TEJEROS CONVENTION, MARSO 22, 1897: Ang Unang 'Hello Garci,' Unang 'Hocus Pcos,' Unang EDSA 2 Power Grab

NGAYONG araw, ika-115 taon na ang nakakaraan, ang unang 'Hello Garci,' unang Hocus Pcos, at unang EDSA 2 Power Grab sa ating kawawang bayan.  Ngayong araw, nang panahon ng Himagsikan laban sa mananakop na Kastila, dinaya sa halalan ng Kumbensyong Tejeros ang pinuno at pangunahing tagapagtaguyod ng underground-movement-turned-revolutionary-government Kataastaasang, Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan (KKK), na si Generalissimo Andres Bonifacio y de Castro.  Ngayong araw, Marso 22 ng taong 1897, ang tatawagin ng pahayagang El Renacimiento na "El Marat Filipino," ang kinilala ni Aurelio Tolentino na "naglamay sa gabi't araw, sa loob ng apat na taong singkad, upang ang binhing [Kalayaan] ay magbunga ng sagana sa lahat ng lalawigan," ay basta-basta na lamang dinaya at ininsulto pa ng kampo ni Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy sa barrio Tejeros, sa noon ay San Francisco de Malabon, Cavite.

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PRE-FILLED ang mga balota ng halalang iyon nong Marso 22, 1897 ayon kay Diego Mojica, ang Magdiwang Council Treasury Secretary. Si Gen. Artemio Ricarte, mismo nahalal bilang Kapitan-Heneral diyan sa Tejeros Convention na iyan, ay gumawa ng deklarasyong marumi ang nasabing halalan. According to Ricarte, the Tejeros elections were charactererized by “dirty or shady practices in the manner.” Ayaw din ni Ricarte na tanggapin ang kanyang posisyon at manumpa subali’t parang natakot siya. He insinuated that his eventual oath-taking came under a sort of duress under threat of being killed.

Ang lumabas sa maruming halalan ay si Aguinaldo ang nanalong "Pangulo" at si Bonifacio naman ay lumabas na Direktor na Panloob. Subali't hindi pa nakontento sa pag-agaw ng pinakamataas na pwesto ay ininsulto pa ng Magdalo na si Daniel Tirona ang Supremo nang mag-protesta ito at nagsabing hindi maaring hawakan ng hindi abogado ang nasabing posisyon. Dito na nag-init ang Unang Manghihimagsik na Pangulo ng bayan na si Bonifacio at binunot nito ang baril nito nguni't nakapagtago ang duwag na si Tirona. As chairman of the convention, he declared the proceedings null and void after the scandal caused by Tirona who committed grave violations of the prior agreement to honor the electoral results. Nagdeklara din sina Bonifacio at mga 40 pang ibang Katipunero na bale wala ang Tejeros Convention sa pamamagitan ng Acte de Tejeros sa sumunod na araw.

Dapat ibasura ang Tejeros Convention. Pwera pa sa iskandaloso at wala sa order ay deklaradong null and void ito. Sabihin pa, PATAGO ang oath-taking nila Aguinaldo, patagong upang hindi malaman ng mga Magdiwang, ayon sa memoirs nila Santiago Alvarez. AT isang Kastilang pari ang nag.officiate. At kahit hindi Kastila, kung isa itong pari na hindi kumalas sa ilalim ng kapangyarihan ng Kastilang Simbahang Katolika ay pareho din. Saan ka nakakita ng nagrerebelde ay isang authority ng pinagrerebeldehan ang nagbasbas ng pagkapanalo nito?

(Based from http://mgatanongpo.tumblr.com/post/8343791605/18-alam-nyo-ba-na-ang-tejeros-convention-ang)
 

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Kung susuriin ang kaganapan sa Tejeros Convention at ang kontektso nito na Himagsikan at kadikit na Digmaang Pilipino-Amerikano (1899-1914), makikita na umikot sa pang-aagaw sa kapangyarihan manghihimagsik ang kabuuang galaw ni Aguinaldo.

1) Disyembre 1896 pa lang ay nagtulak na ang Magdalo nina Aguinaldo ng bagong saligang batas (yung tinanggihan ni Bonifacio na presented ni Edilberto Evangelista ay plagiarized mula sa Maura Law).

2) Character assassination of the Supremo nila Tirona mula pa Disyembre 1896.

