THE MEANING OF HISTORY  The problem that every historian confronts is

that the evidence they rely on is likely to be

fragmented, incomplete and even contradictory. The
result is, each historian’s conclusions are influenced
 The English word history is derived from the by the evidence they have selected from what is
Greek word “istoia” meaning learning available and from how they interpreted it.
 According to Aristotle, history is the systematic  And from whatever a historian only has will be
account of a set of natural phenomena whether or the only thing that he can use to connect him to the
not chronological ordering was a factor in an account, past.
and this is considered as natural history. As time
passed, the equivalent Latin word “scientia”, which is REPOSITORIES OF PRIMARY
science in English later was used more to designate
non-chronological systematic accounts of
SOURCES
phenomena.
 Presently, the word “history” means the “past of
mankind”. History is the study of past events, National Archives of the Philippines
particularly in human affairs.
 History in German is “Geschichte”, meaning, National Library of the Philippines
“that which has happened”. This means that the word
implies that history teaches and we may learn from National Historical Commission of the
the lessons of history. Philippines
 With the definition of history, it brings man to a National Museum of the Philippines
recognition that history cannot be reconstructed, that
the past of mankind, much of it, is beyond recall. And
that even the best of our memories cannot re-create
our past. Other Repositories of Primary Sources are the
 The reconstruction of the total past of mankind is libraries of various universities in the
the total goal of historians which, however, is Philippines such as the University of the
unattainable. Historians will never really know Philippines, the Ateneo de Manila Rizal Library
everything that happened in the past. and Museum, the American Historical
Collection in ADMU, and the University of Sto.
Tomas Central Library and Museum.

1.3 An Example of Primary Source. EXCERPT FROM THE SANTIAGO ALVAREZ ACCOUNT “Katipunan and the Revolution:
Memoirs of a General”, (pp. 82-88). This is referring to the events that transpired during the Tejeros Convention.

The assembly at Tejeros was finally convened on 25 March 1897. The invitations to the meeting were signed by Secretary Jacinto
Lumbreras of the Magdiwang Council, and he presided over the assembly. Seated with Lumbreras at the long presidential table
were the Supremo Andres Bonifacio, Messrs. Mariano M. Alvarez, Pascual Alvarez, Ariston Villanueva, Mariano C. Trias, Diego
Mojica, Emiliano R. de Dios, Santiago Rillo, all of them of the Magdiwang. Among the Magdalo seated at the head table were
Messrs. Baldomero Aguinaldo, Daniel Tirona, and Cayetano Topacio.

It must be mentioned that, before the assembly was convened, Secretary of War Ariston Villanueva of the Magdiwang Council
received and the confidential information that Mr. Daniel Tirona of the Magdalo faction was set to undermine the proceedings
of the assembly and that he had already succeeded in enjoining many among the Magdiwang leaders to ally with him. Secretary
Villanueva kept silent, but nevertheless alerted Captain General Apoy, who had troops in readiness for any sudden eventuality.
The leaders were seated at the presidential table, as previously described, and all the others were standing in groups on both
sides of those seated. After Chairman Jacinto Lumbreras had declared the assembly open, he announced the main topic of
discussion, which was how to bolster the defenses in the areas still under Magdiwang control. Presently, Mr. Severino de las Alas
rose to speak, and when he was recognized he said, “Before we discuss minor details, let us first tackle the major issue such as
what kind of government we should have and how we should go about establishing it. Once we make a decision about these
questions, the problem if organization and strengthening of defenses will be resolved.”

“As initiator of the Revolution,” Chariman Lumbreras replied, “the Katipunan now holds authorityover the islands. It has a
government of law and a definite program. It has a government of law and a definite program. It is obeyed and respected by all
because it stands for freedom, brotherly love, and a well-organized and well-run government. The purpose of this meeting is to
discuss the best measures to take to strengthen the Magdiwang government vis-ӑ-vis the enemy. We should avoid surrendering
the headquarters of the Katipunan army should the Magdalo eventually lose out.”

The chair next recognized the Supremo. He concurred with what Chairman Lumbreras had just said and explained that the “K”
in the middle of the sun in the Katipunan flag used in the Revolution stood for Kalayaan (Freedom).
Mr. Severino de las Alas spoke again. He countered that the letter “K” and the sun on the flag did not indicate whether the
revolutionary government was democratic or not.

The Supremo replied that from the rank and file to the highest levels, the Katipunan was united in its respect for universal
brotherhood and equality of men. It was risking bloodshed and life itself in its struggle against the king, in order to establish a
sovereign and free government. In short, it stood for people’s sovereignty, not a government led by only one or two.

Mr. Antonio Montenegro spoke in defense of Mr. Severino de las Alas’s stand. He argued that if they would not agree on the
kind of revolutionary they were to have and that if they were to let status quo prevail, then they who were in the Revolution
would be no better than a pack of bandits or of wild, mindless animals.

General Apoy was hurt by these words of Mr. Montenegro. He quickly stood up and looked angrily at the precious speaker.

“We of the Katipunan,” he began, “are under the jurisdiction of our respected Highest Council of the Sons of the People. This
Council is the defender of, and has authority over, the Magdiwang and Magdalo governments of Cavite. We are true
revolutionaries fighting for freedom of the native land. We are not bandits who rob others of their property and wealth. Noe
should we be likened to beasts, for we know how to protect and defend others, especially the political refugees who seek
asylum with us. We are rational and we do not expose those who talk big but do not accomplish anything. If you want to
establish a different kind of government that is to your liking, you must do as we have done: Go back to your localities and
snatch them from Spanish control! Then you can do what pleases you; but don’t you dare seek refuge among cowards who
might call you bandits and beasts. And for everybody’s satisfactions, I am now ordering your arrest!”

Captain General Apoy stopped speaking and looked intently at the person he was alluding to and ordered a detachment under
Maj. Damaso Fojas to keep him under guard. After a short while, Dr. Jose Rizal’s sister, Trining, and his widow, Josephine,
pleaded with General Apoy not to arrest Mr. Montenegro, but to let him stay at the estate house where they themselves were
staying. They volunteered to be held personally responsible for Mr. Montenegro while in their custody. Captain General Apoy
easily acceded to the request.

The strong and excited denunciation by Captain General Apoy of Mr. Montenegro alerted the Magdiwang troops. The leaders
eyed everyone suspiciously and were only awaiting a signal from General Apot for them to begin shooting. Disorder ensued and
disrupted the assembly.

When order was restored, some wanted convention adjourned, but the Supremo Bonifacio prevailed upon the others to
continue. However, the presiding officer, Mr. Lumbreras, refused to resume his role of chairman. He wanted to yield the chair to
the Supremo whom he thought to be the rightful chairman.

“The Katipunan, as you know,” Mr. Lumbreras explained, “was responsible from the beginning for the spread of the
revolutionary movement throughout the Philippines. But because of the disaffection of some, this assembly was called to
establish a new overall revolutionary council. If we are to pursue this ambitious and important undertaking, only the Supremo
has the right to preside at this assembly, for he is the Father of the Katipunan and the Revolution.”
Mr. Lumbreras’s speech was well received and his proposal was unanimously accepted. The Supremo Bonifacio assumed the
chairmanship accordingly and said, “Your aim is to establish a new overall government of the Katipunan of the Sons of the
People. This would repudiate the decisions made at the meeting held at the friar estate house in Imus. In my capacity as
“President-Supremo” of the Most Venerable Katipunan of the Sons of the People, I agree and sympathize with your aspirations.
But I wish to remind you that we should respect all decisions properly discussed and approved in all our meetings. We should
respect and abide by the wishes of the majority.”

Because of a repeated clamor for the approval of the establishment of a government of the Philippine Republic, the chair
proceeded to prepare for an election to the following positions: president, vice-president, minister of finance, minister of
welfare, minister of justice, and captain general.

The Supremo spoke again before the election began. He said that the candidate who would get the most number of votes for
each position should be the winner, no matter what his station in life or his educational attainment. What should matter was
that the candidate had never been a traitor to the cause of the Motherland. Everyone agreed and there were shouts of approval
such as, “That is how it should-- be equality for everyone! Nobody should be higher nor lower than the other. May love of
country prevail!”

The Supremo Bonifacio appointed Gen. Artemio Ricarte as secretary. Then, with the help of Mr. Daniel Tirona, he distributed
pieces of paper to serve as ballots. When the ballots had been collected and the votes were ready to be canvassed, Mr. Diego
Mojica, the Magdiwang secretary of the treasury, warned the Supremo that many ballots distributed were already filled out and
that the voters had not done this themselves. The Supremo ignored this remark. He proceeded with the business at hand as if
nothing unusual had happened.

When the votes for president were counted, Mr. Emilio Aguinaldo won over Mr. Andres Bonifacio, the Supremo. The winner was
acclaimed by applause and shouts of “Mabuhay!” (Long live!)
Mr. Severino de las Alas spoke again to say that since the Supremo Bonifacio had second highest number votes for the
presidency, he should be proclaimed vice-president of the Philippine Republic. When nobody signified approval or disapproval
of the proposal, the presiding officer, the Supremo Bonifacio, ruled that the election continued. For vice- president, Mr. Mariano
Trias won over Mr. Mariano Alvarez and the Supremo Bonifacio. General Vibora was elected captain over General Apoy. General
Vibora demurred, saying that he had neither the ability nor the right to assume the new position. But General Apoy cut his
objections by saying that he personally vouched for General Vibora’s competence and right to occupy the position to which he
was elected. General Apoy’s endorsement was greeted with shouts of “Long live the newly elected captain general!”

Mr. Baldomero Aguinaldo wanted the elections to be finished before it got too dark. To facilitate the counting of votes, he
suggested that for all other positions to be voted upon, voters should stand on one side of the hall if in favor and on the other
side if against. The suggestion was adopted for the rest of the election. For the position of secretary war, Mr. Emiliano R. de Dios
was elected overwhelmingly over Messrs. Santiago V. Alvarez, Ariston Villanueva, and Daniel Tirona. After the voters had given
the proper honors to the new secretary of war, they proceeded to elect the secretary of the interior. Mr. Andres Bonifacio, the
Supremo, won over Mr. Mariano Alvarez. The crowd broke into shouts of “Mabuhay!” Mr. Daniel Tirona requested for a
restoration of order and then spoke aloud:

“My brethren, the office of secretary of the interior is of so great a scope and such sensitivity that we should not entrust it to
one who is not a lawyer. One among us here is a lawyer. He is Mr. Jose del Rosario. Let us reconsider the choice for the last
position, for he has no credentials to show attesting to any educational attainment.

Then in as loud a voice as he could muster, Tirona shouted, “Let us elect Mr. Jose del Rosario, the lawyer!”

Greatly embarrassed, the Supremo Bonifacio quickly stood up and said, “We agreed to abide by the majority vote and accept its
choice no matter what station in life of the person elected. And because of this, I demand from you, Mr. Daniel Tirona, an
apology. You must restore to the voters and the one they elected the honor you have only now besmirched.”
Then he pulled out his revolver and took aim.

Instead of replying, Mr. Tirona ignored the Supremo’s remarks and, perhaps because of fear, he slid away and got lost in the
crowd. Disorder ensued as the convention secretary tried to disarm the Supremo, who was intent on shooting Mr. Tirona. The
people began to disperse and the Supremo adjourned the meeting with these words:

“In my capacity as chairman of this convention and as President-Supremo of the Most Venerable Katipunan of the Sons of the
People which association is known and acknowledged by all, I hereby declare null and void all matters approved in this
meeting.”

Then he left quickly and was followed by his aides and some others present.

Mr. Baldomero Aguinaldo, the Magdalo president, did not leave San Francisco de Malabon that night, in order to convince the
Magdiwang leaders to reconvene the disrupted meeting the following day. They agreed to his proposal. That same night, rumor
had it that Messrs. Mariano Trias, Daniel Tirona, Emiliano R. de Dios, Santiago Rillo, and others were in the parish house of the
Catholic church at Tanza (Santa Cruz de Malabon), and that they were conferring with the priest, Fr. Cenon Villafranca. Many
attested to seeing them, but no one knew what they talked about.

On the request of Magdalo Pres. Baldomero Aguinaldo, a meeting was called at the same friar estate house in Tejeros. Called on
the day after the tumultuous convention, its purpose was to continue and revalidate the proceedings of the election meeting, to
revive their former alliances, and to restore cordiality and fraternal love in their relations. Aside from the Supremo Andres
Bonifacio, among the Magdiwang leaders who atented were Messrs. Mariano Alvarez, Diego Mojica, Ariston Villanueva, Pascual
Alvarez, Jacinto Lumbreras, Santiago Alvarez, Artemio Ricarte, Nicolas Portilla, Santos Nocon, and Fr. Manuel Trias, the parish
priest of San Francisco de Malabon. They waited until five that afternoon, but none of the Magdalo members came, not even
their president who had initiated what would have been a reconciliation meeting.

That same night it was rumored that the Magdalo leaders were currently holding their own meeting at the parish house i Tanza.
Though it had a reason to be apprehensive because the Magdalo were meeting in territory under its jurisdiction, the
Magdiwang leadership looked the other way because the Magdalo were hard-pressed for meeting places since its territories
had all been taken by the Spanish enemy.

The next morning, 27 March 1897, eyewitnesses who had spied in the proceedings revealed that, indeed, a meeting had taken
place at the Tanza parish house and that Supremo’s decisions regarding the election at the friar estate house were not
respected. These revelations surfaced despite denials from many sectors.

At the gathering in the Tanza parish house, those elected at the Tejeros convention knelt before a crucifix and in the name of the
Holy Father, the highest pointiff of the Roman Catholic Church, invoked the martyred saints and solemnly took their office. Fr.
Cenon Villafranca officiated, With Messrs. Severino de las Alas and Daniel Tirona as witnesses, the following took their oaths of
office: Messrs. Emilio Aguinaldo, Mariano C. Trias, and Artemio Ricarte. Conspicuously absent was the Supremo Andres
Bonifacio, who was not invited although he was one of those Tejeros convention, he declared null and void all matters approved
by the assembly because of a grave violation of a principle agreed upon before the election.

It should be noted here that, unknown to the Magdiwang Council, the Magdalo posted troops to guard the Tanza parish house
for their oath-taking ceremonies. The troops were under strict orders not to admit any of the unwanted Magdiwang partisans. If
the news about the secret ceremony had leaked out earlier, and the underdogs in the power struggle had attempted to break
into it, they would have been annihilated then and there.

1.4 An Example of Secondary Source: EXCERPT from TEODORO AGONCILLO, “The Revolt of the Masses, the story of Bonifacio
and the Katipunan”, University of the Philippines Press: Q.C. 2002, (pp. 205-211; 214-217).

Also referring to the events that transpired during the Tejeros Convention. This is from chapter 12, “Seeds of Discontent”.
…The misunderstanding that existed between the followers of the Magdiwang and the Magdalo, so destructive of the Katipunan
plans, deepened into mutual suspicion and jealousies that resulted in military reverses in several sectors. Polavieja’s counter-
offensives led to the fall of several towns hitherto held by the rebels, and the attitude of non-cooperation exhibited by one
faction when the other was harassed by the enemy led, as it must, to disaster in the field. The situation, both camps believed,
could only be remedied by coming together and threshing out differences of opinion and solving, ultimately, the question of
leadership in the province. For this purpose, the leaders of the Magdiwang and the Magdalo decided to call a convention or
assembly at Imus.

