The ‘Super Happy Man’

It was a scorching hot day, but there’s still three (3) voting centers to visit and inspect. So he hopped on to his borrowed tricycle and headed to his next destination. “I wanted to see the schools that will be used as voting centers personally,” he said while wiping the sweat from his brow. He then adds, with a chuckle:“Tsaka, siyempre, gusto ko rin maka-bonding ang ating mga teachers!”

He is the indefatigable Armando Mallorca, the Acting Election Officer of Pasay City’s 2^nd District. This writer had the opportunity to interview this 58-year-old election-veteran and tagged-along with him as he went about his day working as head of one of Metro Manila’s busiest election offices.

For those who know him, Armando is an ‘energizer bunny,’ filled to the brim with positivity. With his patent cheerful personality, it is no surprise that in Tiktok, he is known as ‘Superhappyman’. 

“Kahit sa trabaho, kahit gaano pa ito kahirap, dapat masaya lang palagi,” shares Mallorca, before bursting yet again into his signature boisterous laugh.

But behind his jovial and animated façade, lies a story that will qualify as an episode of ‘Maala-ala mo kaya.’

Armando Mallorca was born on May 17, 1963 in Daraga, Albay. His father would try his best to eke out a living to support their big family by working as a porter at the town’s public market. Life was so hard back then, shares Mallorca. Growing up, he said he had lost count as to how many times he and ten (10) of his other siblings had to sleep at night without food on their bellies.

But Armando was a dreamer. Each day, he would daydream about finishing school so that he may somehow pull his family out of crushing poverty. Through sheer determination, he graduated elementary school with honors and managed to finish high school. At that time, Armando worked as a house helper to support his studies. “Iisa lang nga ang uniform ko noon. Wash and wear!” Mallorca quipped.

In 1981 he grabbed the opportunity to come to Manila to pursue his dream of college education. He enrolled at the University of the East and took up Accounting. To survive, Mallorca again worked as a house helper and an errand boy. He also did odd jobs such as doing other peoples’ laundry and washing the family car of his landlady to augment his meager income. He would also wash dishes and clean-up at the nearby carinderia just so he could eat for free.

“Hindi ko pinapansin ang mga pang-lalait at pang-mamaliit nila sa akin. Ang iniisip ko lang, kailangan ko magsikap para mabuhay at makatapos ng pag-aaral ko.”

Enterprising as he was, Armando sold mani, butong pakwan, dilis, candies and cigarettes too. He even recalled an incident in Luneta where all his goods and earnings for the day were forcibly taken from him by someone who introduced himself as a policeman. “Magdamag akong umiyak ‘non,”he said.

This incident steeled his character and mustered his resolve to stand up for himself and fight for what is right. Soon enough, Armando would join the snowballing mass movement following the assassination of Senator Ninoy Aquino in 1983, as a student activist. He would also dabble into acting, performing in street plays, rallies and picket lines with his progressive theatre group, while ensuring he did well in his academics. His theatre experience came in handy when he did work on the side as ‘extra sa pelikula’ and made appearances in TV commercials later in his life.

After the 1986 EDSA Revolution, Armando saw himself working at COMELEC Manila Election Unit. According to him, he was paid P35 per week for his services. “Inaabot-abutan lang ako ‘non, para nga lang akong volunteer. Pero nagtyaga ako kasi gusto ko talagang makapasok sa COMELEC,” he said.

And in 1987, all his hard work paid off when he was finally appointed as Election Registrar Aide 1, assigned at COMELEC Manila’s 4^th District.  “Sobrang saya ko kasi makakapagpadala na ako sa pamilya ko sa Bicol,” recalls Armando.

From that point on Mallorca became the family’s bread winner.  His work in COMELEC made it possible for him to support the studies of all of his siblings and buy his Mother a small house in Bulacan. “Sa wakas,” he said, “naibangon ko rin sa sobrang hirap ang pamilya ko.”

Throughout his more than three decades of career in COMELEC, he has served as Acting Election Officer in Malabon, Navotas, Pasay, Valenzuela, Pateros, Manila and Quezon City. Armando is also very active in employee organizations. At the moment, he is the National Vice-President for Internal Affairs of the COMELEC Employees’ Union (COMELEC-EU).

Wherever he is assigned, and whatever task is given him, Armando always did his best while maintaining his integrity intact. Until now, he prefers to take public transportation rather than buy his own car. He’s always led a simple, frugal life. “Mas inuuna ko kasi ang para sa pamilya ko,” he says.

But after taking care of his siblings, looking out for his octogenarian mother and raising a son who is now happily married with a family of his own, Armando says it is time to start taking care of himself. He shares that he has invested in a condominium unit in Manila which he plans to rent out when he retires. But retirement is nowhere near his options at the moment. “Bukod sa marami pa akong utang, marami pa tayong trabaho. Hahaha!” he quips.

And so, just like the ‘energizer bunny,’ Armando keeps on going. This ‘SuperhappyMan’ – forged in the fire of life’s hardships and privation; toughened by the many injustices and prejudices he suffered –comes out in life smiling as always. Armando Mallorca forges on, marching to his own jovial beat. ###

(For 1st Quarter 2022 Issue of DIARIO COMELEC)

BANGAR’S GUERRILLAS: A small town’s valiant yet forgotten history of resistance during the Philippine-American War

by Mac Ramirez

At the northernmost tip of the Province of La Union, one will find Bangar, a small and quiet town nestled between the rough and tumbling West Philippine Sea to the west, the mighty Amburayan River to the north and the foot of the majestic Cordillera mountain ranges to the east. Its people – famous for crafting the hand-woven fabric called ‘inabel’ which, because of its durability, were used to make the sails of Spanish galleons and ships in the olden days.

At present, Bangar’s ‘inabel’ blankets, table runners and hand towels are in high-demand both locally and overseas. Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray visited Bangar last March 2020 and even sat on a native wooden loom to try her hand in weaving this beautiful local masterpiece.   

But apart from the ‘inabel’, not much is known about the town of Bangar.

Who would have thought that this small and quiet town has a valiant history of resistance and played a significant role during the Philippine-American War?  

When President Emilio Aguinaldo and his Council of War resolved in November of 1899 to shift to guerrilla warfare as the means to fight the American invaders, Ilocano freedom fighters wasted no time in preparing and leading the masses for revolt.

“An Insurgent Column on the march.” (Collier’s Weekly; May 10, 1900)

Guerrilla units spread like wildfire in La Union and other Ilocano Provinces. The people of Bangar too, rose up and heeded the call to defend the invaded La Madre Patria. In fact, the Bangar resistance movement was so strong and organized that American forces at that time dared not venture around those parts without sufficient numbers.

Hotbed of “insurrection”

US Army Captain F.O. Johnson of the 3^rd Cavalry summarized the situation in Bangar in a report to General Samuel Young dated March 6, 1900. He informed the headquarters in Vigan of the presence of at least five active guerrilla organizations within a radius of merely ten miles of Namacpacan (present day Luna) and Bangar [Ochosa, The Tinio Brigade].

“The situation is such that it is unsafe to send out bodies of less than 40 or 50 men. The insurrectos have a well-organized system of espionage and all movements are immediately reported by couriers. Secret information leads me to distrust most of the native officials…” Johnson wrote in his report.

The cohesion of the Bangareños to the guerrilla cause were a major source of dread for the Americans during the war’s height. The place was literally crawling with guerrillas and sympathizers. Even the parish priest of Bangar, Padre Bonifacio Brillantes, was an ardent supporter of the ‘insurrectos.’ He was later convicted by the Americans for having once rung the church bells in a bid to warn the guerrillas on the approach of the enemy.

“The topography is such that it is impossible to bring large forces in contact with these insurrectos,” read part of Johnson’s report. “When they greatly outnumber the Americans; they fight, otherwise they retreat into the mountains,” he continued.

That was the situation in Bangar. As to the general situation in the First District of La Union in early to mid-1900, Major General Elwell S. Otis, described it, thus: “This today, is the worst part of the Philippine Islands.”

The final fall of the Spanish in Bangar

That Bangar is so committed to the cause of independence and freedom at that time, is not at all surprising. Just a little over a year prior, in August 1898, the final victory of Filipino revolutionists in La Union against the oppressive Spanish colonial regime was sealed in Bangar.

