the bicol martyrs of 1896 revisited

7/31/2019 The Bicol Martyrs of 1896 Revisited

1/22


2/22

came as a grand flourish of ephemeral politics. Today people still readily refer to the 15 in themonument as Bicol Martyrs, not as sons of Camarines Sur or any such similar nomenclature.Perhaps the people instinctively regard the 15 to be representative of an exceptionally tragicepisode in Bicol life. But then, do we disremember the many others who, though not cut downlike the 11 by bullets, suffered the same special ferocity from otherwise civilized and principled

men of God and the military? Was the loss of their identity from collective memory in fact aconfirmation of the efficacy of an educational system designed to be a tool for the relativelybloodless subjugation of a people? Note that the inscription on the monument describes thehonorees as martires, martyrs, rather than anything else.

To a colonial power with ostensibly benign intentions, a memorial to 15 victims is stillmanageable. Early photographs of the monument in fact show the American flag on it with thePhilippine flag.

But a memorial to some 50 of them (or a total of more than 70 from a wider geographical castwithin an ethnically homogenous region) situated in one place can become a potent rallying point

of resistance to tyranny foreign-based or homegrown.To this day, the quibble remains over who should be called a martyr of 1896, and why.

Embarrassingly enough, it was an American missionary turned Philippine historiographer whoprovided a succinct and objective definition of what constituted martyrdom, specifically in thecontext of 1896. In writing for the Philippine Social Sciences and Humanities Review in 1979,William Henry Scott (The Nine Clergy of Nueva Segovia) drew primarily on a manuscriptvolume entitled Relatos Varios o Martirios de los nueve Clerigos de Nueve Segovia complicadosen una supuesta conspiracion en las provincias de la Union e Ilocos Sur, como relacionada con laInsurrection tagala, que estallo a fines de Agosto de 1896, Manila (Various Accounts, or

Martyrdoms of the Nine Clergy of Nueva Segovia implicated in a supposed conspiracy in theProvinces of La Union and Ilocos Sur . . . ). The accounts so closely correspond to those in theBicol provincesfrom the discovery of the alleged plot in the same middle part of September1896, the immediate imprisonment of prominent persons, the canard about arms shipment, thearrest of telegraph operators (Isabelo Aguilar in Nueva Caceres and Juan Pimentel in Daet) foruse as possible false accusersthat one begins to wonder if the friars themselves were in fact theones who had concocted a coordinated nationwide plot against the Filipinos, and not the otherway around.

As Scott pointed out in his 1979 paper, the martyrdoms referredto in the manuscripts titlewere not deaths, of course, but death-like torments, the Spanish term martirio being applicablein both contexts. Four priests and five seminarians in the Diocese of Nueva Segovia underwent

those traumatic torments.

Within the older Diocese of Nueva Caceres, largely in the geographic confines of pre-HispanicIbalonland, 77 subjects of Spain, four of them native clerics, were apprehended (the 78th was inMother Spain). Six of those 78, our research showed, would not qualify in the pantheon of 1896martyrs. Despite the extensive biography written by Jacinto Ursua and Ignacio Meliton(Martires Bicolanos: Un Episodio de la Revolucion del `96), Tomas Arejola, otherwise a


3/22

patriot beyond question and among the lights in the Propaganda Movement, fails to make the cut.Arrested on 23 August, over three weeks before the start of the pogrom in Bicol, Arejola wasdetained with nary a scratch for four days in the Carcel Modelo of Madrid, and then set free(Evelyn Caldera Soriano, Bicol Revolutionaries). Five others from Baao, Camarines Sur, two ofwhom are in fact in our genealogical tree, were picked up in October and brought to Nueva

Caceres where they stayed as gentlemen prisoners (prisioneros caballeros) for two months,tasked only the whole while to report daily to Provincial Civil Governor Ricardo Lacosta (LuisDato, Of Baao, Secular and Idyllic Town of Our Birth, Baao Fiesta Souvenir Program, August

23-25, 1952). None among the other 72 had the good luck of the fortunate six. Instead, they feltthe weight of their martyrdoms, almost from the moment of their apprehension, from acombination of human cupidity, prejudice, and religious bigotry.

Reading through the accounts of the brutal treatment and soul-shattering agony those menunderwent, one almost doubts their veracity at first. But their stories contain not only a commonthread and the ring of truth but a startling similarity to those that happened in Nueva Segovia, atthe other end of Luzon.

One of the more common stories told about excessive physical abuse involved the flogging ofthe Bicolano prisoners, usually with a rattan whip until the victims back, buttocks and inner legs

were raw and bloody. A first-hand account by Vicente Ursua (Memoirs of the Revolution of1896, by an unnamed translator) recalls that he, his cousin Leon Hernandez, and his brother-in-law Pablo Perpetua received 200 lashes each while tied to the stair posts of the Libmananconvent immediately after their arrest. The towns parish priest, Franciscan Fray Jose Serrano,ordered the whippings and personally watched. The overt participation of Fray Serrano,described as a very ferocious and cruel priest (sarong ma isogon asin ma bagis na padi), was

not an isolated case. Those brought to the filthy basement of the Franciscan infirmary or theequally squalid and vermin-infested sirong of the parish house in Nueva Caceres (and theseincluded the three from Libmanan) received similar kicks, slaps and punches from members ofthe Seraphic Order of Saint Francis in the Ciudad de Espaoles that Fray Serrano deliveredpersonally in his rural convento. Personal degradation went hand in hand with physical abuse, asFilipino priests and laymen alike were made to eat on the floor, unwashed and more often thannot infected or swollen hands unshackled twice a day for the daily diet of a cupful of stale riceand, sometimes, a piece of spoiled fish. Even in the confines of the San Agustin convent inIntramuros, the Augustinians friars provided the prison-fare of rice so rotten that even dogswould refuse to eat, recounted Rev. Fr. Severo Estrada. Eugenio Ocampo, at sea for

incarceration in Manila, was handed the supreme insult: the rice was served in an orinola (achamber pot) where a Spanish guard has just relieved himself. (Ursua and Meliton, op.cit.).

The friars frenzy centered on the alleged links between the Katipunan and Masonry, and

Franciscan Inquisitors strove mightily to forge the specious connection with body blows on thosebrought before themor those whom they covertly ordered brought before them during secretdenunciations made mostly in the Casino Espaol to civil officials, the Guardia Civil, andSpanish home guards, the Voluntarios. The accounts of the Bicolano victims are replete withthis. The Taliban-like zeal of the Seraphic warriors, one suspects, had less to do with the KKK(which simply borrowed certain Masonic rites and symbols) than with the centuries-oldreactionary Vatican duel with the anathematized movement. Masonry had spread all over the


4/22

archipelago at that time. And there was the added local embarrassment over a Spanish priestturned Freemason, Don Juan Utor (Fray Marcos Gomez, La Revolucion en la Provincia deAmbos Camarines ). His visits had spurred the spread of Masonry in Camarines, particularly inLibmanan.