In the assembly hall, the two factions met and exchanged the usual greetings. Bonifacio entered, proceeded to the head of the
table and unceremoniously occupied the chair. He beckoned to the Magdiwang Ministers to sit at his right side. This obvious
partiality to the Magdiwang was resented by the Magdalo, for as Supreme Head of the Katipunan who was called upon to
mediate between the two factions, Bonifacio was expected to show impartiality. But his actions in the case were motivated by
his regard for his wife’s uncle, Mariano Alvarez, the President of the Magdiwang-- a fact that aggrevated the situation. Even so,
the Magdalo men did not show their resentment but kept silent in order to prevent further misunderstanding between the
followers of both camps. Seeing that Bonifacio had called his Ministers, Baldomero Aguinaldo, President of the Magdalo,
without being invited, sat to the left of Bonifacio. General Emilio Aguinaldo, seeing his position as purely military one, was
content to be a mere observer. He had, however, a plan of his own. Since it was the intention of his faction to propose the
establishment of a revolutionary government, he had decided beforehand that in the coming election for the presidency he
would nominate and support Edilberto Evangelista, since among them all “Evangelista was the best educated.” Bonifacio knew
of Aguinaldo’s active electioneering in favor of Evangelista and was deeply hurt, for as founder and Supreme Head of the
Katipunan he felt that the presidency should be given to him as a reward.

The assembly opened with Bonifacio as Chairman. It was evident, when Baldomero Aguinaldo made the proposal to establish a
revolutionary government, that the two factions would never come to an understanding. The Magdalo men contended that the
continuance of the Katipunan government was no longer necessary, for since the start if the Revolution the Society had ceased
to remain a secret society and must therefore be supplanted by one that would better fit the situation. The Magdalo people
further contended that being small, Cavite must not be divided between the two factions. On the other hand, the Magdiwang
followers argued that the Katipunan already had a constitution and by-laws duly approved and enforced in the Islands and that,
by virtue of this, provincial and municipal governments in and around Manila had already been established. There was,
therefore, no necessity of establishing a new government. Even so, the Magdiwang Minister of War, Ariston Villanueva, stood up
and said that if a new government was to be established, Andres Bonifacio, who had organized and planned the entire
revolutionary movement, must of right occupy the presidency without any election. Further, he pointed out that as Chairman
and Supremo, Bonifacio should be given blanket authority to appoint the Ministers. The Magdalo group strenuously objected
and insisted on an election. The discussion became heated and did not accomplish any tangible result. The assembly was
adjourned and each faction left without any definite understanding.

Suspicions and jealousies continued to plague the ranks of the rebels, and even among the members of the same faction petty
quarrels continued to come up. The Magdalo followers suspected the Magdiwang of courting the favor of the Spaniards, while
the same suspicion was aroused in the Magdiwang as regards the Magdalo. In a situation where the Magdalo needed the help
of the Magdiwang, the latter, to which Bonifacio belonged, refused to come to the aid of the former. Moreover, the Magdiwang
followers were themselves occupied, now and then, with petty jealousies and quarrels that tended to demoralize the soldiers.
Thus, when the town fiesta of San Francisco de Malabon was held in January 1897, the rebels, then enjoying the afternoon
games, were disturbed by a series of rifle shots that sent them scampering away to places safety. Thinking that the enemy was
approaching, Ariston Villanueva and Santiago Alvarez gathered their men and prepared to meet an attack. They later found out
that the rifle shots came from the men of Captain Mariano San Gabriel, also a Magdiwang man, who, trigger-happy, had fired
several shots in the air. Alvarez’s men tried to disarm the offending soldiers, but instead were themselves disarmed. Alvarez was
furious and demanded that San Gabriel disarm his men. The latter refused and left for Noveleta. It was only through Ricarte’s
intervention that the two men, Alvarez and San Gabriel, were brought together again as comrades.
The situation had not eased up a bit when the leaders of the Magdiwang planned to hold another convention, this time in the
estate-house of Tejeros, a Magdiwang territory situated about two kilometers from San Francisco de Malabon and about half a
kilometer from the town proper of Salinas. The government under the Magdalo, comprising the towns of Kawit, Bakood and
Imus, was at the time seriously threatened by the Spanish army which occupied the estate-house of Salitran and which had dug
in as a preparatory step to the battle that was about to commence. General Emilio Aguinaldo, leading the Magdalo soldiers,
faced the Spaniards in Salitran, a barrio between the towns of Imus and Dasmarinas. It was March 22, 1897, Aguinaldo’s
birthday, when simultaneously the battle raged and the assembly convened at Tejeros.

The delegates, mostly belonging to the Magdiwang, lazily trooped that sultry afternoon to the spacious estate-house of Tejeros.
Some of the men were barefoot; others wore buri hats or were dressed in barong Tagalog. They came from all directions: from
Kawit, Noveleta and Imus to the north; from Tanza to the west; and from San Francisco de Malabon to the northeast. The
estate-house, surrounded by stone walls and built in the middle of the six-hectare farm owned by the friars and now in rebel
hands, had a 60-meter frontage….

It was this place, the former summer resort of the friars that witnessed the first and important election held under the auspices
of the Katipunan government. An invitation was sent by the Magdiwang chieftains to the Magdalo followers to attend the
meeting, but because of the battle then raging around the locality not all the Magdalo leaders were able to attend. The
Magdiwang was represented by Andres Bonifacio, Mariano Alvarez, Pascual Alvarez, Santiago Alvarez, Luciano San Miguel,
Mariano Trias, Severino de las Alas, Santos Nocon and others, while the Magdalo was represented by Baldomero Aguinaldo,
Daniel Tirona, Cayetano Topacio, Antonio Montenegro and others. The estate-house buzzed with life as more rebels, some of
them uninvited, came to the convention. It was past two in the afternoon when the meeting was formally opened.
Jacinto Lumbreras, acting president of the Magdiwang, took the chair and opened the convention with introductory remarks
summing up the purpose of the meeting. To his right sat Teodoro Gonzales, also a Magdiwang, who acted as secretary. Severino
de las Alas, a Magdiwng, immediately took the floor and explained that before discussing ways and means of defending such a
small area as Cavite, the convention assembled should first of all agree upon the kind of government that should be set up to
administer the whole country under the prevailing circumstances. “From this government,” he said, “anything that is necessary
in the defense of the country can emanate.” The presiding officer, however, reminded the speaker that a government had
already been established upon the founding of the Katipunan, Its Supreme Council, its Provincial Councils and its Popular
Councils, and that the meeting was called to adopt defensive measures. At this juncture, Bonifacio spoke and supplemented
Lumbreras’ explanation, calling the attention of those assembled to the Katipunan flag with a K in the middle, which embodied
the ideal of the revolutionists, namely, liberty. De las Alas, not contended with the Supremo’s explanation, countered that the K
in the flag of the Katipunan did not in any way identify the kind of government that they had, whether such government was
monarchical or republican. Bonifacio remarked that all the Katipuneros, from the Supreme head to the lowest member,
recognized the principle of Unity, Fraternity and Equality. “It can be seen“ he said, “that the Government of the Association of
the Sons of the People is republican in form.”
The discussion was going nowhere and tempers ran high as the men insisted on their own points of view. So far, the discussion
was between the men of the same faction. In an unfortunate moment, a Magdalo man, Antonio Montenegro, stood up and,
shouting at the top of his voice, took issue with Bonifacio. “If we do not act upon the suggestion of Mr. de las Alas,” he said, “we,
the rebels, will be likened unto a mere pack of highway robbers, or worse, like animals without reason.” The words, uttered in
good faith and in the belief that something must be done to have a new government organized, touched off a sensitive spot in
the hearts of the Magdiwang listeners. Santiago Alvarez, a Magdiwang, pricked to anger, took the floor and, throwing a
malicious side-glance at Montenegro, retorted: “We, the rebels of Cavite, especially those under the Magdiwang, recognize the
Government organized by the Assouciation of the Sons of the People. And if you want to set up another form of government,
you can go back to your own province and wrest the authority from the Spaniards, as we have already done. As such; you can do
whatever you want to and nobody would interfere with whatever you want to and nobody would interfere with you. We of
Cavite,” he added with a meaning full of bitterness, “we of Cavite do not need and will never need any adviser of your own
standing only.

Pandemonium reigned as the voice of Santiago Alvarez boomed inside the spacious sala. His bodyguards, planted near the
stairs, moved ominously-all set to fire at those inside the hall. Lumbreras, sensing the explosive situation, tactfully called a
recess to give sufficient time for the angry men to cool off. At the end of an hour, the meeting was resumed. Jacinto Lumbreras,
seeing that it would be useless for him to continue to preside in such an atmosphere, refused to take the chair, saying: “As the
question under discussion is completely outside of what is mentioned in the agenda of the meeting and is concerned instead
with the establishment of an over-all government of the revolution, I should not continue to preside over this session.” Then he
took his seat among the members, and Andres Bonifacio, who was acclaimed by all to succeed him, took the chair as the
presiding officer by virtue of his being the president of the Supreme Council of the Katipunan. He then called the meeting to
order and said: “As you desire to set up a supreme government to direct the revolution, abolishing what was organized by the
Katipunan and repudiating the resolution approved in the Assembly of Imus, I accede to your just petition, but first of all I want
to ask you to recognize a principle as a basis of agreement in this or in other meetings, which is: that we respect and obey the
will of the majority.” Those present saw the justice and wisdom of his proposition and assented unanimously.
The Republic of the Philippines was then and there proclaimed amidst enthusiastic hurrahs. With a new form of government
determined to take the place of the Katipunan, the election of officers was then prepared. Nine officers were to be elected by
popular cote, namely, President , Vice-President, Captain-General, Director of War, Director of Interior, Director of State,
Director of Finance, Director of Fomento and Director of Justice. Before proceeding with the election, Bonifacio, probably
assailed by doubts and aware of his limitations, called the attention of all the electors representing the different regions of the
Philippines to the principle that whoever would be elected should be recognized and respected regardless of his social condition
and education. The proposal, made in the form of a mere statement and reminder, was approved, for in that convention very
few, if any, were

Illustration of Casa Hacienda de Tejeros by Isagani Medina The controversial convention at Barrio Tejeros

men of high intellectual attainments. The ballots were prepared and distributed. The balloting was made successively, that is,
the office of the President was first voted upon, after which the other offices were filled in singly. After an hour, the ballots were
cast for the presidency, and Emilio Aguinaldo won in absentia over Andres Bonifacio and Mariano Trias. The President-elect
was proclaimed with loud shouts and applause.

Before the ballots were cast for the Vice-Presidency, Severino de las Alas stood up and suggested that in as much as Bonifacio
had received the second largest number of votes he should automatically be allowed to occupy the Vice-Presidency. The men
assembled appeared lukewarm to the suggestion, there being no one who approved or disapproved it. Consequently, Bonifacio
decided to continue with the election of the Vice-President. Mariano Trias was elected to the position over Andres Bonifacio,
Severino De las Alas and Mariano Alvarez. The election of the Captain-General came next and Ricarte, the acting Secretary of
the convention, came out over Santiago Alvarez. With a modesty that sprang from the realization of the responsibility attached
to the position, Ricarte stood up and declared: “None better than I know my own limitations and fitness: the position with
which this assembly honors me is beyond my scant ability and strength; to me it is a very honorable position but its horizon is
too wide for me: so I request the assembly not to resent my refusal to accept it.” Ricarte’s modesty, genuine or assumed, proved
effective. Cries of disapproval followed his request to be relieved, and the disturbance created by the enthusiastic followers of
the General forced Bonifacio to call the meeting to order. Then: “it is getting dark,” he said, “so we have to proceed to the
election to other positions.” Somebody suggested that in order to expedite the election to the remaining positions, the electors
should step to one side when their candidates were called, a proposal that was immediately approved. In this manner, the
following were elected: Director of War, Emiliano Riego de Dios, who won over Ariston Villanueva, Daniel Tirona and Santiago
Alvarez; Director of Interior, Andres Bonifacio, who won over Mariano Alvarez and Pascual Alvarez.
The election of Bonifacio gave rise to an incident that nearly ended in a bloody affair. Amidst the acclamations that followed the
announcement of his election, Daniel Tirona, a Magdalo man, stood up and said: “The position of Director of the Interior is an
exalted one and it is not meet that a person without a lawyer’s diploma should occupy it. We have in our province a lawyer, Jose
del Rosario; therefore, we should protest against the elected and acclaimed,” And, shouting at the top of his voice, he added:
“Let us vote for Jose del Rosario!” No one, however, took up the suggestion which was shouted four times.

Nevertheless, Bonifacio felt insulted and he turned crimson with anger. Controlling himself, he demanded that Daniel Tirona
retract what he had said. “Did we not agree,” he added, “that we have to abide by the decision of the majority whatever may be
the social standing of the elected?” He insisted that Tirona give satisfaction to the assembly for his defamatory words. But
Tirona ignored Bonifacio and tried to lose himself in the crowd. In the flush of his anger, Bonifacio whipped out his pistol to fire
at Tirona but Ricarte grabbed his hand and thus prevented what might have been a tragic affair. The people then began to leave
the hall, and Bonifacio, frustrated and deeply wounded in feeling, cried aloud: “I, as chairman of this assembly, and as President
of the Supreme Council of the Katipunan, as all of you do not deny, declare this assembly dissolved, and I annul all that has been
approved and resolved.” With this parting statement, he left the hall, followed by his men.

THE SEED OF DISCONTENT, resultimg from his failure to get the presidency, and which was watered by the unfortunate attitude
of Daniel Tirona, who, by another sad coincidence, belonged to the opposite faction, found fertile ground in Bonifacio’s heart
and mind. Aside from the fact that as founder of the Katipunan and the initiator of the Revolution he believed he should have
been given the presidency, he contented that irregularities were committed by the Magdalo men and that he would have been
elected had it not been for the premeditated frauds of the rival faction. Writing to his uncle-in-law, Mariano Alvarez, he said:”
My Dear General Mainam:

Our recently ended election at Mapagtiis (San Francisco de Malabon) has left a large poisonous thorn in my heart. I reiterate to
you my nullification of all that had been agreed upon there. Ay, General, I never expected that my complacency and faithfulness
would be rewarded with avarice and insult upon my person by your fellowtownsmen who are false patriots. I shall make them
realize when I set foot on Morong soil that it was not I whom they insulted but the whole country.
Send me food at once and faithful soldiers of the Mother Country here at Limbon as a fulfilment of your promised help when I
left in disquietude. Your supremo, And, Bonifacio, Maypagasa.
Giving vent to his resentment over the procedure and results of the elections, Bonifacio, in a letter to his friend, Emilio Jacinto,
then in Laguna explained his side and gave the background of the event:

The majority of those in the convention determined to organize a government; but I gave them to understand that this could
not be done on account of the absence of the representatives of the other districts, aside from an agreement having already
been made at the convention at Imus; that all this annulled the majority, because in view of the present critical situation of
these pueblos there was no time to wait for the representatives from other places, and the Imus Convention lacked validity on
account of the alleged absence of the minutes. Nevertheless, I assured those present there that in case the manifest will of the
people governed in the election of officers, I would respect it.

Moreover, before the election began, I discovered the underhand work of some of the Imus crowd who had quietly spread the
statement that it was not advisable that they be governed by men from other pueblos, and that they should for this reason
strive to elect Captain Emilio as President. As soon as I heard of this, I said that this meeting was dirty work, because this was
what they were after and they were deceiving the people, adding that if they wished me to point out, one by one, those who
were conducting themselves in this matter, I would do so. The majority said that this was no longer necessary. I also said that if
the manifest will of the people was not complied with, I would not recognize the chiefs elected, and if I did not recognize them
they would not be recognized by our people there, either. Don Artemio Ricarte, the General-elect, also said at the meeting that
this election was due to bad practices.
1.5. Comparing Sources: A. Robert Fox, ”The Tabon Caves”, Manila: National Museum: 1970. (p. 40) [Human remains and
artifacts]

Tabon Man- during the initial excavations of the Tabon cave, June and July 1962, the scattered fossil bones of at least three
individuals were excavated, including a large fragment of a frontal bone with the brows and portions of the nasal bones. These
fossil bones were recovered towards the rear of the cave along the left wall. Unfortunately, the area in which the fossil human
bones were recovered had been disturbed by Megapode birds. It was not possible in 1962 to establish the association of thes
bones with a specific flake assemblage. Although they were provisionally related to either Flake Assemblage II or III. Subsequent
excavations in the same area mow strongly suggest that the fossil human bones were associated with Flake Assemblage III for
only the flakes of this assemblage have been found to date in this area of the cave. The available date would suggest that Tabon
Man may be dated from 22,000 to 24,000 years. Ago. But, only further excavations in the cave and chemical analysis of human
and animal bones from disturbed and undisturbed levels in the cave will define the exact age of the human fossils.
The fossil bones are those of Homo sapiens. These will form a separate study by a specialist which will be inciuded in the final
site report for Tabon Cave. It is important, however, because of a recent publication (Scott, 1969), that a preliminary study of the
fossil bones of Tabon Man shows that it is above average in skull dimensions when compared to the modern Filipino. There is no
evidence that Tabon Man was “…a less brainy individual…” *Scott (1969) 36+. Moreover, Scott’s study include many
misstatements about the Tabon Caves, always the problem when writers work from “conversations.”

