LUKBAN
had no defined rules . In the subsequent struggle against US occupying forces , they had to devise their own tactics in the environment that they operated in , guided by common sense , gut feel and imagination .
And so we find in Samar an abundance of indigenous poisoned traps laid along the way of the unwary white American troopers , traps that the natives used to hunt wild boar and deer , causing anxiety and fear to the invaders . Such devices caused instant deaths or fatal injuries to the victims , so that patrols had to be slowed down , and the forests where the guerrillas took sanctuary became impenetrable fortresses . These were but few devices among many others .
The more difficult task of Lukban , however , was winning over the largely unschooled and illiterate population to his side . Convincing them to join the revolutionary enterprise was a task often left to his local leaders and lieutenants . The many examples of mass uprisings involving entire pueblos , such as those of Catubig and Balangiga , show they had remarkable successes in their task . From planning to their execution , such uprisings doubtless involved the local population where even children played critical roles . These could have been the offshoots of many discussions , meetings and debates , before the resolve to fight became final and executory . In a sense , the pueblo populations along the coasts as well those in the interior served as Lukban ’ s support base and sources of vital information on the troop movements of their enemies . Many of them also became members of the guerrilla forces , complementing his officers that originated from the educated classes , the so-called local principalia of the previous Spanish colonial days . Many of them were products of the Cartilla system of education and could understand , read and write in Spanish , inasmuch as they could also communicate in the local language . Some even went through the colegio . They served as important links to Lukban , who could only communicate in Spanish and his native Tagalog , and whose circulars were in Spanish .
The principalia were also most vulnerable to pressures from the Americans . Eventually a good number of them capitulated to the American cause , and with them the unlettered masses , slowly eroding support for Lukban . In fact , one of the early setbacks of Lukban involved his relations with the Catholic hierarchy in Samar which , during the early stage of the war , had soured due to his being a Mason , an avowed enemy of the Catholic Church then . Members of the clergy left their parishes because Lukban had accordingly wanted to assert his authority over them . He had uses for the stone churches other than worship . Months later , one of the members of the clergy issued a statement urging him to surrender to the Americans . It was quite known that the clergy had a lot of influence on the predominantly catholic population , resulting in the
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