Review: Sipi Awaray Gelew diad Pilipinas

I am glad there is something like "Sipi Awaray Gelew diad Pilipinas: (Revolucion Filipina), an account of the Philippine revolution on the ground in western Pangasinan by Felipe Quintos, originally written in the Pangasinan language. In Tagalog, the title translates to "Tala ng Kasaysayan ng Pag-aalsa sa Pilipinas: Revolucion Filipina."

I understand that the original copy is kept in the University of Michigan's library or archives, but thankfully, it is now available online: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/philamer/aqa5919.0001.001/64?page=root;print=1;size=100;view=text

This is the first time that I am able to read a first-hand account like this, at least as a Tagalog- translated version by Melchor Orpilla. (I find it hard to read the original Pangasinan text.)

This sample account is a big revelation, as it answers many of my own questions. Who exactly were the locals who joined the Katipunan? How did they arm themselves? How did they attack the enemy grounds? Who particularly got their ire -- the municipal government officials, the parish priest, or both? Were the common folk behind them 100%? What drove the revolutionists to such hate-filled moments of what appeared to be long-overdue day of vengeance?

Because I am particularly interested in the culture of the time, now long gone, my ears were plugged to such particular aspect of the retelling all along. Quintos's diary opened my eyes to traditional weaponry used in Pangasinan at the turn of the century. The revolutionaries reportedly made use of talibong, a long curved dagger serving as bladed weapon, aside from the barang, which is what locals called itak or bolo. They also used lantaka, a native cannon, which they must have referred to at the same time as kanyon (cannon). They called the Spanish firearm fusil, which they also got to use after they were able to confiscate them from the Spaniards.

While in battle and when escaping, the local army used a taksayan, which I gather to be a kind of local fishing boat presumably with a taksay (a small trawl net) attached.

Since I am from Bayambang, I was most interested in the details of what happened in Bayambang, but I was disappointed to read a very limited coverage. Quintos only mentioned Bayambang in pages 67 and 69 in a tangential way, the south-central Pangasinan being out of the scope of his narrative.

Nevertheless, this work in important in that it indeed fills in one yawning gap in our local history: a version of the story entirely from our own point of view as residents of Pangasinan.