LUKBAN
school at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran and , after graduation served at the court of first instance in Quiapo , Manila . This was followed by an appointment as justice of the peace in his own hometown . He was soon recruited into the masonry where he became known as “ Luz del Oriente ” ( light of the orient ). It was here where he was recruited into the revolutionary movement .
When the revolution broke out in 1896 , at 36 years old , he was engaged in agriculture and had a thriving business . On Sept . 29 , that year , while in Manila attending a meeting of the agricultural society , the Spanish authorities arrested him for his involvement with the Katipunan . Like many prisoners at that time , he was tortured to extract information about his fellow revolutionaries , but he stood his ground . So they kept him at the Carcel de Bilibid . The torture and imprisonment in a flooded cell left him with a permanent limp .
He was released on May 17 , 1897 after Governor-General Fernando Primo de Rivera granted amnesty to political prisoners . He immediately joined General Emilio Aguinaldo ’ s forces . It was most likely here where he learned the art of war . After the Pact of Biak na Bato was forged on December 14 , 1897 , he went into exile with Aguinaldo in Hongkong and became part of the revolutionary junta .
In May 1898 , Lukban returned to the Philippines and resumed his involvement with the revolutionists . He was immediately tasked by Aguinaldo to assist the revolutionary movement in Southern Luzon . Here he was given the rank of colonel . His next assignment was to assist the movement in Bicol . But there were delays in the mobilization of arms and personnel because of another officer ’ s refusal to release some of the arms captured from the Spaniards . These were released only after Aguinaldo himself intervened . Finally , Lukban proceeded to Bicol where he again exhibited his skills in war . By mid October , Lukban completed his task . After this , he would be working fulltime on his original assignment in Leyte and Samar . It was only on December 31 , 1898 that he was finally able to present himself to the leaders of Samar in Catbalogan . 3
Samar in 1900
The ancients used to call Samar island ‘ Ibabao .’ It is located in the most eastern part of the Visayas and southeast of the island of Luzon , from which it is separated by the Strait of San Bernardino . Toward the southwest , it is separated from the island of Leyte by the narrow Strait of San Juanico , which runs from north to south , lying between the southwestern coast of Samar and the northeastern coast of Leyte , and
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