HISTORY: The German invasion of Calamba

In Calamba, Dr. Jose P. Rizal was called by the locals Dr. Aleman. This is because he spent a significant part of his life in Germany, pursuing his studies in Ophthalmology after completing his medical education in Spain. Rizal too completed his novel “Noli Me Tangere” in Berlin where it was published in 1887. But to think that he was a Germanophile, a German nationalist in spite of not being an ethnic German is absurd.

On August 25, 1885, a German warship entered the harbor of Yap in Caroline Islands. These Pacific islands were under the control of Spain since 1686 after it was rediscovered by the Manila galleon captain Francisco Lazeano. The Germans seized the archipelagoes of Caroline and Palau, hoisted the German flag and proclaimed them German protectorate. When the news reached Spain, radicals in Madrid rose in violent demonstrations demanding war against Germany. To thwart an imminent war Spain and Germany referred the issue to Pope Leo XIII for arbitration. The Pope proposed a compromise which was accepted by both nations. The compromise recognized Spain’s sovereignty over the archipelagoes but allowed concessions to Germany.

The proximity of the Philippines to the Caroline Islands threatened the Spanish colonial administrators and drove them almost to the point of paranoia. The German intrusions made the Spanish authorities in the Philippines saw the fragility of their position which is so far away from their motherland to seek help for defense. With the conflict, which the Calamba tenants and Spanish colonial administrators were facing concerning the defaults in their annual rents, which was feared could brew into a revolution, the colonizers panicked. They thought that the default was instigated by Dr. Jose Rizal and was a prelude to a German invasion. Rizal’s escapades in Europe were circulated widely in Calamba and the Dominican authorities were well aware of this. Dr. Rizal’s close friendship with Ferdinand Blumentritt made them believe that Rizal have a strong influence on the German Empire. Rumors had it that Rizal shall lead a German squadron, distribute the lands of the hacienda and establish a model republic. The rumor upsets the townsfolk and created a divide, Rizal’s admirers were labeled “Partido Aleman” while the Dominican loyalists were called “Partido Frailes”

The administrator of the hacienda, Fray Felipe Dominguez reported to his superior that Rizal was in Calamba during Christmas of 1887 and that he went to Lecheria Hill with a Spanish lieutenant of the guardia civil and made speeches against Spain and planted the German flag. This however was later denied by Rizal’s lieutenant bodyguard Don Jose Taviel de Andrade, the lieutenant assigned to him by Governor General Emilio Terrero.

Suspicion of German intrusions became intensified when the Calamba townsfolk refused to pay the annual rents for as long as the Dominicans do not prove their title to the property. On August 6 1890, Juan Mompeon, the provincial governor of Laguna, rushed to Calamba in fear that the German squadron had arrived. At 9:00 o’clock in the evening, he summoned 19 or 20 townsfolk to the house of Eusebio Elefaño, the gobernadorcillo of Calamba. Among those summoned were Silvestre Ubaldo, Antonino Lopez, Leandro Lopez, Lucia Rizal, Matias Belarmino, Luis Habaña, Marcos Elasegui, Mateo Elejorde and Luis Elasegui. They were suspected to be heads of the rebellion or at least the instigators who were deceiving the innocent. Governor Mompeon proposed that they settle their accounts with the Dominicans, or he would strictly fulfill his duty as governor

The next day, the governor called another meeting with the townsfolk and asked when the German squadron would arrive to defend them. The townsfolk denied any knowledge about the Germans and their coming. Frustrated the Governor Mompeon left Calamba. Later in the evening, he sent a telegram to the gobernadorcillo ordering the appearance of Silvestre Ubaldo, Antonino Lopez, Leandro Lopez, Paciano Rizal and Mateo Elejorde before the government, and be detained in case of defiance for suspicion of heading the Calamba rebellion.

A month later, on September 6, 1890, all of them were shipped to Mindoro as exiles.

The imagined German incursions and support in the colony became a convenient reason to get rid of unwanted Calamba residents. On October 6, 1888, Manuel T. Hidalgo, by decree of the Superior Government, was exiled to the town of Tagbilaran. He was accused of being a brave filibuster supported by France and Germany. On September 6, 1890, 5 Calambeños were shipped to Calapan, Mindoro as exiles on the same accusation. On November 13, 1891, 25 Calambeños were deported to the island of Jolo. And finally, on 14 July 1892, Jose Rizal was secretly deported to Dapitan in Mindanao.

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Source:: Chapter V of a graduate research paper presented to the University of Sto. Tomas by Atty Robert John I. Donesa, http://haciendadecalamba.blogspot.com