Filipino Martyr: ANDRES MALONG

 ANDRES MALONG

(d.1661)

Leader of the Pangasinan Revolt

Andres Malong was the leader of the short-lived but devastating revolt in Pangasinan in

1660-1661. A native of Binalatongan, Pangasinan, Malong was the province’s master-of-camp, the

governor’s right-hand man in dealing with the natives. He was a timawa. An Augustinian account

described him as highly intelligent and clever. Although it was his job, as master-of-camp, to

impress upon his fellow Pangasinenses the advantages of having the Spanish overlord, he had

other ideas. Unknown to his Spanish masters, he was sowing the seeds of revolt in the minds of the

people.

It was the time of the Dutch invasion of the Philippines. A thousand natives were

employed in Pampanga and Bataan to cut timber for the building of ships. They were recruited not

just from those provinces but also from Pangasinan, the Ilocos, and Cagayan. After working for

eight months away from their families and without being paid their meager salaries, they had

grown agitated.

The mutinous situation was turned into an open revolt by Pampangos, led by Francisco

Maniago, a master-of-camp like Malong. However, this revolt in Pampanga was easily quelled,

without any blood being spilled on its soil. The one that spread to Pangasinan by Andres Malong,

was something else.

Malong’s revolt targeted only the Spanish government officials, not the Spanish priest.

Obviously, Pangasinenses had a deep reverence for all things Christian. Malong ordered the

people not only to attend masses and to pray, but also to guard churches and convents to keep

them from harm. This attitude reflected the sincere appreciation of the people towards priests in

the province who, according to Spanish chronicles, were dedicated to their mission of

Christianizing the natives and assimilating them into a civil society. It was even recorded that

these priests regarded the natives as their brethren and jealously guarded their safety as members

of the flock. It was the abuses committed by the lay Spaniards, including encomenderos and

alcaldes that actually fueled the revolt. The first stirrings of the revolt occurred in Malangue

(Malunguey in other accounts), but the authorities quickly suppressed these with the aid of

soldiers from Pampanga. However, it was to take a violent and bloody turn soon enough.

On December 15, 1660, a mob led by Malong raided the house of the alguacil mayor of

Lingayen, Nicolas de Campos, killing him and his family and setting fire to the house. The force of

the discontented increased each day, in each town. Any town, which refused to join the revolt, was

razed to the ground. For dilly-dallying, Bacnotan was besieged by the rebels. The town’s alcalde

mayor and his family tried to escape by the river, but they were overtaken when their boat hit a

sandbar, and were massacred. Only the town priests were spared.

With the death of Spanish town officials, Malong proclaimed himself “King of

Pangasinan.” His rebels were then in control of the whole provincial territory, from Bolinao in the

west to the Ilocano-populated towns of present-day La Union. Even the Zambals, a mountain

people who refused to heed the call of civilized life, were enticed to join the revolt.

With the people of Pangasinan united under him, Malong thought of spreading and

consolidating the forces of rebellion in all of Luzon under his command. He sent 6,000 men under

Melchor de Vera to Pampanga and another 3,000 men to Ilocos under Pedro Gumapos, retaining

only 2,000 men under his immediate command. Unfortunately, Pampanga was, by this time,

already at peace with the Spaniards. The Pampanga leader Maniago, who had initiated the revolt

in the province, was for Spanish rule once again.

The Spaniards responded to Malong’s revolt with a two-pronged attack, both river-borne

and by land. Their troops were augmented by Pampangos, mestizos, Japanese (from Dilao, now

Paco), Zambals, and Pangasinenses from Bolinao. Having sent the bulk of his army away, Malong

faced the Spaniards with a depleted force, which proved no match to them in firepower and

military training. The Spaniards overcame the rebel’s chief town, Binalatongan, which the rebels

themselves had already burned to the ground. They had retaken Lingayen earlier without a fight.

The rebels retreated to the forest, hoping to get back at their enemy in an ambush, but the wary

Spaniards did not fall into the trap.

Meanwhile, Melchor de Vera’s army was defeated at Magalang. He was captured and

hanged in Binalatongan. That of Pedro Gumapos met a similar fate in the Ilocos. He was hanged

in Vigan.

Soon, scores of rebels deserted King Malong and disbanded, asking the Spaniards for

forgiveness. Some of them offered to help the Spaniards track down Malong.

Malong was captured on February 6, 1661 in a hut between Calasiao and Bacnotan. He

was with his mother. He was brought to Lingayen for trial and executed there, by firing squad.

(Some accounts say it was in Binalatongan that he was tried and executed - shot as he was sitting

on a rock.) In the aftermath, most of his ardent followers were hanged- the usual penalty for

treason. It is said that Malong died a Christian, implying that despite initiating a revolt against the

Spaniards, he never renounced the Christian faith.

References:

Blair, Emma H. and Robertson, James A. The Philippine Islands 1493-1898 Volumes 38 and 41.

Cleveland, Ohio: The Arthur H. Clarke Co., 1903-1909

Constantino, Renato. The Philippines, A Past Revisited. Manila: The Author, 1975.

Cortes, Rosario Mendoza. Pangasinan: 1572-1800. Quezon City: University of the

Philippines Press, 1974.

.

Pacis, Vicente A. and others. Founders of Freedom. Quezon City: Capitol Publishing

House, Inc., 1971.

Roces, Alfredo R. ed. Filipino Heritage, the Making of a Nation Volume 5. Manila:

Lahing Pilipino Publishing Inc., 1978.