MANILA, Philippines - When people hear of Baler, they think of nine-foot waves that attract surfers from all over the world. Pristine natural beauty notwithstanding, Baler is also steeped in culture and history.
Baler — the capital of the province of Aurora located on the eastern coast of the Philippines about 230 kilometers north of Metro Manila — is also famously known for being the birthplace of Manuel L. Quezon, President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 to 1944, when the town was still part of Tayabas, now Quezon province.
Aurora claimed its autonomy in 1979 and adopted the name of its most famous daughter, Aurora Aragon Quezon, and her birth date for its foundation day. More than being the wife of Quezon, Aurora was the foremost advocate of women’s suffrage, which was granted in 1937, and the first Chairperson of the Philippine National Red Cross.
Baler became a legend of its own in history for being the setting of one of the most epic war tales in the country — the “Siege of Baler”, the last stand of Spanish forces in the Philippines.
It is no surprise that, in Spain, Baler is just as equally well known as the nation’s capital of Manila.
Prelude To The Siege
The year was 1898. The Philippine revolution against Spain, which started two years prior, was about to end. Spain also suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the United States in the Battle of Manila on May 1st.
Before the end of June 1898, General Emilio Aguinaldo ordered Teodorico Luna y Novicio, chief of the Katipunan, to take over all Spanish detachments in the Distrito del Príncipe — created in 1856 from the province of Nueva Ecija which had Baler as its capital.
On June 26, Luna arrived in Baler and compelled the locals to discreetly abandon their houses that night to avoid suspicion from the Spanish soldiers stationed there.
That night, the Franciscan parish priest Father Candido Gomez Carreño slept at the Comandancia instead of the convent, out of instinct perhaps or based on a warning by a devout parishioner. When he returned to the convent the following day, he found it abandoned, together with a chest of the dirty clothes that the soldiers had sent for washing and 340 pesos from the coffers of the church. He immediately alerted Captain Enrique de las Morenas.
They discovered that it was not only the church that had been abandoned — the entire town was deserted.
The Spanish soldiers realized that the only defendable structure in the isolated town that could shelter them was the church of Baler. On that day, June 27th, they stocked the church with food, arms, and other provisions.
And then they braced themselves for an attack. But the attack did not come then, nor on the following day, or two days hence.
Finally, in a scouting operation on June 30th led by second chief Lieutenant Saturnino Martín Cerezo, they were met by gunfire from the revolutionaries, which wounded Private Jésus Garcia.
The Spanish contingent left in the town consisted of 49 soldiers, three officers — the chief of the detachment, Capt. de las Morenas, Lt. Cerezo, and Lt. Juan Alonso Zayas — the medical offi cer RogelioVigil de Quiñones, and Father Gomez.
On June 30, 1898, all 54 of them barricaded themselves inside the church of Baler. The siege was on.
An Epic Siege
The Spaniards converted the church into a fort. They stationed sentries and marksmen at strategic locations to enable them to defend their position from all sides.
Soldiers were positioned at the trenches outside, while the best snipers went up to the tower. They waited anxiously. Teodorico Luna requested a parley.
He sent a messenger to give a letter persuading the Spaniards to surrender as prisoners of war with protection under international law. He said that they had the town surrounded with three companies, enough to storm the church.
The Spaniards did not believe him and invited the Katipuneros to attack anytime.
They were right in suspecting that the Katipuneros did not have enough ammunition and men to storm the thick walls of the church. But the cunning Teodorico Luna had been recruiting from among the people of Baler months before the siege, planting spies among the Spaniards, and successfully intercepting communication they tried to send from Baler. They truly had the Spanish surrounded and isolated.
The Katipuneros launched a small attack on July 3 to which the Spaniards did not answer to save on munitions.
Come the 18th, a reinforcement of guns and 800 men arrived from Nueva Ecija, emboldening the Katipuneros to attack the church. No bullet could pierce the church’s thick walls however. The Spaniards did not fi re back, save for the sharpshooter Julián Galbete at the tower.
But the tower proved to be penetrable, and Galbete became the first casualty on the Spanish side.
Filipino forces did everything they could to rout the garrisoned soldiers.
Attacks on the church intensified as they sensed that the soldier’s food supplies were running low. The attacking force had more guns, ammunition, and better conditioned troops.