After almost a week of intense fighting, Spanish soldiers under Lieutenant Don Goicochea who were then holed up inside the Bangar Convento, surrendered to the Filipino revolutionists in August 7, 1898. Eleven days after, on August 18, General Manuel Tinio accepted the “Acta de Capitulacion” of the Spanish forces in Bangar – one of the only two official acts of surrender signed in La Union soil, the other one being in the cabecerra San Fernando which was signed on July 31. Thus the more than three centuries of Spanish colonial rule in the Province of La Union finally fell in Bangar.

Historian Adriel Obar Meimban, in his book “La Union: The Making of a Province 1850-1921” noted that during the final assault against the Spanish in Bangar, “all rose up to a man.”

Spanish Governor de Lara of Ilocos Sur testified that during the fighting in Bangar, the unremitting volley of fire from the guns of Filipino revolutionists were heard from even across the Amburayan River in Tagudin, Ilocos Sur. The Spaniard admitted then: “En La Union, no quedaba un hombre que no fuese rebelde” (In La Union, there was no man left who was not a rebel).

My great-grand aunt Paula Ramirez’s husband Don Daniel Perez was named Gobernadorcillo of the newly installed Filipino Revolutionary Government in Bangar. Back in September 1896, Don Daniel Perez (Interprete de este Juzgado) was among the twenty prominent Ilocanos who were tagged as leading “conspirators” and “subversives” in the friar-concocted “Supuesta Conspiracion.” The Vicar Forane of San Fernando, Fray Rafael Redondo, accused them of plotting to massacre Spanish officials in La Union.

Along with Daniel Perez who were exiled and banished to Palawan’s Balabac Island in 1896, the leaders of the supposed ‘conspiracy’ were: Don Lucino Almeida of San Fernando who would later on become La Union’s Presidente Provincial or Governor and Don Ireneo Javier who would later on become Ilocos Norte’s Governor and first representative of the province to the Philippine Assembly of 1907. Javier would also marry Perez’ daughter, Trinidad Ramirez-Perez.

The memory of victory against their former colonial oppressors is still fresh in the hearts and minds of the people of Bangar. Thus with a new set of invaders and colonizers at hand, they are ever prepared and willing to defend their hard-fought freedom.

Summing up the sentiment of the La Union umilis, Governor Almeida telegraphed President Aguinaldo in Malolos on January 6, 1899. He said that La Union is prepared to go to war for independence (as it did so valiantly against Spain) this time against the Norte Americanos.

“The dissemination of the news that the war against the Americans is impending as they greedily prey upon this Philippines, a continuous stream of news from all the towns have been received by me to show to the authorities and to the people that they resent, and they do request to offer themselves, including their possessions and lives, and they are grateful for your acceptance of their offer.” [English translation from original Ilocano, by Meimban]

Thus, the people of La Union prepared for war. And when the Americans set foot in La Union soil in November 20, 1899, Filipino guerrillas are ready for action.

Bangar’s guerrillas      

The guerrillas of Bangar were part of Guerrilla Unit No. 1, led by Captain Anacleto Mendoza – tagged by the Americans as the ‘prime disturber’ in that part of La Union. This outfit was responsible for the successive strikes in the first days of the year 1900 that completely infuriated the Americans.   

MAP OF GUERRILLA OPERATIONS IN LA UNION. Photo from the book “Tinio Brigade”

Attack on Bangar

On the night of January 10, 1900, some fifty armed guerrillas led by Lieutenant Francisco Peralta stormed Bangar, ransacked the Presidencia and executed the Presidente Municipal “who had earlier been marked for liquidation for his collaboration activities” [Ochosa, The Tinio Brigade]. Two other municipal officials, the Delegado de Justicia and the Delegado de Industria, were also executed by the guerrillas that night for supporting the enemy.

In response, the Americans sent a cavalry patrol to hunt down the daring raiders but they were ambushed in Sudipen (then a part of Bangar) by waiting Filipino forces under Lieutenant Simplicio Geronilla. The clash left two Americans killed and three others wounded.

A few days before the January 10 Bangar night-raid, Lieutenant-Colonel Juan Gutierrez, commander of all the guerrilla forces in La Union and Southern Ilocos Sur, ordered all guerrilla units to collect “acts of adhesion” from prominent citizens for purposes of propaganda abroad.

The Civil Governor of La Union, Don Lucino Almeida, likewise, convened all the Presidentes of the Province at his residence in San Fernando and ordered them to “furnish food, provisions and supplies from time to time to the forces in insurrection against the United States.”

Pocket guerrilla operations will continue to pester the Americans in the succeeding months. But the twin attacks in Bangar that greeted the New Year of 1900 – the night-raid of January 10 and the ambush thereafter – stood out for its cunning and audacity. Orlino Ochosa, in his book “The Tinio Brigade,” wrote that the said attacks were deemed by the Americans then as “war crimes” that were “unpardonable.”

Apart from the presence of armed guerrilla bands, the American occupation forces in Bangar also had to contend with the existence of the Sandatahanes – a phantom army of bolomen – that by March of 1900, a new garrison was set up by the US Army in Bangar.

The presence of another American garrison, however, did not dampen the fighting spirit of the Bangareños. By the middle of April 1900, Major Pascual Pacis and Lieutenant Juan Mendoza, of the guerrilla army’s Milicianos Territoriales, were at Barrio Paratong in Bangar recruiting men by the hundreds to join the resistance.  

Said recruits were initiated similar to that of the Katipunan rites, in that they were made to sign their oaths with their own blood and they were subjected to branding on their right breasts using the mouth of a heated bottle.

Maj. Pacis and Lt. Mendoza, who were later convicted by the Americans for their guerrilla activities, must have been recruiting members for the recently revived Katipunan in Bangar, considering that on May 5, 1900, a cache of Katipunan blood-oaths were discovered by the Americans in nearby Tagudin in Ilocos Sur.

Bangar will yet again witness another bold guerrilla attack. On the night of May 5, 1900, Lt. Peralta and his men managed to sneak past American lines, once again entered Bangar and assassinated five (5) natives serving the Americans as scouts. One of them, a former soldier of the guerrilla army who, exactly a month before, deserted to the Americans and turned-over to the enemy his company’s complete muster-roll [Scott, Ilocano Responses to American Aggression 1900-1901].

Back then, the locals derided their town mates who were being too friendly with the American forces. On the part of the guerrilla army however, this is considered a mortal sin that is punishable by death.

By December 22, 1900, the US Army’s 48^th Infantry listed a total of nine (9) persons killed and thirty (30) persons or more assaulted in Bangar for “sympathy and assistance rendered the American cause.” Three (3) of those killed and two (2) of those assaulted were municipal officers.

In all areas covered by the US Army’s First District, Department of Norther Luzon, a total of one hundred (100) persons were assassinated for supporting the Americans, twenty-six (26) of them were municipal officials.

The Americans, on the other hand, vented their ire too on town officials whom they suspected of supporting the “insurrectos”. On Christmas Day of 1900, American authorities ordered the arrest of all of Bangar’s municipal officials led by its then Presidente Municipal for “conspiracy” [Scott, Ilocano Responses to American Aggression 1900-1901].

In early 1900, the legendary General Manuel Tinio, Commander of all Filipino forces in the entire Northern Luzon, issued an order to punish, by penalty of death, all those who will surrender, support or give assistance to the enemy.

“Although I would regret to have to shed the blood of my compatriots, I am disposed to take all the steps necessary to punish rigorously the traitors to the country,” Tinio stated.

Guerrilla chiefs were also instructed by Aguinaldo’s Chief of the General Staff in 1900, to “kindly order all their subordinates, down to the lowest level, to learn the verb “Dukutar” so as to put it immediately in practice”. In so doing, he said, it is “most salutary for our country” [JRM Taylor papers]. 

“Dukutar” from the root word “dukot” or “ca-ut” in Ilocanco, meant the abduction and assassination of enemy forces, collaborators and spies.

It is worthy to note that the liquidation of spies and traitors to the cause were part and parcel of guerrilla warfare. In the face of a superior adversary, Filipino freedom fighters then had no choice but to resort to this kind of tactics, which also include, among others, the cutting of telegraph wires and the constant harassment and raids on enemy patrols, posts and detachments.

Even the Commander of the American Forces, General Arthur Mac Arthur admitted the prevalence of assassination of traitors on the part of the guerrillas.  In 1901 he reported: “The cohesion of Filipino society in behalf of insurgent interests is most emphatically illustrated by the fact that assassination, which was extensively employed, was generally accepted as a legitimate expression of insurgent governmental authority.”  

