Andrés Bonifacio (November 30, 1863 – May 10, 1897) was a leader of the Philippine Revolution and president of the short-lived Philippine government, the Republic of Tagalog.
Through his work, Bonifacio helped free the Philippines from Spanish colonial rule. His story is still remembered by Filipinos today.
Quick Fact: Andrés Bonifacio
- Notable personality: Leader of the Philippine Revolution
- 又名: Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro
- Born: Born November 30, 1863 in Manila, Philippines
- Parents: Santiago Bonifacio and Catalina de Castro
- Died: May 10, 1897, Malagaunden, Philippines
- Spouse: Monica of Palomar (m. 1880-1890), Gregoria de Jesús (m. 1893-1897)
- Children: Andrés de Jesús Bonifacio, Jr
Early life
Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro was born in Tondo, Manila, on November 30, 1863. His father, Santiago, was a tailor, local politician and boatman who ran a river ferry. His mother, Catalina de Castro, worked in a cigarette factory.
The couple worked very hard to provide for Andrés and his five younger siblings, but Catalina fell ill with tuberculosis and died in 1881. The following year, Santiago also fell ill.
At the age of 19, Bonifacio was forced to abandon his plans for higher education and began working full-time to support his younger siblings, who had lost both parents. He worked as a broker or agent for local raw materials such as tar and rattan at the British trading company JM Fleming & Co. He later moved to the German company Fressell & Co., where he worked as a bodeguero or grocer.
Family life
The tragic family history of Bonifacio's youth seems to have accompanied him into adulthood. He was married twice, but had no surviving children at the time of his death.
His first wife, Monica, was from the Palomar community in Bakul. She died young of leprosy (Hansen's disease).
Bonifacio's second wife, Gregoria de Jesus, was from Metro Manila's Calookan area.
They married when he was 29 and she was 18; Their only child, a son, died in infancy.
Establishment of Katipunan
In 1892, Bonifacio joined José Rizal in the organization of La Liga Philippines, which called for the reform of the Spanish colonial regime in the Philippines.
However, the group met only once, as Spanish officials arrested Rizal immediately after the first meeting and deported him to the southern island of Mindanao.
After Rizal was arrested and deported, Bonifacio and others revived La Liga to continue pressure on the Spanish government to release the Philippines.
However, he founded a group called Katipunan with his friends Ladislao Diwa and Teodoro Plata.
Katipunan or Kataastaasang Kagalannalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (literally "the highest and most respected society for the country's children") worked to armed resistance to the colonial government. The Katipunan group, which consisted mainly of lower-middle class people, soon established regional branches in several provinces in the Philippines.
In 1895, Bonifacio became the supreme leader or Presidente Supreme of Katipunan. Together with his friends Emilio Jacinto and Pio Valenzuela, Bonifacio published a newspaper called Kalayaan, or "Freedom."
In 1896, under Bonifacio's leadership, Katipunan's membership grew from about 300 to more than 30,000. With belligerence sweeping the country and the multi-island network in place, Bonifacio's group was ready to start fighting for freedom from Spain.
Philippine Revolution
In the summer of 1896, the Spanish colonial government began to realize that the Philippines was on the brink of resistance. On August 19, authorities arrested hundreds of people and imprisoned them on charges of treason in an attempt to preemptively strike. Some of the people who were swept away did participate in the campaign, but many did not.
Among those arrested was Jose Rizal, who was waiting on a ship in Manila Bay to go to sea to Cuba to work as a military doctor (as part of his plea agreement with the Spanish government in exchange for his release from a prison in Mindanao) Bonifacio and two friends dressed as sailors boarded the boat in an attempt to convince Rizal to escape with them, but he refused. He was later tried and executed in a Spanish court.
Bonifacio led thousands of his followers to tear up their community tax certificates (cedulas) to kick off the rebellion. This shows their refusal to pay more taxes to the Spanish colonial regime.
Bonifacio, who proclaimed himself president and commander-in-chief of the Philippine revolutionary government, declared the country's independence from Spain on August 23. He issued a manifesto on August 28, 1896, calling for "all towns to revolt simultaneously against Manila" and sent generals to lead the rebel attack.
