Andres Bonifacio, Unang Pangulo ng 'Pilipinas': Setting the Historiographic Record Straight (Bonifacio Series VI)

PAG natapos na ang pamamayagpag ng ilehitimong Dilaw sa paraang masidhi, maitatama na ang kasaysayan ng bayang Taga-Ilog/Pilipinas... At ipagbubunyi na ng buong Bayan na ang Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan (KKK) ang Unang (pang-Himagsikang) Pamahalaan na itinatag ni Supremo Andres Bonifacio y de Castro.


Rebolusyonaryong Pamahalaan

Nakakapagtakang ang mga Dilawan/elit na Pilipino na bilib na bilib sa imperyalistang Kalbong Agila ay ayaw paniwalaan ang Amerikanong historyador at tagapag-alaga ng "Philippine Insurgent Records" na si John R.M. Taylor na nagsabing ang Katipunan ay ang unang pamahalaang itinatag (ni Bonifacio) sa Pilipinas:

The Katipunan came out from the cover of secret designs, threw off the cloak of any other purpose, and stood openly for the independence of the Philippines. Bonifacio turned his lodges into battalions, his grandmasters into captains, and the supreme council of the Katipunan into the insurgent of the Philippines.

http://books.google.com/books?id=OOqFAAAAIAAJ&dq=editions:LCCN73171805

Ayon kay Jacinto Lumberas:

Ang Kapuluan ay pinamamahalaan na ng K.K.K. ng mga anak Anak ng Bayan, na siyang nagbukas ng Paghihimagsik; may Batas at Alintuntuning pinaiiral; sinusunod at iginagalang ng lahat sa pagtatanggol ng Kalayaan, pag-ibig sa kapatid, pag-aayos at pamamalakas ng mga Pamunuan. (The Archipelago is governed by the K.K.K. ng mga Anak ng Bayan, which initiated the Revolution: with Laws and Regulations which enforces; followed and respected by all for defending Freedom, fraternal love, constituting and consolidating the Leadership.)

http://images.cliofilipinas.multiply.multiplycontent.com/attachment/0/SShE1QoKCpEAADTSWiE1/KasPil1 M3 - Andres Bonifacio.pdf

Ang tinutukoy nila Taylor at Lumberas ay ang pagbuo ng isang panghimagsikang pamahalaan nila Bonifacio mula sa Katipunan. Noong Agosto 24, 1896, binuo ng mga pinuno ng Katipunan ang unang pamahalaang Pilipino. With Supremo Andres Bonifacio and members of the Supreme Council (Kataastaasang Kapulungan), heads of the supramunicipal (sangunian) and chapter (balangay) units of the Katipunan in attendance, the Katipuneros elected as leaders of the historic revolutionary government the following:

Andres Bonifacio - Supremo/President
Teodoro Plata - Secretary of War
Emilio Jacinto - Secretary of State
Aguedo del Rosario - Secretary of Interior
Briccio Pantas - Secretary of Justice
Enrique Pacheco - Secretary of Finance.

 http://www.ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/articles-on-c-n-a/article.php?i=5=1

Unang Pangulo

Sa pagbabago o transformation ng KKK mula sa isang pagiging lihim na panghimagsik na samahan upang maging isang bukas at de facto na pamahalaan ng mga Tagalog* (lahat ng mga katutubong/indios mamamayan ng buong kapuluan), kikilos bilang isang organisadong pamahalaan ang mga anak ng Inang Bayan upang labanan at patatalsikin ang kolonyal na Kastila. Dito, ang pinuno ay walang iba kundi si Supremo/Generalissimo /PANGULONG Andres Bonifacio.

Itong pagbuo ng panghimagsikan o rebolusyonaryong pamahalaan na ito ang basehan ng isang artikulo sa isang Kastila-Amerikanong lathain kung saan itinanghal ang isang imahe ni Bonifacio na may titulong "'Presidente' de la Republica Tagala." Moreover, the election in the newly formed Katipunan national government called the Katagalan Republic was also recorded in a 1897 work by Spanish historian Jose M.del Castillo. Writing in his "El Katipunan" or "El Filibusterismo en Filipinas," Castillo reiterated the electoral results of what was, in effect, the very first national elections in the Philippine archipelago.

Pirma ni Supremo Andres Bonifacio y de Castro bilang 
Pangulo ng Kataastaasang Kapulungan (Supreme Congress) 
ng  Haring-Bayang Katagalugan (Sovereign Tagalog Nation, or People)
Photo art: JB

Aside from the apparently very impartial, foreign sources, local evidences of the title of President held by Bonifacio exist. Sa testimonya ni Dr. Pio Valenzuela, isang dating pinuno sa KKK, sa mga Kastila, pinatotohanan niya ang paghalal kay Bonifacio bilang Pangulo o pinuno ng binuong panghimagsikang pamahalaan, kasama ng iba pang nahalal na Katipunero (partikular ang nahuling si Del Rosario na isa sa mga nahirang na isakatuparan ang panghimagsikang pamahalaan lalo ang aspetong lokal na pamamahala).  Additionally, there were the telling Katipunan/revolutionary communications dated March-April 1897 that fortunately survived and which were released by Epifanio de los Santos in the late 1980s. Said communications that included letters and other important documents pointed to Bonifacio as occupying the highest post in the revolutionary government through varying titles:

    Pangulo ng Kataastaasang Kapulungan

    (President of the Supreme Council)

    Ang Kataastaasang Pangulo

    (The Supreme President)

    Pangulo nang Haring Bayang Katagalugan

    (President of the Sovereign Nation of Katagalugan)

    Ang Pangulo ng Haring Bayan

    May tayo nang K.K. Katipunan nang mga Anak ng Bayan,

    Unang nag galaw nang Panghihimagsik

    (The President Sovereign Nation Founder of the Katipunan, Initiator of the  Revolution)

    Kataastaasang Panguluhan,Pamahalaang Panghihimagsik

    (Office of the Supreme President, Government of the Revolution)

http://www.ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/articles-on-c-n-a/article.php?i=5=1

Pambansang Awit: "Marangal na Dalit ng Katagalugan"

Himno Nacional: Marangal na Dalit ng Katagalugan

 http://julionakpil.blogspot.com/

Ganap ang pamahalaang panghimagsikan na itinayo ng mga Katipunero at binuo upang mamahala hindi lamang sa yugto ng pakikibaka kundi sa panahong mapatalsik na ang mga kaaway na Kastila at inaayos at pinapalakas na ang bansa. Katunayan ay may pambansang awit pa ito. Kinomisyon ni Pangulong Bonifacio si Julio Nakpil y Garcia, isang  musikero at isang pinuno ng Katipunan at isa siya sa may hawak ng himagsikan sa hilaga ng Maynila (gamit ang alias na J. Giliw) upang gumawa ng isang himno nacional noong bandang Nobyembre 1896.

Ang Marangal na Dalit ng Katagalugan ay isang pang-martsang kanta. The final copy of the lyrics of  the National Anthem of secret-society-turned-revolutionary-government Katipunan are as follows:

Mabuhay yaong Kalayaan!
At pasulungin ang puri't kabanalan!
Kastila's mailing ng Katagalugan,
At ngayo's ipagwagi ang kahusayan!

http://www.oocities.org/valkyrie47no/himno.htm

KKK Flag flown in August 1896, outbreak of the Himagsikan

Photo art: JB

Siyempre pa, mayroon din watawat ang nanghihimagsik nang Kagalanga-galangang Katipunan nang mga Anak ng Bayan. Demokratiko ang mga Katipunero kaya maraming mga bandila subali't ang iwinagayway na watawat ni Bonifacio nang sumiklab ang Himagsikan ay ang sinasabing personal daw niyang bandila. Sa pulang bandilang ito ay nakaguhit sa gitna ang  isang puting araw na may maraming sinag at sa ilalim ay nakasulat patiyaha ang mga puting titik na K.K.K.

