On the following day, January 31, the entire Zambal army encamped in Narbacán; it had been awaited by the leader, Don Jacinto Macasiag, who had been detained in Vigan by his plan of attacking a champan sent by Don Felipe de Ugalde with more than twenty soldiers. Don Jacinto returned to Narbacán, without having been able to carry out the intention which had delayed him; and found at Narbacán a letter from his kinglet, Don Andrés Malóng. The latter informed him of the arrival of the Spanish forces in his kingdom, for which reason Don Jacinto must make haste to go there with troops under him, so that they and his own men might together put an end to the “Spanish rabble;” and he must carry thither with him the Indian chiefs of the villages that they had conquered, so that these might be witnesses of the rebels’ valor against the Spaniards. Many were the letters and papers written by that infernal monster to all the Indian chiefs in all the provinces; and in the last ones written to Don Jacinto Macasiag, which the bearers concealed without giving them to him, he ordered Don Jacinto to burn all the villages with their churches and convents, and to retreat to the woods with the Zambals, since he had already conquered the Spaniards. But the result was quite different; for when he wrote it Don Jacinto had already fled and taken refuge in the hills, and the Spaniards were pursuing him.
When the Zambals saw the letter from Malóng, they began to clamor against the natives of Narbacán, on account of the injuries which they had received from the latter; and they swore that for this cause they would kill them and burn their village. But they did not fulfil the latter threat, nor dare to carry out the first, not only because the Indians had concealed themselves in the woods, but on account of the fear that the Zambals had conceived of them—especially of the Indian who led them in battle, named Don Felipe Madamba, a native of the village of Bringas; he was so loyal to his Majesty, and so valiant, that he dashed alone, on horseback, among the Zambals and Calanasas, cutting off their heads, without any one being able to resist him. He was able to escape from these affrays, but his horse and he were covered with the arrows which they shot at him, although not one of these caused him any injury worth mention.
On the same day (that of St. Ignatius the martyr), the army of the Zambals set out to go to Pangasinán, leaving part of the village of Narbacán in flames; the fathers, having compassion for those people, entreated the leader, Don Jacinto, to order his men to put out the fire. He did so, by a public order; and immediately they extinguished the flames. Litters and carriers were already provided for the bishop and the fathers, that they might follow the army; but they all, with one voice and opinion, told the guards that they would not depart from Narbacán, even though it should cost them their lives. When the guards perceived their firm resolution, they notified their chief, Don Jacinto Macasiag, who was willing that the fathers should remain; but when this decision was learned by Gumapos, who had marched ahead, he commanded his arquebusiers to go there and slay the bishop and all the ecclesiastics. They would have carried out this order, if Don Marcos Macasián had not dissuaded Gumapos from it—the latter saying that the fathers did not serve in the army, and that they were more of a hindrance than anything else, and it was therefore better to kill them.
[On the third day after the departure of the enemy, the people of Narbacán return to their homes. The bishop is accidentally hurt, and Fray Bernardino becomes ill—both cases being aggravated by the sufferings which they endured while in the hands of the Zambals.] Generals Francisco de Esteybar and Felipe de Ugalde were in Pangasinán, uncertain in what part of the country the enemy might still be, in order to send thither their forces; for, although General Ugalde had sent two champans to reconnoiter the coasts of the provinces of Ilocos and Cagayán, they had not returned with their report. By land, he had no letter from either the alcaldes or the religious of those provinces. With this, and the assurances of the fathers of St. Dominic in the province of Pangasinán that those of Ilocos and Cagayán were free from enemies, the commanders were perplexed, and almost determined to withdraw their forces from those provinces. Our Lord permitted that, the champan in which Alcalde-mayor Don Alonso de Peralta and the father visitor Fray Juan de Isla were sailing having landed at Bolinao, they should learn there how the Spanish armada was in Pangasinán; accordingly, they