Collapse of the Filipino Armed Resistance to American Occupation, 1899 – 1905: Perspectives from Capiz

Collapse of the Filipino Armed Resistance to American Occupation, 1899 – 1905: Perspectives from Capiz

Sarreal D. Soquiño, EdD

Filamer Christian University, Roxas City, Capiz, Philippines

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.9010173

Received: 05 January 2025; Accepted: 09 January 2025; Published: 10 February 2025

ABSTRACT

The armed resistance to American occupation in the old province of Capiz, part of central Philippines, gradually weakened until it reached its collapse in 1905. This resistance waged by the local revolutionaries of the province of Capiz including the Aklan district was part of the simultaneous guerilla campaign by the Philippine government in Luzon and many parts of the islands of the Visayas and Mindanao against the US expeditionary army. These American troops were tasked by the McKinley administration to crush the Aguinaldo – led Philippine government and establish a colonial administration managed by the 2^nd Philippine Commission. This study examined an episode of the Filipino – American War from the standpoint of the local revolutionaries and the population of Capiz. This paper probed four surrounding factors that facilitated the collapse of the resistance to the American occupation in the said province: a) weakening of the resistance movement against American forces in the island of Panay which constituted three provinces – Capiz (and Aklan), Iloilo, and Antique; b) the local principalia (Filipino middle class) saw abundant opportunities they could gain from an American colonial rule; c) deterioration of local economic production caused by the conflict which led to shortage of food supply and incidents of hunger in the province of Capiz; and d) the increase of incidents of cholera cases in epidemic form which caused thousands of deaths among the local population.

Keywords: Filipino – American War, Capiz, Panay Island, Philippine Commission, hunger

INTRODUCTION

There were three contributing factors that led American forces succeed in its campaign against the Philippine resistance movement during the Filipino – American War. Tan (2002) identifies the following factors: a) employment of Filipino volunteers as Scouts or Constabulary who effectively helped the Americans weaken the resistance movement; b) the Filipino elite (principalia, educated, and wealthy) who campaigned for a peaceful resolution of armed conflict and acceptance of American sovereignty; and c) the  “absence of strong and cohesive national bond” among the revolutionaries which manifested in many provinces. The latter may be attributed to the ethnic tensions and conflicts that surfaced among the Tagalog revolutionary groups and their Ilocano counterparts in Luzon. The Ilonggo revolutionary elements from the island of Panay, in the Visayas, were also confronted with an ethnic – related conflict with the Tagalog expeditionary contingent deployed by the national leadership in the said island. Lack of national unity ensured the defeat of the Filipino resistance movement which benefited American colonial interest in the Philippines.

