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

Timeline of Gen. Aguinaldo's Stupidity a.k.a. Imperialist American Deception

i

The month of August has been a most challenging month to the Filipino nation through the decades, centuries even. We can remember quite a number of tough and pivotal historic events having taken place in the not-so-august eight month of the Gregorian calendar. Apart from very recent and supposedly "major, major" Hong Kong tourist hostage crisis, this month has counted a number of most crucial historic developments. During the Philippine Revolution, August saw the revolutionary expression of the Filipino's burning quest to be freed from the yoke of Spanish colonial oppression. In that month of 1896, a Filipino's treachery led to the discovery of Katipunan and on the 30th, the bloody, hand-to-hand Battle of Pinaglabanan marked the first major battle of the Philippine Revolution.

The August, two years after the outbreak of the Revolution against Spain, would also prove to be a critical period in the country's history. Equally as pivotal, in fact. Following the crushing defeat of the Spanish Armada by the United States of America, the emerging world power of the 20th century, set its sights on a modern-day type of colonization, victimizing a host of lands including the Philippine Islands.

August 1898 would witness the imperialist US set its most vile military conquest schemes into action. At that time, the Philippines, which already declared independence from Spain in June, was virtually already de facto free, having gained control of 15 provinces and having already encircled Intramuros, the seat of Spanish power. No thanks, to Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo who was stupid enough to be conned into cooperating with American military and diplomatic officials on mere verbal promises that the US is an "ally" that will honor Philippine Independence. The Filipino Revolutionary leader would then most ridiculously wait for the arrival of the American forces, allowing them to freely enter the archipelago, and delay his attack on the Spanish bailiwick.

Costly Stupidity

This most unwise decision of Aguinaldo trusting the North Americans will allow the enemy to stage the most infamous Mock Battle of Manila and thus steal Philippine Independence right at his very nose. The implications of the  Mock Battle of Manila that purported to project the false claim that Spanish forces in the Philippines were defeated by the North Americans instead of the native revolutionaries would be severe. It would spell doom for the country in terms of international recognition of its sovereignty. The staged Battle would allow the US to forge the Protocol of Peace and, eventually the 1898 Treaty of Paris that supposedly 'ceded' Spanish control of the Philippines to the Americans. In the world of international treaties, Aguinaldo's gullibly negotiable stance outmatched bigtime by the wily United States spelled disaster to Philippine Independence.

It would be during the same month of August, two years later in 1900, that an American articulation of the wicked, imperialist actions of their Bald Eagle nation towards would reverberate through the walls of the Democratic convention. Presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan will condemn his country's invasion of the Southeast Asian archipelago, and lambasting the deceit used against the Filipinos. In his acceptance speech of the Democratic Party's nomination, Bryan's words pierces at the undemocratic and immoral designs of his government on the the Philippines, assailing the occupation as a flagrant deviation from the most sacred American traditions and principles, saying:

“There can be no doubt that we did so we had full knowledge that they were fighting for their own independence, and I submit that history furnishes no example of greater turpitude than ours if we now substitute our yoke for the Spanish yoke.”

After the infamous Mock Battle of Manila,  Aguinaldo would be forced to negotiate for minimal independence. This time-line of events during the fateful three months of 1898, culminating in August when it finally became crystal clear to the stupidly gullible Aguinaldo that Americans were not allies but imperialistic enemy invaders. President Aguinaldo and the Philippine Army and patriots would be faced with the choice of either accepting autonomy under the Americans or fight for independence and sovereignty. It would only be a matter of time before the war between the forces of the fledgling Philippine Eaglets and the militarily superior Bald Eagles would erupt, as it did on February 4, 1899.

The Sublime Paralytic, Apolinario Mabini, explains why Aguinaldo fell for the US deception. In his memoirs, he writes that

"Mr. Aguinaldo had accepted [the verbal promises]  because he ardently desired to return to the islands, fearful that other influential Filipinos should (rob him of glory and) reach an understanding with the Americans in the name of the people." 