3) Dapat ay general assembly lamang ang Tejeros Convention subali't na.pressure ang Generallissimo (na gustong-gustong magkaisa ang Magdiwan at Magdalo) na magkahalalan para sa isang bagong pamahalaan.

4) Mga ulat ng pandaraya sa Tejeros mula kay Mojica at Ricarte.

5) Ang patagong panunumpa nila Aguinaldo.

6) The treacherous 'dead or alive' attack on and abduction of the Bonifacios, to the 'kangaroo court' Council of War trial, to the surreptitious "execution" [considered by Mabini as "assassination"] of the Bonifacio brothers.

7) Utos na pagpaslang ni Aguinaldo kay Hen. Antonio Luna, sinasabing pinangambahan niyang aagaw ng pagkapangulo ng bansa noong Digmaang Pilipino-Amerikano, sa Kumbento ng Kabanatuan kung saan ayon kay Julio Nakpil ay binigkas ng nanay ni Aguinaldo ang "Ano, humihinga pa ba?".

Sa pagtingin sa malakihang larawan ng rebolusyon ay mas malinaw na nakikita na ang Tejeros Convention ay isang madaya at maruming halalan, isang pang-aagaw ng kapangyarihan sa Ama ng Himagsikan, pinuno ng manghihimagsik na pamahalaang Katipunan ng ating bayan. Hanggang hindi natin itinatama, kinukundina ang dayaang Tejeros, itinatakwil ang anumang pangaagaw sa kapangyarihan binigay ng taumbayan, ay hindi aayos ang ating bayan.

Ang pagkilala kay Supremo Andres Bonifacio bilang lehitimong Unang Pangulong (Manghihimagsik) at ang pagtalikod sa Tejeros Convention ang susi upang malinis ang ating mga sarili--ang maitakwil ang naging kultura na yata ng dayaan sa halalan at pagyapak sa boses ng taumbayan. And this applies whether or not you are pushing for a radical change of the Philippine society...... Hindi pa naman siguro huli upang maibangon ang ating bansang Pilipinas/Tagalog/Taga-Ilog. 
 
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Katipunan Chronology relating to the Tejeros Convention 
 

August 1896 -  Katipunan Supreme Council elects the leader of the revolutionary government:

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.

(This election would be recorded in the February 8, 1897 issue of the Spanish-American publication La Ilustracion Española y Americana about the Philippine revolution. The article featured an engraved portrait of "Andres Bonifacio, Titulado 'Presidente' de la Republica Tagala," clad in a dark suit and white tie. Nineteenth century Spanish historian Jose M. del Castillo also document the first national elections in his 1897 writing "El Katipunan" or "El Filibusterismo en Filipinas.") 

24 Aug. 1896 - Katipuneros arrive at the barn of Melchora Aquino for their hurried National Assembly, 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; American colonial military historian John R. M. Taylor will later come to the conclusion that the Katipunan was the first national government of the Philippines, writing that Bonifacio turned the Katipunan "lodges into battalions, his grandmasters into captains, and the supreme council of the Katipunan" into a revolutionary body fighting for independence against colonial Spain.


26 Aug. 1896 - Bonifacio unfurls the Katipunan flag in Balintawak five (5) days after the Spaniards ascertained the existence of the KKK.

29 Aug. 1896 - The Katipuneros led by its Supremo Bonifacio, start the general uprising against Spain midnight of this day, a Saturday, with its first offensive attacking an isolated colonial garrison in Luzon; Aguinaldo's group from Cavite fails to arrive as planned and the initial major salvo is unsuccessful. (Salazar)

30 Aug. 1896 - Spanish Governor-General Blanco declares the state of war and martial law in eight provinces: Manila, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Laguna, Cavite, and Batangas.

31 October 1896 - Aguinaldo issues two manifestos: (1) defines the revolution's aims as independence and "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity," and (2) calls for the formation of a central revolutionary government.
17 December 1896 - the Supremo arrives in Cavite, in response to the invitation of the Magdiwang KKK chapter in the province for the purpose of resolving their rivalry with the rival Magdalo chapter.

Circa Mid-to-Late Dec. 1896-- Baldomero Aguinaldo proposes the establishment of a revolutionary government, with Edilberto Evangelista submitting a constitution for the proposed government;the Supremo rejects the charter, finding it plagiarized. Those who favor the Katipunan argued that it has its own constitution & by-laws and that it is already a (revolutionary) government.