The Filipino – American War which broke out in 1899 showed the unwillingness of the nascent Philippine Republic to surrender its new-found independence to American colonial rule. But the war also marked by the willingness of the Filipino elite, also known as the highly-educated principalia, to readily embrace American sovereignty and collaborate with the Americans in exchange of securing their vested interests.   Famed Filipino historian, Teodoro A. Agoncillo points out important insights regarding the conclusion of the armed conflict between Filipino revolutionaries and the American expeditionary forces which is known in Philippine history textbooks as the Filipino – American War. Agoncillo (1990, 234-240) asserts that the capture of President Aguinaldo by the American troops during the height of the conflict punctuated the incoming collapse of the resistance movement. Furthermore, as Aguinaldo’s military campaign began to fizzle out, this gave way to a handful of influential Filipino middle class like Cayetano Arellano, Pedro A. Paterno, Felipe Buencamino and others who willingly collaborated with the 2^nd Philippine Commission (or Taft Commission) for the establishment of American sovereignty over the country (Agoncillo, 1990, 234-240). The 2^nd Philippine Commission was installed by US President William McKinley in 1901 to serve as colonial administration; the Commission was headed by William Henry Taft as the Governor General of the Philippines. Another Filipino nationalist historian, Renato Constantino, also highlights the Filipino – American War with the emergence of a group of Filipinos who steadfastly supported the establishment of American sovereignty. These Filipinos whom Constantino described as leading collaborators, and eventually benefited from the colonial administration were the following: T.H. Pardo de Tavera, Benito Legarda, Gregorio Araneta, Pedro Paterno, and Jose Luzuriaga (Constantino, 238-241, 1975). Pardo de Tavera, Legarda, and Luzuriaga were appointed as members of the 2^nd Philippine Commission, an administrative body that governed the Philippines at the turn of the 20^th century. Thus, early beneficiaries of the American colonial rule in the Philippines were the ilustrados (highly-educated, wealthy, principalia) as they acquired important positions in the government which further entrenched their prominence. A Jesuit scholar, Fr. Jose S. Arcilla (1994, 101-103), underlines three important points: a) Filipinos upheld that the Philippines was already a sovereign nation since 1898; b) the US set up a civil government all over the country following the official surrender of Emilio Aguinaldo; and c) introduced a system of primary education that used American instructional materials taught by American school teachers. The political reorganization and imposition of the American public school system were hastily carried out by the 2^nd Philippine Commission amid the continued armed resistance by the remaining Filipino revolutionaries despite the breakdown of the Philippine (Malolos) Republic. The public school system was one of the earliest institutions formed by the 2^nd Philippine Commission that served as colonial instrument to gain support from ordinary Filipinos. Soquiño (2022) stresses that the introduction of the American public school system in the old province of Capiz (including Aklan district) indicated the recognition by the local population to the newly – installed civil government. The 2^nd Philippine Commission, led by William Howard Taft, appointed Simplicio Jugo Vidal, a local principalia, as the governor of the provincial government of Capiz in March 1901. Furthermore, this public support for the American rule was facilitated by several circumstances, e.g. socio-economic factors, and at the same time, dismantled the indigenous resistance group (Soquiño, 2022).

The document, Benevolent Assimilation Proclamation, signed by US President William McKinley dated December 21, 1898 revealed the colonial intentions of the American government in the Philippines. The policy of Benevolent Assimilation declared the imposition of American sovereignty all over the country, assured the restoration of social order and protect the civil rights of the Filipinos including their sources of livelihood (McKinley in Blount, 1913). Most of the Filipino elite, also known as the principalia, unhesitatingly collaborated with the Americans in exchange of preserving their vested interests and economic development for the country in contrast with the revolutionaries who rejected another colonial rule and proceeded to sustain armed resistance to American forces (Diokno, 2011). These opposing views on how to deal with the early years of American rule highlighted the cleavage between the Filipino elite and the revolutionaries who were committed to pursue independence; an irresoluble contrast exploited by the 2^nd Philippine Commission.

… it was this divergence of perspective that differentiated the elite from the revolutionary and drove a wedge between them. It was also this difference in thinking that explains the conflicting Filipino reactions to benevolent assimilation and the mixed blessings it purportedly bestowed. And in many ways it is still this divergence in perspective that differentiates today’s moneyed elite from the vast poor majority. (Diokno, 2011, 103-104)

The perspective that favored economic development and modernization under American sovereignty did not only emerge from the Filipino elite who lived in Manila and its neighboring provinces as this view was also shared by their counterparts from the islands of Visayas and Mindanao. The local elite, the resistance movement, and the ordinary residents in many provinces outside Luzon certainly encountered unique experiences and situations during the height of the war and the establishment of American rule. Thus, this paper focuses on the situation of the old province of Capiz (including Aklan).  This study argues that the collapse of the indigenous resistance to American occupation in the old province of Capiz between 1899 and 1905 was brought about by prevailing circumstances witnessed by the local population. Furthermore, this essay identifies and examines these surrounding factors or circumstances mentioned above. These are the following: a)  weakening of the resistance movement against American forces in the island of Panay which constituted three provinces – Capiz (and Aklan), Iloilo, and Antique; b) the local principalia (Filipino middle class or elite) saw abundant opportunities they could gain from an American colonial rule; c) deterioration of local economic production caused by the conflict which led to shortage of food supply and incidents of hunger in the province of Capiz; and d) the increase of incidents of cholera cases in epidemic form which caused thousands of deaths among the local population.

