Isa pang Balik-Tanaw sa mga Labanan sa Sta. Cruz at Paye

Si Lt. Col. Maximo Abad ang nasa kaliwa,
si Kapitan Teofilo Roque ang nasa kanan.

History Month ang buwan ng Agosto kaya makibahagi tayo sa isang bahagi ng lokal na kasaysayang may kinalaman sa Labanan sa Sta. Cruz at Labanan sa Paye

Bago maganap noong July 31, 1900, ang engkwentro sa Sitio Paye, Balimbing, Boac na ginugunita ng mga Marinduqueno bilang ‘Labanan sa Paye’, isang special, non-working holiday sa buong lalawigan, magandang malaman ang ilang naganap bago pa ang sa Paye.

Kahapon nga lamang July 31 ay ginunita ito doon.

Abril 25, 1900 dumaong sa may Laylay ang dalawang US navy gunboats. Kasama dito ni Col. Edward E. Hardin ang isang battalion ng 29^th US Voluteer (USV) Infantry. Deretso silang nagmartsa sa direksiyon ng Boac at inokupa ang simbahan ng Boac, walang kumontra, walang insidente.

Dahil inakala nilang tahimik sa isla, iniwan ang isang company (A/29) sa Boac at lumisan ang isang company patungo sa iba pang isla para kanilang maokupa.

Pagdating sa Laylay ng mga sundalong Amerikano noong 25 Abril 1900

Walumput-walong sundalo lamang ang natira, kayat pitumput-dalawang tauhan ng Company D, 38^th USV sa pamumuno ni Major Charles H. Muir ang ipinadala rito para reinforcement. Inikot ang isla pero wala silang namataan na mga guerilla at ang mga sibilyan ay namundok na rin.

Unang engkwentro

Mayo 19 isinama nina Muir at Capt. John Jordan ang limamput-pitong tauhan ng D/38 para manmanan ang kabundukan. Nakarating sila sa Santa Cruz at nakarating doon ng 7:00 Linggo ng umaga. Mga 1,000 tao ang kanilang nadatnan na nakikinig ng misa. Nagsipagtakbuhan pagkakita sa mga Amerikano, habang paakyat sa itaas ng bundok ang maraming guerilla.

Nagkaroon ng putukan at ginamitan ng mga Amerikano ng “bush tactics o Indian style” ng paglusob ang mga Pilipino. Ilang oras din ang inabot ng paggapang ng mga Amerikano sa bundok hanggang 300 yarda na lamang ang layo nila.

Tumirada na ng paglusob ang grupo ni Muir. Nagsipanakbuhan ang mga Pilipino sa ibat-ibang direksyon. Naiwan ay anim na patay na Pilipinong sundalo at isang bihag. 

Panalo ang mga Amerikano sa unang sagupaan sa Marinduque at wala silang casualty.

Sinundan ni Muir ang kanilang tagumpay sa paggalugad sa interior ng isla ng apat na araw. Nakabihag sila ng tatlumput-anim na mga gerilya ni Col. Maximo Abad na nakakalat sa ibat-ibang lugar. Dahil dito, sumuko sa mga Amerikano si Martin Lardizabal ang sibilyan na gobernador.

Bilang tugon, ipinag-utos ni Muir na lumabas na sa simbahan ng Boac ang kanyang mga sundalo para magamit naman ng mga tao para sa mga misa ang simbahan.

Pagdating ng Hunyo, ipina-recall ni Bates sina Muir at Jordan at lahat nilang kasamahan (38^th USV) sa Luzon at ipinalit sa kanila ang Company F, 29^th USV sa pamumuno ni Capt. Devereux Shields.

Santa Cruz naman ang ginawang garrison ni Shields, at dahil tag-ulan tila walang umasa na may magaganap na di inaasahan. Ni walang balita tungkol kay Abad.

Kuha sa Sta. Cruz Church nang ginawa itong garison ng mga Amerikano, 1900

Si First Lieutenant William S. Wells naman, ang commander sa Boac, ay tila kampante na sa bayan dahil para sa kanya ay tahimik dito. Walang na-appont na over-all commander para sa buong isla.

