Battle of Binakayan

Battle of Binakayan
Part of the Philippine Revolution
Binakayan Shrine in Kawit, Cavite.
Date November 9-11, 1896 Location Kawit, Cavite, Philippines Result Filipino victory
Belligerents
Katipunan Magdalo	Spanish Empire
Commanders and leaders
Emilio Aguinaldo Edilberto Evangelista Candido Tirona† Gregoria Montoya y Patricio	Ramón Blanco y Erenas José Marina
Strength
~35,000 men[note 1][1]	1,600[2]-1612 marine infantry. 2 companies from 73rd Regiment, 1 company of artillery, 60 military engineers, 2 naval warships, 4 gunboats[3]
Casualties and losses
unknown	~500 deaths[note 2][4]

The Battle of Binakayan was fought on November 9-11, 1896, and is considered the first major victory of Filipino revolutionaries during Philippine Revolution. The battle took place at the town of Cavite el Viejo (now Kawit) and lasted for two days after Spanish retreat. Similar battle took place at the same day in the adjacent town of Noveleta.

Background

In Cavite, there were two popular councils, formally called as the Sangguniang Bayan which is mandated by the Katipunan to preside its members over its respective areas. One of this council is the Magdalo Council which was headed by Katipunero Baldomero Aguinaldo and encompasses the political municipalities of Alfonso, Bailen (now General Emilio Aguinaldo), Indang, Magallanes, Maragondon, Naic, Rosario, San Francisco de Malabon (now General Trias, Cavite), San Roque (now part of Cavite City), Tanza, and Ternate. The other council, Magdiwang, is headed by Mariano Álvarez and occupies the towns of Amadeo, Bacoor, Carmen, Perez Dasmariñas, Kawit, Mendez, Núñez (now part of Mendez), and Silang.^[5] Magdalo's name originated from Aguinaldo's nom-de-plume for Katipunan which rooted from Santa Magdalena, Cavite's patron saint.^[6] Magdalo held its capital at Noveleta, while Magdiwang was in Imus.^[5]

On August 31, 1896, Aguinaldo successfully led a small uprising in Kawit, in which he defeated and killed the Spanish commander of the Guardia Civil. Because of that, the leadership was passed from his brother, Baldomero, to him, where most of Magdalo members and revolutionists regard him as their natural leader.^[6]

Starting at the onset of the revolution, Spanish naval raids are conducted to the shores of Cavite, where cannonballs bombarded fortifications of the revolutionaries in Noveleta and Kawit. One of the most fortified location in Noveleta are the Dalahican and Dagatan shores, defended by Magdiwang soldiers, while the adjacent fishing village of Binakayan in Kawit was fortified by Magdalo. Spanish naval operations are determined to crush revolutionary fortification in these areas, mainly because the lake around Dalahican was so strategic that it is connected to the interior of Cavite. Apart from defending Binakayan, the Magdalo soldiers also kept the lower part of Dagatan up until Cavite's border near Morong.^[7]

The battle

Alarmed by previous siege done by Emilio Aguinaldo in Imus, Cavite, Governor-General Ramón Blanco y Erenas ordered the 4th Battalion of Cazadores from Spain to aid him in annihilating revolution in the province. On November 3, 1896, the battalion arrived carrying a squadron of 1,328 men and some 55 generals.^[8] Apart from that, Blanco ordered some 5,000 men when he learned that insurgents already occupied most of Las Piñas and Parañaque towns in the outskirts of Manila.^[9]

Meanwhile, revolutionaries entrenched a mile and a half long stockade and trenches on Noveleta along Dalahican, which cuts land reinforcements towards Cavite City. The city, the capital of the province and connected by a narrow isthmus to the mainland Cavite, holds the Punta Sangley and Blanco feared of the city falling to the hands of the rebels. Each day, the stockade advances towards the isthmus. To prevent further mishaps and the fall of whole Cavite, Blanco launched twin attacks to the stockades in both Cavite el Viejo and Noveleta.