METHOD AND SOURCES

This essay employed the approaches of historical study. This qualitative method of research identifies two sources, namely, primary sources and secondary sources. Primary sources refer to pieces of evidence written or created (non-written) during the period under investigation (Camagay et al., 2018, 7). Written sources, also known as documentary evidence, are called archival materials. Examples of archival materials are diary, letter, public documents, church records, court transcripts, school records, old newspapers and magazines, receipts, and business ledgers. Non-written (or created) sources are divided into different classifications such as artifacts, edifices, photographs, audio-video recordings, and art works. These types of materials undergo critical evaluation by the historian or researcher to determine the authenticity, reliability, and its relevance to the study. Secondary sources are defined as “works produced after the event has taken place and usually serve as an assessment or a commentary of events, people, or institutions of the past (Camagay, et al., 2018, 7). This type of sources comes in the forms of references, textbooks, encyclopedia, academic journal, thesis, dissertation, and monograph. Secondary sources are considered important, too, in conducting historical research because these materials can help the researcher compose his/her literature review and build up the paper’s theoretical framework. Secondary sources can also provide specific data and insights which seek to validate the main argument of this study.

This article relied mainly on written primary sources specifically the official reports of the 2^nd Philippine Commission, also known as the Taft Commission, submitted regularly to the US president from 1900 to 1906. Another primary source is the collection of the Philippine revolutionary documents retrieved by the US army during the war, and was compiled by John R.M. Taylor. The title of this source is, “The Philippine Insurrection against the United States: A Compilation of Documents with Notes and Introduction (volume 2, May 19, 1898 – July 4, 1902) published by the Eugenio Lopez Foundation in 1971. Secondary sources such as references, textbook, and unpublished dissertation in History also provided proper context and perspectives to this article. These sources are available at the National Library of the Philippines in Manila.

In this type of research approach, a narrative put forward by this study was based on the subjective critical evaluation of the available source materials gathered and selected by the researcher.

Illustration I

Philippine Map with Capiz Province Highlighted

Source: Map of the Philippines with Capiz Highlighted. Adapted from “DigiBox e-library,” Francisco A, digiboxelibrary.wordpress.com/capiz/. Retrieved Dec. 22, 2024.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Disunity within the Local Resistance Movement

Animosity among the members of the Tagalog expeditionary forces from the island of Luzon led by General Ananias Diokno (or Diocno) and the Ilonggo soldiers from the Regional Revolutionary Government of the Visayas deployed in Iloilo unfolded. Both sides hurled accusation of abuses committed against each other. Jovito Yusay, who served as acting president of the Regional Revolutionary Government of the Visayas, claimed that Diokno’s troops regularly perpetrated acts of atrocities, e.g. murder and assaults, against local inhabitants. In Yusay’s official report to General Emilio Aguinaldo dated March 16, 1899, he wrote:

… knowledge of the abuses which are … unbearable, daily committed by the troops of Señor Diocno… this government has hesitated to communicate them to you, but, as there is almost a reign of terror here, it feels that it must inform you of them in order to remedy them. The death of private individuals and assaults committed in the towns are daily reported as having been committed by the troops of General Diocno. (Yusay and Soriano, cited in Taylor 1971, 492)

Members of the Tagalog expeditionary troops did not deny, however, the claims made by the Ilonggo forces against them. Around thirty-five men from Diokno’s group sent an official statement addressed to Aguinaldo, dated August 1, 1899. The said document confirmed that some of their members perpetrated acts against the local residents like theft, but silent about the murder incidents which they allegedly committed. The signatories explained that due to lack of the basic necessities, some Tagalog soldiers were forced to take supply of food, e.g. chicken, coconut, eggplant or sugarcane, without permission from the owners. Here is an excerpt from the said document to further understand the side of the Tagalog forces:

… the Visayan governors have neglected the expeditionary forces of General Diocno, both in their pay and their maintenance and other peremptory needs of said forces … This led to serious displeasure, causing the commission of some abuses on the part of the forces of General Diocno, who were forced to take the action by a very sacred necessity, that of their subsistence, and not for the purpose of satisfying the inherent vices of evildoers … (35 signatories, cited in Taylor 1971, 533)

These facts have confirmed the growing internal antagonism between the two revolutionary troops who, at that time, were confronted with a new common enemy – the American occupation forces.

