by Neil G. Tenefrancia
[footnotes omitted]

This article was first published in the “Bugsay Lawaan” 2009 Souvenir Program (released this year) to mark the 50th Year of Lawaan as a Municipality. I am very much indebted to previous researchers who worked on Samar’s early history.

Lawaan celebrates its 50th anniversary as a municipality just this year but it had long been a flourishing community for more or less two hundred years now. Throughout this long period, much have happened within it and in the wider field of human affairs. The place and its inhabitants, though seemingly insignificant, had been witnesses to crucial events that shaped not only the town’s communal history but also its environs.

Not much is commonly known about the early years of Lawaan as a community. What people generally know regarding its beginnings are the legends about Juan Guingot Gabrillo and bits of oral history. Not many people know the possible reasons for Guingot’s migration from Guiuan, the reason why Lawaan has a predominantly “G” surnames, and fact that the then fledging community had to battle for its existence in the midst of insurmountable odds like the Moro raids, cholera epidemics, and super typhoons. Today, hundreds of years from the said crucial events, we cannot but be grateful to the protecting hands of Divine Providence, particularly the town’s patron- Sr. Sto. Niño, for preserving us throughout all these years and for making us into what we are now.

Lawaanons today, however, still have to appreciate the crucial role their forefathers played during the 1901 Balangiga attack- that the fighters dressed as women were members of the contingent from Lawaan. Many also do not know that the then barrio of Lawaan was a gunpowder factory and headquarters of Capt. Eugenio Daza, the area officer of Gen. Lukban in Southern Samar during the Samareño resistance to the Americans. Much less known is the obscure incident on December 10, 1901 when Lawaanons engaged in a gunfight a group of US Marines led by Major Waller. And in 1909, a group of Lawaanons participated in the capture of the last remaining Pulahan leader Andres Fabillar.

In the beginning…
On April 3, 1854 the Spanish government created Balangiga a separate pueblo from Guiuan and on September 27, 1859 the bishop of Cebu, Romualdo Gimeano OP, issued a decree creating the parish of Balangiga with St. Lawrence the Martyr as titular. By the year 1867, the parish of Balangiga had three visitas under it: Bolusao, Lawaan, and Gigoso. (The pueblo of Quinapondan was also served by the Balangiga priest. It became a separate parish in 1894-95.) The 1867-68 census of the Franciscan parish priest of Balangiga, Aquilino Majuelo, recorded 4,026 “souls.” In 1884-85 this grew to 5,805 including all the visitas.

The visitas of Lawaan, Bolusao, and Gigoso each had chapels made of bamboo and nipa while that of Quinapondan was made of stone materials with nipa roofing. The church of Balangiga was also of stone with nipa roofing and located inside a fortified patio with four turrets.

The creation of Balangiga as a pueblo in 1854 and as a parish in 1859 was one of the factors that attracted migrants from the neighboring settlements who formed villages near the newly created pueblo, contact with which was necessary for some form of trade. Another cause of migration was the agricultural practice of the early Samareños- the kaingin system which demanded more land and a transitory mode of living. Also, escape from the tribute (tax) or the polo (labor services) was common at that time. Other factors that attracted migrants to Samar were geographical closeness, linguistic and cultural similarities, as well as the thriving hemp industry.

One of these migrants was the family of Juan “Guingot” Gabrillo and Etifania Halbay from Guiuan who occupied the coastal jungle (called Baluarte, now named Rawis) at the mouth of what is now the Lawaan River. Guingot named the place after the gigantic trees growing in the vicinity. Later on immigrants from other neighboring islands like Leyte, Bohol, Bicol, Cebu, and Masbate came and formed their own clans. (The Gacho clan in Lawaan, for instance, traces its roots to Boholano peddlers who opted to settle permanently).

