Mamerto Natividad

General Mamerto Alejandrino Natividad, Jr. (June 12, 1871 – November 11, 1897) was a haciendero and a Filipino military leader who led numerous successful battles during the Philippine Revolution against the Spaniards. He is credited with the establishment of the army headquarters at Biak Na Bato which today is a national park because of its historical significance. Together with Jose Clemente Zulueta, he wrote the proclamation entitled “To The Brave Sons of the Philippines” which called for the expulsion of the friars from the Philippines. General Mamerto Natividad, Jr. was a signatory to the Biak Na Bato convention but a steadfast dissenter of the Treaty of Biak Na Bato which asked for peace and reforms. He preferred independence.

He was a strict disciplinarian as a military leader. However, the personal traits that characterized him so well were his calmness and prudence. But once he had decided to do something, he did it with admirable resolve, fearlessness and constancy.

Early life
Known as "Mamertito", he was born on June 12, 1871 in Bacolor, Pampanga.

He was the eldest of 12 children of Mamerto Natividad Sr., a practicing lawyer, and Gervasia Alejandrino. He came from a well-to-do family as they owned haciendas in Pampanga and Nueva Ecija.

At the age of six, Mamertito was sent to study in Manila in the school of Jose Flores in Binondo and later studied at Ateneo Municipal de Manila and College of San Juan de Letran, Department of Commerce. Here, he was known as one of the student leaders when a strike threatened to divide the college into regional camps. On his second year, he decided to drop out. Instead, he returned to Nueva Ejica to help manage their family’s extensive landholdings.

At age 13, Mamertito was supervising his father’s farms in San Vicente and San Carlos in Cabiao, Nueva Ecija. Known for his strict discipline, Mamertito earned the respect of the tenants despite his young age.

He was also known for firing a gun at a Spanish justice of the peace who slapped his younger brother for failing to show respect to the Spaniard and a certain priest. He was incarcerated for this but later escaped. He tried to kill a Spaniard who harassed the Natividads in their hacienda in Sapang, Jaen. He fired at the Spaniard but the shot did not kill him.

On Dec. 2, 1893, he married Trinidad Tinio, daughter of Don Casimiro Tinio or Capitan Berong of Aliaga, Nueva Ecija. Their union was blessed with two daughters but both died young, one at two years and seven months and the other scarcely a week old.

The couple started farming in a barrio then known as Likab (presently Quezon) then moved to Jaen where they farmed for another year. Mamertito was directing tenants in Matamo, Arayat, Pampanga a year later.

They traveled to Manila for medical treatment after Trinidad suffered a miscarriage. When the revolution broke out in August 1896, Mamertito decided to return home after being informed that Cabiao was among those to rise up in arms.

Revolutionary period
The couple boarded a train to Calumpit and traveled by banca to Matamo to elude arrest. Three days later, his mother arrived, informing them that their father was executed by the Spanish authorities on September 26, 1896 in San Isidro, together with Marcos Ventus, who was also a lawyer. Mamerto Natividad, Sr. had been recently initiated into the Katipunan and was arrested for sedition, tortured and killed.

This fueled Mamertito’s anger towards the Spaniards even further. When asked what action he would take, Mamertito answered his mother, "The duty of a son." He left for the battlefield.

On October 31, 1896, Mamertito was captured in Aliaga, brought to Manila and was incarcerated in Bilibid after being mistaken for his father.

When he was freed, he and his brothers – Benito, Joaquin, Salvador, Pedro and Francisco – joined the Philippine rebellion against the Spanish authorities to avenge their father’s death. The Spaniards retaliated by burning their beautiful house and their sugar mills at Jaen, Nueva Ecija. They left for Cavite, became the house guests of Baldomero Aguinaldo in Binakayan and joined the Katipunan.

