Lieutenant General Mateo Noriel Luga (1868,
Tumauini, Isabela
Tumauini, officially the Municipality of Tumauini ( ibg, Ili nat Tumauini; ilo, Ili ti Tumauini; tl, Bayan ng Tumauini), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Isabela, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of ...
– April 9, 1935,
Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
), was an
Ibanag revolutionary, named one of the 100 prominent natives of
Cebu
Cebu (; ceb, Sugbo), officially the Province of Cebu ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Sugbo; tl, Lalawigan ng Cebu; hil, Kapuroan sang Sugbo), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 16 ...
. He was not a
Cebuano but an Ibanag from
Isabela province
; gad, Probinsia na Isabela; tl, Lalawigan ng Isabela)
, settlement_type =
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = (from top: left to right) Pacific coast in Dinapigue, Sierra Madre Mountains, Magat Dam, Cagay ...
who came to Cebu to assist the Cebuanos during their conflict against Spain and the United States.
Early life and military service
Mateo Luga was born in
Paoay
Paoay, officially the Municipality of Paoay ( ilo, Ili ti Paoay; fil, Bayan ng Paoay), is a 4th class municipality in the province of Ilocos Norte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 25,001 people.
The town is hom ...
, Ilocos Norte, but later migrated to
Tumauini
Tumauini, officially the Municipality of Tumauini ( ibg, Ili nat Tumauini; ilo, Ili ti Tumauini; tl, Bayan ng Tumauini), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Isabela, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of ...
Isabela province. He responded to the call-to-arms against the
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
towards the end of the 19th century. He left home in 1896, joined the
Katipuneros in
Bulacan
Bulacan, officially the Province of Bulacan ( tl, Lalawigan ng Bulacan), is a province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the city of Malolos. Bulacan was established on August 15, 1578, and part of the Me ...
,
Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
,
Laguna, and
Cavite
Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite ( tl, Lalawigan ng Kabite; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Located on the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest ...
, and fought the Spanish forces in Balinta,
Antipolo
Antipolo, officially known as the City of Antipolo ( fil, Lungsod ng Antipolo), is a 1st class component city and capital of the province of Rizal, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 887,399 people. It is the ...
,
Montalban,
San Pedro de Makate, Palipanan,
Monting Lupa,
Kalo-okan, and other areas until early 1899. During this period, Mateo Luga increasingly took on a leadership role in combat situations.
Cebu Revolutionary government
Between the summer of 1898 and mid-1899, the province of Cebu witnessed a so-called "war within a war", during the peak of the armed insurrection against Spain. In December 1898, the Spanish Governor
Adolfo Montero abandoned the province of Cebu and sought refuge in
Zamboanga. As a consequence, Juan Faller Climaco and
Arcadio Maxilom
Arcadio is a given name. Notable people with the name include:
* José Arcadio Buendía, fictional patriarch in the novel ''One Hundred Years of Solitude'' by Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez
*Arcadio Arellano (1872–1920), notable archi ...
established a revolutionary government in Cebu, and were appointed chief of staff and councilor of peace and internal order, respectively. With the unexpected arrival of the American occupation forces in Cebu, armed hostilities broke out between the American occupying forces and the fledgling Cebuano revolutionary force in February 1899.
In April 1899,
General Emilio Aguinaldo
Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy (: March 22, 1869February 6, 1964) was a Filipino revolutionary, statesman, and military leader who is the youngest president of the Philippines (1899–1901) and is recognized as the first president of the Philippine ...
and Secretary of War General
Antonio Luna
Antonio Narciso Luna de San Pedro y Novicio Ancheta (; October 29, 1866 – June 5, 1899) was a Filipino army general who fought in the Philippine–American War before his assassination in 1899.
Regarded as one of the fiercest generals of hi ...
appointed Mateo Luga as the Katipunan's personal adviser to the Cebu revolutionary government. With his two bodyguards, Manalo Luga and another Luga cousin, Mateo travelled to Cebu disguised as a sailor on board the cargo ship Butuan. On the way to Cebu, the group passed through
Iloilo
Iloilo (), officially the Province of Iloilo ( hil, Kapuoran sang Iloilo; krj, Kapuoran kang Iloilo; tl, Lalawigan ng Iloilo), is a province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital is the City of Iloilo, the ...
