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By Go Bon Juan
Editor’s note: The Sixth Dr.
Jose P. Rizal Awards for Excellence awarding ceremony will be held
at 2 p.m., June 14, at the Kaisa-Angelo King Heritage Center on Anda
and Cabildo streets, Intramuros, Manila.
CALAMBA, Laguna, is well known as
the hometown of national hero Jose Rizal. But there is a less
bucolic side to its history.
For the Chinese in the
Philippines, Calamba was where the 1639 second massacre of the
Chinese in the Philippines started. Thousands of Chinese laborers
were conscripted to open up Calamba’s agricultural lands. In the
first month alone, hundreds died of malaria. The forced labor and
unbearable hardship eventually led them to revolt against the
Spanish cabezas there. The revolt then spilled over to neighboring
provinces and Manila. In the end, around 24,000 Chinese died from
the atrocities and the massacres that followed.
Besides the massacre, it is
interesting to note that the Chinese in Calamba also figured in the
dispute between the tenants of Calamba and the Dominican estate in
the 1880s. Together with other Filipinos, the Chinese signed a
document drafted by Rizal to seek government intervention in the
conflict. We noticed this incidentally when we read a narrative,
written by Rizal himself, entitled “La verdad para todos” (truth
for everyone) and published in La Solidaridad on May 31, 1889. The
story was mentioned in Leon Ma. Guerrero’s book, The First
Filipino.
Let us quote Rizal’s article at
length below, so readers have a better grasp of the issue and the
context in which Rizal mentioned to the Chinese’ participation.
“The answer to the
government’s inquiry, if it were to be truthful, would injure the
friars’ interests. The friars wanted it answered in accordance
with facts; but, considering that this would be contrary to the
truth and to the duty of a good citizen, the writer drafted the
reply on the basis of detailed information, translated it into
Tagalog, and read it to all [the tenants], including the very
emissaries of the friars so that they might report its contents to
their masters.
“No one protested and all
voluntarily signed, even the very partisans of the friars who could
not deny the facts, although the author reminded them that with
their signatures they would call upon themselves the reprisals of
the power.
“What happened? The document
was submitted, it went through all the legal channels . . . and it
was pigeonholed! The friars sought revenge and the townspeople
submitted another document seeking the intervention of the
government since the government itself had started the dispute; but
the government remained silent; it said neither yes nor no; there
was no investigation and the charges were not looked into; the
government was afraid of fighting for the truth and forsook the
unfortunate townspeople.
“Yet the petition spoke only of
agriculture, of urbanization! It did not impugn the immaculate
purity of the friars, it did not expose corruption, because the
writer has never wanted to stain his pen with the filth in which
certain habits are soaked. It dealt with nothing more than the
question of crops, lands, roads, schools, houses, etc.
“This document was signed by
all the principales; it was signed by this writer with his full
name; it was signed by women, property-owners, Chinese, servants,
laborers; it was signed by the whole town. It was read to the whole
world, to foes and friends, to the authorities, to the peninsular
Spaniards, because we had the courage of our convictions and because
we believed in the sincerity of the government and its devotion to
the welfare of the country.
“Nothing, nothing was done! And
from it all nothing remains but the revenge inflicted on the
unfortunate townspeople, victims of their loyalty to the government
and for their good faith . . .”
What is interesting and
significant here is that it showed that those Chinese in Calamba
then might also be tenants of the Dominican estate, and in the
struggle between the Calambeños and the Spanish friars, the Chinese
also sided with their fellow townsmen. This incident highlighted
Rizal’s greatness. He was able to organize such a broad united
front among all sectors of Calamba, including the Chinese.
The Calamba incident is another
good example that illustrates the fact that in the struggle against
Spanish colonial rule, the Chinese always fought side by side with
their Filipino brothers.
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