Another source of internal rift within the revolutionary forces in Panay was linked to the type of political organization or form of government the local leaders wanted to establish. On December 12, 1898, Visayan leaders instituted a form of government which they called as the, Federal State of the Visayan Islands, and the president’s office was located in the town of Jaro, Iloilo. The Visayan provinces that were represented in the said federal state were Iloilo, Antique, Capiz, Cebu, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and the District of La Concepcion (now part of Iloilo province). In less than a few months, however, Apolinario Mabini, who served as the Secretary of the Interior of the Aguinaldo administration, officially announced the dissolution of the Federal Council of Iloilo, and was renamed, instead, as the Provincial Council of Iloilo headed by a Politico-Military governor. Aguinaldo’s decree, dated April 27, 1899, also reorganized the political system of other Visayan provinces similar to Iloilo’s which resulted to the dissolution of the entire Federal State of the Visayan Islands.

Clearly, Aguinaldo and Mabini as national leaders thought that the existence of a federal state in the Visayas might weaken the national government’s revolutionary campaign against the American occupation forces deployed in the country (Soquiño, 2022, p. 84). The Malolos government, thus, preferred that each province must be administered by a military governor assisted by a provincial council amidst the on-going military conflict. Thereby, the appointed politico-military governors of Antique, Capiz and Iloilo were Generals Leandro Fullon, Ananias Diokno, and Martin Delgado, respectively.

Confusion in the leadership in Panay, however, prevailed when some revolutionary leaders in Iloilo continued using the structures and influence sourced from the defunct Federal State of the Visayan Islands. General Diokno, acting as the politico-military governor of Capiz, officially informed the Malolos government that he had difficulty collaborating with the government in Iloilo because most of the Visayan officials in Iloilo opted to preserve the federal system of government in the province. Annoyed by the recalcitrance exhibited by some officials, Diokno narrated:

The dissolution of the Federal Council of Iloilo was ordered by said decree [April 27 decree – mine], and I was directed to come to an agreement with the Politico-Military Governor of said province for the selection of the Politico-Military Governor of Antique; but notwithstanding the fact that said decree was received in said province, the Federal Council is still acting and the election has taken place because the Governor of Iloilo believes it prudent not to carry out the provisions of the decree for the present, as it is not a question of passions, but of the theories and systems which a people support. (Diokno, cited in Taylor 1971, 543)

Another incident which displayed the preference of some Iloilo officials for the preservation of the Federal State of the Visayan Islands as the province’ political system is an official letter from a certain Lieutenant Colonel N. Buenaflor from the Southern Zone, also countersigned by Luis Hervas, dated August 8, 1899. The letter was interestingly addressed to the president of the Federal Government of Visayas. This is intriguing. The signatories of the letter should have addressed their official communication to General Martin Delgado because he was already acting as the Politico-Military Governor of Iloilo based on the decree of April 27, 1899. It is impossible that the two officials from the Southern Zone of Iloilo province were not yet aware about the dissolution of the Federal State of Iloilo which took effect on April 27 (1899) while their letter was dated August 8 of the same year. This letter confirmed Diokno’s grievance.

