MT. ARAYAT
LA PIEDRA BLANCA OR WHITE ROCK
ABOVE THE WHITE ROCK IS SITIO CAMANSI
Pineda-Lising Family Collection
LA PIEDRA BLANCA OR WHITE ROCK
ABOVE THE WHITE ROCK IS SITIO CAMANSI
Pineda-Lising Family Collection
2nd LT. ENRIQUE DATU OF STO. ROSARIO, MAGALANG, PAMPANGA.
Datu Family Collection
thru Jose Rhenz Datu
Datu Family Collection
thru Jose Rhenz Datu
HISTORY OF THE KATIPUNAN - MAGALANG
SITIO CAMANSI - In the dense forest of Mt. Arayat, the place where the members of the Katipunan pledged allegiance and signed their names in blood under the leadership of Gen. Servillano Aquino.
MOUNT ARAYAT, an ex volcano twice sheltered the Revolution was originally known as Sinukuan, meaning the place of Suko which means very old and venerable.
Halfway up the western side of Mount Arayat is a great white rock, the PIEDRA BLANCA, said to be as big as a cathedral. Here, according to legend, dwells the God Suko.
Above the Piedra Blanca is a densely wooded plateau: the sitio called Camansi, which in 1897, as again in 1899, served as a refuge for the Revolution, its hideout and headquarters in Central Luzon. During the losing months of 1897 the Pampango revolutionaries turned this meseta into a network of elaborate trenches and fortifications that they called the REAL DE CAMANSI. Real means a military camp.
BATTLE OF CAMANSI
The Filipino insurgents during the war of emancipation from the Spanish control bravely defended the cause in the battle that took place in Camansi between the Filipinos and the Spaniards. Camansi being a part of Mt. Arayat on the site of Magalang, most of the defenders were Magalenos.
Two groups of Spanish forces were dispatched. One group with about 1000 men under the command of Capitan Matias passed thru the farm school. The other group under the leadership of Gen Ricardo Monet with more than 1,500 men took the trails from Turu, a barrio of Arayat but nearer to Magalang. One of the men of Capitan Matias erroneously fired which made the men of Gen. Monet to immediately fire towards their direction. This resulted in the death of Capitan Matias and 70% of his men. Then Gen Monet's force proceeded to Camansi. During this battle, there were only few revolutionary men camped in this place with only five pieces of firearms. Some of them were Carlos Guiao, Candido Niceta, and the wife of Francisco Macabulos. When many of Gen. Monet's men were already high enough of the Camansi Hill, the first bolder was rolled down by the revolutionary force. All the men of Gen. Monet at the slope of the Camansi were killed by the rolling bolder and stones. Second and third attempts to capture the hill were made but the same thing happened. Night came. This time the revolutionary forces abandoned the place and escaped. There was one casualty on the part of the revolutionary forces. The next morning the remaining force of Gen. Monet occupied the place, Camansi.
The barrio of Sto. Rosario reared sons who portrayed vital roles during the Spanish regime. Led by Captain Gregorio Samia, 1st Lt. Lino Tayag, and 2nd Lt. Enrique Datu, 83 stalwarts concluded the Pacto de Sangre (Blood Pact) with the Katipunan forces under General Macabulos who was at that time operating near Magalang, Pampanga. Half of Sto. Rosario Katipuneros were placed under the command of Lt. Lino Tayag to collect and deliver the contributions of the villagers to General Macabulos and at the same time were detailed toward off and expose the roving bandits who attempted to palm themselves off the gullible inhabitants as Katipuneros in need of food. The contingent under Capt. Gregorio Samia and Lt. Enrique Datu were at Mexico, Pampanga with the forces of General Macabulos when hostilities were suddenly terminated. But it was not this alone which tainted Sto. Rosario history and part in the Spanish revolution. By the time the 83 katipuneros had completely organized themselves, a nearby detachment of Spanish soldiers found out about the movement and lost no time in moving to Mabalacat rather than risk being ambushed or encountering the formidable force of revolutionists.