Ang peligrosong sitwasyon ng mga Amerikano ay lumitaw noong July 31, 1900 ng inambush ng mga gerilya ni Kapitan Teofilo Roque ang isang bihirang pagmamanman sa kabukiran ng grupo ni Lt. Wells. Isang account mula sa The US Army's Pacification of Marinduque, Philippine Islands ni Andrew J. Birtle ay ganito ang nakasaad:

The precariousness of the American position became evident on 31 July, when Teofilo Roque's Guerrilla ambushed one of Lieutenant Wells' rare forays into the countryside. Roque's force wounded two Americans and captured two others before the patrol escaped.

That night the victorious guerrillas set fire to a portion of Boac in an effort to drive the Americans out. In this they failed, though many of Boac's inhabitants fled, leaving the town virtually deserted.

The episode also succeeded in paralyzing Company A, which retired to the church, venturing out only twice over the next two months.

At alam na nating lahat na mga Marinduqueno: ang matagumpay na Labanan sa Paye ay nasundan pa ng isang labanan sa Torrijos-Sta. Cruz na mas kilala bilang Labanan sa Pulang Lupa.

Flag of Marinduque Revolutionary Forces under the command of Col. Maximo Abad

Talking about Philippine revolutionary flags such as that of Andres Bonifacio, did you know that our Battle of Pulang Lupa Hero, Col. Maximo Abad led the Marinduque Revolutionary Forces with his own flag?

Col. Maximo Abad (left) with
Capt. Teofilo Roque beside him.

The present whereabouts of the Abad flag is still being investigated, unlike the 'personal flag' of Andres Bonifacio that is currently up for auction. The planned auction is however being stopped as a local legislator has stressed that under Section 7 of RA No. 10086 creating the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), "to acquire important historical documents, collections, memorabilia and other objects that have significant value" is a mandate of the said Commission.

“Heritage memorabilia and other historical articles must be acquired by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) on behalf of the government for posterity rather than allowing them to be auctioned to private collectors, with the possibility that these historical articles will go to foreigners or foreign places beyond the access and appreciation of generations of Filipinos,” the legislator, Rep. Edcel Lagman said.

Flag of the Marinduque Revolutionary Forces under the command of Col. Maximo Abad.

Abad’s flag was the flag of the Marinduque Revolutionary Forces under his command. It was captured by the American forces in Marinduque in 1901 and is described as “a field flag measuring 18x30 inches. Its colors are red, white and blue with but two bars and a triangle white. In the triangle are handpainted characters representing the sun, surrounded by three large stars, which are black. The material of the flag is ordinary bunting”.

The above drawing is one version only of the flag posted by watawat.net based on a written description. 

Information about the flag came to the knowledge of local historical researcher, Curtis Shepard, and was shared with this blogger a couple of years ago. Shepard maintains a blog, ulongbeach.com devoted to publication of research materials on Marinduque's past. His investigations continue.

Pulang Lupa: Capt. Shields' letter to his beloved wife

The dearth of information on the lives and deeds of our local heroes who fought in the Battle of Pulang Lupa and Battle of Paye, historical events that we celebrate every year as Marinduquenos, should continue to be filled, such as the few writings posted in this blogsite on the celebrated heroes of said battles, Col. Maximo Abad and Capt. Teofilo Roque.

The lives and deeds of their American counterparts, such as that of Capt. Devereux Shields also continue to be chronicled to this day by their descendants and historical researchers. Through Curt Shepard, an American resident in Marinduque who has taken profound interest in our local Marinduque history and the role played by our beloved province during the two-phases of the Philippine Revolution, we have been able to have access to and privileged to have a glimpse of the American experience then through letters and documents now faded with time.


The following letter was sent by Capt. Devereux Shields' granddaughter, Julia to Mr. Shepard on August 24, 2010. It was originally enclosed in a postmarked, stamped envelope and addressed to: Mrs. Devereux Shields, No. 617 N. Union Street, Natchez, Mississippi, U.S.A. The return address was Devereux Shields, Capt 29th Inf. U.S.V., Manila P.I. Across the top is written - Soldier's letter. Also enclosed was a pressed 4-leaf clover in a carefully folded holder.

"1st Reserve Hospital
Manila P.I. Oct 15th 1900

"My darling beloved precious wife,

I just got out of my captivity yesterday afternoon and was taken on board the U.S.S. Bennington at Buena Vista, Marinduque Island. I am perfectly well my darling & will cable you to that effect in the morning. I am in the agony of dispense in regard to you, oh my beloved, my life, if God has only spared you to me. I have prayed all day & night every hour that it would not make you suffer too much or injure your health.

