Not Lapu-Lapu? Pampanga claims 1st RP martyr

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—When Sen. Lito Lapid, a Kapampangan, played the role of warrior chieftain Lapu-Lapu in a movie in 2002, Cebuanos did not lift a finger.

Now that Kapampangans are asserting that one of their own, Tarik Soliman, is the first Filipino freedom martyr, will Cebuanos mind this attempt to correct history?

“Tarik Soliman passed the ultimate test of patriotism, which is martyrdom,” said Robby Tantingco, executive director of the Center for Kapampangan Studies (CKS).

The CKS, which is based at Holy Angel University in Angeles City, relied on the accounts of Fray Gaspar de San Agustin in “Conquistas de las Islas Filipinas” and Joaquin Martinez de Zuniga in “Historia de las Islas Philipinas” in asserting Soliman’s place in history.

For another, Tantingco said, the Battle of Bangkusay in Tondo, where Soliman died on June 3, 1571, has “more historical significance” than the Battle of Mactan.

Lapu-Lapu, a Mactan chieftain who refused to convert to Christianity, survived the battle on April 27, 1521. He and his warriors were credited for slaying Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who led the first expedition to what would later be known as the Philippine Islands.

True name unknown

Tarik Soliman is often confused with Rajah Soliman of Manila, Tantingco said. His true name is not known, but historians were believed to have coined the name, thinking he was related to the Solimans of Tondo.

Other historians call him Bambalito.

In Spanish chronicles, he is described as “the brave youth from Macabebe.” In modern Pampanga, Macabebe is a town at the mouth of Manila Bay.

The people of Macabebe remember Soliman through a small stone statue in front of the town hall.

Those in Masantol, a former part of Macabebe, celebrate Tarik Soliman’s bravery by naming a public high school after him and constructing it on the same spot where he was said to have held a fort.

“After Bangkusay, Spain made Manila a city and Pampanga a province, thus establishing foothold in the colony where it mattered most. Cebu served only as gateway. Manila and Pampanga became the center of colonial administration,” Tantingco said.

Battle of Bangkusay

Tantingco said Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, who led Spanish troops, narrated the Battle of Bangkusay in an Aug. 11, 1572, letter to the viceroy of Mexico.

“Old folks tell us that it was in [a place called] Batung Dalig (stone wall) that he (Tarik Soliman) brandished his sword and vowed to fight the white man,” said Vice Mayor Bajun Lacap, one of the parents who founded the school.

Tantingco said: “It was Tarik alone who refused to kowtow to white men, who was smart enough to discern the foreigners’ real motives, and who was brave enough to resist them. He was actually the first Filipino to show that freedom was worth dying for.”

National hero

The CKS has urged legislators in Pampanga to file a bill declaring Soliman a national hero and recognizing him as the “first Filipino martyr for freedom.”

The center has also asked legislative councils in Macabebe and Masantol towns to declare June 3 as Tarik Soliman Day.

Founded in 2002, the CKS is working to “correct the injustice” on Soliman starting this year after years of research, Tantingco said.

This effort, he said, was done in relation to CKS’ advocacy with local governments and parishes this year to focus on calling national attention on great Kapampangans, like the centenaries of Rufino Cardinal Santos, former President Diosdado Macapagal and National Artist Vicente Manansala.

The CKS led the provincial celebration of Soliman’s life with a Mass at Macabebe Church and a wreath-laying rite at his monument in front of the municipal hall on Wednesday.

By Tonette Orejas

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer