LUKBAN
Chapter 4
War in Catubig
One remarkable feature about this war in Catubig was the involvement of the native population. From the stories gathered from documented as well as oral sources, it was evident that it was the local leaders who took the initiative in its planning and execution, although the guerrillas of Lukban provided assistance.
Catubig used to be a small town some 18 kilometers from the mouth of the deep, navigable Catubig River that empties into Lake Lao-ang in the northern section of the island of Samar. Further inland, in the upper source of the river was another village called Las Navas. Before the last two decades of the Spanish rule in the Philippines, Las Navas was in fact the seat of municipal government in the Catubig Valley.
However, toward the close of the 19th century, Kagninipa( now Catubig) started to outgrow Las Navas. Its strategic location probably explains this best. Kagninipa was located right at the stretches of wide agricultural lands in the vortex of the rich rice-growing Catubig Valley, reputedly the rice granary of Samar. So the ecclesiastical authorities built a strong stone church in Kagninipa in 1886. This edifice was stronger in construction and larger in size than the Church in Las Navas.
Early in February 1900, some Americans started coming in trickles posing as private surveyors. The local church authorities were perceptively more friendly with the visitors than they were with the natives. But the“ visitors” were also trying their best to be friendly with the natives.
Then one day the“ surveyors” started to wear military uniforms, and men arrived ferried by a gunboat, confirming the suspicions of local leaders. The priest had left for his safety as the Americans used the convent as a garrison. The soldiers belonged to Company H, 43rd Volunteer Infantry Regiment of the U. S. Army. To the Americans, the occupation of Catubig was important because the town served as the rice granary of the district, which supplied food to the forces of Lukban. It meant denying the rebels such a supply.
This alarmed the local leaders. Soon they were meeting secretly.
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