Lolo
Ramon (Ramon Gonzalez de Leon) and Lola Juli (Juliana Pantangco de Leon)
by Nunilo M. de Leon
My interest in
knowing more about Lolo Ramon began when, while still in grade school (5th
grade), I witnessed what was then supposed to be a very historical event.
Nippon
restores Philippines independence -
“The
Philippines will again be an independent nation, and this is going to happen on
14 October 1943.” This was how the Philippine government,
with Jose P. Laurel as president, described the coming event, which was to
happen a little more than a year after the Second World War reached our land. In Nippon’s view, we had been a mere colony
of the United States since Admiral George Dewey’s Asiatic Fleet appeared in
Manila Bay, sunk the Spanish flotilla and snatched victory away from Gen.
Emilio Aguinaldo’s Revolutionary Army. “Nippon
had come to our shores to liberate us and give us the freedom we had first
earned on 12 June 1898.”
For
several days before the indicated date in 1943, we were busy in school at the
Immaculata Academy of Malolos, rehearsing for that day. We practised the Philippine national anthem,
to be sung for the first time in Tagalog, with the same tune but with slightly
different lyrics from the current one. On
the day itself, we marched two kilometers or so to the Bulacan provincial
capitol grounds to attend the independence ceremony. With us were delegations from the other
schools in Malolos. On the way, I
noticed that the Malolos church, the “municipios” (both the new one [erected in 1940 and still in use at the
time of this writing] and the old Spanish era “casa real”), the Barasoain
church, the post office and the provincial capitol were all spruced up for the
occasion. The rites were held in front
of the capitol building flagpole, between the pair of 19th century
muzzle-loader cannons which were fixtures there.
A
police detachment was there, armed with revolvers and night sticks. There was also a unit from the General
Service Corps (the counterpart of the pre-war Philippine Constabulary). The GSC were veterans of the pre-war Philippine
Army, mostly from the Western Visayan 71st “Ilonggo” Division and
the Eastern Visayan 91st “Waray” Division, who had to stay in Luzon
after their release from “Camp O’Donnell”, the “death march” concentration
camp. To travel home was still a chancy
proposition. They were armed with US
1903 Springfield rifles, the same ones previously issued to them in the
Philippine Army. The Japanese had
allowed the organization and arming of local peacekeeping units, as part of a
gradual turnover of government functions to the Filipinos. No Japanese were there, military or
civilian. They remained in their
garrison, the former Constabulary barracks, behind the provincial capitol and
beside the provincial hospital.
The
independence ceremony was inspiring. The
brass bands, including the “Republica Filipina” and the “Banda 1896”, which, half-a-century
ago, also played in President Emilio Aguinaldo’s independence celebrations of
1898, played stirring martial (including US military Souza marches) and
traditional Filipino music.
Then
there were the poems and speeches. The
speakers spoke in eloquent Francisco Balagtas Tagalog and were very effective
in expressing their main theme; that this independence had a direct link to the
past, to the initial peaceful resistance against Spanish rule, exemplified by
the efforts of the “21 Women of Malolos” and “Caballeros de Malolos”; to the armed
revolution waged by the “Balangay Apuy” of Malolos and the Katipuneros of the
entire province of Bulacan; to Bonifacio’s Katipunan; to the independence
declared by Emilio Aguinaldo in 1898; to the enactment of the Malolos
Constitution; to the continual struggle of Bulakeños for freedom; to Francisco
Balagtas, to Marcelo del Pilar, to Isidoro Torres, to Gregorio del Pilar. They stressed that our nascent independence,
stifled by the Americans, was being restored with the help of the Japanese, who
had come to free all Southeast Asian nations and band them into a free Great
East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere.
Many
of the speakers and guests on the stage had been part of the struggle against
the Spaniards and Americans and probably really believed, or wanted to believe,
that what was being expressed in those rites was going to come true. The Philippine Sun and Stars was then hoisted
up the flagpole and was greeted with a 21-gun salute from the GSC unit. A brief parade and review, pre-war style,
ended the ceremony. That was very
emotional and moving. Similar rites
were being held in the national and provincial capitals all over the
country. 