In contrast, the Spaniards were beginning to show weakness. They even suffered from an epidemic of beriberi (a vitamin B1 defi ciency in the body that causes walking difficulties and loss of sensation in hands and feet), which claimed the life of Capt. de las Morenas, leaving Lt. Cerezo in charge. Yet, the Spanish would not give up their posts.
Episodic skirmishes and exchange of gunfire ensued over the following months. In a surprising show of force, the Spanish soldiers managed to lead an offensive in the town in December.
They set fi re to houses situated near the church. The winds took care of the rest, fanning the flames towards other houses and almost engulfing the entire town of Baler. The outcome was better than they had ever expected.
There were also occasional truces during which the Katipuneros and other emissaries tried to persuade Lt. Cerezo to surrender and be treated justly. Once, packets of newspapers were left in front of the church, chronicling the day-to-day lives of post-Spanish colonial rule. The Spaniards believed it was an elaborate trap to lure them out of the building.
Various Spanish emissaries also came — only to be turned away. Over and over, the soldiers refused to capitulate, adhering to their orders to fight for the Spanish Crown no matter what. The Katipuneros solicited a parley for about 10 times, to no avail.
The Katipuneros, meanwhile, were far from being brutal adversaries. Friendly assistance from Filipinos came in the form of a herd of carabaos. The animals suddenly appeared near the church, quite possibly so the soldiers could capture and slaughter them for food. Even the revolutionaries’ volleys and cannon fire seemed to be missing their targets.
Final Days of The Siege
A furious skirmish occurred on May 1899. The Katipuneros were able to breach the outer wall of the church but suffered casualties.
Following this, the ship Uranus arrived in Baler. Lt. Col. Cristobal Aguilar went to the church with a mission of bringing back the garrisoned soldiers. Cerezo still refused to believe that he came to save them. Frustrated, Aguilar left for Manila but left a bundle of newspapers. Cerezo initially thought they were excellent forgeries — until he saw a news item about the upcoming wedding of a fellow officer he knew personally. Finally, it was Cerezo himself who persuaded the rest of the Spanish soldiers to put an end to their resistance.
On the morning of June 2, 1899, after 337 days, a white fl ag was raised at the bell tower. The siege was over. Of the 54 who went into the church, 35 remained.
The Spaniards sustained fi ve deaths from gunshot wounds, 14 deaths from beriberi and dysentery, as well as six desertions.
Marching out, Cerezo and his men were not met by hostility. Instead, Filipinos surrounded them with cheers and welcome. “Amigos, amigos!” the Katipuneros and Baler locals shouted. Filipinos gave them decent food and clothing.
That magnanimity did not stop there. Revolutionary president Emilio Agunialdo issued a decree on June 30 stating that the survivors of the Siege of Baler shall be treated as friends, not as prisoners, ensuring their safe travel back home. Manileños even launched a fundraising campaign for the Spanish soldiers.
Three months later, the Baler detachment returned to Barcelona in September, 1899. All of them were welcomed by the authorities, and “Hero of Baler” was added to their names. Cerezo later published a memoir, El Sitio de Baler, explaining the reason he and his men held out for so long:
“It would be somewhat difficult for me to explain, principally, I believe through mistrust and obstinacy. Then also on account of a certain kind of auto-suggestion that we ought not for any reason surrender because of national enthusiasm, without doubt influenced by the attractive illusion of glory and on account of the suffering and treasury of sacrifice and heroism and that by surrender, we would be putting an unworthy end to it all.”
Hence, the “Siege of Baler” was a battle unlike anything the country had ever seen –– for it had nothing to do with one side defeating the other. This was a story about courage, survival, honor, and an inspiring heroism that led Filipinos to embrace a former enemy towards a strong friendship that lasts to this day.
Baler in the Present Day
This unique spirit of the legendary siege is the same spirit that Filipinos commemorate each year through the Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day, authored by Senator Edgardo J. Angara more than a hundred years after the siege.
The Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day is celebrated every June 30 as a national special working holiday and a special non-working holiday in Aurora.
This law makes the Philippines the only country to celebrate a friendship day with its former colonizer.
Since its enactment in 2003, the Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day Act has instigated numerous bilateral agreements between Spain and the Philippines, including economic and cultural cooperation.