In 1852 there were 642 tribute-payers in Balangiga, 82 recorded births, 48 deaths, and 28 marriages. The number of tribute payers rose to 957 in 1867-68. By 1884-85, there were 3,413 with personal cedulas. In 1867-68, Balangiga recorded a population of 4,026. In 1890, the population of Balangiga poblacion was placed at 3,333 with 1,181 residing in the visitas of Bolusao, Lawaan, and Gigoso. (The 1903 census recorded the population of Balangiga poblacion, including the barrios of Bujao, Burabod, Gigoso, Giporlos, Iraya, Lawaan, and Ngingui, at 4,914).

On November 21, 1849 Narciso Claveria, the Spanish Civil Governor, decreed that Spanish surnames be adopted by all Filipinos except those who already have and wishes to retain them and pass them on to their descendants. A list of 60,000 surnames known as the Catalogo Alfabetico de Apellidos was “assembled by the clergy from Spanish family names, terms for flora and fauna, Spanish towns, regions and other geographic names, plus a sprinkling of nouns from native dialects spelled according to Spanish (rather that native) spelling rules.” The list was distributed throughout the country for the Filipinos to pick the surnames by which they wished to be identified. The purpose of the government was to facilitate the taking of census, the collection of taxes, and to bring order to a disorderly state of affairs at that time.

In many parts of the Philippines, there are towns where most of the surnames of the residents begin with the same letter. (Lawaan, particularly, was dominated by “G” families- Gabornes, Gabrillo, Gacho, Gacillos, Gacita, Gacus, Gade, Gadicho, Gagabo-an, Gamalo, Gañas, Gapul, Garrigo, Gavan, Guino, etc. Also, the list of Samareño participants in the 1901 attack on the American garrison in Balangiga reveals the prominence of A, B, C, D, and E surnames). “Apparently, this occurred because the provincial governor… in 1849 simply allocated to each town certain number of pages from the Catalogo with surnames all beginning with the same letter, and everyone received their names from these few pages.”

Moro raids, epidemics, and typhoons
Also around this period, Iranun and Balangingi raiders based on the north and east coast of Jolo and on Basilan island were attacking coastal villages in the Philippines and Southeast Asia and hunting slaves for the Dutch in Java. From 1768-1898 they were under the patronage of Datus Camsi and Anti who were, in turn, under the protection of the Sultan of Sulu and other Tausug datus. They used the Sultanate of Cotabato as their main springboard in their attacks. Samar, because of its propinquity to Mindanao, bore the brunt of these attacks. Unfortified pueblos and those lacking baluartes were very much vulnerable. Visitas, because of their poorer defenses, were the usual targets of the raids. There were three basic prahus used by the Moros: (1)lanong/joanga- heavily armed Iranun vessel, (2)garay/panco or penjajap- a raiding ship of lighter construction used by the Balanguingi as their principal craft, and (3)salisipan/vinta/baroto or kalap- a canoe like vessel with or without outriggers employed as an auxiliary craft for inshore landing.

From 1780 to 1855 alone, there were 13 recorded raids on the Guiuan-Basey coast. For instance, on August 1838 three Moro pancos captured 10 Samareños sailing between Basey and Guiuan. In 1847 eleven men were captured by the Moros in Balangiga, six in Quinapondan (which was then near the coast), and four in Guiuan. On May 1884, Moro boats were sighted near Quinapondan and Basey. Twenty-two Samareños were captured and one was killed. On August 1884, various groups of Moros were sighted near Guiuan and Basey and reportedly captured 12 Samareños. On September of the same year, four Samareños were captured by the Moros near Quinapondan. Five Moro pancos were sighted near Guiuan the next day.

The immediate effects of the raids were material damages and the depopulation of the pueblos and visitas either by the capture of the residents or by their flight into the mountains. The Moro attacks disrupted the administration of the government and the missionaries and meant fewer inspection trips by the provincial governor at Catbalogan and lesser activities for priests in the visitas most of which were accessible only through boat trips. The Moros also interrupted commerce between Samar and other islands and affected the agricultural and fishing activities of the people. Usually, a siege on a fortified town would last for a month. In their most spectacular raids, the Moros would attack with 220 boats each with 40-50 warriors aboard.