Ramon, the Katipunero dies on Independence Day,
14 October 1943 -
After the emotionally overwhelming
Independence Day experience at the Provincial Capitol, I walked home and was
awestruck by what greeted me in Tampoy. People filled the garden and the
“balcon”. A Philippine flag was flying
from the front porch. Another flag was
draped over a coffin in the middle of the “sala” where two uniformed policemen
were standing guard. Joining the people
who were standing beside the coffin, I peeked and saw Lolo Ramon’s body in the
coffin.
Against Lolo Ramon’s self-effacing written “last
wishes” (in which he specified that there
should be no ceremony or anything ornate or expensive in his funeral
arrangements), the funeral procession from Tampoy to the Malolos Catholic
Cemetery was not an ordinary one. From
the church, we made the one kilometer-long trek to the cemetery on foot. The flag-draped coffin was on a horse-drawn
funeral carriage, accompanied by a detail of GSC troops, a brass band playing
muted music and a large crowd of black-clad relatives, neighbors, friends,
acquaintances, government officials and other mourners. The elder relatives like Lolo Celino, Dada
Merced and Dada Ninay could not go to the cemetery. Lolo’s children and grandchildren were all
there, except Tio Toniong and family.
Tio Toniong, who had not been heard from since the war began, was
finally able to send word that they were alive and well in Iloilo but could not
as yet go home. There was still no
transportation to Manila.
There were brief ceremonies in the
cemetery. The town mayor, Ignacio Tapang,
made a few remarks, taps (the US military version) was sounded, and the coffin
placed, again against Lolo’s frugal wish, inside a separate “nicho” in the De
Leon plot. Lolo was buried beside his
mother, Impong Biyang, and his wife, Lola Juli.
Rogelio
“Boying” de Leon Pena
narrates that they had travelled by train from Pasig, where their family then
lived, to be at Lolo’s wake and funeral. Josefina “Josie” de Leon Pena
remembers that Tia Carmen Seoane de Leon fainted and Lola Lolita Seoane de Leon
wailed during the burial.
Lolo’s funeral was followed by the traditional
40-day period of mourning. There were nightly
prayers for the dead complete with the rosary prayer, a rather lengthy affair,
led by one of the neighbourhood “manangs”.
It was always well attended, filling the spacious library where the rite
was held, and spilling over to the sala, comedor and balcon. More often than not, the length of the rite
and the sing-song way the “manang” led the prayers put most of us kids to
sleep. It was a good thing that the
prayers came after supper, although some “inumin” and “kakanin” were served
after the prayers, when we all perked up.
LOLO RAMON (Ramon Gonzalez de Leon) &
LOLA JULI (Juliana Pantangco de Leon)
Sometime during the mourning period, I began
to ask questions about why Lolo had such an out-of-the-ordinary funeral. In response, Tia Monang went to her room,
returned and handed me an old photo of someone who looked like Lolo Ramon. At
the bottom of the photo was this caption: “Ramon de Leon y Gonzalez, Presidente
Municipal, 1903-1905”. Tia Monang then said:
“Kung gusto mong may malaman pang iba, diyan mo hanapin!” “If you want more,
look for it there,” gesturing at the rows of book cabinets in the library.
Lolo Ramon, a true son of the Philippine
Revolution -
Lolo Ramon was born in 1872, the eldest of
three children of Anastasio de Leon and Maria Gonzalez de Leon. His sisters were Mercedes Gonzalez de Leon and
Catalina Gonzalez de Leon. He had started his law studies in Manila under the
Dominicans but had to return to Malolos before he could complete the course.
The budding revolt against Spain had already reached Malolos and his father,
Inkong Tasio, was deeply embroiled. Back in Malolos, during the period of
unrest before and after the execution of Jose Rizal in December 1896, Ramon
found the time to get married. He married Juliana Santos Pantangco, the only
child of Ciriaco “Inkong Akong” Pantangco from Binondo, and Isidora “Impong
Doring” Reyes Santos, from the Kamistisuhan area of Malolos.
