Tamblot
Encyclopedia
Bohol
Bohol is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, consisting of Bohol Island and 75 minor surrounding islands. Its capital is Tagbilaran City. With a land area of and a coastline long, Bohol is the tenth largest island of the Philippines...
, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
who led the Tamblot Uprising
Tamblot Uprising
The Tamblot Uprising of 1621, also known as the Tamblot Revolution or Tamblot Revolt, was led by Tamblot, a babaylan or native priest from the island of Bohol in the Philippines. It was basically a religious conflict...
in 1621 to 1622 during the Spanish era. He opposed the new religion spread by the Spaniards and fought against the subsequent conversion of the Boholanos to the Catholic faith. According to Legend, he challenged the Spanish priest, and when he won, he earned the trust of the people. He exhorted them to return to the faith of their forefathers and free themselves from Spanish oppression, leading 2,000 followers in what was dubbed as the "Tamblot Uprising
Tamblot Uprising
The Tamblot Uprising of 1621, also known as the Tamblot Revolution or Tamblot Revolt, was led by Tamblot, a babaylan or native priest from the island of Bohol in the Philippines. It was basically a religious conflict...
" or "Tamblot Revolt".
Tamblot features in the Bohol provincial flag as one of the two bolos or native swords with handle and hand-guards on top. These two bolos, which are reclining respectively towards the left and right, depict the Dagohoy and Tamblot revolts, symbolizing that a true Boholano
Boholano people
The Boholano people, also called Bol-anon, refers to the people who live in the island province of Bohol. They are part of the wider Visayans ethnolinguistic group, who constitute the largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group.-Language:...
will rise and fight if supervening factors embroil them into something beyond reason or tolerance.
About Tamblot
Little is known about Tamblot except that he was a babaylan of Barrio Tupas, in AntequeraAntequera, Bohol
Antequera is a 5th class municipality in the province of Bohol, Philippines. According to the 2007 census, it has a population of 14,357 people.A popular place of interest in Antequera are the Mag-Aso Falls...
town who led a number of his pagan followers to wage a religious war
Religious terrorism
Religious terrorism is terrorism by those whose motivations and aims have a predominant religious character or influence.In the modern age, after the decline of ideas such as the divine right of kings and with the rise of nationalism, terrorism more often involved anarchism, nihilism and...
against the Spaniards for fear that their Bathala will be replaced by the God of the Catholic Religion. Further, he was a tumanan or a hermit, a biki or high priest of the local organized religion in Bohol
Bohol
Bohol is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, consisting of Bohol Island and 75 minor surrounding islands. Its capital is Tagbilaran City. With a land area of and a coastline long, Bohol is the tenth largest island of the Philippines...
dedicated to the god Ay Sono.
Antequera
Antequera is a city and municipality in the province of Málaga, part of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia. It is known as "the heart of Andalusia" because of its central location among Málaga, Granada, Córdoba, and Seville...
; Hibor Tasing of Ilihanan, Cortes; Bula-od of Batuan, Bohol
Batuan, Bohol
Batuan is a 6th class municipality in the province of Bohol, Philippines. According to the 2007 census, it has a population of 12,137 people in 2,494 households.- Barangays :Batuan is politically subdivided into 15 barangays.- History :...
; Tam-isan of Loon, Bohol
Loon, Bohol
Loon is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Bohol, Philippines. According to the 2007 census, it has a population of 42,441 people. The town has an old church dating from the 1850s.-Socioeconomic profile:* Class of municipality: Second...
; Tagbakan of Tubigon, Bohol
Tubigon, Bohol
Tubigon is a 1st class municipality and seaport in the province of Bohol, Philippines. According to the 2007 census, it has a population of 44,434 people....
; and Pagali of Carigara, Leyte
Carigara, Leyte
Carigara is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Leyte, Philippines. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 43,455 people in 8,571 households.-Barangays:Carigara is politically subdivided into 49 barangays.-History:...
.
Tamblot’s challenge
When the Boholanos began to convert to Christianity, Legend has it that Tamblot issued a challenge to the Spanish priest as to whose God was more powerful. The challenge was to produce rice and wine from a bamboo stalk. The Spanish priest prayed to his God, of course in Latin, and then cut the bamboo stalk from a groove, but no rice and wine came out. The Legend then claims that Tamblot then prayed to Ay Sono and then cut the bamboo stalk from a groove and out came rice and wine. (“Medina’s Historia 1630-34,” Blair & Robertson, Vol. 24, p. 116). Tamblot won the challenge and the people sided with Tamblot. Only the towns of Baclayon and Loboc remained loyal to the Spaniards. The Spaniards said it was trickery and the work of the demon.The Tamblot uprising
The Tamblot uprising was one of two significant revolts that occurred in BoholBohol
Bohol is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, consisting of Bohol Island and 75 minor surrounding islands. Its capital is Tagbilaran City. With a land area of and a coastline long, Bohol is the tenth largest island of the Philippines...
, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
during the Spanish Era. The other one was the famous Dagohoy Rebellion
Dagohoy Rebellion
The famous Dagohoy Rebellion, also known as Dagohoy Revolution or Dagohoy Revolt, is considered as the longest rebellion in Philippine history...
, considered as the longest rebellion in Philippine history. This rebellion was led by Francisco Dagohoy
Francisco Dagohoy
Francisco Dagohoy, was a Boholano who holds the distinction of having led the longest revolt in Philippine history, the Dagohoy Rebellion. This rebellion against the Spanish colonial government took place in the island of Bohol from 1744 to 1829, roughly 85 years.-About Dagohoy:Little is known of...
, also known as Francisco Sendrijas, from 1744 to 1829.
The Tamblot Uprising in 1621 was basically a religious conflict
Religious terrorism
Religious terrorism is terrorism by those whose motivations and aims have a predominant religious character or influence.In the modern age, after the decline of ideas such as the divine right of kings and with the rise of nationalism, terrorism more often involved anarchism, nihilism and...
.
Tamblot exhorted his people to return to the faith of their forefathers and to rid the Philippines of the Spaniards; this was dubbed as "Tamblot Uprising".
The revolt of Tamblot(1621-22)
In 1621, the flames of a religious revolt engulfed the island of BoholBohol
Bohol is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, consisting of Bohol Island and 75 minor surrounding islands. Its capital is Tagbilaran City. With a land area of and a coastline long, Bohol is the tenth largest island of the Philippines...
. This disturbance was incited by Tamblot who exhorted the people to return to the faith of their forefathers and convinced them "that the time has come when they could free themselves from the oppression of the Spaniards, inasmuch as they were assured of the aid of their ancestors and diuatas, or gods." Tamblot led the people, specifically of the town of Malabago, in an uprising against the Spaniards. The people of Malabago sided with Tamblot.
On the later part of 1621, around 2,000 Boholanos responded to Tamblot's war call and began the uprising at a time when most of the Jesuit fathers, the spiritual administrators of Bohol
Bohol
Bohol is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, consisting of Bohol Island and 75 minor surrounding islands. Its capital is Tagbilaran City. With a land area of and a coastline long, Bohol is the tenth largest island of the Philippines...
island, were in Cebu
Cebu
Cebu is a province in the Philippines, consisting of Cebu Island and 167 surrounding islands. It is located to the east of Negros, to the west of Leyte and Bohol islands...
celebrating the feast of the beatification of St. Xavier.
News of the revolt reached Cebu
Cebu
Cebu is a province in the Philippines, consisting of Cebu Island and 167 surrounding islands. It is located to the east of Negros, to the west of Leyte and Bohol islands...
, and immediately the alcalde-mayor of Cebu, Don Juan de Alcarazo, rushed an expedition to Bohol
Bohol
Bohol is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, consisting of Bohol Island and 75 minor surrounding islands. Its capital is Tagbilaran City. With a land area of and a coastline long, Bohol is the tenth largest island of the Philippines...
consisting of 50 Spaniards and more than 1,000 Filipinos. On New Year's Day, 1622, the government forces began the campaign against the rebels. In a fierce battle, fought in a blinding rain, Tamblot and his followers were crushed. The gallant valor of the Cebuano soldiers in this fight gave victory to Spain.
On January 1, 1622 the fighting begun. On January 7, 1622 the town of Malabago was conquered by the Spaniards and burned to the ground. So after an existence of 22 years the town of Malabago disappeared.
When the Spaniards overran the camp of the Boholanos, they destroyed 1,000 houses, and stole various jewels of silver and gold. These were given to the Cebuano and Pampago soldiers of the expedition.
Another version of the history says that in the following battle, fought out in a torrential rain at Malabago, Cortes, Bohol, the mayor was wounded and the Spanish had to retreat. Six months later, in a second attempt, the rebels where victorious again, but then some Spanish priests from Loboc managed to enter the camp of Tamblot and assassinate him. Then, without their leader, the insurgents where easily defeated, and Spanish power was restored. After these events, the Spanish more firmly established their power in Bohol.
External links
- Chris Antonette P. Pugay The Revolts before the Revolution www.nhi.gov.ph