Battle of Pulang Lupa, Torrijos, Marinduque, September 13, 1900
From 1899-1901 during the Philippine American War there were
numerous encounters between Philippine and American Forces. In seven of the
engagements where Filipinos had the upper hand that spelled victory, two of
them occurred in the island of Marinduque. (These were the Battle of Paye, and
the Battle of Pulang Lupa).
The other Filipino victories took place in the Battle of San
Mateo (Morong), Siege of Catubig (Samar), Battle of Makahambos Hill, Battle of
Mabitac, Battle of Balangiga (Samar).
The Battle of Pulang Lupa, however, is considered a
milestone in Philippine History. This was the engagement that sent shock waves
through the American high command and was considered the worst defeat suffered
by the Americans during that war.
This battle however, led to the first application in the
Philippines of concentration camps in the island’s town centers, a highly
coercive measure that finally led to the surrender of the Filipino soldiers led
by Lt. Col. Maximo Abad with his remaining men on April 15, 1901.
The success of this population concentration first
experimented in Marinduque was then applied to other provinces in the country
including Batangas, Laguna and Samar.
Of the harshness and hardships suffered by the people of
Marinduque, Gov. Gen. William H. Taft, future U.S. president said: “The
severity with which the inhabitants have been dealt with would not look well if
a complete history were written out”.
Some details of that history appears in The U.S. Army's
Pacification of Marinduque, Philippine Islands, April 1900-April 1901 by Andrew
J. Birtle.
On the Battle of Pulang Lupa that took place on September
13, 1900, Birtle wrote in part:
“While the Boac garrison cowered, Shields endeavored to
maintain some semblance of pressure on the guerrillas, making thirteen
expeditions during July and August. None of these operations went more than ten
miles from Santa Cruz, which, like Boac, was down to about twenty-five percent
of its pre-occupation population. Protected by the people and the island's
difficult topography, Abad easily avoided Shields. In August, however, Shields
made some headway on the civil front, organizing the election of a pro-American
mayor and arresting twenty-five civilians on charges of aiding the guerrillas.
"On 11 September, Shields decided to take advantage of
a visit by the gunboat U.S.S. Villalobos. Leaving Lieutenant Wilson and
forty-one men to hold Santa Cruz, he loaded fifty-one enlisted men, a hospital
corps-man, and his black servant onto the gunboat and sailed to Torrijos,
disembarking that evening. The next day he had his first contact with insurgent
forces since his company had been on the island, dispersing a band of twenty
guerrillas and destroying their cuartel.
"On the thirteenth, Shields led his detachment into the
mountains with the intention of returning to Santa Cruz. Well informed about
Shields's movements, Abad had concentrated nearly his entire force of
approximately 250 riflemen and 2,000 bolomen along a steep ridge overlooking
the trail. Shields walked right into the ambush. A fire fight ensued for
several hours before Shields ordered a retreat into a covered ravine. What
began as a slow withdrawal quickly turned into a race down a rocky stream bed,
as the Americans scrambled to escape the pincers that were moving to surround
them. After retreating for about three and a half miles, the beleaguered
detachment entered a rice field near the barrio of Massiquisie (Masagisi). Here
renewed enemy fire forced the Americans to take cover behind some paddy dikes.
Shields fell seriously wounded.
"After ordering that a message be passed to the senior
NCO, Sergeant James A. Gwynne, to lead the command out of the closing trap,
Shields raised a white flag to surrender himself and the other wounded. The insurgents
thought the flag meant that the command was surrendering. So too did Gwynne,
who later claimed never to have received the escape order, and thus the entire
force lay down its arms. All told, the Insurgents killed four Americans and
captured fifty, six of whom, including Shields, were wounded. Shields later
claimed that the Filipinos lost thirty dead, though this number was never
confirmed.
"After months of hiding, Abad in a few short hours had
destroyed nearly a third of the entire American garrison on Marinduque.”
Recognizing the Battle of Pulang Lupa:
While the Battle of Pulang Lupa is not mentioned in
Philippine History textbooks, it has been commemorated annually in Marinduque
since 1965.
The Battle of Pulang Lupa was first celebrated in Marinduque
on September 13, 1965, during the incumbency of President Diosdado Macapagal,
with Miguel Manguera as governor of Marinduque.
The event was then known at that time in press releases as
“Marinduque Day” by virtue of Macapagal’s Proclamation 435. The following year,
under President Ferdinand Marcos (under Proclamation No. 104), September 13 was
likewise declared as a special public holiday in Marinduque the more to inspire
the people "to greater deeds for their country".
A similar Proclamation No. 2306 s. 1983 was issued by Marcos
declaring a special public holiday in Marinduque to commemorate the heroism of
our forefathers in the 'Battle of Pulang Lupa'.
During the Second Regular Session of Congress (1988),
however, Republic Act No. 6702 was passed, an Act declaring September Thirteen
as “Battle of Pulang Lupa Day” and a Special Non-Working Holiday in the
Province of Marinduque. This was sponsored by then Cong. Carmencita O. Reyes
and was finally passed on September 22, 1988 (by Congress) and December 2, 1988
(by Senate) respectively. The Act lapsed after the prescribed period and came
into force without the signature of President Corazon C. Aquino.
