The father visitor, Fray Juan de la Isla, had considered it expedient to command the father ministers to retreat to Vigán; they obeyed, although against the dictates of their paternal charity, which was unwilling to abandon their spiritual sons. Some fathers thought that they ought not to obey this mandate; and one of them made his way through the middle of the enemies, to go to his ministry of Taguding, and others to the hills, to which the Ilocans had retreated, for fear of the Zambals.
[Arriving at Vigan, the Spaniards hold a conference regarding the threatening dangers.] The alcalde-mayor, Bishop Don Fray Rodrigo Cárdenas, and father Fray Juan de Isla were of opinion that the most prudent measure was to place in a ship all the father ministers and all the Spaniards who were there, and send them to Manila, so that they might not experience the worst severity of ill-fortune. For, although it could not be doubted that aid would come from Manila, it was very uncertain whether information of the disordered condition of those provinces had reached the supreme government, while it was most evident that the Zambal army would soon come [to Vigan], aided, as was already conjectured, by their communication with some Indian chiefs of that province. Many forcible arguments were brought forward against this opinion by the father ministers, especially Fray Bernardino Márquez, Fray José Arias, and Fray Gonzalo de la Palma, who were followed by all the other ministers. They concluded by saying that if the ministers were to retreat, it would be utter ruin to the province, in regard, not only to God but to the king; for the Indians who yet maintained their faith and loyalty would abandon all if they had not the fathers—either through fear, or carried away by their heathen customs. In that council it was also resolved to build a fort at Vigan, so that they could resist the Zambals until aid from Manila should arrive. This work was begun, but not carried out; for the Indians who worked at it were continually disappearing. The alcalde-mayor, therefore, Don Alonso de Peralta, finally decided to give orders that all the Spaniards who were in the province—except Lorenzo Arqueros, who refused to embark—and all the father ministers, both secular and religious, who wished to go to Manila, should go aboard the champans which he had at the bar there. He himself embarked in a champan with the father visitor Fray Juan de Isla and father Fray Luís de la Fuente, the bishop promising to follow them. The retreat of Don Alonso Peralta caused great injuries to that poor province, although the rest of the religious remained in Vigán, in company with the bishop and in his house; he had at his side only two secular priests—one named Don Gerónimo de Leyva, the judge-provisor and commissary of the Inquisition for that bishopric; and the other, father Don Miguel de Quiros.
I have already told how the governor, Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, hearing at Manila of the uprising and disturbances in the province of Pangasinán, commanded that an army and some vessels be assembled as promptly as possible, so that our arms might by land and sea punish the conspirators; and how he appointed as commander of the land forces Francisco de Esteybar—a valiant and fortunate soldier, a native of the town of Mondragon, in the province of Guipúzcoa—and of the armed fleet Felipe de Ugalde, also a brave soldier, and a native of the same province of Guipúzcoa. Don Sabiniano gave them orders that, in the emergencies that might arise in the campaign, each might act for himself, without waiting for the opinion of the other commander—for this reason, that often excellent opportunities in war are liable to miscarry. The instructions of Don Sabiniano were so judicious and clear that to this, more than any other cause, is due the speedy pacification of those provinces. At this time the Zambals—who, eager to plunder the rich province of Ilocos, and encouraged by the victory over its alcalde-mayor, had continued the pursuit of the conquered—arrived at Narvacan, where they waited some time through fear of the resistance which they would meet in the pass of Agayayos; but they were soon relieved from this fear by the very man, Don Pedro de la Peña, who had remained for the guard and defense of that pass. He tore down the stockade, and very gladly went to offer them a free passage; accordingly, they went on without further hindrance. This treason of Don Pedro de la Peña was the whole cause of the Zambals being able to raid the villages of Ilocos, from Vigan on; for this post of the Agayayos is so difficult of passage that it only affords easy entrance to one man, and a horse can go through with difficulty, between two great cliffs, which are inaccessible by the summits. And since the Zambals must pass through it one by one, it would have been impossible for them to succeed in penetrating it, with even a very few men to defend the entrance. But this traitor to his country was like Conde Don Julián in España, who gave free passage to the enemies. Don Pedro paid for it with his life, on the gallows; but that province even now bewails the harm [that he caused it].