My great-grand father Isidoro Ramirez, the son of Don Hipolito Ramirez and a distinguished citizen of Bangar, was implicated as one of the conspirators in the January 10 Bangar guerrilla attack. He along with his town mate and cousin Manuel Bautista and Maximo Roldan, a native of nearby Namacpacan, were arrested and jointly tried by a US Military Commission convened June 3, 1900 in San Fernando, La Union.

Though they pleaded “not guilty” to all the charges, they were sentenced “to be hanged by the neck until they are dead”.

Public hangings in Bangar

Ramirez, Bautista and Roldan were publicly executed at the Plaza of Bangar on November 23, 1900. They were the first Filipino patriots to be hanged in La Union (perhaps in the entire Ilocandia) and as such, the US Army meticulously planned and prepared for their public execution.

Adriel Obar Meimban, in his book “La Union: The Making of a Province 1850-1921,” wrote that Colonel William Penn Duvall, the American Commander based in San Fernando, received specific instructions to conduct their execution in a manner that is “quiet, orderly, dignified and soldierly.”

He was told to “select the particular place in Bangar, providing suitable material and the necessary labor for erecting the scaffold and procuring the rope, cord, etc required.” Thus an imposing wooden scaffold was ordered constructed in Bangar’s town plaza beginning October 1900.

Because two of the sentenced men – Ramirez and Bautista – were Bangar’s native sons, the Americans were extra-careful in keeping them in custody from their detention cell to the gallows, “lest they tempt guerrilla attack or attract ‘special attention’ from the people.”

On the day of the execution, Col. Duvall was instructed to undertake precautionary measures “to control the throng,” as thousands of Bangar-folk and citizens from surrounding areas were expected to gather at the town plaza for the hanging. The taking of photographs of the hanging was banned and newspapermen were not allowed on site.  

“The Provost Martial executed the martyrs upon the order of the Commanding Officer. Then the C.O. reported personally to Vigan for further instructions,” Meimban narrated.

Thus “with no mawkishness of sentiment nor with the least abatement of the intended grimness and terror,” as directed by US Army Headquarters; Ramirez, Bautista and Roldan were hanged in front of a horrified people, on top of a newly-built scaffold that would soon hang several other high-ranking guerrilla officers of the Tinio Brigade.

A public hanging in Bangar. Photo from Philippine-American War, 1899-1902 by Arnaldo Dumindin

The public execution of sentenced “insurgents” was a major part of the US Army’s anti-guerrilla strategy – and they chose Bangar as their stage.

Perhaps to strike fear among the populace and to punish the town for its strong support to the guerrilla resistance, the people of Bangar were, on every occasion, herded to the town plaza to witness these “macabre public hangings.’

On September 13, 1901, the town hosted yet another triple-hanging of top leaders of Guerrilla Unit No. 5. They were 1^st Lieutenant Natalio Valencia, 2^nd Lieutenant Hilario Quesada and 2^nd Lieutenant Patricio Zaidin.

Zaidin, a native of Alilem, was the last guerrilla leader to fall into the enemy’s hands in the La Union and Southern Ilocos Sur theatre of war.

Meanwhile, the proponent of the audacious raids in Bangar in the first half of 1900, Lt. Francisco Peralta, was also hanged in Bangar on October 11, 1901. Before his execution, Peralta uttered these last words: “Goodbye my beloved country. I am going to another world, sparing you further pains and anguish by sacrificing my life. Beloved countrymen, pray for me as I will pray for you in the next life. With love and courage, I am willing to die for your sake. I am not afraid to die.”

“Beyond death, Peralta became a hero,” wrote Meimban.

Also to meet his fate at the gallows of Bangar was Major Aniceto Angeles, one of the original commanders of the Philippine Republican Army’s La Union Battalion and the guerrilla chief of Guerilla Unit No. 2. He was hanged on October 18, 1901 with fellow guerrillas Fermin Directo and Tomas Torres.

More than 2,000 people were made to witness the hangings which, according to Meimban, was a “nauseating spectacle.”  When he was given the chance to speak before the gathered masses, Major Angeles shouted in defiance: “I am satisfied with the sentence and accept death!”

The hanging of Filipino prisoners of war by the Americans was strongly denounced by President Aguinaldo. From his mountain lair on January 17, 1901 he issued an urgent proclamation condemning the hangings as “repulsive and inhuman” and castigated the practice as “unheard of cruelties and shameless violations of the most elementary laws which are being committed by the imperialists” [JRM Taylor papers]. 

He then “ordered and commanded” guerrilla chiefs to negotiate prisoner exchange “at the rate of one American for every three of the many Filipinos who have been condemned to death by them, and who are expecting to be executed at any moment.” 

Furthered Aguinaldo: “In case the American commander refuse us the requested exchange, the American prisoners, whatever be their number, will be shot – the punishment for those attempting our national integrity…”

‘War in the mountains’

Despite the bloody triangle of US Army’s anti-guerrilla campaign in the Ilocos Provinces – the prosecution of guerrilla supporters, the garrisoning of towns and the public execution of ‘insurgents’ – the ‘war in the mountains fit for the small against the big’ (guerra de montaña es la propia del pequeño contra otro mayor) as described by Col. Juan Villamor in his memoirs, continued to rage in Northern Luzon for almost two years.

Ochosa summed up the valiant and impressive resistance of the Ilocanos:

“Manuel Tinio and his brave band of Ilocanos and a few Tagalogs fought the invaders for almost two years. Surely it was a short war, but that beau geste demonstrated once more the sturdiness and indomitable character of the Ilocano “nation,” this time fighting as part of the Filipino nation; and it was a great struggle that proved the worth and mettle of their Tinio Brigade. The history of that brigade is the history of that war.

The last word on the historical and political significance of the Ilocano phase of our national struggle for independence comes from no less than the American Commander himself, General Arthur Mac Arthur, who defined that little war in Ilocos as the “most troublesome and perplexing military problem in all Luzon. In all Luzon.”

Bangar – that small and quiet town at the northernmost tip of La Union – truly was a giant when it came to fighting for freedom and independence. Its people courageously fought and booted-out the Spaniards in 1898 and again bravely faced head-on the American occupation forces during the tumultuous Ilocano phase of the Philippine-American War of 1899-1901.

Sadly, Bangar’s valiant contributions remain seemingly forgotten and untold. There is not even a mention of it in its own official town history.

Nevertheless, Bangar has distinguished itself and has proven worthy to be called “ili daguiti kalalakkian” (where men-of-men come from). More than four decades after the Philippine-American War, the sons of Bangar’s guerrillas of 1899 -1901 will step up to the plate and assume the honorific role of their fathers before them and will gallantly face another set of unwelcome occupiers – this time the Japanese Imperial Army and this time, fighting side-by-side with their fathers’ former adversary, the Americans. As was before, the guerrilla movement in Bangar during the Japanese Occupation was so strong and organized, as evidenced by the presence of a big guerrilla camp situated in the fastness of Barrio San Cristobal in Bangar.

Indeed, Bangar’s valiant history of resistance must be remembered and retold. The martyrs of Bangar and the many others who laid their lives in the defense of our Motherland must forever be put in a place of honor and recognition. ###

Sources:

• Charges of cruelty, etc., to the natives of the Philippines. Letter from the Secretary of War relative to the reports and charges in the public press of cruelty and oppression exercised by our soldiers toward natives of the Philippines. February 19, 1902;

• THE TINIO BRIGADE: Anti-American Resistance in the Ilocos Provinces 1899-1901, Orlino A. Ochosa;

• Ilocano Responses to American Aggression 1900-1901, William Henry Scott;

• La Union: The Making of A Province 1850-1921, Adriel Obar Meimban, Ph.D;

• The Philippine Insurrection Against the United States: A compilation of documents with notes and introduction by John R.M. Taylor

Ang pag-uunyon bilang batayang karapatang pantao

Ginugunita tuwing ika-10 ng Disyembre ang anibersaryo ng proklamasyon ng Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Panandang-bato sa kasaysayan ng karapatang pantao sa daigdig ang napakahalagang proklamasyong ito na pinagtibay ng United Nations General Assembly sa isang pulong na ginanap sa Paris, France noong Disyembre 10, 1948. Kabilang ang Pilipinas sa mga bansang lumagda sa makasaysayang dokumentong ito.

