La Victoria Ilumino: A Tale of the Filipino Nation

Kapitan-Heneral

Introduction

The latter part of the 19th century was a turning point in the history of the Philippines, which witnessed its transformation from a mere Spanish colony to an independent, sovereign nation. But you one may ask, when did it all started? The answer is in the year 1872.

During that time a mutiny broke out in Cavite, instigated by a disgruntled army sergeant named Fernando La Madrid. The mutineers were so successful in seizing Fort San Felipe, La Madrid foolishly thought that he could trigger a nationwide revolt. He was dead wrong. The next day, a Spanish army under Felipe Ginoves counterattacked and defeated the mutineers. In the end, La Madrid was executed along with most of his followers. Some were lucky enough to just end up behind bars.

This incident was enough for the reactionary regime of Governor Rafael de Izquierdo to put a stop on the "liberalist epidemic", and have much of the ilustrados arrested. But the most (in)famous victims of this crackdown were three priests: Jose Burgos, Mariano Gomez and Jacinto Zamora. All of them were leaders in the church secularization movement, and was perceived by the conservative clergy as a major thread to their supremacy. And they didn't waste their time in finding ways to eliminate them. After pulling a few strings, the priests were found guilty of sedition and rebellion, and executed.

Some ilustrados who managed to evade arrest fled to Europe, to continue to fight for reforms. This marked the birth of the Propaganda Movements. The next several years saw the rise of prominent intellectuals such as Marcelo H. Del Pilar, Graciano Lopez Jaena and José Rizal, among others. The efforts of the reformists culminated into the founding of La Solidaridad in 1888, which aimed to push Madrid to enact reforms. However, just a few years into circulation, things took a turn for worse. The situation in the Philippines detoriated further, as the colonial government tightened its policies against dissidents. Del Pilar, in particular, began to lose hope in their cause, and left La Solidaridad in 1892 to start a new campaign. But this time, it's for the independence of the Philippines [1].

Meanwhile, Rizal returned to the Philipines and founded the La Liga Filipina, to promote the cause of the Propaganda Movement. But Rizal is already a marked man since the publication of his novels Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, and was arrested just a few days later. This was considered the death knell for the reform movement, as many ilustrados finally had enough and abandoned the peaceful campaign, joining Del Pilar's growing radical movement in the process.

Another turning point came on 7 July 1892, when radical Liga members led by Andrés Bonifacio formed the Katipunan, with only one objective in mind - the independence of Philippines through armed revolt. The Katipunan managed to earn Del Pilar's support by chance, when he found out that his brother-in-law Deodato Arellano was one of its members. Thus, many sympathetic ilustrados contributed some funds for the purchase of weapons for the upcoming conflict. But despite the (secretly) increasing clamor for independence, there are still some who remained loyal to the reformist cause. These "reaffirmists" (Del Pilar's faction were later called "radicals") were led by Pedro Paterno and Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, who were still skeptical about the notion of independence. Oddly, Jaena remained on neutral ground and just continued his job in La Solidaridad, until its demise in 1894 [2]. From that point on, it would be a wild guess on which side he would throw his support.

By Del Pilar's suggestion, the Katipunan founded its own newspaper, named Kalayaan, in 1894 [3] to help propagate their cause. It was a master move. By 1895, Katipunan's membership increased to around 30,000 and counting, not to mention the expansion into other provinces like Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Tayabas, and those in the Bicol Peninsula such as Camarines and Albay.

All was going well until that fateful day in 1896, when a string of events precipitated one of the most important chapters in Philippine history: the Philippine Revolution.


***

[1] This is the POD.
[2] One year earlier than OTL.
[3] Two years earlier than OTL. And the idea came from Pio Valenzuela.
 
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