EMILIO AGUINALDO, MGA GUNITA

NG HIMAGSIKAN
HENERAL EMILIO AGUINALDO
Emilio Famy Aguinaldo Sr. was born on March 22,
1869 in Cavite el Viejo (present-day Kawit), in Cavite
province, to Carlos Jamir Aguinaldo and Trinidad
Famy-Aguinaldo, a Tagalog Chinese mestizo couple
who had eight children, the seventh of whom was
Emilio Sr. The Aguinaldo family was quite well-to- do,
as his father, Carlos J. Aguinaldo was the community's
appointed gobernadorcillo (municipal governor) in the
Spanish colonial administration and his grandparents
Eugenio K. Aguinaldo and Maria Jamir-Aguinaldo. He
studied at Colegio de San Juan de Letran but wasn't
able to finish his studies due to outbreak of cholera in
1882.
Emilio became the "Cabeza de Barangay" of
Binakayan, a chief barrio of Cavite el Viejo,
when he was only 17 years old to avoid
conscription. In 1895 the Maura Law that
called for the reorganization of local
governments was enacted. At the age of
25, Aguinaldo became Cavite el Viejo's first
"gobernadorcillo capitan municipal"
(Municipal Governor- Captain) while on a
business trip in Mindoro.
Emilio Aguinaldo was born in Kawit,
Cavite, on March 22, 1869. If he were
alive today, it would be his 148th birthday.
As we all know, he lived a very long life
and died at 94 of coronary thrombosis in
Veterans Memorial Hospital (now Veterans
Memorial Medical Center) in Quezon City
where he was confined for 469 days
before his death. Hounded by controversy
to his deathbed, the last issue that swirled
around him was whether he died a
Catholic or not .
REVOLUTIONARY AND POLITICAL CAREER
3.1Philippine Revolution and battles
3.2Battle of Imus
3.3Twin battles of Binakayan-Dalahican
3.4Battle of Zapote Bridge
3.5Spanish Cavite offensive and the Battle of Perez
Dasmariñas
3.6Tejeros Convention and the execution of
Bonifacio
3.7Retreat to Montalban
3.8Biak-na-Bato
3.9Return to the Philippines and Philippine
Declaration of Independence
Newspaper photos of the aged Aguinaldo
receiving communion from a hospital
chaplain were presented as proof he had
returned to the Church. But this did not
sway others who claimed that he didn’t
know what was being put in his mouth, or
that he was tricked into receiving the host,
thinking it was his medication.
A year before his death Aguinaldo donated his
Kawit mansion and all its contents to the
government. It is now under the care of the
National Historical Commission of the Philippines
and known as the Emilio Aguinaldo Shrine. Unlike
the Jose Rizal Shrine in Calamba, Laguna, or the
Juan Luna Shrine in Badoc, Ilocos Norte, both
modern reproductions, the Emilio Aguinaldo
Shrine is all original and provides visitors with a
sense of how Aguinaldo spent his last years.
The original house of wood with a
thatch roof is no more because
Aguinaldo expanded it into the present
mansion that includes the iconic
“Independence Balcony” added on the
original window where the Declaration
of Independence was read on June 12,
1898.
Aguinaldo’s elegant home has a number of
secret passageways that allowed him to go
in and out of the house without being seen
by visitors: A cabinet turns to reveal a
passage into the bedroom; the floor on the
side of the bathroom can be lifted to reveal
a staircase down to the ground-floor
swimming pool and bowling alley; a heavy
stone table in the center of the kitchen
covers a tunnel that allegedly led to either
the nearby church or the town cemetery.
All these architectural and design
details of the house unfortunately
overshadow the work that has to be
done in the home library filled with old
books, magazines, newspaper clippings
and, perhaps, some unpublished
manuscripts that await young and
curious historians.
Aguinaldo scribbled a lot in his old age. Between
1928 and 1946, he produced in long hand the first
volume of his memoirs, “Mga Gunita ng
Himagsikan (1964),” translated from the original
Tagalog as “Memoirs of the Revolution” (1967). In
his preface Aguinaldo says the memoirs were
based on a diary he kept, documents he preserved,
and family lore gathered from his elders. We do not
know whether this diary is extant or whether a
promised second volume of the memoirs were fully
written out. All we have is an account from his birth
and early years, ending with the 1897 Treaty of
Biak-na-Bato.
The second volume would cover the resumption of
the Philippine Revolution against Spain and the
Philippine-American War. Aguinaldo wanted to
correct history by making reference to the historian’s
confused accounts on the beginning of the
Revolution: “Except for those that were written, other
details had been forgotten. Many details showed
inconsistencies because not all sources were
documented for lack of reliable references. For
instance, the right day of the First Cry of Balintawak
could not be ascertained. Some say this took place
on August 23, 1896 at the old Bonifacio Monument
in Balintawak, others claim it happened on August
24, 1896. . . . we now have too many markers for a
single event.”
The date we use in our textbooks and official
commemorations was chosen by the National
Historical Commission over other dates (in August
and Sept. 5, 1896) presented by other sources.
Aguinaldo stated that this event took place in
Balintawak, but the late historian Teodoro A.
Agoncillo took the word of Pio Valenzuela and argued
for Pugadlawin. Aside from these two places, the
other contenders are: Kangkong, Bahay Toro, Pasong
Tamo, Pacpac Lawin and, if we are to believe in
komiks, Pugad Baboy.
It may add more confusion to our
history, but someone should track
down Volume 2 of Aguinaldo’s
memoirs, his diary and other papers.
These are probably tucked away in
some secret compartment or
forgotten drawer in the Aguinaldo
Shrine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilio_Aguin aldo
http://opinion.inquirer.net/102649/aguinald os-
missing-memoirs
THANK YOU!!!
MABUHAY!!!