Revolution in La Laguna
The gobernadorcillo[1] of Biñan, Juan Monica Mercado, joined the revolutionaries on the same day they started their rebellion. Since he declared himself as an Indio, despite being of Sangley descent, and although he was part of the principalias of Laguna, he nevertheless joined the Sons in 1819.
Mercado's sudden decision to join the revolutionaries caused his status as one of the most trustworthy persons of the Spanish government in the islands to vanish, he was now implicated as an outlaw, and had the San Isidro Labrador estate that his grandfather had established confiscated by the Spanish. Undeterred, he led a force of 500, mostly irregular Indios and some of the Real Alcaiceria de Biñan to recapture his estate, to his surprise, most soldiers that were stationed in the estate immediately surrendered, then defected to his side. He turned San Isidro Labrador into his military complex. Afterwards he invited all blacksmiths and fletchers to work for him, at least in his areas under his control.
From Biñan, he immediately took entire towns until Bay, and the few hundred soldiers in western Laguna of the provincial militia defected to the rebels because of discrimination. They ultimately tried to cross to Manila through the Zapote River after capturing San Pedro, but was unsuccessful due to the lack of bridges that would carry them to continue their march towards Manila. Returning from victory, Mercado fortified his positions and built bamboo towers across western Laguna.
In the northern fringes of Laguna[2], about 200 soldiers in Morong accompanied by 100 Indio peasants, seized the town, drove the friars and gobernadorcillo out and later took the towns of Baras and Tanay. Another rebel movement in the mountains of Barrio Balite[3] of San Mateo emerged, and unsuccessfully tried to take the main plaza.
In the southern towns of Nagcarlan[4] and Liliw, rebel farmers took control of the said towns on March 20.
Revolution in Bulacan
When news of the Panitan mutiny had first reached Bulacan, the revolutionaries kept their ground, they only revolted after another reports that Laguna had begun rebelling had followed, about two days after it started.
The first instances of revolution in Bulacan happened in the northern towns of San Ildefonso and San Rafael, where rebel farmers took the entirety of both towns since they were void of Spanish presence. Friars fled to Bulakan while those who remained initially bowed to pressure of the said rebels. Those who did not comply were forcibly expelled to nearby towns.
On March 23, 1823, bands of rebels in Hagonoy took the town plaza, forcibly expelled all friars who did not comply to demands, and marched to conquer the towns of Paombong and Calumpit. They also took barrios of Macabebe, Pampanga. After that, another uprising occurred in Bigaa (Balagtas in 1966 OTL) initiated by 30 soldiers who had 500 Indios joining them on the way. They took northern Bulakan, Guiguinto and Bocaue.
Fifth Ilocano Revolt
Ilocanos especially those in the province of Ilocos Norte had their memories afresh since the revolts of Almazan (1661), Silang (1762), the inhabitants of Piddig (1807), and of the cailanes (1814). They seemed to never forget the cruelty to the Spanish despite efforts of reconciliation between the two, like the restricting the private manufacturing of basi in 1786 that caused the 1807 revolt. Continuous revolts against Spain for the rest of the late 1800s and 1810s paved the way for the division of the 3-centuries old Ilocos province into two: Norte and Sur.
When the news of the revolt broke out in Laguna on March 17, Ilocanos, under the pretext of freeing themselves from the tobacco and basi monopoly as well as the unbearable forced labor (polo y servicios), rebelled. Fighting once more in the name of the red-yellow striped banner, they took over the entirety of the province of Ilocos Norte, while small scale mutinies occur in its sister province Ilocos Sur.
Saralogo Ambaristo[5], Pedro Mateo's companion which initially escaped to the mountains on the urging of Mateo after the battle of the Bantaoay River went into vain, went down to the mountains accompanied by 50 Igorots and Ilocano insurgents of the 1814 revolt, and assumed the leadership against the Spanish. He initially took the title of alcalde mayor[6], which was previously only exclusive to Spaniards (except in some cases such as Andres Malong becoming the alcalde mayor of Pangasinan in the 1660s), and replaced all pro-Spanish gobernadorcillos with pro-rebel ones, those who initially pledge fealty to the Ilocano rebels are allowed to maintain their positions. Immediately after he took control of Ilocos Norte, the basi monopoly was abolished and expelled friars who did not cooperate with Ilocano authorities. Since many of his warriors are members of the Sons, he is one of those who rally support for Philippine independence.
Timawas and mutineers of the middle-class that were subsequently pardoned by the Spanish in 1814, as well as the former provincial militia were composed of the first Filipino-established military unit: the provincial guard of Ilocos Norte.
