Father Ulpiano’s account of the Philippine revolution

THE need for translations is a common topic between Filipino scholars and curious readers. The sources of many important events are unfortunately hidden for most people. A big chunk of them are written in Spanish, a language that Filipinos usually learn fast and easily. A crucial event like the Philippine revolution needs the mediation of historians and interpreters because most of the sources have not been translated. I have found no less than 20 different accounts of the Philippine revolution written in Spanish and published between 1897 and 1912.

One of the most outstanding accounts of this crucial event, 900 pages long, was written by a Spanish Dominican friar, Fr. Ulpiano Herrero. The title is quite descriptive: Nuestra Prisión en Manos de los Revolucionarios Filipinos: Crónica de dieciocho meses de cautiverio de más de cien religiosos del centro de Luzón empleados en el ministerio de las almas (Our imprisonment under the Filipino revolutionaries: Chronicle of 18 months of captivity of more than 100 friars from Central Luzon in charge of administering the souls). It was published by the University of Santo Tomás in 1900 and narrates a critical moment of the revolution: the capture of the friars in Central and Northern Luzon by the revolutionaries. They would become their hostages.