Ang bandilang ito ay unang iwinagaygay sa Balintawak noong Unang Sigaw nang punitin ng mga Katipunero ang kanilang mga sedula na sumisimbolo sa pagka-alipin sa banyagang Kastila. Ito rin marahil ang winagayway ni Pangulong Bonifacio noong Agosto 26, 1896 sa Balintawak, ilang araw matapos buuin ang pamahalang maghihimagsik mula sa Katipunan. Ibinandera din ito noong Agosto 30, 1896 sa unang malaking laban ng Himagsikan, ang Labanan sa San Jose del Monte.

Anomalous Histogriography

May journalistic at ebidensyang libro na, na mga banyagang Kastila o Kastilang-Amerikano pa kamo; may ebidensya pa ng isang kolonyal (Amerikano, si Taylor) na historyador na masasabing kasabayan ng mga nabuhay na Katipunero; mayroon ding pagpapatototo ng mga insider o taga-loob na Katipunero kung baga, kabilang si Valenzuela; at meron ding mga dokumento ng mga variations ng titulo ni Bonifacio bilang Pangulo. Sa madaling salita, hitik sa pagpapatunay na si Gat Bonifacio ang Unang Pangulo ng bansa (panghihimagsik na pamahalaan) subali't ayaw pa ring kilalanin??? 

Beyond being perplexing, it is highly anomalous how the government and mainstream Philippine historiography refuse to recognize Bonifacio as the very first leader of the nation, no matter that it was at that time a fledgling or formative and struggling one. Despite the seeming avalanche of local and international evidence and with the nation having had more than a century to set the record straight, the great, courageous, patriotic, and, as Apolinario Mabini puts it, 'sagacious,' Bonifacio can only be accorded the title "Father of the Philippine Revolution."  While being the instigator and head of the Himagsikan is a great title by itself, one wonders why there is the unexplainable refusal to recognize the government he and the Katipunero patriots formed.


TAGALOG = Pilipinas/Pilipino

Ang mukhang idinadahilan ng iba kung kaya hindi raw matatawag na pangulo ng bansa si Bonifacio ay ang paggamit ng salitang Tagalog o Katagaluan na katagang tumutukoy daw sa isang rehiyon o mga katutubong nagsasalita lang daw ng wikang Tagalog. Such interpretation amidst the loads of clarifications as to the usage or meaning of the words smacks of a deliberate historical confounding in the aim of  belittling the accomplishment and extent of Bonifacio's Katipunan Himagsikan. It is so clear that Tagalog and its derivative Katagaluan were used by Bonifacio as referring to all the inhabitants of the archipelago/the country itself.  As historian  Milagros Guerrero well puts it:

In his patriotic writings, Bonifacio expressed his concept of nationhood. In K.K.K Katungkulang Gagawin ng mga Z.Li.B., Pagibig sa Tinubuaang Bayan, Hibik ng Filipinas sa Ynang Espana and Ang Dapat Mabatid ng mga Tagalog, he referred to the Philippine islands as sangkapaluan or Katagalugan.

 http://www.ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/articles-on-c-n-a/article.php?i=5&subcat=13

Maliban kay Bonifacio, ang mga iba pang Katipunero tulad nila Carlos V. Ronquillo, na naging kalihim pa ng sumunod na pamahalaan ni Emilio Aguinaldo, at Hen. Macario Sakay ay nilinaw na ang salitang Tagalog/Katagalugan ay tumutukoy sa buong kapuluan ng ating bayan/bansa. Ipinaliwanag ni Ronquillo na ang Tagalog ay pinili ng Katipunan upang tumukoy hindi lang sa lugar/mga naninirahan sa Gitnang Luzon kundi sa buong bansa dahil mas angkop itong gamitin para sa ating lahi. 

Sapagka’t sa palagay naming ay ganito ang talagang nararapat ikapit sa tanang anak ng Kapilipinuhan. Ang tagalog o lalong malinaw, ang tawag na “tagalog” ay walang ibang kahulugan kundi ‘tagailog’ na sa tuwirang paghuhulo ay taong maibigang manira sa tabing ilog, bagay na di maikakaila na siyang talagang hilig ng tanang anak ng Pilipinas, saa’t saan mang pulo at bayan.

http://www.ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/articles-on-c-n-a/article.php?i=5&subcat=13

Kaysa nga naman gamitin ang  Felipinas/Pilipinas na napaka-kolonyal ang tunog at palagiang nagpapahiwatig sa pagkakasakop ng bayan dahil batay ang pangalan o country name na ito sa  Kastilang hari na namumuno noong panahon unang sinakop ang bayan. Malinaw din itong pagtukoy sa buong bansa sa salitang Tagalog/Katagaluan para kay Hen. Sakay na isang Katipunerong nakasama/nakatulong nina Bonifacio noong Himagsikan laban sa Kastila.  Ayon kay Sakay, na siyang magpapatuloy bale ng Katipunan at magtatagay ng "Republika ng Katagalugan" sa kalagitnaan ng mahabang Digmaang Pilipino-Amerikano (1899-1914),:

Ang mga Nayon, bayan Hucuman nitong Filipinas ay siyang tinatauag na Kapuluang Katagalugan, sa macatuid baga, ay gaya ng Jolo, Mindanao, Kabisayaan, Kailokohan iba't iba pang lupa na tunay na Tagalog.[28] (The villages and municipalities of this Filipinas are called Katagalugan Archipelago, which in effect, are the likes of Jolo, Mindanao, Visayas, Ilocos and all other different lands that are truly Tagalog.)

 http://banlawkasaysayan.multiply.com/photos/album/1/MACARIO_SAKAY_AND_THE_STRUGGLE_FOR_FREEDOM_mula_sa_jethernandez.multiply.com

**********

Tingnan din ang Ang BANSANG Tagalog at ang 'Marangal na Dalit ng Katagalugan'

http://jesusabernardo.blogspot.com/2011/12/ang-bansang-tagalog-at-ang-marangal-na.html

Unmistakable how historical records point to the establishment of the very first revolutionary government with the Supremo as the First President of the "Filipinos"/Tagalogs/Taga-Ilog and yet the apparent detractors of Bonifacio/Katipunan still confound the issue? When viewed along side the devaluation of Bonifacio in Philippine money, with the Supremo being demoted from the face of the P5.00 coin/bill down to sharing the P10.00 coin/bill, it is not hard to see an anti-Bonifacio conspiracy prevailing in society.

Conspiring against Bonifacio

Sabi nga ni Prop. Michael Briones Charlestone Chua, kasalukuyang pangalawang pangulo ng Philippine Historical Association, 'may mga pwersa sa lipunan na ayaw maituro ang mga aral' nila Bonifacio at ng Katipunan. Kung ang mga aral ng KKK ay binabara, lalo pa kaya ang pagiging pangulo ng Supremo.

In a later private communication through a social networking site, Chua clarified that what he meant was that there exists a "subconscious" conspiring and not really a "direct conspiracy." Whether subconscious, direct, or what have you, the point is that a conspiring to denigrate the Supremo has materialized or has been effected, actively working to downplay the Supremo, and that historians/academicians, among others,  are able to sense this.

With all his measured expressions of analysis, Chua is not alone in the perception that Bonifacio/Katipunan has been the subject of forces out to denigrate him. Even during the imperialist American occupation, Bonifacio's status and revolutionary achievements were minimized and attacked as part of the bid to despirit the Filipinos and subjugate their minds and hearts. As progressive American author William J. Pomeroy writes:

The textbooks introduced in the new schools portrayed him [Bonifacio] as a terrorist and advocate of force and violence destructive of democracy. The Commission under Governor-General William Howard Taft projected instead, counter-figure Jose Rizal, the moderately nationalist writer and doctor who was a reformist and who had denounced the revolution of 1896 as its beginning.

http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=vQPpEa02N5kC&printsec=frontcover&hl=tl

Outrageous 'Re-Inventing' Thesis

A recent and unbelievably outrageous 'demolish Bonifacio' work of sorts came from an American-authored "thesis" of dubious scholarship. Dubitable historian character, Glenn Anthony May, claimed that Bonifacio is an 'invented'/'re-created' hero, alleging that practically everything known about him is baseless, with the documents upon which the views about the national hero are based supposedly being forgeries. To prove his point, he ridiculously made a sweeping accusation that Filipino historians lied or falsified documents to 'recreate' the Supremo. In particular, he accused de los Santos of having forged documents including the 1897 communications indicating, among others, that Bonifacio was the first revolutionary President of the Philippines.