Masonry, in fact, was not being persecuted by the authorities (La Politica de Espaa en Filipinas,15 January 1897). It is noteworthy that not one of the eleven condemned to death by firing squadwas ascertained a Mason by the military court, which evidently did not care one way or theother, though some oral accounts say that Rev. Fr. Gabriel P. Prieto and Rev. Fr. Severino Diazwere given Masonic rites in Libmanan when their remains were brought back from Manila toNueva Caceres. Juan Miguel, co-founder and Worshipful Master of Bicol Logia No. 64 with hisfellow Worshipful Master Vicente Ursua, was set free by the military court on 29 December1896. His being a member of the Craft, as Masons sometimes like to style themselves, neverfigured in his trial at all. Neither did it in the case of Ursua, though his wife Tecla Aureus had towait for over a year more to nurse him back to health from the ordeal he underwent in Libmanan,Naga, Manila, and Fernando Poo penal island off the west coast of Africa where he was sent

with others from Bicol on exile (Ursua and Meliton, op.cit.).The paramilitary units like the Guardia Civil and the Spanish Volunteers had an added twist tothe whips favored by the friars. Aside from punches, slaps, and gun threats, they specialized inhanging their suspects by the wrists for some time, then dropping them on the cement floor whenthe victims had nearly passed out. Eugenio Ocampos teenage son, Jose Ocampo, nearly lost his

life on such a drop. Of sturdier constitution, Obras Publicas employee and musician FlorencioLerma was hanged by the arms for eight straight hours while his body was violently struck andjabbed with cudgels. When he was dropped down, he was then stretched out on his stomach atopa long bench, his hands and feet tied to it, and he was flayed until bits of his flesh peeled off.(Elias M. Ataviado, The Philippine Revolution in the Bicol Region).

And when they were not undergoing violent torture, they were kept shackled, in leg irons, orbound up with ropes, their elbows pressed together. There were more painful variations.According to Julian Hilarion Barrameda, arrested for conspiracy to commit rebellion with

Pedro Badong,(Don Julian H. Barrameda, de Baao, Camarines Sur), he and Badong were

subjected to physical restraint described as pinag pandogan. (Julian H. Barrameda, Mi EternoCalvario). Roughly, the term means being placed in the stocks. The Spaniards had never

gotten around to making European-style wooden stocks wherein a person to be punished isseated and has his feet (and hands, at times) placed inside holes cut on two opposing woodenboards which can be locked together so the person cannot move. In the domestic version, theperson facing punishment is made to squat down on his haunches, a stout bamboo is placedbehind his knees, and his arms are passed beneath the pole up to his elbows; the arms on eitherside of his body are then tightly bound together at the wrist. The position produces the mostexcruciating pain in minutes. A simpler version, equally indescribably agonizing, is to have theperson being punished balled up the other way around: his wrists and ankles are bound uptogether behind him. Try it and get a first-hand taste of one of the many torments or martyrdomsthose 72 men of Bicol suffered. The Bicol Martyrs of 1896 revisited


5/22

The paramilitary units like the Guardia Civil and the Spanish Volunteers had an added twist tothe whips favored by the friars. Aside from punches, slaps, and gun threats, they specialized inhanging their suspects by the wrists for some time, then dropping them on the cement floor whenthe victims had nearly passed out. Eugenio Ocampos teenage son, Jose Ocampo, nearly lost his

life on such a drop. Of sturdier constitution, Obras Publicas employee and musician Florencio

Lerma was hanged by the arms for eight straight hours while his body was violently struck andjabbed with cudgels. When he was dropped down, he was then stretched out on his stomach atopa long bench, his hands and feet tied to it, and he was flayed until bits of his flesh peeled off.(Elias M. Ataviado, The Philippine Revolution in the Bicol Region).

And when they were not undergoing violent torture, they were kept shackled, in leg irons, orbound up with ropes, their elbows pressed together. There were more painful variations.According to Julian Hilarion Barrameda, arrested for conspiracy to commit rebellion with

Pedro Badong,(Don Julian H. Barrameda, de Baao, Camarines Sur), he and Badong were

subjected to physical restraint described as pinag pandogan. (Julian H. Barrameda, Mi EternoCalvario). Roughly, the term means being placed in the stocks. The Spaniards had never

gotten around to making European-style wooden stocks wherein a person to be punished isseated and has his feet (and hands, at times) placed inside holes cut on two opposing woodenboards which can be locked together so the person cannot move. In the domestic version, theperson facing punishment is made to squat down on his haunches, a stout bamboo is placedbehind his knees, and his arms are passed beneath the pole up to his elbows; the arms on eitherside of his body are then tightly bound together at the wrist. The position produces the mostexcruciating pain in minutes. A simpler version, equally indescribably agonizing, is to have theperson being punished balled up the other way around: his wrists and ankles are bound uptogether behind him. Try it and get a first-hand taste of one of the many torments or martyrdomsthose 72 men of Bicol suffered.

Here are the 72 whose travails in those dark months of 1896 individually and collectively lightedup the failings of colonialism and the all-consuming power of evil both personal andinstitutional. Only the barest of these victims personal circumstances are included. Gaps exist,thanks in large measure to a deviant educational system that has been devolving us into culturalcatatonia. In the meantime, these informational gaps are stuffed with DNA (Data Not

Available). Should you have in your possession any of those basic vital records, send them to thee-mail address beneath the by-line at the top of this article. Your information-sharing will bemuch appreciated.

Each one of the names that follows already belongs to history.

DOMINGO ABELLA Y ISAACBirth date: DNA; Birth place: Nueva Caceres (now NagaCity); Parents: Manuel Abella and Bibiana Isaac; Spouse: Single at death; Place of arrest: NuevaCaceres; Date of arrest: 16 September 1896; Date of death: 4 January 1897, by firing squad inBagumbayan Field at the Luneta. Other details: He was 31 years old, not 25, at the time of hisdeath. His properties were confiscated on 11 November 1896. At his execution, he was hardlyrecognizable, had difficulty walking, and seemed to have aged overnight, apparently from thesevere and violent abuse he had received.


6/22

MANUEL ABELLA Y PINZONBirth date: c. 1836; Birth place: Catanauan, Tayabas (nowQuezon Province); Parents: DNA; Spouse: Bibiana Isaac; Place of arrest: Nueva Caceres; Dateof arrest: 16 September 1896; Date of death: 4 January 1897, by firing squad at the Luneta. Otherdetails: Alternatively known as MANUEL RODESCADO Y SANTA ROSA. A millionaire, hewas 60 years of age when executed.

The authorities confiscated his properties on 11 November 1896.

MARIANO ABELLABirth date: 25 September 1860; Birth place: Nueva Caceres; Parents:Manuel Abella and Bibiana Isaac; Spouse: Juana Imperial; Place of arrest: Nueva Caceres; Dateof arrest: 16 September 1896; Date of death: DNA; he died of natural causes. Other details:Properties seized on 11 November 1896. Set free by the Spanish court in the summary trial on 29December 1896. Appointed Ambos Camarines representative to the Malolos Congress, he wasone of the 94 signatories in the Malolos Constitution of 1898. Three times governor ofCamarines, in 1898, 1904, and 1907.

