Mass arrest of priests

A. Paulita Roa .

THERE is a letter of Raimundo Peruga, a Spanish Jesuit missionary assigned in Tagolaon Parish to his superior dated Aug. 25, 1899 which recounted several events leading to his arrest and that of his fellow priests by the local officials under the Aguinaldo revolutionary government. The mass arrest of the clergy in Misamis Province in 1899 where they were confined for a total of 13 months, was big news at that time but so little is known about it today.

However, for some reasons known only to them, this was not mentioned by our historians Filomeno M. Bautista, Fr. Francis Madigan and Madronio Lao. I was only able to piece the whole story from the letters written by Jesuit priests to their superiors and this is taken from the book titled, “Jesuit Missionary, Letters From Mindanao Volume 4: Dapitan-Balingasag Mission” with Fr. Jose Arcilla S.J. as the editor, translator (Spanish to English) and annontator. This was published by the UP Press in cooperation with the National Historical Commission of the Philippines and the Archives of the Philippine Province of the Society of Jesus.

Peruga wrote that on Dec. 20, 1898, he received a letter from the Spanish militay governor of Misamis Province (Lt. Col. Cristobal de Aguilar) informing him that he has turned over his command to a provincial council that later sent men in the name of Emilio Aguinaldo, President of the Philippine Republic, to appoint in each town members of the local revolutionary councils.The priest went on to say that he went to bed that night as a monarchist and a subject of Spain and woke up the next day as an independent republican!

Then he mentioned that he received a lengthy letter from Spanish Governor General Rios (Diego de los Rios) informing him that a boat for Manila would be passing for them as he was concerned for the safety of the priests. But because of the brief notice and of the fact that the priests lived far from one another, only one sickly priest was able to leave for Manila aboard that ship.

Peruga reported that on Jan. 10, 1899, the revolutionary presidents of the towns in Misamis Province (equivalent of the town mayors today) were summoned to the capital town which was Cagayan de Misamis for the double purpose of blessing the new flag and electing the officials of the provincial council. He seemed not happy about this celebration of the first Philippine Independence in Cagayan because he detected what he termed as “sinister” rumors that reached him that may forecast “sad happenings.”

In the evening of Jan. 13, he rode to Jasaan unmindful of the danger of crossing the deep Tagoloan River in order to seek counsel from his fellow Jesuits whom he asked to meet in Jasaan from Balingasag. He arrived at 6 am but an hour later, a commission from the provincial council came bringing a letter ordering all the priests and religious brothers to immediately go to Cagayan de Misamis by orders of the revolutionary government.

Then a double armed guard was posted on the staircase of the convento and they were declared prisoners and  were warned not to take a single step till the time they departed aboard a ship for Cagayan. When the priests were escorted to the ship by the soldiers, they were followed by a big crowd of people who were crying as they were astonished at this quick turn of events. Troops were also sent to different parishes in Misamis district to round up all the clergy and bring them to the capital town.

At about 1:30 pm on the same day, Jan. 13, the ship dropped anchor in Cagayan River. Escorted by armed guards with bayonets, they went to the patio of the town hall (formerly the Casa Real) where they waited for an hour before they were ordered to proceed to the convento. There, the guard instructed them not to communicate with anyone. For their food, bath and other needs, they were given 20 centavos each for their daily allowance.

Furthermore, Perugia wrote that what weighed heavily on their confinement was that they were banned from their ministries. They were forbidden to hear confessions except for the dying and they can also go out to bury the dead but was always accompanied by an armed guard. Even if there were notices that forbid the priests from performing their ministries, they were, in many cases, able to do so because the provincial presidente (governor) Jose Roa y Casas turned blind eye to what they were doing.

Roa also wrote a letter to the Jesuit superior Fr. Heras that he was granting the priests permission to go back to their respective mission assignment not as missionaries but to complete any unfinished business they may have had.

Local officials would not recognize them if they had no authorization from the revolutionary government. So, the superior ordered them to sell their houses in their respective parishes at the first opportunity. (to be continued)