 Another view is offered by Jose Maria Sison, a present-day Filipino revolutionary, who writes that the credulous Aguinaldo was beguiled by the Yankee confidence-men who first communed with him in Hong Kong. He basically points out that the manifest-destiny-driven US hoodwinked whom I described as the cunning-before-Filipinos but gullible-before-the-whites leader in the American "maneuver to capture Manila and arrange the Treaty of Paris whereby Spanish colonialism ceded the Philippines to U.S. imperialism upon the payment of $20 million." Aguinaldo's stupidity before the shoddy imperialist Americans can thus be explained as a case of ambitious greed blinding--or making stupid--a supposed revolutionary.


Aguinaldo's May - August 1898 Stupidity Timeline

01 MAY - The American squadron under the command of Commodore George Dewey engages and destroys the Spanish fleet under Admiral Patricio Montojo.

02 MAY - Alexander Hill, a sailor from Dewey’s squadron, hoists the first American flag on Philippine soil, at the Cavite arsenal.

03 MAY - United States Admiral George Dewey's squadron occupies the Cavite arsenal as the Spanish garrison on Corregidor surrenders to the U.S.S. Baltimore.

04 May - The Filipino revolutionary committee in Hongkong arrives at the decision that Emilio Aguinaldo should accept the invitation of the Americans to return to the Philippines and renew the independentist struggle against colonial Spain.

  -- Spanish Governor-General Basilio Agustin tries to court the rebelling Filipinos during the Philippine American War by issuing a decree establishing the Consultative Assembly of the Philippines made up of 18 Filipinos headed by Pedro A. Paterno.

18 MAY - United Stats President President William McKinley gives a hint of American imperialistic designs in issuing “Instruction,” in which he says the Americans came to the Philippines not to “wage war upon them (the Filipinos), nor upon any part or faction among them, but to protect them in their homes, in their employments, and in their personal and religious rights.”

19 MAY - Some 10 months before the American imperialist forces formally invaded the Philippines, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, leader of the Philippine revolutionary forces fighting to overthrow Spanish colonial rule, arrives at Cavite province aboard the revenue cutter McCulloch; Aguinaldo will soon confer with Admiral George Dewey to forge an alliance against Spain, and later saying that the American admiral has categorically stated that the United States will recognize Philippine Independence as it has no need for colonies.

21 MAY - A proclamation extolling the people to unite and renew the fight for the vindication of the Philippines.

24 MAY -- In Cavite, Emilio Aguinaldo proclaims the establishment of a dictatorial government during the Second Phase of the Philippine Revolution.

25 MAY -- The first expedition of American volunteers commanded by Brigadier-General Thomas N. Anderson  leaves San Francisco, California, for the Philippines.

27 MAY - The camp of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, leader of the Philippine Revolution against Spain (since May 1897) receives the first consignment of arms in Cavite from American consul Rounseville Wildman as part of the parties' unwritten deal forged in Hong Kong during the former's unsuccessful trip to meet United States Commodore George Dewey; Wildman will never deliver the second arms shipment to Aguinaldo, paid for with P67,000, and within nine months, the US will embark on its imperialistic invasion of the Philippines.

 31 MAY  - Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, leader of the Filipino revolutionaries fighting for independence against colonial Spain, selects this day as the beginning of renewed uprising following his camp's return from exile following the Truce of Biak na Bato earlier forged by the revolutionary leaders with colonial authorities during the Philippine Revolution.

JUNE 1898

01 JUNE -- Aguinaldo issues a decree providing for the trial of all kinds of crimes, esp. treason and espionage, under competent military tribunals, with sentences requiring his approval, in the bid to suppress all disorder.

- American Arthur MacArthur, appointed Brigadier-General of Volunteers, receives an order to proceed to the Philippines.

02 JUNE - Spanish Gen. Leopoldo Garcia leads 900 infantry troops and 80 artillerymen in bringing their arms and ammunition to capitulate to the Filipino forces in Cavite.

03 JUNE - The Spanish defenders of Calamba surrender to the Filipino forces under Paciano Rizal after three days of fighting.

- American Consul Rounsevelle Wildman at Hongkong admits that on this day the Filipinos have entrusted P47,000 to him for the purchase of munitions.

06 JUNE - With his troops having surrounded the City of Manila, General Aguinaldo demands the honorable surrender of Spanish Governor-General Basilio Agustin who refuses.

-- Apolinario Mabini submits to Aguinaldo's revolutionary government his "constitutional program of the Philippine Republic.

