Andres Bonifacio Day: National Holiday in the Philippines

The Monument of our Hero Andres Bonifacio in Caloocan City by National Artist Guillermo Tolentino

Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro (November 30, 1863 – May 10, 1897), son of Santiago Bonifacio and Catalina de Castro, was a Filipino revolutionary leader and one of the main rebel leaders of the Philippine Revolution against Spanish colonial rule in the late 19th century. He is regarded as the "Father of the Philippine Revolution" and one of the most influential national heroes of his country. Bonifacio was the founder of the Katipunan organization which aimed to start an independence movement against Spain.

Early life

Bonifacio was born to a Tagalog father by the name of Santiago Bonifacio, and a Spanish mestiza mother, Catalina de Castro of Zambales, in Tondo, Manila. His father was a cabeza de barangay (a leading barangay official). His mother died of tuberculosis in 1881 and his father followed suit a year after. According to popular anecdote, he peddled canes and fans to support his family.

Later, he worked as a clerk in a British firm in Manila. He married twice - his first wife was a woman named Monica, who died of leprosy. He read books about the French Revolution, Les Miserables, and the novels of local reformist and future national hero José Rizal, among others.

According to historians, Bonifacio - though projected by detractors as being unlettered - was in fact very literate because a British firm would not have hired him as a clerk if he was not. He was also highly intellectual to be keeping serious novels and political books, many were not even written in his native tongue. He also authored countless articles and poems in the course of organizing the revolution.

He also joined Rizal's La Liga Filipina (Spanish "The Philippine League"), a society that called for reforms in Spanish rule. However, the Liga was disbanded shortly after Rizal was arrested and deported to the town of Dapitan in Mindanao a day after the group's only meeting.

The Katipunan

The Republika ng Katagalugan (Tagalog Republic), with him as President and the members of the Katipunan high council as his cabinet. "Tagalog", in this sense, was a term used to refer to the Philippines as a whole, not the ethnic group.

On the night of July 7, 1892 (the eve of Rizal's arrest, in fact), Bonifacio founded the Katipunan, a revolutionary secret society which would later spark the Philippine Revolution of 1896 against Spanish rule. In this period, he met his second wife,and the muse of the katipunan Gregoria de Jesus, who became a rebel leader in her own right. His right-hand man was Emilio Jacinto. Within the society, Bonifacio's codename or nom de guerre was Maypagasa (There is hope). With the establishment of the Katipunan, Andrés Bonifacio became popularly known as the Father of the Revolution and eventually held the title of Supremo.

He wrote the patriotic poem, Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa (loosely, Love for the Motherland), which saw print in the first and only issue of the Katipunan periodical, Kalayaan (Freedom), edited by Jacinto. Allegedly, he also made the first translation of José Rizal's final poem, Mi Ultimo Adios (My Last Farewell) into Tagalog.

Just before the Revolution broke out, he formed a revolutionary government called "Republika ng mga Katagalugan" with himself as the president. Downfall

Bonifacio's personal campaigns were less than successful; he lost all his battles and all led to heavy casualties and massacres. The revolutionaries in Cavite had greater success, led by officers coming from the upper classes, including the celebrated Emilio Aguinaldo. Thus, they sent out a manifesto calling for a revolutionary government of their own, disregarding Bonifacio's leadership.

A council comprising of Bonifacio's men and the Magdalo and the Magdiwang, two locally-based rival Katipunan factions, held a convention in Tejeros, Cavite to establish a unified front and settle the issue of leadership of the revolutionary movement. The Magdalo faction was led by Baldomero Aguinaldo, cousin to Emilio Aguinaldo. In the elections, the Cavitenos voted their own Emilio Aguinaldo President. Bonifacio, due to the lack of a power base in the province, was voted Director of the Interior.

However, a member of the Magdalo faction, Daniel Tirona, questioned Bonifacio's qualifications for high office, declaring him uneducated and unfit for the position. Bonifacio was slighted, all the more so since he had previously asked that the results of the election be respected by all. Invoking his authority as Supremo, he threatened those in attendance with a pistol and declared the results of the Tejeros Convention as null and void and left in a rage. Later, he wrote to Jacinto about his misgivings about the whole matter, as he suspected Tirona of spreading black propaganda against him and fixing the ballots (as some other leaders also suspected).

It is believed that Bonifacio from this point headed towards Batangas to lead another Katipunan faction where he would establish his own government. Word of this got back to the Magdalo group. In fear of a separate rival government along with an ongoing revolution, Aguinaldo ordered the arrest of Bonifacio and his brothers. The Magdalo soldiers caught up with Bonifacio in the town of Indang. They surrounded the house and asked Bonifacio and his men to disarm and come out peacefully. Bonifacio refuted and stated that bullets would settle this matter. The stand off lasted through the night.

At dawn, the soldiers closed in and opened fire. Bonifacio ordered his men not to shoot. His men yelled, "Brothers, don't shoot! Tell us what you want?" The soldiers made their way in. Procopio Bonifacio was tied up and beaten with a revolver. Ciracio Bonifacio was held down by two soldiers and shot to death. Bonifacio was stabbed and beaten with a rifle butt. Gregoria de Jesus (wife of Andres Bonifacio) recounted that after the capture of the Supremo, the leading officer approached her, asking where they had stashed the Treasury money.

The brothers were taken to Naic and tried in a kangaroo court headed by General Mariano Noriel. Both were charged with treason and sedition, punishment was death by firing squad. In Emilio Aguinaldo's biography, Aguinaldo claims he superseded this judgment and ordered the Supremo to be exiled and banished to Mt. Nagpatong. Major Lazaro Makapagal, along with four soldiers, was given orders to lead the Bonifacio brothers to Mt. Nagpatong. Makapagal was also given a sealed envelope with strict orders not to open it until they reached the mountains. On May 10, 1897, at Mt. Buntis, Major Lazaro Makapagal opened the letter, faced the Supremo and his brother, and read its contents aloud. Andres and Procopio were to be executed by firing squad or he himself would be shot. It was signed by General Mariano Noriel. Makapagal turned his back and his soldiers opened fire on the Bonifacio brothers. The Supremo was only 34 years old. Fearing their gunfire being heard by Spanish forces, they quickly dug a shallow grave and covered the two bodies with twigs and branches. Co-patriots of the Revolution regarded this an ugly blot laid at Aguinaldo's door, though Aguinaldo originally wanted them banished instead.

In 1918, an expedition lead by one of the former soldiers found the grave of Andrés Bonifacio. His remains were exhumed and placed in an urn at the Legislative Building (today National Museum) in Manila. In 1945, near the end of World War II during the Battle of Manila, the building was completely destroyed. Bonifacio's remains are lost forever.

[from Wikipedia]