To not a few, May's thesis sucks essentially because it makes a grand conspiracy claim and yet, the work is of very poor scholarship marked by fallacious judgements and inconsistency. For one, his thesis shifted overtime, with the original conflicting with his final version as published in a book. As historian Malcolm H. Churchill points out, May initially accused Teodoro A. Agoncillo (who is not exactly a pro-Bonifacio historian) of 'inventing' Bonifacio but four years later in 1995, raised a ridiculous 'forgery thesis' in which he claims that the supposed forgeries done in collusion with de los Santos were made to "to present a more favorable view of Bonifacio than was justified, for the purpose (as May explicitly asserted) of sustaining the image of Bonifacio as a national hero." His forgery claim was also based on almost nothing but a deficient linguistic analysis of documents in a language (Tagalog) that is not his native tongue.

It's incredible how the non-native speaking May who has a "deficient" Tagalog, as described by Churchill, had the gall to scrutinize Philippine documents. The result, as in his 're-inventing' thesis, is woeful errors of judgment, as in his allegation that the fourth Bonifacio letter was 'forged' when it is but natural for a Manila Tagalog speaker (Bonifacio was from Tondo) to mostly use the passive voice. His work also reeks of fallacious logic and lack of supporting evidence, especially when viewed from an informed historical perspective. His allegation that de los Santos colluded with other historians to supposedly re-invent Bonifacio makes absolutely no sense, given that the de los Santos was partial AGAINST the Supremo based on how the latter reckoned that that the (power grab against and) assassination of Bonifacio was supposedly needed to "win the Revolution" [against Spain]. Why would a scholar who justified the killing of the Father of the Philippine Revolution forge documents hailing the Supremo?

It is no wonder that May's work encapsulating his outrageous thesis was REJECTED by the prestigious Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) Press. "Inventing a Hero: The Posthumous Re-Creation of Andres Bonifacio" was turned down by ADMU in the early-1990s because the reviewers found that it failed to meet the publication standards, including the criterion "that the work employed methodology and truthful/factual knowledge about the Philippines and its language(s) and culture(s) in the scholarship efforts of foreigners and Filipinos alike."

May later found a publisher with apparently lower standards and in 1996,  his dubious work was published. If it were not a most apropos anti-Bonifacio demolition job, coming as it is on the centennial year of the Katipunan Himagsikan launched by Bonifacio, it was at the very least, a mediocre foreign scholar's irresponsible attempt to invent controversies and cash in on the popularity and timeliness of a towering Filipino historical figure.

Check out: Debunking the Outrageous Glenn May Thesis on Supremo Andres Bonifacio

http://jesusabernardo.newsvine.com/_news/2011/04/05/6412546-debunking-the-outrageous-glenn-may-thesis-on-supremo-andres-bonifacio

Filipino Conspirators

Another academician, the progressive Filipino-American literary academic, author and civic intellectual E. San Juan, also somehow perceives the forces 'conspiring' against Bonifacio. He laments "...how the figure of Andres Bonifacio has been attacked by American scholars eager to debunk the prestige of the hero...." San Juan senses the foreign elements that are part of the demolition job against the Supremo; however, some powerful local entities are also at work in minimizing the influence and prestige of Bonifacio and the Katipunan.

Andres Bonifacio in old P5 (Pilipino series)

As earlier pointed out, Bonifacio has been 'devalued' in Philippine money starting from the New Design series under the Cory Aquino administration when the P2 coin bearing his face was demonetized and the hero was made to share the P10 bill/coin with Gat Apolinario Mabini y Maranan. At that time, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy, widely considered Bonifacio's nemesis because of the Tejeros Convention/Coup and the subsequent Bonifacio brothers' execution-cum-assassination, already occupied the P5 bill/coin where Bonifacio used to be before his 'promotion' to the P2 denomination (Flora &

Bonifacio in P2 (demonetized Flora & Fauns coin series)

Fauna series, Ferdinand Marcos regime). Instead of reinstating the Supremo in the P5 denomination (amidst the questionable decision to demonetize the P2 even when almost valueless 5c coins were retained), the Philippine government through the Central Bank chose to demote Bonifacio and join him with Mabini.

Emilio Aguinaldo now in P5 coin (& bill, previously) 

Check out : 

The Devaluation of a Hero & Promotion of a Counter-Hero: 

Where's Andres Bonifacio in the P5 Coin? (Bonifacio Series II)

This Bonifacio demotion in Philippine money is disconcerting on two grounds. One, it's a historically fallacious stretch to lump Bonifacio and Mabini in one coin/bill because while both were Katipuneros, the latter did not really work with the Supremo in a way that they could be associated together. The historically sounder move would have been to move Aguinaldo to share the P10 denomination with Mabini

Bonifacio now lumped with Mabini in P5 coin

who, after all, served as his Prime Minister and adviser during his turn-of-the-19th-century "Philippine Republic." Second, why should Bonifacio--the other unofficial national hero based on his November 30 birthday having been declared by law as a holiday, similar to the December 30 Rizal Day--be positioned lower than Emilio Aguinaldo in Philippine money?

Not even delving into why Bonifacio Day was renamed National Heroes' Day, the Supremo's
devaluation is alarming as it shows how the government seems to be slowly moving away from preserving the prestige and legacy of the ultimate Filipino revolutionary hero. After all, monetary designs have long been used in differing human civilizations as an effective way of teaching or promoting national figures.  With regards heroes and heroines, the rule, albeit unwritten, has mostly been that the historic figures appear on the front or obverse side in descending order of importance beginning with the lowest denomination. The rationale is that the greater the hero/heroine, the more his/her face should be /propagated in denominations with greater circulation, which are, of course, the lower-valued notes and coins. With Bonifacio down to the No. 3 spot (illogically lumped at that with Mabini in today's P10 coin), is it not clear that the government is in effect demoting Bonifacio's place in history and national consciousness via circulating Philippine money?

May mga pwersang pumipigil na makilala o maintindihan at maitanghal ng mga Pilipino ang Katipunan at si Supremo Bonifacio. Nakakalungkot na mukhang makapangyarihan o maimpluwensya ang mga taong ito. Nasa pamahalaan pa nga--mula pa sa (Republika ni Aguinaldo at) kolonyal na panahon ng Amerikano at hanggang sa ngayon, at lalo pa yatang lumakas pagkatapos ng panahon ng Batas Militar.

Bakit kaya at sino-sino kaya ang nasa likod ng pagmamaliit sa Katipunan at kay Bonifacio? Dalawang bagay lamang ang panggagalingan ng mga pwersang ito (na maaari ring nakikipagsabwatan sa isa't isa). Ang una ay maaring inapo ng mga nakatunggali ni, o mga may atraso, kay Supremo noong Himagsikan. Kapag umangat nga naman si Bonifacio ay sasama o mas sasama ang lagay ng kanilang ninuno sa kasaysayan. Maaring mga inapo o panatiko kaya ng kampo ni Aguinaldo?

Such a scenario is not at all implausible, given that the camp of Gen. Aguinaldo during the Himagsikan period  was involved in the the black propaganda against the Supremo. According to the memoirs of Gen. Santiago Alvarez, poison letters in rebel towns in Cavite, particularly in San Franciso de Malabon (today's Municipality of Gen. Trias) circulated after the Christmas of 1896. With Daniel Tirona, a Magdalo KKK faction officer as suspect, the smear propaganda contained allegations of the Supremo supposedly not believing in God; having low education; being  a mere lowly hired help in a firm dealing with tiles and with no other income; that he was an agent of the friars, with his sister being a paramour of a Spanish curate, etc.