directed their course thither, and, having arrived, found the commanders and related to them the wretched condition in which that province of Ilocos was left. In consequence of this information, Francisco de Esteybar at once gave orders that the army should set out for that province. Before Francisco de Esteybar departed from Binalatongan, he left the place fortified, with a stronghold in the court of the church; it had four sentry-posts, four pieces of bronze artillery carrying four-libra balls, and four officers—Captains Don Alonso Quirante, Juan Diaz Ibáñez, Don Juan de Guzmán, and Nicolás Serrano. As chief commander he left Sargento-mayor Domingo Martín Barrena, with some infantry—Spaniards, Merdicas, and creole negroes [criollos morenos]. The alcalde-mayor returned in his champan to Vigán, and fathers Fray Juan de Isla and Fray Luis de la Fuente marched with the Spanish army, which on its way reached the village of Santa Cruz. The Zambals left Narbacán, and, reaching the village of Santa María, sacked and burned it, as well as the convent; they did the same at San Esteban and the village of Santiago—to whose patron [i.e., St. James] was attributed their failure to burn the church, although they set fire to it. They burned and plundered the villages of San Pedro and Candón, going from the latter to that of Santa Cruz. There they learned that the Spaniards were at Santa Lucía; then they collected many of the valuables and cloths which they had plundered and set fire to them, and they set out in search of the Spaniards, who also were coming with the same object. The latter, ignorant of the enemy’s proximity, learned of it by an accident; this was, that father Fray Juan de la Isla, having pushed ahead of the Spanish army, encountered a party of Zambals, from whom he escaped by a miracle. Father Fray Juan warned the Spaniards of the Zambals’ approach, and they forthwith set out to fight the enemy. The armies came into sight of each other between the villages of Santa Cruz and Santa Lucía, and General Francisco de Esteybar at once commanded that the signal for attack be given. The Zambals twice engaged our men, with fierceness and loud shouts; but they were finally conquered by the Spaniards—more than four hundred Zambals being killed, and the greater part of their force taken prisoners. One of these was Don Pedro Gumapos, holding in his hand the staff of the bishop, thus being fulfilled what the holy prelate had prophesied to him.
The victory completed, Francisco de Esteybar withdrew with his army to Namacpacán, where he had left Captain Simón de Fuentes with a division of the army; they took with them Gumapos and many other prisoners, and afterward sent them to Vigán. There, in company with others, they hanged the rebel leader, and after his death cut off that sacrilegious hand, which was fastened near the house of the bishop. The loss of the Spaniards was very small, but a circumstance worthy of admiration was noted; it was that, not only in this battle but in other encounters which had occurred, all those of the Zambal army who were slain lay face downward, and all the dead of the Spanish army had their faces turned upward—as if by this God had chosen to show that the Zambals died under the curse and excommunication of the bishop. On account of this so fortunate success, Generals Francisco de Esteybar and Felipe de Ugalde talked of returning to Manila, believing that now everything was quiet; but information came to them of the new uprising by the Indians of Bacarra, and Francisco de Esteybar at once ordered the army to march to that village. The manner in which those Indians revolted is as follows: I have already pointed out the multitude of letters and documents which the usurping king Malóng wrote [to the leading men] everywhere—more especially to Don Juan Magsanop and Don Pedro Almazán. The latter was a very rich chief, a native of the village of San Nicolás (then a visita of Ilauag), and so bitterly hostile to the Spaniards that he kept in his house as many pairs of fetters as there were fathers and Spaniards in the entire province, in order to fasten these on them when he should have opportunity. This Don Pedro Almazán formed an alliance with Don Juan Magsanop, a native of Bangi, a visita of the village of Bacarra; and with Don Gaspar Cristóbal, headman of Ilauag, and a native of that village. The former, in order to make sure of Don Gaspar Cristóbal, asked him for his daughter, to marry her to his own oldest son; and these three Indians, as being so influential, continually stirred up others to join their conspiracy, and called in the Calanasa tribe to aid them.