As of 2011, the total bilateral trade ballooned to $330 million, making Spain the 28th largest trade partner of the Philippines. Spain also channels a bulk of its offi cial development assistance for Asia toward the Philippines. In 2010 alone, Spain provided $21 million to the country.
Moreover, the Philippines, through the Department of Education, has forged an agreement in 2009 with the University of Alcala of Spain to bring back the Spanish language program in the country’s high school curriculum. Public school teachers are currently undergoing intensive Spanish language training to increase the number of high schools implementing the program.
The Philippines is also growing in prominence in Spain as a tourist destination since the enactment of the Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day Act.
From the average of 6,000 Spanish visitors a year from 2000 to 2003, the Philippine tourist volume from Spain has been steadily climbing, reaching 14,000 in 2011.
The role of Baler in the renewed ties of the Philippines and Spain continues to yield fruitful outcomes which further strengthens the relationship of the former colony and colonizer, now equal and cooperative nations.
Baler in the 19th century
In the 19th century, Baler was a small town that belonged to what was called the District of Principe.
With Baler as the capital, the District of Principe also included the towns of San Jose de Casecnan, San Miguel de Dipaculao, and Casiguran. This district was created by Governor General Manuel Crespo y Cebrian, who served as the Spanish governor-general of the Philippine islands from 1854 to 1856.
Between 1884 to 1885, there were 2,020 residents in Baler, 1,864 in Casiguran and 180 in San Jose. Of this number, 332 residents of Baler contributed to what was called “prestación personal” or obligatory service. There were another 381 in Casiguran and 23 in San Jose.
The people of Baler have formed a cohesive group based on the subsistence economy that supported them. They shared varying degrees of family ties and, for the most part, lived in relative isolation from the rest of the country.
Predominantly farmers, the Balereños lived by the rhythm of the harvests that grew from the fertile ground that was nourished by an abundance of fresh water.
The town produced mainly palay, maiz, and camote, as well as some gabi and ube.
The town also raised livestock including cows, carabaos, horses and pigs.
Other industries included weaving and the extraction of tuba, but these were of very small scale. The town was quiet and safe, without any criminal record.
Balereños had their own resources and knowledge of folk medicine, from the most simple and accessible household remedies such as digestive purge made from a mixture of fermented coconut water and vinegar, to the more sophisticated and specifi c treatments based on the knowledge of certain individuals in the community and the natural resources extracted from plants in the area.
There was basic public infrastructure in Baler during that time. A record of government edifi ces in 1883 listed a newlybuilt school building made of wood, with a ceiling made of nipa. The school could fi t 260 children. A narrow suspension bridge (puente colgante) with ten wooden columns had been built in town. There was also a small tribunal or court with six rooms. At the time of recording, the town was gathering materials to build a prison cell and to renovate the Comandancia and the barracks of the guardia civil. No hospitals existed at the time.
Public education was relatively advanced, according to an 1888 report from the Centro de Estadisticas (Center for Statistics). The District of Principe had three schools for boys and two for girls.
The patron saint of Baler is San Luis Obispo whose feast day falls on August 19.
Local sweets and palm wine were served abundantly in homes. During the feast day proper, the local band marched and played through the streets of the town, and the bells of the church tolled for two hours. After the mass and the sermon, the religious images of San Luis Obispo and the Immaculate Conception were taken out of the church and brought around town in solemn procession. This was followed by a modest military parade, and theatrical performances and games.
A list of employees recorded on April 23, 1885 named a certain Sr. Baldomero Leonardo, a teacher in Casiguran as the only one who could speak Spanish and was therefore indispensable in a town so “poor and miserable”.
The same list of employees also named Sr. Lucio Quezon and Sra. Maria Molina.
It said, “maestros de Baler, matrimonio”, (teachers in Baler, married couple). They were, of course, the parents of Manuel Luis Quezon who, years later, was to become president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
After the Philippine Revolution and the Siege of Baler, the town would suffer even more fi ghting with the arrival of the American troops. Only after 1899 did the people of Baler begin to slowly rebuild the town. In the following decades, the church was renovated and regained its original appearance, which remains to this day.
*Sources: the National Archives’ holdings on Baler, Quezon from 1833 to 1885; Flames Over Baler and Seraphico by Carlos Madrid.