Enmity Between the Kapampangan and the Tagalog

Sumatran Adventurers and their Prize

As we have discussed before, oral traditions speak of the Kapampangan people descending from Sumatran adventurers who settled along the Rio Grande de Pampanga. Before discussing the article's matter, we need to discuss what comes before.

Around the time of the first post-Neolithic Kapampangan archaeological finds, Sumatra was ruled by the Srivijaya Kingdom. This polity ruled a large domain stretching across modern Malaysian and Indonesian land. By the late Tang dynasty, Srivijayan expeditions for trade and exploration started reaching the rest of Austronesian lands.

As Fr Colin's account details, a certain group of these Srivijayan natives would leave the area by a large lake in West Sumatra, and eventually reach what is now Pampanga. These seafaring adventurers rode mighty ships called karakoa, and would pass on their skills to future generations. Even today, the Kapampangan word dayat refers to both the sea and to ricefields, and pulu refers both to islands and to villages amid a sea of rice. The Srivijayan Kingdom loved Chinese materials, and these adventurers were no different. The oldest post-Neolithic findings in Pampanga abound with late Tang and early Song dynasty porcelain.

Now the Kapampangan plain used to abound with Central Luzon peoples who would form Sambal and Ayta peoples. These adventurers formed tightly-knit communities around what used to be inhabited lands by Porac and Candaba. In time, their influence grew as formerly nomadic natives began settling under their watch. These nomads had much to fear, for their former kin who would become the Remontado Agta had become trapped by a mysterious race of men who had come from the southern seas.

The First Conflict

Now a group of seafarers descended from old Visayans had made their way to what we now call Marinduque, and there they made a base for an invasion of Luzon. Many had taken to call these strange folk the taga-alog, for their homes sat by marshes (alog) near what we call the River Pasig. These taga-alog lived much differently from those by the pampang of Central Luzon. The former saw woman as superior to man, and lived as women's subjects. Men existed as an accessory to pregnancy, and true women had to lose their maidenhoods to men scrutinized for the task. They preferred a shamaness, ang katalo niyan as the strange folk called her. They had godlike ladies, the dayang, who engaged in battle and diplomacy alike.

So these strange folk lived like children being nursed. No one would stand out or act better than anyone, or the rest would pull him down. Everyone would act with peace in public, yet they would shame and mock one another the same in private. These strange folk also lived in strict and rigid castes: freemen lived as freemen, birthed freemen; warriors lived only as warriors, birthed warriors; nobles lived only as nobles, birthed nobles. Lastly, these people allowed the use and trade of people as chattel. Word of this no doubt shocked the Sumatrans and nomads of Central Luzon, for chattel slavery was against their most valued treasure: katimawan - liberty.

One of the Sumatrans taught the natives metallurgy, woodcutting, rice culture, and ultimately war. He and his men learned the natives' ways, and the natives loved him for his leadership. They awarded him the title of Apung Sucu, and he would lead the new Kapampangan people in their first war against foreign threats.

The Kapampangans worked hard to till the land, made fertile by the western mountains. They grew rice, and grew strong and energetic. They grew hardwood, and built sturdy homes. And they crafted tools, all the more to help them prosper. Apung Sucu also taught the Kapampangans the concepts of property, of trade, of markets, of law, which his native Srivijaya had. The Kapampangans saw this and rejoiced, for their leader had shown them a new light. They adopted his stylish wear, his sense of craftsmanship, his refined culinary taste. These marked the Kapampangans as a civilized race, just and brave, diligent and persevering. The taga-alog saw their bounty and envied.

A group of taga-alog trespassed a Kapampangan's property, and they cut down trees for their own use. The Kapampangan saw this and protested, yet the taga-alog claimed that the land was all theirs to share under Bathala's gaze. The Kapampangans countered that their work made the land theirs, and the strangers had neither right nor claim to what the former did. The strangers answered that nothing on earth lasted, so the Kapampangans ought to surrender what was theirs before they lose it.

Apung Sucu heard word of the incident, and brought his retinue with him to deal with the trespassers. The latter scurried back, shouting that they would come back with forces led by their Dayang Makiling.