Check out: The Tragedy of the Katipunan: The Supremo's Assassination-cum-Execution (Bonifacio Series IV)

Siyempre pa, ang lahat ng ito ay paninira lamang kay Gat Bonifacio--mahigit isandaang taon na ang nakalilipas. Makikita sa mga sinulat ng Supremo ang kanyang mataas na moral at paniniwala kay Bathala. Sabi nga ni Gat Apolinario Mabini:

Andres Bonifacio had no less schooling than any of those elected in the aforesaid assembly, and he had shown an uncommon sagacity in organizing the Katipunan.

http://www.univie.ac.at/Voelkerkunde/apsis/aufi/history/mabini08.htm

Mukhang nagpapatuloy hanggang ngayon ang pagmamaliit kay Bonifacio. Sinulat ni Ed Aurelio Reyes ng grupong Kamalaysayan na may isang guro ng mataas na paaralan (high school) na nagturo na isa raw iliterado o hindi marunong magbasa at sumulat si Supremo. Bukod sa mukhang ang gurong iyon ang ignorante o hindi lubusang nagbabasa, lubhang kakatwa ang ganitong pahayag dahil si Bonifacio ay isang maalam na pinuno: makikita ito sa kagalingan niyang matukooy kung alin ang plagiarized na saligang batas sa hindi. Noong bandang Disyembre 1896, ayon pa rin kay Alvarez,  ay tinanggihan niya ang isang konstitusyon na ipinasa ni Edilberto Evangelista sa kadahilanang hango ito sa isang banyagang saligang batas. (Constrast such wisdom with Aguinaldo's approval in 1897 of the Biak-na-Bato Constitution that was almost entirely lifted from the Cuban Charter).

Ang pangalawang pwersang maaring bumabara sa sa pagkilala/pagtatanghal kay Supremo ay mga tao o grupong salungat sa mga ipinaglaban ni nito bilang pinuno ng Katipunan o sa mga ideyang ugnay sa kanya. Ilan sa mahahalagang pinaniwalaan o ipinaglaban ni Bonifacio ay rudimentaryo sosyalismo ("lahat ay pantay pantay") at tunay na kasarinlan na nakabatay sa (katutubong) Inang Bayan at hindi hango sa, o panggagaya lamang, ng istrakturang itinuro ng  banyaga. Sa madaling salita, mga pwersang monopoly capitalists, o mga kasapi/tuta ng kolonyal/imperyalistang bansa na ayaw maputol ang nagpapatuloy na hindi patas na pakikipag-ugnayan ng Pilipinas sa kanila.  Sa hanay kaya ng anti-Bonifacio monopoly capitalists kaya ay ang mga elit na negosyanteng Pilipino?

Ang Espana at Amerika kaya ay nahahawakan pa tayo at ayaw ng ganap na kasarinlan kagaya ng ibig ni Bonifacio? Kung titingnan ang Coat of Arms ng Pilipinas, nakabandera dito ang kolonyal na kasaysayan ng bansa. Sa kaliwa, sa asul na bahagi ay ang Kalbong Agila ng Estados Unidos at sa pulang bahagi sa kanan ay ang Lion-Rampant ng Espana. Di iilan ang nagtataka diyan--pangalan na nga ng bansa ay kolonyal, pati ba naman ang atin Coat of Arms ay kailangan pang lagyan ng sagisag ng mga Kanluranin na nanakop sa atin? Ang Coat of Arms ay isang sagisag at para sa isang "malayang bansa" ay hindi maaring pampaalala lamang ito. Isa pa, kung ito ang talagang intensyon eh bakit hindi kasama ang sagisag ng bansang Hapon na sumakop din sa Pilipinas noong Ikalawang Digmaan Pandaigdig??? Panghahamak sa isang tunay na malayang bansa na magkaroong ng sagisag na laging nagpapaalala ng kolonyal na nakaraan kung saan libo-libo, kung hindi daan-daang libo, ang namatay sa pakikipaglaban upang subukang makaalpas sa mga ito. Hindi pa nga siguro tunay na malaya/ganap ang Pilipinas at ito marahil ay may kinalaman sa pagpigil sa pagkilala sa pagiging Unang Pangulo at Pamahalaang (manghihimagsik) ni Bonifacio.

Pangulong Bonifacio...pagwawasto

Kailangan nang itama ang kasaysayan ng Pilipinas, ng 'Republika ng Katagaluan' para kay Bonifacio o iba pang mga Katipunero. Mahirap lumaki sa kasinungalingan, masamang maging zombie sa kasaysayan at pagkabansa. Ibigay ang titulong nararapat kay Supremo dahil ang pagtatanghal sa payak na pangyayaring ito ay isang mahalagang pagpupugay sa kanyang kadakilaan AT nagsisilbi na ring pagkilala sa pagsisikap, kalbaryo, at kabayanihan ng lahat ng mga nagkaisang Katipunero.

Si Gat Andres Bonifacio y de Castro ay hindi lang Supremo ng Katipunan. Hitik ang kasaysayan sa mga pruweba nagpapakita na siya ang tunay na Unang Pangulo ng ating bansang "Pilipinas." Dapat malampasan ang mga pwersang pumipigil sa pagkilala sa katotohanang ito dahil sasabay na dito ang pagkilala sa dakilang hangarin ng ating mga ninuno na mapalaya ang bayan at bumuo ng isang estado hindi lumuluhod sa banyaga at nakabatay sa kapatiran.

Bonifacio. Supremo ng Katipunan. Dakilang Manghihimagsik. Dakilang Bayani. Dakilang Pangulo.

_________

Additional References:

Alvarez, Santiago. The katipunan and the revolution: memoirs of a general: with the original Tagalog text. Paula Carolina S. Malay. Trans. Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1992. http://books.google.com/books?id=F3q-krDckHwC&dq=SANtiago+alvarez+tejeros+forced&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Mabini, Apolinario. The Philippine Revolution. http://www.univie.ac.at/Voelkerkunde/apsis/aufi/history/mabini08.htm 

Pomeroy, William J. The Philippines: colonialism, collaboration, and resistance. International Publishers Co, 1992.

Reyes, Ed Aurelio. BONIFACIO: Slain Again and Again. http://www.tribo.org/history/bonifacio.html; http://www.nhi.gov.ph/downloads/mp0119.pdf 

National Historical Institute. Today in History: August 26.  http://www.nhi.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_today_in_history&Itemid=1
  
______. Flags of the Revolution.  http://www.nhi.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=82&Itemid=5

Raw photo credits: 

http://www.museo-oriental.es/ver_didactica.asp?clave=138&loc=0
http://kasaysayan-kkk.info/default.template.0407.htm
http://julionakpil.blogspot.com/
 http://philmoney.blogspot.com/
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
Wikipedia

International Women's Day: 'Humankind,' not the patriarchal term, please

IT is most unfortunate that the language most commonly used (next to Chinese Mandarin) internationally and virtually, English, is a patriarchal language. May iba't ibang diskurso kung bakit pabor sa pangingibabaw ng kalalakihan ang Ingles. Perhaps, however, the single most convincing proof is the word "MANKIND."

The etymology of the the first root word, "man," is arguably traceable to the Sanskrit word "manu" that means human or 'thinking creature,' which should supposedly indicate the gender neutrality of "mankind." However, the fact is that "man" has come to refer to an adult human male (and "woman," its opposite female), with the original neutral term/meaning having been replaced by other terms such as "person.'
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mann#Old_English

In other words, the word "mankind" literally means 'the kind/tribe/totality of men' and to make it mean 'the collective human race' is to stretch its literal meaning in a rather sexist fashion. Moreover, a dated definition of "mankind" exactly means just that--you guess it--"men considered collectively, as distinct from women."
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?lextype=3&search=mankind

For today's observance of International Women's Day, it should perhaps be fitting if English-language users become more conscious of using non-sexist words and pronouns when referring to humankind or to people in general. Let us say "s/he" instead of "he" when referring to an unspecified individual of either sex. Let us write "people," instead of "men," when referring to human beings in general. Let us type "human" instead of "man" when referring to an unspecified person of either sex. Let us utter "humankind" instead of "mankind" when referring to the collective race of homo sapiens. Let us use "s/he," "people," "human," and "humankind" when referring to either woman or man in order to help stop the sexism in language, or the sexist use of English.