"I was ambushed some 12 miles from Santa Cruz at 5:30 am on Sept 13 by the insurgent, it was in the mountains and they had 225 rifles and 2000 Bolo men. I had only 52 men, at 6am I was wounded in the left shoulder and after 8 hours hard & dreadful fighting, at 2pm, I received another wound through my neck which passed through and out of my mouth breaking the right jaw bone and tearing out five teeth, it disabled me entirely & I thought all was up with me for a while, I lay in the rice field bleeding & having lost about 3 quarts of blood from my other wound & my left arm useless I could only wait for them to take me. I gave orders to my company to move on & cut their way out but a short distance from me they were completely surrounded & having but little ammunition left, surrendered to 2500 of the enemy.

"I cannot write you of the dreadful suffering & hardships I have undergone during the month they have had me. I am perfectly safe now but cannot write because my neck is still so stiff & my left arm still pains me very much. The transport leaves in the morning & I have gotten Capt. Dowdy & Mrs. Sargent both to write to you. After I got on the Bennington yesterday afternoon Gen. Hare who now commands the forces operating on Marinduque sent me to Manila on the U.S.S. Villalobos, & I got here this evening.

"Would to God I could write more, but I cannot, you will know long before this reaches you that I am well & I hope by the time you get this letter I will be leaving here for home if not before as being wounded they will send me home for a rest. I will write to you a little every day so the next boat will take you many letters.

"Now God bless you & my boy oh I pray God my beloved, my life, my darling precious, my life's only thought & love that you are well, merciful God what will become of me if all this has injured you.

"God bless you my wife. Oh God has been so good in saving my life it must be that he has saved you to me.

"Your devoted beloved husband.
Devereux

"Many tender kisses to you my darling & some to my son. Give my love & kisses to my mother and all those that you & I love.

"Your husband
Devereux"

As regards the Devereux Shields persona, the following is an edited version of Capt. Shields' obituary that appeared in the Natchez News, March 26, 1910:

MARTIAL TASTES INHERITED. Captain Shields came of an heroic ancestry. Both his paternal and maternal ancestors had fought their country’s battles on sea and on shore. His father, Lieutenant Commander Wilmer Shields, served for seventeen years in the United States Navy. His grandfather, Richard Watts Ashton, ran away from school at the age of thirteen, impelled to this act by his military instincts. Ashton served during the War of 1812 with distinction and afterward entered West Point where he graduated and served as Lieutenant of Marines for a number of years. His paternal grandfather, Thos. Shields, of the navy, is mentioned in Cooper’ s Naval History for conspicuous gallantry under fire and valuable services rendered his country on the Great Lakes [instead of ‘on the Great Lakes’ should have said ‘in the Battle of New Orleans,] during the War of 1812.

EARLY INDICATIONS: Even in his earliest childhood Captain Shields showed un-mistakable evidences of the trend of his inclinations. In the choice of the toys
among which he spent the fleeting hours of his young boyhood; in the books which
appealed to his childish fancy; in the games which were the chief delight of his
school days, and in numberless other ways was revealed the gradual but unceasing development of his leaning toward things military and his admiration for the warrior heroes of history.

BIRTH AND EDUCATION. Captain Devereux Shields was born at Laurel Hill [Plantation], Miss., on the 28th day of November 1869. [Actually born 24th day of April 1869] He was the second son of Lieutenant Commander Wilmer Shields, of the United States Navy, and of Mrs. Julia Ashton Shields, a descendant of one of the most prominent Southern families. Captain Shields’ martial tastes received the greatest encouragement during his residence at the University of the South at Sewanee, Tenn., which at that time had a Government military instructor; and there, his natural bent fostered and developed by his instructions and associations, he gained the fundamental principles of that intimate knowledge of military strategy and tactics which enabled him in after years to act with promptitude and decision during the various exigencies of the battle field.

After his graduation from the University of the South, Captain Shields returned to Natchez,deeply versed in military lore as well as in the more academic branches of learning taught in that institution. Shortly after his return he was unanimously chosen captain of the Natchez Rifles.