RAMON ABELLA Y ISAACBirth date: DNA; Birth place: Nueva Caceres; Spouse: Single atdeath; Parents: Manuel Abella and Bibiana Isaac; Place of arrest: Nueva Caceres; Date of arrest-16 September 1986; Date of death: DNA. Other details: Exiled to Fernando Poo penal colonywhere he reportedly died. But according to fellow-exile General Ludovico Arejola, Abella diedin Cartagena, Spain, after the general pardon to political exiles on 5 February 1898.

TORIBIO ABELLABirth date: DNA; Birth place: DNA; Parents: Manuel Abella and anunidentified woman; Spouse: DNA; Place of arrest: Nueva Caceres; Date of arrest: 6 October1896; Date of death: DNA; he is believed to have died of natural causes. Other details: Torturedand imprisoned but later released by the authorities in a trial on 29 December 1898.

ISABELO AGUILARBirth date: DNA; Birth place: Libmanan, Camarines Sur; Spouse: DNA;Parents: DNA; Place of arrest: Nueva Caceres; Date of arrest: DNA; Date of death: DNA, butbelieved to have died of natural causes. Other details: First imprisoned and tortured in NuevaCaceres, then shipped off to the Bilibid Military Prison, Department of Political Prisoners, inManila. Later on released, on 29 December 1896.

FRANCISCO ALVAREZBirth date: 13 June 1852; Birth place: Caramoan, Camarines Sur;Spouse: DNA; Parents: DNA; Place of arrest: Nueva Caceres; Date of arrest: 10 October 1896;Date of death: July 1925. Other details: Exiled to Fernando Poo, Africa. Pardoned and allowed togo home on 5 February 1898 upon the petition of the Colonia Reformista de Filipinas in Madrid,Spain. He became Juez de Paz of Nueva Caceres in 1901-1902 and the representative of theThird District of Ambos Camarines. He founded and managed the newspaper La Paz thatcirculated in Nueva Caceres.

MATEO ANTEROBirth date: 1830; Birth place: Indan (now Vinzons), Camarines Norte.Spouse: Justa Ubalde of Viga, Catanduanes; Parents: Rev. Fr. Jose Frutos and Maria Barrios;Place of arrest: Libmanan, Camarines Sur; Date of arrest: 12 October 1896; Date of death: 30December 1920, in Libmanan. Other details: He took his surname from his baptismal godfather.


7/22

Subjected to torture in the parish house of Libmanan, subsequently in Nueva Caceres.Incarcerated in the Bilibid Military Prison; released for lack of evidence on 29 December 1896.

MARIANO ARANA Y VALENCIANOBirth date: 14 April 1869; Birth place: Magarao,Camarines Sur; Spouse: First wife from Bombon, Camarines Sur, died during the cholera

epidemic on the eighth month of marriage in 1882; his second wife, Paula Siguenza, came fromLibon, Albay; Parents: Cleto Arana and Vicenta Valenciano; Place of arrest: Nueva Caceres;Date of arrest: DNA; Date of death: DNA; what is known only is that he died of malaria beforethe end of December 1897 in Fernando Poo penal island. Other details: From Nueva Caceres, hewas taken in chains to Bilibid. He was sentenced to exile by a military court on 2 November1896.

ANTONIO AREJOLABirth date: DNA; Birth place: Donsol, Sorsogon; Spouse: EmeteriaPadilla (1st wife), Valenciana Prudente (2nd wife); Parents: DNA; Place of arrest: NuevaCaceres; Date of arrest: 10 October 1896; Date of death: 21 April 1926, in Pili, Camarines Sur.Other details: He was brought to the Casino Espaol, then was remanded to the Bilibid Military

Prison where he underwent further physical suffering. Exiled to Fernando Poo, he was able toreturn to Nueva Caceres in October 1898.

LUDOVICO AREJOLA Y PADILLABirth date: 31 January 1861; Birth place: NuevaCaceres; Spouse: Teodora Imperial of Albay; Parents: Antonio Arejola and Emeteria Padilla;Place of arrest: Nueva Caceres; Date of arrest: 10 October 1896; Date of death: 21 May 1940.Other details: Tortured like others in Nueva Caceres. Sent to Bilibid by ship where he and hiscompanions were kept in the ships hold filled with cattle, their bound feet trussed to their tied

wrists. Returned to the Philippines from Fernando Poo, later became a brigadier general in thearmy of the Philippine Republic and directed the resistance in Camarines against the Americansduring the Filipino-American War.

PEDRO BADONGBirth date: DNA; Birth place: Baao, Camarines Sur; Spouse: DNA;Parents: DNA; Place of arrest: Baao; Date of arrest: 5 October 1896; Date of death: DNA. Otherdetails: Tortured at the Tribunal in an attempt to make him confess about an alleged conspiracyto commit rebellion. Sent afterwards to the Nueva Caceres jail where he was subjected to moretorments until his release.

MARIANO BAAGABirth date: DNA; Birth place: Baao, Camarines S; Spouse: DNA; Placeof arrest: Baao; Date of arrest: 3 October 1896; Date of death: DNA. Other details: Arrested withfive others on that day, he was detained for 15 days, first in the basement of the San Franciscoconvent, then in the provincial jail. Charges were dropped later and he was allowed to go backhome.

JULIAN H. BARRAMEDA Y BADILLABirth date: 11 January 1879; Birth place: Baao,Camarines Sur; Spouse: Engracia Camballa Babilonia (1st wife), Rosario Ballesteros (2nd wife);Parents: Hilarion Barrameda and Honorata Badilla; Place of arrest: Baao; Date of arrest: 5October 1896; Date of death: 17 October 1946. Other details: When the revolution broke out inAugust 1896, he was taken out of the Seminario Conciliar in Nueva Caceres by his father. Hewas arrested on charges of being part of a conspiracy to commit rebellion. Immediately tortured


8/22

in the Baao Tribunal, where he and Pedro Badong were pinandogan. Remanded to the NuevaCaceres provincial jail where he went through more vicious beatings until his release. AppointedAuxiliar del Delegado de Rentas in Baao by the Philippine Revolutionary Government in 1899.He helped organize the Baao Militia which fought with Col. Elias Angeles in the Battle ofAgdangan, Baao, on 23 February 1900. Municipal President in 1910-1916, and 1931-1934;

Board Member of the ProvincialGovernment of Camarines Sur 1922-1925 and was actinggovernor for three months.

NICOLAS BELTRANBirth date: DNA; Birth place: Baao, Camarines Sur; Spouse: DNA;Parents: DNA; Place of arrest: Baao; Date of arrest: 2 October 1896; Date of death: DNA. Otherdetails: Like Baaga, he received beatings while confined in the San Francisco conventbasement, then in the Nueva Caceres provincial jail before he was released.

DOROTEO BONILLABirth date: DNA; Birth place: Baao, Camarines Sur; Spouse: DNA;Parents: DNA; Place of arrest: Baao; Date of arrest: 2 October 1896; Date of death: DNA. Otherdetails: He was a cuadrillero (rural policeman). Arrested for alleged revolutionary activities, he

suffered two weeks of violent physical interrogation at the San Francisco convent basement andthe provincial jail.

