Rewards for the death of Ponciano Elofre

Ponciano Elofre (sometimes spelled Ponciano Elopre), later called ( Hiligaynon for "Tornado/Whirlwind God"), was a (head) of a in

Zamboanguita Zamboanguita (; ; Spanish: ''Municipio de Zamboanguita''), officially the Municipality of Zamboanguita, is a municipality in the province of Negros Oriental, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 29,569 people. Z ...

Negros Oriental Negros Oriental (; ), officially the Province of Negros Oriental (; ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Negros Island. Its capital is the city of Dumaguete, one of the two regional centers of Negros Island Region, with the other b ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, and the leader of a politico-religious revolt on

Negros Negros (, , ) is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . The coastal zone of the southern part of Negros is identified as a site of highest marine biodiversity importance in the Coral Tr ...

in the late 19th century against the

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance-speaking ethnic group native to the Iberian Peninsula, primarily associated with the modern nation-state of Spain. Genetically and ethnolinguistically, Spaniards belong to the broader Southern a ...

Revolutionary activities

Elofre began his revolt when, as , he failed to collect all the taxes from his constituents. Spanish soldiers beat his father, Cris Elofre, to death in order to teach him a lesson. Thereafter, he rallied the people against the forced payment of taxes. Later, he included

religious freedom Freedom of religion or religious liberty, also known as freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice ...

as part of his agenda, and directed the celebration of the ancient rites of the ''

babaylan Filipino shamans, commonly known as (also ''balian'' or , among many other names), were shamans of the various ethnic groups of the pre-colonial Philippine islands. These shamans specialized in communicating, appeasing, or harnessing the sp ...

'' (ancient Visayan

shaman Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...

), a revival of the

religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...

leader of the pre-Spanish era. He and his followers were later called the , which numbered about 2,000. Elofre reputedly dressed in female clothing and was said to be

effeminate Effeminacy or male femininity is the embodiment of feminine traits in boys or men, particularly those considered untypical of men or masculinity. These traits include roles, stereotypes, behaviors, and appearances that are socially associated wi ...

in the same manner as ancient '' asog'' shamans.

Death

The activities of Elofre so alarmed the Spanish colonial government that Governor-General Valeriano Weyler sent 500 men of the and a battleship to Negros to deal with the threat. On August 22, 1887, Elofre raided Siaton, the town adjoining Zamboanguita, and was killed in the encounter with colonial forces. His wife, Flaviana Tubigan, continued the revolt, but lacked her husband's charm and charisma. She was succeeded by Ka Martin de la Cruz, of Tolong in southern

, Elofre's lieutenant, but his command of the degenerated into banditry. When the Spanish authorities failed in their bid to capture him, on September 11, 1893, de la Cruz was killed in a trap laid by his own mistress, Alfonsa Alaidan. The remaining Buhawi followers, conjectures Modesto P. Sa-onoy, were later recruited by Papa Isio when he began to organize his own group of in another revolt against Spain.Calma, Ma. Cecilia C. and Concepcion, Diana R.: ''The Revolution in Negros.'', Raison D'Etre, University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos Research Planning and Development Office, Bacolod City, 1998

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buhawi, Dios People of the Philippine Revolution Filipino revolutionaries Filipino paramilitary personnel People from Negros Oriental 1887 deaths Year of birth missing Visayan people

Revolutionary activities

Death

See also

Notes and references