Attack on San Juan del Monte
Bonifacio himself led an attack on the town of San Juan del Monte, intending to seize Manila's metro water station and powder depot from the Spanish garrison. Despite outnumbering them, the Spanish army inside managed to stop Bonifacio's forces until reinforcements arrived.
Bonifacio was forced to retreat to Marikina, Montalban, and San Mateo; His group suffered heavy casualties. Elsewhere, other Katipunan groups attacked Spanish forces around Manila. By early September, the revolution had spread throughout the country.
The fighting intensified
As Spain withdrew all resources to defend the capital, Manila, rebel groups elsewhere began sweeping away the symbolic resistance left behind by Spain. The group of Cavite (a peninsula south of the capital that juts into the Bay of Manila) had the greatest success in expelling the Spaniards.
Cavite's rebels were led by an upper-class politician named Emilio Aguinaldo. By October 1896, Aguinaldo's army controlled most of the peninsula.
Bonifacio led a faction independent of Morong about 35 miles east of Manila. A third group, led by Mariano Llanera, was stationed in Brakan, north of the capital. Bonifacio appointed generals to establish bases in the mountains throughout Luzon.
Despite his earlier military defeats, Bonifacio personally led the attacks on Marikina, Montalbán and San Mateo. Although he initially succeeded in driving the Spaniards out of these towns, they quickly recaptured them, and he nearly killed Bonifacio when a bullet passed through his collar.
Competition with Aguinaldo
Aguinaldo's faction in Cavite is competing with a second rebel group led by Bonifacio's wife, Gregoria de Jesus' uncle. As a more successful military leader and a member of a wealthier, more influential family, Emilio Aguinaldo saw reason to form his own rebel government against Bonifacio's.
On March 22, 1897, Aguinaldo rigged the election at the rebels' Congress of Tejeros to show that he was the right president for the revolutionary government.
To Bonifacio's shame, he not only ceded the presidency to Aguinaldo, but was also appointed to the humble post of Minister of the Interior.
When Daniel Tirona even questioned Bonifacio's suitability for the job because he didn't have a college education, the humiliated former president pulled out a gun and could have killed Tirona if bystanders hadn't stopped him.
Trial and death
After Emilio Aguinaldo "won" Tejeros' rigged election, Bonifacio refused to recognize the new rebel government. Aguinaldo sent men to arrest Bonifacio. The opposition leader did not realize they were malicious and allowed them to enter his camp. They shot down his brother Ciriaco, beat his brother Procopio severely and, according to some reports, raped his young wife, Gregoria.
Aguinaldo put Bonifacio and Procopio on trial for treason and sedition.
After a day of fake trials, in which defense lawyers pleaded guilty rather than defending them, both were convicted and sentenced to death.
Aguinaldo commuted his sentence on May 8, but then reinstated the death penalty. On May 10, 1897, Procopio and Bonifacio were likely shot by firing squad at Mount Nagpatong. Some accounts say that Bonifacio was too weak to stand due to untreated war wounds and was actually hacked to death on a stretcher. He was only 34 years old.
heritage
As the first self-proclaimed president of the independent Philippines and the first leader of the Philippine Revolution, Bonifacio is a pivotal figure in Philippine history. However, his exact legacy has been the subject of debate among Filipino scholars and citizens.
Jose Rizal is best known as the "national hero of the Philippines", although he advocated reforming Spanish colonial rule in a more pacifist way.
Aguinaldo is often considered the first president of the Philippines, although Bonifacio received the title before Aguinaldo. Some historians believe that Bonifacio was snubbed and should be the leader of the country along with Rizal.
However, Bonifacio, like Rizal, enjoys a national holiday on his birthday. November 30 is Bonifacio Day in the Philippines.
source
- Bonifacio, Andres. "The Writings and Trials of Andrés Bonifacio." Manila: University of the Philippines, 1963.
- Konstantino, Letizia. "Philippines: Revisiting the Past". Manila: Tara Publishing Services, 1975.
- Eletta, Reinaldo Klemena. "Filipinos and Their Revolution: Events, Discourses, and Historiography". Manila: Ateneo Manila University Press, 1998.78