Within the Katipunan, Natividad was part of the Magdalo faction. He was one of those who advised General Aguinaldo to settle and put an end to the Magdalo-Magdiwang rivalry. (Andres Bonifacio was part of the Magdiwang faction.) In his book, Revolt of the Masses, Teodoro Agoncillo mentions that Gen. Mamerto Natividad, together with the eminent historian and poet, Jose Clemente Zulueta and Sr. Anastacio Francisco detested and brought the weight of their insistence upon General Aguinaldo to reverse his pardon for the Bonifacio brothers. "These men sang the same chorus, to wit, that the Bonifacio brothers must be liquidated in the interest of the Revolution since it had been made clear that Andres was intent upon having General Aguinaldo murdered and taking the highest position for himself. Under such powerful pressure, General Aguinaldo withdrew his pardon."

Gen. Mamerto Natividad fought against the Spaniards in several battles. He once chided his wife, Trinidad, for preventing his presence in the battle of Zapote and assured her that Edilberto Evangelista would not have fallen were he with him. He fought in the battles of Pintong Bato in Imus, Cavite (it was here where his brother Benito was wounded), San Rafael and Baliwag, Bulacan. He conducted raids in Carmen, Zaragoza, Penaranda, Santor (now Bongabong), Aliaga and Karanglan in Nueva Ecija.

On June 6, 1897, he was named Lieutenant General for Central Luzon by the Assembly of Puray in Montalban, Rizal six days short of his 26th birthday. The appointment was later approved by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo on June 18. He was the youngest general at that time.

With the revolutionists overwhelmed in Cavite, Gen. Natividad was commissioned to look for a place of retreat. He then found Biak-Na-Bato in San Miguel, Bulacan. When Aguinaldo evacuated Cavite in July 1897, he proceeded to Biak-Na-Bato. Here, he issued a proclamation drafted for him by Jose Clemente Zulueta and Gen. Natividad, who served as second in command. The proclamation was entitled “To The Brave Sons of the Philippines”. It called for the expulsion of the friars, return to the Filipinos of the lands appropriated by them, freedom of press, religious tolerance, legal equality, among others. The tenth paragraph describes the aspirations of the Philippine Revolution:

''Mindful of the common good, we aspire to the glory of obtaining liberty, independence and honor for the country. We aspire to have common law, created for all citizens, which will serve them as a guarantee and assurance of respect, without exception. We aspire to have a government which will represent all the active forces of the country, in which will take part the most capable, the most worthy in virtues and talents, without regard to their birth, their wealth, or the face to which they belong. We desire that no friar shall set his foot on any part of the Archipelago, and that no convent or monastery or center of corruption, or partisans of that theocracy which has made this land another inquisitorial Spain, shall remain. In our ranks order shall always be respected.''

Aside from this, Gen. Natividad actively engaged in procuring provisions for the sustenance of the revolutionary headquarters in Biak-na-Bato.

On August 5, 6 and 7, 1897, Gen. Natividad’s troops, together with those of Melecio Carlos, overwhelmed the Spaniards in San Rafael, Bulacan. The battle had six revolutionaries killed while the Spaniards had 50 casualties.

In the river of Baliuag, Gen. Natividad and his men held back the enemy's reinforcements. He and his men sank three merchant vessels full of Spanish Cazadores coming from Angat and Bustos. They all drowned in the strong current – 5 carretones of Cazadores in all. General Natividad carried on fighting for two more days, inflicting more casualties on the Spaniards, before retreating to the mountains with arms and ammunition.

On August 30, 1897, with 80 men in tow, he personally directed the assault on Aliaga town with General Manuel Tinio and his forces against the 8,000 men of Gen. Primo de Rivera. After three days of fighting, the Spanish forces had to surrender even after receiving reinforcements from Zaragoza town under the commands of Generals Monet and Nunez on Sept. 6, 1897. In this battle, Gen. Nunez was seriously wounded.

