THE LAHOZ BROTHERS
THE PHILIPPINE - AMERICAN WAR
By Rafael A. Lahoz, Jr.
Of the seven children of Miguel Lahoz and Filomena Villafuerte, three brothers and one sister grew up to become adults in Ilocos Sur. They are Rafael, Jose, Gaudencio and Carmen. One brother named Cecilio, went to China with his father Que Quico to visit the parents of Que Quico to fulfill a Chinese custom. They never returned and no news of them ever came back.
Rafael studied at the Vigan Seminary intending to become a priest. His studies were not completed because of the advent of the Katipunan revolution against Spain.
Jose and Gaudencio also studied at the Vigan Seminary. Jose was able to finish his Bachiller en Artes degree [A.B.] and was sent to continue his studies at the Colegio San Juan de Letran and was in Manila when the hostilities against Spain started. Gaudencio was still at the Vigan Seminary and he also had to stop his studies when he was second year. The fight against Spain was shortened when the Americans declared war against Spain and Admiral Dewey wiped out the small Spanish Flotilla at Manila Bay. With the meddling of the Americans in the Philippine - Spanish conflict, Jose went back to Vigan on the steamship S. S. Mauban and he brought with him several kegs of gunpowder because he sensed that a new conflict against the Americans was coming. When the S. S. Mauban anchored at the Pandan Port he had the problem of unloading the gunpowder. So he sought the help of Dr. Marciano Crisologo, son of Don Mena Crisologo, the incumbent Governor of Ilocos Sur at that time.
Carmen was only eight years old when the American schools were opened in Ilocos Sur. She studied exclusively in these schools. She later went to Manila and completed the teachers course at the new Philippine Normal School. She taught briefly in Bangued, Abra and then married Marcelino Jaramillo in 1915 at the age of nineteen years. Marcelino Jaramillo was at that time employed as assistant Auditor of Ilocos Sur, a job he held until he died of cancer of the throat on June 24, 1935.
The revolt against Spain started in early 1897 after the execution of Dr. Jose Rizal. Early 1898 the revolt spread over to the Ilocos provinces and early 1899 the Spanish government in Ilocos had collapsed. Except for some friars and Spanish oficials captured in Candon many of the Spaniards, friars and Guardia Civiles traveled and evacuated themselves to Cagayan.
Rafael relates that the Spanish prisoners of war and Guardia Civiles were treated humanely and many were retained as household helps in some homes. He also relates that the Revolucionarios did not have enough logistics to feed their prisoners, so were left free to roam to beg from house to house asking for food and alms, singing ditties worded as follows;
MAGANDANG ARAW PO
KAMI LAPIT SA IYO
HINGI NG AWA, AT LIMOS
SA KASTILA WALA
SA KASTILA WALA
The conquest of Spain by the revolutionary forces resulted in the establishment of the first Philippine Republic in Kawit, Cavite, on June 12, 1898. It was however shortlived. Spain having lost the Philippines to the Filipino revolutionaries, signed the Treaty of Paris in December 10, 1898 were paid twenty million dollars to formalize the cecession of the Philippines to the United States. This event signaled the start of a new war against a new colonizer, the United States, and our newly won independence, again stolen from us.
The three Lahoz brothers joined the army fighting in northern Luzon under General Manuel Tinio. They were assigned to take charge of the armory and arsenal of the Tinio Brigade which operated in the provinces of Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, Abra, and the northern area of La Union. The Lahoz brothers were highly skilled master mechanics and their work consisted of repairing firearms, manufacturing "paltics", reloading spent shells with gunpowder, and casting lead bullets. They also trained about twenty helpers in forging so they could help make horseshoes. The gunpowder brought in from Manila by Jose became very handy at the start of operations specially when many things needed were in shortage. Their first base of operation was established in the Cordilleras in a mountain called Mt. Bulagao in the boundary of Ilocos Sur and Abra. There was an American Prisoner of War who was assigned in their organization, quite friendly, well educated, and intelligent. He wanted to learn Spanish from them and, vice versa, they also had their first lessons in speaking English from him.