RECEIVES COMMISSION: When the long list of atrocities committed by Spanish governors in Cuba became such as was viewed with disgust by civilized nations and the tragedy of the Maine Precipitated war between Spain and the United States, Colonel Shields immediately proffered his services to the government and was given a commission of Lieutenant Colonel in the Second Mississippi United States Volunteer Regiment. He had no opportunity, however, during the brief struggle which resulted in the overthrow of Spanish dominion in the island of Cuba, of testing in actual warfare the stores of military knowledge, the possession of which had gained for him his commission.

SAILS FOR MANILA: Some months after the conclusion of the Spanish War the United States government issued a call for Volunteers for service in the Philippine
Islands, where the noted insurgent Aguinaldo was conducting a species of guerrila
warfare, and endangering the lives of Americans and other Caucasian races in the
islands. Capt. Shields immediately responded to the call and applied for a commission. Upon the recommendation of many officers of high rank who had been impressed by the profound knowledge of military strategy shown by the young soldier during his encampment at Jacksonville, he was given a commission as captain in the twenty-ninth regiment, U.S.A. He received the commission on the fifth of July 1899, and on the fifth of October his regiment sailed from San Francisco on board the transport Zelandia, arriving in the Philippines just in time to participate in the battle of San Mateo in which Gen. Lawton was killed.

EXECUTIVE ABILITY: After the battle of San Mateo he was appointed governor of the island of Corregidor. Six months he remained on Corregidor, administering the affairs of the island with a success that gained for him the highest commendations
from his superior officers, to whom his executive ability was as surprising as it was
gratifying.

SENT TO MARINDUQUE: On June 1, 1900 he was detailed with his company to take charge of the island of Marinduque, one of the most turbulent of the islands of the Philippine archipelago. Marinduque is a small island 200 miles south of Manila
and its inhabitants were noted for the resolution with which they opposed American
occupation. On this island he remained up to the time of the engagement in which
he was captured in which he received wounds [which made necessary] his return to Natchez.

THE FATAL EXPEDITION: Shortly before noon on the eleventh of September Captain Shields and his men left Santa Cruz, Marinduque, on board the gunboat Villabois, intending to return overland to Santa Cruz. At about three o’clock in the afternoon of the same day the men and their gallant commanding officer reached their destination, Torrijos. Landing without opposition the detachment went into quarters for the night. On the following day Captain Shields made a reconnoitering sortie in a westerly direction and about five miles from Torrijos came upon a rebel garrison. The fire of the Americans forced the enemy to flight, the fleet-footed Filipinos dispersing into the underbrush where it was impossible for the Americans to pursue them. Among the papers left by the fugitive garrison Captain Shields found letters from two prisoners. Nothing better illustrates the noble character of Captain Shields than the incident that followed, for it was in the endeavor to rescue these two prisoners that Captain Shields so nearly lost his life and was captured.

THE AMBUSCADE: The company was ambushed that afternoon. Seemingly from every point of the compass came a hurricane of lead from myriads of unseen enemies. In good order the detachment deployed in a circle and commenced a heroic defense. The enemy proved stubborn, advancing in hosts upon the small but intrepid band of Americans. Hundreds of the raging Filipinos, banishing their weapons with yells of rage, swarmed out of the ambuscade. The hundreds developed into thousands until a conservative estimate of their number placed it at about two thousand five hundred men. Surrounded by merciless foes, out numbered fifty to one, the undaunted Americans, inspired by the fearless conduct of their commander kept their foes at bay for over eight hours, their ammunition supply, small to begin with, running lower and lower.

SHIELDS WOUNDED: Early in the battle Captain Shields received a wound in the
shoulder but rallied and bravely urged on his command. Shortly before the
ammunition was entirely exhausted he received a terrible wound in the neck which
incapacitated him from further participation in the hopeless struggle. The command devolved upon Sergeant Winn who gallantly carried on the futile struggle against overwhelming odds. Captain Shields’ second wound came near to inflicting instant death. The ball entered the back of the neck nearly grazing the spinal column, passed through the throat and mouth knocking out four teeth, and breaking the jaw bone passed out through the cheek. The gallant officer fell partly in a small stream and his life was probably due to this circumstance; the cold water partly resuscitated him, restoring him to consciousness.
(Pulang Lupa's steep cliffs, valleys, underbrush and impenetrable jungles. Photo courtesy of Curt Shepard)

WEEKS OF SUFFERING: The capture of Captain Shields and his men was followed by four weeks of suffering such as could only be appreciated by men who have gone through similar experiences. Marched relentlessly over steep cliffs, down valleys, through underbrush and almost impenetrable jungles they were shown no mercy by their barbarous captors. Night and day they were compelled to march, strong and wounded alike, with no food other than the small quantities of rice doled out to them at irregular intervals.

