Francisco Dagohoy – A patriot in historical half-darkness
The island of Bohol was not exempted from rebellions. There was from 1621 - 1622 the Revolt of Tamblot. It is the rarer example for a religious motivated uprising and was lead by the native priest Tamblot. He implored his compatriots to adhere to the old faith of the ancestors and to oppose the conversion endeavor of the Roman Catholic clergy. The legend reports that one day he challenged a Roman Catholic priest. The God who can let trickle rice and wine out of a bamboo cane after the invocation should be recognized as more powerful. The legend is reporting that only Tamblots invocation was successfully to the astonishment of the spectators. Later, the religious conflict with the Spanish clergy, who took over also the administrative function for the government, intensified and a war started. About two thousand Boholaner followed Tamblots battle cry. Tamblots fighters are only for a short time successful. The military advances with fifty Spanish soldiers and about one thousand Filipinos from other regions and Tamblots armed heap gets smashed. Tamblot was later executed by a firing squad. The rebellion led by Francisco Dagohoy a century later lasts for over eighty years (1748 - 1829) and is the longest in the Philippine history. There are only very incomplete, sometimes also contradictory biographical details of the person of the Francisco Dagohoy, whose presumable birth name well was Francisco Sendrijas. Later we still come back on his name “Dagohoy”. We should mention that for the posterity Francisco Dagohoy is only known by his actions. Personal statements, which could give information about his motives, seem to be non-existent. The few historical documents, which refer to him, are written from Spanish chroniclers, who presumably did not have a particular interest to describe him in greater detail or to transfigure him as a hero. Only recently, an Internet posting by the far descendant Eduardo Dagohoy has been released. Based on old family reports it gives some new aspects about Dagohoy (2). Only little information about childhood and youth of the Francisco Dagohoy is available. It is known, that he was born 1724 in Cambitoon as the second son of the family. He takes on already in younger years a leading position in the administration of the town Inabangan. The following phases in his life are closely connected with life and death of his older brother Sagarino. One day his brother Sagarino, the sexton and police constable, receives from the Jesuit father Gaspar Morales the order to arrest a fugitive “renegade”. The fact that Sagarino received this order indicates church proximity and church faithfulness – but the subsequent reactions of the Jesuit are contradictory. Sagarino set off and discovers the fugitive. A fight between the two takes place. At the end Sagarino gets killed. Francisco searches and finds the body of his brother and asks the Jesuit father to arrange a church funeral for his killed brother. The father – so one version of the story - is annoyed about Sagrinos failure and refuses the request with the comment, that the two have been combatants fighting a duel. With their dueling, they committed a sin and according to the canon law they can’t get a church funeral (3). Basta. For three days the furious Francisco leaves the decaying body of his brother in front of the church until finally he burned him without a church blessing. The fuse has no got fire and a fight for decades is starting. The personal conflict about the burial of the brother gets now further-reaching political dimensions. Francisco Dagohoy is asking the islanders to join the fight against the Spaniards. He propagates and proclaims a free, from Spain independent Bohol. It should be taken into consideration that he demands only a free and independent Bohol. At that time there is not yet a national consciousness referring to the complete archipelago. His revolt becomes popular and finds a stronger support from the inhabitants. At the beginning, he has round about 3000 followers. The number rises in 1770 on about 20,000 comrade-in-arms. Dagohoy builds his fortified cavernous headquarters nearby the villages Inabangan and Talibon in a remote mountain region. From here he starts offensives and lightning attacks into the lowlands. Dagohoy proves to be a good guerilla fighter with excellent area knowledge. He attacks Spanish garrisons and loots churches. The Jesuits are a special target group. Father Morales who refused the church funeral for his brother and the Italian Jesuit Lamberti gets killed. More regions are belonging to his sphere of control; the Spaniards are only sure in some fortified coastal regions. Dagohoys becomes a legend soon. This shows already his new war-name “Dagohoy” - The shortened name wants to express that he can move - also with the help of certain talismans and amulets - like the wind. Other fantastic abilities are attributed to him. It is told, that he can swing himself invisibly from hill to hill and from riverbank to riverbank. Dagohoy rules his areas like a Datu in the pre-Spanish time. He is in personal union Supreme Judge, chief of administration and armed forces commander and he manages these tasks for decades apparently without greater conflicts. He confiscates the big Spanish Haciendas and distributes the land among the people. Jes Tyrol believes that this