Lolo
follows Inkong into the Revolution -
When Impong Tasio was exiled to Palawan, Lolo
Ramon took over. The newly married Lolo Ramon, following in the footsteps of
his father, became an active Mason, organized and led the “contra-fraile”
groups called “Balangay Apuy” and “Sangguniang Apuy”, both of which later
became Malolos-based affiliates of Andres Bonifacio’s and Emilio Jacinto’s
Katipunan, the Tondo-based group which began and led the general revolt against
Spanish rule.
It was another Bulacan-based affiliate of the
Katipunan which initiated the armed revolt against Spain when, late in 1896,
they set up an “independent state” in the barrio of Kakarong de Sili, in the
town of Pandi. Gregorio del Pilar was a junior officer in that group. After the
group was routed and massacred by the Spanish Guardia Civil (composed mostly of
Filipino Indios), the survivors of Kakarong, including Gregorio del Pilar,
reverted to underground guerilla action.
When the Spaniards learned about the
organization of the Balangay Apuy and the Sangguniang Apuy, they were intent on
nipping the revolt in the bud and swiftly cracked down on the members of the
groups. They wanted to avoid a repeat of
the unrest which caused the exile of the leaders of the “Caballeros de
Malolos”, including Inkong Tasio, only two years past. Acting swiftly, the “Guardia Civil” arrested
Lolo Ramon and others suspected of being “Apuy” members. They were thrown into the “Cuartel”, a small
fortress-looking building along Calle Pariancillo, near the small bridge
spanning Santiago creek. The angry
authorities threatened to execute one of them every morning and announced this
far and wide. Imagine the effect this
threat had on the relatives of the captured dissidents. Impong Biyang (Inkong Tasio’s wife and Lolo
Ramon’s mother), reputed to be a very persuasive lady, together with the
group’s families, badgered the Spanish authorities and finally got them to just
exile the “Apuys”, not execute them.
They were all eventually sent into exile to various places in Mindanao,
in exchange for what and how much, we do not know. Lolo Ramon was exiled to Dapitan, in
Mindanao.
Lolo Ramon did not stay long in Dapitan, When
the Katipunan’s propaganda and organizing campaigns ripened and turned into an
armed revolt, Lolo Ramon returned to Malolos, rejoined the armed struggle and
was appointed a “Kapitan ng Revolucion” under Gen. Isidoro Torres. Inkong Tasio
had also came back to Malolos from his Palawan exile. According to Johnny Cruz,
one of the sources of Renato “Sonny” Cano, Lolo Ramon, together with
fellow-Katipunero, Isidoro Torres and a Filipino member of the clergy, caused
the elimination of the pro-Spain Alcalde Municipal of Barasoain. Later, the
Bulacan Katipuneros, which had become much stronger, took part in the
liberation of Bulacan from the Spanish forces. Lolo Ramon, who had the code
name “Buhawi” was hailed as one of the liberators of Malolos.
Lolo Ramon and Lola Juli raise a family -
But it was not only resisting, revolting, getting
jailed and going on exile which took up Lolo Ramon’s time. He and Lola Juli
were also starting a new family; Tia Pacita, Tio Conrado (died in childhood)
and Tio Carlos were born in those years of ferment.
Cousin Mercia Crisostomo Aquino recalls that
her mother, Tia Pacita de Leon Crisostomo, had this story to tell. When Lolo Ramon and Lola Juli were newly
married, they stayed with Impong Doring (Lola Juli’s widowed mother) in a house
in the “Kamistisuhan”, probably at the old Santos-Uitangcoy house between Calle
Electricidad and the Santiago creek.
Their three oldest children (Paz, Conrado and Carlos) were born in that
house and had the brothers Gonzalo and Luis Uitangcoy-Santos as playmates.