RESCUED: When they were finally rescued by the regiment sent to search for them they were almost dead with fatigue and hunger, so thin and emaciated as hardly to be recognized by their intimate friends. The sufferings of the wounded during captivity would have been unendurable but for the devoted and unintermitting attentions of the hospital corps man who formed a member of the attachment and whose devotion to Captain Shields during his long weakness is one of the brightest incidents of the Philippine War.

HIS RECEPTION: The reception given Captain Shields upon his return to Natchez was the greatest ever tendered a man by this city. The citizens of Natchez, in a body, assembled in the Temple Opera House and about its doors awaiting to welcome the returning hero and to congratulate him upon his return to life and health.

Of Paye and Pulang Lupa

PHILIPPINE-AMERICAN WAR IN MARINDUQUE
(Of Paye and Pulang Lupa)

(Photo of the American landing in Laylay, the soldiers seen here wading ashore)

The most comprehensive account of the U.S. Army’s pacification of Marinduque from the period April 1900 to April 1901 was published in the Journal of Military History 61 (April 1997), in an paper written by Andrew J. Birtle.

The said paper begins with the following gripping lines:

“The severity with which the inhabitants have been dealt would not look well if a complete history of it were written out”.

”So wrote Philippine Commissioner William Howard Taft concerning the U.S. Army's campaign on the island of Marinduque during the Philippine War of 1899-1902. The pacification of Marinduque was characterized by extensive devastation and marked one of the earliest employments of population concentration in the Philippine War, techniques that would eventually be used on a much larger scale in the two most famous campaigns of the war, those of Brigadier Generals J. Franklin Bell in Batangas and Jacob H. Smith in Samar..."

The Birtle article provides the first detailed account of the story that Taft, the future governor of the Philippines and President of the United States, had felt "was best left untold.”

Paye Day on July 31

Marinduque marks the Battle of Paye Day on July 31, one of two historical holidays commemorating the revolutionary struggle on the island in 1900 during the Philippine-American War. The Paye episode was described as a "skirmish" in American journals (Wells). Local accounts refer to it as a "battle". Paye is a sitio of Brgy. Balimbing in Boac's Ilaya-side.

(Boac Church. Company A was paralyzed and retired to this church)

Birtle describes the Paye episode in the following terms:

"In fact, the American hold over Marinduque was quite tenuous. Not only were the two companies of the 29th USVs poorly led, but with fewer than one hundred men at each location neither garrison could adequately protect itself and undertake offensive operations at the same time.

Moreover, Bates did not deem the garrison important enough to rate anything more than sporadic naval support. Without a ship to transport men and relay messages, the two outposts could not readily support one another. Coordination was further impeded by Manila's failure to appoint an overall commander for the island...

The precariousness of the American position became evident on 31 July, when Teofilo Roque's Guerrilla ambushed one of Lieutenant Wells' rare forays into the countryside. Roque's force wounded two Americans and captured two others before the patrol escaped.

That night the victorious guerrillas set fire to a portion of Boac in an effort to drive the Americans out. In this they failed, though many of Boac's inhabitants fled, leaving the town virtually deserted. The episode also succeeded in paralyzing Company A, which retired to the church, venturing out only twice over the next two months.”


Birtle also described what followed six weeks later in the famous “Battle of Pulang Lupa". The Battle of Pulang Lupa is considered the first major victory of Filipinos over the Americans during the second phase of the Philippine Revolution.

Writes Birtle:

“On 11th 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 (September), Shields led his detachment into the mountains with the intention of returning to Santa Cruz. Well informed about Shields's movements, 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 (until) Shields fell seriously wounded.

After ordering that a message be passed to the senior NCO to lead the command out of the closing trap, Shields raised a white flag to surrender himself and the other wounded... the entire force lay down its arms. All told, the Insurgents killed four Americans and captured fifty, six of whom, including Shields, were wounded...