Supplementary Source: Hugh Gibb and Robert B. Fox, Philippine Story, 1. The Tabon Caves. Honolulu, Hawaii:
Academics Hawaii, 1981. Video: Videocassette: U-matic, Visual material: English [Human remains and
artifacts]
THE DOCUMENTARY VIDEO features Dr. Robert B. Fox, noted American archaeologist, and Dr. Alfredo
Evangelista of the Philippine National Museum as they explain finds made during excavations in the
Tabon Caves, Philippines. These caves, located in limestone cliffs high above the South China Sea,
were inhabited by early Filipino man at least 50,000 years ago. The archaeological finds include
decorated funeral jars, stone tools and skeletal remains which raise questions of possible links with the
aborigines of Australia.
The documentary film may be viewed at www.youtube.com under the title Archeology 1 (3/3)

B. William Henry Scott, “Prehispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History.”(1984) Quezon City: Newday
Publishers (pp 14-15; p.28)

Excerpts:
Tabon Man – The earliest human skull remains known in the Philippines are the fossilized fragments of a skullcap and jawbone
of three individuals who are collectively called “Tabon Man” after the place where they were found on the west coast of
Palawan. Tabon Cave appears to be a kind of little Stone Age factory: both finshed tools and waste cores and flakes have been
found at four different levels in the main chamber. Charcoal left from cooking fires has been recovered from three of thsre
assemblages and dated by C-14 to roughly 7,000 B.C., 20, 000 B.C., and 28, 000 B.C. with an earlier level lying so far below these
that it must represent Upper Pleistocene dates like 45 or 50,000 years ago…. Physical anthropologists who have examined the
Tabon skullcap are agreed that it belonged to modern man-- that is, Homo sapiens as distinguished from those mid-Pleistocene
species nowadays called Homo erectus. Two experts have given the further opinion that the mandible is “Australian” in physical
type, and that the skullcap measurements are mostly nearly like those of Ainus and Tasmanians. What this basically means is
that Tabon man was “pre-Mongoloid,” Mongoloid being the term anthropologists apply to the racial stock which entered
Southeast Asia during the Holocene and absorbed earlies peoples and absorbed earlier peoples to produce the modern Malay,
Indonesian, Filipino, and Pacific peoples popularly- and- uscientifically- called, “the brown race,” Tabon man presumably
belonged to one of those earlier peoples, but,… except one thing: Tabon man was not a Negrito.
(p.28) … All skulls and teeth that have been studied professionally—with the possible exception of the three Tabon man
fragments-- display the diagnostic features of the physical type anthropologists call “Mongoloid” or “Southern Mongoloid”;
none displayed any racial variations, and none belonged to pygmy Negritos.

PRIMARY SOURCES:
2.1. Antonio Pigafetta. First Voyage Around the World [Chronicle]. Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson. The
Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Vol. XXXIII 1519-1522: 1906 (pp 175-183).

EXCERPT: This portion is referring to the events that transpired before, during and after the Battle of Mactan.

On Friday, April twenty-six, Zula, a chief of the island of Matan, sent one of his sons to present two goats to the captain-general,
and to say that he would send him all that he had promised, but that he had not been able to send it to him because of the
other chief Cilapulapu, who refused to obey the king of Spagnia. He requested the captain to send him only one boatload of
men on the next night, so that they might help him and fight against the other chief. The captain-general decided to go thither
with three boatloads. We begged him repeatedly not to go, but he, like a good shepherd, refused to abandon his flock.

At midnight, sixty men of us set out armed with corselets and helmets, together with the Christian king, the prince, some of the
chief men, and twenty or thirty balanguais. We reached Matan three hours before dawn. The captain did not wish to fight then,
but sent a message to the natives by the Moro to the effect that if they would obey the king of Spagnia, recognize the Christian
king as their sovereign, and pay us our tribute, he would be their friend; but that if they wished otherwise, they should wait to
see how our lances wounded. They replied that if we had lances they had lances of bamboo and stakes hardened with fire.
[They asked us] not to proceed to attack them at once, but to wait until morning, so that they might have more men.

They said that in order to induce us to go in search of them; for they had dug certain pitholes between the houses in order that
we might fall into them. When morning came forty-nine of us leaped into the water up to our thighs, and walked through water
for more than two crossbow flights before we could reach the shore. The boats could not approach nearer because of certain
rocks in the water. The other eleven men remained behind to guard the boats. When we reached land, those men had formed in
three divisions to the number of more than one thousand five hundred persons. When they saw us, they charged down upon us
with exceeding loud cries, two divisions on our flanks and the other on our front. When the captain saw that, he formed us into
two divisions, and thus did we begin to fight.

The musketeers and crossbowmen shot from a distance for about a half-hour, but uselessly; for the shots only passed through
the shields which were made of thin wood and the arms [of the bearers]. The captain cried to them, “Cease firing! cease firing!”
but his order was not at all heeded. When the natives saw that we were shooting our muskets to no purpose, crying out they
determined to stand firm, but they redoubled their shouts. When our muskets were discharged, the native would never stand
still, but leaped hither and thither, covering themselves with their shields. They shot so many arrows at us and hurled so many
bamboo spears (some of them tipped with iron) at the captain-general, besides pointed stakes hardened with fire, stones, and
mud, that we could scarcely defend ourselves. Seeing that the captain-general sent some men to burn their houses in order to
terrify them. When they saw their houses burning, they were roused to greater fury. Two of our men were killed near the
houses, while we burned twenty or thirty houses. So many of them charged down upon us that they shot the captain through
the right leg with a poisoned arrow. On that account, he ordered us to retire slowly, but the men took to flight, except six or
eight of us who remained with the captain.

The natives shot only at our legs, for the latter were bare; and so many were the spears and stones that they hurled at us, that
we could offer no resistance. The mortars in the boats could not aid us as they were too far away. So we continued to retire for
more than a good crossbow flight from the shore always fighting up to our knees in the water. The natives continued to pursue
us, and picking up the same spear four or six times, hurled it at us again and again. Recognizing the captain, so many turned
upon him that they knocked his helmet off his head twice, but he always stood firmly like a good knight, together with some
others. Thus did we fight for more than one hour, refusing to retire further. An Indian hurled a bamboo spear into the captain’s
face, but the latter immediately killed him with his lance, which he left in the Indian’s body. Then, trying to lay hand on sword,
he could draw it out but halfway, because he had been wounded in the arm with a bamboo spear. When the natives saw that,
they all hurled themselves upon him. One of them wounded him on the left leg with a large cutlass, which resembles a scimitar,
only being larger.

That caused the captain to fall face downward, when immediately they rushed upon him with iron and bamboo spears and with
their cutlasses, until they killed our mirror, our light, our comfort, and our true guide. When they wounded him, he turned back
many times to see whether we were all in the boats. Thereupon, beholding him dead, we, wounded, retreated, as best we
could, to the boats, which were already pulling off. The Christian king would have aided us, but the captain charged him before
we landed, not to leave his balanghai, but to stay to see how we fought. When the king learned that the captain was dead, he
wept. Had it not been for that unfortunate captain, not a single one of us would have been saved in the boats, for while he was
fighting the others retired to the boats. I hope through [the efforts of] your most illustrious Lordship that the fame of so noble a
captain will not become effaced in our times. Among the other virtues which he possessed, he was more constant than ever any
one else in the greatest of adversity. He endured hunger better than all the others, and more accurately than any man in the
world did he understand sea charts and navigation. And that this was the truth was seen openly, for no other had had so much
natural talent nor the boldness to learn how to circumnavigate the world, as he had almost done. That battle was fought on
Saturday, April twenty-seven, 1521.The captain desired to fight on Saturday, because it was the day especially holy to him. Eight
of our men were killed with him in that battle, and four Indians, who had become Christians and who had come afterward to aid
us were killed by the mortars of the boats. Of the enemy, only fifteen were killed, while many of us were wounded.
In the afternoon the Christian king sent a message with our consent to the people of Matan, to the effect that if they would give
us the captain and the other men who had been killed, we would give them as much merchandise as they wished. They
answered that they would not give up such a man, as we imagined [they would do], and that they would not give him for all the
riches in the world, but that they intended to keep him as a memorial.

2.2. Juan de Plasencia. Customs of the Tagalogs. Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson, edited. The Philippine
Islands, Vol. VII 1588-91: 1906 (pp. 164-186)

[Social and Cultural Observation].

Historical Background:

Juan de Plasencia entered the Franciscan order very young. He came to the Philippine Islands as one of the first Franciscan
missionaries in 1577. He was distinguished for his labors among the natives. He gathered converts into reductions (villages
where they dwelt separate from the heathen, and under the special care of the missionaries) He also established numerous
primary schools and was well known for his linguistic abilities as he was one of the first to form a grammar and vocabulary of
the Tagal language. Fr. Plasencia conducted ethnological researches which are embodied in the records presented in this text.
He died at Lilio, in the province of La Laguna, in 1590.
EXCERPT: This portion refers to the social observations made by the author among the Tagalog
natives.
CUSTOMS OF THE TAGALOGS
This people always had chiefs, called by them datos, who governed them and were captains in their wars, and whom they
obeyed and reverenced. The subject who committed any offense against them, or spoke but a word to their wives and children,
was severely punished.
These chiefs ruled over but few people; sometimes as many as a hundred houses, sometimes even less than thirty. This tribal
gathering is called in Tagalo a barangay. It was inferred that the reason for giving themselves this name arose from the fact (as
they are classed, by their language, among the Malay nations) that when they came to this land, the head of the barangay,
which is a boat, thus called—as is discussed at length in the first chapter of the first ten chapters—became a dato. And so, even
at the present day, it is ascertained that this barangay in its origin was a family of parents and children, relations and slaves.
There were many of these barangays in each town, or, at least, on account of wars, they did not settle far from one another.
They were not, however, subject to one another, except in friendship and relationship. The chiefs, in their various wars, helped
one another with their respective barangays.
In addition to the chiefs, who corresponded to our knights, there were three castes: nobles, commoners, and slaves. The nobles
were the free-born whom they call maharlica. They did not pay tax or tribute to the dato, but must accompany him in war, at
their own expense. The chief offered them beforehand a feast, and afterward they divided the spoils. Moreover, when the dato
went upon the water those whom he summoned rowed for him. If he built a house, they helped him, and had to be fed for it.
The same was true when the whole barangay went to clear up his lands for tillage. The lands which they inhabited were divided
among the whole barangay, especially the irrigated portion, and thus each one knew his own. No one belonging to another
barangay would cultivate them unless after purchase or inheritance. The lands on the tingues, or mountain-ridges, are not
divided, but owned in common by the barangay. Consequently, at the time of the rice harvest, any individual of any particular
barangay, although he may have come from some other village, if he commences to clear any land may sow it, and no one can
compel him to abandon it. There are some villages (as, for example, Pila de la Laguna) in which these nobles, or maharlicas, paid
annually to the dato a hundred gantas of rice. The reason of this was that, at the time of their settlement there, another chief
occupied the lands, which the new chief, upon his arrival, bought with his own gold; and therefore the members of his barangay
paid him for the arable land, and he divided it, among those whom he saw fit to reward. But now, since the advent of the
Spaniards, it is not so divided.
The chiefs in some villages had also fisheries, with established limits, and sections of the rivers for markets. At these no one
could fish, or trade in the markets, without paying for the privilege, unless he belonged to the chief's barangay or village.

The commoners are called aliping namamahay. They are married, and serve their master, whether he be a dato or not, with half
of their cultivated lands, as was agreed upon in the beginning. They accompanied him whenever he went beyond the island, and
rowed for him. They live in their own houses, and are lords of their property and gold. Their children inherit it, and enjoy their
property and lands. The children, then, enjoy the rank of their fathers, and they cannot be made slaves (sa guiguilir) nor can
either parents or children be sold. If they should fall by inheritance into the hands of a son of their master who was going to
dwell in another village, they could not be taken from their own village and carried with him; but they would remain in their
native village, doing service there and cultivating the sowed lands.

The slaves are called aliping sa guiguilir. They serve their master in his house and on his cultivated lands, and may be sold. The
master grants them, should he see fit, and providing that he has profited through their industry, a portion of their harvests, so
that they may work faithfully. For these reasons, servants who are born in the house of their master are rarely, if ever, sold. That
is the lot of captives in war, and of those brought up in the harvest fields.
Those to whom a debt was owed transferred the debt to another, thereby themselves making a profit, and reducing the
wretched debtors to a slavery which was not their natural lot. If any person among those who were made slaves (sa guiguilir)—
through war, by the trade of goldsmith, or otherwise—happened to possess any gold beyond the sum that he had to give his
master, he ransomed himself, becoming thus a namamahay, or what we call a commoner. The price of this ransom was never
less than five taels, and from that upwards; and if he gave ten or more taels, as they might agree, he became wholly free. An
amusing ceremony accompanied this custom. After having divided all the trinkets which the slave possessed, if he maintained a
house of his own, they divided even the pots and jars, and if an odd one of these remained, they broke it; and if a piece of cloth
were left, they parted it in the middle.

The difference between the aliping namamahay and the aliping sa guiguilir, should be noted; for, by a confusion of the two
terms, many have been classed as slaves who really are not. The Indians seeing that the alcaldes-mayor do not understand this,
have adopted the custom of taking away the children of the aliping namamahay, making use of them as they would of the
aliping sa guiguilir, as servants in their households, which is illegal, and if the aliping namamahay should appeal to justice, it is
proved that he is an aliping as well as his father and mother before him and no reservation is made as to whether he is aliping
namamahay or atiping sa guiguilir. He is at once considered an alipin, without further declaration. In this way he becomes a sa
guiguilir, and is even sold. Consequently, the alcaldes-mayor should be instructed to ascertain, when anyone asks for his alipin,
to which class he belongs, and to have the answer put in the document that they give him.
In these three classes, those who are maharlicas on both the father's and mother's side continue to be so forever; and if it
happens that they should become slaves, it is through marriage, as I shall soon explain. If these maharlicas had children among
their slaves, the children and their mothers became free; if one of them had children by the slave-woman of another, she was
compelled, when pregnant, to give her master half of a gold tael, because of her risk of death, and for her inability to labor
during the pregnancy. In such a case half of the child was free—namely, the half belonging to the father, who supplied the child
with food. If he did not do this, he showed that he did not recognize him as his child, in which case the latter was wholly a slave.
If a free woman had children by a slave, they were all free, provided he were not her husband.

