Bonifacio: The Supremo

Today's a holiday, hurray! No work, no school, it's a lazy day today, but I can't be lazying today because it's an important day today. Well, at least it's important for me. Because of today, we here in the Philippines celebrate the birthday of my favorite national hero, Andres Bonifacio, and so we celebrate today the what we call "Bonifacio Day". Unlike Rizal Day which is celebrated on Jose Rizal's death anniversary, Bonifacio Day is celebrated during his Birth Anniversary that's because Bonifacio was assassinated under orders of Emilio Aguinaldo, the first President of the Philippines and leader of the Magdalo faction that rivaled Bonifacio’s Magdiwang party. Aguinaldo at the time was in league with American troops, who were slowly arriving to occupy the country. So Andres Bonifacio's death was in vain and not worth celebrating as a national holiday because his death only symbolizes the greed and ambitions of a few self-serving people which others called "Hero"(Yes Emilio Aguinaldo! I am looking at you!).

The man Behind the name "Supremo"

Andres Bonifacio was born on November 30, 1863, in Tondo Manila. Bonifacio's mother was a Filipina-Chinese with a Spaniard decent and works as a cigarette factory supervisor, while his father is a tailor, boatman and also a political figure that served Tondo's Teniente Mayor. was the one that taught him his alphabet until he's 10 years old and he was admitted to a private school of Juan Guillermo Osmeña where he learned his basic subject like latin and mathematics, though his schooling was cut short when his parents died in in an illness, he was forced to drop out at the age of fourteen to work in order to support his siblings. Not finishing his formal education, Bonifacio enriched his natural intelligence with self-education. He read books about the French Revolution, biographies of the Presidents of the United States, books about contemporary Philippine penal and civil codes, and novels such as Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, Eugène Sue's Le Juif errant and José Rizal's Noli Me Tángere and El Filibusterismo. Aside from Tagalog and Spanish, he could speak and understand English, which he learned while working at J.M. Fleming and Co.

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The only surviving actual photo of Andres Bonifacio.

The Provider

Bonifacio was blessed with good hands in craftsmanship and visual arts that he made canes and paper fans, which he and his young siblings sold, and he made posters for business firms. This became their thriving family business that continued on when the men of the family, Andres, Ciriaco, Procopio, and Troadio, became employed with private and government companies which provided them decent living condition.
In his late teens, he worked as a mandatorio for the British trading firm Fleming and Company, where he rose to become a corregidor of tar, rattan and other goods. He later transferred to Fressell and Company, a German trading firm, where he worked as a bodeguero (storehouse keeper) where he is responsible for warehouse inventory.

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Bonifacio selling stuffs to provide for his siblings.

The Man Behind the Revolution

On the night of July 7, 1892, the day after Rizal's deportation was announced, Bonifacio and others officially "founded" the Katipunan, or in full, Kataastaasang Kagalanggalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan ("Highest and Most Respected Society of the Country's Children"; Bayan can also denote community, people, and nation). The secret society sought independence from Spain through armed revolt. It was influenced by Freemasonry through its rituals and organization, and several members including Bonifacio were also Freemasons. Within the society, Bonifacio used the pseudonym May pag-asa ("There is Hope"). Newly found documents though suggest that Katipunan has already been existing as early as January 1892.

For a time, Bonifacio worked with both the Katipunan and La Liga Filipina Independencia. La Liga eventually split because some members like Bonifacio lost hope for peaceful reform and stopped their monetary aid. The more conservative members, mostly wealthy members, who still believed in peaceful reforms set up the Cuerpo de Compromisarios, which pledged continued support to the reformists in Spain. The radicals were subsumed into the Katipunan. From Manila, the Katipunan expanded to several provinces, including Batangas, Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga, and Nueva Ecija. Most of its members, called Katipuneros, came from the lower and middle classes, and many of its local leaders were prominent figures in their municipalities. At first, exclusively male, membership was later extended to females, with Bonifacio's wife Gregoria de Jesús as a leading member.

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The infamouse "katipunan blood compact".

Beginning of an Uprising

The Spanish authorities confirmed the existence of the Katipunan on August 19, 1896. Hundreds of Filipino suspects, both innocent and guilty, were arrested and imprisoned for treason. José Rizal was then on his way to Cuba to serve as a doctor in the Spanish colonial army in exchange for his release from Dapitan. When the news broke, Bonifacio first tried to convince Rizal, quarantined aboard a ship in Manila Bay, to escape and join the imminent revolt. Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, and Guillermo Masangkay disguised themselves as sailors and went to the pier where Rizal's ship was anchored. Jacinto personally met with Rizal, who rejected their rescue offer. Rizal himself was later arrested, tried and executed.

