DON ARTURO DANCEL 2024

15 June 2024 Updated by

 JV Occena (6 January 2018)

Happy Birthday po Lolo Arturo Dancel..

"FAMILY, like branches on a tree, we all grow in different directions, yet our roots remain as one.."

HON. ARTURO DANCEL

Commandant during the Philippine Revolution

Malolos Congress Delegate (Founding Fathers)

1st Congressman of Mindoro (1898-1901)

Pioneer Member of Partido Federal (1901-07)

2nd Governor of Rizal Province (1904-06)

Freemason (33rd Degree-highest)

#DancelinPhilippineHistory

DON ARTURO DE LA PAZ DANCEL was born on January 6, 1863 from an elite gentry family in the town of Marikina. He was a Judge. He was married to Doña Gertrudis de Jesus who died in 1890 and then married Doña Eufemia Rivera y Alvaro who was born on September 16, 1862 at Aguila St., Tondo, Manila. Doña Eufemia was the daughter of Jose Rivera y Santos & Augustina Alvaro y Buntan. Her siblings were Maria, Casimira, Vicente, Giralda and Petrona Rivera. Don Arturo Dancel died in 1915.

Arturo Dancel was appointed to the Malolos Congress or formally known as the “National Assembly” which is the legislative body of the Revolutionary Government of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, representing Mindoro from September 15, 1898 to March 23, 1901. The revolutionary congress was mostly composed of the wealthy and educated members of society of the time. In total there were 193 delegates of whom only 42 were elected and 151 appointed due to the peace and order conditions of the provinces. Some of the appointive delegates did not necessarily come from the localities nor were they residents of the provinces they were supposed to represent because some far-flung provinces failed to send them to Malolos due to the great distance and difficulty of transportation facilities. Among the 85 delegates who traveled to Malolos and convened in Barasoain Church, there were 43 lawyers, 17 doctors, five pharmacists, three educators, seven businessmen, four painters, three military men, a priest, and four farmers. Five of the 85 delegates did not have a college degree. On December 7, 2020 Senate Resolution No. 77 was adopted by the Senate of the Philippines in deep recognition of the contribution of the delegates to the Constitutional Conventions (1898, 1934, 1971 and 1986) in shaping Philippine history and its future.

President Aguinaldo was captured at Palanan, Isabela on March 23, 1901 and was brought to Manila. Convinced of the futility of further resistance, Aguinaldo swore allegiance to the United States and issued a proclamation calling on his compatriots to lay down their arms, officially bringing an end to the war. At that point the congressional term of Arturo Dancel ended, just a few months after he became one of the notorious pioneers of the pro-American Partido Federalista or Federal Party in December 23, 1900 led by Pedro Paterno that pushed for Philippine statehood within the United States. Among the founders of this Party were Pardo de Tavera, Cayetano S. Arellano, Frank S. Bourns (an American manager of a big lumber company and close associate of Dean Worcester), Florentino Torres, Ambrosio Flores, Jose Ner, Tomas Del Rosario, Arsenio Cruz Herrera, Felipe Buencamino, Fable, Roxas, Artacho, Tirona, Reyes, Arturo Dancel and others.

The american civil governor general William Howard Taft acting in cooperation with the Chief and Father of the Constabulary Capt. Henry T. Allen, authorized Arturo Dancel to open negotiations with the branded band of outlaws. As a result the outlaws who will surrender were to receive immunity from past offences and subsidized with secret service funds entrusted to Mr. Dancel.