On November 8, Blanco commissioned Colonel José Marina to command the attack on Binakayan front in Cavite el Viejo. The column assigned to Marina to stop insurgents in Binakayan includes about 1,600 marine infantry, two companies from 73rd Native Regiment, a company of artillery, 60 military engineers from the 6th Company of Engineers, two naval warships, and four gunboats.^[4][10] The 73rd Native Regiment includes Filipino native auxiliaries.^[2] Forts in Cavite were opened to fire for the approaching revolutionaries, while warships Castilla, Reina Cristina, and gunboats Bulusan, Leyte, Villalobos and Cebu destroyed stockades in Noveleta and Cavite el Viejo.^[10]

The first attack on November 8 coincides with Cavite City's weeklong fiesta celebrating its patron saint Nuestra Señora dela Soledad de Porta Vaga, or Virgin of Solitude. Despite the wails of revolution, pilgrims of the Solitude flocked the city, whereby revolutionists cooperated and attended all of the festivities and celebrations. The sound of cannonball hitting the shores of Cavite was only taken by local townsfolk as the enemy's contribution to the fiesta. By nightfall, Spanish firings intensified, but the rebels took no action to honor the Virgin of Solitude.^[11]

Attack on Binakayan

Map of Cavite province showing stockades created by revolutionaries.

At 6 AM on November 9, 1896, and after series of bombardment, Spanish soldiers launched a siege towards rebel fortifications in Binakayan. The columns were two-fold, the first one, commanded by Col. José Marina headed to Binakayan, while the second one, by General Diego de los Ríos approached entrenchments at Dalahican.

Meanwhile, Emilio Aguinaldo, the leader of the council defending Binakayan, headed in the boundary of Laguna and Batangas, thinking that the enemies would approach there. When he heard the news that Spanish forces are building up in Binakayan, he hurried back to defend the village. He was surprised to see that the Spanish forces cannot enter the excellent trench designed by General Edilberto Evangelista.

The next day, an old woman named "Gloria" (Gregoria Patricio-Montoya) joined Aguinaldo while defending the fort. Because of age, Aguinaldo requested Gloria to leave the fortification, but she refused to. She said that she wanted to revenge the death of his Katipunero husband who died a day ago during the attacks in Dalahican. To serve the post, Aguinaldo gave Gloria several units to delay the incoming Spanish reinforcement marching from Bacoor, Cavite.^[12]

One of the most significant and memorable contribution of Gloria to the Battle of Binakayan was when she, herself only, dismantled the wooden bridge in Mabolo River, which connects the towns of Bacoor and Cavite el Viejo. Because of that, Spanish reinforcement were delayed in coming to Binakayan.^[12]

On November 11, the Spanish forces advanced to destroy enemy entrenchment with no development of opposition from the rebels. When the army reached the road forking towards Cavite el Viejo and Imus, the location became overwhelmed with a rain of projectiles in a long line of entrenchments at short range. The main body for defending the fortifications were 22 Remington rifles, a German Mauser rifle and some native cannon gunned with improvised missiles made of scraped irons, which, were destructive of "about 500 arms' length".^[13] At each advancement, more Spanish were killed; even the officers. When the soldiers saw that their lieutenants and generals were killed by the defense of Binakayan, they were demoralized: some retreated back to their ships. A small group led by Col. Marina (who had been wounded three times) rallied towards the entrenchment in Dalahican. Thus this terminates the attack on the fortification in Binakayan.^[10]

The demoralized Spanish troops left about 200 guns, generally Mausers and Remingtons, and 15 loads of cartridge.^[2]

References

Bibliography

• Alvarez, Santiago V.; Paula Carolina S. Malay (1992), The Katipunan and the Revolution: Memoirs of a General, Ateneo de Manila University Press, ISBN 971-550-077-3, http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=F3q-krDckHwC  ISBN 978-971-550-077-7
• Davis, George W. (1903), Annual report of Major General George W. Davis, United States Army commanding Division of the Philippines from October 1, 1902 to July 26, 1903, Manila, P.I., http://ia700200.us.archive.org/17/items/annualreportofma03unit/annualreportofma03unit.pdf . Archived at the Internet Archive
• Foreman, John (1906), The Philippine Islands: A Political, Geographical, Ethnographical, Social and Commercial History of the Philippine Archipelago, Embracing the Whole Period of Spanish Rule (Third ed.), New York: Kelly & Walsh, Ltd. 
• Halili, M.C. (2004), Philippine History, Rex Bookstore, Inc., ISBN 971-23-3934-3, http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=gUt5v8ET4QYC  ISBN 978-971-23-3934-9
• Zaide, Gregorio F. (1957), Philippine Political and Cultural History: the Philippines Since the British Invasion, II (1957 Revised ed.), Manila: McCullough Printing Company