The Napindan Lighthouse (Filipino: ''Parola ng Napindan'') was a lighthouse in

Taguig Taguig (), officially the City of Taguig ( fil, Lungsod ng Taguig), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in Metro Manila, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 886,722 people. Located in the northwestern shores of ...

Rizal Rizal, officially the Province of Rizal ( fil, Lalawigan ng Rizal), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Its capital is the city of Antipolo. It is about east of Manila. The province is named after Jos� ...

(present day

Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila (often shortened as Metro Manila; fil, Kalakhang Maynila), officially the National Capital Region (NCR; fil, link=no, Pambansang Punong Rehiyon), is the capital region, seat of government and one of three List of metrop ...

). It served as a meeting point for the Katipunan, a revolutionary group that led the Philippine Independence movement. It was destroyed during the

Philippine–American War The Philippine–American War or Filipino–American War ( es, Guerra filipina-estadounidense, tl, Digmaang Pilipino–Amerikano), previously referred to as the Philippine Insurrection or the Tagalog Insurgency by the United States, was an arm ...

Background

The Napindan Lighthouse (''Parola ng Napindan'') is a named used by historians to refer to a former lighthouse situated at the mouth of Napindan Channel, a vantage point of the Pasig River and

Laguna de Bay Laguna de Bay ( Spanish for "Lagoon/Lake of Bay"; tl, Lawa ng Bay, ), also known as Laguna Lake, is the largest lake in the Philippines. It is located southeast of Metro Manila, between the provinces of Laguna to the south and Rizal to the ...

. The site of the former lighthouse is in present-day Barangay Napindan in

. There is no known extant photograph of the lighthouse.

Philippine Revolution

According to local historians of both the cities of

and

Pasig Pasig, officially the City of Pasig ( fil, Lungsod ng Pasig), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 803,159 people. It is located along the ...

, the lighthouse was the first site where Katipunan leaders

Andres Bonifacio Andres or Andrés may refer to: *Andres, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Will County, Illinois, US *Andres, Pas-de-Calais, a commune in Pas-de-Calais, France *Andres (name) *Hurricane Andres * "Andres" (song), a 1994 song by L7 See also ...

and

Emilio Aguinaldo Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy (: March 22, 1869February 6, 1964) was a Filipino revolutionary, statesman, and military leader who is the youngest president of the Philippines (1899–1901) and is recognized as the first president of the Philippine ...

met with fellow revolutionaries on the night of May 29, 1896 to launch an armed revolution against the Spanish colonial administration over the Philippines. The Cry of Pugad Lawin which occurred in August 1896 is widely regarded as the start of the Philippine Revolution. At the lighthouse, Katipunan members were briefed by Pio Valenzuela regarding his dialogue with reformist writer

José Rizal José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (, ; June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896) was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is considered the national h ...

over the later's opinion on a revolution. Valenzuela reported that in order for a revolution to be a success they must maintain relations with wealthy traders, mobilize sympathizers to join the revolution, secure foreign government support, and enlist the service of Antonio Luna who is a military commander with training in peninsular Spain. It was during their meeting at the lighthouse, where the Katipunan decided to launch a revolution and planned to start the uprising following an onslaught of a

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

. The revolution was started earlier than planned with the discovery of the Katipunan by Spanish colonial authorities.

Philippine-American War and destruction

During the

, the Katipunan used the site again as a command center. During the Battle of Taguig, the lighthouse was destroyed on March 19, 1899 by an American ship, the USS ''Laguna de Bay''.

Replacement

A small concrete structure with a solar-power beacon was built by the

Philippine Coast Guard The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) ( fil, Tanod Baybayin ng Pilipinas) is recognized as the third armed uniformed service of the country attached to the Philippines' Department of Transportation, tasked primarily with enforcing laws within P ...

to aid marine vessels entering the Pasig River from the Laguna de Bay and vice versa.

References

{{authority control Lighthouses in the Philippines Buildings and structures in Taguig Pasig River Former buildings and structures in Metro Manila