Isabelo De Los Reyes must have gained great prominence through his writings and revolutionary activities for, in March 1901, following the capture of Emilio Aguinaldo in Palanan, Isabela, Gen. Miguel Malvar, taking command of the remaining forces in Luzon, appointed De Los Reyes, then in Madrid, as secretary of state in his revolutionary cabinet. This designation was subsequently changed to "President of the Republic of the Philippines", an appointment signed by all the revolutionary generals in the field, but which Isabelo De Los Reyes never received because it fell into the hands of Gov. Arturo Dancel (Secret Service) of Morong, now Rizal province, who forwarded it to American Gov. Gen. William Howard Taft. On the night of August 16, 1902, an American-led unit of the Philippine Constabulary entered Isabelo's home on Padre Rada St. and hauled him to the Parian Police Station for the trumped-up charge that he gave orders to assassinate scabs in a protracted strike at the German-owned Commercial Tobacco Factory in Tambobong (Malabon) and later charged under Article 543 of the antiquated Spanish Penal Code for conspiring "to increase or decrease the price of labor or regulate its condition abusively." His appeal was heard by Judge Felix Roxas in Parañaque. However the Judge upheld the lower-court verdict on "abusive" labor conspiracy and sentenced him to two months in prison. But instead of the Bilibid he was committed to Malabon where Rizal Governor Arturo Dancel, a former revolutionary leader, had him housed in a salon of the presidencia instead of the town jail. There Isabelo held court as visitors came with food and blankets to make his stay comfortable.

On March 30, 1901 Arturo Dancel convinced Gen. Licerio Geronimo (Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo’s elite commanding general in the Battle of San Mateo) to surrender and later joined the Partido Federal. That same year, as a result of the Balangiga Massacre, the Americans led by General Jacob H. Smith waged a campaign of terrorism against Gen. Vicente R. Lukban and the people of Samar, the Americans employed emissaries like Arturo Dancel to convince General Vicente Lukban, the politico-military chief of Samar and Leyte during the Philippine-American War, to surrender and whom the succeeding year took an oath of allegiance to the United States. Later on, Governor Arturo Dancel facilitated the capture and testified in the filing of cases against the confederate staff of Macario Sakay, a revolutionary general against Spanish & American forces and President of the Tagalog Republic, as the latter had been evading capture after being charged by the provincial fiscal of Rizal with the crime of bandolerismo and branded as robbers and outlaws.

During his incumbency as the second Governor of Rizal Province (1904-1906), Gov. Dancel started the construction of the old capitol building in Pasig including new roads and bridges in Rizal. Governor General William Howard Taft (the future 27th US President) also appointed him as Inspector of the Philippine Census or the first census conducted by the U.S. military forces that took place in 1903. He was also later on employed by the United States as Inspector of the Bureau of Lands. The only Filipino lessees of unoccupied friar lands in tracts of any considerable size are Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo and Señor Arturo Dancel with 1452 acres, or 588 hectares of land in the Piedad Estate in now Quezon City etc, with rental of 4 cents gold per acre per year for 3 years. The Piedad Estate consists of a vast tract of land later registered on March 12, 1912 under Original Certificate of Title No. 614 of the Register of Deeds of the Province of Rizal in the name of the Philippine Government. The Piedad Estate was one of the so-called friar lands which were purchased by the government of the Philippines pursuant to the provisions of the Friar Lands Act, Public Act No. 1120 which was enacted on April 26, 1904.

Arturo Dancel was granted a medal and diploma by the Philippine Exposition Board of 1904 for his valuable contribution to Louisiana Purchase Exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States in 1904 (an international fair with long-lasting impact on intellectuals in the fields of history, art history, architecture and anthropology) and for his service in furthering the welfare and progress of the Philippine Islands. The diploma bears the signatures of Pedro Paterno (2nd Prime Minister of the Philippines next to Apolinario Mabini) and Leon Guerrero (one of the founders of the Partido Democrata or Democratic Party).

He was affiliated with the society of the Masons and was conferred the highest degree of 33rd which is one reason nobody ever heard about him although he was entrusted with key positions, secret service funds and important instructions both during the Aguinaldo Administration and the Civil Government of America. He worked closely with William Howard Taft, a known Mason, from when he was still the American Civil Governor of the Philippines up to the latter's term as the 27th U.S. President. Arturo Dancel established Masonic Lodge Dampulan No.156 in Jaen, Nueva Ecija and another Masonic Lodge in San Fernando, La Union. He is also a member of other lodges affording his degree of 33rd such as the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. Arturo Dancel, the Mason lodge “Rousseau”, also aided Doroteo Cortés (at one time the president of the Superior Supreme Council of the Katipunan or KKK and worked with Andres Bonifacio) in founding the Capital in San Fernando in the pueblos of San Juan and Agoo in the province of La Union. And lastly, he was an eloquent public speaker and a brilliant orator in Spanish.

