Wednesday, June 27, 2007 Don Jose Oyanguren: A heartbreak hero By Aida Rivera Ford
THE forgotten founder of Davao, Don Jose Oyanguren, who in 1848 vanquished the forces of the fierce Datu Bago and enabled Christianity to secure a firm foothold in Eastern Mindanao, certainly deserves more than a fleeting glimpse into his life and times.
No matter that he was a Spaniard - a Basque from the Northern province of Spain after which Davao province was named Nueva Guipuzcoa in his honor by decree of Governor-General Narciso Claveria in 1848 and the Christian settlement now Davao City Nueva Vergara after the city where Oyanguren was born in the year 1800 and where he studied two years of law before seeking adventure and fortune in Las Islas Filipinas in the year 1825.
He explored business possibilities in Calamianes - now Palawan - and the northern part of Mindanao particularly the area of Caraga which was often ravaged by Moro pirates. When the University of Sto. Tomas opened up a Law Department in 1835, he enrolled and received a degree - Bachiller en Leyes in 1837.
After a year, he was appointed judge in Tondo, Manila, an office he kept for five years after which he was replaced for a Madrid appointee. (This is the first setback in Don Jose Oyanguren's life.)
It was back to Caraga for his business ventures. It may have been at this point when he met Maria Luisa Azaola, the Spanish lady whose family had a plantation and whose brother Antonio traded on the Gulf of Davao.
Tragically, Antonio was among the Spanish merchants brutally murdered on the commercial ship "San Rufo" in 1844 as it anchored off the coast of Malipano on Samal Island.
The Spanish Captain had presented a friendly letter that acquainted the Moros in that island headed by the son of Datu Bago that the Sultan of Maguindanao had ceded the Gulf of Davao to the Spanish government.
With complete complacency, the crew went fishing in small boats as the Moros brought on board bundles of beeswax with hidden kris and kumpilan. Too late, the two sentries noticed something surreptitious and fired at them.
The Spaniards and the Italian merchant were slashed to death and no one left alive except for two servants taken hostage who later escaped to tell the story of the treacherous pillaging and burning of the "San Rufo."
Spain's blessing
The outraged Don Jose Oyanguren was thus impelled to seek a grant from the Spanish government to head an expedition on the Gulf of Davao with the object of ridding the gulf of marauding pirates and to establish Christianity on its shores.
In 1847, Governor General Narciso Claveria responded by giving him three ships with the promise of a 10-year governorship of the province and six years mercantile rights. With the aid of his lady-love Maria Luisa Azaola on the main gunship "Elcano," Don Jose recruited nativos to augment the soldiery from Manila and Surigao.
The final encounter with Datu Bago encamped with his three wives in his Kuta on the heights of Bankerohan took place in June 1848 after months of preparation on the part of Oyanguren's force - piling up nipa palms on the swampy area from Piapi to Bankerohan to form runways for their cannons.
On the final battle, a brave son of Datu Bago fell defending the area before the kuta. Dato Bago's eldest wife Gomogonop was hit in the kuta.
In the cover of darkness; Datu Bago and family slipped away in boats up Davao River to Tigatto.
The following day, June 29, 1848, Don Jose offered a mass of thanksgiving in honor of St. Peter on a site not far from the present San Pedro Cathedral where he later built a chapel of bamboo and nipa. Thus, Davao celebrates its feast day on June 29. The seed of Christianity was firmly implanted. From one Recollectos priest - Francisco Lopez, the number of curas who established reduccioness among Davao tribes increased.
Major victory
Governor Jose Oyanguren scored a major victory with the defeat of Datu Mama Bago. He waged a vigorous campaign to make the Gulf of Davao free of piratical threats and to invite natives to form reducciones or Christian settlements. He increased his army without authorization from the central government to counter the threat of brutal Moro raids as he made forays to the north in Surigao setting up roads for trade to flourish, and even ventured towards Cagayan de Oro - an unfortunate venture. His effort to conquer Mt. Apo was unsuccessful and heart-breaking as he lost 20 men to sickness.
But the greatest heart-break came from the Cabecera's Accounting Department which hounded him for detailed financial reports while denying his requests for budgetary allowance.
On his part, he refused to tax the nativos in reducciones as he had given his word of honor that he would not exact tribute from the people who helped him in his campaign against terrorists.
His request for the central office to remit P10,000 for "sagradas obligaciones" was denied and instead on November 25, 1851 he was relieved of his governorship of Nueva Guipuzcoa and denied mercantile rights for "abandono" of his office!
And yet he holds no grudges.
In 1855, when the successor of Governor Antonio de Urbiztondo, the man who botted him out, asked Don Jose Oyanguren to make a study of the declining economy of Mindanao and Sulu, he submitted a brilliant 14-point recommendation asking Spain to do away with monopolistic trade putting up a port in Jolo for foreign rtade; inviting strangers of different faiths to Mindanao with their new ideas and aspirations; reducing tribute by half for the natives; setting up a tariff system on products to favor our producers and many other recommendations. Whether the Cabecera heeded his proposals or not, we do not know.
Broken man
On October 10, 1858, he died a broken man. It is recorded, however, in the archives of San Pedro Cathedral that a death-bed marriage took place the day before his lady-love Maria Luisa Azaola.
One final heart-break: The main street from the sea-front towards the center of present-day Davao City was named Oyanguren after its doughty founder, but by council decree it has been s`tricken out. However, Oyanguren street still remains in the subconscious memory of Dabawenyos.
