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The Lone Rider

Dateline USA

ASIAN JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS SEPTEMBER 13-16, 2008

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cans devised a more successful trap. First, they passed a Brigand Act dening all forms of resistance to US rule as criminal acts deserving of capital punishment.American ofcials were able to wean many of the ilustrado elite from their anti-colonial advocacies. Men like T. Pardo de Tavera formed the Federalista Party that aspired to statehood in the US Union; the Paternos, Aranetas, Benitezes participated in other events; Epifanio de los Santos became a delegate to the US Exposition in St. Louis in 1904. Alongside with Sakays guerrillas, bands of highwaymen, robbers, cattle-rustlers operated in the Luzon countryside and, when caught, claimed to be Sakays troops. Sakay himself, a dashing, romantic gure, was rumored to have kidnapped the comely wife of a provincial governor who vowed revenge. One of the most charming, persuasive ilustrados, Dr. Dominador Gomez, was asked by the Americans to approach Sakay and discuss amnesty for his thousands of soldiers. Gen. Leon Villafuerte later testied that Dr. Gomez had told Sakay and his ofcers that, The American governor-general has promised to create a national assembly of our countrymen elected by the people where our leaders can be trained for eventual self-government. As soon as we prove ourselves capable, we shall be granted independence. After long treks to Tanay and several visits by Dr. Gomez, Sakay, Carreon, Villafuerte, Montalan and de Vega came to Manila on a safe-conduct pass from the Americans. Dressed in rayadillo uniforms, carrying pistols and daggers, their long hair neatly combed, they came on foot with hundreds of overjoyed townspeople showering them with food and other gifts, guitar music and singing. People acclaimed them as celebrity heroes and they were feted at banquets and dances. On July 17, they were invited to a town esta in Cavite by US Col. Van Shaick, the acting Cavite governor. An orchestra played dance music amid American ags and bunches of owers. At 11:30 am, US ofcers, pistols in hand, walked in and although Sakay fought unarmed against his giant attacker, he and his ofcers were disarmed. The building was surrounded by Filipino Constabulary ofcers. Gen. Villafuerte shouted, We have been betrayed and we are trapped. Doctor, what is the meaning of this? Dr. Gomez stepped forward: Theres no use ghting. Sakays eyes were bloodshot. He said, Tell the Americans to face us in the open eld, in honorable battle. And to the Filipino Constabularios, he remarked, Arent you ashamed of what you are doing? Manacled, they were taken by boat to the Hotel de Oriente in Binondo and then to Bilibid Prison. Captain Rafael Crame presided over the preliminary investigation and the accused

were charged under the Brigand Act. They were defended by Attys. Felipe Buencamino and Ramon Diokno (father of the great anti-Marcos militant Pepe Diokno). In Bilibid, the prisoners were allowed visits by family and friends who were astoundingly numerous, bringing food, gifts, letters. Sympathizers who pleaded for clemency, included Aguinaldo, Gregorio Aglipay, the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, the Liga de Mujeres, the Union Obrera Democratica. The prisoners also witnessedprison atrocities (which today recall Guantanamo and Abu-Ghraib): 300 members of the Sakay forces were secretly hanged inside Bilibid and 100 more were injected with lethal serum. Many of them had surrendered because Sakay had told his troops they would not be harmed because the Americans had promised a congress of elected Filipino representatives who would rule the country if they abjured armed resistance. At the trial at the Court of First Instance, using false witnesses, Sakay and his men were accused of robbery in band, murder, rape, summary executions, arson, kidnapping. Dr. Dominador Gomez instructed them to plead guilty because they would then be pardoned. The public defenders, Attys. Buencamino and Diokno, advised them to plead not guilty, to show both innocence and non-recognition of US sovereignty.On Aug. 6, 1907, Judge Ignacio Villamor (who would become UP president) convicted them. Those who had pleaded not guilty, like Sakay and de Vega, were hanged. The others, who had listened to Dr. Gomez, had their death sentences commuted or were later released. A discrepancy intrudes at this point. Just who was Dr. Dominador Gomez? The agent chosen by the Americans to lure Sakay into leaving his headquarters in the mountains of Tanay to come to Manila? From William J. Pomeroy and the National Historical Institute; we learn that he was a medical doctor, a graduate from the University of Sto. Tomas, who in 1903, at the beginning of the American regime, had taken over from Isabelo de los Reyes the leadership of the Union Obrera and had participated in a large anti-American rally. Gomez was arrested for sedition, tried and convicted to four years of hard labor and ordered to pay a ne. His case was on appeal to the Supreme Court (manned by US justices), his sentence un-served, when he began to negotiate Sakays surrender, going on arduous treks to Tanay for long discussions, showing a letter from the US governor-general that promised a Filipino assembly, the door to freedom, if Sakay and his generals laid down their arms. The American betrayal in Cavite, Sakays and his mens trial, and conviction have already been told in this article. What remains to be noted is that, two weeks after Sakay was hanged, Dr. Dominador Gomezs pending case was summarily revived and quickly dismissed for insufcient evidence. Gomez then went on to become a repre-

sentative for the First Philippine Assembly of 1907 where he was denounced and expelled by Sergio Osmea and Manuel Luis Quezon, for having served as a surgeon in the Spanish army in Cuba and received a medal from the Spanish queen during the Spanish-American War. But in 1909, Gomez was re-elected to a second term because, despite his previous disgraceful expulsion, he was backed by the US authorities. The facts speak for themselves. Sakay was the plea bargain. At 8:30 in the morning, on Sept. 13, 1907, Sakay and Col. Lucio de Vega were taken from their bartolina to the gallows. Reaching the platform, Sakay shouted at the top of his lungs, I face the Lord Almighty calmly but we must tell you that we are not bandits and robbers as the Americans accuse us, but members of the revolutionary force that defended our country. Long live the Philippines! Adios Filipinas!Sakay was 37. The day before, a big crowd of Manila residents had gathered in front of Malacaang Palace in an unusual, emotional demonstration pleading for clemency, but the American governor-general refused to see them. Almost the same crowd, larger and more vociferous, was at the gates of Bilibid Prison asking to be allowed to wrap the bodies of Sakay and Col. De Vega in Katipunan ags before they were buried. They were refused. The US Government kept their word about calling a Filipino assembly. In October 1907, the First Philippine Assembly of Filipinos elected (by men of property) was inaugurated at the Manila Grand Opera House on Calle Cervantes (now Rizal Avenue) by Secretary of War William H. Taft. Acting Secretary of the Philippine Commission Ferguson read the Spanish translation of Tafts speech, followed by an invocation by Bishop Barlin. After the roll call, with names like Gabaldon, Gomez, Guerrero, Imperial, Osmena, Palma, Quezon, Velarde, De Veyra, roundly applauded, the session was adjourned till the afternoon. A young delegate from Cebu, Sergio Osmea was elected Speaker by acclamation. But Philippine Independence was granted by America only 40 years later, on 4 July 1946, after a devastating war, and on several conditions: equal rights to US citizens in the development of natural resources, US military bases in perpetuity, economic treaties including the onerous free trade (that denied industrialization to this country), also interventions in Philippine elections and in foreign and educational policies. It was the kind of independence, Macario Leon Sakay, Katipunero and patriot, an organization genius as his American captors described him, never would have settled for or even considered. He would have chosen instead to die ghting America, if he had known the truth and seen the future of his adored Filipinas. g