On that same day letters arrived at Vigán from General Felipe de Ugalde, written to the alcaldes-mayor of Ilocos and Cagayán, informing them of his arrival by sea for the succor of the province of Pangasinán, and of the arrival of General Francisco de Esteybar by land. On account of the absence of the alcalde-mayor, Don Alonso, the letter which came for him was opened by the bishop, and his illustrious Lordship and his companions were delighted at the good news, and full of hopes that they would soon enjoy peace; but their joy was quenched by the information which soon followed that the Zambals had already arrived at Santa Catalina, a visita of Vigán.
On the following day, the twentieth of January, the Zambals arrived at Vigán. [The bishop waits for them to come, prepared to say mass for their benefit, since they have sent him word that they wish to hear it, “a singular mode of hostility, and a still more rare mode of devotion, which looks more like craft than simplicity, although all traits at once are possible in these people.” A number of the Zambals, including their leaders, hear mass with much reverence, and even confess to the priests, saying that many of their men have come on this raid through fear, rather than their own inclination. Most of the troop, however, proceed to loot the village; the people take refuge in the bishop’s house and the church, thus saving their lives, although they endure great suffering and privation by being shut up indoors for two days, with little food or drink. Finally the fathers persuade the Zambals to let the people return to their houses.] On that day the enemy appointed Don Juan Celiboto headman of the village, and from that time the Zambals made great haste to seize as many Indians as they could, both men and women, to be their slaves. Only the sacristans had been left on guard in the church; the Zambals slew them together in the baptistery, and plundered it of all the ornaments and cloth that they found; and there they also killed a negro who tried to avail himself of the church to escape from their hands. Many Ilocans died in various places on that day—so many that when the number was reckoned it was found that the village of Bantay alone had eighty[45] dead, whose bodies they hid among the hills, so that they might not be seen by the fathers. In those villages all was confusion, outcries, the ringing of bells, the discharge of arquebuses, and shouts; and among the ecclesiastics all was affliction and grief at seeing so many calamities, without being able to remedy them.
Some Indian chiefs, for greater security, had brought to the bishop’s house the gold, silver, and other valuables which they possessed; and the amount thus brought together was so great that there was not space for them in the rooms above, and much property was even placed below the house. The Zambals cast their eyes on this wealth with eager desire, and their sentinels therefore watched very closely the house of his illustrious Lordship; this was a source of great anxiety to him and to the fathers, lest the poor owners should lose their property. The commander Don Jacinto [Macasiag] had promised to confer with the bishop about providing safety for these things, but did not keep his promise; his illustrious Lordship therefore commanded father Fray Gonzalo to go to talk with Don Jacinto in his quarters. The father did not shun making these journeys, because he lost no time on the road, hearing some confess, and baptizing others, even of the Zambals themselves. At the same time he gained the opportunity of seeing one of the champans of General Felipe de Ugalde arrive at the bar; it had been sent to reconnoitre those coasts, under the appearance of selling merchandise. Under the pretext of looking at the goods, father Fray Gonzalo went aboard this vessel, and informed the captain of the wretched condition in which they all were. Nothing was gained, however, by this effort, as the champan, on its return, was maliciously steered away from the place where the commander was who had sent it; but the ecclesiastics were left with the consolation that aid would soon come.