There is this Whorfian perspective that language casts power over people's perception. A feminist version of this hypothesis presents how the view of the world by women [and men] has been entirely dictated by patriachal language from the start.
http://books.google.com/books?id=2rM_wCfhGx8C&pg=PA232&dq=english+is+%22patriarchal+language%22&hl=en&ei=IjF2TZ74Jcr5rAeGs4TACg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=english%20is%20%22patriarchal%20language%22&f=false

At bakit nga hindi? Ang mga bagong pag-aaral sa sikolohiya ngayon ay nagtuturo kung paanong may katotohanan ang lumang salawikain na Gaelic--"Pag nawala ang wika sa isang tao ay mawawala din ang mundo niya." Na ang wika kahit papaano ay may ginagampanan sa paghubog ng kaisipan ng tao ay pinapatunay na ngayon ng agham:

"In studies where subjects identify colored patches, language-processing brain areas are activated long before decisions are made, suggesting that these areas of the brain are directly involved in perceptual decisions."
http://scienceline.org/2011/01/the-world-through-language/


By consciously using the available neutral or more neutral words in English, we can help effect a world that is more gender-egalitarian and, thus, less unpleasant in humanitarian terms.

Using non-sexist language is, of course, politically correct. Moreover, it is LESS biologically incorrect. Using male words as the default when referring to people in general is actually antithetical to human biology. It should be noted that FEMALE is the default in humans--as reflected in the double in "XX" chromosome of females (a defective/non-present Y chromosome automatically leads to a female human embryo).
http://www.cogsci.ucsd.edu/~pineda/COGS17/Overheads/Sex.ppt


Thus, if we even want to be just a wee bit scientific and true to human nature, sexist, patriarchal words should be out and word choice be more neutral.

Nakakatuwa na sa wikang Pilipino ay walang ganitong problema.* Walang literal na salin ang "mankind" sa Tagalog. Ang salin ng "humankind" ay "sangkatauhan." Hindi nakakapagtaka dahil ang lipunan natin bago dumating ang Kastila at Islam ay tunay na patas sa kababaihan at kalalakihan.

Siyanga pala, madalas kong nakikita na ang salin daw sa Ingles ng Kataastaasang, Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan (KKK),ay "Supreme and Venerable Society of the Sons of the People." Maling-mali ito dahil unang-una ay may mga Katipunera o babae sa Katipunan. Isa pa, dahil hindi mala-patriyarkal and wikang Pilipino, ang dapat na salin ng KKK sa Ingles ay tugma sa kahulugan--'Supreme and Venerable Society of the CHILDREN of the People/Nation.'


*Note, however, that because of Spanish influence re gendering of personal nouns, male citizens of the Philippines are referred to as Filipinos (Pilipino) and the females, Filipinas (Pilipinas), with the former being the default. Note further, though, that our country name was given by Spain. 

_____


Photo art: Jesusa Bernardo


Raw photo credit:

http://www.choosingraw.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/women_s_day_0.gif

Gen. Macario Sakay's Vilification: Anatomy of the nefariousness of American Imperialism

IN the morning of September 13, 1907 at around 8:30 am, two Malay-skinned men sporting long, uncut but luxuriant hair were led out of the bartolina in Manila in the Southeast Asian archipelago now called the Republic of the Philippines. The two protagonists were escorted by pale-skinned soldiers of the Bald Eagle nation from the North American continent towards the gallows to be executed by hanging. Upon reaching the platform, one of the long-haired Filipinos, the seeming leader, shouts from the top of his lungs:

“I face the Lord Almighty calmly but we must tell you that we are not bandits and robbers as the Americans accuse us, but members of the revolutionary force that defended our country. Long live the Philippines! Adios Filipinas!”

JB poster art

Who was Sakay?

Macario Sakay y de León was a Filipino military  leader in the Philippine Revolution against Spain and in the Philippine-American War (1899-1914). He  had fought side by side with Gat Andres  Bonifacio y de Castro, Supremo of the secret-society-turned-revolutionary-government Kagalanggalangang Katipunan  nang  manga Anak nang  Bayan (KKK). Following the second  phase of the Revolution and  the capture or  surrender of most Filipino generals by the invading  Americans, he later continued resistance against the  new colonial enemy, the United States. He was initially  caught and then released following the official  declaration of the war's end in 1902.

The following year, Sakay became  President of the Republic of Katagalugan  (Philippines), the revived Katipunan during the fight  for freedom against the invading Bald Eagle nation. Gen. Sakay proved to be a big, big thorn to the  American imperialist agenda. In battling the vile  Bald Eagles, his nationalist determination and vision showed his Tagalog Republic to be the true heir to  the Katipunan government and him, the proud heir to the Supremo. A tough, determined, "organization  genius" of a Filipino patriot, Sakay defiantly and,  for a time, rather wondrously continued the anti-colonial mission of   KKK and Gat Bonifacio.

Sakay engaged in guerrilla warfare against the  imperialist Americans, utilizing crafty planning and  organizational force to accomplish military victories.  His  government utilized "a large number of rebels  against a small group of American soldiers to  guarantee a successful ambush attack [and usually  attacking] at night when most of their enemies are  asleep."  The Katagalugan freedom fighters would  seize firearms and ammunition in their raid  attacks in Cavite and Batangas and even San  Francisco de Malabon. They had a big haul of ammunition and revolvers from a U.S. military garrison--a minor feat they achieved while disguised as Philippine Constabulary men.

Gen. Sakay made it known to the enemy imperialists  that they were freedom defenders of a most patriotic  and advance order. The Katagalugan Republic had  its Katipunan-based flag, constitution and seal. The Republic's  Declaration  had the KKK character of the  equality of every person regardless of race, skin  color, wealth, intelligence and appearance as it  exalts every individual's 'essential nature'  (loob)  instead.  The Declaration also included the whole of  the archipelago:

Ang mga Nayon, bayan Hucuman nitong Filipinas ay  siyang tinatauag na Kapuluang Katagalugan, sa  macatuid baga, ay gaya ng Jolo, Mindanao,  Kabisayaan, Kailokohan iba't iba pang lupa na tunay  na Tagalog.[28]

(The villages and municipalities of this Filipinas are called Katagalugan Archipelago, which in effect, are  the likes of Jolo, Mindanao, Visayas, Ilocos and all  other different lands that are truly Tagalog.)

Unfortunately, Sakay would ultimately be conned by the vile Americans into coming down from the mountains on promise of amnesty for him and his officials, on top of the formation of Philippine Assembly composed of Filipinos that would supposedly serve as the "gate of freedom." The imperialist American Governor General Henry Clay Ide used Dr. Domingo Gomez, a Filipino labor leader and 'persuasive and charming ilustrado,' to lure Sakay into giving up their resistance.

Gomez met with Sakay at his camp and argued that  the establishment of a national assembly was being  held up by Sakay's intransigence, and that its  establishment would be the first step toward  Filipino independence. His surrender was made to  be a prerequisite for a state of peace that would  supposedly ensure the election of Filipino delegates to the (1907) American-sponsored Philippine Assembly. Sakay , in good faith, was convinced by the  smooth-tongued Gomez that the struggle has shifted to  constitutional means, with the Assembly as means  to winning Philippine Independence.  He finally  agreed on the conditions that a general amnesty be granted his men, that they be permitted to carry  firearms, and that he and his officers would be  permitted to leave the country. Gomez assured  Sakay that these conditions the would be acceptable  to the Americans, and Sakay's emissary, General  Leon Villafuerte, obtained agreement to them from  the American Governor General.

Thereafter, Sakay and Villafuerte traveled to  Manila, where they were welcomed and invited to  receptions and banquets. One invitation came from  the Constabulary Chief, Col. Harry H. Bandholtz.  That invitation was a colonial trap and Sakay and  his principal lieutenants were disarmed and arrested  while the party was in progress. Sakay's group were naturally taken aback, with Gen. Villafuerte shouting: “We have been betrayed and we are trapped. Doctor, what is the meaning of this?” As Guerrero further recounts, Gomez could only reply with: “There’s no use fighting.”  For his part, Sakay, with bloodshot eyes, exclaimed: “Tell the Americans to face us in the open field, in honorable battle.” Sakay also asked how the Filipino Constabularios managed to have no shame betraying their fellow Filipinos and being subservient to the colonizers.

