Andrés Bonifacio

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Andres Bonifacio

Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro (born November 30, 1863 in Tondo , Manila , † May 10, 1897 in Maragondon , Cavite ) was one of the founders of Katipunan , an organization that had set itself the goal of independence of the Philippines from Spanish rule . He was also an influential leader of the Philippine Revolution in the late 19th century against the Spanish colonial rule of the Philippines . He is one of the most important national heroes of the island state and is referred to there as the "Father of the Philippine Revolution".

Early stage of life

Bonifacio was born on November 30, 1863 in Tondo, a district of Manila, as the eldest of six children. His parents were Santiago Bonifacio, a Tagalog by origin, and Catalina de Castro of Zambales , a member of the Spanish- Mestizo ethnic group. His father Santiago was cabeza de barangay , the head of the Barangay (district) of Tondo. His mother died of tuberculosis in 1881 and his father followed a year later. According to a popular anecdote, he allegedly peddled walking sticks and fans to support his family.

He later worked as a commercial clerk at a British company in Manila , then as a sales representative and also as a warehouse clerk . He married twice. His first wife was called Monica and she died early of leprosy .

He read books on the French Revolution , Les Miserables and the novels of local reformists as well as, among others, those of the later national hero José Rizal . He was a highly intellectual who owned many serious novels and political books, most of which were not written in his mother tongue. He also published countless articles and poems in the course of organizing the revolution.

He was a member of the Freemasons and belonged to the La Liga Filipina (The Philippine League) of Jose Rizal, a community that advocated reforms within Spanish colonial rule. The league disbanded immediately after Rizal's arrest and his deportation to Dapitan , one day after the group's only meeting.

The Katipunan

On the night of July 7th, 1892 (the evening of Rizal's arrest), Bonifacio founded the Katipunan , a revolutionary secret community that would later instigate the Philippine Revolution of 1896 against Spanish colonial rule.

During this time he met his second wife and the muse of Katipunan, Gregoria de Jesus, who soon became a rebel leader herself. The man on his right was Emilio Jacinto . Within the community, Bonifacio used the code name or nom de guerre Maypagasa , which translates as: There is hope .

He wrote the patriotic poem Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa ( loosely translated: Love for the Fatherland), which appeared in the first and only edition of the Katipunan magazine, Kalayaan (Freedom), and was printed by Jacinto. He was also said to be the first to translate Rizal's last work Mi Ultimo Adios (My last farewell) into the Tagalog language .

Immediately before the revolution broke out, he formed a revolutionary government called "Republika ng mga Katagalugan" ( Tagalog Republic), with him as president and supremo , the supreme leader of the council. The members of the supreme council of Katipunan formed his cabinet . It should be noted that the term “Tagalog” in this context does not mean the ethnic group, but the Filipino people as a whole.

With the establishment of the Katipunan, Andrés Bonifacio became the Father of the Revolution . An inscription Bonifacio from this period has been preserved in the Pamitinan cave .

Decline

Bonifacio's personal campaigns were not so successful. He lost every one of his battles, and all of them resulted in significant casualties and massacres. The revolutionary fighters in Cavite, under the command of officers from the upper class, such as Emilio Aguinaldo , had greater success. This group eventually sent out a manifesto that ignored the Bonifacio leadership and in turn proclaimed a revolutionary government.

On March 22, 1897 , a council meeting (now known as the Tejeros Convention) was called in Tejeros, Cavite , composed of Bonifacio's men, including two of his brothers, and members of the Magdalo and Magdiwang Groups, two rival local ones Katipunan factions to establish a united front and determine the leadership of the revolutionary movement. The Magdalo faction was led by Baldomero Aguinaldo , a cousin of Emilio Aguinaldo. In the presidential elections, the local Cavitenos voted for their compatriot Emilio Aguinaldo, who himself was not present because he was at the front. Bonifacio, who had no power in this province, was only elected Minister of the Interior.

A member of the Magdalo parliamentary group, Daniel Tirona, did not agree with the election. He loudly doubted Bonifacio's qualification for a senior position and described him as uneducated and unsuitable for this post. Bonifacio was seriously offended, especially since he had assured himself beforehand that the result of the election would be respected by everyone. Now, called upon by his authority as Supremo , the supreme leader of the Katipunan Board, he drew a pistol and began threatening his critics and nullifying the results of the Tejeros Convention. He left the event angrily. He later wrote a letter to Jacinto expressing his fears about the whole matter and accusing Tirona of having carried out black propaganda against him, suspecting other leaders as well.

It is believed that Bonifacio and his brothers then towards Batangas was traveling to another there to meet Katipunan factions that should assist in the establishment of a separate government. When the Magdalo Group found out about these plans, it caused unrest among its members. Fearing a separate counter-government on the one hand, combined with an ongoing revolution on the other, Aguinaldo ordered the establishment of Bonifacio and his brothers. The soldiers of the Magdalos caught up with Bonifacio and his followers near the town of Indang . They surrounded the house where the company was staying and called on Bonifacio and his men to lay down their arms and leave the building peacefully. Bonifacio resisted and announced that the bullets would sort the matter out. There was a period of rest that lasted until dusk.