Kakabangon lamang ng daigdig mula sa delubyo ng digmaan na kumitil sa napakaraming mga buhay at nagdulot ng karumaldumal na paglapastangan sa karapatang pantao ng napakaraming mamamayan sa mundo, nang ito ay pagtibayin.

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Inilatag sa UDHR ang mga “batayang karapatan at punadamental na kalayaan” ng bawat indibidwal at idiniin na ang mga ito ay unibersal at nararapat tamasain ng lahat ng mamamayan anuman ang kaniyang nasyunalidad, kulay ng balat, lahi, kasarian, relihiyon at/o paniniwala.  

Kabilang sa mga unibersal na karapatang ito ang karapatan sa paggawa, karapatan sa sahod na nakabubuhay at may dignidad, sa ligtas na kondisyon sa paggawa at karapatan na mag-organisa o sumapi sa mga unyon para isulong ang kanilang interes bilang manggagawa.

Isinasaad sa Artikulo 23 ng UDHR:

1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Kinilala sa UDHR ang mga manggagawa bilang batayang pwersa sa pag-unlad ng lipunan na may mga karapatan at kalayaang dapat ipagtanggol at protektahan. Marami pang mga pandaigdigang instrumento ang kumikilala at gumagalang sa karapatan ng mga manggagawa.

Sa Pilipinas, ginagarantiyahan mismo ng Saligang Batas ang mga karapatang ito. Sa Art. XIII Sec. III ng Konstitusyon ng Republika ng Pilipinas, nakasaad na:

“The State shall afford full protection to labor, local and overseas, organized and unorganized, and promote full employment and equality of employment opportunities for all.“

“It shall guarantee the rights of all workers to self-organization, collective bargaining and negotiations, and peaceful concerted activities, including the right to strike in accordance with law. They shall be entitled to security of tenure, humane conditions of work, and a living wage. They shall also participate in policy and decision-making processes affecting their rights and benefits as may be provided by law.”

Dagdag dito, sa Art. III, Sec. VIII ng Konstitusyon, iginiit na hindi dapat sagkaan ang karapatan ng mga manggagawa na magbuo o sumapi sa mga unyon:

“The right of the people, including those employed in the public and private sectors, to form unions, associations, or societies for purposes not contrary to law shall not be abridged.”

Malinaw na hindi lamang sa pribadong sektor protektado ang karapatan ng mga manggagawa na mag-organisa o sumapi sa mga unyon; ginagarantiyahan rin ito maging sa pampublikong sektor.

Sa bisa ng probisyong ito ng Konstitusyon, inilabas ni dating Pangulong Corazon Aquino ang Executive Order 180 series of 1987, na nagsasaad na:

“SECTION 2. All government employees can form, join or assist employees’ organizations of their own choosing for the furtherance and protection of their interests. They can also form, in conjunction with appropriate government authorities, labor-management committees, works councils and other forms of workers’ participation schemes to achieve the same objectives.

SECTION 5. Government employees shall not be discriminated against in respect of their employment by reason of their membership in employees’ organizations or participation in the normal activities of their organization. Their employment shall not be subject to the condition that they shall not join or shall relinquish their membership in the employees’ organizations.

SECTION 6. Government authorities shall not interfere in the establishment, functioning or administration of government employees’ organizations through acts designed to place such organizations under the control of government authority.”

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Ang COMELEC-EU

Tangan ang kalasag ng mga batayang karapatang ito, nagsikap ang mga empleyado ng Commission on Elections (COMELEC) na magbuo ng isang Unyon na babandila at kakatawan sa kanilang interes bilang mga manggagawa.

Itinatag nila noong 2012 ang COMELEC Employees’ Union (COMELEC-EU) na kauna-unahang komprehensibong organisasyon ng mga empleyado sa ahensya na may pambansang-saklaw.

Sa kasalukuyan, umaabot na sa halos limang libo ang kasapian ng COMELEC-EU. Nagkaroon na rin ng dalawang Collective Negotiation Agreement (CNA) sa pagitan ng COMELEC-EU at ng COMELEC Management – tanda ng matiwasay na relasyong nakabatay sa mutuwal na respeto at paggalang sa pagitan ng hanay ng paggawa at ng pamunuan ng ahensya. Indikasyon din ito na kinikilala ng Management ang papel ng COMELEC-EU bilang “natatangi at eksklusibong kinatawan” ng mga kawani.

Sa loob at sa labas man ng opisina, nagpapatuloy ang pagsisikap ng COMELEC-EU para isulong at ibandila ang batayang mga karapatan at lehitimong interes ng mga empleyado ng COMELEC, kaisa ang mga kapwa kawani sa pampublikong sektor at kilusang paggawa sa bansa sa kabuuan. ###

Mac Ramirez

Pangulo, COMELEC Employees’ Union (COMELEC-EU)

We are the ‘shock troops’ in the frontlines of our democracy

From his lonely prison cell in Fort Bonifacio, Senator Benigno ‘Ninoy’ Aquino Jr. made an emotional appeal in connection with the legislative elections scheduled on April 7, 1978.

In a manifesto released a week before the polls, he explained the importance of elections in our society and exhorted the country’s public school teachers who will be manning the voting precincts to ensure a clean and honest count:

“You will discharge the most awesome responsibility in our Republic. On your integrity and dedication – in the exercise of this duty – will rest the survival or death of our democracy struggling to be reborn.

Philippine democracy is anchored on the bedrock of free and honest elections. Corrupt the ballot, manipulate the electoral process, and you stifle the people’s will and smother this democracy in its resurrection. I do not ask you to be partisan for us… But I ask you to be partisan for yourselves, our people, the Republic, our posterity.

It can be the beginning of a new dawn in our lives as a people. The whole thing will turn in what you do. The challenge of destiny is before you. In your hands is what we, the Filipinos, will be. I beg you: Bear true witness to our peoples’ will!

From the dawn of our political consciousness, the Filipino people have opted unequivocally, as may be gleaned from all our Constitutions, for a democratic form of government – one where the political decisions are taken by representatives duly and freely elected by the people., where the representatives are fully accountable and responsible to the people.

But the people’s representatives, through whom the government powers are exercised, must be DULY and FREELY chosen. Only thus can the minority be compelled to accept and follow the rule of the majority.

Without a free vote, MIGHT BECOMES RIGHT and power emanates from the end of the barrel of a gun. When this happens, when legal reforms become impossible, as the tragic lessons of so many places tell us, revolution becomes inevitable. It is to avert this that I write you.

You are now the shock troops in the frontlines of our democracy. Stand your guard and our democracy triumphs. Allow yourselves to be bought or cowed, and our democracy dies in your hands…

At the time Ninoy’s manifesto was written, Marcos’ martial law was in full swing. The 1978 legislative election was the first election in seven years and the first one held under the auspices of the 1973 Marcos Constitution which proscribed a unicameral legislature – the Interim Batasang Pambansa (IBP).

A lot was at stake in this election. It was to be held under the backdrop of absolute power, with the political opposition having been effectively crippled by President Marcos and his allies. Outside government, all forms of dissent were outlawed and silenced. Speak against maladministration and corruption in government and face arrest or worse, get killed or disappear forever. 

But Ninoy, and many other freedom loving people across the country have not abandoned all hope. Though most of the mainstream political opposition decided to boycott the election, there still are some, like the Partido LAKAS NG BAYAN, who dared challenge Marcos’ formidable KILUSANG BAGONG LIPUNAN juggernaut in the 1978 polls.

Ninoy continued in his appeal:

“Give us an honest count and you give the Filipino people a stability that shall propel our nation to prosperity. Frustrate the people’s true will by manipulating the results and you plant the seeds of a long dark night of fratricidal conflict.

Should you allow yourselves to be bought or intimidated, should you shirk from your sacred duty and compromise your integrity, should you allow us, the handful men and women who dared challenge the martial rule to be deprived of the fruits of our hard-earned victory, then the blood of our countrymen who shall surely die defending our freedoms will be in your conscience…

Although addressed to public school teachers, Ninoy’s core message applies to ALL election workers.

