Filipino Martyr: SEVERINO DIAZ

 SEVERINO DIAZ

(d. 1897)

Revolutionary Martyr from Bicol

A native of Bulan, Sorsogon, Severino Diaz was the third priest among the 11 martyrs of

Bicol during the Philippine Revolution. The other two were Fr. Gabriel Prieto, parish priest of

Malinao, Albay, and Fr. Inocencio Herrera, choirmaster of the cathedral of Nueva Caceres.

Fr. Diaz was born to a poor family. However, he did not allow poverty to deter him from

pursuing his religious vocation. He embarked on a professional career as a student, earning a

scholarship that eventually secured his ordination as an Augustinian priest.

As a person, Fr. Diaz possessed a large degree of self-initiative and leadership. His fervent

wish was to bring the church closed to the people. His enlightened leadership earned him the

appointment to the position of parish priest of Nueva Caceres. As chief curate, he resided and said

masses at the city’s cathedral, whose renovation was one of his major achievements.

The rapid progress in his career and his liberal attitude drew the jealousy of friars and

conservative Spaniards, who felt that their dominance in the community was being challenged.

The outbreak of the revolution in 1896 provided them a pretext for persecuting Fr. Diaz. Using the

1872 experience, they accused the native clergy, along with Masons and ilustrados, or educated

Filipinos, of being agitators against Spanish rule. An arrested Mason, Vicente Lukban, supposedly

implicated in his confession Filipino members of the clergy as sympathizers of the revolution.

On September 19, 1896, Fr, Diaz, along with Fr. Inocencio Herrera, cathedral choirmaster,

Fr. Manuel Subarbano, the master of ceremonies, and Fr. Severo Estrada, the coadjutor, was

arrested by the guardia civil veterana. Of the four priests, only Father Subarbano was eventually

freed. They were bound and sent to Manila aboard the mail steamer Isarog. Upon arrival in the

city, they were detained at the convent of San Agustin, which had been converted into a prison. Fr.

Gabriel Prieto, the parish priest of Malinao, Albay, later joined them.

While in detention, they were beaten by the guards with hard sticks and whips. Fr.

Estrada, who was released in May 1897, related how he and his fellow priests were treated by the

soldiers and the friars who were supposed to show compassion to them:

“In the convent of San Agustin in the City of Manila which served as a prison for priests,

the friars received them with insults and injuries calling them riff-raff, beasts, monkeys, etc.

Locked up in filthy cells, they are taken from these places every morning, not for a breath of fresh

air, but to sweep the floor of the spacious convent with whippings, insults and buffetings. For

meals they were given fermenting rice not more than twice a day, a fare which even dogs would not

eat.”

On December 29, 1896, Fr. Diaz and 14 other prisoners were tried by a military court for

rebellion and sedition against Spain. The defense panel, composed of military officers headed by a

certain Captain Diaz, was not given a fair chance to defend the prisoners. The courtroom was

packed with Spanish loyalists who cheered every time the prosecutors made a point against them.

The prosecution was not able to prove that any of the 14 prisoners were members or even

sympathizers of the revolutionary movement. All of them denied that they were members of the

Katipunan during their interrogation and trial. The confession allegedly extracted from Lukban

mentioned only Mariano and Domingo Abella, Tomas Prieto, Camilo Jacob, and Fr. Inocencio

Herrera as sympathizers, not bonafide members of the Katipunan. Furthermore, this alleged

dossier was obtained under duress. The other prisoners were implicated by torture and false

promises by the Spaniards. The only evidence of the prosecution was that the prisoners desired

the emancipation of the country from Spanish oppression. It was a political belief which all of the

14 had professed. That alone, according to the prosecution, was sufficient to warrant the death

sentence.

The farcical trial was over in one day, Fr. Diaz, along with 10 others --- Fr. Gabriel Prieto,

Fr. Inocencio Herrera, Manuel Abella, Domingo Abella, Camilo Jacob, Tomas Prieto, Macario

Valentin, Camilo Mercado, Mariano Melgarejo and Florencio Lerma --- were condemned to die by

musketry. Two of the indictees, Ramon Abella and Mariano Araña, were ordered deported to

Fernando Po Island off Africa, while another indictee, Mariano Ordenanza, was sentenced to 20

years in prison.

On January 4, 1897, Fr. Diaz and 10 of his co-defendants were executed at the

Bagumbayan Field. He was 45-years-old at the time of his death. His execution, along with that of

the others, helped fan the flames of revolution, which culminated in the attainment of Philippine

independence against Spain.

References:

Galang, Zoilo M. Encyclopedia of the Philippines. Manila: 1935.

Quirino, Carlos. Eminent Filipinos. Manila: National Heroes Commission, 1963.

Reyes, Jose Calleja. Bikol Maharlika. Quezon City: 1992.

Schumacher, John, S.J. Revolutionary Clergy and the Nationalist Movement 1850-1903. Quezon

City: Ateneo University Press, 1981.