Cavite Uprising
Ever since the Panitan mutiny occurred, Martinez ordered the increasing militarization of the said province on the basis that it would stop the province from joining the revolt as well as suppressing banditry once and for all. This caused the Caviteños' daily life to be harder as there were curfews at 7:00pm and taxations against the local populace increasing, causing many more to turn to banditry along the wilderness. Many those who became bandits were either members of the Sons or those who refused to pay tax for the government.
Luis de los Santos, more popularly known by the name Luis Parang, was a bandit from Cavite el Viejo[7]. He initially turned to banditry by the early 1810s, and has ever since been a headache for the Spanish authorities in Cavite. The center of Caviteño banditry at this time were the mountains, and the town of Imus, which served as a main shelter and hideout for his group of bandits. He was accompanied by his apprentice Juan "Upay" Silvestro. His group of bandits raided communities, taking livestock and the harvest then going back to the mountains.
He was already leading a three-year uprising against Spain in 1823 when revolts first broke out in Laguna and Bulacan. Joined by the Sons who were also initially persecuted by the government, he expanded his rebellion and allowed revolutionaries coming from neighboring Laguna and prepared for an all-out war. He decided to first initiate his revolt on Imus[8], the center of banditry, on March 29, 1823, in which they killed the local gobernadorcillo and caused Cavite to forment rebellion. By April 3, the towns of Silang, Imus without the areas near to Cavite el Viejo, San Fransisco de Malabon[9] except the northern areas and coast, most of Maragondon except the Ternate area, and Indang except its northwestern part were in rebel hands. They also took parts of northern Batangas.
Revolutionary raids and uprisings on Tayabas
Mercado then turned his eyes on Tayabas[10], a sparsely populated province south of Laguna.
Sending a force of 900 to conquer the said province led by his bandit-turned captain Luis Balat on April 7, they passed the relative roads of the wilderness, reaching rebel-controlled Nagcarlan on April 9. Along his road bound for Tayabas he took the towns of Bay, San Pablo[11] and Calauan, offering almost no resistance to Balat's forces, with some even joining them along the way.
From there, they began to conduct raids along Spanish-controlled Tayabas, while also taking the towns of Tiaong[12] via San Pablo on April 13 and Lucban[13] on April 18.
Meanwhile, in Tayabas itself, small scale agrarian uprisings occur in the remote countryside. An attempted revolution was conducted by several soldiers in the capital town, but was quickly suppressed and all participants were tried in the Casa Comunidad and leaders were executed right away and the soldiers exiled to Mindanao.
Small-scale rebellions of Tondo
On the orders of Martinez, several of his Peninsular officers laid defenses in the province of Tondo[14] to prevent any revolutionaries incoming from neighboring provinces of Laguna, Cavite and Bulacan from inciting rebellion against the Spanish. Curfews became more widespread, mandatory conscription was imposed for Indios, Sangleys and insulars alike, and the walled city of Intramuros was heavily militarized while the town of Binondo was kept an eye with suspicion.
This new set of events basically made the lives of Tondenses even more hard and challenging as often their households were inspected by authorities to see if there is any Sons or there is any weapons hidden. Captured Sons were often sent to penal facilities to teach them a lesson, while friars were given more power to act as government officials in behalf of the governor-general. Friars would often preach to the masses that the revolutionaries in other parts of Luzon were not only rebelling against mother Spain, they were also rebelling against God.
Several, but small scale uprisings and rebellions began to occur in Tondo especially in its eastern and northern parts mostly isolated from the center of Manila, mostly led by either bandits from Laguna and Cavite or prominent Sangleys that were facing discrimination by the Peninsular authorities. But, for the most part, Tondo was almost devoid of any sight of rebellion thanks to the policy of Martinez militarizing the province.
Spanish response and rest of April and May 1823
Aside from militarizing Tondo, Martinez sent orders to various alcalde mayors of Bulacan, Cavite, Tayabas and Laguna to mobilize the provincial militias and disciplinaries in order to crush the various rebellions occurring simultaneously. Small-scale battles akin to that of a skirmish and guerilla attacks became common in the months before June.
The first battle occurred in Barrio Trenchera[15] between rebel forces and the Spanish coming from Batangas to crush the rebellion. This concluded with a rebel victory as bandits, who were also common in this part of San Pablo for years, joined the rebels after promises of tax-free society and charged at the enemy forces at two flanks.
This staged the ground for most of the future battles of the Philippine War of Independence: front war battles combined with guerilla-style tactics, characterized by a large number of casualties and loss of equipment.