Delgado, as appointed Politico-Military Governor of Iloilo, also shared the same sentiment expressed by Diokno. On September 21, 1899, Delgado announced that the entire military force of the province convened at the general headquarters in Santa Barbara, and officially requested to him, as General-in-Chief of the Army and appointed Politico-Military governor – to formally establish a Politico-Military government in the province. Few days later, he officially announced the dissolution of the Federal State of the Visayan Islands as he assumed the post entrusted to him by the Malolos government as Politico-Military Governor. Below is an extract from Delgado’s official communication addressed to all municipal leaders in the province:

…  I have decided to hold a mass meeting which will take place at these Headquarters on the 28th instant, at 8 a.m., for the election of three Councillors, one of Justice, one of Police, and one of Finance, in accordance with instructions of our Honorable President of Central Luzon, Sr. Emilio Aguinaldo. (Delgado, cited in Taylor 1971, 545)

Such acts initiated by Delgado showed that he wanted a political reorganization in the province that corresponded to the framework of the politico-military form of government introduced by Aguinaldo. For Diokno and Delgado, the Federal State of the Visayan Islands was no longer existing contrary to the sentiment upheld by other local revolutionary officials. A widening internal rift was apparent; an unfortunate situation that weakend the revolutionary campaign against American incursions in the island of Panay.

Local Principalia Favored American Rule

The second factor that encouraged the population of Capiz accept American rule was the prevailing sentiment among the local principalia which favored collaboration with the Americans. A group of the local principalias, who presumably gathered in Mambusao, sent a communication to Diokno, dated February 1901. These local principalias encouraged Diokno, who served at the time as the Politico-Military Governor of Capiz, to end their military campaign and collaborate, instead, with the American “authorities”. The twenty-six (26) signatories of the said letter admitted that due to the dwindling supplies of resources, the guerilla campaign staged by the local revolutionary forces in the province could no longer match the superiority of the American occupation troops as the latter evidently sustained the armed conflict for almost two years. Clearly, military defeat in the hands of the American forces was imminent. However, it appeared that the signatories sensed that embracing American sovereignty could, eventually, reap benefits for the Filipinos such as the restoration of economic activities, peace and order, and the granting of civil rights as expressed in the Treaty of Paris of 1898. Determined in their resolve for the peaceful conclusion of the war, these local principalias strongly urged Diokno and his officers:

…we beg you, earnestly; weigh them impartially, and if you believe them just, we call upon you to lay down your arms, seeking the benefits of the amnesty, in order that with peace and the enjoyment of all individua’[sic] rights and liberties we may work together for the regeneration of our beloved Philippines. (Exhibit 1311, cited in Taylor 1971, 620)

The resistance movement was unquestionably weakening as the armed conflict continued beyond 1899, and the American occupation forces led by Brig. General P.P. Hughes successfully penetrated the interior of Panay island. In February 1900, around 167 Tagalog soldiers surrendered to the American troops in Capiz, turned over one hundred (100) rifles to the enemies before they were sent back to Luzon (Taylor 1971). General Martin Delgado, who commanded the Iloilo forces, also ended his campaign as he surrendered on January 10, 1901, while Diokno was captured on March 18, 1901. In Capiz, there were still small bands of freedom fighters who challenged the American forces like the group of Julian Bertuoso, who operated in the areas of Pontevedra and Pilar. But local officials of every town in Capiz, who were mostly principalias, already completely abandoned the approach of armed resistance. Collaboration with the Americans, they expected, could preserve – or even expand – their interests as property-owners and as town officials.

For the wealthy class of the province of Capiz, the war already concluded. On April 14, 1901, one hundred eigthy seven (187) residents from various municipalities – mostly current local officials – attended the official conference in the capital town, Capiz (now Roxas City), presided by William H. Taft as head of the 2nd Philippine Commission (US RPC, 1901). Other American delegates from the Commission who joined the mass meeting were Dean C. Worcester, Henry C. Ide, Bernard Moses, and A.W. Ferguson who documented the proceedings. The primary objective of the mass meeting organized by the Taft Commission was to establish a provincial civil government represented by qualified local residents.

The next day, April 15th, the Commission appointed Simplicio Jugo Vidal as provincial governor, Simeon Mobo Reyes from Aklan district as provincial secretary, Alejandro Pardo was selected as provincial fiscal, and Marion C. Rayson – an American – was tasked to serve as provincial treasurer. A handful of local officials like Simeon Dadivas, S. Jugo Vidal, Antonio Habana, and Mobo Reyes discussed before the Taft Commission important matters concerning public affairs such as the collection of taxes, financing the civil government and the municipal police, peace and order including the revival of local industries in the province. Dadivas, who was the presidente of the town of Panitan, delivered the welcome address. He hinted that armed resistance aimed at challenging American sovereignty in the province was already abandoned (US RPC, 1901). That statement served as an indirect support to the appeal made by the 26 signatories urging Diokno end his campaign against the American forces. It also disregarded the existence of small bands of local guerrillas which fought agents of American rule until 1905.