American Colonizers Hang Filipinos

Sakay and company were then forcibly brought to the Hotel de Oriente in Binondo before being incarcerated in Bilibid Prison. Captain Rafael Crame presided over their preliminary investigation before being charged of bandolerismo under the Brigandage Act  of Nov. 12, 1902 that construed all acts of  armed resistance to American colonial rule as banditry. The Katagalugan President and his men were defended by Attys. Felipe Buencamino and Ramon Diokno (father of  the noted human rights lawyer Jose Pepe Diokno) but the colonial Supreme Court of the Philippines would upheld the  decision.
 
In between, the nefarious Americans did not bother keeping their promise even towards the lower ranked men of Sakay. Inside the Bilibid prison, the North American colonizers secretly killed, nay, murdered 400 of Sakay's men by hanging and by lethal serum. As Guerrero notes, the prison atrocities perpetrated by the Americans against the Tagalog Republic patriots can be likened to the recent Guantanamo and Abu-Ghraib scandals.

As for the Filipino traitor character that was Dominador Gomez, it turned out that he allowed himself to be an imperialist tool of treachery in order to save his own skin. Gomez was a doctor who had been convicted of sedition and fined and sentenced to four years of hard labor. He had taken over the leadership of the labor federation Union Obrera Democratica de Filipinas and having participated in a big rally, he was arrested by the colonial authorities. He had his case under appeal when he negotiated for Sakay's surrender. Two weeks after Sakay was hanged, Gomez won the appeal as the Appeals Court judged the evidence against him insufficient no matter the "much suspicious proof."



 Late A Hero Recognized


This author is among those who were virtually taught  the American propaganda as to Sakay's identity. I remember that in my elementary or high school years, the history books' slant pictured Sakay as a Filipino bandit more than a hero. For about half a century after the US granted the Philippines "independence," imperialist propaganda against a valiant patriot who continued the anti-colonial mission of the "Father of Philippine Revolution," Supremo Bonifacio well persisted.

Carmen Guerrero Nakpil perhaps well describes  Sakay's patriotic military career:

Sakay became the scourge of all his country's  oppressors - the Spaniards, the Americans, the  misguided half-bloods and compatriots - trying in  every way he knew to secure freedom from injustice  for his people. He was more determined than Rizal,  more fortunate than Bonifacio, purer than  Aguinaldo, more lyrically mysterious than Mabini. If  Filipinos had won the war with America, he would  probably have been our Simon Bolívar or our Ho Chi  Minh.

It took a century and a year before the official recognition of the heroism, valor, and patriotism of Sakay and the Tagalog Republic cabinet and soldiers were made by his compatriots. Or a half a century and two years after the American invaders supposedly granted independence to the Filipinos on July 4, 1946.

It took long before it came--that rightful recognition to strike off the lingering American "bandit" smear campaign and  to finally elevated Sakay to the pantheon of Philippine heroes, but came it finally did. In 1998, the Manila Historical and Heritage Commission unveiled a life-size status of Gen. Sakay at Plaza Morga in Tondo, his birthplace. Earlier, the University of the Philippines and the National Historical Institute unveiled a marker at the foot of Mr. Banahaw, part of the region where the Republika ng Katagalugan freedom fighters operated amidst the American Occupation of the archipelago.

On September 16, 1998, a sweet statement of a recognition was passed by the Philippine Senate of the 14th Congress when it passed Resolution No. 121 "HONORING THE SACRIFICE OF MACARIO SAKAY AND ALL OTHER FILIPINOS WHO GAVE UP THEIR LIVES IN THE PHILIPPINE-AMERICAN WAR FOR OUR FREEDOM."

The "Whereas" clauses of the resolution sets straight the facts of the circumstances of Gen. Sakay's activities and execution. Sakay <issued a manifesto declaring the Filipinos' right to self-determination at a time when calling for "independence", espousing and advocating the same, was considered a crime by the American occupation forces in the Philippines;> He established the freedom-fighting or defiant <"Republika ng Katagalugan", of which he was the president and Francisco Carreon as the vice president.>

It was but natural for the imperialist American authorities not to have recognized Sakay's Republic. The Bald Eagle people, after all, did not even recognize the fledgling 1898 Philippine Republic led by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, the man they conned into cooperating in the war against Spain and letting them freely enter the archipelago as they positioned themselves for the Mock Battle of Manila and eventual invasion/occupation.

According to the Senate Resolution, the <the Philippine Commission passed the Bandolerism Act which proclaimed all captured resistance insurgents to be tried in court as bandits, ladrones and robbers.> Sakay was then declared an outlaw under the Bandolerism Act.>

However, Sakay was such a tough freedom fighter and an "organization genius."  The resolution continues: <Despite the establishment of concentration camps by the Philippine Constabulary and Philippine Scouts in Cavite, Batangas and Laguna, this did not stop Macario Sakay and his companions to expansively fight in the Southern Luzon area.>

Original seal of President Macario Sakay/Katagalugan Republic
(with photoshop coloring/art)

Bald Eagle No Mercy

A day before the execution of Sakay and de Vega, a big, emotional crowd demonstrated before Malacanang, then the seat of American colonial power. The people wished to convince the imperialist Gov.-Gen. Henry Clay Ide not to push through with the execution. They pleaded for clemency; however, Ide coldly refused to even see the people.

A day after the execution of the virtual second Supremo of the Katipunan government, the fourth de facto President of the Philippines (after Bonifacio, Emilio Aguinaldo, and Gen. Miguel Malvar), a larger crowd appeared before the Bilibid prison vociferously asking that they be allowed to wrap his and de Vega's bodies with the flag of the Katipunan. Again, the native supporters and sympathizers of Sakay and the Tagalog Republic were heartlessly turned down.

The subjugated Filipinos could make no such demand. The imperialist Americans won't allow honor of any kind to be conferred to the Filipino who defied and battled their immoral dominion and prolonged the non-Muslim component of the Philippine-American War.

Wicked, vilification propaganda to project a patriot  as bandit was certainly not enough for the Bald  Eagle. Blatant deception by the colonial  governor-general and the exploitation of another native in dire straits were not not enough either.  The US Army's dishonorable violation of its own safe conduct pass was not enough as well. Not even the  legalized murders of the leaders of the Tagalog  Republic would suffice. Even in Sakay's death,  North American imperialism showed no mercy.


Greatest and Last Filipino General, President

 But why is that? Why so much hate against Sakay, "Uncle Sam"? Sakay's history seems to show that the pale-skinned North American  imperialists let out all their brand of wicked  ammunition on him and the Tagalog Republic  patriots.

Hard to imagine the powerful, Bald Eagle invaders vilifying a sagacious and determined freedom fighter like Sakay. Imagine democracy-touting Americans committing genocidal-level Guantanamo/Abu-Ghraib precedents on the Katagalugan patriots some 100 years before the  administration of George W. Bush, the  war-freak "Idiot Heir."

But con, vilify and murder the "bandit" Republic of Katagalugan freedom fighters they did. Imperialist American nefariousness, circa 1900s. A portent of Agent Orange, circa Vietnam War, and sheer imperialist terrorism, circa Iraq War.

Why so? The terroristic Americans ain't saying it but they seemed to have found Gen. Sakay the last and the greatest Filipino general to have challenged their bald-hearted imperial might.

By the way, merely seven weeks following their execution of President Sakay, the imperialists passed Act No. 1696, or the Flag Law that prohibits the public display of all Philippine and  Katipunan flags, banners, emblems, and symbols....


____________


References:


Guerrero, Milagros, Emmanuel Encarnacion, and Ramon Villegas. Andres Bonifacio and the 1896 Revolution. In Sulyap Kultura. National Commission for Culture and the Arts, 1996. NCCA Site. 16 June 2003. http://www.ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/articles-on-c-n-a/article.php?i=5&subcat=13.