PEDRO BONILOBirth date: DNA; Birth place: DNA; Spouse: DNA; Place of arrest: Pueblode Tabuco of Nueva Caceres; Date of arrest: 10 October 1896; Date of death: DNA. Otherdetails: He was the mechanic-operator of Manuel Pardos rice mill at Balintawak Street inpresent-day Naga City. Severely tortured, he was forced to turn witness against some of thosearrested. Allowed to go free by a military court in Manila on 29 December 1896, he asked forforgiveness from the victims. Variously recorded as Pedro Bonito and Pedro Benito.

RAMON CABESUDOBirth date: DNA; Birth place: DNA; Spouse: DNA; Place of arrest:

Daet, Camarines Norte (at that time a part of Ambos Camarines); Date of arrest: 16 September1896; Date of death: DNA. Other details: He was said to be a Spanish-Filipino mestizo. Upon hisarrest, he was brought to the Casino Espaol in Nueva Caceres with other Daeteos for moreviolent interrogation, thence shipped to the Bilibid Military Prison in Manila. He was released on29 December 1896.

PONCIANO CAMINARBirth date: DNA; Birth place: DNA; Spouse: DNA; Place of arrest:Daet; Date of arrest: 16 September 1896; Date of death: DNA. Other details: Imprisoned in theBilibid after being tortured in the ground floor of the Casino Espaol in Nueva Caceres. Releasedon 29 December 1896.

JOSE DESIDERIOBirth date: DNA; Birth place: DNA; Spouse: DNA; Parents: DNA; Date ofarrest: 10 October 1896; Place of arrest: Nueva Caceres; Date of death: DNA. Other details: Alsorecorded as Jose Desiderio Magulay. He was among the deportees to Fernando Poo in Africa. Hewas allowed to return to the Philippines on 5 February 1898.

PABLO DEL VILLARBirth date: 1865; Birth place: San Pascual Baylon, Masbate; Spouse:Rafaela Ojeda of Nueva Caceres; Parents: DNA; Place of arrest: Nueva Caceres; Date of arrest:


9/22

DNA; Date of death: 14 November 1944. Other details: He was a Mason. His arrest led up to theBilibid prison, from where he was released after the trial in Fort Santiago on 29 December 1986.

REV. FR. SEVERINO DIAZ Y LANUZABirth date: 8 November 1862; Birth place: BarrioBulabog (now present-day Sorsogon City), Province of Sorsogon; Spouse: None, he was a

Catholic priest; Parents: Andres Diaz and Faustina Lanuza; Date of arrest: 19 September 1896;Place of arrest: Cathedral parish house in Nueva Caceres; Date of death: 4 January 1897, inBagumbayan Field at the Luneta, by firing squad. Other details: Following his torture in NuevaCaceres, he was taken by ship to Manila, bound in ropes like other prisoners. Physically andverbally maltreated in the convento of San Agustin in Intramuros before he was transferred to theBilibid prison where he was incarcerated until his execution with ten other Bicolano prisoners. InSorsogon, a barrio named Bontugan and called Montufar by the Spaniards, originally a part ofthe municipality of Bacon, was named Prieto-Diaz in his and Fr. Gabriel Prietos memory.

REV. FR. SEVERO ESTRADA Y ARROYOBirth date: 1869; Birth place: Ligao, Albay;Spouse: None, he was a Catholic priest; Parents: Gregorio Estrada and Josefina Arroyo; Place of

arrest: Cathedral parish house in Nueva Caceres; Date of arrest: 19 September 1896; Date ofdeath: 16 January 1929. Other details: The inclusion of Fr. Estradas name in the statementTomas Prieto was forced to sign under extreme duress resulted in the priests vicious treatment,initially by friars, both in San Francisco and in San Agustin, Manila. The intercession of CaceresBishop Arsenio Campo came rather late: Fr. Estrada was released only on 19 May 1897. Fr.Estrada finally left the priesthood after a bitter exchange with the highhanded American bishopof Caceres, John McGinley. He was survived by his seven siblings, three males and four females.

LUDOVICO GUEVERABirth date: DNA; Birth place: Baao, Camarines Sur; Spouse: DNA;Parents: DNA; Place of arrest: Baao; Date of arrest: 2 October 1896; Date of death: DNA. Otherdetails: Brought to Nueva Caceres, he suffered abuse at the hands of friars in the San Francisco

convent basement, then in the provincial jail at the hands of civil and military authorities beforehe was allowed to go home.

JUAN GUEVARABirth date: DNA; Birth place: Baao, Camarines Sur; Spouse: DNA;Parents: DNA; Date of arrest: 2 October 1896; Place of arrest: Baao; Date of death: DNA. Otherdetails: He was the Capitan Municipal of Baao at the time of his arrest, and was to the SanFrancisco convents basement where he underwent harsh physical and verbal abuse for 15 days,

after which he was confined in the provincial jail of Nueva Caceres. He was eventually set free.

LEON HERNANDEZ Y ABENANTEBirth date: 28 June 1858; Birth place: Libmanan,Camarines Sur; Spouse: Dolores Hernandez; Parents: Juan Hernandez and Maria Abenante;Place of arrest: Libmanan; Date of arrest: 6 October 1896; Date of death: 16 October 1896. Otherdetails: A school teacher. He was arrested late at night at his home by Guardia Civil troops uponorders of Fray Jose Serrano, Libmanan parish priest. Whipped two hundred times like VicenteUrsua and Pable Perpetua, he was then made to walk from Libmanan to Nueva Caceres, armsbound tightly behind at the elbows. Detained and subjected to more physical torture in thebasement of the San Francisco infirmary for two days, he was then transferred to the provincialjail where he expired after a weeks unceasing physical punishment. He was a Mason.


10/22

REV. FR. INOCENCIO HERRERABirth date: DNA; Birth place: Pateros, Rizal (now PaterosCity); Spouse: None, he was a Catholic priest; Parents: DNA; Place of arrest: Cathedral parishhouse in Nueva Caceres; Date of arrest: 19 September 1896; Date of death: 4 January 1896, inBagumbayan Field at the Luneta, by firing squad. Other details: After his arrest and intensiveinterrogation in Nueva Caceres, he was taken by ship to Manila. He stayed in the Bilibid Military

Prison until the trial at the Cuartel de Espaa on 29 December 1896 and his execution a weeklater.

EUSEBIO ISAACBirth date: DNA; Birth place: DNA; Parents: DNA; Spouse: DNA; Parents:DNA; Place of arrest: Nueva Caceres; Date of arrest: 10 October 1896; Date of death: DNA; heis believed to have died of natural causes. Other details: He was a property owner. He was sent toBilibid where he suffered the same torments as others did. The trial on 29 December allowedhim to go free.

