sat on a lot at a street corner big enough for the church building to occupy. It had no churchyard to speak of, its main entrance opened into a space just a few feet from the side of the street. It was a solitary structure within that narrow space where it occupied.


But the Roman Catholic Church nearby was at the middle of some three or four hectares of level grassland, sliced into unequal parts by Gumamelas, Violetas and Cucharitas, and dotted with wide-spreading Acacia trees. The entire spread of land was enclosed by barbed wires and Tubatuba hedges.

The Catholics were most numerous among the Christian believers. The Aglipayans could only be counted as so many families by our 10 fingers. But as far as I knew they were the oldest settler families in the place. The first mayor (during US colonial time) was a member of the Aglipayan church.

Being a Catholic was to enjoy the self-consciousness of being favored as a member of the true Church of Christ. And this self-conscious feeling of being favored translates in social practice into a kind of tyranny of the majority.

Even as a young boy I was one of those who regard the Aglipayans as members of a bogus church. We scoff at the fact that Aglipayan priests are Filipinos and are married or are family men and therefore less blessed than the Catholic priests.

We could not reconcile the fact that their priests have children, in defiance to the vow of celibacy supposedly mandated by Christ himself(?). We thought they were recalcitrant Christians who had not gone through real scholastic training required of the priestly vocation.

Also, we gloated over the fact that our priests are Caucasians — mostly Irish or Irish-Americans, whereas theirs are “locals” or ordinary Filipinos, if not in fact Bisaya.

We ridiculed their conduct in the celebration of the Mass which was said in the Cebuano language. We burst out in disdainful giggles at the liturgical dialog between their priest and faithfuls in chants that went this way: “Ang Ginoo anaa kaninyo [the Lord be with you],” and promptly answered by their choir and faithfuls with “Ug anaa usab sa imong ispiritu [And also in your spirit]. ”

We strongly believe our Catholic Mass is superior because it is in Latin, the language of the Pope of Rome who is the true Vicar of Christ. We regard the Aglipayans, especially their priest, with distrust, avoiding him whenever we happened to meet him in the street.

But in the 1970s, at the height of the student movement to which I belonged, I learned about the history of the Aglipayan Church or the Philippine Independent Church founded by Gregorio Aglipay and Isabelo de los Reyes. I found out, to my remorseful realization, that it was the Church of the Filipino revolutionaries!

And I soon totally changed my attitude towards Aglipayans. I now admired them, their tenacity and loyal adherence to their congregation even if they were a small minority in most places. And above all, to be in the forefront of the revolutionary struggle against Spain!

Then. . .! Vatican II Reforms came! Ecumenism became a catchword and a welcome happenstance in the history of world religions. And to my triumphant joy, the Aglipayans were vindicated! Their conduct in the celebration of the Mass was, after all, in keeping with the spirit of the Pope-initiated reforms! The Church Mass ceremony should adopt the people’s language!

Indeed, why should the language in the Mass be in a language akin to voodoo magic? — something the people cannot understand?

But the Filipino people, inured to slavish obeisance after 300 years of colonial subjection, would find it blissfully exhilarating to be muttering in the language of the deities.

To a lesser degree, such is likewise the rare feeling of being able to mumble a smattering of English words. Our minds and hearts have been psychologically conditioned to love the language of the colonialists — Spanish and English. To the extent that we despise our own native tongue.

Thanks to the Aglipayans, they have demonstrated what is right and proper. It is not surprising that even in the Arts and Letters, the Aglipayans were the avid practitioners of the Cebuano language in their poetry and other literary expressions.

Fernando Buyser, an Aglipayan bishop of Cebu during the American colonial era, was a much respected and admired literary figure in Cebuano poetry. He could be considered “a prince of Cebuano poetry.” As a matter of fact, he invented a poetic form called Sonanoy (sonatang mananoy or melodious sonnet).

Reflecting on the role of the Aglipayan or Philippine Independent Church during the Philippine Revolution of 1896, I cannot help but wish my family (my father and mother) were members of this much maligned religious sect in our place during my childhood days. And I wouldn’t have been part of those who maligned it.