Ninoy did not mince words in emphasizing the monumental task borne by election workers every time the nation troops to the polls. He appealed to their conscience to ensure a free and honest election in 1978 so that we may “witness the blossoming of an unprecedented national unity”. But if they allow themselves to be used as pawns in the machinery of fraud and skullduggery, then, said Ninoy: “you shall have only yourselves to blame if this Republic we all love is torn asunder in strife.”

Without a doubt, Ninoy’s words ring true to this day and should pierce through the deepest core of each and everyone of us. As employees of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) – the sole government agency that is mandated by the Constitution to oversee and administer elections in the country – we are the foot soldiers, the shock troops in the frontlines of democracy alongside our brave and heroic partners every election: our public school teachers, volunteers, citizens arms and other election-serving organizations.

Indeed, election workers hold the “most awesome responsibility in our Republic” because we are assigned the sacred duty of upholding and defending the true will of the people. In how good or bad we perform in this job rests the survival or demise of our democracy. That is why Ninoy wrote at the end of his manifesto: “In the name of God and the Filipino people… please do your job and do it well.”

We must always bear in mind that as election workers, we are DEMOCRACY workers. Our job does not stop at the end of the polls. We must also work hand-in-hand with the people to preserve our democratic processes and institutions.

Let us always stand up for what is right and always be ready to defend the gains of our freedom and democracy.

by Mac Ramirez, National President, COMELEC Employees’ Union (COMELEC-EU)

Sources:

Ninoy: The willing martyr by Alfonso P. Policarpio Jr.

The Philippine Electoral Almanac

Jose Rizal in the frontlines

Imagine Dr. Jose Rizal without the overcoat, but in a hazmat suit and with a face mask on.

Yes, if our pambansang bayani, a medical doctor, is alive today, I’m sure he’d be among those who wouldn’t think twice to help the sick and needy.

Just recently, the Department of Health (DOH) has announced that nearly 700 doctors and nurses have stepped up and responded to their appeal for “volunteers” amid the shortage of medical professionals and the steadily rising number of Covid-19 cases in the country.

The news bouyed the spirits of many Filipinos who have been in home quarantine and wallowing from the daily barrage of negativity for the past two weeks, as it clearly showed that the spirit of bayanihan is still alive and well in the country and that there is hope in this crisis.

Indeed if Rizal is alive today, I’m sure he’d volunteer to be in the frontlines in a heartbeat.

In late 1895, upon learning from his friend Ferdinand Blummentritt that a Yellow Fever epidemic is raging in Cuba, affecting scores of Spanish soldiers in the island and that there was in fact, a shortage of doctors there, he immediately wrote the Spanish Colonial Government to offer his services as a medical doctor.

December 17, 1895, Rizal wrote the Spanish Governor General from his exile in Dapitan:

“Having been informed of the scarcity of medical men in the army operating in Cuba and of the issue of some royal decrees providing for various positions open to those who will apply for them who are less than 45 years old, the exponent, possessing the qualifications required by the said decrees, requests Your Excellency to please accept his offer to fill a position of Provisional Physician on the Island of Cuba for the duration of the campaign.”

When his application to serve was approved six months later, he immediately packed all his belongings and left.

Unfortunately, Rizal never reached Cuba because he was arrested en route allegedly for leading the Philippine revolution against Spain. He ended up in Luneta instead.

A decade before that, in 1885, Rizal also wanted to help during a cholera epidemic that has affected several areas in Spain.

In July 30, 1885, from Madrid, Rizal wrote to his parents: “I believe this suits me. In this way I can begin earning my livelihood and helping the family a little. I don’t believe there is much danger of contagion because, of the physicians, who had gone to those towns very few got sick and those who died don’t go beyond four. I’m in good health, I’m young, and I’m not afraid of cholera, which matters a great deal.”

But like many Filipinos today who detest politicking while the whole country is overwhelmed by the scourge of the Covid-19 pandemic, Rizal too loathed politicking at that time of cholera.

Politics, according to him, was injected into everything during the epidemic. “The learned man, if he is not a politician, is not learned. Even cholera has been made a political question, even the bacillus itself, the origin of disease!,” he told his parents.

Dr. Jose Rizal also experienced discrimination and being placed under quarantine.

When he arrived at the Port of San Francisco USA on April 28, 1888, he complained of being discriminated because while Caucasians were allowed to disembark freely, he, along with Asians, were put under six days of quarantine. In a letter to Mariano Ponce in July 1888, he wrote about his ordeal:

“They placed us under quarantine, in spite of the clearance given by the American Consul, of not having had a single case of illness aboard, and of the telegram of the governor of Hong Kong declaring that port free from epidemic. We were quarantined because there were on board 800 Chinese and, as elections were being held in San Francisco, the government wanted to boast that it was taking strict measures against the Chinese to win votes and the people’s sympathy. We were informed of the quarantine verbally, without specific duration. However, on the same day of our arrival, they unloaded 700 bales of silk without fumigating them; the ship’s doctor went ashore; many customs employees and an American doctor from the hospital for cholera victims came on board.”

Talk about history repeating itself!

(Published in the April 2020 Issue of DIARIO COMELEC)

 

A Summary on the Philippines’ Electoral History

by Mac Ramirez, Information Officer II
(For DIARIO COMELEC)

As employees of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), we must not only be adept and well-versed on election laws, rules and procedures; we also must have a full grasp and working knowledge on the electoral history of the country.

Knowing how elections were conducted in the past will provide us with a better understanding of the nature of our work as well as a deeper appreciation of its core value and importance to our country’s democracy and way of life.

In this article, I shall venture to discuss how elections were done during the Spanish colonial period; inside the secret society – the Katipunan; and during the American-era. I shall also tackle major electoral events and upheavals in the past that changed the course of history and the country’s political landscape forever.

Through this article, it is hoped that we will gain another set of lens in which to view our work as election frontliners. After all, as the old adage would have it: “Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay hindi makararating sa paroroonan.”

Also, it wouldn’t hurt if we provide a bit of historical perspective in all our voter education sessions, would it?

The Spanish Colonial Period

Don Antonio Maura (Image Source Everyday History)

During the Spanish times, only the members of the elite or the Principalia class were allowed to vote. The “Maura Law”, authored by Minister of Colonies Antonio Maura y Montaner and promulgated 19 May 1893, states that there were only twelve (12) electors – all from the Principalia class – in each municipality or pueblo. Said electors were the following: Six (6) of them to be chosen from among former Cabezas de Barangay; three (3) from among former Capitanes Municipal and three (3) from among the pueblo’s principal taxpayers – the richest among the rich.

The majority of the poor masses, on the other hand, were mere subjects and the women were treated as mere extensions of men’s authority. They have no say in how the town is governed. They had no chance of being elected to public office.

At the municipal level, the body of electors shall elect a Municipal Tribunal composed of the Municipal Captain (Capitan Municipal formerly Gobernadorcillo), the Chief Lieutenant (Teniente Mayor), the Lieutenant of the Police (Juez de Policia), Lieutenant of Fields (Juez de Sementeras) and Lieutenant of Livestock (Juez de Ganados).

The results were then submitted to the Spanish Governor General for rejection or approval.

Jacob Gould Schurman, President of the Philippine Commission, in his Report to United States President William Mckinley in January 1900, described the manner of elections at the municipal level during the Spanish regime: “The Principalia, as thus determined, constitutes the voting class of the population of every pueblo. No one votes who is not a member of the principalia… The principal duty of the twelve principales is to choose the members of the Municipal Tribunal, which body forms the active government of the town, and the choice is effected by a majority vote.”

Members of the Principalia, circa 1880 (Image Source esquiremag.ph)

At the Provincial Level, a Junta Provincial, led by the Provincial Governor (Alcalde Mayor), were elected by the Capitanes Municipal of the Province.

The Cabezas de Barangay who heads 80 up to 100 men in the barrio were appointed by the Governor of the Province on recommendation of the Principalia.

Despite the so-called reforms in the political system brought forth by the Maura Law during the waning years of the Spanish regime, problems of graft and corruption and mal-administration persisted and continued to plague the Spanish rule in the country. This greatly contributed to the wanton abuse heaped upon the native Filipinos, which eventually drove them to take arms in the Revolution of 1896.

The Katipunan

Katipunan (Image source Phillife.co)

The Kataas-taasang Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KKK) or the Katipunan, the secret-society that led the 1896 Philippine Revolution that overthrew the more than three centuries of Spanish colonial rule in the country, was governed by a Supreme Council (Kataas-taasang Sanggunian), which was composed of a President (Pangulo), Secretary (Kalihim), Fiscal (Tagausig), Treasurer (Tagaingat-yaman), and six councilors (Kasanguni).

