Bulacan

“ Anda y Salazar,1 in a letter written from Bulacan, October 8, 1762, to the archbishop, Manuel Antonio Rojo del Rio y Vieyra, states that in accordance with his appointment by the latter as visitor-general of the provinces, he appoints the necessary persons for the performance of that duty, forms a court, and goes to Bulacan on October 4. There on presenting his credentials he is recognized by the alcalde-mayor José Pasarin. Manila is taken by assault by the British next day, and the president and auditors of the Audiencia remaining in the city are taken prisoners. ”

“ All these inhabitants always furnish them (for their money) with flesh, wheat, and palay. In any other way they would have suffered many more miseries. In the month of February, they did the same in Bulacan, which was the province where the above-mentioned Anda had established his fort in the church and convent. They advanced and forced his trenches, where some Spaniards and religious were killed, and four hundred Indians were put to the sword. ”

“ Malolos is twenty-two miles from Manila, in the Province of Bulacan, on the railway connecting Manila with Dagupan, the only one in the Philippine Islands. This made it very accessible, but the real reason for the selection of Malolos as the Insurgent Capital was the fact that the present revolution had its first beginnings there; that the place persistently remained a hot-bed of revolution, and as a reward for the patriotism and loyalty of this picturesque little town, the legendary seat of the Bulacan kings, Aguinaldo fixed upon it as the site of his permanent Capital. ”

“ Those who make the greatest propaganda are not, indeed, the masters. As many masters as there are in Cavite, there are in Bulacan, for example, or more, and in Cavite the people talk fairly good Castilian, while in Bulacan they scarcely talk any. Why? Because in Cavite there are many Spaniards who live there, while in Bulacan there are perhaps not fifty. For the rest another citation and the conclusion. The famous student of Filipinas, now the bishop of Jaca, Fray Francisco Valdés, says: ‘There are many Indians who come to know quite well the material of the Spanish word ”

“ While the events of Manila had this tragic termination, Anda collected in Bulacan the Alcalde, the ecclesiastics, and other Spaniards, showed them his authority, which was recognised with enthusiasm. On the evening of the same day news of the fall of Manila was received, and Anda published a proclamation declaring himself Governor and Captain-General of the Philippine Islands, and chose for the seat of his government Bacalor in Pampanga. ”

“ By the terms of the capitulation the entire Archipelago had been surrendered to the British; but Simon de Anda, who commanded the Spanish forces during the siege, had now established himself in Bulacan as Provisional Governor, in opposition to the authority of the Archbishop who had bitterly denounced the surrender. The clergy, however, were the more influential part of the Colonial Government, and General Draper accordingly treated with them alone, obtaining their consent to a cession of all the islands to the King of England. ”

“ There are some who have already shown interest and want to build an expressway from Manila that will pass through Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya, until the end of Cagayan Valley, without the government having to spend a single peso. ”

“ They, availing themselves of the disturbances caused by these malevolent persons, painted those disturbances to his Excellency, saying that there was sedition and unrest among all the Indians, who, having conspired against the Spaniards, were persecuting them as wild beasts; that already in one province one of them had elevated himself as emperor and refused obedience to your Majesty; that the province of Bulacan was in the same condition; that all the others would follow their example; that one of these days they would have Señor Anda tied up, if they did not first deprive him of life ”

“ Maria and Juana Roura petitioned the court of land registration to register their alleged title as undivided equal owners of a piece of real estate situated in the pueblo of San Miguel de Mayumo, province of Bulacan. ”

“ Copper is scarcely less widely distributed than gold, but the production of it awaits smelters and better facilities for transportation. There are extensive deposits of iron ore (magnetite and hematite) in the province of Bulacan, Luzon. Iron ore has been found in other provinces of Luzon and in the islands of Cebú, Panay and Marinduque. There are outcrops of lead in Marinduque and Cebú, and in Marinduque considerable silver is associated with the lead. ”

