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| ENG Andrés Bonifacio NL | ||||
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How it started La Liga Filipina was a peaceful group that did not believe in violence. But the Spanish government thought it was dangerous. They had Rizal secretly arrested and set away, or exiled, to Dapitan, a lonely island in the South. When Bonifacio learned that Rizal had been exiled, he knew in his heart that the days of peaceful reform were over. |
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Tejeros convention - Bonifacio's capture - Bonifacio's execution He believed it would take no less than an armed revolution to free the Philippines from Spanish rule. Unlike Rizal and other people in the reform movement, Bonifacio believed that the Philippines should be totally separated from Spain. In his essay "What the Filipinos Should Know," Bonifacio wrote in Tagalog: 'Reason tells us that we cannot expect anything but more sufferings, more treachery, more insults, and more slavery. Reason tells us not to fritter away time for the promised prosperity that will never come. Reason teaches us to rely on ourselves and not to depend on others for our living. Reason tells us to be united, that we may have the strength to combat the evils in our country.' Bonifacio also wrote about how the Filipinos were tortured by the Spaniards. They were bound, kicked, and hit with gun butts. They were electrocuted and hung upside down like cattle. He said that Filipino prisoners were thrown into the sea, shot, poisoned. For Bonifacio, it was time to take action. On the night of July 7, 1892, the same day he heard that Rizal had been exiled, Bonifacio met secretly with his friends at a house on Azcarraga Street (now Claro M. Recto) in Tondo. Together with his two friends Ladislao Diwa and Teodoro Plata, he formed the first triangle of a secret society which bore the initials K.K.K. The three letters stood for Kataastaasan Kagalang-galang na Katipunan nang mga Anak nang Bayan, or Katipunan, for short. Tejeros convention - Bonifacio's capture - Bonifacio's execution top |
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| About the Katipunan The name Katipunan shows how Bonifacio was influenced by Rizal. Instead of using the old Spanish spelling of the letter "c," Bonifacio used the Tagalog spelling of "k." Rizal had suggested the change in an article published two years earlier in the newspaper La Solidaridad. The "k," pronouched ka, was based on the ancient Tagalog script (I). Since the Katipunan was an underground society, its members used secret codes and passwords to communicate with each other. Three Aims of the Katipunan:
The society took care of its sick. If a member died, the Katipunan helped to pay the cost of a simple funeral.The people who joined the Katipunan came mostly from the poor working class, although some members, such as Dr. Pio Valenzuela and Mariano Alvarez, belonged to the middle class. The membership of the Katipunan grew to the thousands. Tejeros convention - Bonifacio's capture - Bonifacio's execution top |
| Membership To keep the Katipunan from being discovered by the Spaniards, new members were enlisted through the triangle method. This is how it worked. A recruiter would ask two members to join. That recruiter would know the names of the two members, but the recruits themselves would not know each other. Thus a member's knowledge about the group was limited and controlled. But the triangle method was slow. After October 1892, all Katipuneros could recruit as many members as they could. Any man who wanted to join the Katipunan had to pass first a number of tests to prove his courage and sincerity. Wearing a black robe, the new recruit was led blindfolded into a darkly lit room. He was told to answer these questions:
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| This was followed by other tests for the would-be-Katipunero. The final test was the sandugo or "Blood compact". The recruit was asked to make a small cut on his left forearm with a sharp knife. He then signed the Katipunan oat in his own blood. Afterwards, the new member chose a symbolic name for himself. For example, Bonifacio was called "Maypag-asa"(Hopeful). |
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Women who joined the Katipunan were limited to the wives, daughters, or close relatives of the Katipuneros.
