Teresa Magbanua Part 5 - The Peak

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Hope is an odd beast, is it not? An unreliable friend, you might say.

It can remind you that so many things are possible. It can remind you of your dreams and let you see how close you are to getting them. But it can’t show you so many of the other details. It can’t show you that some other details might be set in place already, locking you out of the place you want to be most. 

Hope can only show you what you already know. Accuracy aside.

Teresa Magbanua could not have known what the future held for her and for the Philippines, but she could know that she had already delivered two crushing blows to the Spanish army, and there was the potential for another one looming over the horizon. 

Would this be the final one, she might have been wondering. It would have been hard to know. Hard for us to know what she was thinking and hard for her to know what was going on. The revolutionaries had some level of organization, yes, and even without it, news could easily pass along, but it might not have been a priority for anyone. Either way, with Spain having oh so much to deal with, a capable force, which they certainly had, could easily carry the day. The Filipinos had proven that they could fight and win. Her forces had certainly done it. Twice. Their capabilities had already been proven.

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But their next fight was a different battle than what had come before. It was the same army, yes, the same capable and brave battalion of soldiers that she had led before, meeting up with others led by equally capable generals, but the stakes were oh so higher. Certainly all involved could see that. After all, this wasn’t an outpost or a small town. No, they were all marching towards Iloilo City.

Iloilo City was the capital of the province. But more than that, it was a city of great importance, economically and socially. It was the “Queen City of the South,” as they say. A jewel of the Visayan Region. The city and its surrounding areas had seen economic booms under Spanish rule. Industries grew to the point that migrants had to be brought in to work in its industries and its fortifications. The textile industry had boomed, but by the time of this battle, it had started to decline. And yet, there was no cause for concern. The region’s port had already opened itself up to the world. And it sent out, amongst other things, sugar: a hot commodity in the world market. The city became a hub of great riches with more to come, in time.

It was--in many ways--just as important a city to hold as Manila. If not more so. Spain had good reasons to hold onto it. And the revolutionaries had great reason to take it for themselves.

But it was more than that. When revolution was pronounced, the elite of the city professed their loyalty to the Spanish with great fervor  and denounced the cry of their countrymen for independence. To many, this seemed like a sort of… Manila problem. Yes, it was the problem of a few bad apples, causing chaos in another city. Nothing more. And the revolution was mostly made up of those who identified as Tagalog. And they were all Visayan. 

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For these reasons and many more, it would have been easy for them to overlook the causes of the revolution and the many grievances their brethren had with a social order that exploited them. Sure, maybe they had heard some of the news, but for the elite of the city, this simply wasn’t their reality, and they couldn’t believe things could have ever gotten so bad. Or that they couldn’t be improved in other, less drastic, ways. 

Look, they may have wanted to say, Spain gave us access to the world and they found the labor that made it all work. But let’s not worry about the details too much of course. Spain gave us Catholicism. They made so much possible for us. It might not be ideal, they would want to say, but we’ll find our way in time. Just not now. In the future, yes, we promise you but not now.

And yet, there were no arguments to be had. Only a war to be fought, on the side of the Spanish, as far as they were concerned. And so they gathered up a small army of volunteers to fight for the Spanish. Led by Spanish generals, of course. As was proper, they might have said.

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Meanwhile, Spain was losing battles, not just to revolutionaries but to the US as well. They had lost at the Battle of Manila Bay to the Americans, and it pushed them back. Back to Iloilo City: their de facto base of command. At least for a while, they thought.

This retreat was in October. The treaty that pulled them out of the Philippines was signed in December. But maybe all the while, they knew how dire their situation was. Maybe they knew, no matter what, they were going to lose. However, pride would never let them admit that losing to their former colony was possible, but they had a way out of that emotional labor by looking to the US and their many ships in the harbors. 

No, there was no way they could win. It was simply a matter of picking who they lost to. What surrender would leave them in the best light. And anyway, the United States would be able to take over the Philippines on their own accord, they might have rationalized. What would independence really do if it only could last for a couple days or months? Or maybe Spain did not even bother to do that. Maybe they did not care about the Filipinos at all. A judgement on that might seem obvious, but regardless, the United States was rising in influence. The Philippines, they assumed, would never. Pride made the choice so clear.

Or maybe it wasn’t even that. Who knows?

Regardless, the treaty had been signed. And now, Spain waited. 

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It was the night before Christmas, one could say. It’s a bit of cliche to try and tell a story like that, but factually speaking it's accurate. Filipino forces reached Iloilo City on Christmas Eve. Teresa Magbanua was among the generals leading their troops into the city, to the de facto Spanish base of operations with every intention of taking it over. 

Hearts were likely pounding, even if it was only the magnitude of the moment that was setting them on fire rather than their fear. Though it could have been their fear, yes. If the force that had made their lives hell for so long was ever going to make a last stand, this would be it. It would have to be this. What was left?

I don’t know much about war and the tactics involved. I don’t know terminology nor could I ever explain to you what a good strategy is conceptually speaking. And maybe that makes my pleas for more a bit laughable. Because would I get by asking for things I do not understand? And in some ways, you would be right. In a conversation for another time.

But there are some methods to war that are tired and true. Methods that armies keep coming back to because, you know, that’s what works. Wheels haven’t been reinvented yet, have they?

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On December 24th, Iloilo City was surrounded by Filipno forces, Teresa Magbanua and her men were among those holding the line. It was another general that led the charge, that rushed into the city. A city that fell in their hands on Christmas Day.

If she wanted more, she didn’t say. Teresa Magbanua did not seem to complain. She did not seem to cave to the urges of her ego and her pride, demanding a spot on the front lines. Whether she wanted to cannot be known. So much of what she was thinking cannot be known. But it is not the sort of thing I would have expected of one raised in a culture that emphasizes cohesion over the self, duty over ego in other words. Or of someone who could see what the stakes were and knew them quite well.

We can’t know much, can we? Except that she had the heart of a mother, the heart of someone who gives. 

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In short order, the Spanish left the city, and some of the elite who could manage to do so, though the number wasn’t many. This wasn’t a coordinated or strategic retreat by any means. They just left. They had to. 

The revolutionaries got to have their triumphant moment, marching into the city to meet the cheers of the people. After all, it wasn’t everyone who wanted to stay under Spanish rule, only those who had profited the most from it. And very few, in fact, had. 

For everyone else, liberation was a dream, a dream that promised a better life and a better future. It promised agency, autonomy, and safety. Though they were not the ones to pursue it, they could certainly cheer for those who had. Particularly then, when it felt like freedom was so close.

But it wasn’t. US forces reached Iloilo on December 27th. At first, only with the intention of waiting, waiting for fresh troops and new ships: things that Spain could not spare for that fight.

After all, by then, the Philippines belonged to the US.

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This has been a production of Miscellany Media Studios with music licensed from the Sounds like an Earful music supply. Thanks for listening! Find more information about our shows at miscellanymedia.online or follow us on Twitter @miscellanymedia for updates on current and future projects.

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