“ In the province of Bulacán, they have the convent and ministry of that name, and those of Dapdap, Guiguinto, Bigáa, Angat, Baliuag, Quingua, Malolos, Paombong, Calumpit, and Haganoy. In the province of Pampanga, the convents and ministries of Bacolor, Macabebe, Sesmoan, Lubao, Vana, Minalin, Betis, Porác, México, Aráyat, Magalan, Tárlac, Gapan, Santor, together with some missions, and a new village called San Sebastián ”

“ In the province of Bulacan, where there were more Sangleys, the slain did not exceed 500; for as they were farm laborers, and were scattered, they went away, deserting their houses, and joined the rebels, without Captain Juan Diaz, the alcalde-mayor of that province, being able to hinder them.... In the province of Tondo, as many as 300 were beheaded, because, as the insurrection was going on therein, only those were put to death who could not easily join the rebels. ”

“ Señor Anda, in consequence of the death of the alcalde of Bulacan, appointed Bustos [194] governor of that province, continuing him as his lieutenant-general, and ordering him to raise troops, and teach them the manual exercise, while the inhabitants in the neighbourhood of Manila, with the monks, contributed arms, lead, and other articles of war, exciting, at the same time, desertion from the city, and expecting by all these means to enable Anda to form a respectable body of troops, with which he might confine the English to Manila, and possibly drive them out of it. ”

“ Moreover, it having come [103] to the ears of the authorities that certain people of Pampanga and Bulacan were preparing a reception for the agitator, the Governor ordered that he should not be allowed to leave Dapitan, and that should he have left there, he should not be allowed to land in Manila on his arrival, but be transferred to another ship which should carry him back to Mindanao. ”

“ The territory over which it presides, as proper to itself, includes the ten civil provinces nearest to Manila—namely, Tondo, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva-Ecija, Batangas, Laguna, Cavite, Bataan, Zambales, and Mindoro—in addition to the small island of Corregidor, which is found outside the said province, and which forms a military police commandancy. It is not so extensive, with these provinces, as are its suffragan sees; but it is the one that unites the greatest number of souls. ”

“ The British successes in Manila, Pasig, and Maysilo, are mentioned, while in the month just past, the fort of Batangas in Bulacan has been captured. They are attracting all the natives of the islands to their banners, and have treated them humanely, freeing them from the tribute and the various ecclesiastical oppressions. The Augustinians have been especially active against the British, and against the vows of their profession have taken up arms, thus occasioning the shedding of much blood. They have also treated Silang cruelly. ”

“ Report of the men-at-arms whom it has been possible to collect inside and outside the place, without including the troops or militia: 600 men from the province of Bulacán, in Bancusay; 1,950 Pampangos, in San Fernando and the barracks of the accountancy; 150 Pampangos in the palace, in charge of Santa María; 133 men in the archiepiscopal house, 38 of them with muskets being Tagalogs; 110 men from Meycaoyan and Bocaue, in the house of Dorado; 153 men from Hagonoy; 150 men from Bulacán ”

“ Bustos, in the capacity of his lieutenant-general, paraded the province of Bulacan, making an ostentatious display of the power of Señor Anda; and the Pampangan Indians, commanded by a Franciscan and an Augustine friar, advanced to Maysilo, about two leagues distance from Manila, idly expecting that Bustos would support them under all circumstances. The English sallied out to dislodge them; and our Indians formed an ambuscade, in which they hoped to succeed by counterfeiting death, when it was said that many of the enemy fell ”

“ In the rich fields of Bulacan and Pampanga, great gangs of laborers had been impressed, felling the forests for the construction of the Spanish fleets and manning these fleets at the oars, on voyages which took them for four and six months from their homes. The governor, Don Gonzalez de Ronquillo, had forced many Indians of Pampanga into the mines of Ilocos, taking them from the sowing of their rice. Many had died in the mines and the rest returned so enfeebled that they could not plant. ”