In barrio La Paz in 1896-1897 there was a small old man who was so powerful among the Katipuneros then. He was commissioned by both General Macabulos and Commandante Lorenzo Camaya. He punished katipuneros who abused the civilians. He was called and well known as Juan Culantro, although his family name was different. He was the chief of the Katipuneros that was formed secretly in that barrio. The katipuneros signed their names with a dagger and with their own blood as ink. Among them were Feliciano Torres, Gregorio Mallari, Froilan Pineda, Maximo Manabat and others. Their weapons were only "talibong" and "dagger". When training for a fight they used the "bical".
Some casualties during the Spanish regime were Bernardo Lacson, Lorenzo Torres and another taken and probably killed by the Spaniards suspected as "insurecto'. Another victim was a blind man named "Tinu".
*It is thus referred to in the Aguinaldo memoirs: "Early in September 1897, General Macabulos and some of his men arrived........ from their camp on Mount Sinukuan".
**Castillo; "On the plateau were built houses , barracks for the troops, offices and other buildings proper to military camp. This was called the Real de Camansi, and here General Macabulos stayed......To the said Real de Camansi also came the patriot Servillano Aquino and his father-in-law Pablo Quiambao, prominent residents of Murcia and Concepcion,
"Kasaysayan ng Unang Kilos, pp. 10ff".
Though the insurgents had been bottled up on the mountain, Monet knew there could be no peace in Central Luzon until the rebel stronghold in Camansi had been taken. The government offensive therefore shifted its drive to the sacred mountain.Preliminary probings were made in Mid September by the Spanish troops under Colonel Milans de Bosch and Leutenant Olaguer Feliu. However, not till November did General Monet order the big push up the mountains. Monet made the town of Magalang his base; he posted troops along the Rio Chico and the Rio Grande and surrounding towns to block all route of escape to the beleaguered; then sent up a force divided into three columns: one of 600 men under Major Angel Fernandez; another of artillery under Olaguer Feliu; and the third, of reserve troops.
"All the environs', says Manuel Sastron, of Camansi, or Sinukuan, as the rebels call it, lie hid in impenetrable jungle; and to reach the enemy position, where the insurgents were dug in and, as it were, swaddled in strong entrenchments, there are only two routes.... The fortified plateau measures 500 meters in length; and the two points of access... to that height are the route to the top of the mountain and the route down to the town of Arayat. One company and 50 Macabebe Volunteers were stationed on a boulder near the Piedra Blanca".
At dawn of November 27, with General Monet himself at the lead, the two columns that were to knock out the Revolution in Pampango country began the steep ascent, first together, then separating to take one or the other of the two routes up to the rebel meseta. Despite a windy rainstorm, vanguards of the two columns had gained opposite edges of the plateau by ten in the morning; by eleven o'clock the artillery had opened fire; and by noon the two columns were affecting junction. As the government troops swarmed over the meseta, the insurgents abandoned their first line of defense and fell back to the secondary trenches but it seemed certain that they could not long hold this position under the heavy barrage. Then suddenly the artillery ceased its fire; Olaguer Feliu, after losing 23 men, had decided he didn't have the proper mobile cannon for a further advance and had returned to Magalang to consult his officers.
Through the afternoon the government troops made six attempts to strom the insurgent position but were repeatedly repulsed. However, they managed to hold on to what ground they had gained. Night fell with the two forces still embattled on the heights of Sinukuan; the storm worsened but not even the wild weather was of much help to the insurgents as they tried, again and again during the night, to dislodge the enemy from the plateau.
The next morning, November 28, Olaguer Feliu arrived with the cannon he needed; the battle was resumed; and presently the action was turning into a srout for the defenders, who fled the meseta in such disorder they left behind their arms and supplies. The Spaniards counted 93 rebels dead; in a nearby woods they found nemerous horses and carabaos. But the supreme catch had eluded the government; neither Makabulos nor Aquino was captured when the Real de Camansi fell, nor indeed the greater number of the estimated 2000 rebel troops. The battle lost, they fled under cover of the storm and vanished into the wilds of Sinukuan.