Don J. Pagusara is a native of Mindanao, a multi-awarded author and a Palanca-awardee.

SOURCE:

Pagusara, Don J. (2013, June 27). Today’s View: The Aglipayan Church in my Hometown. Davao Today. Retrieved from http://davaotoday.com/main/2013/06/27/todays-view-the-aglipayan-church-in-my-hometown/

Exhuming Leon Kilat

By Jobers Bersales

(First of three parts)

June 21, 2012

“At 12:30 in the afternoon of the first of August 1926, on Kalambuntan Hill, barrio of Bolinawan, municipality of Carcar, province of Cebu, where the mortal remains of General Leon Kilat were interred, there gathered Messrs. Adriano Enriquez, Rev. Fr. Alejo M. Barredo, curate of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) of Bacong, Negros Oriental, and Basilio Villegas, nephew of Gen. Leon Kilat, commissioned by the family of the aforementioned general with the goal of verifying the exact location of the mortal remains of the revolutionary general Pantaleon Villegas y Solde, known in the Province of Cebu under the name Don Leon Kilat.”

Thus begins the four-page affidavit in Spanish executed and signed by Fr. Barredo, Villegas with Mariano Mercado, municipal president (equivalent to today’s mayor) of Carcar, and Vicente F. Sarmiento, councilor of the same town. This is one of four documents hidden among the memorabilia of Bishop Fernando Buyser of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente now part of the special collections of the Cebuano Studies Center at the University of San Carlos.

Forgotten for nearly a century, the documents, neatly folded, are accompanied by two silver halide photographs showing the bones of Leon Kilat after these were cleaned. They came to light again quite by accident as I was going through the Buyser collection while doing the Kabilin episode on the Philippine Independent Church last January.

Oh what I would give to have been present at this gathering. This would have been the fulfillment of an archaeologist’s dream, carrying out the excavation of the mortal remains of a revolutionary hero. I had to settle for the second best, holding and reading the documents of the actual exhumation that transpired not just that day but two more days thereafter, when the hero’s remains were finally found and with a surprise!

Present at that hill that fateful day, other than the aforementioned, were a host of other important personages, among them Hilario Abellana, municipal president of the town capital of Cebu as well as the revolutionary generals Gavino Sepulveda and Nicolas Godinez, together revolutionary commanders Elpidio Rama, Andres Abellana, Eduardo Roda, Juan Baraw— all representing the provincial branch of the Asociacion de los Veteranos de la Revolucion. Other than Mercado and councilor Samiento of Carcar was the municipal secretary, Jose V. Magallon, there to represent the Carcar municipal council, while councilor Jose Fortich was also there to represent the municipal council of Cebu.

To those among us who have forgotten him, Don Leon Kilat was the guy who led the Palm Sunday uprising in 1898, which we have come know as Tres de Abril, when the revolution against Spain exploded in Cebu a full five days ahead of schedule. What was supposed to be a well-planned Good Friday (or Ocho de Abril) uprising was hurriedly carried out because, as usual, someone squealed to the authorities who then began rounding up males and arresting anyone who looked suspicious. Fortunately, the revolutionaries prevailed and by the late afternoon that day, Cebu as well as Talisay and El Pardo were in the hands of the Cebuano Katipuneros, a victory that, alas, was not given its fair share of publicity and focus during the 1998 National Centennial Celebrations. (Blame it on Imperial Manila to look for heroes closer to home.)

With victory at hand, Leon Kilat then proceeded to Carcar to bring the revolution there by Holy Thursday. Carcaranons woke up the following day, however, seeing the badly butchered (chop-chop) remains of the revolutionary general, displayed near the church and some meters where his statue stands partly hidden (alas!) right now. Among the documents in the Buyser collection is a hand notation listing names of the actual culprits of this heinous crime that, whether one likes it or not, saved the old heritage houses of Carcar from the bombs that Gen. Adolfo Gonzales Montero, the last Spanish governor of Cebu, promised to unleash from the sea if they joined the revolution. (In contrast, the people of Tuburan readily took up arms and followed the Maxilom brothers, Arcadio, Enemecio and Samuel. Thus one finds no evidence of the Spanish-era pueblo of Tuburan today as it was incessantly bombed from a Spanish gunboat, burning the town while the Carcaronon elite were displaying Leon Kilat’s body to save theirs.)