Eluding an intensive manhunt, Bonifacio called thousands of Katipunan members to a mass gathering in Caloocan, where they decided to start their uprising. The event, marked by the tearing of cedulas (community tax certificates) was later called the "Cry of Balintawak" or "Cry of Pugad Lawin"; the exact location and date of the Cry are disputed. The Supreme Council of the Katipunan declared a nationwide armed revolution against Spain and called for a simultaneous coordinated attack on the capital Manila on August 29. Bonifacio appointed generals to lead rebel forces to Manila. Other Katipunan councils were also informed of their plans. Before hostilities erupted, Bonifacio reorganized the Katipunan into an open de facto revolutionary government and they named the nation and its government Haring Bayang Katagalugan(loosely translates to Tagalog Republic), with him as President and commander-in-chief (or generalissimo) of the rebel army and the Supreme Council as his cabinet. On August 28.

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A powerful illustration of the Resistance.

Death of A Patriot in the hands of the Traitor

In April 1897, Aguinaldo ordered the arrest of Bonifacio after he received a letter alleging that Bonifacio had burned down a village and ordered the burning of the church of Indang after townspeople refused to give him provisions. Many of the principal men of Indang, among them Severino de las Alas, presented to Emilio Aguinaldo several complaints against Bonifacio that the Supremo’s men stole carabaos and other work animals by force and killed them for food. On April 25, a party of Aguinaldo's men led by Col. Agapito Bonzón and Major José Ignacio "Intsik" Paua caught up with Bonifacio at his camp in barrio Limbon, Indang. The unsuspecting Bonifacio received them cordially. Early the next day, Bonzón and Paua attacked Bonifacio's camp. Bonifacio was surprised and refused to fight against "fellow Tagalogs", ordering his men to hold their fire, but shots were nevertheless exchanged. Bonifacio was shot in the arm by Bonzón and Paua stabbed him in the neck but was prevented from striking further by one of Bonifacio's men, who offered to be killed instead. Andrés's brother Ciriaco was shot dead, while his other brother Procopio was beaten, and his wife Gregoria could have been raped by Bonzón. From Indang, a half-starved and wounded Bonifacio was carried by hammock to Naic, which had become President Aguinaldo’s headquarters.

Bonifacio's party was brought to Naic, where he and Procopio stood trial on charges of sedition and treason against Aguinaldo's government and conspiracy to murder Aguinaldo.
The jury was composed entirely of Aguinaldo's men and even Bonifacio's defense lawyer himself declared his client's guilt. Bonifacio was barred from confronting the state witness for the charge of conspiracy to murder on the grounds that the latter had been killed in battle, but after the trial, the witness was seen alive with the prosecutors.

The Bonifacio brothers were found guilty despite insufficient evidence and recommended to be executed. Aguinaldo commuted the sentence to deportation on May 8, 1897, but Pío del Pilar and Mariano Noriel persuaded him to withdraw the order for the sake of preserving unity. In this, they were seconded by Mamerto Natividád and other bona fide supporters of Aguinaldo. The Bonifacio brothers were executed on May 10, 1897, in the mountains of Maragondon. Apolinario Mabini wrote that Bonifacio's death demoralized many rebels from Manila, Laguna, and Batangas who had come to help those in Cavite and caused them to quit. In other areas, Bonifacio's close associates like Emilio Jacinto and Macario Sakay continued the Katipunan and never recognized Aguinaldo's authority.

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An execution? More like a massacre!

Supremo; The First President of the Philippines

Many historians and political analysts suggest that with Bonifacio's achievements he should've been the first president of the Republic of The Philippines, but due to other people's personal agenda and greed, they framed Supremo with charges he and his did men did not commit thus accusing him of being a traitor to the country, but in my honest opinion, if Bonifacio was a traitor for anything, it would because he betrayed the ambitions of Aguinaldo and this treachery has led Bonifacio and his men including his wife to their demise. Nevertheless I still strongly feel that Andres Bonifacio should be the rightful first president of the Republic of The Philippines.

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An artistic visualization of Bonifacio's valor leading the Katipunan to Liberty and Independence.

credits: wikipedia

© @jamesanity06, 2017

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