If two persons married, of whom one was a maharlica and the other a slave, whether namamahay or sa guiguilir, the children
were divided: the first, whether male or female, belonged to the father, as did the third and fifth; the second, the fourth, and
the sixth fell to the mother, and so on. In this manner, if the father were free, all those who belonged to him were free; if he
were a slave, all those who belonged to him were slaves; and the same applied to the mother. If there should not be more than
one child he was half free and half slave. The only question here concerned the division, whether the child were male or female.
Those who became slaves fell under the category of servitude which was their parent's, either namamahay or sa guiguilir. If
there were an odd number of children, the odd one was half free and half slave. I have not been able to ascertain with any
certainty when or at what age the division of children was made, for each one suited himself in this respect. Of these two kinds
of slaves the sa guiguilir could be sold, but not the namamahay and their children, nor could they be transferred. However, they
could be transferred from the barangay by inheritance, provided they remained in the same village.
The maharlicas could not, after marriage, move from one village to another, or from one barangay to another, without paying a
certain fine in gold, as arranged among them. This fine was larger or smaller according to the inclination of the different villages,
running from one to three taels and a banquet to the entire barangay. Failure to pay the fine might result in a war between the
barangay which the person left and the one which he entered. This applied equally to men and women, except that when one
married a woman of another village, the children were afterwards divided equally between the two barangays. This
arrangement kept them obedient to the dato, or chief, which is no longer the case—because, if the dato is energetic and
commands what the religious fathers enjoin him, they soon leave him and go to other villages and other datos, who endure and
protect them and do not order them about. This is the kind of dato that they now prefer, not him who has the spirit to
command. There is a great need of reform in this, for the chiefs are spiritless and faint-hearted.

Investigations made and sentences passed by the dato must take place in the presence of those of his barangay. If any of the
litigants felt himself aggrieved, an arbiter was unanimously named from another village or barangay, whether he were a dato or
not; since they had for this purpose some persons, known as fair and just men, who were said to give true judgment according
to their customs. If the controversy lay between two chiefs, when they wished to avoid war, they also convoked judges to act as
arbiters; they did the same if the disputants belonged to two different barangays. In this ceremony they always had to drink, the
plaintiff inviting the others.

They had laws by which they condemned to death a man of low birth who insulted the daughter or wife of a chief; likewise
witches, and others of the same class.

They condemned no one to slavery, unless he merited the death-penalty. As for the witches, they killed them, and their children
and accomplices became slaves of the chief, after he had made some recompense to the injured person. All other offenses were
punished by fines in gold, which, if not paid with promptness, exposed the culprit to serve, until the payment should be made,
the person aggrieved, to whom the money was to be paid. This was done in the following way: Half the cultivated lands and all
their produce belonged to the master. The master provided the culprit with food and clothing, thus enslaving the culprit and his
children until such time as he might amass enough money to pay the fine. If the father should by chance pay his debt, the
master then claimed that he had fed and clothed his children, and should be paid therefor. In this way he kept possession of the
children if the payment could not be met. This last was usually the case, and they remained slaves. If the culprit had some
relative or friend who paid for him, he was obliged to render the latter half his service until he was paid—not, however, service
within the house as aliping sa guiguilir, but living independently, as aliping namamahay. If the creditor were not served in this
wise, the culprit had to pay the double of what was lent him. In this way slaves were made by debt: either sa guiguilir, if they
served the master to whom the judgment applied; or aliping namamahay, if they served the person who lent them wherewith
to pay.
In what concerns loans, there was formerly, and is today, an excess of usury, which is a great hindrance to baptism as well as to
confession; for it turns out in the same way as I have showed in the case of the one under judgment, who gives half of his
cultivated lands and profits until he pays the debt. The debtor is condemned to a life of toil; and thus borrowers become slaves,
and after the death of the father the children pay the debt. Not doing so, double the amount must be paid. This system should
and can be reformed.

As for inheritances, the legitimate children of a father and mother inherited equally, except in the case where the father and
mother showed a slight partiality by such gifts as two or three gold taels, or perhaps a jewel.

When the parents gave a dowry to any son, and, when, in order to marry him to a chief's daughter, the dowry was greater than
the sum given the other sons, the excess was not counted in the whole property to be divided. But any other thing that should
have been given to any son, though it might be for some necessity, was taken into consideration at the time of the partition of
the property, unless the parents should declare that such a bestowal was made outside of the inheritance. If one had had
children by two or more legitimate wives, each child received the inheritance and dowry of his mother, with its increase, and
that share of his father's estate which fell to him out of the whole. If a man had a child by one of his slaves, as well as legitimate
children, the former had no share in the inheritance; but the legitimate children were bound to free the mother, and to give him
something—a tael or a slave, if the father were a chief; or if, finally, anything else were given it was by the unanimous consent of
all. If besides his legitimate children, he had also some son by a free unmarried woman, to whom a dowry was given but who
was not considered as a real wife, all these were classed as natural children, although the child by the unmarried woman should
have been begotten after his marriage. Such children did not inherit equally with the legitimate children, but only the third part.
For example, if there were two children, the legitimate one had two parts, and the one of the inaasava one part. When there
were no children by a legitimate wife, but only children by an unmarried woman, or inaasava, the latter inherited all. If he had a
child by a slave woman, that child received his share as above stated. If there were no legitimate or natural child, or a child by an
inaasava, whether there was a son of a slave woman or not, the inheritance went only to the father or grandparents, brothers,
or nearest relatives of the deceased, who gave to the slave-child as above stated.

In the case of a child by a free married woman, born while she was married, if the husband punished the adulterer this was
considered a dowry; and the child entered with the others into partition in the inheritance. His share equaled the part left by
the father, nothing more. If there were no other sons than he, the children and the nearest relatives inherited equally with him.
But if the adulterer were not punished by the husband of the woman who had the child, the latter was not considered as his
child, nor did he inherit anything. It should be noticed that the offender was not considered dishonored by the punishment
inflicted, nor did the husband leave the woman. By the punishment of the father the child was fittingly made legitimate.
Adopted children, of whom there are many among them, inherit the double of what was paid for their adoption. For example, if
one gold tael was given that he might be adopted when the first father died, the child was given [in inheritance] two taels. But if
this child should die first, his children do not inherit from the second father, for the arrangement stops at that point.
This is the danger to which his money is exposed, as well as his being protected as a child. On this account this manner of
adoption common among them is considered lawful.
Dowries are given by the men to the women's parents. If the latter are living, they enjoy the use of it. At their death, provided
the dowry has not been consumed, it is divided like the rest of the estate, equally among the children, except in case the father
should care to bestow something additional upon the daughter. If the wife, at the time of her marriage, has neither father,
mother, nor grandparents, she enjoys her dowry—which, in such a case, belongs to no other relative or child. It should be
noticed that unmarried women can own no property, in land or dowry, for the result of all their labors accrues to their parents.
In the case of a divorce before the birth of children, if the wife left the husband for the purpose of marrying another, all her
dowry and an equal additional amount fell to the husband; but if she left him, and did not marry another, the dowry was
returned. When the husband left his wife, he lost the half of the dowry, and the other half was returned to him. If he possessed
children at the time of his divorce, the whole dowry and the fine went to the children, and was held for them by their
grandparents or other responsible relatives.

I have also seen another practice in two villages. In one case, upon the death of the wife who in a year's time had borne no
children, the parents returned one-half the dowry to the husband whose wife had died. In the other case, upon the death of the
husband, one-half the dowry was returned to the relatives of the husband. I have ascertained that this is not a general practice;
for upon inquiry I learned that when this is done it is done through piety, and that all do not do it.
In the matter of marriage dowries which fathers bestow upon their sons when they are about to be married, and half of which is
given immediately, even when they are only children, there is a great deal more complexity. There is a fine stipulated in the
contract, that he who violates it shall pay a certain sum which varies according to the practice of the village and the affluence of
the individual. The fine was heaviest if, upon the death of the parents, the son or daughter should be unwilling to marry because
it had been arranged by his or her parents. In this case the dowry which the parents had received was returned and nothing
more. But if the parents were living, they paid the fine, because it was assumed that it had been their design to separate the
children.

The above is what I have been able to ascertain clearly concerning customs observed among these natives in all this Laguna and
the tingues, and among the entire Tagalo race. The old men say that a dato who did anything contrary to this would not be
esteemed; and, in relating tyrannies which they had committed, some condemned them and adjudged them wicked.
Others, perchance, may offer a more extended narrative, but leaving aside irrelevant matters concerning government and
justice among them, a summary of the whole truth is contained in the above. I am sending the account in this clear and concise
form because I had received no orders to pursue the work further. Whatever may be decided upon, it is certainly important that
it should be given to the alcal-des-mayor, accompanied by an explanation; for the absurdities which are to be found in their
opinions are indeed pitiable.

May our Lord bestow upon your Lordship His grace and spirit, so that in every step good fortune may be yours; and upon every
occasion may your Lordship deign to consider me your humble servant, to be which would be the greatest satisfaction and favor
that I could receive. Nagcarlán, October 21, 1589.

FRAY JUAN DE PLASENCIA

RELATION OF THE WORSHIP OF THE TAGALOGS, THEIR GODS, AND THEIR BURIALS AND SUPERSTITIONS
In all the villages, or in other parts of the Filipinas Islands, there are no temples consecrated to the performing of sacrifices, the
adoration of their idols, or the general practice of idolatry. It is true that they have the name simbahan, which means a temple
or place of adoration; but this is because, formerly, when they wished to celebrate a festival, which they called pandot, or
“worship,” they celebrated it in the large house of a chief. There they constructed, for the purpose of sheltering the assembled
people, a temporary shed on each side of the house, with a roof, called sibi, to protect the people from the wet when it rained.
They so constructed the house that it might contain many people—dividing it, after the fashion of ships, into three
compartments. On the posts of the house they set small lamps, called sorihile; in the center of the house they placed one large
lamp, adorned with leaves of the white palm, wrought into many designs. They also brought together many drums, large and
small, which they beat successively while the feast lasted, which was usually four days. During this time the whole barangay, or
family, united and joined in the worship which they call nagaanitos. The house, for the above-mentioned period of time, was
called a temple.

Among their many idols there was one called. Badhala, whom they especially worshiped. The title seems to signify “all
powerful,” or “maker of all things.” They also worshiped the sun, which, on account of its beauty, is almost universally respected
and honored by heathens. They worshiped, too, the moon, especially when it was new, at which time they held great rejoicings,
adoring it and bidding it welcome. Some of them also adored the stars, although they did not know them by their names, as the
Spaniards and other nations know the planets—with the one exception of the morning star, which they called Tala. They knew,
too, the “seven little goats” [the Pleiades]—as we call them—and, consequently, the change of seasons, which they call
Mapolon; and Balatic, which is our Greater Bear. They possessed many idols called lic-ha, which were images with different
shapes; and at times they worshiped any little trifle, in which they adored, as did the Romans, some particular dead man who
was brave in war and endowed with special faculties, to whom they commended themselves for protection in their tribulations.
They had another idol called Dian masalanta, who was the patron of lovers and of generation. The idols called Lacapati and
Idianale were the patrons of the cultivated lands and of husbandry. They paid reverence to water-lizards called by them buaya,
or crocodiles, from fear of being harmed by them. They were even in the habit of offering these animals a portion of what they
carried in their boats, by throwing it into the water, or placing it upon the bank.
They were, moreover, very liable to find auguries in things they witnessed. For example, if they left their house and met on the
way a serpent or rat, or a bird called Tigmamanuguin which was singing in the tree, or if they chanced upon anyone who
sneezed, they returned at once to their house, considering the incident as an augury that some evil might befall them if they
should continue their journey—especially when the above-mentioned bird sang. This song had two different forms: in the one
case it was considered as an evil omen; in the other, as a good omen, and then they continued their journey. They also practiced
divination, to see whether weapons, such as a dagger or knife, were to be useful and lucky for their possessor whenever
occasion should offer.

These natives had no established division of years, months, and days; these are determined by the cultivation of the soil,
counted by moons, and the different effect produced upon the trees when yielding flowers, fruits, and leaves: all this helps
them in making up the year. The winter and summer are distinguished as sun-time and water-time—the latter term designating
winter in those regions, where there is no cold, snow, or ice.

It seems, however, that now since they have become Christians, the seasons are not quite the same, for at Christmas it gets
somewhat cooler. The years, since the advent of the Spaniards, have been determined by the latter, and the seasons have been
given their proper names, and they have been divided into weeks.

Their manner of offering sacrifice was to proclaim a feast, and offer to the devil what they had to eat. This was done in front of
the idol, which they anoint with fragrant perfumes, such as musk and civet, or gum of the storax-tree and other odoriferous
woods, and praise it in poetic songs sung by the officiating priest, male or female, who is called catolonan. The participants
made responses to the song, beseeching the idol to favor them with those things of which they were in need, and generally, by
offering repeated healths, they all became intoxicated. In some of their idolatries they were accustomed to place a good piece
of cloth, doubled, over the idol, and over the cloth a chain or large, gold ring, thus worshiping the devil without having sight of
him. The devil was sometimes liable to enter into the body of the catolonan, and, assuming her shape and appearance, filled her
with so great arrogance—he being the cause of it—that she seemed to shoot flames from her eyes; her hair stood on end, a
fearful sight to those beholding, and she uttered words of arrogance and superiority. In some districts, especially in the
mountains, when in those idolatries the devil incarnated himself and took on the form of his minister, the latter had to be tied
to a tree by his companions, to prevent the devil in his infernal fury from destroying him.

This, however, happened but rarely. The objects of sacrifice were goats, fowls, and swine, which were flayed, decapitated, and
laid before the idol. They performed another ceremony by cooking a jar of rice until the water was evaporated, after which they
broke the jar, and the rice was left as an intact mass which was set before the idol; and all about it, at intervals, were placed a
few buyos—which is a small fruit3 wrapped in a leaf with some lime, a food generally eaten in these regions—as well as fried
food and fruits. All the above-mentioned articles were eaten by the guests at the feast; the heads [of the animals], after being
“offered,” as they expressed it, were cooked and eaten also.

The reasons for offering this sacrifice and adoration were, in addition to whatever personal matters there might be, the recovery
of a sick person, the prosperous voyage of those embarking on the sea, a good harvest in the sowed lands, a propitious result in
wars, a successful delivery in childbirth, and a happy outcome in married life. If this took place among people of rank, the
festivities lasted thirty days.
In the case of young girls who first had their monthly courses, their eyes were blindfolded four days and four nights; and, in the
meantime, the friends and relatives were all invited to partake of food and drink. At the end of this period, the catolonan took
the young girl to the water, bathed her and washed her head, and removed the bandage from her eyes. The old men said that
they did this in order that the girls might bear children, and have fortune in finding husbands to their taste, who would not leave
them widows in their youth.
The distinctions made among the priests of the devil were as follows: The first, called catolonan, as above stated, was either a
man or a woman. This office was an honorable one among the natives, and was held ordinarily by people of rank, this rule being
general in all the islands.

The second they called mangagauay, or witches, who deceived by pretending to heal the sick. These priests even induced
maladies by their charms, which in proportion to the strength and efficacy of the witchcraft, are capable of causing death. In this
way, if they wished to kill at once they did so; or they could prolong life for a year by binding to the waist a live serpent, which
was believed to be the devil, or at least his substance. This office was general throughout the land. The third they called
manyisalat, which is the same as magagauay. These priests had the power of applying such remedies to lovers that they would
abandon and despise their own wives, and in fact could prevent them from having intercourse with the latter. If the woman,
constrained by these means, were abandoned, it would bring sickness upon her; and on account of the desertion she would
discharge blood and matter. This office was also general throughout the land.
The fourth was called mancocolam, whose duty it was to emit fire from himself at night, once or oftener each month. This fire
could not be extinguished; nor could it be thus emitted except as the priest wallowed in the ordure and filth which falls from the
houses; and he who lived in the house where the priest was wallowing in order to emit this fire from himself, fell ill and died.
This office was general.

The fifth was called hocloban, which is another kind of witch, of greater efficacy than the mangagauay. Without the use of
medicine, and by simply saluting or raising the hand, they killed whom they chose. But if they desired to heal those whom they
had made ill by their charms, they did so by using other charms. Moreover, if they wished to destroy the house of some Indian
hostile to them, they were able to do so without instruments. This was in Catanduanes, an island off the upper part of Luzon.

The sixth was called silagan, whose office it was, if they saw anyone clothed in white, to tear out his liver and eat it, thus causing
his death. This, like the preceding, was in the island of Catanduanes. Let no one, moreover, consider this a fable; because, in
Calavan, they tore out in this way through the anus all the intestines of a Spanish notary, who was buried in Calilaya by father
Fray Juan de Mérida.