The Calanasas were heathen barbarians who lived in the clefts of the mountains and other rocky places, and their only occupation was the killing of men and animals. Feeling safe with such aid as this, the leaders of the conspiracy undertook to make Don Pedro Almazán king of the province of Ilocos, and they swore allegiance to his son as prince; the latter celebrated his wedding with the daughter of Don Gaspar Cristóbal, as they had agreed. In order that the [former] function might be celebrated with all solemnity and not lack what was requisite, they plundered the church in the village of Ilauag, and with the crown which they took from the head of the Queen of Angels (who is venerated in that church) they crowned Don Pedro Almazán as king and the married pair as princes. All these proceedings were carried on so secretly that they could never be traced; and in this condition of their plot the letter of Don Andrés Malóng found them, in which he notified them that he had conquered the Spaniards. As now they were free, in their own opinion, from that danger, and safe from the Zambals, who were on their march from Pangasinán, it seemed to them now time to bring to light their depraved intentions. Before doing so, Don Juan Magsanop wrote from Bacarra a letter to Don Gaspar Cristóbal, in which he asked what opinion the latter had reached, and that he be informed of it. The reply which Don Gaspar Cristóbal gave was to take a fagot of reeds in his hand, and himself set fire to the church in Ilauag; and he ordered the bearer of the letter to carry back that reply. When this was known to Magsanop, he made himself known, with banners displayed, at Bacarra at the end of January, 1661, and sent word to the Calanasas to come down with all speed to his aid. In the rebel league were joined the villages of Pata and Cabicungán, administered by the fathers of St. Dominic, their minister at that time being father Fray José Santa María; hearing the tumult and the shouts of the rebels, he went out of the convent, against the advice of a Spaniard (whose name is not known) who had taken refuge in it. Father Fray José persisted in his resolution, but as soon as the rebels saw him many attacked him; and, piercing him with many javelins they cut off his head, and with great delight went to sack the convent. They made the attack by way of the church, the doors of which were locked; but the brave Spaniard, now bereft of the father, when he heard their clamor from within fastened all the windows and doors that he could reach, and loaded two guns that he had inside. The servants of the father who had remained there kept loading the guns for him, and, aiming through some loopholes or apertures, they allowed the multitude to come close to the building, and then fired, without a shot failing to hit. He accomplished so much that the rebels, persuaded that some company of soldiers were inside the church, retreated without executing their purpose of sacking and burning the church and convent.
On the first of February this melancholy tidings reached the village of Narbacán, where there were nine religious of the order of our father St. Augustine, exchanging congratulations and expressions of joy over the freedom that they were beginning to enjoy with the departure, that day, of the Zambal army. All their joy was changed into sadness and perplexity by the news of what had occurred at Ilauag; but the one who felt this most was father Fray José Arias, at that time prior of the village of Bacarra. [Feeling that duty calls him to go back, there, he does so, although against the entreaties of his brethren. His people welcome his return, but at the news that the Calanasas are approaching all take to flight, carrying the friar with them; but later they leave him in the house of a native helper. “The streets were full of rebels and Calanasas, who with loud shouts and yells acclaimed Don Pedro Almazán as king, and threatened all the Spaniards with death.” Fray José and the helper plan to escape by night, but an envoy from the rebels warns the latter to drive the friar from his house, or they will kill him and his family; frightened at this, he carries the father to another house. “In a little while Don Tomás Bisaya, one of the heads of the conspiracy, sent a mulatto named Juan (who had been a servant of the fathers) with some men, and an order to Fray José to enter a petaca[47], so that he could escape to the village of Ilauag.” He does this, and the party set out for that village; but on the way they meet a party of rebels, who kill the father, cut off his head, and carry it to Magsanop. Diaz here copies the relation of this affair which was sent to the Augustinians throughout the province, a letter from the provincial, Fray Diego de Ordás, citing the account sent to him by Bishop Cárdenas. “Magsanop and the other tyrants celebrated this victory, all drinking from the skull of the venerable father, which served in their barbarous proceedings as a precious vase.... After several days his head was ransomed, and interred with his body.”]
The army of General Francisco de Esteybar marched to Bacarra, but the first to arrive was Lorenzo Arqueros, with a detachment of more than a thousand men, Ilocans and Cagayans; the rebels and the Calanasas, not daring to face these, retreated with all speed to the woods, but Lorenzo Arqueros did not fail to search for them, in whatever places they had concealed themselves. He seized Magsanop, who, angered at seeing himself a prisoner, drew a dagger and killed himself with it, a worthy punishment for his sacrilegious perfidy. Don Pedro Almazán, who had taken horse to flee, burst into a fury, and died raging;[48] and all his children met wretched deaths.