The women’s chapter of the Katipunan was formed in July 1893. Only about thirty females were known to have joined this secret society. The women did not have to seal their membership with a
blood compact. During Katipunan meetings, they wore green masks, and white sashes with green borders. Sometimes they carried revolvers or daggers.They usually served as lookouts in the outer sala
(living room) while the men held their secret meetings in the backroom. Tejeros convention - Bonifacio's capture - Bonifacio's execution top |
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| Battles fought | |||
 Katipunero captured |
On August 30, Andres Bonifacio and his best friend, Emilio Jacinto, fought the first battle of the Philippine Revolution. Leading an army of eight
hundred men, they attacked a gunpowder storehouse in San Juan del Monte (now San Juan, Metro Manila). Today the place is called Pinaglabanan, meaning battlefield. The storehouse was an important military post for the Spanish army, but it was defended by only a hundred men. Outnumbered, the Spaniards retreated to El Deposito, the place where the Spaniards stored the water supply for the city of Intramuros. |
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Encouraged by the Spaniards’ retreat, Bonifacio and his rebels advanced towards Manila. They were met
by an army of soldiers sent by Ramon Blanco, the Spanish governor-general. Bonifacio’s men were driven back to Mandaluyong by the Spaniards. More than a hundred-fifty Katipuneros died. Another
two hundred were captured. Some of them were shot at Bagumbayan Field, which is today called Luneta Park. In the area of Manila, the battle of Pinaglabanan and fighting in Kalookan sparked other small battles north and south of the Pasig River, in places such as Marikina, San Mateo, Pasig, Pateros and Taguig. That same day Governor-General Blanco declared a state of war in eight provinces: Manila, Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, and Tarlac. The Spanish government did not want the revolt to spread to other provinces. It was determined to punish the rebels and all who helped them. Tejeros convention - Bonifacio's capture - Bonifacio's execution top |
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| Magdiwang and
Magdalo In December 1896, Bonifaio was invited by the Katipuneros of Cavite to come to the town of Imus. Thanks to a string of victories led by Emilio Aguinaldo, the rebels now controlled most of the province. Bonifacio, as the highest officer, or Supremo, of the Katipunan, was asked to settle a dispute. There were two rival Katipunan councils in Cavite. One council was the Magdalo, the other was the Magdiwang council, headed by Mariano Alvarez, a relative of Bonifacio’s wife. Bonifacio’s decision to come to Cavite proved to be the beginning of his downfall. There was a time when the two men – Aguinaldo and Bonifacao – respected and valued each other. The Supremo himself had admitted Aguinaldo into the Katipunan in his house in Binondo. Aguinaldo recalled this historic moment in his biography when he wrote, "That was the beginning of my acquaintance and friendship with Andres Bonifacio." And when news of Bonifacio’s defeat in the battle of Pinaglabanan reached the Katipuneros in Cavite, Aguinaldo, worried for the Supremo’s safety, sent his men to look for Bonifacio in the forests of Kalookan and Malabon. |
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But the friendship between the two men soured. Bonifacio and his army had suffered a number of defeats at the hands of
the enemy. In contrast, Aguinaldo and his rebels had managed to boot the Spaniards out of most of Cavite. The feeling of regionalism between the Tondo native and the young man from Kawit, Cavite was
very strong. Also, the two leaders differed in their political ideas. Aguinaldo and the Magdalo group believed it was time to form a new kind of government. Aguinaldo had already suggested that the Katipunan government be changed to a revolutionary form of government modeled after the American system. Although he was only a Magdalo flag lieutenant at the time, his bold ideas challenged the power of the Supremo. |
 Emilio Aguinaldo |
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Bonifacio and the Magdiwang men believed that the Katipunan government was still useful. It could still
answer the Filipino’s need for change. It had its own constitution and bylaws. In other words, at this point in our history there were two leaders with two different views on how to run the
government. The rivalry between the two groups weakened the rebels’ hold on Cavite. Aguinald’s Magdalo soldiers did not want to help defend the towns held by Magdiwang soldiers when they were attacked by the Spaniards. Bonifacio’s Magdiwang soldiers did not help the Magdalo rebels when the enemy attacked their towns. The result was that almost all the towns once held by the Katipuneros easily fell one by one to the Spaniards. Tejeros convention -Bonifacio's capture - Bonifacio's execution top |
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| Tejeros convention | |||
