Who is pitong gatang?

Answer 1

Pitong Gatang was among the earliest opponents of the Spanish invaders after the governorship of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi. He was involved in an uprising known in history books as the "conspiracy of the maharlikas" from 1587 to 1588.

The masterminds of this uprising, Agustin de Legazpi (some say he was the son of Lakandula, others say he was Rajah Sulayman himself) and his first cousin, Martin Pangan, were caught they were initially dragged on hurdles to the gallows, hanged, decapitated and exposed on the gibbet in iron cages, as a grim warning against the crime. Their severed heads were stuck on pikes and placed in wicker baskets for public exhibition. The sites of their houses were plowed and sown with salt, and all their properties sequestered.

Pitong Gatang and other minor Datus, Felipe Salonga and Dionisio Capulong, were banished to Mexico.

They swore their loyalty to rise up in arms by anointing their necks with a split egg. The uprising failed when Antonio Susabau of Calamianes and Amarlahagi, Datu of Bay, Laguna divulged the plot to the Spanish authorities.

(Source: History of the Filipino People by Teodoro A. Agoncillo)

The name has always been pronounced similarly with the unit of measurement used in the Philippines during the 19th and parts of the 20th century - pitong gatang (seven chupas). Just a thought: being a person's name, should it not be pronounced the way we call, say, Agapito or Pepito or Lopito by their usual nickname which is Pitong? After all, Filipinos were not even aware of the word in the system of measure, and therefore is not a part of the usual vocabulary, until the later part of the Spanish colonial era.