Mutiny and resignations:
Davao circa 1909

By Carlos Isagani T. Zarate

WITH deep regrets was how President Macapagal-Arroyo described her acceptance of the resignation of Secretary Angelo Reyes. But apparently, especially for those who suffered the brutal effects of the "total war" under his widely perceived hawkish watch -- as the Armed Forces chief of staff during the Estrada regime, then as defense chief under the present administration -- his departure is a relief.

While a lot of unanswered questions linger on his culpability in the "dirty wars" in Mindanao, his resignation is believed to augur well for the peace process that is yet to be resumed.

What has befallen Reyes after the Oakwood incident (rebellion, failed power grab or just take your pick) calls into mind the 1909 mutiny of the Philippine Constabulary in Davao, which is told in the recently released book, "Davao 1890-1910: Conquest and Resistance in the Garden of the Gods," written by Ateneo de Davao professor and Palanca awardee Dr. Macariu D. Tiu.

By reading Tiu's account on the Davao mutiny, the reader is left with a sense of deja vu, about history repeating itself. Indeed, if one gets to compare it with the Oakwood mutiny, it was as if only the names of people, places and certain circumstances have changed. But the substance and the causes, although occurring a century apart, remain unchanged.

The Davao mutiny took place on the night of June 6, 1909. Led by a certain Sgt. Manuel Rodriguez (a junior officer!), 23 soldiers belonging to the Company B of the Philippine Constabulary mutinied against their "abusive" American officers.

At that time, the still undivided Davao had a total of 118 PC soldiers grouped into two companies. These mutineers, who were derisively described by an American officer as "of a rather low order of intelligence," held their ground for a month, transferring from one Davao area to another. Eerily, Tiu notes, the mutiny started on the third death anniversary of District Governor Edward C. Bolton, who was assassinated on June 6, 1906 in Malalag (now part of Davao del Sur) by a Tagacaolo tribal leader named Mangulayon.

Continues Tiu: "When Governor Walker heard the shots, he went to investigate. He found the troops had left the barracks and he went to the house of Lt. De Balaine. The two met one of the groups of mutineers at San Pedro Street... and the Governor ordered them to drop their guns... The leader Rodriguez commanded: "Kill the -!" and the troops fired at the officers.

Had the mutineers made their mark, Walker would have been the third district governor killed in Davao."

While the Magdalo mutineers occupied a premiere hotel, the Davao mutineers tried to occupy and overrun the San Pedro Cathedral Convent where the surprised American officers retreated and made their defense. Unable to storm the convent, the mutineers withdrew by 8:30 p.m., looting some stores on their way out of town, just like how the Magdalo soldiers "ransacked" the Glorietta Mall for foodstuffs and other materials.

As of July 10, 1909, "most of the mutineers were all accounted for except for five who were still at large." Four of the mutineers were also killed; five surrendered and nine were captured.

What particularly shocked the Davao Americans, Tiu notes, was the fact that the residents of Davao helped the mutineers. Some of these residents were even members of the local elite. And, as in the aftermath of Oakwood, the press and the politicians suspected by the Americans as sympathetic to the mutineers also got their own beating.

The Mindanao Herald, a widely circulated newspaper then, echoed the American sentiments in this manner: "We don't blame the native agitator for what nature has peculiarly fitted them, but we do blame the government for permitting a lot of native jackasses to breed sedition in the minds of ignorant people. It is time to clean up... the atmosphere created by the native press and by certain native politicians is not calculated to inspire the highest confidence in the native troops. We can't very consistently put guns into the hands of men while we permit a lot of hair-brained (sic) hoodlums to stand around spitting betel nut juice at American authority."

When the mutiny was quelled, investigations followed.

"Investigations tended to explain away the mutiny as a reaction to the strict discipline imposed by (officers) Goicouria and De Balaine who were Spanish officers integrated into the PC. There was supposed to be nothing political about the whole uprising. If so, it did not explain why the mutineers specifically targeted the Americans at the convent. At any rate, the mutiny shattered the myth of a peaceful and orderly Davao and for a while destabilized the situation with three rapid turnover of district governors."

Because Walker was severely criticized for "running away" at the height of the mutiny, he resigned two months after. This is another instance where the outcome of the Magdalo and the Davao mutinies again share historic similarities.

The frustrations blurted out by Navy Lieutenant Senior Grade Antonio Trillanes IV were apparently felt, too, by Sergeant Rodriguez. "When the mutiny failed, the townspeople professed allegiance again to the Americans by denying they gave assistance to the mutineers. They made the Americans believe that they, the townspeople, were also targets of the mutineers!"

As it was, so it is now. And so will it be in the future?

(Dr. Tiu's book is available at the Ateneo de Davao bookstore +63 2 2212411 local 8334.)

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Comments to karlos_z23@hotmail.com or kar_laws@yahoo.com.