DESPITE the statement of the then US President William McKinley to hold Negros up to the rest of the country as a model for other provisional governments, such different directions involved the resistance led by some notable Negrenses as well as other groups of so called mass-based natives who have indicated their own reasons for resistance.
These groups identified by the American authorities were also called Babaylanis, Tulisanis and other less known bands which opposed US colonial rule. The Illustrados -- led movements, though at the start gradually weakened and eventually disappeared as they suffered many losses while others were attracted by the American offers of positions in the new government. As long as they cooperated, they could expect economic benefits and US programs of peace, social progress and other positions of privilege.
It may be noted that the more active groups were operating in the southern area of Negros. Some public officials described them as a confused mixture of socialistic principles, anarchistic instincts and aberrations of religious and fanatical notions which also allied with nationalistic, pro-labor and socialistic tendencies. On the northern part of Negros, the so-called Tulisanis and the other allied resistance groups gave the American authorities problems which had to understand their revolutionary aims mostly in the mountain areas.
It is notable that the third groups showing resistance to the American colonial authorities were not all Negrenses but there were increased in memberships with the entry of Panay rebels in Negros and others were half Tagalogs and relatives of prominent Negrenses. Some small groups had planned to create rallying points of anti-Americanism and alliances with other rebels among the Tulisanis.
One notable case reported by the American commander in Negros, General Smith, reported the rebel's raid on foreign ships along the Danao River. Other skirmishes by the Americans during the periods of September 1899 and November 1902 were reported in places like Murcia, Manapla, Escalante and San Carlos, but the general results as in other localities were mostly lost from the Tulisanis.
The more notable reports of encounters between the American forces and the northern rebels were the historic events in Gintabuan along the national road of Manapla, Saravia (now E.B. Magalona) and Victorias. Because it was a notable concrete structure in the vast sugar land areas, the official marker contained the following Spanish messages "El pueblo de Saravia los que cayeron por la libertad. A los héroes de Guintabuan. Aunciatebo del Presidente Municipal, Señor. Rufo Yorac, año de Octobre 7, 1922."
The Guintabuan affair began on July 26, 1899 when Roque Lopez, president of the Visayas Island State, sent a Panay expeditionary force to Negros. Panay rebels reported joining with the Negros groups resisting the American colonial forces in various areas in Negros. Because of the limited information from both the American forces and the rebels, the Guintabuan reports of encounters eventually resulted to dispersals rather than continued resistance against the Americans.
The last major problem faced by the US colonial authorities in their institutionalization efforts in Negros were the brief but strong resistance of Negrense groups who were organizing the Aglipayan Movement in Negros from 1901 to 1909.
The social conflict was not between the Aglipayan movements against the American colonial authorities but were in fact directed by the growing Aglipay movement in Negros against the Spanish Catholic Missionaries who were defending the Catholic Church groups in Negros against the rapidly growing Aglipayan Churches mostly in the southern Negros areas.
After the Supreme Court decided in favor of the Catholic groups in November 24, 1906, the Aglipayans returned the Catholics Churches they had occupied and eventually had more friendly relations towards the Roman Catholics.