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The Tejeros convention which was held on March 22, 1897 only worsened the rivalry between the two faction of the
Katipunan. The aim of the convention was to form a central revolutionary government that would unite the two councils. An election of officers was held in Tejeros. Although he was away fighting the Spaniards in Dasmarinas, Cavite, Emilio Aguinaldo was elected president of the new revolutionary government. Bonifacio was nominated for the position of director of the interior, but Daniel Tirona of Kawit stood up and questioned his ability to hold that job. |
 Tirona and Bonifacio fighting during the Tejeros convention |
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Tirona said that the position needed someone with a law degree. Bonifacio took Tirona’s words as an
insult. He declared that, as the leader of the Katipunan, all the acts of the Tejeros convention were unlawful. Hurt and angry, he left with his wife, his two brothers, and some trusted bodyguards. A
day later Emilio Aguinaldo became president of the new revolutionary government. He was sworn into office along with other elected officials, most of whom were Cavitenos. Bonifacio was not
present. Tejeros convention - Bonifacio's capture - Bonifacio's execution top |
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| Bonifacio's capture Bonifacio refused to recognize Aguinaldo’s government. He thought he was still the Supremo of the Katipunan government. In fact, he formed a new government wholly separate and independent from the one formed at the Tejeros convention. The following month he drafted a military agreement in Naic, Cavite. It was signed by about forty men. Bonifacio and his men left Naic for barrio Limbon in the nearby town of Indang. On April 26, 1897, Bonifacio was arrested by two loyal officers of Aguinaldo – Colonel Agapito Bonzon and Aguinaldo’s brother-in-law Major Jose Ignacio Paua. Bonifacio and his men put up a fight. Andres’s brother Ciriaco was killed. The Supremo himself was shot in his left arm. Major Paua jumped at Bonifacio and stabbed the left side of his neck with a dagger. From Indang, a half-starved and wounded Bonifacio was carried by hammock to Naic, which had become President Aguinaldo’s headquarters. Andres Bonifacio was tried by the military court in Maragondon, Cavite. He was charged with treason and trying to overthrow the new president and his government. One witness even swore that he was paid ten pesos by Bonifacio to kill Aguinaldo. By some accounts Andres was not given a fair chance to defend himself.On May 8, 1897, Andres and Procopio Bonifacio were sentenced to death. However, according to Aguinaldo, he changed their sentence and asked for them to be exiled instead. But Aguinaldo was advised by his generals to go ahead with the death sentence. They reasoned that Bonifacio’s death was necessary to protect the best interests of the revolution. Alive, Bonifacio would only threaten and divide the revolutionary forces. Tejeros convention - Bonifacio's capture - Bonifacio's execution top |
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| Bonifacio's
execution On the early morning of May 10, 1897, a group of soldiers led by General Lazaro Makapagal brought Andres and Procopio from the Maragondon jail. This was the order of General Mariano Noriel, president of the council of war that tried the Bonifacio brothers. Makapagal had been handed a sealed letter, with strict orders to read It after reaching Mt. Nagpatong in the Maragondon mountains. Only four soldiers were selected by the general to accompany him on this mission. When the soldiers and their two prisoners reached Mt. Nagpatong, Makapagal opened the sealed letter. It was an order from General Noriel to execute Andres and Procopio. Makapagal immediately carried out the general’s command and the Bonifacio brothers were shot. Using their bayonets and bolos (long knives), the soldiers dug a shallow grave for the two men. After covering the bodies with twigs and weeds, they hurriedly left to escape the Spanish troops who were combing the mountains of Maragondon.  Some twenty years passed. On March 17, 1918, Lazaro Makapagal came back to Cavite. He was accompanied by a group of government officials, two former Cavite generals, and former soldiers of the Philippine Revolution. They went to a lonely spot on a sugarcane field in the Maragondon mountains to find Andres Bonifacio’s grave. The place had changed a lot. An old and loyal servant of Bonifacio showed them the way and identified his master’s remains. Bonifacio’s bones were placed in an urn and kept in the Legislative Building (now the National Museum). Bonifacio’s papers and personal belongings, including his revolver and bolo, were also kept here. In February 1945, during the battle to free Manila from the Japanese, the building and the remains of Andres Bonifacio were destroyed in a fire. Tejeros convention - Bonifacio's capture - Bonifacio's execution top |
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