Next week, the culprits and the surprise in the exhumation.


(Part 2)

June 28, 2012

As promised, I will reveal the identity of the person who killed Gen. Leon Kilat, which in fact confirms the written accounts about his demise in Carcar. On the blank reverse side of what appears to be a trial proof for the cover of the book, “Mga Sinakit sa Auto” written by the Aglipayan priest and novelist Fernando Buyser are the following lines in Cebuano, “Nario Alcuitas – cabo o jefe sa mga nagabuno kang D. Leon entre sa Jueves Santo ug Viernes Santo sa tuig 1898 – sa balay ni Capitan Tioy Barcenilla sa poblacion sa Carcar”. (Nario Alcuitas – chief or head of the murderers of Don Leon on Holy Thursday and Good Friday in the year 1898 – in the house of Capitan Tioy Barcenilla in the poblacion of Carcar.)

The note also identifies the persons who buried the revolutionary general, namely: Victoriano Lausona, Ceferino Ceballos, Damaso Ceballos, Catalino Ceballos, Felipe Canencia, and Domingo Canencia. Of these, only Victoriano was alive during the 1926 exhumation at Kambuntan Hill in Barrio Bolinawan, Carcar (see last week’s column). The caretaker of the Catholic cemetery on which the burial happened is also identified in the note as Felipe Panumban.

Last week I mentioned that it took three days to exhume Leon Kilat’s remains. I stand corrected. It only took two days actually. The first day, Aug. 1, 1926, ended without his remains being found. The members of the expedition team from Cebu (the municipal president Hilario Abellana and the veteran generals of the 1898 Revolution against Spain) left thereafter.

The following day, the excavations were still witnessed by the Aglipyan parish priest of Bacong, Negros, Rev. P. Barredo, and Leon Kilat’s nephew, Basilio D. Villegas, together with Carcar municipal president Mariano Mercado and some councilors as well as the chief of police, Guillermo Teves. Also present was Antonio Kiamko, a reporter of the newspaper “La Revolucion” and many other unnamed persons.

At around 4:50 p.m. of this second day, following directions provided by a certain Kambuntan resident named Luciana Alesna, the team proceeded to excavate. After a depth of one meter, a knee bone was uncovered, eventually leading to the rest of the bones of Leon Kilat. Then a surprise!

As the skull of Leon Kilat was recovered, the excavation proceeded towards his left when suddenly the bones of another individual was unearthed, eventually leading to three other individuals that were apparently interred together with him. Were these three also murdered together with Leon Kilat that fateful Holy Thursday midnight to early Good Friday morning of 1898? Unfortunately, the affidavit I have found does not mention any detail about these other individuals except to say that they were the revolutionaries named Lazaro, Rufo and Andres, whose surnames are unknown (“cuyos apellidos se ignoran”) and that they were interred together with Leon Kilat’s remains. The bones of the three were set aside for transfer to the custody of the Associacion de los Veteranos de la Revolucion in Cebu or to be buried anew at the Municipal Cemetery of Carcar.

From the immediate examination of Kilat’s bones, the team averred that what eventually killed him was blunt-force trauma to the forehead, the continuous blow of a hard object which caused the frontal lobe of the skull to splinter and which must have caused a large amount of blood to literally spray all over the body. It also appeared that Kilat had time to fend off the sharp edges of the bolos as his arm bones showed deep cut marks that would have resulted only from a sharp object. The spaces between these cut marks are but to the mere inch from each other, about three or four in each arm bone.

Next week we shall tackle in conclusion the political drama that unfolded in both media and the electoral field after Leon Kilat’s bones were finally exhumed.