Guerrero Nakpil, Carmen. "The mark of Sakay: The vilified hero of our war with America." Philstar. Updated 8 September 2008. http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleid=398995


Hernandez, Jet. MACARIO SAKAY AND THE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM. 17 Jan. 2008. http://banlawkasaysayan.multiply.com/photos/album/1/MACARIO_SAKAY_AND_THE_STRUGGLE_FOR_FREEDOM_mula_sa_jethernandez.multiply.com


Macario Sakay. Global Pinoy. http://www.globalpinoy.com/ch/ch_category.php?category=heroes&name=Macario%20Sakay&table=ch_heroes&startpage=16&endpage=30


Pomeroy, William J. The Philippines: colonialism, collaboration, and resistance. Publisher International Publishers Co, 1992. http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=vQPpEa02N5kC&dq=%22an+aspect+of+the+u.s.+educational+system+was+the+selection+and+elevation+of+national+heroes.%22&source=gbs_navlinks_s


Transcript from Philippine Senate Resolution No. 121, September 16, 2008, http://www.senate.gov.ph/14th_congress/resolutions/resno121.pdf


Photo credits:

(Sakay seal): http://www.watawat.net/; https://www.facebook.com/p

hoto.php?fbid=10150100309784077&set=t.1792989548&type=1&theater

http://www.freewebs.com/philippineamericanwar/thelastholdouts.htm

103rd Anniversary of the Treacherous Death of Macario Sakay, President of the Revived Katipunan during the Fil-Am War

TODAY is the 103rd Anniversary of the Death of Gen. Macario Sakay, President of the Republic of Katagalugan (Philippines), the revived Katipunan during the Philippine-American War (1899-1914).

Gen. Sakay was deceived into giving up fighting the invaders on promises of independence for the Philippines and amnesty for him and his officers made by the American Governor-General. It turned out to be a trap as he and Col. Lucio de Vega were arrested and eventually taken from the bartolina to the gallows by the imperialist soldiers on September 13, 1907.

Reaching the platform at around 8:30 a.m., Sakay shouted at the top of his lungs:

“I face the Lord Almighty calmly but we must tell you that we are not bandits and robbers as the Americans accuse us, but members of the revolutionary force that defended our country. Long live the Philippines! Adios Filipinas!”

Original seal of President Macario Sakay/Katagalugan Republic
(with photoshop coloring/art)

Sakay's treacherous death came quite early at age 37. For more details about this valiant Filipino hero who continued the anti-colonial aspirations and revolutionary movement of Gat Andres Bonifacio, please check the following links:

Senate Resolution honoring Gen. Macario Sakay & Co.
http://blog-by-taga-ilog-news.blogspot.com/2010/09/senate-resolution-honoring-gen-macario.html

The mark of Sakay: The vilified hero of our war with America
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleid=398995

Check out the trailer of Raymond Red's Sakay film here:

Macario Sakay, heir to Bonifacio's Tagalog Republic

http://jesusabernardo.blogspot.com/2010/09/let-us-remember-heroism-today-103-years.html


***********


Photo credit (Sakay seal):

http://www.watawat.net/; https://www.facebook.com/p

hoto.php?fbid=10150100309784077&set=t.1792989548&type=1&theater

Andres Bonifacio's Tagalog Nation & Predictions of Global Warming (Bonifacio Series II)

• Recommended:
  
  

  Gat Andres Bonifacio: The Anti-Colonial National Hero of the Philippines (Bonifacio Series I)
  The Devaluation of a Hero & Promotion of a Counter-Hero: Where's Bonifacio in the 5 Peso Coin (make it P2) [Bonifacio Series III]
  Debunking the Outrageous Glenn May Thesis on Supremo Andres Bonifacio

  Ang Pagdaklot kina Supremo Bonifacio 
  The Tragedy of the Katipunan: The Supremo's Assassination-cum-Execution (Bonifacio Series IV)
  
  

A CENTURY and nearly a score years ago today, a most patriotic and fervent hero of a land to the southeast was executed by his coup plotting secret enemies during the peak of his people's struggle for national independence. The revolutionary leader was Andres Bonifacio y de Castro, murdered May 10, 1897 in a remote mountain in the archipelagic islands the hero called the Haring Bayang Katagalugan (Sovereign Nation of Katagalugan.) The name "Katagalugan," derives from"Tagalog," which is a constriction of the word "taga-ilog" that translates as "(person/people) from the area along the river," or simply, riverine. The hero's treacherous execution marked not only the elite takeover of the revolutionary mass movement he built but, as well, the adoption of a colonial name for his country well past into its independence period until today. Tagalog was junked and the old name given by Spain after its king, Philip II, stuck. Called "Las Islas de Filipinas" by Spain--a name favored even by its other elitist heroes--or "Philippine Islands," by its next colonial master, the United States of America, it is now called the Republic of the Philippines.

 The emerging global cataclysm of global warming, however, may just give the people of Bonifacio's Tagalog islands--the "Filipinos" of today--the unlikely opportunity of reverting to the non-colonial country name that reflects and asserts their precolonial heritage, and nationalist identity and aspirations. The predicted rise of sea levels due to the ongoing climate change may swamp Manila and other low-lying areas, cleansing their nation of the selfish, unpatriotic elites of class and mind in the process. A cleansing that can be likened to the Babylonian and Biblical stories of the Deluge, which would purify the population of its protracted alienation from its Malay roots--to allow the archipelago to assume the more endemic, nationalist name of Tagalog.  


Predictions of Climate Change Devastation

 Global warming is an emerging cataclysm such that even critics of the anthropogenic-climate-change theory concede that its impacts are now upon all the inhabitants of this planet. While scientists are yet uncertain of whether global warming affects El Nino and other climatic variability changes, they are more confident that it is an irreversible phenomenon that would impact regional extremes in temperature, seasonal precipitation, seasonal temperature, global average temperature, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, and tragically, the average level of sea waters. The countries that scientists consider to be most vulnerable are the low-lying areas, particularly archipelagic countries in Asia, such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines. According to a scientist from the Australia-based Center for Australian Weather and Climate Research, the most plausible climate change scenario by the end of the century is a total sea-level increase between 1-2 meters.


An Inundated Philippines
The Philippines is an archipelago of over 7,000 islands and islets shaped like scattered pearls and lying approximately 500 miles off its coast. It has an irregular configuration, the coastline of which extends over 21,500 miles. Its topography and geology depicts a beauteous piece of nature's work--coral, volcanic, principal rock formations, and diverse mountain ranges that mostly run along the direction of the islands themselves and that host some 3,000 endemic and unique species of plants and over 500 of the 700 known species of coral in the world. While its highest peak, Mt. Apo in Mindanao, stands at nearly 9,700 feet, the central plain of Luzon, the biggest island where the capital Manila lies, rises only a mere 100 feet above sea level. According to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), global warming could submerge areas of Manila and eradicate a number of entire islands of the Philippine archipelago. Based on data gathered for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a rapid increase in sea levels, from between 20-40 centimeters has been observed between the 1960s and the present. This sea-level rise around the Philippine coast is at least partly due to melting glaciers and higher temperatures of ocean waters. Based on a high IPCC-predicted A2 scenario of a 100 cm sea-level rise by 2080, 5,000 hectares of the coastal region of Manila Bay would become regularly inundated. The Sulu Sea and Tubbataha Reef waters are also expected to warm and face rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels from 2ppmv-4ppmv annually. Greenpeace Southeast Asia warns that a one-meter sea-level increase would affect 64 of the total 81 provinces, covering over 700 of the 1,610 towns. Combining these three scenarios, total inundation within this more conservative one-meter-rise prediction would cover nearly 700 million square meters of Philippine land between 2080 and 2100.
 Predictions of an inundated Philippines are not limited to scientific studies of climate change. This author is reminded of psychic forecasts dating back to the 1970s that predicted Metro Manila will be submerged in the future. At that time, logical attempts to interpret such predictions (of which Filipinos are fond of) centered on the Manila Bay reclamation project implemented by the Ferdinand Marcos administration.