“ Don Esteban Taes, chief of Bulacan, was sentenced to prescribed exile in Nueva España for eight years, and condemned to pay sixty taes of orejeras gold, for the treasury of his Majesty and for judicial expenses. The money was to be paid within thirty days under pain of death. He and the fiscal of the king appealed to the royal Audiencia—which, on an examination and new trial, revoked the sentence, and condemned him to death and to the loss of all his goods in favor of the royal exchequer and the treasury of his Majesty. ”

“ Batangas, Bulacan, Bataan, Camarines Norte, Cavite, Laguna, Manila, part of Nueva Écija and Tayabas, the districts of Infanta, Morong, and part of Principe, also the Island of Corregidor and the coast of Mindoro. They probably number about one million five hundred thousand souls.
Antonio de Morga, in his work ‘Sucesos de Philipinas,’ says (p. 126) : “The women wear the báro and saya, and chains of gold upon their necks, also bracelets of the same. All classes are very clean in their persons and clothing, and of good carriage and graceful (de buen ayre y gracia”) . ”

“ On July 20, 1898, Cavite had been divided into four zones, and next day Brigadier-General Artemio Ricarte was placed in command of the province and the first zone.
By July 7 Bulacan Province had been divided into six zones, and Nueva Ecija into four zones, with a separate commander for each zone. These men established the government prescribed by Aguinaldo’s decrees of the middle of June. Probably by the end of July Aguinaldo’s municipal governments had been established in the greater part of the towns of Luzón. These governments were not established by the mass of the people. ”

“ However, the reverend archbishop, although your [283] vassal, and so honored, passed to the other life, without doing it. It is a fact that the English declared me a rebel and traitor; confiscated and sold my property as such; declared your troops in public edicts to be canaille and robbers; and your artillery captured in the foundry of Bulacan for more contempt, was placed under the gallows of this city. Barbarous and unheard of are these acts of disrespect against the supreme honor of your Majesty, to whom it alone belongs to ask for the fitting satisfaction, and to me to report it. ”

“ But the most singular part of the proceeding is, that the question was decided in favor of the anthropophagi.”
4 As a matter of fact, productive land is always appropriated, and in many parts of the Islands is difficult and expensive to purchase. Near Manila, and in Bulacan, land has for many years past cost over $225 (silver) an acre. ”

“ As an individual he was bright and intelligent, and had he not been led astray by those who made a “cat’s paw” of him, and who cruelly deserted him in his hour of need, he would doubtless have been one of the foremost Filipinos of to-day in that sphere of life in which God had placed him.
A Spanish proverb says: “In blind man’s land the one eyed man is a king.” Rizal was a king. [110]
Note 9. Marcelo Hilario del Pilar y Gatmaytan was a native of Bulacan. ”

“ In this there are many Indian villages administered by religious of the Augustinian order, and still more by the discalced of St. Francis. Toward the west of the jurisdiction is that of the province of Pampanga, which is fertile and well-peopled, and that of Bulacan, and the Cambales. These are not Christians and cannot be reduced to conversion, but are negroes who go about like wild beasts through the inaccessible parts of the mountains. They are given to cutting the heads from other Indians, and no woman will marry a Cambal unless he has cut off a head ”

“ That is a great abuse, and cannot be allowed. Their contention that no justice should be appointed who does not come from their midst, Anda approves. If the paper was signed through fear of arms and in order to quiet them, it is null and void, and he who holds it is in danger of being regarded as a traitor. Anda asks them to send him the paper in order that he may destroy it, and to thus prove their loyalty. The troops [147] of Bulacan and Pampanga are about to take the field against the English. ”

“ Bouayanan.—A heathen folk in the interior of Palawan. The name appears to mean “crocodile men.”
Buhuanos, Bujuanos.—A heathen folk related to the Igorots (head-hunters?) , dwelling in the province of Isabela de Luzon. They are warlike in nature.
Bulalacaunos.—A wild people of Malay race (without Negrito mixture?) , having its own (?) idiom. It is to be found in the interior of the northern part of the island of Palawan (Paragua) and in Calamianes islands.
Buluanes, see Bilanes.
Bungananes.—A warlike, head-hunting (?) people, who live in the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya and Isabela de Luzon. ”