The Zambals came, plundering and killing, as far as the slope of Baduc, but they could not pass from that place to the province of Cagayán, on account of the resistance made by Alférez Lorenzo Arqueros with a troop of Ilocans and Cagayans. The bishop and the fathers were well aware of the greedy anxiety of the Zambals to plunder the valuables that were in the house of his illustrious Lordship—who, hearing reports of the abominations, thefts, and murders which they had committed in the churches, summoned them before him, and, when most of them were assembled, publicly cursed and excommunicated all those who should hereafter kill, or meddle with things belonging to the churches or to his house. Immediately after this, a sermon was preached to them by the father vicar-provincial, Fray Bernardino Márquez, rebuking them for the evil that they did instead of keeping the law of the Christians—for such were the greater part of the Zambal army. They listened very attentively to the sermon, much to the satisfaction of the bishop; and, as he always did when affairs of importance came before his illustrious Lordship, he availed himself of the Augustinian religious (especially of father Fray Gonzalo de la Palma), on account of the secular clergy being unacceptable to the Zambals. Nor is it to be doubted that not only the clerics but his illustrious Lordship would have perished, if it had not been for our religious, as is fully proved by letters written to the supreme government by the illustrious Don Fray Rodrigo de Cárdenas.
As soon as the coming of the Zambals was known, much silver belonging to the churches, and much silver and gold of private persons, were buried in different places; but on Wednesday afternoon the Zambals began to open [these] tombs, until no silver or gold was left. Our Lord granted that some of the church silver should afterward be restored; but all the gold and silver of private persons was lost. Father Fray Gonzalo asked permission of the Zambal leader, Don Jacinto, to dig up the silver belonging to the church of Taguding; Don Jacinto gave this, and promised that he would, for the father’s greater safety, assist him in person. He did so, as he had promised; but while they were engaged in digging up the silver the Zambals rushed to the house of the bishop, and pillaged whatever hampers and chests they found under the house—with so much violence and clamor that the religious, affrighted, took refuge in the apartments of his illustrious Lordship.
[The eagerness of the Zambals for plunder soon induces them to send the bishop and the priests to Santa Catalina, so that they may loot the bishop’s house and whatever of value remains in it. On the way they see many corpses of Indians slain by the foe; the village of Bantay is burned, only the church and convent, and a tiled house, are left standing. Arrived at Santa Catalina, the Zambals who escort the priests proceed to plunder and burn that village; and the fathers are unable to procure any food until the next day, save a little rice, and are compelled to flee for their lives from the flames—finally spending the second day with no shelter save a tree, and no food save what is given them by the Zambals from whom they beg it as alms.]
In the afternoon came Don Marcos Macasián to notify the fathers of the order given by his chief, Don Jacinto, that the bishop and the rest who were with him should go on with the rebel army, which included three hundred Ilocan Indians—some forced to join them, and others who were traitors; counting these with the Pangasinans and Zambals, the whole number was about three thousand. He brought some talabones[46] in which the bishop and the fathers were accommodated—although but poorly, on account of the few men available to carry them, and the ill-will of the bearers. On this account, and so that they might aid the bishop, who was in poor health, the religious and the priests were reduced to traveling on foot over most of the route from Santa Catalina to Narbacán—where it is necessary to go through the Agayayos, which are certain cliffs very difficult of passage.... In the middle of the [second] day they reached Agayayos, and at nine in the night they entered Narbacán. At the entrance to this village the Zambals had a skirmish with the Indians of that district, who, allied with the Tinguianes, did all the harm that they could to the Zambals. So daring were they that they seized and carried away one of the men who were escorting the fathers, and, without his companions being able to prevent it, the assailants cut off his head, and ran into the woods. In this manner more than four hundred Zambals had already died. Moreover, they had thickly planted the road from Narbacán with sharp stakes, in order that the Zambals might not use it; and for this reason the fathers suffered greatly, because they traveled on foot. As soon as they arrived at Narbacán, they notified the native governor [gobernadorcillo], (who was the father of the traitor Don Juan de Pacadua), who gave the fathers sufficient cause to fear; for between him and his blacks he held the fathers fast, unwilling to let them go, by saying that he preferred that they should be entertained in his own house, which was quite spacious, and not in the convent, which was ill supplied. The fathers would not go anywhere except to the convent, and thus the contest lasted until the arrival of the bishop; he also insisted on going to the convent, with which they gained their point; and the captain of the village went with them, to escort them and light the way. They arrived at the convent, where they found not even water to drink; then the father went out to get some, and to find also a little rice [morisqueta] for the bishop, of which he was in great need.