Psychic "Apo," who correctly predicted United States President Barack Obama's 2008 electoral win by a one-third advantage*, sees a similar scenario probably happening for the countries in Southeast Asian. He even goes on to say that Filipinos should perhaps try to emigrate to higher-lying countries that include Israel and those in the West. Backed up by science and sensed by "psychics," the strong likelihood is that the Philippines several decades from now will be radically different. Areas of Manila--the former seat of colonial Spain and colonial America and today's political center and seat of elite power--as well as other parts of Central Luzon could transform into rivers, while low-lying small islands and islets could be swallowed up by the ocean waters. Such a scenario could gravely impact not only the fortunes of the general population but as well, those of the ruling elite. Apart from the initial economic damage from structural and infrastructural destruction and relocation and other costs, political power and organization may be physically and symbolically encumbered, given that the presidential residence, Malacanang, lies within Manila. This could be aggravated by the prospect that the higher-lying Makati City, the country's business center, could be cut off from other areas, to be connected only via river navigation.  


Possible Filipino Elite Response: Emigration

Such a drastic environmental change could just prove too much for an elite class generally used to reigning over the rest of the population and owning much of the islands. With their fortunes amassed through the century or centuries of predatorily staying on top of the socio-economic ladder, they have the resources to save their skins and emigrate out of the Philippines at will. As easily as members of this same class have been historically co-opted by the Western colonialists with whom their ancestors interbred, these largely mestizo elites could, and would, easily and unremorsefully abandon a sinking archipelago.  


Filipino Elite Exodus & the Rebirth of Tagalog Nation

 Drastic and shocking as it may be, any such exodus of Filipino elites may just bring in the unexpected blessing of a nationalist rebirth. Any such global-warming-caused inundation of the Philippines, and the expected emigration of the jetsetting rich class, could serve to purify the archipelago of political and cultural affinities with the two Western countries that conquered its people and pillaged its identity. When the deluge of global warming does drive the easily co-optive elites away from the country they half-heartily love and barely serve, who will be left are the Filipino masses without the resources to take the easy way and flee. This same socio-economic group without the means to emigrate is the Filipino class that has long been deprived of the opportunity to overcome the economic and social inequities and rise above their lowly existence.
 

Without the original patriotism-bereft elite class to exploit them, and imperialist nations to take interest, the future people of an inundated Philippine islands could seize the opportunity to rise from the ravages of flooding to form a new, moral and glorious nation as the Father of the Philippine Revolution, Andres Bonifacio, envisioned in the late 1800s. With only the masses and middle class around, and shielded from Western colonial exploitation by its partly submerged state, the population who will be left to face the geographic challenges of the impact of global warming could take a liberating nationalist course away from their delimiting colonial mentality, best represented by their country's name, the Philippines. Seeing the new rivers created from the old lands, they could be inspired to rechristen their country with the same name that the great but betrayed leader Bonifacio earlier gave, Tagalog.  


"Philippines" vs. "Tagalog"


 It is a deplorable fact that despite the colonial roots of the name Philippines, it has not yet been dropped except briefly during the revolutionary struggle against Spain. From the time of the American Occupation to World War II until today, only one and unsuccessful attempt to have it changed was ever seriously made. During the Martial Law period under Marcos, Senator Eddie Ilarde did propose a name change to Maharlika ("warrior–noble" during the pre-colonial days before the National Assembly,but it was rejected for one reason or another.


Back in the late 19th century, the Reformist heroes Jose Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar, and Graciano Lopez Jaena, who spoke and struggled against colonial injustice suffered by their countrymen but nonetheless still looked up to Spain and aspired for representation in the Spanish legislature, batted for the name "Filipinas." Bonifacio chose a noncolonial name Tagalog, which the other revolutionary leaders clearly acknowledged as representing the whole areas of the archipelago. Presumably, they wished the new and native-derived name to bring out the country's natural features of having numerous river systems and an archipelagic coastline. A few months before Bonifacio was murdered, a Spanish periodical referred to him as the revolutionary head of the country, Titulado ‘Presidente’ de la Republica Tagala.

The name Tagalog today strictly refers to a region in Central Luzon where the Tagalog dialect is spoken. Apparently the term has been localized by elitist historians who wish to belittle Bonifacio's revolutionary heroism. While the term Tagalog was long used, perhaps before his time, it is to the credit of the revolutionary leader that he insisted on a name that gives an endemic meaning devoid of colonial subservience. Perhaps, Bonifacio did not only have the great patriotism and genuine nationalism that allowed him to build the K.K.K., or Kataastaasan Kagalang-galang na Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan (Highest, Noblest Society of the Children of the Country) revolutionary movement. It could be that the Supremo had the psychic wisdom that the country he dearly loved and fought for would literally be a riverine nation. Without the ravaging elements of attachment to its colonial masters of the past, the "Tagala" people of Andres Bonifacio's archipelago could build a new land founded on the genuine brotherhood and sisterhood of its Malay people. In such a prediction of a ravaged but purified nation, the Tagala people will claim a riverine land cleansed of its woeful colonial past, but grateful of the patriotic struggles and aspirations of its heroes and heroines of the old.

The Decalogo & Rise of the Tagalog Nation Beyond the reversion to the indigenous name of the country, if the risen Tagala people will also be faithful to the principles and aspirations of the Katipunan, they will perhaps resurrect or revisit Andres Bonifacio's Dekalogo (Decalogue). Revealing the depth of the patriotism and political morality of the Supremo, it was written to provide the revolutionaries with a ten-point "duties of the children of the country," as follows:

1. Love God with all your heart. 2. Implant it in your heart that the true love for God equates with true love for one's Land of Birth, which is also love for others. 3. Nurture it in your heart that the true value of honor and comfort is for you to die in defense of Motherland. 4. Your every good aim will meet triumph if you exercise composure, patience, reason and hope in your deeds and acts. 5. Take good care--as you do your honor--the mandates and aspirations of the K.K.K. (Highest, Noblest Society of the Children of the Country). 6. It is the responsibility of all to help anyone in grave danger of reneging on his/her duty, even at the risk of losing one's life and resources. 7. Our strength of will and our discipline in carrying out our duties will serve as examples to others. 8. Share what you can to anyone in need and less fortunate. 9. One's industry in his/her source of livelihood is the genuine source of love, of love of self, of your spouse and children, of your siblings and compatriot. 10. Punish anyone who's evil and traitorous and commend good works. Believe that the teachings of K.K.K. are graces from God; that what the Motherland aspires for, are also the wishes of God. (Translation by the author from the Dekalogo)

In the 1920s, President Manuel L. Quezon, the first Philippine leader under American rule, expressed the belief that "Nothing depicts and portrays the character" of the great anti-colonial national hero more than the Dekalogo (Note: the Dekalogo was replaced by the Kartilya or Primer of the Katipunan, written by Emilio Jacinto, upon Bonifacio's humble deference to his revolutionary compatriot and friend). If the future people of the Southeast riverine land will abide by it, the Dekalogo should be enough to make the new nation indeed the 'most exemplary' in the world. As the renewed people of the Pearl of the Orient Seas shall have turned their backs on a colonial name and identity and the corruption such alienation helped wrought, so then shall proudly stand the virtuous, nationalist Republika ng Tagalog, and the Supremo will look down from the heavens and beam with exalted joy.  



Notes: *Psychic Predictions on Estrada, Arroyo, the US & the World. 19 October 2008. Jesusa Bernardo Newsvine Column. http://jesusabernardo.newsvine.com/_news/2008/10/19/2016629-psychic-predictions-on-estrada-and-arroyo-the-us-obama-the-world Related Andres Bonifacio article by the author: Bernardo, Jesusa. Gat Andres Bonifacio: The Anti-Colonial National Hero of the Philippines (Bonifacio Series I). 30 Nov. 2009. http://forthephilippines.blogspot.com/2008/11/andres-anti-colonial-national-hero-of.html _____________  

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Photo Credits:

Museo Oriental de Valladolid Site

Carbon-Based-ghg.blogspot.com
Global Warming.blogspot.com
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(Updated 18 May 2009) ******************