CAMILO JACOB Y SOLEDADBirth date: 1856; Birth place:.Ligao, Albay. Spouse: FabianaSierra, whom he married on 11 February 1886; Parents: Egidio Jacob and Maria Soledad; Place

of arrest: Lagonoy, Camarines Sur; Date of arrest: 10 October 1986; Date of death: 4 January1897, in Bagumbayan Field at the Luneta, by firing squad. Other details: Formerly a corporal inthe Guardia Civil in Manila, he put up a photographic studio in Nueva Caceres. Brought to thebasement of the parish house in San Francisco, then transferred to for more torture at the CasinoEspaol before being brought to the Cuartel de Espaa in Intramuros where he was meted thedeath sentence with 10 others from Bicol on 29 December1896.

FLORENCIO LERMABirth date: 1861; Birth place: Quiapo, Manila; Spouse: SimeonaNavoa; Date of arrest: 16 September 1896; Place of arrest: Pueblo de Naga (now partly BarangayLerma in present Naga City); Date of death: 4 January 1897, in Bagumbayan Field in the Luneta,by firing squad. Other details: Taken to the Casino Espaol in Nueva Caceres where he was

bound and pilloried (pinandogan), then to the Cuartel General of the Guardia Civil in the city.Because he was among the first to be arrested, friars, the military, and those in the judiciary tookturns working him over in an effort to make him admit to their allegations. Struck with clubswhile tied to a bench, he was reduced to a bloody pulp even before he was brought to Manila formore of the same torments before he was sentenced to death. His properties were confiscated on11 November 1896, but even before that his personal properties, like those of Tomas Prieto andthe Abellas, were looted by the arresting Spanish officers.

DIEGO LIANBirth date: DNA; Birth place: DNA; Spouse: DNA; Parents: DNA; Date ofarrest: 16 September 1896; Place of arrest: Daet, Camarines Norte; Date of death: DNA. Otherdetails: A mestizo from Daet, the severely beaten Lian was brought to the Casino Espaol inNueva Caceres for more interrogation, then shipped to Manila. He was released by order of theWar Council at the trial on 29 December 1896.

VALENTIN LIPANABirth date: 1865; Birth place: Cavite; Spouse: Milagros Pla; Date ofarrest: 16 September 1896; Place of arrest: Daet, Camarines Norte; Date of death: Between 11May 1898 and 12 September 1898. Other details: After his arrest and eventual release from theBilibid prison on 29 December 1896, he was implicated in the 15 April 1898 revolt in Daet led


11/22

by Ildefenso Moreno. The Spanish tribunal de cuchillo in Daet then sentenced him to executionand he was shot to death in a vacant lot in Daet.

GETULIO LOCSINBirth date: 1864; Birth place: Molo, Iloilo; Spouse: Aurea Julia Anson yAlsera; Parents: DNA; Date of arrest: 22 September 1896; Place of arrest: Daraga, Albay; Date

of death: 20 July 1926 in Daraga, Albay. Other details: Upon his arrest, he was brought to andtortured in the Albay jail (now the site of the Albay Provincial Capitol) in an effort to make himadmit to suspicions of revolutionary links. On 10 October, with other Albayanos and Fr. GabrielPrieto, he was shipped to Manila and confined in the Bilibid prison. He was released on 24March 1897.

GREGORIO LUYONBirth date: DNA; Birth place: DNA; Spouse: DNA; Parents: DNA; Dateof arrest: 16 September 1896; Place of arrest: Daet, Camarines Norte; Date of death: Between 11May 1898 and 12 September 1898. Other details: Freed on 29 December 1896 after undergoingmuch torture, he was re-arrested as a suspect in the failed Moreno-led uprising in Daet in May1898 and was subsequently executed. He was a Mason.

RAMON MARTINEZBirth date: DNA; Birth place: DNA; Spouse: DNA; Parents: DNA;Date of arrest: 10 October 1896; Place of arrest: Nueva Caceres; Date of death: DNA. Otherdetails: Also listed as Ramon Marty. Set free from Bilibid on 29 Decmber 1896. He is said tohave become an officer in the army led by General Ludovico Arejola in Camarines against theAmericans in 1900-1901.

MARIANO MELGAREJOBirth date: DNA; Birth place: Santa Cruz, Manila; Spouse: DNA;Parents: DNA; Date of arrest: 16 September 1896; Place of arrest: Nueva Caceres; Date of death:4 January 1897, in Bagumbayan Field at the Luneta, by musketry. Other details: The arrestingSpanish Volunteers brought him first to the provincial jail, then to the Casino Espaol, before

shipping him off to Manila where he received his death sentence on 29 December 1896. Hisproperties were confiscated.

CORNELIO MERCADOBirth date: DNA; Birth place: San Fernando, Camarines Sur;Spouse: DNA; Parents: DNA; Date of arrest: 16 September 1896; Place of arrest: Pueblo deNaga (present-day areas of Misericordia and Lerma); Date of death: 4 January 1897, inBagumbayan Field at the Luneta, by firing squad. Other details: Remanded to the Bilibid prisonshortly after his arrest, he was sentenced to die by musketry on 29 December 1896. Hisproperties were confiscated.

JUAN MIGUELBirth date: DNA; Birth place: DNA; Spouse: DNA; Parents: DNA; Date ofarrest: DNA; Place of arrest: Libmanan, Camarines Sur; Date of death: DNA. Other details: AMason, he was co-founder and Worshipful Master of Logia Bicol No. 64 in Libmanan. Masonryapparently had no bearing on his trial; he was released with others on 29 December 1896.

FELIPE MUNPONBANUABirth date: 3 August 1870; Birth place: Iriga, Camarines Sur (nowIriga City); Spouse: Raymunda Gonzales; Parents: Domingo Munponbanua and Martina Baroga;Date of arrest: 10 October 1896; Place of arrest: Nueva Caceres; Date of death: 25 July 1925 inIriga. Other details: Upon his arrest he was thrown into the provincial jail in Nueva Caceres


12/22

where he suffered severely; then he was transferred with other Bicolano detainees to the Bilibidprison where he remained until his release on 29 December 1896. During the Filipino-AmericanWar, he fought under General Ludovico Arejola.

EUSEBIO OCAMPOBirth date: 1848; Birth place: Nueva Caceres; Spouse: Julia Oleta;

Parents: DNA; Date of arrest: 10 October 1896; Place of arrest: Nueva Caceres; Date of death: 4January 1906 in Nueva Caceres. Other details: On the same evening of his arrest, he was throwninto the basement of the parish house of San Francisco. A week after his violent interrogation, hewas on the way for more torture in the Bilibid penitentiary aboard the vessel Isarog where he

was fed spoiled rice in a chamber pot a Spanish guard had just relieved himself in. His familyspent no inconsiderable sum of money for his release, which came about only with others on 29December 1896.

JOSE OCAMPO Y OLETABirth date: DNA; Birth place: DNA; Spouse: DNA; Parents:Eugenio Ocampo and Julia Oleta; Date of arrest: 10 October 1896; Place of arrest: Nabua,Camarines Sur; Date of death: DNA. Other details: His arrest happened on the same day that his

father, Eugenio Ocampo, was picked up by troops of the Guardia Civil. Tightly bound withropes, the teenager was made to walk from Nabua to Nueva Caceres where he was brought to theprovincial jail. His interrogators repeatedly hoisted him up with a rope; thence let him drop onthe floor. In the words of Luis Ocampo, another son of Eugenio, the repeated drops nearly costthe teenaged Jose his life (kadikit pang magadan ). Jose grew up to become the provincialtreasurer of Batangas.