On October 9, Gen. Natividad led a rebel force to Karanglan, Nueva Ecija and fought a column led by Commandant Navarro, inflicting on the enemy considerable casualties. He also captured a Spanish detachment that included the friar Gomez in Baler, district of Principe. He also led an attack in Tayug, Pangasinan.

For bravery, Gen. Natividad was elected chief commanding general of Central Luzon after the reorganization of the revolutionary government in Biak-na-Bato.

Pact of Biak-Na-Bato
Gen. Mamerto Natividad was also among those who signed the Constitution of Biak-na-Bato which was adopted on November 1, 1897. However, he opposed the Pact or Treaty of Biak-na-Bato, which called for the cessation of war and the declaration of peace on the basis of amnesty and reforms.

Pedro Paterno tried to reason with him, but he remained firm in his stand, recalling how his family suffered under the Spanish rule. Gen. Natividad told Paterno that he was just wasting his time convincing him since he already decided to fight the Spaniards to the last drop of his blood to attain independence. He also doubted that the Spanish government would live up to its part of the Treaty which included expulsion of the Spanish friars from the Philippines and even questioned Paterno's motives.

His wife recalled the time when Gen. Natividad's brother Benito, wanting to go home and marry soon, attempted to influence Mamertito to accept the peace proposals. The latter threatened to shoot him if he persisted in his efforts.

It is said that if Gen. Mamerto Natividad did not die at that inopportune time, the Treaty of Biak-na-Bato would not have been consummated, at least not with the same conditions and on the date it was signed, and the course of Philippine history would have been different. In his book, General Jose Alejandrino stated that "the major obstacle which Paterno encountered in his negotiations was the opposition of that unconquerable leader and he only succeeded in his objective after Natividad was dead."

Death
On November 11, 1897, Gen. Mamerto Natividad overwhelmed the Spanish troops at the barrio of Entablado, Cabiao, Nueva Ecija in the company of General Pio del Pilar, Major Jose Ignacio Padua, his brothers Benito and Salvador and some 200 soldiers. As the Spanish soldiers were retreating, he peered over his field glass to view their movement. Suddenly, he was shot and killed by a Spanish sniper through the right eyebrow. He was carried by his comrades and his brothers in a hammock all the way to Biak-na-Bato, Bulacan. He died along the way in Daang Kawayan at about 6 o'clock pm, dusk.

He was buried with military honors in the banks of a river which flowed near Biak-na-Bato and a period of mourning was declared. Eulogies were given by Pres. Emilio Aguinaldo and Pedro Paterno. Pres. Aguinaldo declared that "Nobody may forget the 9th of November because on this day two great patriots lost their lives for the freedom of our mother country" referring to Natividad and Candido Tria Tirona.

Years after,his family tried to recover his remains but to their surprise, the changing current of the river scattered the remains of the general.

After Gen. Natividad’s death, the Treaty of Biak-na-Bato which he vigorously opposed was signed. The Spanish authorities exiled the revolutionary leaders to Hong Kong, including his brother, Benito and Aguinaldo.

Pres. Emilio Aguinaldo paid tribute to Gen. Mamerto Natividad in his message at the opening of the Malolos Congress at the Barasoain Church in Malolos, Bulacan on September 15, 1898. His death was greatly mourned by Aguinaldo, who not only considered him a real brother-in-arms but also his right-hand man.

Legacy
His brothers continued to fight against Spain with the fervor and dedication of their eldest brother. Benito and Salvador rose to the rank of general, Joaquin became a Colonel while Francisco and Pedro were lieutenants. The Natividads were known as the family of generals.

Biak Na Bato, the headquarters established by Gen. Mamerto Natividad for the Philippine Revolutionary Army was declared a national park in 1937 by President Manuel Luis Quezon by virtue of its association with the history and site of the Biak-na-Bato Republic.

The Municipality of General Mamerto Natividad in Nueva Ecija and the streets of General Natividad (Pasay City) and M. Natividad (Sta. Cruz, Manila) are named in his honor.