The Katipunan Part 15

This net already woven was set, and it needed but the given signal for its string to be tightly drawn and the unsuspecting prey would immediately fall into its folds, to be redeemed only by a barbarous, cruel death. But providence is merciful as well as just, and in her own time opened up a way of escape for the coveted prize of the katipunero savages. This opening was no other than Teodoro Patino, himself a member of the diabolical society, the plot of which he was to reveal.

Patino was one of the many compositors in the printing establishment of the Diario de Manila. He was an indian of but little importance both as regards his abilities as a workman or as a katipunero: he was one of the thousands of unknowns from which have sprung so many of those sadly famous ignorantes and others of our own days. But he was destined to act an important part in the society to which he belonged: a part however not in the programme of proceedings drawn up by the society.

A discussion took place one day as to the subscription the said Patino should pay into the common funds of the society, and heated words pa.s.sed between him and his companions on the subject. From words they came to blows; and as Patino was one against many he came out of the tussle second best, having received a good sound thrashing for daring to differ from the majority. To satisfy his injured feelings he looked around him for some one from whom he could expect sympathy, and he bethought himself of his sister who was a pupil of the College of Mandaloya, under the care of the Augustinian Nuns. To his sister he repaired and to her he told his tale of woe, making mention at the same time of a certain society to which he and his a.s.sailants belonged.

The sister startled by what her brother related, questioned him closely, as only a woman can question when she wishes to get to the bottom of anything. Having been a pupil of the Augustinian Nuns for a considerable time and preserving in her heart sentiments of grat.i.tude little known among the peoples of the Archipelago, she was much hurt to hear of the plans mapped out by the Katipunan for the brutal destruction of those who had always been so good and kind to her and her brother. And before Patino could tell all his tale, his sister had bidden him good-bye and gone off in search of the Mother Superior of the College, to whom she immediately told all she knew of the affair. The two women trembling with fear for the safety of the lives of so many hundreds of innocent victims, hurriedly sought the presence of the Rev. Padre Mariano Gil, Augustinian, and parish priest of Tondo. This Rev. Father, realizing the enormity of the Katipunan plot, advised them to send Patino to him without delay.

Patino presented himself at the convento and underwent a close examination at the hands of Padre Mariano. At first little progress was made, as Patino feared both the anger of the authorities and that of his fellow katipuneros, who would doubtless take revenge upon him according to the laws of the society, for his tale-telling. And in spite of the fact that he tried at every turn to avoid telling the naked truth, and to escape here and there by professions of ignorance, he eventually manifested to P. Mariano Gil all he knew of the society, of its plans and of its resources. After a long and tedious conversation, the patriotic Augustinian was gratified with the knowledge of where to lay his hands upon hidden doc.u.ments etc., which would throw much light upon the purposes of the society of cut-throats. P. Gil immediately set to work to disclose the hidden secrets.

"Without losing a moment," writes P. Mariano Gil, to a friend who had asked of him the true story of what took place on that memorable occasion, "I sent notice to the Lieut. of the Veterana of this sub-division, D. Jose Cortes, to whom in the presence of the denouncer, Patino, I communicated the most necessary data, giving him at the same time the names of all those persons in the printing establishment who were compromised, commencing with the two who signed the receipts, Policarpo Tarla and Braulio Rivera, indicating to him the manner of procedure for the detention of all those complicated.

... "I decided, confiding in G.o.d, to go alone to the printing establishment, at a time when none of the workmen should be present."

The writer goes on to explain how he made known his mission to D. Ramon Montes and two other Spaniards who, astonished at the news, aided in the search for the doc.u.ments, stones etc. After a half hour's search the lithographic stone was discovered, and like a tiger springing upon its prey, the zealous son of St. Augustine pounced upon it, as though he feared that the very roof of the building should fall in upon it and bury it beneath its rubbish out of reach of his hands. A proof was taken from the said stone, of the Katipunero receipts, and P. Gil immediately set off in the direction of the Veterana of Tondo where he met Patino, who recognized the receipt as authentic, and two hours later the Patriotic Augustinian saw his efforts crowned with the confession of guilt of the delinquents, the two previously named, figuring at the head of the list. Having performed this, P. Gil humbly wended his way back to his parochial dwelling, satisfied to have been an instrument of divine Providence for the unravelling of one of the most bloodthirsty plots ever invented by the perverse mind of embruted mankind.

At midnight was discovered in the locker of Policarpo Tarla, in the same place, a dagger, the regulations of the Katipunan and several doc.u.ments having connection with the said society, all of which, together with the famous lithographic stone, were handed over by Sr. Montes to the Veterana.