The seventh was called magtatangal, and his purpose was to show himself at night to many persons, without his head or
entrails. In such wise the devil walked about and carried, or pretended to carry, his head to different places; and, in the morning,
returned it to his body—remaining, as before, alive. This seems to me to be a fable, although the natives affirm that they have
seen it, because the devil probably caused them so to believe. This occurred in Catanduanes.
The eighth they called osuang, which is equivalent to “sorcerer;” they say that they have seen him fly, and that he murdered
men and ate their flesh. This was among the Visayas Islands; among the Tagalos these did not exist.

The ninth was another class of witches called mangagayoma. They made charms for lovers out of herbs, stones, and wood,
which would infuse the heart with love. Thus did they deceive the people, although sometimes, through the intervention of the
devil, they gained their ends.

The tenth was known as sonat, which is equivalent to “preacher.” It was his office to help one to die, at which time he predicted
the salvation or condemnation of the soul. It was not lawful for the functions of this office to be fulfilled by others than people
of high standing, on account of the esteem in which it was held. This office was general throughout the islands.

The eleventh, pangatahojan, was a soothsayer, and predicted the future. This office was general in all the islands.

The twelfth, bayoguin, signified a “cotquean,” a man whose nature inclined toward that of a woman.
Their manner of burying the dead was as follows: The deceased was buried beside his house; and, if he were a chief, he was
placed beneath a little house or porch which they constructed for this purpose. Before interring him, they mourned him for four
days; and afterward laid him on a boat which served as a coffin or bier, placing him beneath the porch, where guard was kept
over him by a slave. In place of rowers, various animals were placed within the boat, each one being assigned a place at the oar
by twos—male and female of each species being together—as for example two goats, two deer, or two fowls. It was the slave's
care to see that they were fed. If the deceased had been a warrior, a living slave was tied beneath his body until in this wretched
way he died. In course of time, all suffered decay; and for many days the relatives of the dead man bewailed him, singing dirges,
and praises of his good qualities, until finally they wearied of it. This grief was also accompanied by eating and drinking. This was
a custom of the Tagalos.

The Aetas, or Negrillos [Negritos] inhabitants of this island, had also a form of burial, but different. They dug a deep,
perpendicular hole, and placed the deceased within it, leaving him upright with head or crown unburied, on top of which they
put half a cocoa-nut which was to serve him as a shield. Then they went in pursuit of some Indian, whom they killed in
retribution for the Negrillo who had died. To this end they conspired together, hanging a certain token on their necks until some
one of them procured the death of the innocent one.

These infidels said that they knew that there was another life of rest which they called maca, just as if we should say “paradise,”
or, in other words, “village of rest.” They say that those who go to this place are the just, and the valiant, and those who lived
without doing harm, or who possessed other moral virtues. They said also that in the other life and mortality, there was a place
of punishment, grief, and affliction, called casanaan, which was “a place of anguish;” they also maintained that no one would go
to heaven, where there dwelt only Bathala, “the maker of all things,” who governed from above. There were also other pagans
who confessed more clearly to a hell, which they called, as I have said, casanaan; they said that all the wicked went to that
place, and there dwelt the demons, whom they called sitan.
All the various kinds of infernal ministers were, therefore, as has been stated: catolonan; sonat (who was a sort of bishop who
ordained priestesses and received their reverence, for they knelt before him as before one who could pardon sins, and expected
salvation through him); mangagauay, manyisalat, mancocolam, hocloban, silagan, magtatangal, osuan, mangagayoma,
pangatahoan.

There were also ghosts, which they called vibit; and phantoms, which they called Tigbalaang. They had another deception—
namely, that if any woman died in childbirth, she and the child suffered punishment; and that, at night, she could be heard
lamenting. This was called patianac. May the honor and glory be God our Lord's, that among all the Tagalos not a trace of this is
left; and that those who are now marrying do not even know what it is, thanks to the preaching of the holy gospel, which has
banished it.

2.5. Apolinario Mabini. The Philippine Revolution. Translated into English by Leon Ma. Guerrero (chapters 9 and 10). National
Historical Commission. [Memoirs]

Excerpt:

This primary source excerpt refers to the events that took place from the beginning and up to the end of the Philippine
Revolution of 1896 according to Apolinario Mabini who is referred to as the “Brains of the Philippine Revolution”.

CHAPTER VIII

First Stage of the Revolution

Less than a year afterward I heard that the Katipunan had spread all over the province of Manila and was beginning to branch
out into Cavite and Bulacan. I foresaw the horrors which would follow its discovery by the authorities, but, having been unable
to obstruct (its activities) before, much less could I do so now when I was already ill and was, besides, considered by the
society's leaders as a very lukewarm patriot. In August 1896 the head of the printing press of the Diario de Manila, having
discovered that some of his employees belonged to a secret society, handed them over to the constabulary for the
corresponding investigation. Recourse was had to the usual methods of torture, and not only the Katipunan but also the
Masonic brotherhood and other societies already dissolved, like the Liga and the Cuerpo de Compromisarios, were discovered.
Warned in time, Bonifacio and his followers were able to flee to the mountains, and from there ordered the people's councils to
rise or join them so as not to fall in the hands of the constabulary.

The Spanish authorities, following the advice of the friars, decided to teach a terrible exemplary lesson and for this purpose
seized not only thekatipuneros but the Masons as well and all those who had belonged to the dissolved societies. Convinced
that the insurrection could not be the work of the unlettered but rather of the country's educated class, they also ordered the
arrest of all the prominent Filipinos in every province.

The fate of the captured was cruel and horrible. The katipuneros had managed to put themselves beyond reach of the
persecution in time, and only those who were not, were arrested. Since the latter were tortured to compel them to admit their
complicity in the insurrection, and they knew nothing about it, they could not escape these sufferings. Many died as a result;
many were executed under sentence of courts-martial; many others, shot without any trial at all; and still others, suffocated in
grim dungeons. Those who suffered only imprisonment and deportation were lucky. Rizal was shot on the 30th December 1896
as the principal instigator of the movement, and those really guilty of giving cause for the Filipinos to hate the very name of
Spaniard were praised for their patriotism.

Shortly before the outbreak of the insurrection Rizal, in order to put an end to an indefinite exile, had offered his medical
services to the Spanish army campaigning in Cuba. The government having agreed to his proposal, he was taken from Dapitan
and kept aboard a warship anchored in Manila Bay, awaiting transport to Spain. It was during this time that the insurrection
happened to break out. Nonetheless the governor general sent Rizal on to Spain, whence he had to be sent back soon after
because the judge advocate of the continuing court-martial demanded custody of Rizal to answer the charges against him that
might appear from the evidence. Although Rizal's banishment to Dapitan eliminated all possibility of his active participation in
the movement, he was found guilty of having been its chief instigator because, had it not been for the articles he had published
in La Solidaridad and for his novels, the people would never have taken to politics. This judgment was totally incorrect because
political activities in the Philippines antedated Rizal, because Rizal was only a personality created by the needs of these
activities: if Rizal had not existed, somebody else would have played his role. The movement was by nature slow and gentle, it
had become violent because obstructed. Rizal had not started the resistance, yet he was condemned to death: were he not
innocent, he would not be a martyr.

In contrast to Burgos who wept because he died guiltless, Rizal went to the execution ground calm and even cheerful, to show
that he was happy to sacrifice his life, which he had dedicated to the good of all the Filipinos, confident that in love and
gratitude they would always remember him and follow his example and teaching. In truth the merit of Rizal's sacrifice consists
precisely in that it was voluntary and conscious. He had known perfectly well that, if he denounced the abuses which the
Spaniards were committing in the Philippines, they would not sleep in peace until they had encompassed his ruin; yet he did so
because, if the abuses were not exposed, they would never be remedied. From the day Rizal understood the misfortunes of his
native land and decided to work to redress them, his vivid imagination never ceased to picture to him at every moment of his
life the terrors of the death that awaited him; thus he learned not to fear it, and had no fear when it came to take him away; the
life of Rizal, from the time he dedicated it to the service of his native land, was therefore a continuing death, bravely endured
until the end for love of his countrymen. God grant that they will know how to render to him the only tribute worth of his
memory: the imitation of his virtues.

Such cruelties could do no less than arouse general indignation, and, rather than suffer them, the rebels preferred to die fighting
even though armed only with bolos. Besides, the movement had more success in Cavite because the government forces there
consisted only of small constabulary detachments scattered in different towns of the province, except for the port and arsenal
which the rebels were unable to take. At that time theKatipunan had two people's councils in the province, one called Magdalo
in Kawit led by Don Baldomero Aguinaldo, and the other, the Magdiwang in Noveleta under the orders of Mariano Alvarez.
There were also a number of katipuneros in San Francisco de Malabon who obeyed the latter. Upon receiving Andres Bonifacio's
order to rise, the katipuneros, helped by their friends, were able to surprise the constabulary barracks and kill the Spanish
officers and sergeants in command. With the handful of arms thus captured, the citizens of Noveleta, under the command of
Don Artemio Ricarte, threw back the forces of General Blanco on the 9th November 1896, while those of Kawit, under the
orders of Don Emilio Aguinaldo, the town mayor, and of Don Candido Tirona, who died in the encounter, were able to retake, on
the 11th of the same month, the powder-magazine of Binacayan, which had fallen to the Spaniards a few days before.

On the basis of these gains, the two people's councils took provincial jurisdiction, the towns of Kawit, Imus, Bacoor, Perez
Dasmariñas, Silang, Mendez Nuñez, and Amadeo falling under Magdalo, and the remaining towns in the province under
Magdiwang. Invited by some friends, Andres Bonifacio went to Cavite to unify the endeavors of the two, but Magdalo already
paid little heed to his authority and orders. Fortunately, Don Edilberto Evangelista, a Manilan who was a civil engineer graduated
from the University of Ghent in Belgium, put his services at the disposal of the insurrection and directed all the entrenchment
and defense works which would give the Spanish forces so much trouble. General Polavieja, at the head of a considerable force,
boldly decided to overrun the province of Cavite, and Edilberto, who was conducting the defense of the Sapote river, died
fighting heroically on the 17th February 1897. From then on the Spanish forces were able to take one after the other the towns
within the jurisdiction of the Magdalo council, whose members were finally compelled to withdraw to San Francisco de
Malabon, there to meet with the Magdiwang and arrive at an agreement with the latter on the most appropriate measures for
the defense of the province. For that purpose the members of both councils, together with the principal military leaders,
gathered in the estate-house of Tejeros on the 12th March 1897. The assembly, presided over by Bonifacio, agreed on the
election of a central government which would take charge of the general business of the insurrection. Don Emilio Aguinaldo was
elected president, and Don Mariano Trias, vice-president. Bonifacio was elected director of the department of the interior, but,
affronted when some of those present opposed his appointment because he was not educationally qualified, he walked out of
the meeting, declaring that, as head of the Katipunan, he did not recognize the validity of the decisions, reached. Nevertheless
those elected took possession of their offices and, in high dudgeon, Bonifacio went off with his two brothers to the mountains
of San Mateo; but (Mr. Aguinaldo sent after him) two companies of soldiers were sent after him with orders to arrest him.
Bonifacio resisted, and as a result he was wounded thrice, and one of his brothers and three of the soldiers were killed. The
soldiers were able to take Bonifacio and his other brother to Naic, thence to Maragondon, and afterward to Mount Buntis where
the two brothers were shot.

The general opinion finds no justification, not even mitigation, for such a manner of proceeding (on the part of Mr. Aguinaldo).
Andres Bonifacio had no less schooling than any of those elected in the aforesaid assembly, and he had shown an uncommon
sagacity in organizing theKatipunan. All the electors were friends of Don Emilio Aguinaldo and Don Mariano Trias, who were
united, while Bonifacio, although he had established his integrity, was looked upon with distrust only because he was not a
native of the province: this explains his resentment. However, he did not show it by any act of turbulent defiance, for, seeing
that no one was working for reconciliation, he was content with quitting the province for San Mateo in the company of his
brothers. When it is considered that Mr. Aguinaldo (the elected leader) was primarily answerable for insubordination against the
head of the Katipunan of which he was a member; when it is appreciated that reconciliation was the only solution proper in the
critical state of the Revolution, the motive for the assassination cannot be ascribed except to feelings and judgments which
deeply dishonor the former; in any case, such a crime was the first victory of personal ambition over true patriotism.

This tragedy smothered the enthusiasm for the revolutionary cause, and hastened the failure of the insurrection in Cavite,
because many from Manila, Laguna and Batangas, who were fighting for the province (of Cavite), were demoralized and quit,
and soon the so-called central government had to withdraw to the mountains of Biak-na-Bato in Bulacan. It could afford to
remain there because the Spaniards ceased to attack it to cut down their casualties. Besides, Don Pedro A. Paterno offered
himself to General Primo de Rivera as a negotiator with the leaders of the insurrection for what they called an honorable peace.
Mr. Paterno was a purely volunteer mediator, that is to say, he had no official standing. The general's purpose, was to keep the
revolutionary chieftains abroad because, once there, watched constantly by the operatives of the Spanish consulates, it would
be very difficult for them to arm an expedition and return to the islands, and with this in mind he offered them money, safe-
conduct and free passage. Reflecting that they would be compelled by lack of arms to surrender later under worse conditions,
the chieftains accepted the offer, encouraged by a design to spend the money on the purchase of arms with which they would
return to the archipelago at the first favorable opportunity. It was agreed that the government would give 400,000 to Mr.
Aguinaldo and his companions in Hong Kong, 200,000 to the chieftains re maining in the islands, and 200,000 more some time
after, perhaps in the light of the subsequent conduct of the chieftains who surrendered. For this part Mr. Aguinaldo promised to
order all the people in arms to surrender and turn over their weapons to the Spanish authorities.

To all appearances the pact of Biak-na-Bato gave the leaders of the Revolution an advantageous way out of an indefensible
position. Since both parties were acting in bad faith, one of them could not complain if the other broke its pledges. But such a
solution was far from enough to quench the general state of excitement because there was no public announcement of any
specific covenant on the political reforms hoped for by the people. The Spanish government believed that, with the voluntary
expatriation of some leaders and the unconditional surrender of some others, peace would soon be restored, but it was wholly
mistaken. Only the grant of the reforms sought by La Solidaridad could have restored a spirit of peace, but, precisely to avoid
such concessions, the Spanish government was using all the means suggested by diplomatic guile and skill. And so it came about
that many of the discontented remained afield with forebodings of grave and unpredictable events.

CHAPTER IX

Development of the Revolution

Because I had been a member of the Liga Filipina and one of the compromisarios, I too was indicted and imprisoned as one of
the instigators of the rebellion. However, I had suffered a paralytic stroke six months before the uprising and I attribute to this
circumstance my not having been beaten up and shot together with Don Domingo Franco and others. In the event I was covered
by General Primo de Rivera's amnesty proclamation and set free by virtue thereof after having been confined for almost nine
months in the prisoners' section of the San Juan de Dios hospital in Manila. Months afterwards, I moved to the town of Los
Baños, and thence to Bay, in the province of La Laguna, where I drafted a scheme for the organization of a general uprising,
which I judged to be imminent in view of the general restlessness. This transpired two months before the declaration of war
between the United States and Spain, which was soon followed by the annihilation of the Spanish fleet in the Philippines by
Admiral Dewey on the 1st May 1898, and Mr. Aguinaldo's return to, the island s. When the latter, upon arrival, proclaimed to the
people the readiness of the United States to help the Filipinos regain their natural rights, everyone thought that the government
of that country, recognizing Mr. Aguinaldo as the representative of the Filipino people, had entered into a formal agreement
with him, and so each province, acknowledging his indisputable leadership, went into action to fight the Spanish forces within
its boundaries. This impression was confirmed by the vague and equivocal statements of the American commanders.
One of the copies of the scheme which I had drafted reached Mr. Aguinaldo's hands by chance, and he thereupon wrote,
although he did not know me, asking me to help him. Although I was just as unacquainted with him, I wanted to help in the
common endeavour as far as I was able, and I called on him at Cavite port on the 12th June 1898, the very day on which the
independence of the Philippines was being proclaimed in the town of Kawit. I immediately asked him about the agreement he
had concluded with the United States Government, and to my great surprise learned that there was none, and that the
(American) consul in Singapore, Pratt, and Admiral Dewey had only given him verbal assurances that the United States
Government did not want any part of the islands and it designed only to help the natives destroy the Spanish tyranny so that all
the Filipinos could enjoy the blessings of an independent government. I realized then that the American representatives had
limited themselves to ambigu ous verbal promises, which Mr. Aguinaldo had accepted because he ardently desired to return to
the islands, fearful that other influential Filipinos should (rob him of glory and) reach an understanding with the Americans in
the name of the people. I realized also that the proclamation of independence which was being made that day was premature
and imprudent because the Americans were concealing their true designs while we were making ours manifest. I foresaw, of
course, that because of this want of caution the American commanders and forces would be on guard against the revolutionists,
and the United States consuls on the China coast would sabotage the purchase of arms for the revolution.

