Tamblot Revolt

IN pre-Hispanic communities, babaylans were powerful community figures who served as faith healers and foretold the future, presiding over religious ceremonies that often meant the life and death of members of their respective communities. Tamblot was one such figure among many others in several native communities.

An artist's conception of Tamblot's Bathala

When the Jesuit missionaries came in 1596, the priests more often declared them as the agents of evil and their works as works of the devil. Even their ancient writings were lumped into such categorization and burned. Naturally the babaylans and their followers resisted the inroads of the Christian religion.

So in December 1621, when the majority of the Jesuit priests were in Cebu to celebrate the feast of St. Francis Xavier, one of the babaylans, Tamblot, urged the people to revolt against the oppressive Spanish regime and the religion it was trying to instill in them. Four villages joined him but Baclayon and Loboc remained faithful to the Spaniards. Tamblot and his followers went to the hills and there built a church for their god Ay Sono. Tamblot promised that their god would make the mountains rise against their enemies, the muskets of their enemies would not work, and the bullets would rebound on those who fired them. He also told them the leaves of trees would turn into fish, the canes when cut would flow with wine and that the banana leaves would become fine linen.

Moreover, Tamblot claimed that should they die, they will rise up and fight again. When news of their rebellion reached Cebu, the priests convinced Cebu alcalde Juan de Alcarazo to send troops to Bohol to quell the growing rebellion. Forthwith, he went to Bohol and tried to make peace with Tamblot but his call was rejected. Getting bolder, Tamblot’s followers burned four villages and desecrated the churches and its images. So Don Juan dispatched 50 Spaniards and 1,000 Cebuano and Kapanpangan troops from Cebu on New Year’s Day in 1622.

They pursued the rebels to their mountain hideouts, marching for five days on rough and rugged terrain and marshland where mud sometimes reached to their waist. Many of Don Juan’s troops got wounded by thorns and briars before reaching the rebels’ sanctuary. Tamblot’s men then charged at Don Juan’s vanguard but were repelled by the Spanish rifles. But then it rained hard, thus, making the rebels bolder.

The Spaniards were saved from disaster by their native troops from Cebu who used their shields to protect the rifles from the rain. May of Tamblots followers were killed, while the rest fled to another well fortified mountain. Don Juan’s troops came upon the village sanctuary having some 1,000 houses, with plenty of food, gold and silver and various types of bells. These were looted and distributed among the native troops of Don Juan as reward for their services.

The place of retreat of Tamblot’s followers this time was more difficult to access. It was on top of a lofty hill, its path filled with thorns and traps called balatik, the ones used when hunting for deer or wild boar. At the top, they gathered plenty of stones to throw down at their enemies.

Six months passed before Don Juan assaulted the mountain redoubt. Don Juan’s men were hurt by Tamblot’s contraptions, while he himself was wounded by the stones thrown down at them. But again, the Spanish rifles made them victorious, although the Spanish chroniclers would claim that the Sto. Niño helped them. Many of the rebels were hanged publicly, but the rest were pardoned. It was meant to be a lesson for the natives in other islands who were also intending to rebel.

[This is the account of Fr. Murillo Velarde which appeared in his book Historia de Filipinas and translated by Blair and Robertson, Vol. 38, pp. 87-91]