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Probably the most hated parish priest of Malolos, Fr. Moises Santos OSA earned the ire of Malolenos during his time in the parish from 1895 up to his murder in 1898. His tenure at Malolos was marked by conflicts with the native leaders, his actions towards them were punitive, and as he sowed hatred he reaped a violent and untimely death in the hands of assassins whom authorities would point their suspicion towards the revolutionary leader Isidoro Torres.   
 
=== The Murder of Fr. Moises Santos, OSA ===
The last and probably the most hated friar parish priest of Malolos, Fr. Moises Santos OSA earned the ire of Malolenos during his time in the parish from 1895 up to his murder in 1898. His tenure at Malolos was marked by conflicts with the native leaders, his actions towards them were punitive, and as he sowed hatred he reaped a violent and untimely death at the hands of assassins whom authorities would point their suspicion towards the revolutionary leader Isidoro Torres.   
 
[[File:Barasoain y Malolos Train Station, Bulacan Province, Philippines.jpg|500px|thumb|The parish priest was killed while on his way to the Barasoain and Malolos train station]]
 


==== A Despicable Personality ====
==== A Despicable Personality ====
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Confrontations between the cura and the local leaders went back years starting on the year he was designated in Malolos. On a Holy Tuesday, April 9, 1895, an angry Fr. Moises Santos canceled the scheduled procession when the town's ''principalia'' did not join the religious activity. Don Antonio Bautista recounted that the cura took a vengeful attitude towards those who boycotted the procession and may have initiated the ''requiza'' or searches by the ''guardia civil'' on the residences of the ''principales'' of Malolos which sought copies of subversive ''La Solidaridad'', Plaridel's "''Soberania Monacal''" and other publications deemed illegal by the church.<ref>Bautista, A. (2000). Ang Malulos sa mga dahon ng kasaysayan. Philippines: Center for Bulacan Studies, Bulacan State University.</ref>  
Confrontations between the cura and the local leaders went back years starting on the year he was designated in Malolos. On a Holy Tuesday, April 9, 1895, an angry Fr. Moises Santos canceled the scheduled procession when the town's ''principalia'' did not join the religious activity. Don Antonio Bautista recounted that the cura took a vengeful attitude towards those who boycotted the procession and may have initiated the ''requiza'' or searches by the ''guardia civil'' on the residences of the ''principales'' of Malolos which sought copies of subversive ''La Solidaridad'', Plaridel's "''Soberania Monacal''" and other publications deemed illegal by the church.<ref>Bautista, A. (2000). Ang Malulos sa mga dahon ng kasaysayan. Philippines: Center for Bulacan Studies, Bulacan State University.</ref>  


Harassment against these leaders continued. A Te Deum mass was ordered to be held in the whole of the country to celebrate the victory in Marawi. The cura in Malolos asked the people for money for the Te Deum which the same local leaders did not agree with as they argued that no payment was needed for the mass to be celebrated. On the appointed day for the Te Deum, the Parish Priest carried out the ceremony with no attendees other than the sacristan and the altar boys.<ref>Espanol, J. (1898, April 11). La Rebellion en Filipinas, p. 4</ref> The offended priest responded by reporting the leaders to the Governor General who then sent the secretary of the government, D. Echaluse to try them in a tribunal, May 25. This would later result in the ''destitucion'' or removal of those in public offices, the arrest and imprisonment of many at Bilibid in Manila, and the exile of eight leaders in Jolo, Mindanao, and Palawan on June 15, 1895. The exiled Malolenos were Manuel Crisostomo, Ceferino, Valentin, and Juan Aldaba, Vicente Gatmaytan, Justo Teodoro, Saturnino Buendia, and Luis H. del Pilar. <ref>Bautista, A. (2000). Ang Malulos sa mga dahon ng kasaysayan. Philippines: Center for Bulacan Studies, Bulacan State University. page 55-56</ref>
Harassment against these leaders continued. That same year, a month after, a Te Deum mass was ordered to be held in the whole of the country to celebrate the victory in Marawi. The cura in Malolos asked the people for money for the Te Deum which the same local leaders did not agree with as they argued that no payment was needed for the mass to be celebrated. On the appointed day for the Te Deum, the Parish Priest carried out the ceremony with no attendees other than the sacristan and the altar boys.<ref>Espanol, J. (1898, April 11). La Rebellion en Filipinas, p. 4</ref> The offended priest responded by reporting the leaders to the Governor General who then sent the secretary of the government, D. Echaluse to try them in a tribunal, May 25. This would later result in the ''destitucion'' or removal of those in public offices, the arrest and imprisonment of many at Bilibid in Manila, and the exile of eight leaders in Jolo, Mindanao, and Palawan on June 15, 1895. The exiled Malolenos were Manuel Crisostomo, Ceferino, Valentin, and Juan Aldaba, Vicente Gatmaytan, Justo Teodoro, Saturnino Buendia, and Luis H. del Pilar. <ref>Bautista, A. (2000). Ang Malulos sa mga dahon ng kasaysayan. Philippines: Center for Bulacan Studies, Bulacan State University. page 55-56</ref>