He was also earlier joined by his cousin, Don Perico "Pedro" Dancel y Garcia, the first Filipino to teach in the University of Santo Tomas and later became the Mayor of Dingras, Ilocos Norte. Don Perico was also a Commandant in the Revolutionary Army against Spanish forces. His wife was Juana Narciso. In honor of him, one of the barangays of the municipality of Dingras was named after him "BARANGAY DANCEL" which is one of the present poblacions of the municipality.

Arturo Dancel is also a distant relative of Doña Josefa Edralin y Quetulio of Sarrat, Ilocos Norte, mother of former President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos, and to "Nanay Curing" Curita Bamba, mother of FSP Manny Villar by affinity. My late uncle Samuel Casis Dancel spent some of his younger years in their home.

[Backgrounder: The Dancel Clan descended from the Tribe of Dan (Dan means Judge), one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Dancel Clan traces its roots from the seafaring merchant warriors the Danites from the land of Dan in Ancient Israel c.1700s BC going northwest across Europe along the centuries, particularly Tuatha Dé Danann (Tribe of Dan) in Ireland via the Mediterranean Sea c.1100s BC and the Danes in Denmark (Mark or March of Dan) via the Black Sea upwards the Danube River c.700s BC to c.800s AD then to Normandy 900s then the Radhanite merchants in France and Basque, Spain until the 1700s, and later in the New World then in the Far East as merchants during the Spanish occupation of the Philippine Islands. Dancel literally means "helmet of God or God is my helmet". The coat-of-arms of the Tribe of Dan, Ireland, Denmark and the Dancel Clan are all symbolized by the lion or lions.]

On the 30th of August, 1905, Governor Arturo Dancel of Rizal province, not an appointed officer, but one elected by the people, appeared before the Taft visiting party of Senators and Congressmen, to testify. He is a full-blooded Filipino, and he said: "I wish to state, in the first place, that the sensible people of the Philippines, those who really have a love for their country, cannot, for one moment, think of absolute independence in the immediate future, owing to the present conditions and circumstances of the islands. I believe that, in case of creating immediate independence, and the establishment of a Filipino government at the present time, in place of peace we would have anarchy; the right of might would prevail, not the right of law." Governor Dancel since giving this testimony, which was widely published, has been re-elected by the people of his province in 1906.

References:

*http://www.rizalprovince.gov.ph/gov-dancel.htm

*http://www.freewebs.com/philippineamericanwar/genlawtondies1899.htm

*http://philippinehistory.ph/2010/03/

*http://www.gutenberg.org/files/37587/37587-h/37587-h.htm

*http://roilogolez.blogspot.com/.../general-henry-lawton...

*http://www.philippinemasonry.org/philippine-masonry-from

*http://www.ang-ilaw.blogspot.com/

*https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Government_of_the_Philippines_(1898–1899)

*https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindoro%27s_at-large_congressional_district

*https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malolos_Constitution

*https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Philippines

*https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1984/jul1984/gr_l61969_1984.html

*https://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/philamer/AFR0955.0002.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext

*The Historical Research Center

*Book: Ang Katipunan by G. B. Francisco 2004

*Book: Philippine Lands, Volume 2 (page 1,131) by the United States Congress House Committee on Insular Affairs, 1911

*Report of the Philippine Commission to the United States Secretary of War (1899-1900)

*United States Congressional Serial Set, Volume 4951

*G.R. No. 2134 dated April 17, 1905

The United States vs. Eusebio Cagayan and Feliciano Felino alias Baguio et al.

