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CHAPTER 1
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CHAPTER 2
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CHAPTER 3
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CHAPTER 4
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CHAPTER 5
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CHAPTER 6
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CHAPTER 7
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      Pagsanjan played a big role during our libertarian struggle against Spain in 1896 and later against the United States, in 1899-1902. On the night of December 12, 1894, Feast Day of our Lady of Guadalupe, a youthful merchant named Severino Taiño and his close friends met secretly in a bodega (warehouse) owned by Mariano Crisostomo and founded a chapter of the Katipunan, a revolutionary society which Andres Bonifacio established in Tondo, Manila, on July 7, 1892. This Katipunan chapter was called Maluningning (Ever Shining). Its members were Santiago Crisostomo (president), Mariano Crisostomo (older brother of Santiago), Severino Taiño, Claro Zaide, Sergio Garcia, Francisco Abad, Pedro Caballes, Gregorio Rivera, and Severo Sumulong. Later Claro Zaide was chosen treasurer and Severino Taiño, general.
      Shortly after founding the Katipunan chapter, Taiño and his friends secretly propagated the revolutionary ideals of Bonifacio's Katipunan in the town and in Lumban, Paete, Pakil, Siniloan, Cavinti, Santa Cruz, Magdalena, and other towns of Laguna.
      On November 14, 1896, General Taiño raised the red flag of revolution in Pagsanjan. Hundreds of patriots in the town and from surrounding towns rallied around his banner. The following day, with an army of 3,000, he attacked the Spanish garrison which was strongly entrenched at the Catholic church. The assaulting patriots, armed with a few muskets, bamboo, spears, bolos, and anting-antings (amulets), fought courageously, but they were driven back by the Spanish cazadores who were well-armed with rifles (Mauzers) and artillery. General Taiño and his surviving forces retreated to Pagsanjan.
      Undaunted by their defeat in Santa Cruz, Colonel Francisco Abad, bravest officer and compadre of General Taiño, attacked on November 16 a Spanish column marching from Batangas to Santa Cruz, at Sambat (crossroad located between Pagsanjan and Santa Cruz). The fight was bloody and fierce. Colonel Abad, riding his fast horse, fearlessly charged the enemy lines. He was killed by a volley of gunshots. His men, without a leader, were routed by the Spaniards. Because of his heroic death in combat, local chroniclers have acclaimed him as the "Hero of Sambat."
      Owing to the superiority of the Spanish armaments and the arrival of more enemy troops in Santa Cruz, General Taiño and his patriot forces evacuated Pagsanjan, retreating to the mountains. They continued the fight for freedom by means of guerilla tactics.
      The conclusion of the famous "Pact of Biak-na-Bato" (December 14-15, 1897) stopped all hostilities in blood-drenched Philippines. As history reveals, the peace brought about by this pact did not last long because Spain's broken promises.
      Shortly after the destruction of the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay on May 1, 1898 by Commodore Dewey's squadron, General Emilio Aguinaldo returned from his exile in Hong Kong. He proclaimed recrudescence of the revolution against Spain and urged all patriots to arms and fight for freedom's sake. In response to Aguinaldo's proclamation, General Taiño rallied his forces and resumed the libertarian struggle. With the help of the troops of General Paciano Rizal (brother of Dr. Jose Rizal), he attacked the Spanish army in Santa Cruz. When he could not crush them by assault, he besieged the town beginning June 24, 1898. For more than two months, the bottled Spanish army tried to break the siege, but in vain. Finally, on August 31, Don Antonio del Rio, last Spanish civil governor of Laguna, seeing that everything was lost, surrendered to Generals Taiño and Rizal. At long last, General Taiño redeemed his defeat in Santa Cruz on November 15, 1896 and avenged the death of Colonel Abad in Sambat on November 16. Unfortunately, he did not live long to witness the dawn of Filipino freedom because he was treacherously killed on October 25, 1898 by a Spanish renegade, Lieutenant Casteltor, who had joined General Miguel Malvar's staff, during a barrio fiesta in San Pedro, Laguna.
      It should be noted that on June 12, 1898, the Declaration of Philippine Independence, a historic document written by Atty. Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista, Biñan patriot and relative of Dr. Jose Rizal, was proclaimed at Kawit, Cavite. Three months later, on September 15, the famous Malolos Congress convened at Malolos, Bulacan, under the presidency of Dr. Pedro A. Paterno. The province of Laguna was represented by two Pagsanjeño intellectuals, namely, Judge Higinio Benitez and Maestro Graciano Cordero. Both of them participated in the drafting of the Malolos Constitution and were among its signers. This Constitution established the First Philippine Republic.
      During the War of Philippine Independence (1899-1902), a Pagsanjan brigade led by Col. Pedro Caballes fought in defense of Filipino freedom. This fighting brigade was part of General Cailles' army which resisted the invasion of Laguna Province by American troops commanded by Henry C. Lawton. On April 10, 1899, Santa Cruz (Laguna's capital) fell into American hands. The following day Lawton's cavalrymen occupied Pagsanjan.