The scorching heat of the sun was nothing to the burning anger Dionisio felt.

When he saw two tall white men from a distance approaching their vicinity around half past one, the thumping in his heart grew louder. He knew conflict was about to erupt in their humble town of Kaboloan. 

Just a few days ago, his friend Benito from the neighboring town of Bukidbayan retold him how the Spanish friars’ cattle grazed on what was supposed to be their land. When worse comes to worse, he and the other farmers threatened to kill the friars’ cattle. Dionisio took it as a lighthearted joke, but then he heard that the group of farmers actually did it as a sign of protest.

Apolinar, a newly recruited polista—someone recruited for the polo y servicio—from another nearby town, also cried to Dionisio about how the friars did not give the promised amount of salary they initially agreed upon. “Unang linggo pa lang sa palayan, pero wala agad mauuwi,” he added despairingly.

A shout made Dionisio return back to his senses. There was a heated exchange between the tenants’ leader and what he soon learned were the land surveyors by the measuring wheel and compass they were carrying. The former’s eyes were filled with flaring anger, just as the red sunset over the horizon. The tenants were now very much eager to know about the fuss. 

Apparently, the Spanish land surveyor was supposed to measure their land. But Dionisio knew what that really meant: arbitrary measurements would ensue, leaving them with a smaller land parcel, and giving more to the friars. If that wasn’t enough, the surveyor also told their leader that a dam would be constructed tomorrow on the land that was legally theirs. Soon, there would no longer be land left to till. 

Dionisio thought of his family back home, who were waiting for him to bring supper. He found it vile how a farmer like him did not have enough food to bring home because he had to pay tribute to the friars. And his promised wages did not look like it was coming soon.

Dionisio knew it was time to resist. They were not to be fooled anymore by the repeated cruelty of the land grabbers—the friars—who were continuously abusing their power to quench their thirst for more land. Tomorrow afternoon, he would join the other farmers at the friar’s house and demand the dam’s construction be halted. If not, they would threaten to destroy the dam.

Weeks passed since their demand. The sun shines brighter today, a sign that the heavens are on their side. Dionisio and the other farmers, armed with lances and knives, are now ready to destroy the site of the dam construction, with one goal in mind: to reclaim what was rightfully theirs. ●