And so the taga-alog came in a navy, their dayang leading her maharlika crew through the Pampanga River to conquer more land. Apung Sucu rallied his men to dam the river, reversing its flow and trapping the invading horde. Her ships stumbling and bumping each other, Dayang Makiling realized what had happened. She offered surrender to Apung Sucu, recanting her folly.

Now the Tagalogs, as the taga-alog would be known, returned to their conquered lands to the south. Dayang Makiling herself caught Apung Sucu's eye. This proud and arrogant woman now found herself submitting to the strong-willed and crafty Kapampangan leader. No more would she remain matriarch of the Tagalogs, for she now helped lead the Kapampangan nation as Apung Sucu's wife. Dayang Makiling would call her beloved Sinukuan, for she had surrendered to the one who lead the Kapampangan people in their time of need. Their daughters she would name Malagu (beautiful), Mahinhin (modest), and Matimtiman (charming), for she wished them to forsake matriarchy and live as women ought. For now, peace would reign between Kapampangan and Tagalog, with the former reigning in what we now call the provinces of Bulacan, Bataan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, and Aurora. The latter kept to lands from the River Pasig to the island of Marinduque.

Western Strangers

Half a millennium passed until new strangers greeted Manila Bay. They brought with them strange, new arms and armor unlike anything in the islands. While the Kapampangans fought with gunpowder and steel, these strangers had perfected their craft in war. And so the head kingdoms of Selurong, Tondo, and Namayan all surrendered to Spanish arms. This Tagalog surrender had no equal since Dayang Makiling's surrender to Sinukuan. Many Kapampangan settlements wished to see whom they had surrendered to. Yet the Muslims of Macabebe and Hagonoy refused surrender and gathered around their chieftain Bambalito. Their carcoas sailed down the Pampanga River and they massed around Bangkusay channel to determine the fate of Spanish conquest. Spanish arms made a massacre, finished by Visayan archers and warriors.

Above other Tribes

Only Lubao and Betis among the Kapampangan settlements refused surrender afterwards, and even they would do so by the end of 1571. In 1574, Kapampangan cooperation with new Spanish suzerains began when Chinese pirates under Lín Fèng invaded Pangasinan and Manila. Kapampangan forces routed his army, the pirate retreated back to the sea. Kapampangans so impressed the Spanish that only they with some Ibanag would routinely enlist in Spanish campaigns. Wars against the Dutch saw Kapampangans crewing Spanish vessels around the East Indies. Rebellions saw Kapampangan armies pacifying them. Even far-off lands like Guam and Palau saw Kapampangan forces complement Spanish ones. Kapampangans had dragoons, organized militias, and artillery batteries. When the British invaded, Don Simon de Anda established a foundry in Bacolor for Kapampangans to work in, echoing precolonial Kapampangan blacksmiths like Pira. New musters routed the British all the way to Manila, after earlier detachments inflicted many casualties before retreating. Only once did Kapampangan loyalty falter, when the Manila government passed down tyrannical decrees on Pampanga. Forces under Don Jun Maniago began making their way to Manila before Don Juan Macapagal led his own army to convince the former to make peace. The Spanish, however, feared this threat for they had given the Kapampangans much training and equipment. As the saying went,

One Spaniard and three Pampangos were equal to four Spaniards.

Now many had noted the Kapampangans' virtue and valor in contrast to other peoples in the indies. Spaniards noted that Tagalogs and Visayans gleed in what little power they gained, and abused it to the fullest. Kapampangans, however, kept to virtue fit for a Spaniard. Their diligence, their industry, their shrewdness all gave the Spaniards awe, for no other race in the islands so resembled Spanish behavior. For their merits, the Spanish crown gave Kapampangans perpetual autonomy and freedom from tribute or taxes. Kapampangans now entered the Spanish peerage, studied in Spanish universities in Manila or abroad, and joined the Spanish military's upper ranks. Other tribes, however, remained below Kapampangan standards, and so they envied once more.