The Spanish, using their large reserves of loyalist Indios and soldiers, launched their counteroffensive against the rebels in every directions. This started on Cavite which the Spanish initially launched raids against Parang in his headquarters in the wilderness, which largely failed due to Parang's tactics of waiting for the enemy to strike then ordering his own men to strike the enemy in their headquarters. This caused rebel victories on Barrio Lucsuhin (April 14), Barrio Banaba (April 17), Barrio Latag[16] (April 21), and Barrio Pasong Santol (April 26). These victories repelled any chances of the Spanish retaking eastern Cavite. In Maragondon, the entirety of the provincial militia stationed in its west defected to the rebels since they were mostly composed of Latin Americans and Indios.
In Bulacan, the Spanish attempted to retake Bigaa on April 8 but was repulsed by rebel forces through hit and run tactics, they tried it again on April 11 but this time the rebels defeated them again and took Quingua[17] that same day accompanied by the peasants of the town. Afterwards the rebels in Hagonoy took Paombong on April 12, one day after the second battle of Bigaa, then Malolos a day after. They then started a siege of Bulakan on April 17. Baliuag fell to rebels coming from recently captured Angat on April 15.
In Laguna, the Spanish amassed a number of 1,000 men designed to defeat Mercado and exile him to Mindanao. Marching from Pagsanjan, they reached Bay on April 23 and afterwards retook the town with the rebels retreating to Los Baños. The rebels then retreated further to Calamba on April 26, further growing the confidence of the Spanish that this rebellion by Mercado would be crushed instantly. Unknown to them, Mercado actually intended to retreat further to Calamba, while a 800-man force sent by Balat from Nagcarlan would attack the flank of the Spanish army. Once the Spanish entered Calamba, the force of 800 attacked its flank by blocking the supply route then attacking the soldiers manning the artillery, forcing to divert some soldiers in the front to be sent to help defend its flanks. With the front now less defended by the Spanish, Mercado charged with only him and 2 sub-lieutenants leading it. The battle was a decisive victory, and it ensured that the Spanish would never recover western Laguna as it had 1,200 casualties, with most of the surviving ones being incorporated into the Laguense rebels.
The situation in Tayabas is less in favor for the rebels, since the entirety of the populace supported the Spanish thinking that they were a large group of bandits trying to pry on their livestock and harvest. Nevertheless, rebels took Mauban with minor fighting on April 30.
May had entered, and by this point the Spanish have been experiencing series of defeats except in Tayabas wherein a force of 200 sent by Balat to conquer the province was defeated at the battle of Tayabas on May 5. They attempted to retake Nagcarlan but was repulsed by a series of skirmishes along the road to the said municipality.
In Ilocos Norte, the Spanish attempted to reconquer the said province from Ilocos Sur but was repulsed by Ambaristo's forces on Badoc on May 13 and took the Ilocos Sur towns of Sinait (May 16), Cabugao (May 20) and Maysingal (May 26). To prevent another Spanish attack, Ambaristo ordered the garrisoning of Maysingal while preparing for a siege of Vigan in the future.
Back in Manila, Martinez has been considering to relocate to Pampanga or Iloilo, since by this point Tondo was surrounded on all sides by rebels. He nevertheless prepared 3 galleons from Cavite el Viejo in case scheduled for September. He might be forced to change his decisions initially soon.
[1] - Equivalent to today's position of mayor
[2] - Separated as Morong in 1853 with parts of Tondo (Manila) province
[3] - Renamed and became the municipality of Montalban in 1871. Annexed back to San Mateo in 1903 and separated again in 1908. Renamed Rodriguez in 1982 but is still de facto known as Montalban (possible de jure name once again in the future).
[4] - Included Rizal (municpality, Laguna) until 1919
[5] - In OTL, he was among those executed for the Basi Revolt along with Mateo. In ATL, he escaped to the mountains on Mateo's advice only to lead the Ilocanos to revolt once more.
[6] - Equivalent to today's position of governor
[7] - Renamed Kawit in the early 1900s
[8] - Included Dasmariñas until 1867
[9] - Included Rosario or Salinas until 1845, and renamed to Malabon in 1914 then General Trias in 1920
[10] - Renamed the province of Quezon in 1946
[11] - Included Alaminos (Laguna) until 1873
[12] - Included Dolores until 1835, western Candelaria until 1885, and San Antonio until 1957
[13] - Included Sampaloc (Quezon) until 1892
[14] - Renamed the province of Manila in 1859 and included eastern Rizal until 1853, excludes Valenzuela as it was a part of Bulacan as Polo (renamed in 1960) until 1975
[15] - Renamed and became the municipality of Alaminos (Laguna) on 1873
[16] - Renamed and became the municipality of Carmona in 1856. Includes General Mariano Alvarez until 1981
[17] - Renamed Plaridel (Bulacan) in 1930