LUKBAN
Francisco Fincalero , one of the big land owners of Catubig at that time , told his tenants that if the Americans commandeered his harvest , they were to resist . Homobono Joli-Joli , a young man from Las Navas , forgot the past rivalry of Las Navas and Kagninipa and volunteered with 25 men , with himself at the head , to join the militia . Domingo Rebadulla , the acknowledged leader of Catubig at the time , commanded the militia . He was assisted by Juan Alaras and Probo Plagata , men who later also became municipal mayors of Catubig . The people responded quickly . A 300-man strong , fighting force was raised .
Catubig ’ s well-off families like the Orsolinos , the Tafallas , the Mercaders , the Tentativas , the Turbanadas , donated their mausers and revolvers . Local blacksmiths worked overnight to make paltiks ( locally manufactured guns ) and ba-ids ( Samar ’ s counterpart of the Samurai blade ).
Aware that the local militia were not trained to fight , Rebadulla sent a three-man party ( actually boy couriers ) to Lukban ’ s headquarters to get help . The group was led by his 14-year-old son Pedro . Lukban responded by dispatching one of his able deputies , Col . Enrique Villareal Dagujob , a college-educated native from Bicol . He was to check the terrain of the possible battleground and to give secret military instructions to the militia . With Dagujob was a chemist from Lukban ’ s arsenal , who was to make sure that they had adequate and steady supply of gun powder to recycle used cartridges . Lukban also reassured the boys that when fighting broke out , he would immediately reinforce the local militia with 500 regulars .
Dagujob arrived a few days later incognito . He found the morale of the town ’ s leadership and the fighting men unusually high . Leaving specific instructions on what to do when fighting started , Dagujob returned to Blanca Aurora , in the highlands of the Gandara Valley , the headquarters of General Lukban . From Dagujob ’ s report , Lukban could sense that the fighting would start soon . So he sent Dagujob back to Catubig with a 600-man raiding party armed with rifles and their sharpened ba-ids .
Lukban was right . The battle of Catubig had begun . The local leaders were informed that the steamer Tonyik , which ferried men and supplies to Catubig , was nowhere to be found in Lao-ang , the nearest port . It was in Calbayog , the west side of the island . This meant that if Catubig was to be reinforced , it would take at least three days . Hence , the timing was just perfect to start the shooting . It was Sunday , the 15 th of April .
The longshoremen were piling abaca bale after bale in the street , ready as they appeared to be , for loading to a double-mast parao moored at the pier close by where the American steamer had also been
57