The government and the friars, the latter acting as war captains during raids, responded by fortifying the settlements and establishing lookout posts. Baluartes were said to be located between Quinapondan and Guiuan, three kilometers east of Balangiga, and near the mouth of the Lawaan river. That of Balangiga, particularly, was a two-storey coral block structure along the shore surrounded with irregular rock formation. Lookout posts were placed on top of the hills overlooking Bolusao and Canyaba (later called Magallanes, now Maslog) where sentinels would sound the seashell horn (budyong) as a warning of the incoming Moro prahus. The San Juanico Strait and the Leyte Gulf, particularly, were main waterways of the raiders on their way to and from Mindanao. The Augustinians in Leyte, on their part, constructed some “little forts” on several islets along the strait. Balangiga was well-armed for the Moro attacks, as revealed by the 1804 inventories of the Augustinian churches. On that same year, the Spanish government ordered all pueblos and visitas to build and maintain boats and to prepare to engage the Moros at sea whenever possible. The raids reached its peak in the 1830’s and 1840’s and declined, then eventually ceased in the 1850’s.

During the 1800’s cholera epidemics broke out sporadically in Samar causing thousands of deaths. The living conditions and the hygienic practices of the Samareños at that time made them vulnerable to the plague. In 1846, the government at Catbalogan had to excuse all the pueblos of Samar from paying the tribute because of the epidemic. The outbreak of 1882-83, however, was the worst accounting for “30 deaths per thousand in the first year, 60 deaths per thousand in the next.” In 1882, Balangiga-area (Bolusao to Gigoso) ranked first in death toll throughout Samar while Quinapondan ranked second. Aside from cholera, there was also the constant danger of contracting dysentery or malaria.

The Samar island, aside from having an extremely high rainfall, was visited by typhoons every year. Some were so violent that they swept away houses, destroyed crops and livestocks, and created flashfloods in populated river valleys. For instance, in mid October of1897 a super typhoon severely damaged the coconut-based economy in southern Samar. Many lives were lost and several towns were abandoned for higher grounds due to flash floods. From 1903 to 1918 alone, fifty-five typhoons were recorded in Samar; three of them were super typhoons.

Dressed to kill…
On December 31, 1898, shortly after Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States in the Treaty of Paris, General Vicente Lukban arrived in Catbalogan, then the capital of Samar. With one hundred riflemen, he announced that he was appointed by President Emilio Aguinaldo as the governor of the island under the Philippine Republic as well as the military commander of the Filipino forces in Samar and Leyte. He appointed many of the more educated Samareño officials in his army and demanded material and logistic support from the populace. The town mayors in Samar, all of them supposed to be loyal to Philippine independence, were to support him in intelligence work and propaganda.

On August 20, 1900 he gave an order to all pueblo officials to build trenches to be occupied by bolomen also armed with bow and arrows. He also required the local authorities to build man-traps such as road pits with poisoned bamboo spikes. When the Americans occupied Balangiga on August 11, 1901 they found a trench about 20 meters long dugged out along the bay. All people were to be his soldiers and those who could not bear arms were to serve as spies. He also required all town heads to store foods for the guerillas. On October 1899, the Balangiga-area residents were able to send five hundred thirty-two pesos as tax and war contribution to Lukban.

In southeastern Samar, Lukban’s area officer for tax collection and food security was Captain Eugenio Daza. His jurisdiction included Llorente, Hernani, Guiuan, Balangiga, and Basey and had his headquarters in Lawaan. American intelligence reports that a powder factory was also operating in Lawaan. Valeriano Abanador, the police chief of Balangiga acted as Daza’s local intelligence officer while Pedro Abayan, the town mayor, was responsible for the tax collection.