On the following day P. Gil discovered in the house of one of his parishioners a dagger identical to the one mentioned, also several receipts in Tagalog with the key of the symbolic language in which they were printed.

"This", affirms P. Gil, "is the truth of the discovery."

There can be little doubt that Patino was directly inspired more by the thrashing he received than by providence, although it is not possible to deny that the thrashing and the consequent divulging of the secrets of the Katipunan were providential. And as regards to his repentance, I doubt judging from the character of the average indian, whether he really felt repentant till the enormity of the crime to which he was an abettor was brought home to him by P. Mariano Gil. Be that as it may. The ways of Providence are hidden from us and we can seldom see, with our human eyes, more than the actions of the human reason. Yet the truth remains, that whether directly or indirectly inspired by providence it was Patino's action which saved Spain "from an unending series of bitter experiences."

Note 97. What has, up to this present, been written concerning these stirring events has been taken chiefly from the reports made by Gen. Blanco to Sr. Canovas. Whether from ignorance or from malice, these reports contained about as many errors as words. From these Sr. Diaz evidently took the statement that the sister of Patino was a pupil in the College of Looban, whereas P. Mariano Gil himself states that it was that known as the Orphan Asylum for Girls at Mandaloya.

Note 98. The following sketch of P. Mariano Gil is taken from the Heraldo de Madrid which in its number of the 6th October 1896, said:

"P. Gil was born in Carreon de los Condes (Palencia) on the 2nd of July 1849. Whilst still young he entered the Augustinian College of Valladolid. His studies concluded, he pa.s.sed to the Philippines where he filled the duties of parish priest in several Tagalog pueblos. Till recently he has been holding the position of parish priest of Tondo, a suburb of Manila. He was fortunate enough to discover the plot of the insurrection on the 19th of August last, denouncing it at an opportune moment. The Spaniards gathered in manifestation to the palace of the Governor General; Sr. Blanco did not condescend to receive them and they therefore went at once to pay their respects to P. Gil and the Archbishop, both of whom congratulated them for their patriotic att.i.tude. A newspaper of Manila, El Espanol, published the picture of the parish priest of Tondo; but scarcely had the first copies of the paper appeared on the street, than General Blanco ordered their suppression, commanding that a new edition be printed omitting the said picture and the laudatory phrases which the El Espanol had dedicated to the eminent Augustinian, from this time a note-worthy patriot to whom the public did a justice which General Blanco either did not know how, or did not wish to do him."

Speaking of this patriotic Padre, Sr. Castillo y Jimenez [88] says:

"His character is gruff; he asks nothing, he demands; he does not beseech, he asks; and what he demands and asks is just and lawful, because it bears in its essence the benefit of mankind, aiding the unfortunate, warding off their dangers, delivering them from the attacks which envy and vengeance might deal out to pacific and humble people. He is inflexible with the reprobate and disloyal, magnanimous with those who have been deceived; proud with the haughty and humble with the weak, and in his generous life has wiped away many tears, distributed much bread to the poor, and many times proportioned a.s.sistance to the needy that they should not fall into want."

The good work done in the discovery of the diabolical plot of the Katipunan, has very naturally been the object of a great amount of bitter criticism at the hands of the separatist element, which has never pardoned the valiant Augustinian for springing their carefully laid traps. He was denounced in the lodge rooms of Filipino freemasonry, from one of which was despatched a letter directed to him and bearing his picture, as will be seen in the accompanying ill.u.s.tration. His discovery was depreciated and belittled, and made to appear a farce. His patriotism was called into question and his very life was placed in imminent danger.

However the torrents of lies that have poured forth against him have not, and can not obliterate the truth.

Isabelo de los Reyes to belittle the labors of discovery of P. Gil, affirms that Antonio Luna notified Blanco of the existence of the a.s.sociation previous to the discovery of P. Gil. Be that as it may; the secret police had also notified Blanco of what was going on. Three times did the Archbishop of Manila do the same, and so also did the other prelates of Manila and Prior of the Convent of Guadalupe, and Lieut. Sityer [89]. But this does not lessen the value of Padre Gil's discovery, but rather adds to its importance. For whilst Blanco was sufficiently posted on the matter to be able to judge of the necessity of taking immediate proceedings, there was wanting that healthy stimulus which was given by P. Gil. A stubborn carbuncle often needs the aid of the lance: P. Gil's discovery was the lance which brought to the surface the putrid matter which nature could not, of herself, eject. This putrid matter extending itself, would have brought about the mortification of the whole body, had not the surgeon applied his lance in good time. And although the lance of the surgeon brought pain to the patient it saved her for the time, giving back to her a state of relative health.