The Members of the Supreme Council (Kawal), as well as the leaders of various Katipunan Councils and Branches were given the right to vote for the Sanggunian’s most important positions via secret balloting. At all times, the “Authority of the People” or the “Kapangyarihan ng Bayan” were ensured and given premium in the secret society’s elections.

The first recorded Katipunan elections was on December 24, 1894. Jim Richardson in his book “The Light of Liberty: Documents and Studies on the Katipunan 1892-1897” wrote that the December 24 Katipunan election yielded the following results: Andres Bonifacio (Maypagasa) received the most number of votes with thirteen (13); José Turiano Santiago (Tiktik), eight (8) votes; and Manuel Ureta (Mahusay), one (1) vote.

However, a crisis of leadership rocked the very core of the Katipunan.

At the height of its revolution against Spain, the society was split into two rival factions, the Magdiwang (identified with Bonifacio) and the Magdalo (identified with Emilio Aguinaldo). On March 22, 1897, the two rival factions met at the Friar Estate in Tejeros, San Francisco de Malabon in Cavite, to plan the defense of the liberated territories and the Election of a Revolutionary Government.

In that election, Emilio Aguinaldo was elected President while Andres Bonifacio was elected to the lowly position of Director of Interior. Not a few veterans of the Revolution who were present during that election attested that the voting was rigged in favor of Aguinaldo. Also, throughout the proceedings, Bonifacio’s educational background was repeatedly questioned, his person maligned and his capacity to lead belittled. Gravely offended and enraged, Bonifacio, as presiding officer and Supremo of Katipunan, invalidated the result of the election and stormed out of the convention hall.

Many consider the election held at Tejeros as one that was marred by fraud and skullduggery – the first case of “dagdag-bawas” in the country. At any rate, it signaled the end of the Philippine revolution’s mass-based and plebian class leadership and the beginning of one that was bourgeois and elitist.

The American Era

When the Americans came, they adopted the old Spanish system of local administration, save for a few modifications or “additional civil liberties” as the new occupiers would call it. The town or municipality was now headed by a Presidente Municipal. The Municipal Council remained as the governing body in the locality.

And as with the old-system, the same set of the town’s elite class were the only ones worthy of the right to vote.

According to Jennifer Conroy Franco in her book “Elections and Democratization in the Philippines”, voting rights were only given to men 23 years of age or older who could read and write Spanish or English, had held municipal office under the Spanish, and owned real property worth at least US$250 or paid at least US$15 in annual taxes.

“Only qualified Filipinos could engage in political competition for municipal and provincial offices, while access to the political process was limited through highly restrictive literacy and property voting requirements,” she explained.

1905 – Philippine Islands – Gov-Supervisor Ortega and Presidentes, Province of La Union (National Geographic)

Same old, same old.

The first local election under the American rule happened on May 6, 1899 in Baliuag, Bulacan. Major General Henry Lawton gave the residents “permission” to hold an election of the town’s Presidente Municipal.

Francisco Guerrero won that election, in a manner which the US Military reported at that time as one done “by virtue of election by his peers, holding office in [the Philippines] under the jurisdiction of the United States.”

Guerrero became the first ‘elected’ native official under the thumb of the Americans.

The Americans wasted no time in establishing municipal governments by handpicking locals “whose honesty and friendliness to American rule were beyond question” as candidates for election in each town. These handpicked men, from the same elite class, were gathered to elect via viva voce their Municipal Presidents, who had the power to appoint minor officials and levy taxes for public improvements.

On February 6, 1901, the Second Philippine Commission passed Act No. 83, also known as the Provincial Government Act. It provided for the creation of Provincial Governments and the election of provincial officials.

The first gubernatorial elections were held on February 3, 1902. In 1907, by virtue of the General Election Law, a Board of Inspectors was instituted whose task was “preventing fraud and guaranteeing the secret ballot.”

“By contrast, the establishment of elected civilian rule under US tutelage in the ‘Filipino Philippines’ was coupled with direct military rule in the Mindanao-Sulu region in the South and the Cordillera region in the North, which together, held as much as one-eighth of the colony’s total population,” noted Franco.

“The carefully orchestrated introduction of national political institutions was clearly intended to ensure that national political power would belong exclusively to members of the elite, who, as the main beneficiaries of US colonial policies, were also expected to be the most reliable guarantors of US interests in the Philippines,” she furthered.

(To be continued…)

Sources:

The Philippine Electoral Almanac, 2015
Report of the Philippine Commission to the President 1900
The Light of Liberty: Documents and Studies on the Katipunan 1892-1897, Jim Richardson
Elections and Democratization in the Philippines, Jennifer Conroy Franco

Overseas Filipinos urged to vote

From April 13, 2019 until May 13, 2019, overseas Filipinos who are registered voters may cast their votes under the overseas absentee voting system.

Data from the Commission on Elections Office for Overseas Voting (COMELEC-OFOV) state that there are 1,822,173 registered Filipino voters worldwide.

Majority of these voters are from the Middle East and African Region, with 887,744 voters, followed by the Asia Pacific Region with 401,390; North and Latin American Region with 345,415 and the European Region with 187,624.

The COMELEC, in Minute Resolution Number 18-1124 dated 14 November 2018, resolved to adopt various methods of voting for Filipinos overseas, they are: 1. Automated voting using the vote counting machines (VCM); 2. Postal voting and 3. Manual voting.

According to the poll body, voters in forty-one (41) Posts abroad will be adopting the automated election system using the VCMs. These Posts are Agana, Calgary, Chicago, Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York, Ottawa, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington, Brunei, Canberra, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Macau, Kaohsiung, Taichung, Taipei, Osaka, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, and Wellington.

Also included are Philippine Posts in Athens, London, Madrid, Milan, Rome, Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Doha, Dubai, Jeddah, Kuwait, Manama, Muscat, Al-Khobar, Riyadh, and Tel Aviv.

Meanwhile, postal voting will be adopted at the Philippine Posts in Brasilia, Buenos Aires, Mexico, Santiago, Bangkok, Beijing, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Hanoi, Islamabad, Port Moresby, Yangon, Ankara, Berlin, Berne, Brussels, Budapest, Geneva, Lisbon, Moscow, Oslo, Paris, Prague, The Hague, Vienna, Warsaw, Abuja, Cairo, at Pretoria.

And for Philippine Posts in Dhaka, Dili, Jakarta, Manado, New Delhi, Phnom Penh, Shanghai, Vientiane, Xiamen, Vatican, Amman, Nairobi and Tehran, voters there will be voting manually.

For Filipinos who will be voting by mail, packets containing official ballots with list of candidates will be sent to them at their registered addresses, while those who will be voting using the VCMs and through the manual system will have to personally appear at the polling stations in their respective Philippine Posts to cast their ballots.

Overseas Filipino voters can only vote for national positions, that is for twelve (12) Senators and one (1) Party-list.

The almost two million registered Filipino voters abroad are encouraged to take part in the month-long overseas absentee voting exercise. Harnessed, theirs is a potent force that can vote to power Senators and Party-list representatives that will genuinely work for pro-OFW programs and laws and will push for the advancement of pro-people reforms in government for the benefit of their families and loved ones back home.

For more information on the overseas absentee voting process, voters are encouraged to visit their respective Philippine Embassies, Consulates and Missions or they may visit the COMELEC website http://www.comelec.gov.ph and or follow the COMELEC-OFOV Facebook page: Office for Overseas Voting PH. ###

MYSTERY SOLVED: Spot where important Phil-Am War Memorial once stood including original parts of it, finally found

The mystery of the missing monument to an important episode in the Philippine –American War is finally solved. The memorial marking the spot where one US infantry officer was killed in action in a fierce fire fight between American and Filipino forces on the morning of November 11, 1899, thought to have been lost forever, was finally found in San Jacinto, Pangasinan.

For years, historians were stumped as to what became of the memorial that was dedicated to the memory of Major John A. Logan Jr. of the Thirty-third US Volunteer Infantry. The Logan Memorial Cannon was erected in 1905 to mark the location where the officer was mortally wounded by a sniper belonging to Filipino forces under the command of General Manuel Tinio. It featured a captured cannon mounted on a concrete base.