*G.R. No. 13416 March 31, 1919 - BENIGNO S. AQUINO v. DIRECTOR OF LANDS - 039 Phil 850

*Dissertation: A Study of the Socio-Economic Elite in Philippine Politics and Government by Dante C. Simbulan, May 1965

*Dissertation: The Philippine Constabulary: 1901-1917 by George Yarrington Coats, B.S., M.A., 1968

*Book: Filipinos in History, Volume II by National Historical Institute 1990

*The Cabletow, Volume 92, Issue 2, 2015 - The Official Publication of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines

*Bloodlines of Illuminati by Fritz Springmeier, 1995 

*https://www.cia.gov library

*Book: Malolos. The Crisis of the Republic by Teodoro A. Agoncillo (1959)

*https://www.philstar.com/nation/2006/12/10/374302/historians-malolos-congress-produced-best-rp-constitution

*https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/1648/a-biographical-sketch-of-vibora

*https://books.google.com.ph/books?id=5hRFAQAAMAAJ&pg=PR29&lpg=PR29&dq=arturo+dancel&source=bl&ots=Bz9a-JmVEa&sig=ACfU3U08_i3F-W9xlDs4HQfPX2LLGnEk0w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjJzvLf1PX2AhWhF6YKHUsVBY44FBDoAXoECB4QAg#v=onepage&q=arturo%20dancel&f=false

*https://www.coursehero.com/file/67267109/A-Short-History-of-Philippine-Sarswela-by-Nicanor-Tiongsonpdf/

*Senate Resolution No. 77

Honoring and Commemorating the Delegates to the Constitutional Conventions that Transformed Philippine Political Landscape

PSR-585 Dec. 7, 2020

(named A. Dancel Street, Pasay City)

*https://italiawiki.com/pages/elezioni-nelle-filippine/1906-elezioni-del-governatore-filippino.html

(Dancel reelected in 1906)

*https://quod.lib.umich.edI u/p/philamer/AFR0955.0002.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext

*Philippine Problems (1907) Author: Henry Clay Ide, Governor-General of the Philippines

*Rizal Province: A Political History by Cesar S. Tiangco 1967

*Brains of the Nation by Resil B. Mojares

*Congressional Record-U.S. House of Representatives March 3, 1911

*https://kahimyang.com/resources/artemio-ricarte.webp

*https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=782908850506965&id=100063635721087&mibextid=Nif5oz

*https://www.ukdr.uplb.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6360&context=journal-articles

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

1)

(Additional info on Arturo Dancel meeting his former fellow revolutionary leader Gen. Licerio Geronimo and camp re surrender)

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=782908850506965&id=100063635721087&mibextid=Nif5oz

On August 27, 1855, General Licerio Geronimo was born in Manila. Unable to pursue formal education, Geronimo worked as a farmer along with his father in Montalban (now part of Rizal Province). He eventually found his way to serve as a member of the Guardia Civil Veterana, an elite law enforcement unit in the Philippines.

Geronimo, who supposedly joined the Katipunan as early as 1892, would later become the president of the Katipunan council centered at Barrio Wawa in Montalban. He also helped organize Katipunan councils in San Mateo and Marikina. During the first phase of the Philippine Revolution, he was elected in October 1896 as brigadier general.

Later on, Geronimo successfully led Filipino troops to victory against around 2,000 Spanish soldiers under Lieutenant Colonel Felipe Dujiols at Mount Puray on June 14, 1897, aiding in the process the journey of General Emilio Aguinaldo and his forces to Bulacan. It was also in Geronimo's encampment where the revolutionary forces organized the Departmental Government of Central Luzon, which elected Pedro Dandan as president and Anastacio Francisco as vice president. At around the same time, Geronimo was designated as division general along with Sinforoso de la Cruz, Melecio Carlos, and Hermogenes "Baras" Bautista.

A year later, in 1898, he became a major general in charge of the San Mateo area. At the outbreak of the Filipino-American War on February 4, 1899, Geronimo was called from the farming fields to the battlefield as he was tasked to command Filipino troops east of Manila (3rd Zone). His forces were among those organized by General Antonio Luna in the Filipino counterattack against United States forces at Caloocan starting February 22, 1899. Geronimo and allied forces managed to reach as far as Binondo, Sampaloc, and Tondo before having to retreat to their pre-battle lines. By August 12, 1899, seven American companies under Brigadier General Samuel Young and Captain James Parker captured San Mateo. Despite being able to defeat Geronimo, the Americans nonetheless abandoned the area due to their inability to maintain a garrison.