Note 99. The first executions which took place were those of four rebels captured in flagrante in San Juan del Monte. These were Sancho Valenzuela, Eugenio Silvestre, Modesto Sarmiento and Ramon Peralta. Of these Valenzuela was the only one of any importance. Sarmiento was a cabeza de barangay [90] of Santa Ana where he owned a small nipa house which he rented out, performing at the same time the office of cook and house boy to the tenant. On the way to execution he met his tenant-master and, in a nonchalant manner, greeted him with as pleasant a Buenos dias Senor, as if he were on the way to some joyous function or a grand "meet" at the c.o.c.k-pit. Before his execution Valenzuela also showed a spirit of coolness and serenity, signing his last will and testament with a firm hand, and smiling. Both showed the spirit of men thoroughly fascinated by some superior power, neither realizing the crime they had committed nor the punishment they were to undergo.

The second execution took place in Cavite, thirteen rebels being shot. These were Francisco Osorio, Maximo Inocencio, Luis Aguado, Victoriano Luciano, Hugo Perez, Jose Lallana, Antonio San Agustin, Agapito Conchu, Feliciano Cabuco, Mariano Gregorio, Eugenio Cabezas and two constables of the public prison of the province. These constables had pressed into their traitorous service a number of the muchachos of the prison. Francisco Osorio was a very wealthy Chinese half-caste. He had been honored by Spain with several honors, among them the Grand Cross of Carlos III. He was very intimate with the authorities in Cavite. His father, a wealthy Chinee, and his cousin, a doctor, both denounced him at the moment of his execution.

"After the reading of the sentence," says an eye-witness, "in front of the square which we formed, he commenced to cry, asking pardon of the General and of all Spaniards; he affirmed that he was a Spaniard and that he would never conspire again against the country in which he had been educated, and he cursed the freemasons who in Madrid had initiated him into the hatred of religion and the fatherland. The doctor his cousin, turning to him, said: Silence Osorio! don't cry so; what will the Spaniards benefit from your repentance; but the miserable fellow paid no attention to him, and asked to be allowed to kiss the Spanish flag before he died. This permission was not granted."

Maximo Inocencio was the proprietor of a large store and was a contractor to the a.r.s.enal. He had been previously arrested for implication in the revolt in Cavite in 1872. At that time he escaped but was afterwards pardoned; the signal rocket was to be fired from his storehouse in Cavite.

Luis Aguado was also a contractor for the a.r.s.enal.

Victoriano Luciano, a chemist, was a wealthy half-caste who had not lived long in Cavite.

Hugo Perez, was an indio. He was the venerable of the masonic lodge. In his house were discovered two large photographs in which the majority of the thirteen persons executed were photographed in the form of a triangle; a book with a triangle and other masonic insignia on its front page, and four important letters of anti-Spanish masonic propaganda.

Lallana was a tailor, and some say a peninsular Spaniard. For a while he was chief of police of Cavite and had been a corporal of Marines.

Antonio San Agustin was an indian, a petty merchant and a man who could scarcely bear the sight of a Spaniard.

Agapito Conchu was a master of a primary school, and a half-caste. He had once been detained in the time of Despujols but granted his liberty. Apart from his school, he gave lessons to some of the children of the Spanish families of the town, including the daughter of the Governor of Cavite.

Cabuco was an escribiente [91] of the administration of State; and Eugenio Cabezas a watch-tinker.

These executions were followed by that of a member of the Guardia Civil, Mariano Magno, in Nueva Ecija. Magno had always been noted for his lack of obedience to his superiors, his hatred of discipline and ill-feeling in general towards Spaniards. Fifteen others were shot in Iligan on the 28th of October of the same year. Many others suffered the like penalty in different parts of the Archipelago.

Note 100. Those sentenced to deportation were, for the most part, sent to Jolo, Puerta Princesa, Balabac and to the penitentiary colonies.

To the first named place were sent 69 persons of all kinds and conditions, trades and occupations. Among them was a Juan Cuadra, a chemist in Ermita. To Puerta Princesa went 53, and to Balabac 56 both lots well a.s.sorted. Those most compromised in the insurrection were sent to Fernando Poo, these numbering some 200. Three hundred more were sent to Mindanao. Among the 200 sent to Fernando Poo were merchants, compositors, silversmiths, book-binders, carriage painters, laundrymen, escribientes, a clerk of the Puerta del Sol on the Escolta, hat-makers, tailors, laborers, students, lawyers and among them the irrepressible jack-in-the-box, Thomas William of the Rosary (Tomas G. del Rosario); telephone operators, school-teachers and three members of the secret police; among the rag and tag of the good-for-nothings, and as chief of them, was the famous translator of the scriptures, Pascual H. Poblete [92].

