Limahong’s Great Escape
by Oliver Carlos
Sometime ago, I wrote a blog about Limahong. The Tamolang clan where I belong is said to have originated from the colony that this Chinese marauder established in Pangasinan in the 1570s. Limahong had a fleet of around 40 ships and 4,000 people which included men, women, and children. They tried to conquer Manila in November 1574 but was unsuccessful. They then sailed northward to the Lingayen Gulf, entered the Agno River, and built a settlement in Pangasinan, several kilometers inland along the banks of said river.
In the summer of the following year, the Spaniards who were ruling in Manila sent around 3,000 men to get Limahong. They sailed to Pangasinan and positioned themselves at the mouth of the Agno River to prevent the Chinese from escaping into the open sea. However, they were wary of attacking Limahong’s settlement and engaging in face-to-face combat due to the Chinese’s dreaded firepower and sheer numbers. Thus, the most the Spaniards were able to do was guard the river opening that Limahong entered to get inland. That’s somewhere near present-day Lingayen. Limahong’s camp was on the banks of the Agno River somewhere in the present-day Bugallon-San Carlos area.
The siege lasted for 4 months. Limahong didn’t take it sitting down. With the Spaniards at a distance guarding the river delta, he did 2 amazing and almost impossible things. First, he built around 30 ships in 4 months. Second, he dug up a channel connecting his camp to an unguarded branch and mouth of the Agno River which leads to the open sea.
Limahong ordered his men to look for wood so they can build ships. They found lots of them on the foothills of present-day Aguilar town. The men let the logs drift downstream towards their camp. There, hordes of workers toiled round the clock to finish their escape vehicles. Meanwhile, another set of workers connected the river at their base camp to another arm of the Agno, one that flows out to the sea near present-day Dagupan. Both these feats happened unnoticed by the Spanish forces.
When the rainy season came, the Agno river swelled and so Limahong’s ship floated, and was they were able to navigate on their man-made channel. From there, they sailed to freedom to the open sea. Not everybody though was able to ride with Limahong’s fleet. Several of his people opted to stay behind. They settled in the area where they cut the trees for the ships and intermarried with the natives. Incidentally, the ancestral land of my grandfather who has a Chinese-sounding name and looks very Chinese fits well the description of the land where Limahong’s men lived.
Thousands of years before this story, there’s another man who built a large ship and waited for flood waters to make his vessel float. Actually, he built a giant ship called an ark, high up in the mountains. I’m talking about Noah, the Bible character. He built the ark according to God’s command and specifications, with the help of his 3 sons.
While Noah was building his ark, his neighbors laughed at him. They thought he’s crazy for constructing a sea vessel up in the mountains. But Noah didn’t quit. He knew he was doing God’s will. He was proven right, because later, that ark saved him and his family in the Great Flood.
“Noah was warned by God about things that he could not yet see. But he had faith and respect for God, so he built a large boat to save his family. With his faith, Noah showed that the world was wrong. And he became one of those who are made right with God through faith.” (Hebrews 11:7, ERV)
In our modern world, we should not stop doing what is right, we must continue obeying God, following his voice, and walking in his path. We may encounter opposition among friends, in social media, and from everywhere like in Noah’s time. But hang on, do God’s will, and uphold his righteousness. Please God rather than the world. In due time, God will lift you up for being an obedient child of his.