On August 11, 1901 seventy-four US troops belonging to Company C of the 9th US Infantry Regiment arrived in Balangiga aboard the army transport Liscum. Their mission was to keep the port of Balangiga closed to trading, and to prevent contact between the people and Lukban. The officers occupied two rooms of the convent building which was attached to the church by a hallway. Parts of the convento were also used as company storehouse and store. The municipal building across the church served as troop headquarters. Two squads occupied two nipa huts just off the plaza- one belonging to Balbino Balais and another to Custodio Salazar. Mess tents were put up on raised wooden platforms on the street behind the municipal building while a hospital for the Company was built in the northeast past. The school houses in the plaza functioned as storehouses for food and company commissary.

Before the fateful attack on September 28, Valeriano Abanador, the police chief, sent a message to all barrio heads and to Capt. Eugenio Daza in his headquarters in Lawaan. American intelligence reports that a powder factory was also operating in Lawaan. From September 23 to 26 they met on the important details of the surprise attack on the Americans. The chief organizers were Andronico Balais (vice-mayor of Balangiga), Valeriano Abanador (chief of police), Mariano Valdemor, Pedro Abayan (mayor of Balangiga), Pedro Duran Sr. (sergeant under Daza and cuadricillo of the town), Juan Salazar, and Evangelista Gabornes (municipal official from Lawaan).

They set the date of the attack on September 28, the day after the anniversary of the foundation of the parish of Balangiga and a day before the feast day of St. Michael the Archangel. The choice of the particular date served them two purposes: it allowed them to gather as many men for the attack without arousing the suspicion of the Americans and, at the same time, they found the date favorable to their plan considering its proximity to the feastday of St. Michael, the “warrior angel.” Valeriano Abanador himself was a believer of anting-anting or amulet which he wore around his neck. In return to its protection of invulnerability, he swore himself not marry- “he could only marry and have a family if he found someone to accept it and its restrictions, or he must destroy it.” Notably, these amulets which or special powers had significant role in the way of thinking and motivation of both rebels and soldiers alike.

Seven attack groups of about 70 men each were formed totaling to about 500 men from as far as barrio Naga in the east and barrio Bolusao in the west. These men were not members of the Pulahan fanatics nor trained soldiers. “(T)hey were farmers, fishermen and some policemen together with local government officials and only a small group of Daza’s men who themselves may have been untried in battle…” The attack, according to their plan, consisted of four major elements: neutralizing the guards, taking control of the weapons in the municipal hall, occupation of the convent and kill or capture of the officers, and elimination of the soldiers in the mess tents and in the two huts near the plaza. The best time for the attack would be when the Americans will be concentrated in one place and far from their arms. They, therefore, agreed to attack at breakfast time when soldiers are in the mess tents and had no arms. In the afternoon of September 27, bolomen had their final briefing in barrio Canlara after which they started occupying their positions. By 1AM of September 28 the evacuation of women, the elderly, and children began. (The parish priest, Fr. Donato Guimbaolibot, had already left three days ago for Tanauan, Leyte at the advice of Pedro Duran.)

The convento was a major concern of the planners. In it were the American officers with a small number of arms. From its second floor, one can have a commanding view of the plaza. Whoever, therefore, controls the convento controls the wide expanse of the surrounding grounds. To this strategic and crucial target was assigned the group from Lawaan, known for their anting-antings, led by Paulo Gacho (teniente del barrio) and Evangelista Gabornes (municipal official). Their main task was to occupy the convent and to kill or capture those within. There were 34 men in the Lawaan delegation which included Manuel Ecaldre- the head of Ecaldre family, Ramon Gavan- the head of Gavan family, Hilario Trajano- the head of Trajano family, Feliciano Enciso- the head of Enciso family, Gregorio Enciso, Jacinto Clamaña, Tomas Clamaña, Inancio Dialogo, and Lorenzo Gacho.

At about 5 AM, thirty-four men from barrio Lawaan crossed the Balangiga river and penetrated the town. They changed into women’s clothes and went directly to the church with their sundangs hidden under their skirts. A certain Hilario Trajano, because of his unusual height, had a particular problem- his wife’s dress was too short for him.