Note 101. Apolinario Mabini was born in the pueblo of Tanauan, province of Batangas, and was the son of parents of the poorer and lower cla.s.ses. He came to Manila as a lad and received his secondary education in the College of San Juan de Letran at the hands of the Dominican Fathers, taking the degree of professor. Later on he was employed in the Intendencia and by careful saving and by steady application he continued his studies for law and concluded his course at the University of Santo Tomas also at the hands of the Dominicans who spared no efforts on behalf of his success. From the University he received the t.i.tle of Licentiate of Law in 1895.

He entered the office of the notary Numeriano Adriano to practice law, and whilst there employed, was drawn by Adriano into the net of masonry, joining the lodge Balagtas which was one of those founded from the overflow of the original Filipino lodge Nilad. Adriano was the venerable of the said lodge. When the Liga Filipina was formed and had gotten well into working order Mabini was named a councillor of the superior Council (see page 28). According to the testimony of Moises Salvador (see page 296) Mabini was also secretary of the a.s.sociation of Compromisarios.

He was arrested as one of the chief instigators of the revolt and after due trial was sentenced to death. The Spanish authorities however, took compa.s.sion upon him because of his pitiful condition, he being paralysed in the lower parts of the body [93]; so instead of including his name in the list of those who expiated their treason on the field of Bagumbayan, they foolishly gave him his liberty.

Once more free, Mabini left Manila for his own pueblo of Tanauan where he lived quietly till Aguinaldo was brought over in 1898 by Admiral Dewey to serve as a bush-beater to the American forces. Mabini was thereupon carried from Tanauan to Cavite where he joined the faithless Magdalo.

In Cavite he drew up a project of a const.i.tutional law for the Philippines. In the first page of this he affirmed that the precepts of the Ten Commandments were an invention of the friars! And yet Mabini was the Filipino Solomon. He instructed the people that they ought not to believe in the said decalogue or practice what it commanded, but that they should only practice the precepts of the Verdadero Decalogo which he prepared and gave to the public as their spiritual guide.

Mabini very soon became radical and decidedly anti-American in his ideas, and succeeded in attaining such moral ascendancy over Aguinaldo that the latter ceased to be the leader of the people and the true dictator of the Filipino republic, becoming a toy in the hands of a man who could twist and turn him here and there at his will.

Mabini refused to take the oath of allegiance and was, on the 7th of January 1901 deported under General Order No. 4 to the island of Guam, as one of the persons "whose acts clearly demonstrate them to be favorers or sympathizers with the insurrection."

Note 102. The advanced political ideas held and propagated by the separatists were not bad in themselves; no particular objection can be raised against them as political ideas. But when we consider by whom and for whom these "reforms" were asked, we begin to appreciate the necessity to which the indian was put of endeavoring to attain them by armed struggle. Taking away the revolutionary basis upon which the plans of the Liga were raised, nothing remains but the empty walls of a roofless building. These walls or ideas are contained in the plans of reforms drawn up by almost every jackanapes in the Liga who could write down his thoughts with any amount of clearness. These plans agreed upon certain points, chiefly representation in the Spanish parliament and the expulsion of the Religious Orders. These two points appear to have been the essence of the direct aims of the separatists (see p. 69).

Others called for the Spanish const.i.tution with its consequences: the liberty of the press and the liberty of a.s.sociations. Liberty of the press was ever an unknown quant.i.ty in the Philippines. The idea of the liberty of the press is very beautiful when its liberties are not abused; it was the abuse of what little liberty the press enjoyed, in the latter days of Spanish rule, that induced the authorities to impose such a close censure upon it as they did. Whatever may be said in its favor, press censorship and such sedition laws as we enjoy to-day in this nondescript piece of the world's surface, are more proper of absolute monarchies than of territory of the U. S. of America, although in our particular case we might as well be under the despotic, ever deteriorating rule of Aguinaldo, as that of a body of men whose intentions however good and sincere they may be, fall short, when put into practice, of the proverbial ingenuity in governing, of the famous Sancho Panza in his island of Barataria. Freedom of the press is at times a blessing, and at others a curse. From 1888 to 1896 it would have been more of the latter than of the former; for giving such a liberty to the separatists who asked it, would be arming the enemy with the best arms.