The Revolution continues, the Philippine Republic
-
Early in 1898, the Spanish government had, in
reality, already lost the war to the Philippine Katipuneros. They were still
holding on to Intramuros but were surrounded by Katipunan forces. The Spanish
Navy still controlled Manila Bay but, on 1 May 1898, the US Asiatic Fleet under
Adm. George Dewey sailed into the harbour and sank the Spanish warships. This
marked the final end of the Spanish reign over the Philippines, which began
with the landing of Legazpi’s conquistadores in Tondo in 1570, and lasted for
more than 300 years.
Aguinaldo initially believed that the
Americans had come to help him free the country from Spain but he soon realized
that the Americans were there to simply replace Spain and keep the Philippines
as a colony. Kept out of Manila, Aguinaldo moved his national capital to
Malolos and tried to hasten the organization of a government. He convened a
national assembly and enacted a constitution. He appointed a cabinet, organized
the Philippine Army and even established a military academy.
The Americans replace the Spaniards as
“conquistadores” –
Early in 1899, the US forces started the
campaign to find and defeat the Filipino armed forces under Aguinaldo. The US
military came from a nation which had just been tested and hardened by the
brutal and bloody War Between the States and the wild and woolly Indian Wars. Led
by battle-scarred veterans of these recent battles, the well-equipped US Army
proved too much for the inexperienced, poorly-supplied, poorly-trained, poorly-equipped
and poorly-led Philippine Katipuneros. The American infantry, flanked by their
cavalry units and supported by artillery, drove northward, following the main
land route, the railways. The Philippine Revolutionary Army organized its main-line-of-resistance
in Caloocan but, after a fierce battle, the Americans broke through and crossed
the Tullahan River into the province of Bulacan. The Filipinos could not long
withstand the heavy bombardment from the US artillery nor fend off the swift
flanking raids of the hard-riding “cowboys” of the US Cavalry. At every possible point of resistance along
the railway, our Katipuneros put up a defense line to stop the American
advance, to no avail. They could only delay the American advance, not stop it.
Soon the Americans were in Malolos. By then, the entire Aguinaldo government
had already left. This continual American advance and the resulting steady
Filipino retreat was to end only when Aguinaldo was captured in the mountain town
of Palanan, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
Gen. Gregorio del Pilar and some of the Bulacan Katipuneros stayed with Aguinaldo
in the retreat to the north. However,
most of them, including Lolo Ramon, remained behind and, on Aguinaldo’s orders,
waged guerrilla warfare. It was during
this guerrilla phase when the Americans inflicted the most casualties and did
the greatest damage. In this kind of warfare, it is very difficult to identify
who is the guerrilla and who is not; almost impossible to find them, fight them
and finish them. The response of the Americans to this guerrilla strategy was to
destroy all possible guerrilla hideouts and kill or capture everybody found
there. Result was major collateral damage, both human and material. Many places
where guerrillas operated, including Malolos, were razed. Those suspected of
being guerrillas or supporters were imprisoned and, resisting, killed.
With Aguinaldo’s capture in Palanan in March
1901, the Bulacan Katipuneros ceased being guerrillas and peace at last came to
Malolos.
Lolo Ramon as Presidente Municipal -
Tia Pacita’s story continued. When the “revolucion contra Espana” and the
subsequent War against the Americans ended, Lolo Ramon decided to go back to law
school. He moved to Manila with his
young family; Lola Juli, Tia Pacita and Tio Carlos. They stayed in a house in Intramuros while
Lolo Ramon was studying law, under the Dominicans of the “Universidad”
(University of Santo Tomas, then still in Intramuros). One of the students there was a Spanish
mestizo named Manuel Luis Quezon, another “revolucionero” from Baler in
Tayabas. Tia Pacita recalls that their
house had a wide courtyard with a fountain and that Tio Carlos and she had
great fun playing there. Lola Juli took
in student-boarders, most if not all of them relatives from Malolos, the future
Drs. Gonzalo and Luis U. Santos, among them.
Tia Epang was born in that Intramuros home.
The Americans did not
waste any time before forming a government.
