Hostilities began in Aklan just after the death of Dr. Jose Rizal in Manila on December 30, 1896. As early as the first days of January, 1897, the people began to band themselves together in the barrios of Ochando, Kawayan, Kuntang, and Tambak of the municipality of Batang, and in the barrios of Nalook and Mabilo of Kalibo. Under the leadership of a handful of Katipunan members who arrived from Manila, the local chapter was organized. The Sandugo or blood-compact, a part of the initiation ceremonies to the Katipunan, immediately started. The arm was bled and the blood used in signing a pledge to support and defend the Katipunan to the death. 


Within a few days, the existence of the Katipunan in Aklan was rumored. In Kalibo, Lezo, Malinao, Banga, Balete, Jimeno (now Altavas), and Batang, towns of Aklan, the Spanish officials felt decidedly uneasy. It was said that local Katipunan had enrolled a great many members in only a few weeks time. In February, the central headquarters of the Katipunan was established in Mabilo, a barrio of Kalibo, and the society began an open campaign for membership. Young men and old streamed in from every direction ready for a call to arms. 


Francisco del Castillo was the head of the society and was called the "Supremo". Assisting him in every way were Candido Iban (his money bought the printing press for the Katipunan in Manila founded by Andres Bonifacio), Albino Rabaria, Cornelio Delfin, Teodorico Motus, Pedro Pamati-an, Isidoro Jimenez, Isidoro Madayag, Canuto Segovia, Gabino Sukgang, Roman Aguirre, and many others. 


Supremo Castillo, together with Albino Rabaria and Candido Iban, owned a small fishing boat used for pearling or gathering oysters on the fishing banks of Batang and Sapian. Word came to the Supremo, then in Banga on a visit to friends, that the boat had been towed away by a Spanish ship from the barrio of Kuntang, its mooring place. 


The Supremo immediately left Banga for Tigayon, a small barrio halfway between Kalibo and Banga. Here he found the local members of the Katipunan gathered and ready. Together with the other contingent in Mabilo, they planned to march to Kalibo at the same time. 


Led by some thirty men on horseback, and several hundreds strong, the "Insurrectos", as they were called, reached the town before dawn. They stopped and gathered in front of the massively built residence of the Capitan Municipal. 


This building was the biggest building in the town then. Surrounded by a high stone wall, there were no means to gain entrance except through two big doors. But the Capitan Municipal, Juan Azcarraga, had anticipated the coming of these men, and had a number of guardias civiles detailed to defend his home in case of an attack. 


Supremo Francisco del Castillo came forward on a prancing white horse. He looked up at the closed windows of the house and called out aloud for an audience with the Capitan, but before he could pronounce the last word, a shower of bullets answered his demand. Brave, though foolhardy, he shouted "Aumenta mas, amigo! Otro tiro mas, amigo!" The Mauser rifles again spat fire and death. One bullet found a fatal place near the throat of the fearless leader, and he dropped dead from his horse. The others, poorly armed with only their bolos and a few spears, fled. 


A few days later, a Spanish ship dropped anchor at Dumagit, Batang. Here, Colonel Ricardo Monet, Comandante General of the Bisayas, landed together with a company of guardias civiles and soldiers from the Infanteria de Marina. 


When they arrived in Kalibo, Colonel Monet proclaimed amnesty to all Katipunan members in all the towns of Aklan and also to those who had taken part with General Castillo, but this general pardon would not be in effect for any person concerned who did not present himself in person to the Colonel. 


Of the many men who presented themselves from March 19 to March 22, Colonel Monet picked a number whom he suspected of being the organizers of the Katipunan in Aklan and the leaders in the local disturbances, and threw them into prison. They were starved, lashed, pounded by the butts of guns, and spat upon. They were:


<ol>
<li>
Roman Aguirre 
</li>
<li>
Tomas Briones 
</li>
<li>
Domingo de la Cruz 
</li>
<li>
Valeriano Dalida 
</li>
<li>
Claro Delgado 
</li>
<li>
Angelo Fernandez 
</li>
<li>
Benito Iban 
</li>
<li>
Candido Iban 
</li>
<li>
Simon Inocencio 
</li>
<li>
Isidoro Jimenez 
</li>
<li>
Catalino Mangat 
</li>
<li>
Lamberto Mangat 
</li>
<li>
Valeriano Masinda 
</li>
<li>
Maximo Mationg 
</li>
<li>
Simplicio Reyes 
</li>
<li>
Canuto Segovia 
</li>
<li>
Gabino Sukgang 
</li>
<li>
Francisco Villorente 
</li>
<li>
Gabino Yonsal
</li>
</ol>



These Nineteen Men, weak from hunger and thirst and racked with rain, were bound together and forced into a black hole of a stone cell on Amadeo Street (now Nineteen Martyrs Street) in Kalibo. Here their hands were manacled and a long bamboo pole was passed through their locked arms across their mangled backs. Then they were strung high up against the wall of the cell, with their backs to the firing line, and during the first hours of March 23, they were shot to death. The few who did not die instantly were bayoneted. That was a night of darkness and terror in Kalibo. The town awoke to hear the sharply ringing rifle shots and the cries and groans of farewell of these Nineteen Martyrs of Aklan. 


The wholesale massacre did not serve the purpose of suppressing the revolt. Rather it flared up anew as rage and hatred of the Spanish misrule swept the region. 


The Nineteen Martyrs gave their lives for the Fatherland on March 23, 1897, in Kalibo, Aklan.




Sources:
<ol class="article-sources">
<li>
The Nineteen Martyrs of Aklan, Beato dela Cruz, The Philippine Magazine, Volume 33. Number 3, March 1936. 
</li>
</ol>

Francisco del Castillo and the 19 Martyrs of Aklan