Filipino Martyr: ROMUALDO LEYSAN

 ROMUALDO LEYSAN

(Ca. 1896-1901)

Revolutionary Officer

Romualdo Leysan was an officer of the Spanish colonial army assigned to the corps of

artillery. He was also the army’s chief of personnel. Although he belonged to the enemy side, his

best friend and confidante was a Katipunero named Antonino Guevara Mendoza, who became an

active organizer and ranking official of the revolutionary movement south of Manila. Leysan was

probably the Katipunan’s source of information regarding the movements and strengths of the

colonial forces. His friend, Guevara- who was also known by his nom-de-guerre “Matatag”- was a

source of confidential information about the Katipunan for the Spaniards. Leysan was warned

beforehand of the projected outbreak of the Philippine Revolution on August 23, 1896.

After the defeat of the Spaniard following Deweys’s victory at Manila Bay, Leysan defected

to the Filipino side and given the rank of lieutenant in the revolutionary army. In 1899, he

commanded the artillery brigade in Central Luzon and was given the rank of colonel. Later, he was

assigned to lead the Filipino forces under General Tomas Mascardo, which were fighting along the

towns of San Fernando and Porac in Pampanga. Mascardo appointed Leysan as his chief-of-staff

and ordered him to manage his headquarters in Dolores, Pampanga. One of the officers of Leysan’s

staff was a young captain named Manuel L. Quezon.

According to Quezon, Leysan was a brilliant officer whose knowledge of tactics brought

victories against the Americans in many skirmishes in the Pampanga-Bataan area. “Leysan had

served with ability and distinction as an officer of the Spanish Army,” said Quezon. “Mascardo

rightly considered him to be our chief-of-staff.”

General Mascardo divided his forces in Bataan into three commands. Leysan was given a

field assignment covering the area from the town of Bagac to Morong in Bataan. At the same time,

he stayed on as his chief-of-staff. Other commands were under Colonel Vitan-who operated from

Abucay to Dinalupihan, including the area between Bataan and Pampanga- and Quezon, from

Balanga to Mariveles. At the war’s peak he was ordered to plan the attack on the American line in

Angeles from three directions: from the “north, east and west”. He was likewise ordered to

command the third area of defense in Bataan, from Bagac to Morong in the west.

The historian Agoncillo cites a “Major Leisan” as being one of those ordered arrested (the

others being Lt. Col. Vitan, and Captains Ricafort, Martinez Ibañez and Quimzon) “for

insubordination” by General Antonio Luna in June 1899.

Leysan was believed to have surrendered to the Americans, following Mascardo’s own

surrender, upon learning of the capture of Aguinaldo in Palanan, Isabela on March 23, 1901.

References:

Agoncillo, Teodoro A. Malolos: The Crisis of the Republic. Quezon City: University of

the Philippines, 1960.

Guevara, Antonino Mendoza (Matatag). History of One of the Initiators of the Filipino

Revolution. Translated into English by Onofre D. Corpuz. Manila: National Historical

Institute, 1990.

.

Intendente Militar, 1897, Tomo-, Expediente 262, Folleto 98 (11 de Octubre de 1897,

Manila) [Document found in the National Archives]

Quirino, Carlos. Quezon :Paladin of Philippine Freedom. Manila: Filipiniana Book

Guild, 1971.