The Takeover of Intramuros
The walled city of Intramuros, built in the 1570s, was the center of Spanish colonial power in Asia, most especially in the Philippine archipelago and the islands on the east, the Marianas and Caroline islands. Once a great power under the guidance of the first two Hapsburg monarchs (Charles I[1] and Philip II), Spain was slowly descending into a relative oblivion as a colonial power, and its relative weakness was evident during the Napoleonic wars: the American colonies took advantage of the then-ongoing situation in the mainland and, despite the ratification of the first Spanish Constitution in the Andalusian port city of Cádiz in 1812, the post-war restoration of Ferdinand VII as King provoked the independence movements across Spanish America. One by one, after losses of lives on both sides and damages to properties, the former colonies declares themselves independent from Spain. The events that happened in Spanish America inspired Spanish Army captain Andrés Novales to do the same in the Philippines, and with the help of his fellow
mestizos, both civilians and military, he know that his plan would succeed.
Thus he began his revolt on capturing Intramuros, the nerve center of the Spanish East Indies.
On the evening of the 1st of June 1823, Novales, accompanied by sublieutenant Ambrosio Ruiz Tetangco[2], other members of King's Regiment and eight-hundred native Filipino soldiers recruited and trained by Novales' sergeants across the country, stormed the walls of Intramuros and captured some of the important buildings in the Walled City, in which include the
Palacio del Gobernador, the
Cabildo[3] and the Manila Cathedral; the soldiers who served as sentinels were either voluntarily surrendered or killed in gunfight encounters with rebel troops. As planned, Mariano Novales kept the gates of Fort Santiago[4] open so that the troops of his younger brother would easily take over the citadel of Intramuros. Immediately, after Capt. Andrés Novales and his troops entered Fort Santiago, the elder Novales handled the key to his younger brother and kneel before him; the soldiers who stationed in the citadel followed Mariano's gesture, symbolizing the fact that they've switched their loyalty to the younger Novales.
However, the captain was enraged when he learned that the current Governor-General Juan Antonio Martínez has already fled to the city of San Fernando in Pampanga and in his place was his deputy and predecessor Mariano Fernández de Folgueras; Andrés has a special hatred for the Galician-born military administrator and former Governor-General (1806-10; 1816-22) because of the fact that the latter once suggested that the
mestizo officers in the Spanish military should be replaced by the
peninsulares, and the captain clearly remembered how he was discriminated because of his lineage, so on the same evening, Andrés Novales killed Fernández de Folgueras by firing a shot on his head while the rebel soldiers were looking.
Throughout the wee hours of the 2nd of June, some of the rebel soldiers spread out across the Walled City of Intramuros as sentinels as Capt. Novales and rest of his troops were preparing for a march to the recently-captured
Palacio del Gobernador and preparing a speech before the people of Intramuros. Unsurprisingly, the recently-awaken townsfolk of Intramuros were surprised when they saw hundred of soldiers patrolling the streets of their city, nonetheless the residents followed Novales' army to
Palacio del Gobernador because they were curious who was this captain whose army of soldiers was able to takeover the Walled City with little difficulty.
And the struggle to freedom and independence for the Philippines as envisioned by Andrés Novales has begun.
