LUKBAN
Francisco Fincalero, one of the big land owners of Catubig at that time, told his tenants that if the Americans commandeered his harvest, they were to resist. Homobono Joli-Joli, a young man from Las Navas, forgot the past rivalry of Las Navas and Kagninipa and volunteered with 25 men, with himself at the head, to join the militia. Domingo Rebadulla, the acknowledged leader of Catubig at the time, commanded the militia. He was assisted by Juan Alaras and Probo Plagata, men who later also became municipal mayors of Catubig. The people responded quickly. A 300-man strong, fighting force was raised.
Catubig’ s well-off families like the Orsolinos, the Tafallas, the Mercaders, the Tentativas, the Turbanadas, donated their mausers and revolvers. Local blacksmiths worked overnight to make paltiks( locally manufactured guns) and ba-ids( Samar’ s counterpart of the Samurai blade).
Aware that the local militia were not trained to fight, Rebadulla sent a three-man party( actually boy couriers) to Lukban’ s headquarters to get help. The group was led by his 14-year-old son Pedro. Lukban responded by dispatching one of his able deputies, Col. Enrique Villareal Dagujob, a college-educated native from Bicol. He was to check the terrain of the possible battleground and to give secret military instructions to the militia. With Dagujob was a chemist from Lukban’ s arsenal, who was to make sure that they had adequate and steady supply of gun powder to recycle used cartridges. Lukban also reassured the boys that when fighting broke out, he would immediately reinforce the local militia with 500 regulars.
Dagujob arrived a few days later incognito. He found the morale of the town’ s leadership and the fighting men unusually high. Leaving specific instructions on what to do when fighting started, Dagujob returned to Blanca Aurora, in the highlands of the Gandara Valley, the headquarters of General Lukban. From Dagujob’ s report, Lukban could sense that the fighting would start soon. So he sent Dagujob back to Catubig with a 600-man raiding party armed with rifles and their sharpened ba-ids.
Lukban was right. The battle of Catubig had begun. The local leaders were informed that the steamer Tonyik, which ferried men and supplies to Catubig, was nowhere to be found in Lao-ang, the nearest port. It was in Calbayog, the west side of the island. This meant that if Catubig was to be reinforced, it would take at least three days. Hence, the timing was just perfect to start the shooting. It was Sunday, the 15 th of April.
The longshoremen were piling abaca bale after bale in the street, ready as they appeared to be, for loading to a double-mast parao moored at the pier close by where the American steamer had also been
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