‘El Gapang and Tictic’
Long before people reinvented the terms “intelligence fund” and “confidential fund” to mean a slush fund for items not in the approved government budget, the terms were associated with spies and anonymous informants. I grew up knowing Tiktik as the name of a sleazy tabloid when its original meaning was “spy.” From various archival documents in the so-called “Philippine insurgent records,” I saw that “tiktik” could also be used as a verb, as in “natic-tican” that meant to spy or be spied on. “Dukut” had a sinister connotation, when used in “mandurukut,” it referred to pickpocket, but when Emilio Aguinaldo used the word “dukut,” it did not mean snatching but assassination! Another term whose meaning has changed over time is “gapang” often used to refer to being groped in bed, while “El Gapang” during the Philippine-American War meant traveling about and secretly assassinating the enemy.
The insurgent records provide us not just with the outcome of battles, but how the war against the Americans was fought. Instructions to Ambrosio Mojica in 1900 detailed the plan for intelligence gathering and communication:
“The guerillas quartered in the neighborhood must render mutual assistance and keep up communication, so as to get the news as to where the enemy comes or goes, and the time at which they will pass certain points, endeavoring also to arrange that all the guerilla bands should have regular couriers, with you or with General Headquarters, giving advices daily of any occurrence and carrying correspondence.”
The war was fought not just by men, but also by women:
“They must select trustworthy women to carry correspondence, charging them to die the letters underneath their skirts, bearing in mind that the Americans do not search them; and in sending to the towns for arms or food, the orders must be sent by women and for small quantities, so as not to attract attention.”
Elsewhere in the instructions is written:
“It would be well, in my humble opinion, for you to have persons in your confidence in all the towns where there are American garrisons, with whom you will be able to communicate directly, to inform you of the plans of the campaign and other business of the enemy, so that having said information at hand, you may adopt the measures you deem best. These persons may be considered as diplomatic representatives of yourself; therefore they can show a thousand faces in order to win the friendship of the enemy, with whom they can always maintain intimate relations, appearing more American that the Americans themselves.
“To accomplish this, there is need likewise for persons to carry dispatches, and women should be selected for this, if possible, as done in Manila, Cavite, Cebu, and other points, as these of the weaker sex receive more consideration than men, and their mission is less noticeable.”
While many men had Masonic or Katipunan names, the Philippine-American War inspired other noms de guerre:
“Officers of guerillas must use fictitious names or pseudonyms, as must also their friends to whim they are in the habit of writing in the towns, and if possible use a cipher in their letters, so as to prevent the enemy from capturing or learning of them, and discovering by such means the object or plan of the campaign.
Finally, on the judicious use of arms and ammunition:
“Let the greatest economy be observed in the use of ammunition and supplies in view of the times and the condition of the country.”
To accomplish the above, indigenous, or should we say “indio-genius,” ways of killing the enemy were suggested:
“It would be well, in my humble opinion, for you to find out from the old men and quack doctors, the kind of poison that can be mixed in alcoholic drinks and in coconut wine [tuba], as our enemies now drink these liquors, and after this poison has been known and tried, let it be used in such a way as to undermine the constitution of man, until someday death occurs; for which purpose you ought to have persons, wherever there are Americans, to poison them. These things are now being done in Luzon, Cebu, and Panay.
“There is a tree here in the province whose leaves inflame the body of a man considerably once applied; for I have seen about Manila the leaves converted into powder, rolled in pellets of paper, and shot in the faces of Americans. This causes the parts to swell and become completely useless; and I believe it would be well to do this to them within the towns, and especially to the drunkards asleep along the roads, and to the fellows making love.”
“El Gapang and Tictic” sounds like a catchy title for a novel or a movie that depicts the details of the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American War that have been left out of our boring textbooks. There is so much waiting to be discovered and rediscovered in the “Philippine insurgent records,” we need more historians or researchers to make these better known.
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