The Belt of Fire

One morning in 1892, townsfolk around Pampanga alarmed at a purge happening. Freemasons around the province had been attempting a rebellion, officials claimed. Yet afterwards, peace and quiet reigned. Until the fighting began. Four years later, Governor-General Ramon Blanco caught wind of a Tagalog rebellion mustering in Manila, Bulacan, Morong, Cavite, and Laguna. To that end, he placed eight provinces under martial law, including Pampanga and Tarlac. The old Kapampangan lands had since been partitioned numerous times since Spanish conquest, and the two provinces were all that they lived in. Yet even this would not hamper Kapampangan loyalty, for when the rebellion began all of Pampanga took up arms to keep the rebels at bay. Kapampangan forces dealt with Andres Bonifacio till his execution by his own comrades for licentiousness, and would join new Spanish forces that mustered from the Peninsula in a final assault on the rebellion. The new rebel leader Aguinaldo, however, devised a scheme that would let him and his band escape Cavite and make their last stand in San Miguel de Mayumu, still a Kapampangan town. Loyalist forces negotiated, and the rebels agreed to flee in exile to Hong Kong. Yet Pampanga remained uneasy, for rebel stragglers had grown bolder in attacking whom they perceived to be dog-blooded traitors. Kapampangan militiamen kept watch always against rebel infiltrators, saboteurs, and spies. Tagalog Katipuneros executed terrorist attacks across the province, even performing massacres against well-known Spanish civilians and gentry. Not even a Spanish doctor of Guagua or his wife and daughter saw mercy under the terrorist campaign.

A Lost Century

Now American forces saw their entry into the war, and Spanish remnants outside Manila retreated to Macabebe. These stragglers retreated once the forces in Manila Bay saw destruction, and the Tagalogs began their reign of terror in Pampanga. Macabebe was razed to the ground, with only Jose Alejandrino's intervention preventing its total destruction. The parish priests of San Fernando and Mabalacat were muredered by Tagalogs, hanging their bodies for Kapampangans to see. The provincial nobility, descendants of the precolonial Guinu, thought that appeasement would allay the Tagalogs' bloodthirst. Yet this only worsened it, for the Americans had come for Aguinaldo's head, and Pampanga became a battleground between the Tagalogs and America. The Kapampangans knew whom to ally with, and Kapampangan forces enlisted with the Americans en masse. Tagalog forces threatened kidnapping and beheading to any Kapampangan noble who collaborated with American rule, yet even this threat could not stop the Kapampangans who wished revenge for their losses. Kapampangan forces would later help capture Emilio Aguinaldo deep in Isabela province, and American rule was set for the next four decades. The rebellion had ruined Pampanga, and left it in a lingering economic depression. The poor situation allowed key Tagalogs and allies to grab much land and property from destitute nobles, suffering freemen. It took long for Pampanga to recover, with the Huk rebellion revealing that Pampanga remained destitute well into Philippine Independence. Only with Mt Pinatubo's eruption, and the succeeding years did Pampanga finally recover from the lost century wasted by Tagalog tyranny. Now Pampanga will achieve greater heights beyond anything she has seen before, supported by years and experience of hardship and adversity.

Sources:

• Cushner, N. P., & Larkin, J. A. (1978). Royal land grants in the colonial Philippines (1571-1626): Implications for the formation of a social elite. Philippine Studies, 26(1/2), 102-111.

• Flannery, K. P. (2016). Battlefield diplomacy and empire-building in the Indo-Pacific world during the Seven Years’ War. Itinerario, 40(3), 467-488.

• Headland, T. N., Reid, L. A., Bicchieri, M. G., Bishop, C. A., Blust, R., Flanders, N. E., ... & Seitz, S. (1989). Hunter-gatherers and their neighbors from prehistory to the present [and comments and replies]. Current anthropology, 30(1), 43-66.

• Himes, R. S. (2012). The Central Luzon group of languages. Oceanic Linguistics, 490-537.

• Larkin, J. A. (1972). Pampangans. University of California Press.

• Mawson, S. (2016). Philippine Indios in the service of empire: Indigenous soldiers and contingent loyalty, 1600–1700. Ethnohistory, 63(2), 381-413.
  

• Scott, W. H. (1979). Class structure in the unhispanized Philippines. Philippine Studies, 137-159.

• Zorc, R. D. P. (1993). The prehistory and origin of the Tagalog people. Language—A doorway between human cultures: Tributes to Dr. Otto Chr. Dahl on his ninetieth birthday, 201-211.