Circa Mid-to-Late Dec. 1896-- Baldomero Aguinaldo proposes the establishment of a revolutionary government, with Edilberto Evangelista submitting a constitution for the proposed government;the Supremo rejects the charter, finding it plagiarized. Those who favor the Katipunan argued that it has its own constitution & by-laws and that it is already a (revolutionary) government.

Post-Christmas 1896 - Smear propaganda against the Supremo circulates, including in the form of poison letters, in rebel towns particularly in San Francisco de Malabon where Bonifacio is greatly respected and admired, with Tirona as suspect: Bonifacio is villified for supposedly not believing in God; having low education; being  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. (Alvarez)

- With some of the poison letters reaching the Supremo when a number of disbelieving recipients voluntarily  turn over the poison letters to him, Bonifacio demands an explanation from Tirona at the home of Col. Nocon: Tirona haughtily & defiantly dismisses the accusations, prompting the Supremo to nearly shoot at Tirona if not for the intercession of some women present. (Alvarez)

29 December 1896 - Magdiwang and Magdalo leaders meet to discuss how to settle differences in revolutionary struggle and also a plot to snatch Rizal on the eve of his execution scheduled by the Spanish colonial authorities:

- exploration of unified leadership fails because of dispute over which leadership should prevail; Bonifacio asks Aguinaldo, secretary of the meeting, to record a motion forwarded re the framing of a constitution [despite the fact that the KKK already had one] but Aguinaldo asks that the matter be deferred at the moment; (Alvarez)

Circa early 1897 - Magdiwang faction building up secret enemies--Katipuneros who had been rebuffed or dismissed for insubordination, including Mariano Trias who refused to give up his private army.  (Alvarez).

January 1897 - Magdiwang is major Katipunan force in Cavite, with 3,400 guns compared to Magdalo's 2000 and had decidedly bigger territories covered. (Alvarez).

February 1897 -  Supremo Andres Bonifacio, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, Mariano Trias and Procopio Bonifacio were poised to come to blows over defamatory idle talk but was prevented by Santiago "Apoy" Alvarez and Artemio Ricarte who manage to soothe the feelings of the four men. (Alvarez).

14 Feb. 1897 - The Spaniards begin their 52-day offensive at Cavite. Within days, the colonizers would begin to successively retake rebel towns under the Magdalo faction of the Katipunan but not so much the Magdiwang. The council and members of Magdalo would withdraw to San Francisco de Malabon and try to hold meetings in other Magdiwang territories  (Delos Santos; Alvarez)

1st/2nd week of March 1897 - The Magdalo faction invites the Magdiwang for a general assembly purportedly to draw up some revolutionary strategy; Baldomero Aguinaldo, Emiliano Riego de Dios, Santiago, Daniel Tirona, Severino de las Alas, etc. from the Magdalo camp mainly prepare the arrangement. (Alvarez).

22 March 1897 - Instead of being a general assembly to map up some joint revolutionary strategy, the Tejeros Convention elects officers of a new revolutionary body in a scandalous and fraudulent fashion. The Supremo has agreed to the hasty elections provided everyone respects the results. "Elected" are the following:

     Emilio Aguinaldo       -            President
     Mariano Trias            -            Vice-President
     Andrés Bonifacio       -            Director of Interior
     Artemio Ricarte         -             Captain-General
     Emiliano Riego de Dios    -      Director of War

-- Daniel Tirona scandalously objects to Bonifacio's election on supposed grounds of the latter's lack of qualifications, prodding (unsuccessfully) the crowd to elect lawyer Jose del Rosario instead. Bonifacio, as chairman of the Convention, declares the proceedings null and void on grounds of grave violations of the prior agreement to honor the electoral results.

-- (Alvarez's memoirs narrate the earlier unheeded warning given by Magdiwang Council Treasury Secretary Diego Mojica to the Supremo as to the use of pre-filled ballots)

23 March 1897 - Bonifacio, along with over 40 other Katipuneros, signs the Acta de Tejeros that nullifies the fraudulent and anomalous Tejeros Convention.