MARIANO ORDENANZABirth date: DNA; Birth place: Pueblo de Naga; Spouse: DNA;Parents: DNA; Date of arrest: 16 September 1896; Place of arrest: Nueva Caceres; Date of death:DNA. Other details: Initially tortured in the Casino Espaol in Nueva Caceres, he wastransferred to the Bilibid with other political prisoners. His properties were confiscated on 11

November 1896. The War Council on 29 December 1896 sentenced him to 20 yearsimprisonment. Some claim Ordenanza was shot. However, a document indicates that he was sentto prison in Spain where he is presumed to have died.

ADRIANO PAJARILLOBirth date: DNA; Birth place: Daet, Camarines Norte; Spouse: DNA;Parents: DNA; Date of arrest: 16 September 1896; Place of arrest: Daet; Date of death: DNA.Other details: From Daet he was brought to the Casino Espaol in Nueva Caceres, then to Bilibidwhere he was detained until his release on 29 December 1896. He was a Mason.

ROMAN PAJARILLOBirth date: DNA; Birth place: Daet, Camarines Norte; Spouse: DNA;Parents: DNA; Date of arrest: 16 September 1896; Place of arrest: Daet; Date of death: DNA.Other details: He went the same route as his fellow Daeteos until his release on 29 December1896.

MANUEL PARDOBirth date: DNA; Birth place: Madrid, Spain; Spouse: Antonia Cecilio, aBicolana; Parents: DNA; Date of arrest: 10 October 1896; Place of arrest: Nueva Caceres; Dateof death: 24 December 1913. Other details: Since Cuba by that time was in revolutionary fermentagainst Spain, some local Spaniards sought to discredit him by floating the canard that Pardo wasa Cuban. It is also possible that some very prominent men in Nueva Caceres were eyeing Pardos


13/22

substantial business and property holdings. Arrested in his house in Nueva Caceres fronting thepresent site of the Plaza Quince Martires, he was taken to the Nueva Caceres jail, then shipped toBilibid on the same vessel that brought Eugenio Ocampo and other Bicolano prisoners to Manila.Unable to manufacture a credible case against him, the Spanish authorities let him go.

MANUEL PASTOR Y GALANGBirth date: DNA; Birth place: Tondo, Manila; Spouse:Marciana de Pastor; Parents: Rafael Pastor and Margarita Galang; Date of arrest: 10 October1896; Place of arrest: Pueblo de Tabuco (now Barangay Tabuco of Naga City); Date of death:DNA. Other details: He was Spanish-Filipino, his father being a Spaniard. From Casino Espaolfor the obligatory interrogation, he was transferred to Manila and stayed in the Bilibid until hisrelease on 29 December 1896.

SEVERO PATROCINIOBirth date: 1856; Birth place: San Jose, Camarines Sur; Spouse:Irene Cecilio; Parents: Manuel Patrocinio and Juliana Mendoza; Date of arrest: 10 October 1896;Place of arrest: Nueva Caceres; Date of death: 1920. Other details: Arrested in the afternoon bySpanish Volunteers, he was brought first to the basement of the parish house of San Francisco

church, then remanded to the Bilibid prison. Exiled to Fernando Poo, Africa, by order of the WarCouncil on 2 November 1896. Pardoned on 5 February 1898, he arrived in Nueva Caceres inOctober of that year in the army of General Vicente Lucban. A medical graduate of theUniversity of SantoTomas, he was once a good friend of the friars who gave him wide berthwhen he returned from exile. He had three daughters: Gloria Patrocinio de Cecilio, IrenePatrocinio de Imperial, and Dolores Patrocinio de Bongat.

FLORENTINO PEALOSABirth date: DNA; Birth place: DNA; Spouse: DNA; Parents:DNA; Date of arrest: 16 September 1896; Place of arrest: Daet, Camarines Norte; Date of death:DNA. Other details: Detained in Nueva Caceres and in the Bilibid prison, he was among thosereleased by the War Council on 29 December 1896. He was a Mason.

JUAN PEREZBirth date: DNA; Birth place: DNA; Spouse: DNA; Parents: DNA; Date ofarrest: 2 October1896; Place of arrest: Baao, Camarines Sur; Date of death: DNA. Other details:He was the Juez de Paz of Baao at the time of his arrest. After torture and imprisonment inNueva Caceres, he was allowed to go home.

PABLO PERPETUA Y REYESBirth date: 11 January 1853; Birth place: Concepcion,Libmanan, Camarines Sur; Spouse: Andrea Aureus; Parents: Rudecindo Perpetua and JosefaReyes; Date of arrest: 6 October 1896; Place of arrest: Libmanan; Date of death: 1923. Otherdetails: He was a Mason. Upon arrest he was first taken to the convento of the Libmanan churchwhere he was lashed 200 times on orders of Fray Jose Serrano, the town parish priest. Made towalk to Nueva Caceres, he was brought to the San Francisco infirmary basement where heunderwent more torture, then to the provincial jail for more of the same. He remained in jail forover two months, until his freedom was bought with monetary bribes.

JUAN PIMENTEL Y CAMPOSBirth date: 28 December 1853; Birth place: Daet, CamarinesNorte; Spouse: DNA; Parents: Ramon Pimentel and Pia Campos; Date of arrest: DNA; Place ofarrest: Daet; Date of death: 14 August 1930. Other details: Released from prison on 29December 1896. He became the first Filipino provincial governor of Ambos Camarines. He


14/22

spearheaded the construction by Freemasons in Camarines Norte of the first memorial to JoseRizal in 1898. The monument still stands.

REV. FR. GABRIEL PRIETO Y ANTONIOBirth date: 11 January 1853; Birth place: CallePadian, Nueva Caceres; Spouse: None, he was a Catholic priest; Parents: Dee Se Co (a Chinese

baptized Marcos Prieto) and Juana Antonio; Date of arrest: 22 September 1896; Place of arrest:the parish house of the church in Malinao, Albay; Date of death: 4 January 1897, in BagumbayanField at the Luneta, by firing squad. Other details: Arrested upon orders of Albay Civil GovernorAngel Bascaran, he was tortured before he was taken, in chains like other prisoners, to the SanAgustin convent in Intramuros, Manila, where he and his companions were the object of morephysical mayhem and indignities. Later, he was transferred to Bilibid where conditions were nobetter. On 29 December 1896, the War Council condemned him and ten others ordered hisexecution with 10 others from Bicol. Five days later, the sentence was carried out.

