July 22, Pangasinan Liberation Day

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo

IN a post on the FB Group Pangasinan Historical and Cultural Commission (PHCC), historian Jaime Veneracion said, “What June 12 is to the Philippines, July 22 would be to Pangasinan, the date when Pangasinan was liberated from Spanish colonial rule. This, according to this document…” together with a photograph of the document he cited (see Footnote).

The post prompted me to countercheck the details in another historical book, “Pangasinan 1801-1900: The Beginnings of Modernization” by another historian, Rosario Mendoza Cortes, published in 1990, which confirmed thus:

“The 22nd of July, 1898 thus marked the liberation of Pangasinan from Spanish rule.” -Rosario Mendoza Cortes, Pangasinan 1801-1900: The Beginnings of Modernization, 1990, p.93.”

Two others commented, Melchor Orpilla and Lorenzo Llamas, claiming that the liberation of Dagupan is July 23. Orpilla cited the personal account of Felipe Quintos, observing:

“Interestingly, Felipe Quintos never mentioned Maramba in his personal account of the revolution in Pangasinan. He mentioned Quesada, Del Prado, Toledo, Yango, Plata, Favor, etc. According to Felipe Quintos, it is the Zambalenos (people of western Pangasinan) who started the campaign to help in the liberation of Dagupan) in their area. It was not Del Prado who liberated the western towns (northern Zambales before). Ge. Roman Manalang, Gen. Mauro Oritz and Col. Felipe Quintos and the leaders of each of the towns under the command of Manalang overthrew the Spanish local government in their area.”

This prompted me to google the book cited, and found a digital copy in Pangasinan (https://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/philamer/AQA5919.0001.001?view=toc).

I inspected the “Sipi awaray gelew diad Pilipinas: (Revolucion Filipina) / ginawa nen Felipe Quintos” for sources, not one official document was cited. Anyone can write a personal account but the accounts must be collaborated by official documents. It is impossible to write anything about the Philippine Revolution that includes specific dates and persons without a thorough research on the primary sources, and without citing previous works on the subject.

The personal account of Col. Quintos, that it was he (together with two other generals, under the command of Manalang), and not del Prado and Maramba who liberated Dagupan, must appear in the military records during the siege. After all, they all reported under one revolutionary government. The claim must be consistent with other official records and researches made by scholars in the field.

Footnote: Historian Jaime Veneracion cited the following sources for his post: a) John RM Taylor, Philippine Insurrection Against the United States, Vol III, Exh. 159, p. 276. Microfilm, PIR, UP Lib. 1089.2 UPL MCF 3745 Reel 20 at Reel 13 and b) Adriel O Meimban, LA UNION, 1850-1921. p. 130 citing Luis Moreno Jerez, The Spanish Prisoners Held by the Tagalogs….Diario de Manila, 1900, p. 131.

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