________________________________________________________________
Datu, Mely Tayag, grandaughter of Jose Datu and Lino Tayag of Sto. Rosario
The Aquino's of Tarlac, Joaquin, Nick
Manabat, Restituto F., grandson of Maximo Manabat, a katipunero, "Stories from Florencia
Munoz Manabat, the widow"
Pelayo, Pedro and Pinto, Loreto M., "History of the Municipality of Magalang, in the
Province of Pampanga, Unpublished Manuscript c. 1954
SITIO CAMANSI - In the dense forest of Mt. Arayat, the place where the members of the Katipunan pledged allegiance and signed their names in blood under the leadership of Gen. Servillano Aquino.
MOUNT ARAYAT, an ex volcano twice sheltered the Revolution was originally known as Sinukuan, meaning the place of Suko which means very old and venerable.
Halfway up the western side of Mount Arayat is a great white rock, the PIEDRA BLANCA, said to be as big as a cathedral. Here, according to legend, dwells the God Suko.
Above the Piedra Blanca is a densely wooded plateau: the sitio called Camansi, which in 1897, as again in 1899, served as a refuge for the Revolution, its hideout and headquarters in Central Luzon. During the losing months of 1897 the Pampango revolutionaries turned this meseta into a network of elaborate trenches and fortifications that they called the REAL DE CAMANSI. Real means a military camp.
BATTLE OF CAMANSI
The Filipino insurgents during the war of emancipation from the Spanish control bravely defended the cause in the battle that took place in Camansi between the Filipinos and the Spaniards. Camansi being a part of Mt. Arayat on the site of Magalang, most of the defenders were Magalenos.
Two groups of Spanish forces were dispatched. One group with about 1000 men under the command of Capitan Matias passed thru the farm school. The other group under the leadership of Gen Ricardo Monet with more than 1,500 men took the trails from Turu, a barrio of Arayat but nearer to Magalang. One of the men of Capitan Matias erroneously fired which made the men of Gen. Monet to immediately fire towards their direction. This resulted in the death of Capitan Matias and 70% of his men. Then Gen Monet's force proceeded to Camansi. During this battle, there were only few revolutionary men camped in this place with only five pieces of firearms. Some of them were Carlos Guiao, Candido Niceta, and the wife of Francisco Macabulos. When many of Gen. Monet's men were already high enough of the Camansi Hill, the first bolder was rolled down by the revolutionary force. All the men of Gen. Monet at the slope of the Camansi were killed by the rolling bolder and stones. Second and third attempts to capture the hill were made but the same thing happened. Night came. This time the revolutionary forces abandoned the place and escaped. There was one casualty on the part of the revolutionary forces. The next morning the remaining force of Gen. Monet occupied the place, Camansi.
The barrio of Sto. Rosario reared sons who portrayed vital roles during the Spanish regime. Led by Captain Gregorio Samia, 1st Lt. Lino Tayag, and 2nd Lt. Enrique Datu, 83 stalwarts concluded the Pacto de Sangre (Blood Pact) with the Katipunan forces under General Macabulos who was at that time operating near Magalang, Pampanga. Half of Sto. Rosario Katipuneros were placed under the command of Lt. Lino Tayag to collect and deliver the contributions of the villagers to General Macabulos and at the same time were detailed toward off and expose the roving bandits who attempted to palm themselves off the gullible inhabitants as Katipuneros in need of food. The contingent under Capt. Gregorio Samia and Lt. Enrique Datu were at Mexico, Pampanga with the forces of General Macabulos when hostilities were suddenly terminated. But it was not this alone which tainted Sto. Rosario history and part in the Spanish revolution. By the time the 83 katipuneros had completely organized themselves, a nearby detachment of Spanish soldiers found out about the movement and lost no time in moving to Mabalacat rather than risk being ambushed or encountering the formidable force of revolutionists.
In barrio La Paz in 1896-1897 there was a small old man who was so powerful among the Katipuneros then. He was commissioned by both General Macabulos and Commandante Lorenzo Camaya. He punished katipuneros who abused the civilians. He was called and well known as Juan Culantro, although his family name was different. He was the chief of the Katipuneros that was formed secretly in that barrio. The katipuneros signed their names with a dagger and with their own blood as ink. Among them were Feliciano Torres, Gregorio Mallari, Froilan Pineda, Maximo Manabat and others. Their weapons were only "talibong" and "dagger". When training for a fight they used the "bical".