However, unable to prevent the proclamation because I had arrived too late to do so, I kept my peace and set myself to studying
in detail the measures most urgently called for in the existing situation.
The sudden general uprising had at one blow destroyed the structure established by the Spanish administration in the provinces
and towns of the archipelago, and it was therefore urgently necessary to found a new structure so that anarchy might not lead
to fatal consequences. I proposed a scheme reorganizing the provinces and towns in the most democratic form possible in the
circumstances and, with Mr. Aguinaldo's approval, it was carried out without loss of time. I followed this up with another
proposal for the creation of the (government) departments needed for the orderly working of the central administration, as well
as of an assembly or congress composed of two prominent residents of each province to advise Mr. Aguinaldo and propose
measures for the common welfare and the attainment of the longed for rights. This congress would not have legislative
functions because the state of war required an concentration of powers necessary for swift action, but I considered its creation
indi spensable so that the provinces should not distrust the dictatorial authority of Mr. Aguinaldo. He approved my proposal and
offered to make me the head of one of the new departments. I was not sure I was fit for the job because of my illness, and
declined the offer, but for the time being I handled the limited amount of business regarding foreign relations until such time as
Mr. Arellano, who had been offered this portfolio because of his recognized competence, should take over.

By this time General Anderson's brigade had already landed in Cavite, and the remaining forces commanded by General Merritt
were beginning to arrive, making relations with the Americans more troublesome. On the other hand, the siege of Manila by the
Filipino forces was stalled because of the lack of coordination in the activities of the columns operating in the different zones,
and Aguinaldo, who, by virtue of his prestige, could alone impose such unity, could not make up his mind to take personal
command of the operation. If the Filipinos had been able to take Manila before the arrival of General Merritt's forces, relations
with the Americans would have been cleared up from the start. But it did not turn out that way. The Americans landed in
Paranaque and attacked Manila, ignoring the Filipino besieging forces. Many Filipino military commanders were of the opinion
that this behaviour was sufficient cause for the opening of hostilities against the Americans, but I advised Mr. Aguinald o to try
to avoid the conflict at all costs because otherwise we would be facing two enemies, and the most likely result would be the
partition of the islands between them.

After the capitulation of Manila, the Philippine, Government moved from Bacoor, Cavite, to Malolos, Bulacan, where the newly
created Congress held its first session. The first results of this assembly's deliberations were the ratification of the proclamation
of independence prematurely made in Kawit, and the decision to draft a constitution for the establishment of a Philippine
Republic. I should note that, although Mr. Arellano had not yet assumed office as Secretary of Foreign Affairs, his deputy, Don
Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera, had taken over the business of the department, so that I was then simply Mr. Aguinaldo's private
adviser.

As such I advised him to address a message to Congress, reminding it that Congress should not draft a constitution because it
was not a constitutional convention; that neither could Congress enact laws because it had no legislative functions; and that its
principal and urgent duty was to determine the best system for the organization of our armed forces and the raising of the funds
needed for their maintenance, the plans agreed upon to be submitted to him. He was to add further that it was not the
opportune time for the drafting of a constitution since the ind ependence of the Philippines was not yet officially recognized;
that, once independence had been embodied in a constitution, the Philippine Government would be violating the fundamental
law of the State; and that, in those arduous circumstances, I was of the opinion that the Government should have freedom of
actin to negotiate an agreement which would prevent the horrors of war with the United States, on condition that such an
agreement should bring positive benefits to the country and recognize the natural rights of the citizens. Mr. Aguinaldo
submitted my opinion to the consideration of the members of his cabinet, I do not know in what terms; what I certainly know is
that not only was my advice rejected but I was also bitterly criticized for holding tyrannical ideas and inculcating them in the
head of the government. On account of these unfortunate services political scandal-mongers nicknamed me "Devil's Advocate
to the President".

Seeing that my advice was not only useless but even resented by th e cabinet members, and fearing that they would blame me
for their own failures, I tried to disassociate myself from Mr. Aguinaldo moving to another house against his wishes, but he
immediately ordered the installation of a telephone connexion between his house and my new residence, so that, to my
discomfiture, I continued to play the part of devil's advocate. I limited this to giving my opinion on matters of great gravity and
importance, and suggesting to Mr. Aguinaldo that it was his duty to lend his support to the actuations of his secretaries so long
as they did not give evidence of unfitness or sufficient motive to believe they were abusing his confidence.
After a long wait, Mr. Arellano finally stated that he could not discharge the office of Secretary of Foreign Affairs, in view of
which Mr. Aguinaldo insisted that I should take charge of the department. I accepted for the purpose of seeking an
understanding with the United States Government before the proposed constitution was voted upon by the Philippine Congress,
and assumed office on the 2nd January 1899. All my efforts failed because the Treaty of Paris, concluded on the 10th December
the previous year, had vested in the Congress of the United States the authority to determine the civil rights and the political
status of the Filipinos, and Congress -- according to the emphatic assurances of General Otis -- would not exercise that authority
so long as the Filipinos were up in arms. Since the administration in Washington had a majority in Congress, it was very likely
that the latter would take a decision, in accordance with the wishes of the administration; but if we surrendered unco
nditionally, leaving our political fate at its mercy, the Americans would no longer have any doubts about our unfitness because,
by not defending our freedom, we would be showing our little understanding and love for it. We had therefore to choose
between war and the charge of unfitness. Amid this crisis, the Constitution of the Philippine Republic, already definitely voted
upon and approved, was sent to the government for promulgation. I was still trying to delay it because of the gravity of the
situation, but seeing that on the one hand, the representatives were obdurate and threatened a scandal, and that, oh the other
hand, an understanding with the American Government was impossible because of its refusal to recognize our juridical
existence and its insistence on unconditional surrender, I had to give in especially since Mr. Aguinaldo too was in favour of the
promulgation. I did not yet have reason to even suspect that the most determined advocates of the promulgation of the
Constitution would be the leas t ready to defend it at the least sign of danger to their persons and interests. Apprehending that
war was inevitable, I limited my efforts to preventing the aggression from coming from our side, convinced that our weakness
could not justify any provocation.

Meantime, on the other side of the sea, in the capital of the Republic of the United States, things were happening which merit
all possible attention. The ratification of the Treaty of Paris was being postponed and delayed in the Senate by the stubborn
opposition of the Democrats, and this persuaded President McKinley to stage what is called a coup d'etat. In the night of the 4th
February, 1899 the American forces started an action that led to the outbreak of hostilities, and the news was immediately
communicated to Washington. The likelihood of new complications with Spain, and perhaps with other powers, put an end to all
opposition, and the treaty was ratified by the Senate on the 6th February. 'The amount, of $20,000,000 stipulated for the
cession of the Philippines was appropriated by Congress on the 2nd March. The instruments of ratification having been
exchanged on the 11th April, the price for the cession was paid on the lst May, thus consummating the purchase and sale.
Elsewhere Senator McEnery, explaining the administration's objectives, proposed in the Senate, that the United States declare it
did not intend to annex the islands permanently, but rather to prepare the inhabitants for an autonomous government which
would promote American and Filipino interests. For his part, Senator Bacon, expressing the wishes of the opposition, proposed
an amendment asking the United States to declare that it renounce all purpose of exercising sovereignty, jurisdictions and
control over the islands since its intention was to hand over their government and administration to the Filipinos when the
latter should have established a stable government worthy of recognition. This amendment was put to a vote and 29 senators
voted in favour, and another 29 against.

The Vice-President of the United States, Hobart, as President of the Senate, broke the tie by giving his casting vote to those
against, thus leading to the approval of the McEnery proposal, that is to say, the administration's policy. Under this proposal the
Philippines can be neither a territory nor a state because it should not be permanently annexed to the United States, but, as
property bought by.

The United States, the latter can dispose of the Philippines at its discretion, that is to say, without the limitations of its
Constitution. If the United States is the absolute owner of the islands, Congress has absolute power to legislate on them, and
hence can fix at it's discretion the political status and civil rights of the inhabitants. If the latter enjoy life and liberty, it is not
because they have an inborn right to them, by virtue of natural law, but because the United States Congress so wishes..
Undoubtedly President McKinley destroyed the Spanish tyranny, but, apparently, only in order to replace it with another in the
American manner. It is interesting to observe that the Republican Party, led by a Lincoln in its beginnings, freed many millions o f
slaves in the United States, while, led by a McKinley in its greatest period of vigour and prosperity, it made the United States the
absolute owner of many millions of Filipinos. Immortal Washington, speaking of the Constitution of the United States, said that
so long as the civic virtues did not wholly vanish among the classes of North-American society, the distribution of powers made
in that Constitution would not permit an unjust policy to become permanent. God grant that the Americans do not, forget the
father of their country, or defraud his fond hopes!

CHAPTER X
End and Fall of the Revolution

As I had foreseen, our improvised militia could not withstand the first blow struck by the disciplined American troops. Moreover,
it must be admitted that the Filipino forces stationed around Manila were not prepared for an attack that night: General Ricarte,
in command of the detachments in the south, and General San Miguel, commander of the eastern zone where the attack began,
were. then in Malolos. Little accustomed to war, the Filipino commanders and officers hardly appreciated the value of military
instruction and discipline so that the emplacements were not served with anything approaching order and precision. The
Filipino general staff had not studied or laid down any plans for offensive or withdrawal movements in case of an outbreak of
hostilities. Mr. Aguinaldo, who had scant appreciation of the advantages of a unified command and coordinated tactics, had
made no provision for the prompt restoration of communications among the various it -- my units should a sudden retreat i
nterrupt the telegraphic system. Mr. Aguinaldo wanted to keep the forces around Manila under his direct orders, commanding
them from his residence in Malolos, although he could not devote himself completely to the proper discharge of the duties of
this command because of his preoccupations as head of the government and the conceit of personally deciding many matters
which should have been channeled through the departments of the central administration. Only after the outbreak of hostilities,
when the telegraph lines had already been cut, did he name General Luna commander of the forces operating around Manila,
but by that time the various army units had already evacuated their old emplacements, and communications among them had
become slow and hazardous. Furthermore, Luna resigned his command shortly afterward because the War Minister had
disapproved one of his dispositions. However, he resumed command of the defensive operations north of Manila when the
Philippine Government was compelled to leave Malolos for San Isidro in the province of Nueva Ecija. Luna was able to raise
fresh forces in Calumpit, forming a number of companies composed of veteran soldiers. of the former native army organized by
the Spanish Government, and with these troops as a core he imposed a stern disciplinary system to stop the demoralization of
our troops. But many commanders, jealous of their authority, withheld from him the effective cooperation that was necessary.
This led to the cashiering by brute force of commanders who did not recognize his authority, or the court-martialing of those
who abandoned their posts in the face of the enemy, or the disarming of troops that disobeyed his or hers.

In spite of all these obstacles, Luna would have succeeded in imposing and maintaining discipline if Aguinaldo had supported
him with all the power of his prestige and authority, but the latter was also beginning to grow jealous, seeing Luna slowly gain
ascendancy by his bravery, audacity, and military skill. All those affronted by his actuations were inducing Aguinaldo to believe
that Luna was plotting to wrest from him the supreme authority. After the Calumpit bridge had fallen to the American forces,
due mainly to the scarcity of ammunition, Luna came to see me in San Isidro and entreated me to help him convince Mr.
Aguinaldo that the time had come to adopt guerrilla warfare. I promised to do what he wanted, while making it clear to him
that I doubted I would get anywhere because my advice was hardly heeded in military matters inasmuch as, not being a military
man but a man of letters, my military knowledgeability must be scant, if not nonexistent. I could not keep my promise because
after our meeting I did not get to see Mr. Aguinaldo until after some time when he came expressly to seek my advice on
whether or not it would be expedient to reorganize the cabinet. Unable to overcome my sense of propriety even in those
circumstances, I answered in the affirmative, and, having relinquished office to my successor, Don Pedro A. Paterno, in the first
days of May 1899, 1 left for the town of Rosales near Bayambang. Some weeks later Mr. Aguinaldo sent a telegram asking Luna
to see him in Cabanatuan for an exchange of views, but when Luna arrived in Cabanatuan he met not Aguinaldo but death by
treachery plotted by the very same soldiers whom he had disarmed and court-martialed for abandonment of their post and
disobedience to his orders (he did not find Aguinaldo at home and was treacherously murdered by the soldiers who were on
sentry duty there). Colonel Francisco Roman, who accompanied Luna, died with him. While Luna was being murdered. Mr.
Aguinaldo was in Tarlac taking over command of the forces which the deceased had organized. Before his death Luna had his
headquarters in Bayambang, and had reconnoitered Bangued to determine if it met the conditions for an efficacious defense in
case of a retreat; what is more, he was already beginning to transport there the heavier pieces of ordnance. Notwithstanding,
Aguinaldo established his government in Tarlac, wasting his time on political and literary activates, a negligence which General
Otis exploited by landing his infantry in San Fabian while his cavalry, wheeling through San Jose and Umingan, took San Quintin
and Tayug, thus cutting all of Mr. Aguinaldo's lines of retreat and giving the deathblow to the Revolution.

Until now I cannot believe that Luna was plotting to wrest from Mr. Aguinaldo the high office he held although Luna certainly
aspired to be prime minister instead of Mr. Paterno, with whom Luna disagreed because the former's autonomy program was a
violation of the fundamental law of the State and as such was a punishable crime. This is shown by a report in the newspaper La
Independencia, inspired by Luna and published a few days before his death, which stated that the Paterno-Buencaminio cabinet
would be replaced by another in which Luna would be prime minister as well as war minister. When a few days afterward Luna
received Mr. Aguinaldo's telegram calling him to Cabanatuan, Luna thought perhaps that the subject of their meeting would be
the new cabinet; he did not expect an attempt to assassinate him precisely at the critical juncture when the Revolution most
needed his strong and skilled right arm; nor could he believe that a licit and correct ambition should inspire fear i n Mr.
Aguinaldo who had named him commanding general of the Philippine army. Luna had certainly allowed himself to say on
occasion that Aguinaldo had a weak character and was unfit to be a leader, but such language was only an explosive outlet for a
fiery and ebullient temperament which saw its plans frustrated by the lack of necessary support. All of Luna's acts revealed
integrity and patriotism combined with a zealous activity that measured up to the situation. If he was sometimes hasty and even
cruel in his decisions, it was because the army was in a desperate position due to the demoralization of the troops and the lack
of munitions; only acts of daring and extraordinary energy could prevent its disintegration.
The death of Andres Bonifacio had plainly shown in Mr. Aguinaldo a boundless appetite for power, and Luna's personal enemies
exploited this weakness of Aguinaldo with skillful intrigues in order to encompass Luna's ruin.

