Insurrection

The barracks in Tagbilaean

THE insurrection against American rule in Bohol at the turn of the 20th century lasted for less than two years but it was marked with violence, death and destruction, the likes of which Bol-anons had not experienced in 400 years of Spanish rule. The hostilities began a few months after 200 American troops, led by Maj. Harry C. Hale, stepped on Bohol’s shores on March 17, 1900.

Bohol was one of the last major islands in the Philippines to be invaded by American troops. Bernabe Reyes, who was elected on June 11, 1899 ‘President’of the Bohol revolutionary government under orders from Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, was forced to cooperate with the invaders in their campaign to subjugate the Boholanos. Like many officials living in the town centers, Reyes pretended to cooperate.

Major Hale also hired and outfitted Pedro Samson to build an insular police force purportedly to back up the American designs but in late August, 1900, he took off instead and emerged a week later as the island’s leading anti-American guerilla. He would become their biggest problem in the next several months.

The first encounter took place on August 31, 1900 near Carmen. The guerillas were armed with bolos, a few antique muskets and ‘antinganting’ or amulets, but there were no match for the more advanced weapons of the Americans.

More than 100 local fighters were said to have been killed in that encounter. But the Americans were not content with their victories. They wanted Samson completely defeated. So 200 men from the 19th U.S. Regular Infantry Regiment led by Capt. Andrew S. Rowan, West Point Class 1888, reinforced the Americans in Bohol.

American troops at Tubigon

From September 3, 1900 to December, the Americans clashed with Pedro Samson’s fighters in several guerilla engagements mostly in the mountains back of Carmen. By this time, Samson’s force consisted of Boholanos, Warays from Samar and Leyte, and Ilonggos from Panay island. Although they lacked firepower, equipped only with ancient rifles and machetes, they made up for it with their courage and heroism that the Americans had to use harsher methods to make them surrender.

Like the other provinces that they occupied, the American invaders resorted to the infamous ‘water cure’and a scorched-earth policy. Several prominent Boholanos were tortured and killed; 20 of the 35 towns of Bohol were razed to the ground, and livestock was butchered wantonly to deprive the guerillas of food. On June 14-15, 1901, US troops clashed with Samson in the plains between Sevilla and Balilihan; Samson escaped, but Sevilla and Balilihan were burned to the ground.

In one instance, the revolutionaries were betrayed by a traitor in their midst. On Easter Sunday in 1901, a pro-American Boholano Francisco Salas led the US troops to the position of the guerrillas along the path to the rear of their defenses in Lonoy, Jagna, causing surprise to the Bol-anon guerrillas. His betrayal caused the death of 406 guerrilla soldiers, including that of their leader Capt. Gregorio Caseñas. Jagna was also razed to the ground, sparing only the church complex and a few other residences.

The atrocities of the Americans only served to heighten the hostilities. In May 1901, when a US soldier raped a Filipina in Jagna, her fiance murdered him. In retaliation, the American commander Capt. Andrew S. Rowan had the town of Jagna burned.

On November 4, 1901, Brig. Gen. Robert Hughes, US commander for the Visayas,  landed another 400 men at Loay in the hope of quelling Samson’s rebellion soonest. With the new troops, torture and the burning of villages and towns picked up.

At Inabanga, the Americans killed the mayor and water-cured to death the entire local police force. The mayor of Tagbilaran did not escape the water cure. At Loay, the Americans broke the arm of the parish priest and used whiskey, instead of water, when they gave him the ‘water cure’. Major Edwin F. Glenn, who had personally approved the tortures, was later court-martialed.

At US Senate hearings in 1902, when Brig. Gen. Robert Hughes described the burning of entire towns in Bohol by U.S. troops to Senator Joseph Rawlins as a means of ‘punishment, Rawlins inquired: “But is that within the ordinary rules of civilized warfare?...”

The arrogant General Hughes replied succinctly: “These people are not civilized.”

Knowing that the continued hostilities in Bohol would only result in more deaths and destruction, Samson and his guerrillas signed a peace treaty with the Americans. He brought 175 fighters with him along with their firearms and bolos to the convent of  Dimiao on December 23, 1901, at 3:00 pm, where fitting ceremonies were set up. In the evening, they were feted with food and dancing and a lot of speeches. Samson formally surrendered the morning after the celebration.

On February 3, 1902, the first American-sponsored elections were held on Bohol. Aniceto Clarin, a wealthy landowner and an American favorite, was voted governor. The Philippine Constabulary assumed the US army’s peace-keeping responsibilities. The last American troops departed in May 1902.

References:
http://philippineamericanwar.webs.com/thewarin19001901.htm
http://nitmart.tripod.com/HStory08.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonoy_massacre
http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/scriptorium/scriven/bohol-history.html