Decline of Economic Production: Food Shortage, Hunger

Hunger became widespread in the province (RPC, 1901). The two consecutive wars – uprising against the Spanish colonial rule and the Filipino-American War – disrupted all types of economic activities especially agricultural works. Aside from the armed conflict, agricultural crops in the interior of the province were ravaged by locust infestation, and this calamity was further exacerbated by the spread of rinderpest – an infectious disease that kills farm animals like cows and carabaos. In the town of Jimeno, part of Aklan district, agricultural fields were no longer productive, large number of carabaos (an important farm animal) perished from the infestations, and the inhabitants were impoverished. In Diokno’s letter addressed to Apolinario Mabini, dated August 25, 1899, he already declared Capiz as under the state of poverty, and collection of citizen certificate tax was no longer possible (Taylor, 1971). Such economic woes may be described by the population of Panay island, including Capiz, in their own language, Hiligaynon, as tig-gulutom which means, a period of hunger and deprivation (Soquino, 2023, 467).

The ordinary inhabitants of the province very well knew that their miserable condition would further deepen if the armed conflict persists. Ending the conflict would ensure the restoration of peace and order allowing the people resume their usual economic activities like farming and trade. Indeed, the revival of the local economy was one the reasons cited by local principalias from Capiz why they sought for the termination of war with the Americans, and work for a peaceful collaboration with the Philippine Commission. The following is another extract from the February 1901 petition signed by 26 signatories addressed to Diokno, the Politico-Military Governor of Capiz:

It is high time that the smell of powder no longer fill the air of our fields and hills; that the whistle of bullets should cease; that our abandoned fields should again be cultivated and wealth accrue; and in a word, it is already time for us to seek peace, being convinced that when it is assured, we shall be able to see the aggrandizement of our country, an aggrandizement which we can never expect to attain by strife, in view of its sterility which has been proved by events that lead to nothing but our ruin and perdition. (Cited in Taylor 1971, 618)

Thus, confronted with the impending widespread hunger caused by low agricultural productivity and food shortage, the principalia of the province of Capiz rejected a protracted armed resistance, and instead, negotiated with the Americans through the 2^nd Philippine Commission which resulted to the establishment of an American-sponsored provincial government in the province.

Cholera Epidemic in Capiz, 1902 – 1904

Another disaster that aggravated the sufferings of the population of Capiz was the outbreak of cholera in epidemic form which caused serious public health crisis. Filthy environment breeds vibrio cholera which causes a deadly disease called, cholera. Vibrio cholerae is a lethal bacterium which thrives in fecal contaminated water and food, e.g. vegetables and seafood that can cause watery diarrhea, vomiting, and severe depletion of body fluids or dehydration (Kaper, et. al. in Soquiño, 2022, 671). Began its spread in Manila (capital of the Philippines) on the 20^th March 1902, residents of Capiz also witnessed the ravages caused by cholera which occurred in the same year. Governor Simplicio Jugo Vidal, who headed the provincial government of Capiz since 1901, reported that the epidemic began in September 1902 and claimed 3,016 lives out of 4,650 patients (Vidal in Soquiño, 2022, 675). The outbreak subsided in March 1904 (see Table 1).

Table 1: Number of Cases and Deaths Caused by Cholera Epidemic in Panay Island

Source: Worcester, Dean C. (1909). A History of the Asiatic Cholera in the Philippine Islands. Manila: Government Printing Office, p. 31.

