Pulahan
[2] They practiced a form indigenous martial arts called Derobio Eskrima and they specialize using a heavy, crescent-shaped bolo knife in their battles.
It is therefore necessary that they be closely watched and brought under our influence, to the end that within a few years they may no longer have the desire to lead a wild and lawless life.
Their members were mostly from the illiterate rural poor who had little knowledge of formal Catholic teachings and were living in extreme poverty under colonial rule.
They include Lungao, a healer from Ilocos who claimed he was Jesus Christ in 1811; Ignacio Dimas, who led the "Tres Cristos" ("Three Christs") of Libmanan, Nueva Cáceres (modern Camarines Sur) who claimed they had supernatural powers over diseases in 1865; Benedicta, an old woman and a healer who called herself "La Santa de Leyte" ("The Saint of Leyte") in 1862 and prophesied that the island of Leyte would sink;[4] Clara Tarrosa, an eighty-year-old babaylan in Tigbauan, Iloilo in the late 1880s who proclaimed herself the Virgin Mary and isolated herself and her followers from Spanish rule;[5] Francisco Gonzalez (alias "Francisco Sales" or "Fruto Sales") of Jaro, Leyte who claimed in 1888 that he was a king sent to save people from another great flood by leading them to a city that would rise from the waves; and many more.
[4] The movement began on 1887, when Ponciano Elofre the Cabeza de Barangay of Zamboanguita, Negros Oriental, failed to collect all the taxes from his constituents.
[6] His movement would soon incorporate religious freedom, as well as the celebration of the ancient rites of the babaylan (shaman), with the intention of reviving aspects of Philippine mythology.
The activities of Elofre so alarmed the Spanish colonial government that Governor-General Valeriano Weyler sent 500 men of the Guardia Civil and a battleship to Negros to deal with the threat.
His wife, Flaviana Tubigan, and relatives attempted to continue the movement, but they were eventually captured and exiled by Spanish authorities.
They were succeeded by Ka Martin de la Cruz, of Tolong in southern Negros Oriental, Elofre's lieutenant.
When the Spanish authorities failed in their bid to capture him, on 11 September 1893, de la Cruz was killed in a trap laid by his own mistress, Alfonsa Alaidan.
The remaining Buhawi followers, were later recruited by Papa Isio when he began to organize his own group of babaylanes in another revolt against Spain.
During this era, the movement rapidly gained adherents and began setting up base camp on the slopes of Mount Kanlaon.
Soon, they began to have sympathy for the Katipunan, and entered a pact with Aniceto Lacson and Juan Araneta, leaders of the Katipunan-affiliated Negros Revolution.
[12] After the Philippines was ceded to the United States after the Spanish–American War, Papa Isio was initially made "military chief" of La Castellana, Negros Occidental under the American government.
They collected contribuciones babaylanes (a revolutionary tax), disseminated anti-colonial ideas, and launched attacks on towns in Antique and Iloilo.
Indeed, as a rule the pulahan is hard working, industrious, and not at all disposed to violence unless impelled to it by long continued wrongs or by the potent influence of religious fanaticism.
All the trouble in Leyte and in Samar was due in a large degree to injustices perpetrated upon the people... Education and just treatment will make out of the pulahan a good citizen"[4][13] From 1902 to 1907 the Pulahanes challenged the American authorities in Leyte, led by Faustino Ablen ("Papa Faustino"), an illiterate peasant who assumed the title of pope.
Ablen claimed to have supernatural powers and sold anting-anting that would render one invisible to the enemy and holy oil that could cure any ailment.
Ablen promised his followers that after victory, he would lead them to a mountain top on which stood seven churches made of gold, and they would be re-united with dead relatives and lost carabaos.
[17] After Emilio Aguinaldo's surrender to the Americans in the Philippine-American War in 1901, the resistance continued in Samar, led by general Vicente Lukbán.
The hardships the local population went through by the hands of the US Army, such as the genocidal March across Samar, instilled a deep hatred for the Americans among the Samareño's..
[18] After the Americans brought them the same corrupt officials, new taxes and laws, the local population began to join the Pulahanes and launch attacks on the government.
Colonel Enrique Villareal Dagohob (or Daguhob) was a college-educated native of Bicol, who served in the Siege of Catubig in April 1900.
[22] Dagohob planned to drive the local population into the mountainous interior of the island by the destruction of towns and villages, after which they would be influenced to join the resistance.
The bolomen received supporting rifle fire from the nearby brush but it was not effective as the pulajanes were notoriously poor shots.
Hundreds of pulajanes were wounded while 100 were killed outright before Anugar (the leader) called the assault broken off.A devastating battle for the movement was the Battle of Dolores River on 12 December 1904, in Samar, when over 1,000 Pulahanes led by Pedro de la Cruz were massacred by the 38-man contingency of the United States-led Philippine Constabulary.
The Constables held their ground and repelled the attacks, inflicting heavy losses with accurate and steady rifle fire.
In a surprise attack in July 1905, American troops killed Dagohob, after which many of his followers surrendered and resistance in the area he controlled stopped.
Major J.B. Murphy was senior inspector and leader of the Samar Philippine Constabulary, tasked with capturing Pulahan leadership.
[17] Curry appointed former Philippine Revolution Army Officers Congressman Eugenio Daza and Narciso Abuke to serve directly under Murphy as Captains.
