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Ela Valerie A. Ilano

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ANDRES MALONG
(d.1661)
Leader of the Pangasinan Revolt
 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 accountdescribed 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 foreight months away from their families and without being
paid their meager salaries, they hadgrown 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 keep them from harm. This attitude reflected the sincere appreciation of
the people towards priests in the province who, according to Spanish chronicles, were
dedicated to their mission of Christianizing 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 wary Spaniards 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.

References:

www.google.com
www.wikipedia.com
 Proyekto
sa
HEKASI
Ipapasa nina:

Ela Valerie A. Ilano

Justin Kyle Notorio

Ipapasa kay:
Bb. Candy Michelle G. Sibulo