After months of hiding, Abad in a few short hours had destroyed nearly a third of the entire American garrison on Marinduque.

Confirmation of Shields's defeat sent shock waves through the American high command. The episode was one of the worst reversals suffered by U.S. forces in the Philippine War.”

Pulang Lupa

What is being described in the American annals as the defeat that “sent shock waves through the American high command” and “one of the worst reversals suffered by U.S. forces” was the Battle at Pulang Lupa that transpired six weeks after Paye.

Commemorating historic events contribute immensely in promoting historical appreciation and promote a deeper sense of identity particularly among the young.

One may raise the need to exercise caution in viewing such episodes in a broader perspective, but no matter, the Paye and Pulang Lupa accounts are important in recollecting the stories of local struggle during the second phase of the Philippine revolution.

The full Birtle article could be browsed on www.ulongbeach.com courtesy of Curt Shepard.

TRACING THE FOOTSTEPS OF COLONEL MAXIMO ABAD

(Photo: Battle of Pulang Lupa celebration, 2007)

TRACING THE FOOTSTEPS OF COL. MAXIMO ABAD... AND CAPT. TEOFILO ROQUE

Lt. Col. Maximo Abad is probably one of the most elusive among the Filipino soldiers who fought during the Philippine-American War, the hero who led the Marinduque revolutionary forces and defeated the Americans in the “Battle of Pulang Lupa”. During the last four decades after the first commemoration in Marinduque of this, now annually-celebrated event, facts about Abad have remained equally elusive.

So little is known about him – the Maximo Abad who tenaciously adhered to the cause of Marinduque’s defense and Philippine Independence. For one, the name does not appear in the Centennial Resource Book, “Ang mga Bayani sa Ating Kasaysayan” listing of famous and unsung heroes, a project completed in connection with the Philippine Centennial in 1998.

The Philippine National Police provincial headquarters in Marinduque is named after him: “Camp Col. Maximo Abad”. Yet, for years the Camp has tried, in vain, to also trace his mother's surname so the initial could be appended between “Maximo” and “Abad” in the welcome signage there.

Since nothing really appears to have been written about Abad’s background, (except his well-documented exploits in the Marinduque battle), we felt it appropriate to try to dig into some old documents, surf, recollect, and ask around here to trace his steps, to know a bit more about our celebrated hero. After all, August 31 is a holiday for national heroes.

Birtle (U.S. Army’s Pacification Campaign in Marinduque, April 1900-April 1901), described him as “a moustachioed school teacher from Luzon’s Cavite province”. We dig up an old Boac fiesta souvenir program with a brief description of the town’s history naming Maximo Abad as a “Maestro” in the first school for boys established there, “Escuela de Nino”, and that he was from Imus. Imus, of course, has always been associated with the resistance movement, and this might explain his early association with Gen. Mariano Trias, from whom he’d eventually be getting orders in the course of his Marinduque exploits. So we’re beginning to find connections.

Birtle contends that the civil and military leadership of the resistance movement on Marinduque was firmly rooted in the island's middle and upper classes, and that the insurrection was also in many ways a
family affair.

The American writer then goes on to tell us that Abad’s brother-in-law, Capt. Fausto Roque commanded the 1st Guerilla, and that Fausto had a cousin, Teofilo Roque (of the Battle of Paye fame whose biography also appears nowhere and likewise, needs to be written for history buffs). Teofilo commanded the 2nd Guerilla.

That leads us to the Roque residence in Mercado St., Boac, hoping to find more clues, particularly the name of Abad’s wife and children, if any, because that was our original intent.

We find that Fausto and Teofilo were cousins, indeed. But at the moment, no one remembers the name of Maximo’s beloved wife. They had a son for sure, we are told, but there's uncertainty if they had other children too.

We, however, unearth some information about Teofilo, the Paye hero. Teofilo was born in 1873, the son of Tomas Roque*, native of Bulacan, and Juana Navaroso, a local lass from Boac. Teofilo was the third of nine children. He graduated as a law student at Ateneo de Manila, and was still a bachelor in 1898, when he served as Lieutenant in the Marinduque Revolutionary Force.