Perhaps Geronimo's finest hour as a revolutionary commander came at the Battle of San Mateo on December 19, 1899, which saw the death of the highest ranking American officer to have been killed during the course of the Filipino-American War. American troops under General Henry Ware Lawton marched from the north, aiming to take Marikina and San Mateo on the way to Manila in hopes to sever enemy communication lines and smash Filipino forces still operating near the capital.

Preparing to face them in San Mateo were around 1,000 Filipino troops led by General Licerio Geronimo, who entrenched themselves along the Marikina River. Apparently, the civilian population gave them important intelligence of the American movement. Thus, they waited all night of December 18 for the American offensive, missing the tradition of "Simbang Gabi" or Midnight Mass. One of Lawton's known tactics was using nighttime for his attacks. However, American soldiers would only appear by the next morning in the area which would today be Batasan Hills.

The fierce Filipino resistance initially repulsed the American attack, compelling Lawton to personally lead the troops himself in the front line. Perhaps confident of his earlier successes since his arrival in the Philippines, he did not seriously consider the possibility of him being targeted, which the sharpshooters (tiradores de la muerte) with Geronimo did. The person who landed the fatal shot was Private Bonifacio Mariano. Despite Lawton's death, the Americans found a way to maneuver around the Filipino troops by sending cavalry through the Montalban area. The Filipinos would eventually retreat from their lines, but it proved to be a costly affair. The Americans reported 24 casualties, including the slain general.

The Americans would further report 165 casualties on the Filipino side, including Private Mariano. Some sources, however, indicate that Mariano would remain alive until the end of the war and would receive American amnesty. B. Mariano Street, located in the vicinity of the Battle of San Mateo, was named in his honor. Plaza Lawton in Manila, meanwhile, has been renamed as Liwasang Bonifacio in 1963.

Geronimo, on the other hand, fought until his surrender on March 29, 1901. Surrendering with him were Captain Jose Reyes, Lieutenant Antonio Raymundo, Engineer Aniceo Soriano, Lieutenant Estanislao Valerio, and some 40 more Filipino troops bearing 49 rifles. This decision was reached at Barrio Guinayang in San Mateo, after a Marikeño committee led by Former Malolos Congress Member Arturo Dancel met with Geronimo's camp.

Notably, Geronimo did not wish to be compensated for the surrender. Instead, he believed his surrender would help in the freedom of his imprisoned colleagues. Shortly after his surrender, Geronimo was integrated as an inspector in the Philippine Constabulary (predecessor organization of the Philippine National Police), where he was instrumental in dealing with Filipino resistance in Marikina and Diliman. Despite his work as an inspector, the Americans doubted Geronimo's loyalty. By 1904, he was no longer part of the Philippine Constabulary. Geronimo died on January 16, 1924. In his honor, Republic Act No. 11296 renamed the Hilltop Rizal Philippine National Police (PNP) Command as Camp General Licerio Geronimo. General Licerio Geronimo Memorial National High School in Montalban, Rizal Province was also named after him.

Learn more about the Filipino-American War: https://history-ph.blogspot.com/

Follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Tiktok: @historyphils

#FilipinoHistorian #History #TodayInHistory #OnThisDay #Geronimo #Lawton #Police #MilitaryHistory #Warfare #SanMateo

2)

(Additional info on Arturo Dancel giving favor to his former fellow revolutionary leader Isabelo de los Reyes)

Brains of the Nation by Resil B. Mojares

On the night of August 16, 1902, an American-led unit of the Philippine Constabulary entered Isabelo's home on Padre Rada St. and hauled him to the Parian Police Station for the trumped-up charge that he gave orders to assassinate scabs in a protracted strike at the German-owned Commercial Tobacco Factory in Tambobong (Malabon) and later charged under Articla 543 of the antiquated Spanish Penal Code for conspiring "to increase or decrease the price of labor or regulate its condition abusively." His appeal was heard by Judge Felix Roxas in Parañaque. However the Judge upheld the lower-court verdict on "abusive" labor conspiracy and sentenced him to two months in prison. But instead of the Bilibid he was committed to Malabon where Rizal Governor Arturo Dancel, a former revolutionary leader, had him housed in a salon of the presidencia instead of the town jail. There Isabelo held court as visitors came with food and blankets to make his stay comfortable.