, where Mateo Luga met his future wife, Ruperta Valdez, an Ilongga woman of Spanish descent. On arrival in Cebu he was arrested by the local revolutionaries on suspicion of being a Spanish spy. He was brought before General Climaco, who freed him based on a letter from General Aguinaldo confirming his allegiance to Aguinaldo and Luna. The Cebu revolutionary government divided Cebu into three operational sectors: the north under General Maxilom, the south under General
Troadio Galicano, and the central zone under General Luga, the only non-
Visayan
Visayans ( Visayan: ''mga Bisaya''; ) or Visayan people are a Philippine ethnolinguistic group or metaethnicity native to the Visayas, the southernmost islands of Luzon and a significant portion of Mindanao. When taken as a single ethnic group ...
in the Cebu revolutionary force, except Don Bonifacio Aranas from
Camiguin
Camiguin, officially the Province of Camiguin ( ceb, Probinsya sa Camiguin; tl, Lalawigan ng Camiguin; Kamigin: ''Probinsya ta Kamigin''), is an island province in the Philippines located in the Bohol Sea, about off the northern coast of Mi ...
.
The first encounter between the forces of General Luga and the Americans was in
Mahayahay. The two forces carried out raids, assaults, ambushes, and frontal confrontations from 1899 to the latter part of 1901. Luga's fiercest battle was at
Sudlon, the Revolutionary redoubt of the Katipuneros. The confrontation lasted for nine days, until January 8, 1900. The Americans assaulted the Kota defenses of General Luga, before turning back, leaving their dead and wounded behind. Despite the superior armaments of the Americans, the Katipuneros' knowledge of the terrain, fighting acumen, and willingness to sacrifice gave them an edge over the Americans.
In the following months, the Katipuneros made forays into American territory. On one occasion, General Luga and his force almost captured
General Henry W. Lawton at Pardo. The Americans were having a party when General Luga conducted a raid, which surprised the Americans. General Lawton escaped by running to the seashore, boarding a launch, and remaining on board while the raid was in progress. Other bloody battles included those in San Nicolas, Bulusan, Guadalope, Mabolo, Talamban, and the city itself. General Luga was a wanted man, and his wife and children were imprisoned by the Americans to force him to surrender. Instead, Luga entered the city to stage a rescue of his family.
End of hostilities
On September 15, 1901, General
Robert P. Hughes arrived in Cebu with 2,000 troops, and towns, villages, and crops were laid to waste. Homes and the people's means of livelihood were demolished, and little distinction was made between combatants and the general population. Without the necessary support to continue hostilities, terms of peace were discussed with the Americans. One by one, the revolutionary leaders surrendered after General Maxilom laid down his arms on October 27, 1901. General Luga and his troops surrendered to
Captain Frank McIntyre of the 19th U.S. Infantry on the same day.
[Foreman, J., 1906, The Philippine Islands, A Political, Geographical, Ethnographical, Social and Commercial History of the Philippine Archipelago, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons]
Luga believed that the surrender was not the end of his fighting career. He accepted the commission to become an officer of the constabulary organized by the Americans to maintain peace and order in the region. Despite his mistrust of the Americans, he accepted the commission, hoping that he could help bring peace back to the countryside. He joined the constabulary force along with a few men, including
General Rafael Crame. His activities as a peace officer took him as far as
Samar
Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...
and
Leyte
Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census.
Since the accessibility of land has be ...
, in pursuit of a bandit group known as the Pulahanes. He was tasked to make Cebu clean and bandit-free. By 1908, Luga had risen to the rank of captain in the constabulary.
Dissent and retirement
In 1914, Luga disapproved of the widely anticipated battle for power in
South East Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...
between the United States and Japan. He had been critical of the onerous provisions of the
Hare–Hawes–Cutting Act
The Hare–Hawes–Cutting Act passed to authors Congress Butler B. Hare, Senator Harry B. Hawes and Senator Bronson M. Cutting. (ch. 11, , enacted January 17, 1933) The Hare–Hawes–Cutting Act was the first US law passed setting a process and ...