(Conclusion)

July 5, 2012

More than the recovery of Gen. Leon Kilat’s physical remains, his exhumation at the old cemetery of Kambuntan Hill in Carcar revived fading memories of his betrayal. Rep. (later senator) Vicente Rama, then running under the Democrata Party, made Leon Kilat’s death a political issue against his opponent in the 1928 elections for the 3rd Legislative District, Maximino Noel. It was Noel who won the vote but a subsequent recount gave Rama the seat, winning 3,716 votes against Noel who garnered 3,637. Noel was supported by Don Sergio Osmeña while Rama was with the group of Don Mariano Jesus Cuenco, by then a bitter enemy of Osmeña.

What was Maximino’s role in Leon Kilat’s death? In truth he was probably barely out of his teens when the 1898 betrayal in Carcar happened. It was actually his father, Capitan Municipal Florencio “Inciong” Noel who figured prominently in the death of the revolutionary general. For while the other local leaders of Carcar did not want Kilat killed, Noel insisted that he had to die before the sun rose on Good Friday 1898. Among those who hesitated was Capitan Isyong Barcenilla on whose house Leon Kilat had stayed for the night, the same house where the crime eventually unfolded.

One can probably say that following the exhumation, this singular issue of Leon Kilat’s betrayal not in the hands of Spanish authorities but of his fellow Cebuanos—albeit representing the local town elite of Carcar—eventually led to the end of the political future of any Noel in Carcar. The presence of Municipal President Mariano Mercado alone speaks volumes of the changing tide in Carcar nearly 20 years after the assassination. And for some time after this, the issues refused to die down. The Freeman even delved into this sad fate of Leon Kilat in Carcar in a series of articles published in six issues in 1929, some three years after the exhumation, pointing the accusing finger at Noel and the local town leaders.

The decades have since numbed the pain of the betrayal and very few people, except academics, talk about this ignominious moment in Cebuano history nowadays. It may be important to note that this kind of betrayal of its own hero or heroes appears to be a common theme in the Revolution against Spain, with the most glaring being the execution of Andres Bonifacio by a factionalized Katipunan.

If there is one lesson to be learned from this, it is that betrayal is always a possibility in times of uncertainty, where everyone is on survival mode. While one cannot justify what Carcar’s elite families did to Leon Kilat, one must also realize that they made a choice and eventually lived to see how people judged them.

And so as one marvels at the old ancestral houses of Carcar dating to the late Spanish period, one must do so with the knowledge that Carcar survived the promised Spanish bombardment and burning of the town center in 1898 because its leaders made a choice no matter how ignominious and despicable. It is therefore perhaps to the memory of Leon Kilat as much as to those who sought to preserve these houses and the old town through the decades that these houses ought to also be celebrated.

* * *

SOURCE:

1. Bersales, Jobers (2012, June 21). Exhuming Leon Kilat. INQUIRER.net. Retrieved from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/216437/exhuming-leon-kilat

2. Bersales, Jobers (2012, June 28). Exhuming Leon Kilat. INQUIRER.net. Retrieved from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/219677/exhuming-leon-kilat-2

3. Bersales, Jobers (2012, July 5). Exhuming Leon Kilat. INQUIRER.net. Retrieved from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/223859/exhuming-leon-kilat-3

MGA BUGTONG

Ang bugtong ay may pandaigdigang kasaysayan. Kabilang ito sa mga pasalitang literatura sa Egypt at Greece. Layunin ng bugtong na makapagpasaya sa mga pagtitipong panlipunan at makapagpatalas sa mga isipan ng mga mamamayan.

Isa sa pinakamatandang bugtong ng matandang kapanahunan ang Bugtong ng Espinghe o "Riddle of the Sphinx" na binigyang pagpapahalaga ni Sophocles sa mitolohiyang "Oedipus Rex." Sa nasabing mito ay may isang Espinghe. Ito ay isang dambuhalang hayop na may ulong tao. Nakaupo ito sa isang mataas na batuhan na natitingala ng mga taong nangagdadaan sa siyudad ng Thebes. Sa tuwing may nagdadaan ay malakas nitong pinahuhulaan ang bugtong na, "Aling hayop ang may apat na paa kinaumagahan; dalawa kinahapunan at tatlo kinagabihan?"

