WHO WERE THE PULAHANES?

Erlinda Kintanar-Alburo,
Sumad: Essays for theCentennial of the Revolution in Cebu.
Manila: De laSalle University Press, 2001.
pp. 39-40.


WHO WERE THEPULAHANES?
[Tuburan, Toledo, Balamban, Pinamungajan, Danao, Naga, Asturias, SanFernando, Aloguinsan]


The pulahanes or mountain fighters got their name from the band of red kundiman cloth (now used for pillowcases) which they wore. They were a mixed group whose reasons forjoining the revolutionaries were religious, economic,patriotic and/or personal. For one, the economicdepression due to abandoned farms and naturalcalamities was severe enough to push the country folkto join the band that was sometimes denounced as“social bandits”. As a movement, the pulahan emergedand spread along the central mountains of Cebu, Samarand Leyte. Similar groups were operating elsewhere inthe country, like the babaylanes of Negros and theGuardia de Honor of Pangasinan. In Cebu, they weremostly found in the mountains of TUBURAN, TOLEDO,BALAMBAN and PINAMUNGAJAN in the West; and in those ofDANAO, Cebu city and NAGA in the East. The movement must have started around 1899 whenCebu city surrendered to the Americans. Conflictabout the surrender between the lowlanders (who hadproperty to lose) and the mountaineers (who had littleor none) is said to be the immediate cause of thesplit. The revolutionaries whose leaders were of the
educated class distanced themselves from themountaineer leaders after that. At least one articlein Bag-ong Kusog (of October 1932) tries to correctthe impression that the pulahan movement was aninherent part of the Revolution. The revolutionary army under Gen. ArcadioMaxilom continued the fight but after Maxilom’ssurrender in 1901, the pulahanes became more active,their movement reaching its peak from 1902 to 1905.(One source says the movement only started in 1902under the leadership of a Roberto Caballero.) Itsleaders started issuing cedulas and in 1904 werereported to have arrested those without them. By thistime, they were already associated with the reddecoration that gave them their name. [p. 40 starts here] Many of the pulahanesbelieved themselves invulnerable or kublan forpossessing an amulet (like Leon Kilat had). Generallythey were armed only with a crescent-shaped bolocalled talibong which could cut the head at one blow,and their battle cry was “Tadtad (chop)!” Many a story is told of how their kublanleaders braved the soldiers’ bullets with the amulets. There was, for example, the notorious Bando who hadkilled Capt. Eugenio Alonso in ASTURIAS during thelast days of the Spanish administration. Believing hewas better than Maxilom, he refused to obey eithercamp and formed his own band of followers. Noted as adaring kublan, he harassed mountain folk, whocomplained to Gen. Emilio Verdeflor. After the generaland his 200 men attacked Bando’s headquarters inAdlawan, Bando’s group disbanded quickly after that. Serious campaigns and reconcentration of themountain populations were attempts to contain themovement. The next year, Col. Wallace Taylor and hisConstabulary unit left for Kabulihan in SAN FERNANDO
and for ALOGUINSAN to flush out the rebels. After thecampaigns, the pulahanes scattered and finally werepersuaded to surrender in 1906 through theintervention of Sergio Osmeña. The pulahan adventure within the Revolution hadcaught the imagination of the Cebuano public. Atleast two works by noted writers, both entitled AngPulahan, were dedicated to it: a story by VicenteSotto and a novel by Nicolas Rafols. The pulahan spirit is hard to kill. Itemerged again around 1915 to 1927 under the leadershipof Saureano Solamo, and in the form of colorum sectsbefore and after World War II. Closer to our times,the walay sapatos gang and even pseudo-NPA groups maybe seen as similar responses to disruptive socialchange. We note Rafols’ intention in the introductionto his novel of 1919: “Ipahinumdum sa kadaghanan ngadili mahimo ang pagdaugdaug, lupig ug olipon kanunaysa lungsod.” (to remind the many that oppression andslavery cannot continue.)