On Aguinaldo's Capture in Palanan, Isabela

Aguinaldo bust and marker at Palanan, Isabela,
 the terminal point of the revolution.

by Tommy Matic IV

While many Filipinos take this as an example of Miong's weakness and surrender to the Americans, they can only do this because of their ignorance of the context.

Aguinaldo never entertained the thought of surrender until he was surrounded, bound and helplessly brought aboard the enemy warship with no hope of rescue. It is true that he had made numerous attempts at conciliation - negotiating with the erstwhile American 'allies' when incidents erupted prior to Feb 1899, offering to restore peace immediately after an American soldier shot a Filipino soldier on Feb 4, 1899, and sending delegates to negotiate a peace with the American Schurmann Commission in opposition to his staunchest supporters Mabini and Luna - yet none of these peace overtures were meant to sacrifice Filipino independence. Aguinaldo made this abundantly clear in his letter to Benito Legarda, an Autonomista who had been part of the First Republic government that had gone over to the American side and was begging Aguinaldo to surrender.

Legarda wrote: "...We are in error, and yet we persist in that error... The war so far has only laid bare our insufficiency and our shortcomings...
In my judgment, giving these conditions, the time has arrived for your policy to change in a radical manner... Nothing can prevent the triumph of America.. Do not struggle against the inevitable...Peace must come some time, and the man who restores peace to the Philippines will win the admiration of the world, and the gratitude of his country. Be that man. Since 1896 you have been the soul of the people, and have merited their blessings for your wonderful and providential wisdom... be now the one to say 'Enough of conflict.'"

And Aguinaldo replied: "...In reply to this I must tell you that it is impossible for me to turn back from the enterprise which I have undertaken -that of defending our country, and especially as I have sworn that as long as life lasts I shall labor until I gain the acknowledgment of the independence of the Philippines. Do not attribute this declaration to my vanity, but to my desire to fulfill a former promise. This, aside from the fact that the struggle for the independence of our country is just and based upon our perfect rights.

We are not alarmed by the numerous arms nor the valor of our enemy. What is life to us if we are to be the slaves of the foreigner? .... I repeat, we will not give up the struggle until we gain our longed-for independence: death is of but little moment to us if we are but able to ensure the happiness of the people and of future generations.

If this is not enough to induce our enemies to desist from their endeavor, we will go, if necessary, into the mountains, but never will we accept a treaty of peace dishonorable to the Philippine arms and disastrous to the future of the country, such as that which they seek to impose."

Is that the language of a traydor? A jealous dictator? A self centered individual who cares only for personal gain?

Aguinaldo was the spirit of Filipino resistance for three bloody years. Cabezas de Barangay, town mayors, judges, farmers all refused even under torture, to betray his whereabouts to the American invaders. The bloody guerrilla resistance was dragging on, costing the Americans treasure and sapping their spirit as the war that was supposedly "mission accomplished" was proving interminable. It was determined that only the capture of Aguinaldo, the decapitation of the head of Filipino resistance could bring the war to an 'official' close.

And yet this would have been impossible had not the Americans captured a messenger from Aguinaldo asking for supplies and reinforcements from one of his officers, Urbano Lacuna. This was an intelligence coup that essentially sealed the fate of Filipino resistance against America. So long as Aguinaldo remained as head of state, the Filipinos could claim to have a nation with an extant government among the Great Powers of the World. So long as Aguinaldo remained free, Filipino freedom's light burned and flickered, lighting up the lie that America was benevolent in its assimilation.

It would take the foremost practitioner of guerrilla warfare in the United States Army, Frederick Funston, former Cuban guerrilla fighter and current commander of the hell-roaring 20th Kansas Volunteers to plan and execute one of the most daring 'commando' raids of all time, trusting a turncoat gang of ex-Spanish loyalists turned American 'Scouts' to portray a company of Filipino revolutionary troops, under the command of ex-Spanish officers (who might have still had some hard feelings against the Americans that defeated them) while he and his picked squad of American officers would be bound up as prisoners, helpless in the hands of Filipinos and Spanish that were supposedly on their side. And of course they had to actually find Aguinaldo first.

Find him they did, on the day after the Filipino president's birthday. This was an extremely fortuitous coincidence for Funston as it meant that Aguinaldo and the rest of his much reduced presidential coterie and guards were off their guard, relaxed and unready after a day of feasting and celebrating. When the moment came and Funston commanded the Macabebe Scouts to open fire, they scattered Aguinaldo's guard platoon directly opposite them with a resounding volley, killing several of the Revolutionary guardsmen. Aguinaldo, like the hapless Antonio Luna three years previously, heard the sound of gunfire and rushed to investigate - but the turncoat Spanish officers pinioned Aguinaldo, rendering him helpless. Their orders were to take the Filipino president alive, if possible.

As he was hustled away, poor Emilio Aguinaldo wondered aloud, "Is this not some sort of joke?"

With his capture, the hopes of an extended Filipino resistance were quickly crushed - even as he was being taken, Filipino officers were surrendering to the Americans as a weary Filipino civilian population were slowly assimilated into the American military government. The dauntless Batanguenos under Miguel Malvar were eventually reconcentrated into fortified camps guarded by American Krags and Springfields, separating Malvar's guerrillas from their civilian support. Malvar in Batangas and Simeon Ola in Southern Tagalog region were the last two 'official' Filipino generals to surrender.

Palanan was the last stand of the Filipino First Republic, the last hope for independence in the Philippine Revolutionary period. It would be more than 40 years before America recognized the independence that Aguinaldo and the Filipino people had fought for, a recognition that would never have happened without the indomitable courage and devotion to duty that Aguinaldo held to until the moment he was forced to yield at Palanan.

#aguinaldo #emilioaguinaldo