Palaris uprising
The Palaris uprising was a peasant uprising against the rule of the Spanish monastic orders and the Spanish colonial authorities in the province of Pangasinan , on the island of Luzon , Philippines . It was named after its leader Juan de la Cruz Palaris, broke out in the municipality of Binalatongan in November 1762 under the impression of the British victory in the Battle of Manila (October 1762) and lasted until February 1765.
background
There were several poor rice harvests in the region during the 1750s . However, the Spanish monastic orders ruling the region did not reduce the tributes and taxes, so that there was a de facto hunger crisis in the decade. At the beginning of the 1760s the Spaniards increased the tax burden on the local population and the discontent of the population continued to grow. The population called for the abolition of tributes, the replacement of Spanish colonial officials by local people and the admission of Filipinos to the priesthood, which should lead to the replacement of the Spanish monastic orders.
When the British landed in Manila in September and the British invasion of the Philippines started in 1762 , more than a thousand men were recruited in the region around Binalatongan and sent to Manila to reinforce the Spanish. After the defeat of the Spaniards in the battle of October 5th, the British occupied Manila. The recruited troops returned to Binalatongan and so the news of the defeat of the Spaniards reached the region.
The riot
The provincial governor wanted to leave the province under the impression of the Spanish defeat, but was prevented by the provincial vicar, so first a commission was formed to dampen the discontent of the population. When the commission reached Binalatongan, the requested tribute was denied and a leader who was to lead the uprising grew up in Juan de la Cruz Palaris.
The uprising broke out in Binalatongan on November 3rd and spread throughout the province. The uprising spread very quickly in the communities of Paniqui , Malasiqui , Bayambang , Manaoag , Santa Barbara , San Jacinto , Dagupan , Calasiao , and Mangaldan . Palaris was supported in the organization by the Hildalgo brothers and Juan de Vera Oncantin. The Spanish arsenals were stormed and the insurgents armed themselves, then the Spaniards and the monastic orders were driven out. The Spaniards could not fight the uprising effectively because they were too busy with the British and the uprising led by Diego Silang in 1763, which had the same goals, broke out in the northern Cordillera region . Only after the end of the occupation of Manila in 1764 and the withdrawal of the British were the Spaniards able to combine their forces and turn to the suppression of the Palaris uprising.
The final phase of the uprising was also the bloodiest part. The insurgents used guerrilla tactics against the Spaniards, which resulted in great losses on both sides. The Spaniards used a scorched earth tactic by burning numerous towns , including the center of the Binalatongan uprising, and driving the residents into the woods. Insurgents caught were tortured, then executed and their bodies hacked to pieces. Juan de la Cruz Palaris was captured in February 1765 and hanged on February 26th, which broke down the uprising.
Trivia
The home parish of Palaris Binalatongan was later renamed San Carlos, now San Carlos City , in order to erase the memory of the uprising. The significance of the Palaris uprising is that for the first time since the Maharlika uprisings (1586 and 1588), regional self-government was called for. These ideas were later taken up after the opening of the Philippines (from 1821) by the secularization movement (from the 1850s decade), the Illustrados movement (from 1872), the propaganda movement of Filipino students in Europe (from 1875), and developed further with the idea of then linked the new idea of the nation , which would ultimately lead to the La Liga Filipina , the Katipunan and the Philippine Revolution .