When night fell, the soldiers approached the house and began to shoot. Bonifacio ordered his people not to return fire and called to the attackers: “Brothers, don't shoot. Tell us what you want? ”However, the soldiers advanced without answering and seized Procopio Bonifacio, Andre's brother, tied him up and knocked him down with a revolver. Ciracio Bonifacio was pushed to the ground by two other soldiers and shot. Andrés himself was injured with a dagger and knocked down by a rifle butt. Gregoria de Jesus, his wife, later reported that after her husband was captured, the officer in charge approached her to interrogate her about the whereabouts of the organization's money.

The two brothers were then brought to Naic and tried in a kangaroo court, a sham court, under the direction of General Mariano Noriel. Both were accused of high treason and sedition, and after a short trial they were sentenced to death by firing squad. In the biography of Emilio Aguinaldo it can be read that he called for this judgment to be overturned and ordered Bonifacio to be exiled to Mt. Nagpatong instead.

Major Lazaro Makapagal received the order, together with four of his men, to escort the Bonifacio brothers to this very mountain. At the beginning of the march Makapagal received a sealed envelope with the strict request not to open the envelope until they had reached the mountain. On May 10, 1897, they reached Mt. Buntis and Major Lazaro Makapagal opened the letter. Then he looked at Andres Bonifacio and his brother and read the contents out loud. Andres and Procopio were to be executed on the spot by firing squad or he himself would be shot. The message was signed by General Mariano Noriel. Makapagal stepped back and his men opened fire on the two brothers. Andres Bonifacio died at the age of just 34.

Fearing that the shots might have drawn attention to the Spanish soldiers, the soldiers quickly dug a poor pit, threw the bodies into it and covered the two bodies with twigs and branches.

Fellow patriots of the revolution later viewed this action as an ugly stain on Aguinaldo's vest. In 1918 an expedition led by a former soldier found the grave of Bonifacio. His remains were exhumed and transferred to what is now the National Museum in Manila. In 1945, towards the end of the Second World War, the building was completely destroyed in the Battle of Manila and Bonifacio's body was lost forever.

Controversy

Some historians, like Renato Constantino, see him as a winner of the masses, insulted by ambitious members of the upper class.

Others, like Gregorio Zaide, value Emilio Aguinaldo and his company higher than the Bonifacios. Glenn May even goes so far as to say that Andrés role as a national hero is largely fictional. A debate is still going on today in which some see him as the first president, even before Aguinaldo, and even consider him the most important national hero of the Philippines, even before Rizal.

Some historians believe that the events of Tejedos were intended in the first place. The upper class, represented by Aguinaldo, could only have initiated this event to wrest power from Bonifacio. (Aguinaldo and his comrades-in-arms enjoyed a higher status before the revolution, and a victory by Bonifacio was to be avoided at all costs, as he wanted to enforce the distribution of wealth and land as president.) The Tejeros Convention was supposed to move Bonifacio into the territory of the Caviteños Curls. There, the meeting was not a representative national election, as most of the participants came from Cavite and the surrounding area. Other provinces involved in the revolution such as Bulacan , Pampanga , Tarlac , Laguna and Batangas were not represented at all. Bonifacios, full of idealism, was too naive to see through the political maneuvers. Before he could leave Cavite, he was convicted and then executed for high treason.

Memorial sites and symbols

Bonifacio's birthday on November 30th is a public holiday in the Philippines and is celebrated as Bonifacio Day (in Filipino: Araw ni Bonifacio ).

There are many memorials to Andres Bonifacio all over the country these days, the two most famous being by Napoleon Abueva and Guillermo Tolentino, both Filipino artists. One of these memorials is the Bonifacio Monument in Caloocan City South. It is located in a roundabout at the northern end of the EDSA .

Furthermore, Bonifacio is depicted on the 10 peso coin together with the national hero Apolinario Mabini .

Bonifacio was portrayed by Julio Diaz in his work Bayani (Hero), a feature film that is fundamentally based on his life. The experimental author Raymond Red directed. A historical television series with the same name Bayani also tells of the life of the Katipunan founder.

Movie

In 2016, Lav Diaz processed the life of Bonifacio as an eight-hour feature film under the title Hele Sa Hiwagang Hapis (English-language festival title: A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery ).

credentials

  • Zaide, Gregorio F .: Philippine History and Government . National Bookstore Printing Press, 1984.
  • Ocampo, Ambeth. Bones of Contention: The Bonifacio Lectures
  • Agoncillo, Teodoro. The Revolt of the Masses: The Story of Bonifacio and the Katipunan
  • Constantino, Renato. The Philippines: a Past Revisited
  1. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.visitzambales.com

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personal data
SURNAME Bonifacio, Andrés
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bonifacio y de Castro, Andrés
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Filipino revolutionary and founder of the Katipunan
DATE OF BIRTH November 30, 1863
PLACE OF BIRTH Tondo , Manila
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 1897
Place of death Maragondon , Cavite