RESURECCION DE KATIPUNAN: Anao, 1900

Lino L. Dizon, Ph.D.

Center for Tarlaqueflo Studies

Tarlac State University

The town of Anao is poised drowsily but placidly on the extremity of the province of Tarlac, towards the trail-blaze of the rising sun. Its stolid folks, composed of ostly Ilokano migrants from the same sun-scorched Ilocos region with drippings of Tagalogs from the Nueva Ecija border, believed that their stoic town’s etymology was from the symbolic and verdant anahaw, (Livistona rotundifolia). Tradition had it that some icmo (betel leaf) vendors of yore, descending for the pueblo of Paniqui, propagated stories on the abundance of anahaw from this remote place (then only a barrio of the latter); thus the said palm becoming the reference point. It was gelded to anao to achieve a mellifluous sound, for the sake of the rigid natangken Ilocano tongue. But for the rest, tracing the town’s provenance from the gregarious panau or kogon, (Imperata cylidrica), is more apt, considering the geographical fact that Tarlac province largely emerged out of an enormous slope of the tarlac plant, resembling the cogonales.

It was only during the last quarter of Spanish rule, on March 16, 1870 (three years prior to the formation of the alcaldia of Tarlac) that Anao became an independent pueblo from its matriarch, Paniqui. Don Fruto Pastor, a brawny Ilokano from Paoay, Ilocos Norte and part of the first wave of immigrants and pioneering settlers of the former barrio, became its first Gobernadorcillo. Yet, the matrilineal relationship persisted for some time more, especially on economic and ecclesiastical spheres.

Some people believed that Anao was actually derived from anaoang, an Ilocano word for an indigenous boiler for cooking sugar; which was made of a chimney with a covered viaduct. This type of sugar produce was then sold at the Paniqui poblacion. Later on, with the installation of the more efficient muscovados and sugar mills in Paniqui, the farmers of Anao had to transport their harvest of sugar cane in their mother town. Hitherto, Paniqui has been providential in meeting the basic needs of the people of Anao; as a mercado of their products and necessities. And though the town was politically separated from Paniqui in 1870, it was only in 1930 that an independent parish (dedicated to San Juan de Nepomuceno) was erected for the former; spawning for its inhabitants a tedious period of spiritual dependence on the Vicariate of Santa Rosa (Paniqui), which was one of the oldest in the province. By deduction, it could be assumed that Anao’s history is a mere penumbra to the very lucid and historical path of Paniqui.

Nevertheless, like in an abanico made of anahaw needle-leaves, there could be intricate designs in its otherwise simplistic smalltown history. And looking intently on the details of such tapestry, it is possible that certain segments could be illuminated and it will not surprising that these could overshadow the enormous history of the mother town itself.

For one, there was Anao’s heroic but largely forgotten son, Don Procopio Evangelista, a proto-martyr of the Revolution; not only of the province but of the whole Philippine archipelago. A respected principalia of the town, he was its gobernadorcillo in 1891 - 1892. Don Procopio was also responsible for the proliferation of Masonic members in Tarlac. With the eventual crackdown of the instigators of the Revolution in 1896, he was imprisoned by Spanish authorities at the Bilibid on charges of sedition, together with some prominent Tarlaqueno citizens. And as relayed by Teodoro M. Kalaw, they were meted death penalty through the firing squad at Bagumbayan on December 14, 1896; two weeks earlier than that of the national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal.

Almost a year later, on November 17, 1897, while the Tarlaqueño general, Francisco Makabulos, was embattled in his campaigns against the massive Spanish brigade of General Ricardo Monet on the footholds of Sinukuan (Mt. Arayat), the revolucionarios of Anao stormed the colonial arsenal in the town plaza; only to be repulsed, however, by the superior arms of the enemies.

On October 23, 1899, concurrent with the appointment of Tarlac town as the capital of the Aguinaldo revolutionary government, Msgr. Gregorio Aglipay summoned the Filipino clergy in the church of Paniqui. Known as the infamous Paniqui Assembly in history, it brought forth the controversial Constituciones Provisionales de la Iglesia Filipina that provided temporary regulations for the church in the Philippines due to the exigencies of war (and forerunning the schism with the Roman Catholic Church or the Iglesia Catolica Apostolica Romana). Yet, old folks of San Francisco, Anao, according to W.H. Scott, were persistent that the assembly actually took place in their humble chapel; perhaps a way of saying that their Madre Iglesia was again tampering on their role.

But of interest on the role of Anao during the revolution was an insurrecto document of November 22, 1900 that fell into the hands of the American military historian, J.R.M. Taylor. It was about the reconvening of a Katipunan Society in the town. As a backgrounder, Emilio Aguinaldo, upon his assumption as the undisputed leader of the Revolution and with the eventual death of Andres Bonifacio in 1897, called for the disbandment of the Katipunan; to pave the way for the revolutionary character of the struggle. Yet, with the collapse of the Revolutionary government in Tarlac on November 10, 1899 against the American invaders, the desperado Aguinaldo exhorted for the resurrection of the Katipunan in the localities that had continued the fight for independence; mainly through sporadic and remnant guerilla units.

Don Isidro Pantaleon, with the nom-de-guerre Patalim, being the revolutionary secretary of the pueblo of Anao, attested on the response of the people on the exhortation of their beleaguered president.

The meeting was held at an undisclosed house in Anao, at 2:00 p.m, presided by Kapatid Domingo Kanon. The first and foremost agenda was on the reorganization of Katipunan in the town, following the instructions of the Commanding General of Central Luzon (the limping body organized by Aguinaldo to supervise what was left of the revolutionary army) as read by Kapatid Restituto Javier, with the nom-de-guerre Mapangahas, to “promptly obtain the independence of our beloved country.” Other matters agreed upon were the formation of a special police body against traitors to “the holy cause which we defend” and for the provision of an efficient mailing system to be abreast with the system of communication. There was also a tone of anticipation that members who joined the resurrected Katipunan would be eligible for inclusion in the regular army of the Republic and would “stand ready to perform such service as our country may call upon them to perform, they will not be permitted to excuse themselves from the performance of such duty and in case of disobedience on their part such punishment as the other brothers consider fitting will be inflicted.” And taking their oaths before God and Country, the members adjourned, with the agreement that the secrets of the reconvened society would not be revealed - or guilty ones would be punished with death!

Nothing was heard again of this resurrection. But in reviewing the date of the said assembly, a striking phenomenon could be gleaned; i.e., it was convened at a time when majority of the revolutionaries in the province of Tarlac (including General Makabulos who surrendered five months earlier), and the whole archipelago for that matter, had already given up the fight. By that time also, the complacent Tarlaquenos, as most Filipinos, were brushing their English to welcome the victorious Americans. Who would have thought indeed that in a far-flung area of the province a couple of hard-headed and misinformed revolucionarios was still optimistic that the Filipinos would achieve their independence?

Some people of Anao are not convinced of the flora origins of their town; rather they thought of it as danao, an Ilokano for creek. It might have been far-fetched, but there is a near-truth that would be revealed: i.e., the stance of the town at the expanse of the revolution. Unlike the bigger towns of the province that have portrayed themselves as enormous water-worlds at the initial phase of the struggle only to succumb to its tempers and finally to stagnate; Anao was a stream that ever flowed, on the mainstream of our history.

(Originally appeared in Tarlac Observer, Vol. VI, 12, Sept. 22-26, 1996)

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