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SS110 Position Paper (The Tejeros Convent)

The document discusses the Tejeros Convention of 1897, which was an assembly of the Magdalo and Magdiwang councils that aimed to settle disputes between them and elect officials for the Philippine Republic. It resulted in an unexpected outcome when Andres Bonifacio was humiliated after winning the position of Secretary of the Interior, as Daniel Tirona objected that the position should not be held by an illiterate person. This marked the beginning of conflicts that led to Bonifacio's death. The document argues that the election was unfair to Bonifacio and that he deserved respect for his accomplishments, despite his lack of formal education.

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Erika Noreen Dela Rosa
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357 views3 pages

SS110 Position Paper (The Tejeros Convent)

The document discusses the Tejeros Convention of 1897, which was an assembly of the Magdalo and Magdiwang councils that aimed to settle disputes between them and elect officials for the Philippine Republic. It resulted in an unexpected outcome when Andres Bonifacio was humiliated after winning the position of Secretary of the Interior, as Daniel Tirona objected that the position should not be held by an illiterate person. This marked the beginning of conflicts that led to Bonifacio's death. The document argues that the election was unfair to Bonifacio and that he deserved respect for his accomplishments, despite his lack of formal education.

Uploaded by

Erika Noreen Dela Rosa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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We all know that history is the study of life about our society in the past, in all

it's aspect, in relation to present developments and to the future. It is the story of man
in time, an inquiry into the past based on evidence presented given that have
undergone validation to be proven true. In the Philippines, we have a lot of important
events that made a significant impact into how we live our lives in the present time.
One of this important historical event was the Tejeros Convention, which marks the first
presidential election recorded in the history of the Philippines. Based on Santiago
Alvarez' account, the Memoirs of a General, stated that the Tejeros Assembly was
convened wherein two rival councils, the Magdiwang and Magdalo discussed their
issues regarding to what kind of government they should establish and a strong and
united party to rule the whole islands.

According to the account of Santiago Virata Alvarez, also known as General Apoy
who is a member of Katipunan secret society and remained magdiwang faction together
with Supremo Andres Bonifacio and others. The councils of Magdalo and Magdiwang
met at the estate house in Tejeros on March 25, 1897. This assembly aimed to settle
the dispute of Magdalo and Magdiwang councils, decide what type of government
should be installed and elect the sets of officials for the Philippine Republic. This is one
of the significant events in our history that marks a question to the minds of the Filipino
people regarding who really was the First President of our Republic, debated by many,
and allows present people to know and evaluate what really happened before and this
what makes Tejeros convention or assembly significant even in this modern times.

How ironic it was when the purpose of the assembly have change into an
unexpected outcome when a conflict between Andres Bonifacio and Daniel Tirona was
formed after Bonifacio won the position for the Secretary of the Interior. Tirona went
against the initial agreement regarding the majority votes which humiliated Bonifacio.
Tirona said that it should not be occupied by an illiterate person or someone who
doesn’t possess a lawyer’s diploma. That statement of Tirona left Bonifacio severely
humiliated in front of the council.

Moreover, Tirona is an alumnus of a well-known University and was considered


as educated however his actions and words towards Bonifacio was worst than an
uneducated person while Bonifacio on the otherhand had little formal education. He
was then a messenger and a warehouse keeper before he was involved in a
revolutionary activity yet despite of Bonifacios’ uncertainties, he grew up as a veracious
reader. He became the founder of the Katipunan in Manila and was later dispensed
throughout the central Luzon, islands of Panay, Mindoro and Mindanao with over
100,000 members. He too led the insurrection on Luzon in 1896 but the Spanish troops
defeated his battalion then he was mandated to retreat to Montalban. Nevertheless of
his educational attainment, Bonifacio founded the Kataastaasan, Kagalanggalangang
Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan which aims to acquire liberty from the Spaniards. He
deserves to be respected even for being just a person regardless of his short comings in
life. He deserves an apology from Tirona for maligning and insulting him being the
secretary of the Interior.

For us, the election was indeed unfair for Bonifacio for the people did not just
disregarded his supremacy over Katipunan for a long period of time, but also disgraced
him for being not able to finish school which is a social discrimination and not part of
the said agreement. We believe that being educated is one of ways to become a leader
and could contribute a great change in the society. But not being able to go or finish
school doesn't mean that Supremo Bonifacio doesn't have the ability to lead the people
way the back then knowing the fact that he lead the Katipunan for how many years.
There would be a chance that if Bonifacio didn't act the way he did and talk with them
in a nice way, maybe the other way around have happen. But knowing the fact that he
is only a human being that can't control his emotions because of the inequality for his
part, maybe we as an ordinary people will do the same way he did.

If Tejeros Convention did not take place, Andres Bonifacio would have been the
first president of the Philippines and had not died in a disgraceful manner. He deserved
more than just being a Director of the Interior. He deserved to be the leader still of the
Katipunan that he founded. But with his death, this meant also the death of Katipunan.
The Tejeros Convention was an election deprived of equality and full of unjustifiable
acts. It did not valued integrity but favored biases just like the political elections we
have nowadays.

There will always be questions on the integrity when it comes to elections. No


matter how rigid the process of an election is, you will still have a question in the back
of your mind, whether or not your vote had been counted properly. Even though
decades have already passed, we are still uncertain and unsure of the truth behind the
Tejeros Convention, and even about the death of Bonifacio. But we know one thing is
for sure, Andres Bonifacio did not deserve to be mistreated and discriminated just
because of his lack of a good quality education. As what was stated and discussed
earlier, we firmly believe that even though Bonifacio wasn’t able to study in a
prestigious and known university or institution, he still valued education the same way
as a proper and formal student would. He had his own way of educating himself. He
still deserves to be respected and accepted because of his character, especially his
integrity, honesty, and determination to lead. But the people, especially Tirona, wasn’t
able to see that in him, despite the noble and honorable character Bonifacio has, he still
became a victim of injustice. Injustice that is still prevalent in our modern time now. But
we are confident that the truth will always prevail.

To quote by Jean Racine “There are no secrets that time does not reveal.”

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