The period between 1903 and 1904 marked an extremely difficult socio – economic condition for the inhabitants of Capiz. Armed conflict, epidemic, food shortage, hunger, and typhoon in June 1903 served as perfect combination for the – Hiligaynon language – “wala untat nga pag-antus” (trans. in English – prolonged or endless agony/suffering). Amid this crisis, the provincial government of Capiz assisted by the 2^nd Philippine Commission, implemented concrete solutions to mitigate the impact of the cholera outbreak. Aside from health services provided by the colonial administration which aided the local population survived from the deadly epidemic, the former carried out relevant projects such as construction of drainage and sewerage systems, strict supervision of repairs or erections of buildings, and disinfected public markets and shops to improve sanitary conditions. By the middle part of 1904, public health condition in the province improved significantly. Farmers returned to their fields with optimism as they achieved abundant harvests of rice and corn before the end of the year (5^th AR, 1904, # 401.5. 456).

This series of misfortunes that came in the forms of epidemic, food shortage, and hunger facilitated the dismantling of the last local armed group led by Julian Bertuoso that operated in the towns of Panay, Pontevedra, and Pilar. Governor Jugo Vidal described consistently this armed group as bandits who were responsible to the numerous criminal acts such as robbery and assaults (5^th AR, 1905, Exhibit A). Bertuoso led a group of nine (9) armed men who peacefully surrendered to the provincial governor on February 22, 1905 at Tinagong Dagat. Bertuoso and his men turned over their rifles, shotguns, a revolver, and ammunitions before the presence of the Governor Jugo Vidal, a group of municipal police, and local officials of the towns of Pontevedra and Pilar. A large crowd of local residents also witnessed the event. Historians, who promote nationalist narrative, may disagree with Vidal’s description of the group of Bertuoso as mere bandits as this band is viewed by the former as remnant of the anti – American resistance movement; they were freedom fighters. The provincial government of Capiz did not share that view as it saw the year 1905 as the end of widespread “banditry” and the gradual disappearance of anti – American sentiments in the province. This armed group was simple viewed as criminals, lawless.

The establishment of the American colonial rule in the country was evidently inevitable despite fierce resistance from the Filipino revolutionary movement. The gradual deployment of American expeditionary force to the Philippine territories in 1898 and the publication of the document, Benevolent Assimilation Proclamation, which manifested McKinley’s colonial intentions served as clear signals that national independence long aspired by Filipinos remained an elusive dream. It is safe to conclude that  external forces such as disasters (epidemic, economic depression, food shortage), and unfavourable condition triggered by vested interests accelerated the imposition of American sovereignty over the Philippines. These external forces, also described in this paper as ‘underlying factors’, overlapped each other and influenced the shaping of a new order that ended a resistance movement and preserved a class interest.

CONCLUSION

The breakdown of the indigenous resistance movement was facilitated by four underlying factors, namely: a) internal rift between the Hiligaynon – speaking local revolutionary movement in Panay island, including Capiz province, and the Tagalog expeditionary forces that represented the Filipino national government from the region of Luzon; b) the principalia (local elite) in Capiz, who feared continued financial losses and destruction of their properties as armed conflict with the American forces prolonged, obviously opted for a peaceful resolution and collaborate with the 2^nd Philippine Commission for the preservation of  their (principalias) vested interests; c) the occurrence of food shortage and incidents of hunger in various parts of the province as agricultural production slowed down which made the people realized the futility of armed resistance to American rule; and lastly, d) the outbreak of cholera – a deadly disease – in epidemic form worsened further the pag-antus (agony, sufferings) experienced by the Filipinos amid the conflict. Thus, both the local elite and the ordinary residents of the province eventually embraced American rule and suppressed their aspiration for national independence, provided all forms of economic production were restored, problem of food shortage solved, and hunger was no longer a common reality.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This project was funded by the Research and Continuing Education Center (RCEC) of Filamer Christian University headed by Erlyn C. Beup, PhD. The National Library of the Philippines or NLP in Manila provided abundant archival materials and secondary sources vital for the development of this research article. I also extend my heartfelt gratitude to my encouraging wife, Ferlee Fernando – Soquino, PhD who edited this essay, and made it publishable.

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