To say that if Aguinaldo, instead of killing Luna (allowing Luna to be killed), had supported him with all his power, the Revolution
would have triumphed, would be presumption indeed, but I have not the least doubt that the Americans would have had a
higher regard for the courage and military abilities of the Filipinos. Had Luna been alive, I am sure that Otis's mortal blow would
have been parried or at least timely prevented, and Mr.. Aguinaldo's unfitness for military command would not have been
exposed so clearly. Furthermore, to rid himself of Luna, Aguinaldo had recourse to the very soldiers whom Luna had punished
for breaches of discipline; by doing so Aguinaldo destroyed that discipline, and with it his own army. With Luna, its most firm
support, fell the Revolution, and, the ignominy of that fall bearing wholly on Aguinaldo, brought about in turn his own moral
death, a thousand times more bitter than physical death. Aguinaldo therefore ruined himself, damned by his own deeds. Thus
are great crimes punished by Providence.

To sum it up, the Revolution failed because it was badly led; because its leader won his post by reprehensible rather than
meritorious acts; because instead of supporting the men most useful to the people, he made them useless out of jealousy.
Identifying the aggrandizement of the people with his own, he judged the worth of men not by their ability, character and
patriotism but rather by their degree of friendship and kinship with him; and anxious to secure the readiness of his favorites to
sacrifice themselves for him, he was tolerant even of their transgressions. Because he thus neglected the people forsook him;
and forsaken by the people, he was bound to fall like a waxen idol melting in the heat of adversity. God grant we do not forget
such a terrible lesson, learnt at the cost of untold suffering.

2.6. Emilio Aguinaldo, Mga Gunita ng Himagsikan (Memoirs of the Revolution). (pp. 78-82; 95- 100; 177-188; 212-227)
[Memoirs]

Excerpts: This primary source deals with the memories of President Aguinaldo of the Philippine Revolution, his exploits as a
general, his sacrifices, views on certain events and his crucial war decisions.

One day in November, 1896, a muscular and well-built man who was suspected to be a secret agent of the Spaniards came to
me in our headquarters at Zapote. He said he was Edilberto Evangelista, a Filipino civil engineer who came from Dantes, Italy,
purposely to help us liberate the Philippines. He introduced himself to me. He showed his diploma and, after further
questioning, I discerned that he was sincere. So I accepted his offer as I was really desirous to have learned men who could help
and join us in our Revolution. I made him the director general of our natural resources and I assigned him to take charge of the
construction of the trenches. I asked him to it that he was not sent to battle.
Sometime later Feliciano Jocson, owner of a drug store on the Escolta in Manila, offered his help in putting out from Manila,
saltpeter which was necessary in our munitions factory. This patriot later accompanied General Jose Alejandrino to HongKong to
buy guns with the sum of P20, 000 that the two councils, Magdalo and Magdiwang, gave them in January, 1897.
While they succeeded in buying the arms, they had to throw them overboard o their way home for fear that their boat might
sink. The supremo, Andres Bonfacio, and his companions met them at Nasugbu, Batangas, only to be disappointed.

My Bloodiest Fight

ON NOVEMBER 1, 1896, we planned to attack the detachment of Spanish soldiers in Bañadero, Tanauan, Batangas. I had with
me my two seasoned generals – Candido Tria Tirona and Pio del Pilar. We travelled three days to reach Silang where we asked
General Vito Belarmino to join us. Then we went up to Tagaytay, travelled about 30 kilometers down to Iruhin and finally Talisay
where we stayed for two days, finalizing our plans for the attack.

While in Talisay, a man came hurriedly to us bringing a message from President Baldomero Aguinaldo who enjoined us to go
home because s large number of Spanish soldiers using about 50 native boat had landed at Polvorin, Binakayan.
I was astounded with the contents of the letter. I suspected it was mere imagination and fear that caused him to write me.
Nevertheless, I became restless and I did not know what to do.
At midnight, I woke up General Candido Tria Tirona and told him about the matter. I did not want to return for we had covered
30 kilometers already and we were nearing our destination. But he advised to go back because he said we might be helping
others but losing our own. I was convinced with the explanation. I told the cook to prepare food for the soldiers. We also walk
up General Vito Belarmino so he could send a messenger to Silang to tell the people to prepare an early lunch for our soldiers.
When the soldiers learned of the bad news many of them wanted to go ahead even without having had their breakfast, but I
told them that it was difficult to travel 50 kilometers and to fight on empty stomachs.
At about four o’ clock of the following morning, we started for our homeward journey. When I noticed that the soldiers were
almost running in their haste to reach our destination, I ordered them to refrain from running to conserve their energy.

When we reached Silang, another letter of President Baldomero Aguinaldo hand carried to me by Lieutenant Dalupan brought
the news that our first foothold at Kulanta, Binakayan, which was under General Crispulo Aguinaldo, was already in the hands of
the enemy. There was danger that our second position might be captured, too.

Saddened by the news, many of our men who could not wait any longer for calesas went ahead walking. When we reached Imus
at about five o’ clock on the afternoon of November 8, we found it a veritable ghost town for the people had left, leaving only
the officials headed by the President Baldomera Aguinaldo behind. But when the news spread that we had come back, they
came out from their hiding places and joined us once more.

From the people I learned that our troops in Binakayan were tricked by the Filipino soldiers in the enemy side who shouted,
“Brothers, brothers, don’t shoot us because we are coming to join you.”
But when they were already near, they started firing at us. So our soldiers were taken unawares, and many of them retreated.
The enemy was headed by Regiment 73 and followed by five battalions of cazadores and marine infantry under the leadership
of Captain General Ramon Blanco.
That same afternoon, I gathered all my generals, chiefs, and officers for an emergency consultation. We decided to divide our
troops into three groups. On the west side of the streets, I stationed General Candido tria Tirona’s troops; on the east, the
troops of Generals Vito Belarmino and Pantaleon Garcia. At our rear were the troops of Generals Baldomero Aguinaldo and
Crispulo Aguinaldo. Walking, crawling, stealthily, we slowly wended our way to our second position until we were about 300
meters away from the enemy. We were very happy to see that our Central Battery was still there. We were able to traverse this
distance without the enemy’s noticing us as it was busy setting the houses and ban-cas on fire. Meanwhile, I ordered our men to
rest.

During the night, I ordered the building on trenches on both sides of the streets where the enemy might possibly enter. I had to
supervise to supervise the men personally and cajole them to work because they were already tired and sleepy. It must be
recalled that most of the men came from Talisay, yet, I had to do this myself for the other generals were as sleep too. I did not
like to wake them up also to relieve me because they needed the rest very much. It was heart-rending to see some of the men
with spades and hoes, falling asleep on the earth they were shoveling. However, before dawn we had built two trenches 500
meters long. As a precaution, while we were building these trenches, I ordered General Mariano Noriel to feign an attack on
Polvorin on the other side of the river of Bacoor, a kilometer away. The troops were accompanied by a band. By sunrise, general
Tirona came and admired the new trenches. He asked to be assigned there, so I readily gave in the planned to stay there.
Before I left, however, I gave this instruction to all: no one should be seen by the enemy; no one should fire at the enemy until
he had heard my signal from the center of the trenches.
The troops had hardly gone to their positions when we heard the bugle of the enemy. On the opposite shore, we saw the enemy
coming. It was a huge army, the biggest I ever encountered. I believed there were about 5,000 all armed with guns and Bayonets
which shone in the sun. It was a horrible sight and fear clutched my heart. However, I did not show this fear to my companions. I
could not eat my breakfast. I just swallowed two raw eggs and drank a cup of coffee. Then I went to the trenches and prepared
for any eventuality.

“Long live Spain! Long live Spain!” shouted the enemy as it approached our trenches. The shouts sounded like thunder to our
ears. Then it started firing right and left, but our soldiers remained calm. When the enemy was about 40 meters from the center
of the trenches. I heard shots from the battery of General Tirona. As the enemy rushed upon my men I ordered the cannons
fired, and soon broke the enemy ranks which were replaced anew by others. For a moment I thought this incessant replacement
was interminable. The shots that filled the air were terrifying and deafening. It saddened me to see how the enemy face death
while bodies fell in heaps.

At the same time I noticed how braved my own soldiers were, rushing and lashing at the enemy with their bolos. There arrows
flew rapidly and found their marks accurately. It was in this battle that I noticed my Remington gun could kill as many as four: my
Mauser gun, five; while my Winchester gun, which I acquired from the parish priest of Imus, could finish many with its eight
successive shots.
In the midst of what I had just seen, I was filled with a mixed feeling of joy and sorrow, because most of those who lay lifeless
and wounded were my own countrymen. I could not fathom why they were with the Spanish soldiers, so immediately I ordered
my men not to molest the enemy soldiers carrying the dead. I was however happy because the hardships we went through at
Talisay seemed to have been rewarded with success in this battle.

When the enemy saw that it could not penetrate our lines it slowly backed out, firing parting shots as its bugles sounded
retreat. Upon seeing the enemy retreating in a rout, I was emboldened and had my own buglers sound the advance to my
bolomen who instantly emerged from their hiding places and fell upon the retreating enemy. I could have been a casualty
myself had not Juan Munti, my strong and trusted aide, pulled me away from the line of fire. Unfortunately, several of my men
were hit by the random and aimless shots of the retreating enemy.

I remembered that in the midst of this confusion, I spotted Candido Tria, Tirona, my compadre, and, in a loud voice, admonished
him to be careful. He seemed certain that no harm would befall him. So he, in turn, told me to be careful.

After we had recovered the trenches that were taken from General Crispulo Aguinaldo. I ordered the soldiers to case firing as we
were to face a bigger enemy from Polvorin composed of the Spanish squadrons protected by the cruisers and the fleet under
the command of General Ramon Blanco.
When the battle was all over, we realized that the whole province of Cavite had been liberated. We gathered 200 guns. I also
realized the great disadvantage to us of my order not to molest the enemy soldiers carrying their dead for, as a result, we
gathered only a few guns from the 15 cartloads left of dead soldiers aside from the three bancas of wounded and dead which
they brought to Manila and brought to Manila and buried at Dalahikan, Noveleta. I learned later that Governor Blanco was very
much grieved over the loss of his men.

In the midst of this joyful triumph, I was greatly saddened by the news that Candido Tria Tirona, my dear friend, was killed in the
encounter. Other casualties were Captain Simeon Alcantara and may brave soldiers.

For the next three days, the enemy did not harass us, but on November 12, 13, 14, 1896, it started bombarding again the towns
of Cavite el Viejo, Bacoor, and Novieta with cannon shots from Fort Vaga of Cavite. It was a good thing that no serious damage
on the towns was wrought. We thanked God whom we believed was on our side, for most of the shells hurled were duds. As a
result, we gathered phosphorus which we used in our munitions factory. In the heavy fighting at Binakayan, we were able to
gather many empty catridges.

Bonifacio Invited to Cavite

AFTER SUPREMO Andres Bonifacio and his men met defeat at the hands of the Spaniards, we in Cavite had lost track of their
whereabouts. As we were worried about Bonifacio, we sent men look for him in the forests of Caloocan and Malabon,
andinstructed them to invite the Supremo to Cavite which had already been liberated from Spanish rule.

By then Cavite had been independent from Spanish rule for three months and was peacefully being governed by the
Revolutionary Government. But the Supremo and his wife, Gregoria de Jesus, his two brothers. Procopio and Ciriaco, General
Lucino, and 20 soldiers sis not reach cavite until the first day of December, 1896. One can easily imagine the dangers, hardships,
and privations they went through before finally arriving in Cavite.

When the news of their arrival reached me, I was fighting at Zapote, Arumahan, Las Piñas, and Pintong Bato, Bacoor. So I sent
Generals Mariano Noriel and Pio Zapote River were even penetrated by the enemy because our soldiers fatigued from fighting,
did not notice their coming. The penetration could have gone further were it not for the brave bolomen Funder Generals
Mariano Noriel and Pio del Pilar who pounced upon the enemy without mercy. Once more the waters of the Zapote River
turned red with human blood. This was almost an ordinary occurrence in our columns.

Magdiwang Council Reorganized

THE SUCCESS of the liberation movement in Cavite was the result of the leadership and efforts of the leadership and efforts of
the two councils: the Magdiwang Council headed initially by General Mariano Alvarez in Noveleta, and the Magdalo Council of
Cavite el Viejo headed by General Baldomero Aguinaldo.
With the transfer of Magdiwang Council later to San Francisco de Malabon, it was able to complete itsline-up of officers as
follows:
King ………………………………………………………… Andres Bonifacio
Vice-King ……………………………………………Mariano Alvarez
Minister of War ……………………………… Ariston Villanueva
Minister of Interior ……………………………… Jacinto Lumbreras
Minister of Finance ……………………………… Diego Mojica
Minister of Justice ……………………………… Mariano C. Trias
(Tagalog writer and poet)
Minister of Natural Resources……………………. Emiliano Riego de Rios
Captain General ………………………………… Santiago Alvarez

The towns under their control were Noveleta, San Francisco de Malabon, Rosario, Tanza, Naic, Ternate, Maragondon,
Magallanes, Bailen, Alfonso, Indang, and San Roque.

The reader will notice a great difference between the Magdalo and Magdiwang Councils, in spite of their common objective:
liberation of the Motherland from the tyranny of Spain.

The Magdiwang Council headed by Andres Bomifaciohad the tendency to become monarchial in form. Even the terms used had
the flavors of monarchism. The terms – king and ministers – remind one of the monarchical forms of government.

On the other hand, the Magdalo Council was Republican in form. We used the term Magdalo which we got from our miraculous
patron saint of Cavite el Viejo, the Lady of Magdalene, and also because of our principle to help those in need.

The Magdalo Council moved to the hacienda in Imus because Cavite el Viejo was constantly under cannon fire from the enemy.

The Magdalo Council, which had democratic tendencies, was headed by the following officers:

President …………………………………………… General Baldomera Aguinaldo

Vice-President………………………………………….. Edilberto Evangelista
Secretary of war ……………………………… General Candido Tria Terona
Secretary of Interior ……………………………… Felix Cuenca
Secretary of Natural Resources ……………… Glicerio Topacio
Secretary of Agriculture …………………………. Cayetano Topacio
Lieutenant General
(Flag Bearer) ……………………………………….. General Emilio Aguinaldo

The towns under their control were Cavite el Viejo, Imus, Dasmariñas, Silang, Amadeo, Mendez Nuñez, Bacoor, and Carmona.
The MagdiwangCouncil was very lucky for it figured in only one battle from the time war was declared until April, 1897. This was
the victory at Dalahikan, Noveleta, where many Spaniards were killed and 100 guns captured. Credit for this victory goes to
Generals Pascual Alvarez, Mariano Riego de Dios, Santiago Alavarez, and Aguedo Montoya Captain Francisco Montoya and
others.

The Magdalo Council had already many bloody encounters and almost every day the towns under its control were bombarded
by the enemy.

Four days later, Major Gregorio Jocson with his troops from Naic arrived at Pasong Santol to join our forces. They left the
Magdiwang faction because there was no fighting at their place.

We had a lull the next two weeks because the Spanish forces did not molest us. During this time we lengthened our trenches to
three kilometers. We also learned from the eight men from the Spanish camp who voluntarily joined us that our successive
battles plus the counterattack at Salitran caused Governor General Polavieja’s illness and subsequent resignation. Pending the
arrival of Governor General Fernando Primo de Rivera, the new governor general, General Lachambre temporarily took over.

One sad news that reached us during this the death of Colonel Mariano Yengko who was killed in action during the battle on the
western pairies of Pasong Santol. His body was brought to Imus where he was accorded a military burial on March 1, 1897.

The dangers of the times and a surprise attack by the enemy kept me worried, so much that I did not even have the time to visit
my family or the headquarters of Magdalo Council. I did not even remember it was my birthday on March 22.
My Election to the Presidency

WHILE I was busy supervising the building of our defenses at Pasong Santol in Dasmariñas, a group of cavalry soldiers headed by
Colonel Vicente Riego de Dios of Magdiwang Council arrived to tell me that I had been elected the head of the government as a
result of the Magdiwang and the Magdalo factions.

