Historical trivia about Santa Barbara
by Fred Natividad
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On November 13, 1899, Santa Barbara had a five-hour brush with history long before 1945 when General Douglas Macarthur set up his first land command post in Santa Barbara after his Lingayen Gulf landings.
The story of this earlier brush with history is based on a reading of a diary of Telesforo Perez Carrasco, a junior officer in General Aguinaldo's army. The diary was translated from Spanish and published in English in 1986 in Manila by the noted Filipino writer, Nick Joaquin. Mr. Joaquin appears to be a Carrasco descendant.
Back in 1899 the United States of America, then a new emerging power, decided to try its hand in colonialism. It refused to leave the Philippines after its navy demolished the Spanish fleet on Manila Bay. Filipinos, thru their leader, General Aguinaldo, did not foresee this, thinking that America was their ally in driving the Spaniards out. Not surprisingly,
Filipinos were incensed and dared the might of a well trained, sophisticated (for its time) American army.
Enter the story of Telesforo Perez Carrasco as can be gleaned from Nick Joaquin's translation of Carrasco's diary. A Spaniard, Carrasco was a non-com in the Spanish army. Fleeing from a love affair he volunteered for service in the Philippines where he married instead a Filipino girl in Tanauan, Batangas. On June 1, 1899, eight years after he arrived in the Philippines, he was captured by Filipino revolutionary troops in Bulacan.
Carrasco not only waived repatriation to Spain but he even joined General Aguilnaldo's peasant troops, who, after defeating the Spaniards, were now facing a new enemy, the United States of America. Eventually, among various assignments and missions, Carrasco became a part of Aguinaldo's rear guard at Tirad Pass. There he witnessed the death of his commander, General Gregorio del Pilar, who was felled by an American sniper.
Rewinding to Santa Barbara's brush with history…
… It was November 12, 1899. The US army has been relentlessly chasing General Aguinaldo who fled from Bulacan to Pangasinan. From probably Calasiao or Dagupan he headed to Binalonan. Before Binalonan is Manaoag where Lieutenant Carrasco was sent to observe enemy movements.
He was about to leave Manaoag when he was informed that Americans were coming from the direction of Binalonan! He quickly went with his troops into the opposite direction to warn General Aguinaldo's party. Thus warned, everybody turned back.
They arrived at Santa Barbara at 1:00 a.m. of the 13th. After about five hours they left for Pozorrubio. There is an anecdote about this supposed flight to Pozorrubio but that's another story from a Santa Barbara writer and historian, Resty Basa of Banaoang.
So there it is for Santa Barbarans to be proud of: the hometown's brush with history was General Emilio Aguinaldo's stopover for a mere five hours!