TOMAS PRIETO Y ANTONIOBirth date: 18 September 1867; Birth place: Calle Padian.Nueva Caceres; Spouse: Filomena Pasion; Parents: Dee Se Co (a Chinese baptized Marcos

Prieto) and Juana Antonio; Date of arrest: 16 September 1896; Place of arrest: Nueva Caceres, inhis house at the corner of present-day Panganiban Drive and Peafrancia Avenue; Date of death:4 January 1897, in Bagumbayan Field at the Luneta, by firing squad. Other details: The youngerbrother of Rev. Fr. Gabriel A. Prieto, he was the frailest and the most emotionally vulnerable ofthose initially arrested. He was brought by Spanish Volunteers to the Cuartel General of theGuardia Civil in Nueva Caceres where he was immediately subjected to vicious blows andthreats. Five days after unremitting torture he was forced to sign a prepared declaration thatimplicated himself and practically all those executed on 4 January 1897, including his own priestbrother who had earlier earned the ire and enmity of the friars in the city. He finished pharmacy

in the University of Santo Tomas with consistent grades of sobresaliente. He was the acting

alcalde (equivalent to todays mayor) at the time of his arrest on strength of a warrant signed byAmbos Camarines Civil Governor Ricardo Lacosta and Judge of First Instance Rafael Morales.His properties were confiscated nearly two months before his (and the others) trial on 29

December 1896.

MARGARITO RAGOSBirth date: DNA; Birth place: DNA; Spouse: DNA; Parents: DNA;Date of arrest: 22 September 1896; Place of arrest: Albay; Date of death: DNA. Other details:From Albay he was brought to Manila and was incarcerated in the Bilibid, where he remaineduntil he was allowed out of prison by the military court on 29 December 1896.

JUAN RAZONABLEBirth date: DNA; Birth place: DNA; Spouse: DNA; Parents: DNA; Dateof arrest: 6 October 1896; Place of arrest: Libmanan, Camarines Sur; Date of death: DNA. Otherdetails: From his arrest in Libmanan, he went the route that included Nueva Caceres, then theBilibid prison. In the summary trials on 29 December 1896, he was acquitted and released fromthe penitentiary.

GUIDO RECATOBirth date: DNA; Birth place: DNA; Spouse: DNA; Parents: DNA; Date ofarrest: 22 September 1896; Place of arrest: Albay; Date of death: DNA. Other details: Aboutthree weeks after his arrest and beatings in the Albay jail, he was brought on 10 October to


15/22

Manila and held in the Bilibid prison to await trial at Fort Santiago. He was set free in the 29December 1896 trial.

CELEDONIO REYES Y ROXASBirth date: 1837; Birth place: Pasacao, Camarines Sur;Spouse: Eusebia Jacinto of Manila (1st wife), and Fabiana Arejola de Mapa (2nd wife); Parents:

Juan Reyes and Maria Roxas; Date of arrest: 10 October 1896; Place of arrest: Convento of theLibmanan church; Date of death: March 1921. Other details: Lured by the head of the GuardiaCivil in Libmanan to the convento where he was nabbed; whipped at the foot of the conventostairs. Two days after, he was made to walk from the town to Nueva Caceres with Mateo Anteroand Juan Razonable, who were taken with him to the basement of the San Francisco convento.The beatings with Razonable and Antero continued while they were in the Bilibid. On 29December 1896, at the military trial in Fort Santiago, he was ordered released from detention.

LUIS ROMANO Y RANINBirth date: 1861; Birth place: Oas, Albay; Spouse: Susana Refe;Parents: Mariano Romano and Anacleta Ranin; Date of arrest: 22 September 1896; Place ofarrest: Oas, Albay; Date of death: 1918. Other details: Brought to the Bilibid for further

interrogation, where he was detained for five months. He was released from prison on 18February 1897.

BENEDICTO SABATERBirth date: DNA; Birth place: DNA; Spouse: DNA; Parents: DNA;Date of arrest: 10 October 1896; Place of arrest: Nueva Caceres; Date of death: DNA. Otherdetails: From Nueva Caceres, he was brought with other political prisoners aboard the Isarog,then, the Montaes. Imprisoned in the Bilibid until 29 December 1896 when the War Council

ordered him released. He became a colonel in the Philippine Army which came to AmbosCamarines under General Vicente Lucban.

AGUSTINO SAMSONBirth date: DNA; Birth place: DNA; Spouse: DNA; Parents: Macario

Samson (wife not known); Date of arrest: 22 September 1896; Place of arrest: Ligao, Albay;Date of death: DNA. Other details: Three weeks after his incarceration in the Bilibid from hisdetention in Albay, he was convicted by the War Council and sentenced to exile in the Spanishpenal island of Fernando Poo off western Africa. He died of malaria in the island before the 5February 1898 mass pardons. He had been a pharmacist in Ligao.

MACARIO SAMSONBirth date: DNA; Birth place: DNA; Spouse: DNA; Parents: DNA;Date of arrest: 22 September 1896; Place of arrest: Camalig, Albay; Date of death: DNA. Otherdetails: Former gobernadorcillo of Camalig and father pf Agustino Samson. He was likewise sentto Bilibid to await trial, and was sentenced to exile in Fernando Poo. He was taken to the islandvia Spain like other exiles, including his son Agustino, and had to endure deprivation andphysical torments that every prisoner did while at sea and once in the place of exile. Unlike hisson, he survived and was able to return to Albay following his pardon on 6 November 1897.

RAMON SANTOSBirth date: DNA; Birth place: DNA; Spouse: DNA; Parents: DNA; Date ofarrest: 22 September 1896; Place of arrest: Ligao, Albay; Date of death: DNA. Other details: Hewas a former gobernadorcillo of Ligao. Detained and harshly interrogated in Albay, he wassubsequently transferred to the Bilibid prison. On 2 November 1896, he was sentenced by themilitary court to be deported to Jolo. He was able to return to his family in Ligao.


16/22

RUFINO SOLERBirth date: DNA; Birth place: Tondo, Manila; Spouse: Luisa Narvaez ofCavite; Parents: DNA; Date of arrest: 22 September 1896; Place of arrest: Daraga, Albay; Dateof death: 1910, in Daraga. Other details: He was twice gobernadorcillo of Daraga. Arrested bythe Guardia Civil, he was thoroughly processed in Albay, then sent to the Bilibid. In the trial on29 December 1896, he was sentenced to remain in the penitentiaty, but was released after a few

months.

MARTIN UBALDOBirth date: DNA; Birth place: Matnog, Sorsogon; Spouse: DNA; Parents:DNA; Date of arrest: DNA; Place of arrest: Matnog, Sorsogon; Date of death: DNA. Otherdetails: He was detained at the Guardia Civil headquarters in Legazpi where he underwent severephysical punishment, then was transferred to Bilibid. He was sentenced to exile to Catbalogan,Samar, with his entire family.

VICENTE URSUA Y CAMPOSBirth date: 1859; Birth place: Libmanan, Camarines Sur;Spouse: Tecla Aureus; Parents: Agaton Ursua and Isidora Campos; Date of arrest: 6 October1896; Place of arrest: Libmanan; Date of death: 2 August 1926. Other details: Upon his arrest, he

was immediately given the same treatment as his cousin, Leon Hernandez, and brother-in-law,Pablo Perpetua: 200 lashes at the foot of the convento stairs of the Libmanan church. Bound atthe elbows, he and the two others were made to walk to Nueva Caceres where the three wereheld first at the San Francisco infirmary basement. After two days of torture, his two companionswere thrown into the provincial jail while he remained detained in the basement. Brought toManila, he was sentenced by the War Council to exile in Fernando Poo island. He was pardonedon 5 February and arrived in Nueva Caceres on 12 November of that year. He was appointedcolonel in the Territorial Militia of Libmanan and fought in the bloody battle of Libmananagainst the invading American forces on 20 February 1900. A Mason, he organized with JuanMiguel Logia Bicol No. 64 and became Worshipful Master under the name Virgilio.

