LUKBAN
code , that can be arranged so long as the petition was accompanied by the signatures of 10 citizens of that town .
The president then introduced to the audience Dr . Pardo de Tavera , the president of the Federal party , who addressed them . The session then adjourned . 17
Lukban ’ s response
Two weeks later , on April 19 , Lukban assembled the representatives of the towns of the island and there formally denounced the Federal party and its ends , demanding that they should be given “ liberty or death , independence or extermination .” Nothing much has been recorded of this event , but his enemies opined that he must have come up with something like a manifesto where , as usual , there were no dissenting opinions from the audience . 18
In the next two months , calls to surrender were renewed in a bid to end the conflict . As in previous calls , Lukban remained steadfast in his refusal , despite the urging of some of his own people to do so . 19 They assured him that the Americans could go anywhere where he could do ; that their ability as marksmen had been shown by the casualties of his people , that it was useless to resist , and that the resistance would lead to the complete destruction of the property of the island . It was in vain that the men and members of the Federal party wrote that Aguinaldo had been taken , that Luzon had been pacified , and that the cessation of hostilities elsewhere would permit the concentration of a large force in Samar .
He answered that he was ready to die but not to surrender . If indeed Aguinaldo was a prisoner , he would have informed him of it . News of the conditions in Luzon should reach him through agents of the government which he represented and not through agents of the Americans . He told them that he believed that they were lying about Luzon and Aguinaldo . It was intended to entrap him into surrendering himself . 20
When Gen . Hughes assumed command of the operations in Samar , first in his agenda was Lukban ’ s surrender . Like the others of similar persuasion , Hughes told Lukban through emissaries that to continue fighting was futile and would only cause further suffering of combatants as well as civilians . But he soon discovered that his adversary was made of sterner stuff because even when he used Lukban ’ s own brother to persuade him to surrender , he did not have much luck . Instead , it seemed to even harden Lukban ’ s stance . Now the world ’ s attention was focused on Samar . The democrats back in the US drew their inspiration
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