Ang sinumang mapadaan na walang maibigay na kasagutan ay binababa ng Espinghe upang bigyan ng kalagim-lagim na kamatayan.

Dumating sa pagkakataong hinamon ng isang matapang na estranghero ang tusong Espinghe. Ang humamon ay walang iba kundi si Oedipus na ipinatapong anak ni Haring Thebes. Pinag-isipang mabuti ng binata ang bugtong. Ang sagot niya ay tao na ipinanganak na may dalawang paa at dalawang kamay kinaumagahan; tumitindig sa dalawang paa sa katanghalian at may dalawang paa at tungkod na dala sa katandaan kinagabihan.

Sa pagkapahiya ng Espinghe ay tumalon ito sa kinaroroonang batuhan hanggang sa magkadurug-durog ang katawan. Magmula noon, nagsimula nang masagot ni Oedipus ang marami pang palabugtungan sa kaniyang buhay.

Kung pakasusuriin ang kasaysayan, maisasama sa mga tauhan sa bibliyang nagbigay pahalaga sa bugtong sina Samson, Haring Solomon at Reyna Sheba.

Kung may labanan noong pampalakasan, may tunggalian din namang pangkaisipan. Kasama nga rito ang palabugtungan.

Malungkot mang isipin, isang nakagawian na sa buhay Griyego at Romano ang pagpili sa mga kaangkupan ng tao na laging ibinabatay sa lakas at talino. Ang sinumang malakas at matalino ang inilalaban sa mga digmaan at pinararangalan sa lipunan. Kung talino na ang pinag-uusapan, kailangang masagot ng nakikipag-tunggalian ang sining ng palabugtungan.

Sa pamumuhay Pilipino, ang palabugtungan ay malaganap na. Layunin ng bugtong na magbigay ito ng katuwaan sa kabataan at katandaan. May mga ambag na bugtong na ang walong malakihang wikang panlalawigan na kinabibilangan ng Tagalog, Pampango, Bikolano, Ilokano, Pangasinense, Cebuano, Hiligaynon at Waray. May mga bugtong na rin ang iba't ibang wikang pangminoriya tulad ng Kankanay, Gaddang, Bilaan, T'boli, Tausug at Ibanag.

Sa palimbagan ng bugtong Filipino masasabing nauna rito si Frederick Starr, isang Amerikano, nang ilabas niya ang "A Little Book of Filipino Riddles" noong 1909 at si Fernando Buyser, isang Cebuano, nang ilathala niya ang "Usa Ka Gabiing Pilipinhon" noong 1912.

Kabilang sa mga mananaliksik na nagsipag-aral sa mga bugtong Filipino sa iba't ibang wika at wikain sina: Adelina Estacio sa Tagalog; Alejandrino Perez sa Pampango; Nita P. Buenaobra sa Bicolano; Jose Resureccion Calip sa Ilocano; Pelagia M. Valdez sa Pangasinense; Fe Haba Dignadice sa Hiligaynon at Ma. Luz Vilches sa Waray.

Karaniwan sa mga bugtong ang pagpapahula sa mga bagay-bagay na nakikita natin sa ating bahay, komunidad at kalikasan. Bagama't bihira ang tumatalakay sa mga basal na bagay tulad ng pag-ibig, katuwaan, kalungkutan, karangalan na hindi mahahawakan o makikita ng paningin, minarapat namin na magsama ng ilan upang mapataas din naman ang pandamang pangkalooban ng mga mamamayan.

Inaasahang hindi lamang kalidad ng bugtong ang nakalakip sa koleksiyong ito. Sa dami ng mga bugtong na isinama, naniniwala kaming nakauungos rin ito sa kantidad na pinilit naming pangatawanan.

Alay namin ito sa lahat ng estudyante, guro at magulang sa ating lipunan.

SOURCE:

Mga Bugtong. Pinoy Edition. Retrieved from http://www.pinoyedition.com/mga-bugtong/