Monument marking the spot where Maj. John H. Logan was killed at San Jacinto. This photo was sent to his mother by Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood, then Governor-General of the Philippines  (1921-1927).

The memorial was thought to have been swallowed by the ground and disappeared over time. However, on December 28, 2018 the place where the Logan Memorial Cannon once stood and some parts of it was finally located and discovered.

The Logan Memorial Cannon up close

Albeit missing the most integral part, which is the cannon; this blogger along with several colleagues* were able to locate what remains of the memorial inside a family yard with piles of firewood stacked above it.

We pinpointed the exact spot where it was erected over a hundred years ago and was able to find what remains of it in Barangay Macayug along the San Fabian-San Jacinto Road. Only pieces of the Memorial Cannon’s original concrete base survived. Locals say the steel plate containing Major Logan’s information might still be there being kept in a house somewhere in the village.

We spoke with the Barangay Captain, old folks and locals in the area and learned that the Logan cannon were unceremoniously spirited away by armed men who were reportedly in search of treasures of some sort, one night in the early eighties.

Locals remember playing at the Logan Memorial Cannon during their childhood days, but they have apparently lost memory of what transpired there 119 years ago.

When we narrated to them the events on what happened there on that day, one middle-aged resident exclaimed: “Tama pala ‘yung kwento ng matatanda. May nabaril dito na Amerikanong sundalo. Pero ang sabi, sundalong Hapon ang bumaril!”

I was jolted when the thought struck me. Lost along with the monument is the memory not only that of Major Logan’s, but more so that of the gallant Filipino forces under the Tinio Brigade who fought to their deaths in the defense of our Motherland.

A moment of eerie silence followed after I explained to them that a total of 134 Filipinos were killed there in that rainy morning of November 11, 1899. I told them that these brave kababayans of ours, in the face of the enemy’s Gattling Guns and massive firepower, put up a heroic stand against the formidable American juggernaut.

An American Gattling Gun on the Beach of San Fabian

Though the Filipinos eventually retreated after a fierce gun battle which raged for more than two hours, the fighting which came to be known in the annals of the Philippine-American War History as the “Battle of San Jacinto,” remains significant to this day. This pivotal encounter signaled the paradigm shift of the Philippine Army from conventional warfare to that of guerrilla warfare. Two days after the battle,  a National Council of War held in Bayambang resolved to disband the Philippine Army and ordered the generals and their men to return to their own provinces and organize the people for general resistance by means of guerrilla warfare.

It was also in this battle that the invading American Forces may have had first taste of General Manuel Tinio, the legendary Tagalog boy-General of the Ilocanos, who took them one and a half years and more than 7,000 men to “civilize.”

Tinio and his forces were in San Jacinto on orders to block and delay the American forces pursuing General Emilio Aguinaldo.

The Tinio Brigade

The Battle of San Jacinto was dubbed by the American press as “one of the sharpest engagements of the war.” The American forces involved were from the Thirty-third Regiment US Volunteer Infantry under the command of Col. Luther R. Hare and Filipino forces under General Manuel Tinio numbering to 1,200 to 1,600.

On the afternoon of November 7, 1899, more than 2,500 American soldiers aboard six US army cruisers and gun boats descended on the shores of San Fabian in Pangasinan.

The expeditionary force commanded by Brigadier-General Loyd Wheaton was composed of Thirteenth US Infantry; Thirty-third US Infantry Volunteers; Sixth US Artillery; detachment of US Engineers; detachment of US Signal Corps and two Gattling Guns; one hundred thousand rations and a supply of 1.2 million rounds of ammunition.

US gunboats bombarding San Fabian prior to landing

It left Manila Bay on November 6th and sailed towards the Lingayen Gulf and landed on San Fabian on orders to block and prevent the Northward retreat of Emilio Aguinaldo and his army.

Wheaton’s command was part of the “three-pronged” strategy of the US army to trap Aguinaldo with Major General Henry W. Lawton leading the charge towards the Northeast to prevent the insurgent leader from escaping through the mountains and General Arthur Mac Arthur’s forces who were well on its way advancing along the Manila-Dagupan railroad (from Angeles to Dagupan) in a frantic bid to trap Aguinaldo into the pocket created by Lawton’s and Wheaton’s forces.

At this time, Aguinaldo is in the town of Bayambang in Southern Pangasinan.

In the morning of November 11, Major Logan led the troops in the advance towards San Jacinto. During the intense fire fight which broke out along muddy fields, heavy underbrush and bamboo thickets, he was fatally shot in the head by a sharpshooter positioned atop a coconut tree. Including Logan, seven American soldiers were killed in that encounter.

Col. Hare in his field report after the battle, wrote of Logan’s death: “Volumes might be written, but in the end could add nothing which would more clearly establish the gallantry of this officer.”

Brig. Gen. Wheaton also extolled Logan, saying that his conduct “was most gallant and worthy of his name,” and that “his death comes as a personal bereavement to the many in this command who knew him well.”

US President McKinley also paid tribute to the fallen soldier. In his telegram to Major Logan’s widow, he wrote: “his splendid qualities as a soldier and high courage on the fighting line have given him place among the heroic men of the war and it will be some consolation to know that he died for his country on the field of honor.”

On May 3, 1902, Major John A. Logan Jr. was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor “for most distinguished gallantry in leading his battalion upon the entrenchments of the enemy, on which ocassion he fell mortally wounded.”

Major. John A. Logan Jr.

Logan was the son of Senator and Civil War Hero Major General John Alexander “Black Jack” Logan. Apart from his illustrious military career and distinguished service as a statesman, the elder Logan came to be known as the Father of Memorial Day in America. It was his idea to decorate with flowers the graves of American soldiers who died for their country. The US Congress formalized this observance as Memorial Day in 1871.

The General would surely turn in his grave if he knew that his own son’s memorial went missing!

 

 

 

The Phil-Am War Memorial Cannons

Major Logan’s Memorial Cannon in San Jacinto was among the only four (4) known Memorial Cannons erected in the country to memorialize US army officers who were killed in action at the height of the Philippine-American War.

The Memorial Cannons include that of Major General Henry W. Lawton’s, erected at San Mateo on the spot where the American General was killed by Filipino marksmen under legendary General Licerio Geronimo’s Tiradores de la Muerte on December 19, 1899. The monument was dedicated on January 24, 1903 and had a captured cannon mounted downward on a five-foot concrete base surrounded at the corners by artillery shells. The monument stands to this day at the Barangay Hall of Barangay Bagong Silangan in Quezon City, then part of San Mateo.

Lawton Memorial Cannon

Another is that of Col. John Stotsenburg’s. He was the Commander of the 1st Nebraska Volunteer Infantry killed in action on April 23, 1899 at the Battle of Quingua, present day Plaridel in Bulacan. General Gregorio del Pilar commanded the Filipino forces in that historic battle that is being commemorated annually as a holiday in Plaridel. It also had an inverted cannon mounted on a concrete base, surrounded by four iron cannon balls placed at the corners. It still exists to this day, and in 1999, a huge mural was commissioned by the local government of Plaridel framed around the Stotsenburg memorial as a lasting tribute to the unsung Filipino fighters who were killed in that battle.

Col. Stotsenburg Memorial Cannon

The third memorial cannon was erected by the American colonial government in Malinta to honor Col. Harry Clay Egbert of the 22nd US Army “who was mortally wounded on this spot while leading his regiment, the 22nd US Infantry in an encounter in Manila on March 26, 1899.”

The Egbert Memorial Cannon was located originally inside a one hectare tract of land proclaimed in January 12, 1906 as the Egbert Momument Reserve by then Acting US Governor General Henry C. Ide. It featured a massive cannon mounted in the center, and flanked by large caliber artillery shells, all set on a concrete base.

Egbert Cannon

Photos from the date of the dedication showed the original monument containing a sculptured bust of Col. Egbert. It is still not certain if the bust was part of the original monument or if it was only added for photographic or ceremonial purposes. If indeed it was, then it must have disappeared over time.

The Egbert Cannon was only found six years ago partly buried in the middle of a dirt basketball court inside a slum area on Flaviano street at the boundary of Barangays Karuhatan and Malinta.

News reports said the monument fell into neglect through the years. And in the 1990s, the cannon ended up being “swallowed” by the earth after treasure hunters dug a tunnel beneath it.