24 March 1897 - Aguinaldo takes his office as "President" in secret, with Catholic priest (under Spanish authority) Cenon Villafranca officiating, despite Bonifacio's nullification of the Tejeros polls in the latter's capacity as presiding officer and the manifestos and speeches  circulated in connection with the scandalous elections. (Alvarez)

-- Artemio Ricarte y Garcia reluctantly also takes his oath of office after being elected the General-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Army during the anomalous Tejeros Convention. He insinuates that his eventual oath-taking came under a sort of duress: "That they kill me that same night, for the reasons above cited, or that they give me three hours, or at least one hour, to think over what I must necessarily do in order to accept said office; this second request was but a mere pretext, in order to enable me to absent myself from that Assembly.  I obtained nothing of what I requested, because not even one of them gave me his assent."(Ricarte) 

-- that same day, Ricarte makes a declaration stating his "great reluctance" over the oath-taking amidst what he described as "dirty or shady practices in the manner" of the Tejeros Convention elections and his doubts about his capacity to serve as chief general. (Alvarez's memoirs describes the oath-taking a having been done surreptitiously and with posted guards ready to eliminate unwanted Magdiwang figures who would try to break through the proceedings).

19 April 1897 - The Supremo and other signatories sign the Naik Military Agreement declaring that several Filipino revolutionaries (referring to but not naming the camp of Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy) had committed treason against the nation and the revolution by negotiating for peace with the enemy Spaniards. 

24 April 1897 - Bonifacio confides his fear that his company seems to be in danger not only from the Spanish enemy but, also, from the local [Caviteno] revolutionary leaders in a letter to Jacinto. The Supremo also writes about the detestable acts of treason/collaboration with the enemy Spaniards that was engaged in by certain Magdalo members, partisans of Aguinaldo such as Tirona, Mtro. De Guerra, Jose del Rosario, Jose Caelles, and "almost all Tanza residents along with the priest there," as well as the fraud and anomaly that characterized the Tejeros Convention.

27 April 1897 - "President" Aguinaldo sternly orders that the Bonifacio brothers be seized and brought before him dead or alive. Assigned were Col. Agapito Bonzon (alias Intong/Yntong), Felipe Topacio, and Jose Paua/Pawa (alias Insik Pawa) who, along with some men, leave Naic for Indang in the afternoon. (Alvarez) [Note: Other sources place this day of order as April 26]

28 April 1897 - The Supremo and brother Procopio are treacherously abducted by the forces of Bonzon and Paua who return in the morning. They violently attack the Bonifacio brothers and men in a surprise move that instantly kills Ciriaco Bonifacio. (Alvarez). [Note: Other reports will point to the afternoon of April 27 as the time of the Bonifacio abduction]. Bonifacio's wife, Gregoria de Jesus, is also abducted and brought to Naic, with the weakened Supremo brought in a hammock. His wife is raped by Yntong. (Court martial record tell of unsuccessful rape; but recent sources tell rape did occur, such as Ocampo, cited in Duka).

28 April - 4 May 1897 - Bonifacio Trial Proper begins:  Mariano Noriel, head of the court martial body, unabashedly prejudges the Supremo by asking the "Most Respected and Distinguished President" Aguinaldo to judge the extent of the evil and treacherous intentions of Andres Bonifacio. Fourteen persons testify in the very swift course of the court martial, with the trial proper taking only a mere 6 days: Benito Torres; Procopio Bonifacio; Nicolas Guzman; Rafael Non; Narciso Tiolo; Julian Aguila; Cayetano Lopez; Bibiano Rojas; Pedro Giron; Domingo Denlaso; Domingo San Juan; Gervacio Santiago; Andres Bonifacio; Gregoria de Jesus. (Court martial records).

5 May 1897 -  The Supremo is not allowed to deliver a defense speech, with the official records showing that the request has been turned down (twice) supposedly because Bonifacio has only been repeating his account made during the court examination. 

The counsels make their speeches. The court-appointed lawyer of the Supremo, Placido Martinez, is rather scandalously a Council of War panel member and attacks the Supremo, prejudging him for his supposed "evil" act of trying to kill Aguinaldo, before begging the court that clemency be granted his 'client.'

6 May 1897 - The court martial declares the Bonifacio brothers guilty and deserving of the punishment of being shot to death--despite Giron being the only one to testify about the supposed plan to assassinate Aguinaldo and the Supremo's gun actually having been unfired. The decision, subsequently for forwarding to Aguinaldo, are signed by Mariano Noriel, the Council President, Tomas Mascardo, and Esteban Ynfante, and attested to by Council Secretary Lazaro Makapagal.