At about 6:45 AM Abanador, with his rattan cane above his head, signaled the attack with “A take, mga Balangigan-on” (Attack, men of Balangiga!). Seconds later, Vicente Candilosas, a teenage boy at that time, rung the church bells to signal to those inside the church and in the outskirts of the town that the attack had begun. At once, the men from Lawaan “shed their veils, ripped off their skirts and kimonos, unsheathed their glistening bolos, and rushed out of the church” into the convento through the side door and attacked the officers.

An hour later, Abanador ordered the retreat. Body count revealed twenty-eight Balangigan-ons dead while twenty-two were wounded. Of the 74 men of Company C, 36 were killed during the attack including the 3 officers, 22 were wounded, 8 died later, and 4 were missing or presumed dead. Only four survived unscathed.

Capt. Edwin Bookmiller, the commander of Company G of the 9th Infantry in Basey, left for Balangiga at about 9AM the day after the attack. They buried the 36 dead Americans side by side in a mass grave at the town plaza. Twenty Filipinos found at the edge of the jungle were shot after being put to work in digging the trench for the dead soldiers. After setting the town on fire, they returned to Basey. On October 23, they again destroyed Balangiga by a naval gunfire. From October 1901 to March 1902 they implemented a “kill and burn” policy in Samar that accounted for the alleged disappearance of some 50, 000 Samareños. After five months of military operations, Samar’s population dropped from 312,192 to 257,715.

On December 10, 1901 Lt. Col. Waller, with his Marines, conducted an operation along the Basey-Balangiga area. As they moved to the vicinity of Lawaan, they were “fired upon by insurrectos hiding in a trench about 300 yards away on the left flank. The firing came in a well-organized volleys, from what seemed to be at least 10 rifles. Dispersing in a skirmish line, the Marines attacked the enemy trench, returning the fire. After one more ineffective volley, the insurgents into the jungle.”

Getting Rid of the Pulahanes
Pulahanism came to prominence in Samar during the first decade of the 20th century. It was a movement which terrorized coastal towns and was advocated mostly by mountain people who were victims of Chinese traders and some government officials in the lowlands. Chinese store-keepers and many of the municipal officials used their social advantage in extorting money from the poor mountain people. Their robbing tactics and raids in the coastal towns were, in the beginning, primarily retaliatory in nature.

During the Lukban revolt, they acquired some firearms and remained in the mountains even after the surrender of the insurrecto leaders. Unfortunately, they were exploited by unscrupulous leaders so that they disintegrated into organized banditry which brought terror to every town in Samar from Pambujan in the North to Basey and Giporlos in the south. In central and southern Samar, the head of the Pulahanes was Andres Fabillar. He was born on 1879 in Giporlos to Sedonio Fabillar and Florentina Bagunas. He was a participant in the 1901 attack on the American garrison in Balangiga and in 1908, he attacked his own barrio, Giporlos. When the American officer in charge of the Philippine Scouts in Balangiga heard of it, he told the mayor, Valeriano Abanador, that if he cannot pacify Andres, military law will continue to be imposed in Balangiga. Abanador thereby crafted a strategy:

He invited Andres and his men for a friendship picnic near Buluan Creek, at a place called Cacognan (meaning “grown over with cogon grass”). Andres was made to believe that many men from Balangiga, Giporlos, and Lawaan would join his band. Red and white cloth was given to the Pulahanes for their uniforms. A splendid picnic was arranged. The civilians who served the bandits contrived to stay always in pairs behind every Pulahan, ostentibly to wait upon him while he was eating. It had been agreed that when the Pulahanes would ask for water, all civilians would shout “water.” This was the signal for every “waiter” to grab his man and tie his hands. The whole thing went according to plan but there was struggling and some bloodshed. It is said that some people from Lawaan were killed, but most of the Pulahanes were tied including Andres Fabillar and brought to Catbalogan.

Fabillar was sentenced for a life imprisonment in the Iwalig Penal Colony at Palawan. He was pardoned by Governor General Wood in 1925. With the death or capture of the Pulahan leaders, Pulahanism came to its end in Samar but another group will resurrect a similar movement during the World War II period. (end)