General Francisco de Esteybar arrived with all his army at the village of Bacarra, but Lorenzo Arqueros had it already reduced to quiet, so that the general had nothing to do, except to order that a fort be built in Bacarra and garrisoned with soldiers, so as to secure the province from other disturbances. General Sebastián Rayo Doria gave orders for the execution of the commission which he bore, by agreement of the royal Audiencia, to administer justice to those who were most guilty; his military judge was Licentiate Don Juan de Rosales, and the notary was Nicolás de Herrera, who began their official duties, bringing legal proceedings [against the rebels]. The penalties of justice were inflicted as follows: In Vigán, Don Pedro Gumapos was shot through the back, and afterward the hand with which he took the staff from the bishop was cut off; and Don Cristóbal Ambagán, Don Pedro Almazán, Don Tomás Boaya,[49] Don Pedro de la Peña, and others, to the number of sixteen, were hanged. In Binalatongan was erected a square gallows, as in Vigán, and the following were hanged: Don Melchor de Vera, Don Francisco de Pacadua, Don Francisco Along, and Don Jacinto Macasiag; a Sangley mestizo, named Domingo Isón, although he said that he died innocent; a man of half-Malabar blood, named Lorenzo; and others, to the number of fourteen. It is quite remarkable that, when the sacristans were in the [church] tower with orders from the father ministers to toll the bells as soon as each of those who were hanged was dead, when it came to the turn of Domingo Isón they rang a peal instead of tolling, without having had an order for it; in this it seems as if the divine Majesty chose to demonstrate his innocence, as it was afterward ascertained. They promptly shot Don Andrés Malóng, placed in the middle, seated on a stone; and this was the end of his unhappy reign in Pangasinán. Afterward, in Mexico, punishment was inflicted on Don Francisco and Don Cristóbal Mañago, who were shot; and some were hanged—Don Juan Palasigui, Don Marcos Marcasián, Sargento-mayor Chombillo, Supil and Baluyot of Guagua, the amanuensis, and many others. José Celis, the lawyer, was carried to Manila, where he was hanged. After these executions, Licentiate Manuel Suárez de Olivera, the senior advocate of the royal Audiencia, printed a treatise against Don Juan de Rosales, in which he condemned the excessive rigor of these punishments. This was answered by Don Juan de Rosales with another pamphlet—very learned, which also was printed—whose theme was Feci judicium et justitiam, non tradas me calumniantibus me, drawn from Psalm 118,[50] justifying his proceedings to the satisfaction of those who were free from prejudice.
Thus was quenched that infernal fire which kindled discord in the hearts of the natives of the provinces of Pampanga and Pangasinán, and of the Indians of the village of Bacarra in Ilocos—a fire which threatened to consume the peace and obedience of the other provinces of these islands, whose people were on the watch for its outcome, in order to declare themselves [rebels] and prove Fortune, and to gain what seemed to them liberty. But this would have been, quite to the contrary, their entire perdition; for, escaping from their civilized subjection to the Spaniards, they would have fallen back into the barbarous tyranny of their own people—which, like chips from the same log,[51] is what most hurts, as experience shows; and the natives themselves know this. They were continually experiencing this in the tumult in Pampanga, for the tyrannical acts and the extortions which they suffered from the principal leaders of the revolt were more grievous than those which they experienced or could fear from subjection to the Spaniards. So true is this that in the village of Guagua it was said by an old chief who survived that time, named Don Pedro Anas, that so great was the confusion and lawlessness, and so tyrannical were the leaders of the outbreak, that if the governor Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara had not come so promptly with his troops, the Indians themselves would have gone to Manila to make their submission at his feet; some of them could not unite with the others, and, although all desired liberty, they did not work together to secure the means for attaining it, and therefore they experienced a heavier [yoke of] subjection. And among the peoples whom God seems to have created that they may live in subjection to others who govern them with justice and authority are those of these Filipinas Islands; for when the Spanish arms conquered them with so great facility they were living without a head, without king or lord to obey—being only tyrannized over by him who among them displayed most courage; and this subjection was continually changing, other men, of greater valor and sagacity, gaining the ascendency.