Upon his return from his law studies in 1903, the newly elected Malolos
town council (one of whose elected members was Inkong Tasio) appointed Lolo
Ramon as president municipal or mayor of the newly integrated municipality of
Malolos. Malolos used to be divided into
three distinct parishes; those of Malolos, Barasoain and Santa Isabel. Each had its own government administration
under an alcalde, who was distinct from the parish priests or “curas
parrocos”. Under the Americans, the
three districts were united into a single municipality. When Lolo’s term as Presidente Municipal
ended in 1905, he was named a member of the “Konsehal Municipal” for two years. In 1918, Lolo Ramon became a founding member
of the first Masonic lodge in Malolos, the “Logio Malolos 46”, different from
the older “Logio Kupang”, which was Inkong Tasio’s lodge.
[Tia Pacita continues her story.]
Widowed Impong Doring, probably with time on her hands, sometimes had
“pang-guing-gue” sessions with her group of “kamaganak” and “amiga”, many of
them most surely families of the “Women of Malolos”. When she lost during some of these sessions
and she did not have enough ready cash, Impong Doring would pawn one of her
many real estate “titulos” to pay the winner.
She depended on her son-in-law, Ramon, to handle the process of
redeeming the pawned “titulo”. He found
little difficulty in retrieving most of them; after all they were relatives and
friends. However, some proved more
obstinate; refusing to part with the “titulos” they had won. While Lolo was in
the middle of his term as “Konsehal”, Impong Doring passed away. Lolo Ramon and his family, who had been
staying with Impong Doring, moved to Tampoy soon after. They had only one addition to their family
during the four years Lolo Ramon was serving in the “municipio”, Tio
Toniong.
After
his term as konsehal, Lolo was appointed “Juez de Paz” of Malolos and served in
that post until 1924. During his tenure,
Tia Monang and Tatang were born, both of them in Tampoy. In 1910, a few months after Tatang’s birth,
Lola Juli died of consumption or tuberculosis and was buried in the Malolos
Parish Church Cemetery. Those who had
died in childhood were Conrado – the second child and eldest son or “Koyang”;
Margarita - the sixth child, and Basilisa - the eighth. The six survivors were (by order of birth;
Paz “Ate’, Carlos ‘Diko’, Josefa “Diche”, Antonio “Sanko”, Ramona and Roque.
A few years after becoming a
widower, Lolo married his second wife, Lolita Seoane and had four children with
her (Jose, Araceli, Carmen and Dolores).
He then served as provincial fiscal for Camarines Norte until his
retirement in 1937. He lived a very
colorful life but I did not hear about any of it until after he died.
The Pantangco side of the clan -
The
new and bigger now newly restored De Leon ancestral house in Tampoy, Malolos was
built on the site of a smaller one. In an
old and smaller house previously located there had lived Lolo Ramon and Lola
Juli. Lola Juli was a native
Maloleña. Her very first recorded
ancestors were Pedro de los Santos Manila
[My cousins Meya , Josefina “Josie”de Leon
Peña Tayao and Tessie have written me what they know of Inkong Akong, as
narrated to them by their parents.
Inkong Akong was from a business family from Binondo district, Manila,
who traded in commodities like coconut oil (used as fuel oil) and tobacco
leaves (mostly for export). His
parentage was probably mixed Filipino- Chinese.
We do not know how he met Impong Doring, probably in one of his business
trips on “cascos” to Malolos. After they
were married, they lived in Binondo, where Impong Juli was probably born. This
is just a surmise but Inkong Akong might not have lived very long after Impong
Juli was born, otherwise there would have been more than one child in their
family. The widowed Impong Doring must
have returned to Malolos with Lola Juli, soon after. As a young girl, Lola Juli did not like to
stay in Malolos. She wanted to go back
and live in their house in Binondo.]
It
was an unmarried sister of Inkong Akong, named Agapita Pantangco, who, sometime
after Lola Juli’s death, bequeathed a substantial sum to her orphaned nephews
and nieces. Lolo Ramon used this sum for
the construction of the new house to replace the old one on their lot in Tampoy.
-
o O o -
Did Anastasio de Leon have any relatives who also were exiled to mindanao in the late 1800s?