The fallowing is their narration of the results of the national meeting presided over by Supremo Andres Bonifacio. In the
election for the President of the Revolutionary Government, Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo do were nominated. Emilio
Aguinaldo won. For the Vice-President, Andres Bonifacio was again nominated, but his own Minister of Justice, Gen. Mariano
Trias, defeated him.
For the position of Captain General, Captain General Santiago Alvarez and General Artemio Ricarte were nominated. General
Ricarte won, but he objected on the ground that he thought he was not capable. However, his objection was overruled and he
was not capable. However, his objection was overruled and he was proclaimed shortly after.

For Secretary of War, Andres Bonifacio was nominated for the third time, but General Emiliano Riego de Dios beat him.

For Secretary of Interior, Bonifacio was again nominated. His opponents were Ministers Diego Mojica and Severino de las Alas.
This time he won and everybody began congratulating him. But General Daniel Tirona objected to his election on the ground
that Bonifacio was not a lawyer and proposed that the position be given instead to Jose del Rosario, a lawyer from Tanza.
Although the motion was not seconded and therefore was invalid, Andres Bonifacio stood up and said, “Did we not agree from
the beginning that whoever among us was elected in this meeting will be recognized and respected by everybody?”
“Yes, sir,” the assembly agreed
“Then,” he continued, “Why is it that when I won, there was an objection?”
“Nobody seconded the motion,” reminded the group.

The Supremo was visibly angry; he pulled out his revolver and aimed at General Tirona. Had it not been for the timely
intervention of Secretary Jacinto Lumbreras and General Ricarte, General Tirona could not have been saved. Tirona disappeared
in the throng.

Although after this incident, order had been restored in the meeting, nevertheless in his bitter disappointment and anger, the
Supremo stood up and declared, “By virtue of my being head of this national meeting, I declare this election null and void.” Then
he started to leave.

Confusion reigned for a while. Thereupon, Colonel Santiago Rillo, delegate from Batangas, stood up and shouted that the
Supremo need not go for he had been proclaimed Secretary of Interior. Moreover, the motion of General Tirona was not valid
since it was not seconded. The Supremo left and proceeded to Malabon.

Delegate Rillo turned to the assembly and asked them if they wanted to continue the meeting. He would act as the presiding
officer. The crowd consented, so the meeting was resumed. The delegates then reiterated their respect for the elected officials
and appointed a commission headed by Colonel Vicente Riego de Dios to apprise General Emilio Aguinaldo of his election as
President of the new Revolutionary government and to fetch him immediately so he could take his oath of office.
The meeting was temporarily adjourned while they waited anxiously the appearance of General Emilio Aguinaldo.

After this story of Colonel Vicente Riego de Dios, I said:

I am very happy that at last the two factions are united. This was the suggestion of General Baldomero Aguinaldo on December
28, 1896, but since the Magdiwang faction did not want to elect the head of the revolutionary Government, but rather to
appoint Supremo Andres Bonifacio to this position, nothing was accomplished. I am indeed grateful that the Supremo had
changed his mind, hence this election. I thank you for having elected me to this position, and I hope that with God’s help and
your help we shall succeed.

I believe this union is rather late because our enemy has already defeated us and right now the towns of Silang and Dasmariñas
are in the hands of the enemy.

I am sorry, however, that I cannot grant your request to take me with you. How can I leave now when we are actually facing the
enemy? Ten thousand armed men are coming towards us. I am sorry, but my personal interests can never go above those of the
Mother Country.
As the commission was greatly disappointed, it left without a single word.
Then at two o’clock in the afternoon, more cavalry men headed by General Crispulo Aguinaldo, my eldest brother, arrived. As
head of the delegation he addressed me thus:

My dear President and brother: I know that you are in a dilemma regarding these two great problems in our country. You have
to choose between remaining here to defend this section of the country and that of taking your oath of office as head of the
Revolutionary Government. But if you will heed my advice, I shall ask you to respond to the call of the Revolutionary
Government by taking the oath of office. The people await you anxiously and your acceptance will strengthen greatly our bid for
freedom.

I was requested to fetch you and I promised the assembly that I will do my best to persuade you to go and entrust your job here
to me. I will do my best to thwart the attempt of the enemy to penetrate our defenses. It can do this only over my dead body.
So, my dear brother, please go with these men and leave your troops under my care. I must remind you that you were elected
on March 22, your birthday, which seems to point that it is God’s will that you lead this struggle for freedom for our Motherland.
I was persuaded, so I left the troops under my brother’s care and proceeded to the assembly at the house on the hacienda in
Tejeros. When we arrived, we found the house closed because the Supremo did not want us to use it. We were advised to move
the assembly either to the convent of Tanza or Santa Cruz, Malabon, upon the invitation of Father Cennon Fernandez.

We went to Tanza where we were warmly received. I was greeted by Colonel Rillo on behalf of the assembly, followed by the
Vice-President, General Mariano Trias, and the secretary of war, General Emiliano Riego de Dios. The only one absent was
General Artemio Ricarte who, according to the news received, was afraid of the Supremo.

At about seven o’ clock in the evening before a crucifix, General Mariano Trias, General Emiliano Riego de Dios, and I took our
oaths of office, one after the other. Colonel Santiago Rillo, head of the national meeting, presided over the ceremonies.

At about ten o’ clock that night, General Ricarte arrived. But he refused to take his oath of office until Secretary Riego de Dios
somehow persuaded him. So amidst the joy and shouting of all those present, General Ricarte was sworn in.

After the oath-taking rites that same evening, I called my companions – General Mariano Trias and Riego de Dios – and General
Artemio Ricarte to a meeting. I told them of the need for the Lieutenant-in-command in every town not actually in battle to
come to Tanza and help General Crispulo Aguinaldo in Pasong Santol.

I had barely made this suggestion when General Artemio Ricarte stood up and said he was feeling dizzy. So he went out without
biding goodbye. I was amazed at such behavior from a general of our army! However, I did mind it. The two other generals gave
me all the support I needed and followed my suggestions. That night dispatches were sent to all the troops of the Magdiwang
group.

At ten o’ clock of the next morning, March 23, I was very happy to see a battalion under the command of Major Andres
Villanueva from Naic responds to our request. So I sent Lieutenant Villanueva and his men immediately to General Crispulo
Aguinaldo.

It was noon of March 24 when I Received news at Tanza that the Supremo and his ministers, including General Artemio Ricarte,
met in council on the morning of march23 and passed a resolution declaring null and void the general meeting held on March
22 in Tejeros, Malabon.

Instead of going after Bonifacio and his cohorts since I had the power to do so, I chose to ignore them. I patiently accepted this
difficult situation so that petty jealousies and recriminations of brother against brother be stopped.
After all, one by one, troops from Ternate, Maragondon, Magallanes, and other towns arrived. I sent them all to Pasong Santol
to join the forces of General Crispulo Aguinaldo.

But what a bitter disappointment and sorrow we had when we learned that our troops bound for Pasong Santol were all
intercepted by General Ricarte, upon orders of the Supremo. They were gathered at the big yard of Mrs. Estefania Potente in
Malabon where the Supremo ordered them to wait for the enemy. They were also instructed to kidnap me on my way to Imus.
When I learned about this plot, I heaved I sigh and said, “Our Revolution is bound to fail because of the selfishness and
vindictiveness of one person.” General Trias suggested that I order the arrest of the traitors.
On the night of March 25, like a thunderbolt, the news came that Pasong Santol had been taken by the enemy and the Spanish
flag raised in victory, but only after General Crispulo Aguinaldo, my brother died fighting as he had vowed.
To my mind, such a disaster could have been averted had not Andres Bonifacio asked General Artemio Ricarte to intercept our
reinforcement to Pasong Santol. This is a black spot of the history of our struggle for independence which I can never forget.

I Returned to Imus

IN THE face of these events, especially our defeat at Pasong Santol caused by the failure of the Magdiwang troops to help, I was
plunged into deep thinking about the fate of our Revolution. I had to go over the events with regret and remorse. Added to this
depressing state of affairs was the news that the Supremo had ordered my capture on my way home to Pasong Santol.

This was perhaps the reason for gathering in his big yard my troops who were to reinforce Pasong Santol. It was not illogical to
conclude that perhaps the plan of Andres Bonifacio was not merely to cripple the forces of General Crispulo Aguinaldo, but also
to make my capture easy. The Magdiwang troops new that when I took my oath of office. I had with me only Benito Ylapit, my
cousin, who carried my rifle.

The plot did not bother me very much as my main concern was to reach Imus so I could pick up the Revolution from where it fell
and carry our cause through.

In returning the fir, the men of Colonel Bonson killed Colonel Bonifacio and wounded some soldiers and Supremo whose wound
necessitated his immediate transfer to Naic on a hammock.

On the morning of April 29, 1897, the troops led by Colonels Bonson, Pava, and Topacio returned to Naic with their captives
headed by Andres and Procopio Bonifacio. They were taken to the tribunal first before medical treatment was given to them in
the convent.
I summoned Generals Emiliano Riego de Dios, Baldomero Aguinaldo, and Tomas Mascardo and we chose the officials to
compose the tribunal or military court to try Bonifacio brothers. The capture of the Supremo by Colonels Bonson, Topacio, and
Pawa and the immediate surrender of his troops averted unnecessary bloodshed and killing on both sides. It was a good thing,
too, that General Ricarte and his troops were not there then.

The Military Court

THE GENERALS whom I consulted regarding the creation of a military court were all against this plan. They thought that such
court was unnecessary for two reason; first, because we were in a state of war, and, secondly, because we were harassed by the
enemy at many points almost every day.

At the meeting, the generals drew up five serious charges against the Bonifacio brothers. These charges and their attempt to
subvert the interest of the revolutionary Government, if prove, were sufficient to warrant the death penalty for them. The
charges were: (1) the anonymous letter accusing me of an alleged plot to surrender to General Lachambre, (2) there plan to
establish another government, (3) there plan to liquidate me, (4) the escape of the brothers and General Ricarte to evade
responsibility for their acts, and (5) derelictions of duty for refusing to fight for their country.

My generals wanted Andress and Procopio Bonifacio shot to death without the benefit of trial. As this matter involved the lights
of two men, I listened carefully and weighed their arguments. I notice that they were very sad about the whole thing. After a
few minutes, I said: “I am very sorry to differ with your opinion on the matter. I believe that even if we are in a state of war, it is
absolutely necessary that we act like prudent and civilized human beings. The life of a person, no matter who he is, needs be
respected. I don’t think it is right to have anyone, especially our brothers, shot just like animals. Whatever their crimes are, they
should be entitled to a fair trial. While it is true that ordinary laws are suspended during war time it is equally true that we
follow laws during war. We have the military courts to render justice.”

After my explanation, everyone was silent. So I directed General Mariano Noriel to create the court at once. I appointed
Colonnel Jose Lipana as presiding judge; Colonnel Jose Elises, fiscal; Colonnels Placido Martinez and Teodoro Gonzales (one
secretary of the Supremo), defense counsels for the Bonifacio brothers. I instructed the court to be lenient because they were
merely following their superior’s orders. The court started the trial at Naic, but later moved to Maragondon.

Enemy Attack on Naic

A PEACEFUL month had barely past when suddenly Timalan, a barrio of Naic, was attacked by thousand cazadores belongin to
Infantry Battalion 14 under the leadership of General Don Fernando Primo de Rivera, successor of Captain General Camilo de
Polaviej. Probably the bloody fight at the river was just a feeler to determine the strength of our defenses at Naic.
The Spaniards once more showed their bravery and courage in facing our soldiers who showed equal valor and determination.
After the enemy had crossed the river and met our men, it realized that to go further was useless, so it retreated. Most of the
dead were carried away by the tide. Our booty consisted of 100 Mauser and Remington guns, ammunition, and plenty of food.
We learned later that the enemy was part of Battalion 14.

About and followed us to Maragondon, leaving their homes behind. The number grew as in a procession because everyone we
passed by joined the group.

When we reached the town, more people welcomed us the women even wept with joy. This was the second time that I was
rumored to be dead. The first one was rumored to be dead. The first one was on September 13, 1896, after the bloody battle
Bacoor.
In the midst of this happiness, I disclosed to the people my determination to dfia at Naic, but by streak at fortune, an “eagle
man” in the person of General Mariano Riego de Dios snatched me from sure death with his sharp “talons.”

“Do you think,” I asked, “that is rescue was an act of the Almighty Who had to save me to carry on our fight for independence?”

Then I expressed to them my gratitude for the wonderful gesture they had showered on us which was a fitting evidence of their
believf in the mission of Revolution. I made special tribute to the wonderful hospitality of the townspeople, a trait that has
made the Filipinos famous all over the world.
In all my moments of rest, one thought had always haunted me: the realization that I was facing that would be the fate of our
country in case of defeat? We were at the remotest town of Cavite. It was the last stronghold of the province. How could I
prevent an onslaught by the enemy? This problem was foremost in my mind, and it seemed hopeless to resist.

Thereupon, I thought of building trenches again in Maragondon. With the help of Riego de Dios brothers – Generals Emiliano
and Mariano – who were both from Maragondon, Colonel Riel, and the other officials of the town, we constructed the trenches
in a very short time.

Death of the Bonifacio Brothers

AFTER a detailed and careful trial by the military court composed of seven members headed by General Mariano Noriel, the two
Bonifacio brothers were found guilty of disloyalty to and treachery against the revolutionary Government as well as the sedition
and rebellion. Having established their guilt beyond reasonable doubt, the court unanimously imposed the death sentence on
them.

The decision was referred to me as head of Revolutionary Government and military commander. When I learned of the decision,
pity for two former comrades seized my heart. In this connection, I have to mention here that ever since my early childhood,
and even in school, I never had any enemy. I never thought that in that in this struggle against Spain, I would have an enemy and
a Filipino at that!
By virtue of my power as head of the revolutionary movement, I ordered Colonel Pedro Lipana, the presiding judge, to ask the
military court to relax the penalty on the brothers. My reasons were pity, my desire to preserve the unity of the Filipinos and,
above all because I did not want to shed the blood of other revolutionists. I therefore suggested that the brothers be banished
to Pico de Loro, a mountain quite far but still within Cavite.

Upon learning of my wish, Generals Pio del Pilar and Mariano Noriel rushed back to me.
“Our dear general,” General Pio del Pilar began, “the crimes committed by the two brothers, Andres and Procopio, are of
common knowledge, If you want to live a little longer and continue the task that you have so nobly begun, and if you want
peace and order in our Revolutionary Government, do not show them any mercy. Recall your order because what these two
brother had committed treachery to our country. By means of an anonymous letter, we are led astray so that we agreed to put
your government down and establish a new one. It was a good thing you can upon us in that secret meeting at the hacienda,
otherwise, you and I would not be alive today. They named the commanding general of the revolutionary forces and left
everything in my hands to bind the two armies by whatever means. We further agreed that should anyone found guilty of
treason, he should be given capital punishment. This we swore to follow till death.”
“I took the same oath,” interrupted General Mariano Noriel. “If you want the goal of Revolution to be fulfilled, and if you wish to
live some more years, don’ show mercy on the brothers, because their main aim is to liquidate you by all means. I think the
military court was right in giving them capital punishment.”

And they added, “General, if you will allow Andres Bonifacio to leave, the cause of the revolution will be in danger. We cannot
afford to be divided, especially in these critical moments.”
Besides these two generals many people, most of them former followers of Andres Bonifacio came to me to dissuade me from
my decision of relaxing the sentence on them. Because of their explanations and requests, plus the strong evidence to prove
their criminal acts. I rescinded my order. Thereupon, General Mariano Noriel ordered major Lazaro Macapagal to bring with him
a squad of soldiers to fetch the prisoners and carry out the punishment originally imposed by the military court.

Very early on the morning of May 10, 1897, Major Macapagal and his men took the prisoners to Mount Tala where they were
shot.

As I was busy leading the fight against the enemy in Maragondon, I did not learn of the execution of the Bonifacio brothers until
days later.