These men happened to also belong to ''Logia Kupang''. Fr. Moises Santos strongly denounced membership to the local freemasonry lodge accusing them of rebellion against the government and the church. <ref>Bautista, A. (2000). Ang Malulos sa mga dahon ng kasaysayan. Philippines: Center for Bulacan Studies, Bulacan State University. p. 51</ref>
These men happened to also belong to ''Logia Kupang''. Fr. Moises Santos strongly denounced membership to the local freemasonry lodge accusing them of rebellion against the government and the church. <ref>Bautista, A. (2000). Ang Malulos sa mga dahon ng kasaysayan. Philippines: Center for Bulacan Studies, Bulacan State University. p. 51</ref>


The English traveller, John Foreman, who had conversations with Father Moises Santos, talked about how the priest caused all the members of the town council to be banished in 1895. Foreman in his accounts, shared how arrogant the priest was telling him what he did and that he had cleared out a few more and had his eye on others. He noted that it was usual for the priests, particularly those around Manila, to have their victims escorted to the Governor General who then issued deportation orders without trial or sentence, the recommendation of the all-powerful padre being sufficient warrant.<ref>Foreman, J. (1899). The Philippine Islands: A Political, Geographical, Ethnographical, Social and Commercial History of the Philippine Archipelago and Its Political Dependencies, Embracing the Whole Period of Spanish Rule. United Kingdom: C. Scribner's sons, p. 511.</ref>  
The English traveller, John Foreman, who had conversations with Father Moises Santos, talked about how the priest caused all the members of the town council to be banished in 1895. Foreman in his accounts, shared how arrogant the priest was telling him what he did and that he had cleared out a few more and had his eye on others. He noted that it was usual for the priests, particularly those around Manila, to have their victims escorted to the Governor General who then issued deportation orders without trial or sentence, the recommendation of the all-powerful padre being sufficient warrant.<ref>Foreman, J. (1899). The Philippine Islands: A Political, Geographical, Ethnographical, Social and Commercial History of the Philippine Archipelago and Its Political Dependencies, Embracing the Whole Period of Spanish Rule. United Kingdom: C. Scribner's sons, p. 511.</ref>  
[[File:Deportees.png|thumb|Deportation order against Malolos local leaders issued by Gov. Gen. Blanco]]


During the town fiesta of 1895, paranoid he could have been, the ''cura parroco'' requested for additional ''guardia civil'' to Malolos, as he reported intelligence that there was a plot to attack the church and steal the ''santissimo'' which was made of gold and adorned with gems. The plot never happened. <ref>Bautista, A. (2000). Ang Malulos sa mga dahon ng kasaysayan. Philippines: Center for Bulacan Studies, Bulacan State University.</ref>   
During the town fiesta of 1895, paranoid he was, the ''cura parroco'' requested for additional ''guardia civil'' to Malolos, as he reported intelligence that there was a plot to attack the church and steal the ''santissimo'' which was made of gold and adorned with gems. The plot never happened. <ref>Bautista, A. (2000). Ang Malulos sa mga dahon ng kasaysayan. Philippines: Center for Bulacan Studies, Bulacan State University.</ref>   


These confrontations in the backdrop of a growing revolutionary spirit in Malolos may have brought the priest to that summer day of March 31, 1898, when he was killed in broad daylight by unknown assassins whose motives had most likely been driven by the collective ire of an oppressed townspeople.  
These confrontations in the backdrop of a growing revolutionary spirit in Malolos may have brought the priest to that summer day of March 31, 1898, when he was killed in broad daylight by unknown assassins whose motives had most likely been driven by the collective ire of oppressed and awakened townspeople fed up with the corrupt frailocracy.