TOMAS VALENCIANO Y FRANCISCOBirth date: 1858; Birth place: Nueva Caceres;Spouse: Carmen Pimentel; Parents: Antonio Valenciano and Melchora Francisco; Date of arrest:10 October 1896; Place of arrest: Nueva Caceres; Date of death: 1910. Other details: Initiallyheld in the provincial jail in Nueva Caceres, he was transferred to the Bilibid after he had beenbeaten black and blue. Sent on exile in Fernando Poo by the War Council, he received a pardonon 5 February 1898 which allowed him to go home. Upon return he stayed in Daet where hebecame Presidente Municipal during the American regime.

MACARIO VALENTINBirth date: DNA; Birth place: Nueva Caceres; Spouse: DNA;Parents: DNA; Date of arrest: 16 September 1896; Place of arrest: Nueva Caceres; Date of death:4 January 1897, in Bagumbayan Field at the Luneta, by firing squad. Other details: He was headof the serenos (night watchmen) of the city. Arrested by the Guardia Civil, he was brought to theCuartel General for brutal interrogation. Transferred to the Cuartel de Espaa in Manila where aforced confession was extracted from him through violent means. He was shot with ten other co-accused from Nueva Caceres five days after the execution of Jose Rizal. His properties like thoseof his fellow victims were confiscated on 11 November 1896, almost two months before he, likethose martyred with him, had even had a court hear their case.


17/22

BONIFACIO VILLAREALBirth date: DNA; Birth place: DNA; Spouse: DNA; Parents:DNA; Date of arrest: 22 September 1896; Place of arrest: Albay; Date of death: DNA; he died ofmalaria while on exile in Fernando Poo. Other details: He was personally arrested by MajorCarmelo Navarro, comandante of the Civil Guard force in Bicol and Southern Luzon. After hisarrest and obligatory interrogation in Albay, he was transferred to Bilibid prison in Manila.

Exiled to Fernando Poo as ordered by the War Council, he never was able to leave the hellisland. He was a lawyer by profession.

ENRIQUE VILLAREALBirth date: DNA; Birth place: Guinobatan, Albay; Spouse: DNA;Parents: DNA; Date of arrest: 22 September 1896; Place of arrest: Guinobatan; Date of death:DNA. Other details: He was brought in shackles to Manila on 10 October 1896, together withothers arrested in Albay. Exiled to Fernando Poo on 2 November 1896; the pardon of politicalprisoners on 5 February 1898 allowed him to return to his family in Albay. He was a schoolteacher.

ESTEBAN VILLAREAL Y CAMACHOBirth date: 1862; Birth place: Nueva Caceres;

Spouse: DNA; Parents: Gregorio Villareal and Maria Camacho; Date of arrest: 10 October 1896;Place of arrest: Nueva Caceres; Date of death: 4 September 1936. Other details: Thrown into themalodorous and oven-hot provincial jail where he suffered vicious beatings, he was eventuallyremanded to the Bilibid prison. On 2 November 1896, he was sent on exile to Fernando Poowhere the Spanish government threw criminals and political prisoners alike. Pardoned on 5February 1898, he was able to return to Nueva Caceres.

LUIS VILLAREALBirth date: DNA; Birth place: Albay; Spouse: DNA; Parents: DNA; Dateof arrest: DNA; Place of arrest: DNA; Date of death: 11 January 1897, in Bagumbayan Field atthe Luneta, by firing squad. Other details: He became a well-known tailor in Manila. A Mason,he was the Worshipful Master of Loge Taliba No. 165. He was the only Bicolano to die on the

11 January 1897 execution at the Luneta.PEDRO ZENAROSABirth date: DNA; Birth place: DNA; Spouse: DNA; Parents: DNA; Dateof arrest: 16 September 11896; Place of arrest: Daet, Camarines Norte; Date of death: DNA.Other details: From Daet he was brought to Nueva Caceres where he suffered more brutaltreatment, before he was imprisoned in the Bilibid. He was set free on 29 December 1896 forlack of evidence against him.

References:

Abella, Domingo. Bikol Annals Vol. I. The See of Caceres. Manila, 1954.

Artigas y Cuerva Manuel. Galeria de Filipinos Ilustres. Manila: Renacimiento Elezado, 1917.

Ataviado, Elias M. The Philippine Revolution in the Bicol Region Vol. 1. Tranls. Juan T.Ataviado, Quezon City: New Day Publishers. 1999.

Barrameda Jr., Jose V. A Filipino-Chinese Martyr. Encounter, January 1989.


18/22

_________________. The Filipino Martyrs from Kabikolan. Encounter, January 1989.

Barrameda, Julian Hilarion. Don Julian H. Barrameda, de Baao, Camarines Sur. 1938.

Typescript.

__________________. Mi Eterno Calvario. 1938. Typescript.

Dato, Luis G. Of Baao Secular and Idyllic Town of Our Birth. Baao Fiesta Souvenir Program,1952.

Gomez, Marcos. La Revolucion en la Provincia de Ambos Camarines. Ed. Apolinar PastranaRiol. Manila: Regal Printing Co., 1980.

Scott, William Henry. The Nine Clergy of Nueva Segovia. Philippine Social Sciences and

Humanities Review. 1979.

Soriano, Evelyn Caldera. Bicolano Revolutionaries. Manila: National Commission for Cultureand the Arts, 1999.

Ursua, Jacinto and Ignacio Meliton. Martires Bicolanos: Un Episodio de la Revolucion del 96.

1943. Typescript

Ursua, Vicente. Memoirs of the Revolution of 1896. Translator unknown. N.d. Typescript..


19/22

Copy of the 1940 invitation to the commemoration of the death of the Fifteen Martyrs ofCamarines Sur (Barrameda Collection).
http://www.bicolmail.com/2012/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/bicol01.gif


20/22

Bureau of Education Celedonio Salvador officially made execution of the Bicol Martyrs part ofthe Perpetual Index of significant events in Philippine history on February 20, 1940.


21/22

Enhanced photo of Bicolano prisoners in Fort Santiago in 1896 (La Illustracion Espaola YAmericana 1897 / Barrameda Collection).

Torture of the Bicolano Martyrs in the Franciscan basement in Nueva Caceres.
http://www.bicolmail.com/2012/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/bicol04.gifhttp://www.bicolmail.com/2012/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/bicol03.pnghttp://www.bicolmail.com/2012/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/bicol04.gifhttp://www.bicolmail.com/2012/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/bicol03.png


22/22

Families consoling the martyrs in their dungeon, 1896 (Michael Dexter Bertumen / BarramedaCollection)

the bicol martyrs of 1896 revisited

Documents