Khryss Mary B. Solis Philippine History
BSEDENMR-1 Sir. Eman Nolasco

Don Andres Malong Revolts

Andres Malong was the leader of the short-lived but devastating revolt in Pangasinan in
1660-1661. A native of Binalatongan, Pangasinan, Malong was the province’s master-of-camp, the governor’s right-hand man in dealing with the natives. He was a timawa. An Augustinian account described him as highly intelligent and clever. Although it was his job, as master-of-camp, to impress upon his fellow Pangasinenses the advantages of having the Spanish overlord, he had other ideas. Unknown to his Spanish masters, he was sowing the seeds of revolt in the minds of the people. It was the time of the Dutch invasion of the Philippines. A thousand natives were employed in Pampanga and Bataan to cut timber for the building of ships. They were recruited not just from those provinces but also from Pangasinan, the Ilocos, and Cagayan. After working for eight months away from their families and without being paid their meager salaries, they had grown agitated. The mutinous situation was turned into an open revolt by Pampangos, led by Francisco Maniago, a master-of-camp like Malong. However, this revolt in Pampanga was easily quelled, without any blood being spilled on its soil. The one that spread to Pangasinan by Andres Malong, was something else.

Malong’s revolt targeted only the Spanish government officials, not the Spanish priest.
Obviously, Pangasinenses had a deep reverence for all things Christian. Malong ordered the people not only to attend masses and to pray, but also to guard churches and convents to keepthem from harm. This attitude reflected the sincere appreciation of the people towards priests inthe province who, according to Spanish chronicles, were dedicated to their mission of Christening the natives and assimilating them into a civil society. It was even recorded that these priests regarded the natives as their brethren and jealously guarded their safety as members of the flock. It was the abuses committed by the lay Spaniards, including encomenderos and alcaldes that actually fueled the revolt. The first stirrings of the revolt occurred in Malangue (Malunguey in other accounts), but the authorities quickly suppressed these with the aid of soldiers from Pampanga. However, it was to take a violent and bloody turn soon enough.

On December 15, 1660, a mob led by Malong raided the house of the alguacil mayor of
Lingayen, Nicolas de Campos, killing him and his family and setting fire to the house. The force of the discontented increased each day, in each town. Any town, which refused to join the revolt, was razed to the ground. For dilly-dallying, Bacnotan was besieged by the rebels. The town’s alcalde mayor and his family tried to escape by the river, but they were overtaken when their boat hit a sandbar, and were massacred. Only the town priests were spared.
With the death of Spanish town officials, Malong proclaimed himself “King of
Pangasinan.” His rebels were then in control of the whole provincial territory, from Bolinao in the west to the Ilocano-populated towns of present-day La Union. Even the Zambals, a mountain people who refused to heed the call of civilized life, were enticed to join the revolt.
With the people of Pangasinan united under him, Malong thought of spreading and consolidating the forces of rebellion in all of Luzon under his command. He sent 6,000 men under Melchor de Vera to Pampanga and another 3,000 men to Ilocos under Pedro Gumapos, retaining only 2,000 men under his immediate command. Unfortunately, Pampanga was, by this time, already at peace with the Spaniards. The Pampanga leader Maniago, who had initiated the revolt in the province, was for Spanish rule once again.
The Spaniards responded to Malong’s revolt with a two-pronged attack, both river-borne and by land. Their troops were augmented by Pampangos, mestizos, Japanese (from Dilao, now Paco), Zambals, and Pangasinenses from Bolinao. Having sent the bulk of his army away, Malong faced the Spaniards with a depleted force, which proved no match to them in firepower and military training. The Spaniards overcame the rebel’s chief town, Binalatongan, which the rebels themselves had already burned to the ground. They had retaken Lingayen earlier without a fight. The rebels retreated to the forest, hoping to get back at their enemy in an ambush, but the warySpaniards did not fall into the trap.

Meanwhile, Melchor de Vera’s army was defeated at Magalang. He was captured and hanged in Binalatongan. That of Pedro Gumapos met a similar fate in the Ilocos. He was hanged in Vigan. Soon, scores of rebels deserted King Malong and disbanded, asking the Spaniards for forgiveness. Some of them offered to help the Spaniards track down Malong.
Malong was captured on February 6, 1661 in a hut between Calasiao and Bacnotan. He was with his mother. He was brought to Lingayen for trial and executed there, by firing squad.
(Some accounts say it was in Binalatongan that he was tried and executed - shot as he was sitting on a rock.) In the aftermath, most of his ardent followers were hanged- the usual penalty for treason. It is said that Malong died a Christian, implying that despite initiating a revolt against the Spaniards, he never renounced the Christian faith.