In 2013, the local government of Valenzuela and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) had the massive cannon unearthed and restored and unveiled it at the New Valenzuela City Government Complex for people to see and appreciate.

The local government of Valenzuela also passed an ordinance in 2011 recognizing March 26 of every year as Battle of Malinta Day, which it said was “a notable point in the history of Valenzuela City and a celebration of the heroism of its people.”

We must not forget 

With the recent discovery of what remains of the Logan Memorial, the local government of San Jacinto in Pangasinan and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) must undertake steps to rebuild and restore this very important monument in our history not only for the memory of Major Logan but more importantly, to the memory of 134 Filipinos who were killed in San Jacinto on November 11, 1899.

The Battle of San Jacinto and the 134 nameless, unsung Filipinos who perished in that fateful encounter must not be forgotten. We owe it to them. We owe it our children. We owe it to our country.

Sources:

1. Report of an Expedition to San Fabian, San Jacinto and Vicinity, November 5 to November 30, 1899 by Brig. Gen. Loyd Wheaton, USV, Commanding
2. http://www.filipinoamericanwar.com
3. Philippine-American War facebook group
4. http://1-22infantry.org/
5. https://www.army.mil/article/47711/battle_of_san_jacinto

* The Search Party included myself, Mac Ramirez; Gel Gerardino; Rodel Realubin and Edward Macasu. Atty. Reddy Balarbar, a native of San Fabian a town near San Jacinto, was not able to join us that day, but he was able to provide in advance a significant lead towards locating it.

A skirmish in “Rombong”

Very little is known or documented about the history of resistance in the Island of Romblon during the Revolutionary Period and during the Philippine-American War. From what we can gather in the internet and in some history books, we know that in 1898, General Emilio Aguinaldo dispatched his generals to the Visayas to expand the authority of his revolutionary government to the Central and Southern Philippines. And on 25 July 1898, Katipunan General Mariano Riego de Dios captured Romblon. Four days later, the Spanish politico-military governor Don Carlos Mendoza formally surrendered control of the Island to the Revolutionary Forces.

Romblon formally became a province on 16 March 1901 after the Americans established a civilian government in the Island.

My wife being a native of Romblon and having been mesmerized by the island’s unspoilt and natural beauty and by its warm and friendly people, I have taken keen interest in studying the culture and history of Romblon.

And so, after stumbling upon an article published in the newspaper THE MANILA FREEDOM, dated 23 December 1899, I knew I stumbled upon a veritable proof of the Romblomanon’s gallantry in battle and brave resistance against the invaders. I thought, this could very well be the first clash on record between the American forces and the Filipino resistance in Romblon during the Philippine-American War.

In the article, it was reported that the American gunboat Concord returned to Iloilo on 19 December 1899. Onboard was the corpse of a Private Folley of C Company, Eighteenth Infantry, and a wounded Marine from the Concord’s crew. This, according to the article was “the result of an attack against the insurectos on a small island to the North of Panay, called Rombong [Romblon].”

It was reported that the American forces under the command of General Carpenter, “consisting of the First Batallion of the Eighteenth Infantry, seconded by the Mosquito fleet,” easily captured Concepcion and Capiz.

“Concepcion, the supposed point of strongest resistance in the province, and Capiz, the objective point of the advancing column, each fell into Carpenter’s hands with very little opposition, only a few shots being fired at either place. The intermediate small towns of course hoisted white flags at the first approach of the Americans.”

Following his easy-pickings in Concepcion and Capiz, General Carpenter then proceeded to the Island of Rombong (Romblon), “upon hearing of an organized force at the abovementioned island, determined to carry off all the laurels to be found at the North, and if need be, take his men far up towards Luzon.”

General Carpenter dispatched companies C and D of the Eighteenth Infantry and gave orders to the Concord and its Mosquito fleet to capture Romblon.

“In due time the place was reached and the truth of the reports concerning the insurecto force was verified.”

The Concord’s men tell the following story of the attack on Romblon:

“After some maneuvering to find the best point for attack, the Concord began to make her shrapnel sing genuine American songs and her rapid-fire guns talk pure English, seconded by the doughty little whistlers from the Mosquito fleet. The enemy, well entrenched as they were, stood it well for a short time, then, choosing the safest of two or three evils, began to survey the general trend of the hills in the rear. This movement was not joined in by all, however, as the subsequent firing showed very conclusively. When the shelling seemed to have demoralized them sufficiently, a landing of the men was begun.”

“No sooner had the boats come within easy range, then a rapid fire was opened upon them from the ditches and precipitous hill, to which many of them had retreated. At first fire, Private Folley yielded his life, having been shot dead while yet in the boat. Then fell the lad from the Concord, wounded in the knee.”

“But a landing was made, despite the bullets of the enemy, and a charge, shared equally by soldier and sailor, soon [did] the common tale of victory for American arms and the utter route of the enemy.”

Although the battle ended in the defeat of the Filipino forces, owing to the rapid-fire guns of the Americans, the valiant effort of these fighting Romblomanons to defend their island is highly commendable. This little chapter in Romblon’s history of defiance and resistance during the Philippine-American War must be recognized and told.

“The island is a small one, comparatively…” it said so in the article in the MANILA FREEDOM. But these brave Filipinos in this small island of “Rombong” did put up a hell of a fight! They proved to be a very worthy opponent to the Americans, so much so that they said: “A force sufficiently strong will no doubt be landed immediately. With all their cunning tricks in slipping out of tight places, they may well thank their stars if they escape from there.”

#Romblon #PhilippineAmericanWar

The gunboat Concord

Election looms inside COMELEC

There’s an election coming up, and the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) is not the one conducting it, but the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Relations (BLR).

Last January 26, 2015, the BLR issued an order that a Certification Election be conducted among the rank and file employees of the COMELEC under the supervision of the Bureau. The BLR order came after the COMELEC Employees’ Union (COMELEC-EU) filed a Petition for Certification Election before the Bureau for the purpose of finally determining the sole and exclusive negotiating agent of all COMELEC rank and file employees.

The COMELEC-EU filed the petition in its bid to represent in collective negotiations more than 4,500 employees of the COMELEC nationwide. It averred that despite the existence of three (3) employees’ associations in the COMELEC, no collective negotiation agreement (CNA) has been forged for the benefit of its employees.

Thus, since 2012, the COMELEC-EU has been organizing all over the country to gather the support of rank and file employees with the end in view of coming up with a draft CNA Proposal for the Management.

Executive Order 180, which outlines the rules governing the right to organize of public sector employees, states that an accredited public sector union or association may enter into collective negotiation with Management for terms and conditions of employment or improvements thereto.

A plethora of economic and non-economic benefits may be negotiated except increases in salary, allowances and travel expenses that are specifically provided for by law. But because there is no accredited employees’ organization in the COMELEC, its rank and file employees has never reaped the benefits they are entitled to in collective negotiations.

In its order, the BLR said 4,538 rank and file permanent and casual (plantilla) employees with salary grades 1-24 may participate in the Certification Election. They will be voting for the following organizations, the COMELEC-EU and the Alliance of COMELEC Employees in Service (ACES) to represent them in collective negotiations. Employees also have the option, NO UNION, should they choose not to be represented by any employee organization. An Election Officer was also designated by the BLR to facilitate the pre-election conference and conduct the election.

The winner in the Certification Election shall be granted automatic accreditation by the Civil Service Commission, thus entitling it to enter into collective negotiation with Management.

This is the first time workers of the COMELEC nationwide will be trooping to the polls to elect the employee organization of their choice. But in this election, COMELEC employees will no longer be at the helm. It now belongs to the DOLE-BLR.

All rank and file employees of the COMELEC are therefore enjoined to participate in the upcoming Certification Election. It is high time that we unite all employees into one organization in order to fully realize the lawful benefits that we haven’t been enjoying for the longest time.

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Shout outs to the newly formed association, COMELEC TRISKELION. They had a successful gathering last January 30, 2015 at Bahay na Tisa in Malolos City, Bulacan. In the said meeting, the election of COMELEC Region III Director Atty. Temie Lambino as Chairman of the COMELEC TRISKELION was upheld. Meanwhile, COMELEC Region V Director Atty. Romeo Fortes was unanimously elected by the members gathered as Chairman Emeritus. Dir. Fortes was a Founding Father of the Tau Gamma Phi Triskelions’ Grand Fraternity.

A Grand Salute to all my fraternal brothers! Mabuhay!