3)

https://kahimyang.com/resources/artemio-ricarte.webp

4)

UPLB Journal Volume XIX No.1 January-December 2021

The Case of San Mateo, Rizal during the Filipino-American War 1899-1901 by Herald Ian C. Guiwa

As the cholera epidemic ravaged the town in the first decade of the colonial regime, the Americans became agents of public health and sanitation by conducting house-to-house inspection, disinfection, and strict implementation of quarantine (U.S. War Department, Third Annual Report 323-324) while serving as providers of aids to Filipinos, after Arturo Dancel, future Governor of Rizal Province, pleaded for american support to ward off the famine (U.S. War Department, Fourth Annual Report 904).

5)

(Arturo Dancel re surrender of his former fellow revolutionary leader Gen. Licerio Geronimo)

UPLB Journal Volume XIX No.1 January-December 2021

The Case of San Mateo, Rizal during the Filipino-American War 1899-1901 by Herald Ian C. Guiwa

The fall of Col. Bautista encouraged the civilian leaders of San Mateo to negotiate with Gen. Geronimo. On 21 March, the General received a letter from civilians urging him to cooperate with the Americans. Upon reflecting on the situation, Geronimo acknowledged the appeal if Arturo Dancel, a former comrade in the Philippine Revolution and the future Governor of the Rizal Province, would intervene.

Q & A

EUGENE E. DANCEL:

Tanong q lng po mga kapatid... Ang Dancel family po ba ay isang american??

JV:

During the Jews in DIASPORA the Dancels were driven to Basque, Spain and was sent by Queen Isabela to the Ph. kaya naging Spaniard ang Dancel by rendering service to the Queen. Thus, Isabela in Cagayan was named after her.

DANCEL is from the Tribe of DAN, one of the son of Jacob..., the son of Isaac...and the grandson of the Patriarch ABRAHAM....PROOF: Go to the Census RECORDS of the UNITED KINGDOM and you will find out that many of the DANCELS settled in Northern IRELAND and in Great Britain itself. The variant of DANCEL is DANIEL...meaning Dan...of GOD. Dan is likened to a snake who leave its trail of prints whenever the snake goes...so is DAN...Ex. If you go to Germany; there's a place called Danube or the Danube River...in Europe, DENMARK, etc. etc. Now, the BOOK of DANIEL as the variant of DANCEL has a marvelous understanding in the Words of God, in Science, and even has courage to STAND before a KING...

Some Dancels also settled in France and Germany around the 18th century..

EUGENE E DANCEL:

Ah ganun po ba?? sabi daw po kc american...ang lolo daw po kc nmin Americano.

JV:

Ang pagiging isang amerikano ay nationality/citizenship lamang..pero kng lahi ang paguusapan iba2 sila..sa history big portion of americans came from england n other european countries mapapansin mo yan s mga family names nila..

Ang mga amerikano, british, jews at ibang Europeans came from the 12 tribes of Israel..try mo isearch A History of the English-Speaking Peoples by Winston Churchill..

at COMPENDIUM OF WORLD HISTORY", vol. 1-2 by Dr. Herman L. Hoeh

dun halos lahat ng major races in the world ma trace kung san nagmula..

COMMENTS:

"Wow, Leah Dancel! You sure have a very interesting, intricate weave of storyline running through from your ancestry - academic, intellectual, historic, elite affiliations; but most intriguing to me is how from a godly Israeli- descended clan, your great, great, great ancestor transformed to become a great leader & practicing proponent of Free Masonry that he achieved the highest 13th level of it. Not really sure if you are acquainted or have any idea about Freemasons." `

~Sally Golbach, Friend

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"Don Perico "Pedro" Dancel y Garcia great grandfather ko anak niya si Pedro Narciso Dancel na lolo ko. wow! nice!" ~HENRY HABAL DANCEL 

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"Sa dingras rin nagmula ng tatay ko" ~Annalee Garcia Dancel 

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"Boss ang lolo ko sa mother side dancel din taga basque spain din." ~AJ Mercado