8 May 1897 -  Baldomero Aguinaldo upholds the Council of War decision declaring the Supremo and his brother 'guilty' of supposedly (a.) firing at "government soldiers;" (b.) intention of "overthrowing the government" and killing Aguinaldo based [mainly] on Giron's testimony; and (c.) using money to induce "government soldiers" to transfer allegiance to him.

10 May 1897 - The Supremo and his brother Procopio are  taken out of their cramped prison and brought to the mountains of Maragondon, Cavite. There will be three different different accounts of the 'execution.' One is that the Bonifacio brothers were shot to death; another, to be claimed by Makapagal, is that the Supremo attempted to flee after Procopio was shot; and another is that Bonifacio was hacked to death.

Apolinario Mabini would describe Bonifacio's supposed execution as an "assassination"...as a  "crime" on the part of Aguinaldo that "was the first victory of personal ambition over true patriotism."

Complete chronology here: http://jesusabernardo.newsvine.com/_news/2011/05/10/6619505-the-tragedy-of-the-katipunan-the-supremos-assassination-cum-execution-bonifacio-series-iv

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Mga Batis:

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/about/The_katipunan_and_the_revolution.html?id=F3q-krDckHwC

Artemio Ricarte Declaration date 24 March 1897. Filipiniana.net. http://www.filipiniana.net/publication/artemio-ricarte-declaration-dated-24-march-1897/12791881635983

Bonifacio, Andres. “Letters to Emilio Jacinto.” In The Writings and Trial of Andres Bonifacio, trans. Teodoro A. Agoncillo and S. V. Epistola. Manila: Antonio J. Villegas; Manila Bonifacio Centennial Commission; University of the Philippines, 1963. 13-22. http://bonifaciopapers.blogspot.com/2005/09/bonifacio-andres_112726277825094355.html

Donato, Tony. Ang Kombensyon sa Tejeros, ika 22 ng Marso, 1897. http://katonynabanlawkasaysayan.blogspot.com/2012/03/ang-kombensyon-sa-tejeros-ika-22-ng.html

Letter to Emilio Jacinto, 24 April 1897. Filipiniana.net. http://www.filipiniana.net/publication/letter-to-emilio-jacinto-24-april-1897/12791881633428

Retana, Wenceslao. "El Marat Filipino," El Renacimiento, 26 de Marzo 1908

The “Acta de Tejeros”. http://kasaysayan-kkk.info/docs.adt.230397.htm

The Assassination of Bonifacio and Antonio Luna. Exerpts from Julio Nakpil's 'Apuntes Sobre La Revolucion Filipina'
(Notes on the Philippine Revolution). http://www.oocities.org/valkyrie47no/himno.htm

Tolentino, Aurelio. "Mahalagang Anyaya sa Bayang Pilipino," Muling Pagsilang, 24 Abril 1908

Bernardo, Jesusa. The Tragedy of the Katipunan: The Supremo's Assassination-cum-Executio n (Bonifacio Series IV). http://jesusabernardo.newsvine.com/_news/2011/05/10/6619505-the-tragedy-of-the-katipunan-the-supremos-assassination-cum-execution-bonifacio-series-iv

________. The conspiracy of Edsa 2: how Gloria Arroyo managed not to let President Joseph Estrada finish his term. http://jesusabernardo.newsvine.com/_news/2008/02/25/1324358-the-conspiracy-of-edsa-2-how-gloria-arroyo-managed-not-to-let-president-joseph-estrada-finish-his-term

________. The Wiretapped Case of the Bogus Presidency of Philippines' Gloria Arroyo ("Hello Garci" in English). http://jesusabernardo.newsvine.com/_news/2008/06/30/1627254-the-wiretapped-case-of-the-bogus-presidency-of-philippines-gloria-arroyo-hello-garci-in-english

_______. Foreign Powers Coercing the Filipino Masses for a Noynoy Aquino "Presidency"? http://jesusabernardo.newsvine.com/_news/2010/05/28/4382462-foreign-powers-coercing-the-filipino-masses-for-a-noynoy-aquino-presidency

_______. How Joma Sison first revealed the AQUINORROYO operations behind the May 10, 2010 automated poll fraud. How Joma Sison first revealed the AQUINORROYO operations behind the May 10, 2010 automated poll fraud

Para sa Chronology: iba pang mga batis na makikita sa  http://jesusabernardo.newsvine.com/_news/2011/05/10/6619505-the-tragedy-of-the-katipunan-the-supremos-assassination-cum-execution-bonifacio-series-iv