indiohistorian:

Today is the 151^st birth anniversary of Andres Bonifacio, the renowned founder of the Katipunan, the catalyst for the first nationalist Asian revolution against a Western superpower. There was celebration of his life in his sesquicentennial birth anniversary beginning last year. But despite all that we know about what makes Bonifacio great, there is more to be found about his life and more to be debunked. Many facts that remain shrouded since most of those written secret Katipunan documents were burned in the fires of Tondo during the Philippine Revolution of 1896. Bonifacio’s rise and fall to the Philippine scene also brings to mind the depravity of our own people, who, despite fighting a larger and more powerful enemy like Spain, even found time to put on trial the man who allegedly committed treason, disregarding his great contribution to the Philippine Revolution and to the nation he called Haring Bayang Katagalugan. It was simply put, a betrayal.

Even amongst Filipino historians, there would be people who say that Bonifacio wanted a monarchy, apparently misconstruing “Haring Bayan”, which Bonifacio intended to mean that the voice of the people is king (a better translation of the phrase would have been ‘sovereign people)’. Or how about that recent PDI article that brings more shame to the name of the writer of the article, than actually telling the truth?

And I have encountered many fellow historians who make that offensive statement that it was just right that Bonifacio was executed since his presence would have divided the revolutionaries and greatly weaken the cause of the Revolution. Very Machiavellian for my taste. It was as if they forget the very reason why the revolution had to be waged—for freedom and emancipation of the Filipino people from Spanish tyranny and not for shallow partisan feuds. When Bonifacio was removed out of the way, did the revolution fare better? History tells us that right after Bonifacio was executed, the newly proclaimed Tejeros Republic retreated to the mountains, culminating in the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, an act of compromise the revolutionaries made with the Spaniards—something I think Bonifacio would not have done given the circumstances. Even up until the election of the Philippine Commonwealth presidency in 1935, Emilio Aguinaldo, a contender of Manuel Quezon in the election, had to contend the greatest weapon against him—the unjust execution of the Supremo.

But there are no ifs in history. What’s done is done, what is more important is to recognize mistakes as mistakes and triumphs as triumphs. The danger lies in manufacturing the debunked stereotypes and rewriting the same old misconceptions. To avoid this is to have a great discipline on the interpretation of primary sources, making the entire narrative more complicated than the simplistic good vs. evil view.  

An authoritative historian for the Katipunan documents, Jim Richardson, tells us that the election in the Tejeros Convention had in fact a Magdiwang majority of voters, than Magdalo. If there were rigging in the electoral ballots then, then it was a lot more complicated than what most people know today. Another noticeable titular of Andres Bonifacio in most Katipunan documents was that he was not frequently called “Supremo” but “Kataastaasang Pangulo” or “Ang k.p” or translated in English as Supreme President. That is why I totally support the Philippine Historical Association’s stand on correcting history and making Bonifacio the Philippines’ first president. There is more to be found about Bonifacio hidden somewhere. And as students of history, we have to break out from the stereotype of Bonifacio as uneducated, impulsive, and easily angered leader, and look straight to the documents and see for ourselves the real Bonifacio unmasked.

As they say in historiography—the conversation continues and will never end. There will always be new things to be found in the sources that would challenge the current interpretation. One must be humble enough to keep an open mind. 

*Art above, created by a dear artist friend, Derrick Macutay, with the seal of the Katipunan’s Supreme Council, and Bonifacio’s signature, ‘Maypagasa.’