, which provided for the establishment of the
Philippine Commonwealth
The Commonwealth of the Philippines ( es, Commonwealth de Filipinas or ; tl, Komonwelt ng Pilipinas) was the administrative body that governed the Philippines from 1935 to 1946, aside from a period of exile in the Second World War from 1942 ...
, under which a ten-year transitional government supervised by the United States would be set up prior to independence, as well as the establishment of American military and naval bases in the Philippines. Luga called the act, "a castle coated with honey", adding that "Those naval and military reservations are the stumbling blocks to the granting of our freedom and in our policy on foreign relations. There is really nothing wrong with us if America will not go to war with other countries. But if she does, we will be the first ones to suffer for we will be made to pay dearly for the consequences." This statement would be proven later during the Second World War. Despite Luga's unblemished record of service, his views led him to be placed under surveillance. Eventually, he resigned from the constabulary.
Upon his resignation in 1914, he was employed by the Philippine Refining Company, an American firm that was the predecessor of
Unilever
Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...
Philippines. After this, he worked for the Public Lands Commission, where he was assigned the task of giving away homesteads to deserving applicants. He was able to acquire 24 hectares for himself in
Sagay
Sagay, officially the City of Sagay ( hil, Dakbanwa sang Sagay; ceb, Dakbayan sa Sagay; fil, Lungsod ng Sagay), is a 3rd class component city in the province of Negros Occidental, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populati ...
,
Negros Occidental
Negros Occidental ( hil, Nakatungdang Negros; tl, Kanlurang Negros), officially the Province of Negros Occidental, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region. ...
where he retired into a simple country life with his wife, Ruperta, and their children, Maria, Jose, Pilar and twins Emilio and Antonio, who were named after Aguinaldo and Luna.
On his way back home to
Negros
Negros is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . Negros is one of the many islands of the Visayas, in the central part of the country. The predominant inhabitants of the island region a ...
from a visit to his hometown in Isabela, Luga was found to be stricken with cancer. He died in Manila in 1935. Many of his comrades-in-arms attended his funeral, including General Aguinaldo and the remaining Katipuneros.
Legacy
According to Victor Hurley, Luga was "a gallant insurgent leader before donning the red epaulets of the Constabulary", and "no member of the corps wore the uniform of the jungle police with greater distinction than this swart, fearless Filipino." It was said that Luga had gained the respect of the American army during the insurrection with his courage and honourable conduct. One American officer reportedly that, "In Mateo Luga, you saw a man to remember as long as you live."
[Hurley, Victor (1938). ''Jungle Patrol: The Story of the Philippine Constabulary''. New York: E.P. Dutton. Chapter XVI]
References
*Mojares, Resil (1999). ''The War Against the Americans''. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila Press.
*Piedad, Publio (1965). ''"Sudlon: A Historical Landmark." Cebu: History of Its Four Cities and Fifty-Nine Municipalities.'' Cebu City: Mely Press.
*Quisumbing, Jose (1963). ''Warwick Barracks''. Quezon City: Progressive Printing Palace.
*Wolff, Leon (1968). ''Little Brown Brother''. Manila: Erewhon.
*Luga, Jose Mathew. "Alimokon: Mateo Noriel Luga, the Life History of a Revolutionary (1868?-1899)." ''Journal of Philippine Local History & Heritage, Vol. 3 No. 2 ,'' (August 2017): 115-151.
External links
Filipinas Heritage Library
Further reading
*Alfafara, Celestino. ''Ang Ika-Kawhaan ug Lima nga Sumad sa Republica Filipina.'' ''Bag-ong Kusog'', (March 14, 1924).
*''Gen. Mateo Luga on the Hare–Hawes–Cutting Law'', Translation of an article in ''Bag-ong Kusog'', (September 19, 1933).
*''Cultural Heritage monograph Series on Local History.'' Vol. 1. ''Mateo Luga: The Tribal Filipino as Revolutionary.''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luga, Mateo Noriel
People from Isabela (province)
1868 births
1935 deaths
Paramilitary Filipinos