first land reform still determines the land distribution on Bohol today (4). His marriage with the beautiful Berinja Bugsok remains childless. For this reason Berinja accepts that he sleeps with other women and fathers children with them. It is also reported that the headquarters of the animal lover Dagohoy partly reminded of a zoological garden. It is understandable that the successes of Dagohoy worry the rulers in Manila. In 1747 the first Spanish punitive expedition is marching against the rebels. The expedition fails like so many others, which are sent to Bohol by the following governors. However, in these decades the Spanish rulers cannot concentrate on the suppression of the revolt in Bohol. They have to fight at several fronts. In 1762 the British attack with 13 ships to and 6,800 man the capital of Manila and they settle there up to the peace treaty of Paris in 1764. In the same time Diego Silang rebels are fighting very successfully against the colonial regime in northern Ilocos. They proclaim also an independent republic (5). Finally, the pirate attacks of the Moros in Visaya and Luzon are a permanent thread. It comes to peace talks again and again. The Spanish negotiators offer Dagohoy and his comrades an amnesty and an archbishop agrees to replace the friars by secular, also native priests. But Dagohoy holds steadfastly to his concept of independence. Dagohoy dies around the turn of the century. The exact date of death is not registered in a official document. Most historians agree, however, that he died before the end of the revolt in 1829. Only the Philippine historian Isidro Abeto is pretending that Dagohoy was taken captive and killed by the Spaniards (6). Usually it is assumed that he died of old age or illness. The descendant Eduardo Dagohoy is in his Internet posting from 2008 more precise. After him Dagohoy reached a really biblical age. “Francisco Dagohoy lived until he was 101, died of rabies, probably in 1825 “(2). With Dagohoys death the revolt does not end on Bohol, but it is weakened by the death of its charismatic leader. The brothers Handog and Auag continue the fight. This shows that the rebellion was not only a very personal revenge campaign of Francisco. 1827 the fighters can still oppose a Spanish punitive expedition with 2200 soldiers. However, in April 1828 a strong troop contingent armed with artillery guns lands on Bohol again. There is a fierce fighting. More than 400 rebels were killed. The Spaniards finally win. While some fighters remain in her caves and prefer to die of hunger and thirst, thousands flee in other provinces. About 20,000 rebels are taken prisoner and are amnestied by the liberally disposed governor Ricafort later. The appreciation of Dagohoy as a patriot starts relatively late. In 1953 vice-president Carlos P. Garcia changes the name of the farming colony “Colonia” in “Municipality Dagohoy” in remembrance of Dagohoy. A former Philippine frigate got his name. About two hours by car from Tagbiliran City, there is the historical “Francisco Dagohoy Cave” with its wonderful, sometimes golden shimmering stalagmites and stalactites as well as an underground watercourse. A hidden plaque near the village Danao is dedicated to the memory of Dagohoy. Until the recent time the village Danao was regarded as “Hot Spot” "with a stronger NPA penetration. It cannot be excluded that the NPA underground fighter saw and see themselves – of course with another concept of enemy - also in the succession of the rebel Francisco Dagohoy.
© Wolfgang Bethge, 2010
(1) Filipino revolts against Spain, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_revolts_against_Spain (2) Eduardo Dagohoy, The Hero of Bohol, http://franciscodagohoythehero.blogspot.com (3) There are also other rarer descriptions of the incident. But they show the same consequences. The historian Antonio M. Molina claims, that a duel really took place and Francisco simply did not understand the necessary - by the canon law - demanded measures of Morales (The Philippines through of the Centuries, 1960, p. 171). Renato Constantino, another Philippine historian, reverses the roles. In his comments the brother Sagarino is the renegade, who is prosecuted. In the following fight he and the police man come to death, quoted after: The Boholano revolution Against Spain, in http://www.ualberta.ca/ ~ vmitchel/alan-article.html (4) Jes Tirol, Dagohoy Legacy of the Revolution, in: http://www.boholchronicle.com/2007/aug/26/opion2.htm (5) See: W. Bethge, Diego and Gabriela Silang - Los Indios bravos, in: http://bethge.freepage.de/silang.htm (6) Escar Abeto Isidro, Philippine History reassessed, in: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/text/pageviewer=idx?c=philamer; cc = philamer; q1 = Dagohoy; rgn = full% 20text; idno = akm8935.001.001; didno = AKM8935.001.001; view = image; seq = 198; page = root, size = s, frm = frameset;
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Wikipedia lists throughout the 16th and 17th century altogether around about forty locally restricted and mostly fewer successful revolts in the Philippines against the Spanish colonial regime (1). The natives protested against political oppression, despotic acts and economic and trade restrictions. Other reasons for conflicts were the comprehensive expropriations of land, too high tax burden, additional coercive contributions and the drudgery service. 