Some casualties during the Spanish regime were Bernardo Lacson, Lorenzo Torres and another taken and probably killed by the Spaniards suspected as "insurecto'. Another victim was a blind man named "Tinu".
*It is thus referred to in the Aguinaldo memoirs: "Early in September 1897, General Macabulos and some of his men arrived........ from their camp on Mount Sinukuan".
**Castillo; "On the plateau were built houses , barracks for the troops, offices and other buildings proper to military camp. This was called the Real de Camansi, and here General Macabulos stayed......To the said Real de Camansi also came the patriot Servillano Aquino and his father-in-law Pablo Quiambao, prominent residents of Murcia and Concepcion,
"Kasaysayan ng Unang Kilos, pp. 10ff".
Though the insurgents had been bottled up on the mountain, Monet knew there could be no peace in Central Luzon until the rebel stronghold in Camansi had been taken. The government offensive therefore shifted its drive to the sacred mountain.Preliminary probings were made in Mid September by the Spanish troops under Colonel Milans de Bosch and Leutenant Olaguer Feliu. However, not till November did General Monet order the big push up the mountains. Monet made the town of Magalang his base; he posted troops along the Rio Chico and the Rio Grande and surrounding towns to block all route of escape to the beleaguered; then sent up a force divided into three columns: one of 600 men under Major Angel Fernandez; another of artillery under Olaguer Feliu; and the third, of reserve troops.
"All the environs', says Manuel Sastron, of Camansi, or Sinukuan, as the rebels call it, lie hid in impenetrable jungle; and to reach the enemy position, where the insurgents were dug in and, as it were, swaddled in strong entrenchments, there are only two routes.... The fortified plateau measures 500 meters in length; and the two points of access... to that height are the route to the top of the mountain and the route down to the town of Arayat. One company and 50 Macabebe Volunteers were stationed on a boulder near the Piedra Blanca".
At dawn of November 27, with General Monet himself at the lead, the two columns that were to knock out the Revolution in Pampango country began the steep ascent, first together, then separating to take one or the other of the two routes up to the rebel meseta. Despite a windy rainstorm, vanguards of the two columns had gained opposite edges of the plateau by ten in the morning; by eleven o'clock the artillery had opened fire; and by noon the two columns were affecting junction. As the government troops swarmed over the meseta, the insurgents abandoned their first line of defense and fell back to the secondary trenches but it seemed certain that they could not long hold this position under the heavy barrage. Then suddenly the artillery ceased its fire; Olaguer Feliu, after losing 23 men, had decided he didn't have the proper mobile cannon for a further advance and had returned to Magalang to consult his officers.
Through the afternoon the government troops made six attempts to strom the insurgent position but were repeatedly repulsed. However, they managed to hold on to what ground they had gained. Night fell with the two forces still embattled on the heights of Sinukuan; the storm worsened but not even the wild weather was of much help to the insurgents as they tried, again and again during the night, to dislodge the enemy from the plateau.
The next morning, November 28, Olaguer Feliu arrived with the cannon he needed; the battle was resumed; and presently the action was turning into a srout for the defenders, who fled the meseta in such disorder they left behind their arms and supplies. The Spaniards counted 93 rebels dead; in a nearby woods they found nemerous horses and carabaos. But the supreme catch had eluded the government; neither Makabulos nor Aquino was captured when the Real de Camansi fell, nor indeed the greater number of the estimated 2000 rebel troops. The battle lost, they fled under cover of the storm and vanished into the wilds of Sinukuan.
________________________________________________________________
Datu, Mely Tayag, grandaughter of Jose Datu and Lino Tayag of Sto. Rosario
The Aquino's of Tarlac, Joaquin, Nick
Manabat, Restituto F., grandson of Maximo Manabat, a katipunero, "Stories from Florencia
Munoz Manabat, the widow"
Pelayo, Pedro and Pinto, Loreto M., "History of the Municipality of Magalang, in the
Province of Pampanga, Unpublished Manuscript c. 1954