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On April 29, 1872, General Jose Ignacio Paua (Pawa) was born as Liu Heng-fu (劉亨賻) in Fujian, Qing China. Migrating to Manila at the age of 18, Paua found himself working as a blacksmith in Binondo. At the same time, he honed his skills in Chinese martial arts (武術).
As one of the Chinese to have ever fought in the Philippine Revolution and the Filipino-American War, Paua would lend to the Filipino cause not only his fighting skill, but also his knowledge as a blacksmith. It was said he convinced Emilio Aguinaldo to build a munitions factory in Cavite. Paua supervised the repair of broken weapons such as captured Mausers, as well as the creation of makeshift ones such as cannons made of bamboo or of metal from melted objects like church bells. He also taught how to make homemade gunpowder to refill cartridges. In addition, he was known as an organizer, doing whatever he could to raise needed funds for the revolution wherever he was sent. By the time war erupted with the Americans, Paua was serving in the Bicol region as chief of military operations.
Such was the reputation of Paua that Mariano Ponce once stated how the Chinese revolutionary was even braver than El Cid (1043-1099), the Spanish hero who fought during the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim rule. It was his very reputation in the field that brought surprise to Filipino ranks when Paua surrendered on March 27, 1900.
This was after a near-death experience Paua survived during the Battle of Guinobatan a month earlier, on February 23, wherein he suspected a plot to take him down from the Filipinos who he chose to fight with. While charging on horseback, a shot came from behind him that almost hit his head. When he turned around, he realized it was friendly fire. Meanwhile, not even his personal escort of 30 soldiers accompanied Paua in his surrender to the United States, reinforcing his suspicions of ill-will towards him within the ranks. Despite his prevailing thoughts, it remained speculative what might have been the motivations of his fellow Filipino troops to turn against him. In retrospect, Paua has been involved in the apprehension of Andres Bonifacio, among other contentious events during his career.
Paua would settle in Albay after the war until his death on May 24, 1926. Learn more about the history of the Filipino-American War: https://history-ph.blogspot.com/.../president-aguinaldos...
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