Malolos - History - Revolt of Pedro Ladia 1643

Revolt of Pedro Ladia 1643

The inhabitants initially submitted docilely to the process of Hispanization and Spanish civil authority was soon in place. The Roman Catholic religion took root and spread rapidly and became part of the native culture. However, the innate desire for an unshackled existence and the desire for freedom continued to burn in the people. In 1643, barely sixty years after the civil nucleus of the Spanish local government was set up, Malolos townspeople revolted. The revolt was led by Pedro Ladia, a native of Borneo, who claimed to be a descendant of Rajah Matanda and who later proclaimed himself as "Rajah ng mga Tagalog" (Rajah of the Tagalogs). He instigated the people of Malolos to rise in arms against Spanish rule and was able to raise a substantial following. Even before Ladia could gather the support needed to fully carry out his plan, the friar curate of Malolos, Fr.Cristobal Enriquez, preempted the uprising by convincing most of the people to remain loyal to the Fatherland, Spain. The revolt died out for lack of enough popular support. Later, Pedro Ladia was arrested and sent to Manila to be tried and then executed.

Malolos was first organized into a formal municipal unit in 1822 when the first "alcalde constitucional" or municipal head was appointed. He was Jorge de Victoria, a Filipino, who like all succeeding "alcaldes", served for one year. He was followed by thirty-one other "alcaldes", with Juan Dimagiba as the thirty-first. In 1859, Malolos was subdivided into three administrative districts; Malolos, Barasoain and Santa Isabel. Juan Dimagiba became the first "alcalde" of the down-scaled Malolos. There were 12 others who served as "alcaldes" from 1859 to 1879, the first one being Mariano C. Cristobal and the 12th Capitan Tomas Tanchanco, whose term marked the start of civil turmoil in the town.