==== A tale of murder, or an exaction of justice ====
==== A tale of murder, or an exaction of justice ====


Fr. Moises Santos was murdered. An account of his last day was narrated in the newspaper, Espana (1898):   
Fr. Moises Santos was assassinated. An account of the event was narrated in the newspaper, Espana (1898):   


<small>''On the evening of March 31 last, at a time when Father Moisés, confident and defenseless, headed towards the Barasoain railway station to bid farewell to other priests who were trying to see him off, as he had been appointed to a position in Manila, three heartless individuals encountered him in a wooded area of the road and inflicted eight tremendous stab wounds on him. He succumbed to his injuries an hour later. As for the assassins, they remain a mystery until now. What is not a mystery to anyone is that when immediately sought in Malolos and Barasoain, Torres and the deportees, it happened that none of them were found in the town.''</small>
<small>''On the evening of March 31 last, at a time when Father Moisés, confident and defenseless, headed towards the Barasoain railway station to bid farewell to other priests who were trying to see him off, as he had been appointed to a position in Manila, three heartless individuals encountered him in a wooded area of the road and inflicted eight tremendous stab wounds on him. He succumbed to his injuries an hour later. As for the assassins, they remain a mystery until now. What is not a mystery to anyone is that when immediately sought in Malolos and Barasoain, Torres and the deportees, it happened that none of them were found in the town.''</small>


The suspicion was against Torres. In an article from the Spanish Revistas Filipinas (1898), General Isidoro Torres was referred to as the one responsible for the death of Father Moises. The report stated that "...Isidoro Torres, the alleged murderer of the priest of Malolos, Guiguinto, Agoo and of Santa Isabel, and now commander of the militias with several hundred rifles at his disposal..." <ref>Espanol, J. (1898, June 27). Revistas Filipinas, p. 7. Espana.</ref>
The suspicion was against Torres. In an article from the Spanish Revistas Filipinas (1898), General Isidoro Torres was referred to as the one responsible for the death of Father Moises. The report stated that "...Isidoro Torres, the alleged murderer of the priest of Malolos, Guiguinto, Agoo and of Santa Isabel, and now commander of the militias with several hundred rifles at his disposal..." <ref>Espanol, J. (1898, June 27). Revistas Filipinas, p. 7. Espana.</ref>
 
Torres was tried for the murder and according to secondary sources, will be acquitted because of his family's reputation and influence.<ref>https://philippineculturaleducation.com.ph/torres-isidoro/</ref>


The people of Catmon would remember the assassination as they reported in the Historical Data Paper of the 1950s the story of the priest's death. According to the retelling of the event, the parish priest was killed on the bridge of Catmon. "The persons who killed the priest, kissed the hands of the said priest before stabbing the said priest in the breast because it is their custom to kiss the hands of the priest whenever they met him."<ref>https://nlpdl.nlp.gov.ph/HD01/p10/m10/b10/1.pdf</ref>


Dr. Pardo de Tavera in a commentary saw the fate of Padre Moises Santos in light of the waning of the power and influence of the friars in the face of liberal ideas spreading among the Filipinos during the last decade of the 19th century. Spanish sovereignty, according to him, fell with frailocracy as it cling to it. Dr. Pardo de Tavera retold the death of the last friar parish priest of Malolos:


"Friar Moises Santos, the parish priest, was at last able to sleep in peace, after General Blanco had taken from him the residents who were sowing the bad seed, and sent them into exile on faraway islands; but one day, as he was going on foot to the railroad station in order to take the train to Manila, and was ascending a bridge near the station, three natives approach him respectfully. Supposing they came to kiss his hand, he gravely held it out to them. Then one of the natives caught it and, violently drawing the priest towards him, struck him with his right hand a terrible blow with a dagger in the breast.


"In an instant, the three men had disappeared, and in the middle of the road, bathed in blood, there lay the body of the last friar parish priest of Malolos, dying unaided, in those last days of the Spanish rule, shortly before the declaration of war by the United States and the destruction of Montojo's fleet at Cavite."<ref>Philippine Review 1920, pp 527-528</ref>


==== The Murder of Fr. Moises Santos: Document Set ====


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References:
=== References ===


Espanol, J. (1898, June 27). Revistas Filipinas, p. 7. Espana.






Espanol, J. (1898, April 11). La Rebellion en Filipinas, pp. [https://maloloscityvirtuallibrary.com/wikimalolos/images/8/83/Espa%C3%B1a_%28Madrid._1898%29._14_5_1898%2C_n.%C2%BA_7_la_rebelion_en_filipinas_malolos_padre_moises.pdf 4]-5. Espana.
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