By the time the Paye episode transpired he was already married to Filomena “Nena” Morente. The marriage did not produce any offspring. He was 60 when his wife died, then moved to Manila where he died in August 1942 at age 69. That appeared to give us some idea about the Teofilo Roque persona.

Then we zoom in again on the Abad character, one who has been described as passive, and turn to the internet.

Wikipedia credits Abad for being one of Gen. Licerio Geronimo's riflemen in the Battle of San Mateo (erroneously referred in that site and in many other sites as "Battle of Paye"), which occured on Dec. 19, 1899. But since a major confusion has been caused by Wikipedia in calling it by another name, and considering the fact that it was Abad's men who were involved in the real Battle of Paye on July 31, 1900, in Boac, Marinduque (led by Capt. Teofilo Roque), we'll have to consider it a confused claim unless backed up by verifiable references.

We then discover the text of a Supreme Court document dated Oct. 22, 1902, that showed Abad was earlier charged and convicted for having denied to an officer of the U.S. Army the existence of certain rifles which had been concealed at the time of his surrender in April 1901. It appears that he appealed the conviction and the Supreme Court held that the violation committed by the appellant Abad falls within the scope of “treason” and “sedition” and covered by the amnesty proclamation. The Court decided that Abad was entitled to the benefits of the proclamation and ordered that he be discharged.

So, this shows that the Americans pulled one over him after having dangled the carrot that ensured fair treatment if he surrendered. He did surrender on April 15, 1901, at Boac’s town plaza in an impressive ceremony attended by the townspeople.

We then come across other leads, chancing upon a listing of municipal heads in Imus from 1888 to the present which showed an entry: “Maximo Abad (1910-1912)”. That appears to tell us that our man returned to Imus and even became its mayor eight years later.

What happens next? A passage from Cotabato’s history states a new twist, thus:

“The first Christian settlers in Cotabato from outside of Mindanao, mostly coming from the province of Cebu, arrived in Pikit on June 17, 1913 at the behest and as a result of the efforts of the late President Sergio Osmeña, who was then the Speaker of the Philippine Commission. Expenses of their transfer to the "Land of Promise" were subsidized by the government. The administrator of the colonies given to the settlers at that time was a superintendent by the name of Maximo Abad, a government appointed official, who took care of the settlers’ needs like food and farm implements. There were six more batches of colonies that arrived thereafter...”

It therefore appears that the adventurous spirit of Abad never waned and he journeyed to a vaster frontier that imposed bigger challenges.

Finally, we find something as we come across a site attempting to trace genealogies:
“Col. Maximo Abad (deceased) Husband of unknown and Consolacion; Father of Ramon Lozano Abad and Josefina”
And related information stating that “Ramon Lozano Abad” was “Half-brother of Ramon, Francisco and Julito”

Fresh leads. He appears to have remarried and raised more children, and three appear to be half-brothers. In time, someone might prove instrumental when we finally gain access to the Revolutionary Papers tightly guarded within the confines of the National Archives.

It's not an easy task to put it all together. But we're seized by the inescapable feeling that tracing the paths of an elusive person brings. We feel it's a good start. A great National Heroes Day for me, I might say.



Sources:
(*Tomas Roque (Dec. 29, 1841-June 6, 1907): Boac Gobernadorcillo from 1877-1979 and 1897-1898. Helped in the local distribution of Rizal’s “Noli Me Tangere” and “El Filibustrismo” together with Marcelo Mirafuente of Boac; was authorized by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo in 1898 to recruit and train soldiers who eventually figured in the Paye and Pulang Lupa battles. “Tomas Roque Street” in Boac named after him.
Source: Document from granddaughter Juanita Roque-Enriquez as told by Joaquin Roque, a son of Tomas Roque)
The Journal of Military History 61(April 1997) The U.S. Army's Pacification of Marinduque, Philippine Islands, April 1900-April 1901 by Andrew J. Birtle.
Interview with Mrs. Fe Corazon Enriquez-Recalde. She supplied documents on Teofilo Roque prepared by her mother, Juanita Roque based on an account by Joaquin Roque, a brother of Teofilo.

http://www.wowphilippines.com.ph/explore_phil/place_details.asp?content=history&province=61
http://www.msc.edu.ph/centennial/hero/bicol/page10.html
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www.ulongbeach.com
www.gini.com