9 JUNE - The Filipinos seize control of Pampanga province from the Spaniards.

10 JUNE - Around 5,000 Spanish defenders of Batangas province surrender to the Filipino revolutionaries.

- Aguinaldo addresses an appeal to the United States President protesting a London press report as to the supposed American intent to sell the Philippines to a European power to the effect that the U.S. intends to sell the Philippine Islands to a European power and the probable abandonment of the Philippines to the tyranny of Spain. He asks that the country be left free and independent "even if you make peace with Spain."

- During the Philippine Revolution against Spain, United States Consul-General E. Spencer Pratt, congratulates Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo for his "recent military achievements" and claims that his arrangement for the latter's meeting with US Admiral Spencer Dewey is right.

 12 JUNE  - Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, leader of the Philippine Revolution against Spain, proclaims the Independence of the Philippines "under the protection of the Powerful and Humanitarian Nation," that is the United States of America and thereby ceasing "to have any allegiance to the Crown of Spain" and unfurling a blue, red and yellow flag partly inspired by the Stars-and Stripes banner of the US.

  - Apolinario Mabini arrives in Cavite while carried in a hammock and begins serving as trusted adviser of Gen. Aguinaldo.

 16 JUNE  - During the Philippine Revolution against Spain, American Consul Oscar F. William sends a dispatch to Secretary Wm. R. Day reporting that the Filipino Revolutionists have defeated the colonial forces at practically all encounters and have taken control of the northern provinces and the entire bay coast, save for the city of Manila.

20 JUNE - Gen. Aguinaldo issues rules pertaining to the holding of junta and council sessions and the organization of police forces and tribunals, civil records, registration, property, and the census.

21 JUNE - Gen. Manuel Tinio and Col. Tecson subdue The Spanish garrison at San Isidro in Nueva Ecija province falls to the forces of Gen. Manuel Tinio and Col. Tecson, yielding some 1,050 rifles and 500,000 cartridges.

-- President Aguinaldo passes the Land Tenancy Law.

 JUNE 23 - Following the advice of Mabini, Aguinaldo decrees the change of his government from dictatorial to one that is revolutionary.

 --President Aguinaldo also decrees the establishment of a Revolutionary Committee abroad, which will ultimately be based in Hong Kong and empowered with to take charge of all overseas consular, diplomatic, and publicity activities.

 24 JUNE - Mabini issues his “True Decalogue” that sets ten general guidelines of human conduct.

25 JUNE - American Consul General at Hong Kong Rounsevelle Wildman foxily writes Philippine President Emilio Aguinaldo convincing him to stand shoulder to shoulder with what will be the future invading American forces, saying that he has supposedly "vouched for [Aguinaldo's] honesty and earnestness of purpose to the President of the United States and to [the American] people."

27 JUNE - The siege of Baler church in Tayabas, Quezon is begun by Filipino soldiers, with the Spanish defenders barricading themselves for eleven months.

--Third American expedition sails for Manila under the command of Major-General Wesley Merritt and Brigadier-General Arthur MacArthur.

 29 JUNE - Mariano Ponce arrives at Tokyo in his capacity as Philippine representative and is warmly welcomed Tokyo as Philippine representative and is welcomed by important Japanese personalities such as the Premier who are sympathetic with the cause of with Philippine Independence.

30 JUNE - Responding to Dewey's call for reinforcements, the First U.S. expedition commanded by Brigadier General Thomas M. Anderson arrives in Manila.

 JULY 1898

04 JULY - United States Gen. Thomas M. Anderson writes to President Emilio Aguinaldo asking him for cooperation in the American war with Spain, deceptively expressing supposed American sympathy with the people of the Philippine Islands; in  seven months' time, the United States will reveal its true, sinister imperialistic design on the Philippines, starting the bloody Filipino-American War, with  Gen. Anderson seeing action in the 1899 Battle of Manila where he captured Pasay and afterwards, leading his division in minor engagements at Santana, San Pedro and Guadalupe.

06 JULY - In what will prove to be a most stupid military decision, Dictator Emilio Aguinaldo of the fledgling Philippine Republic will assure imperialist American Gen. Thomas M. Anderson that he has  already ordered his "people not to interfere" with the American  forces who has been entering the Southeast Asian archipelago  during the Spanish-American War.

 09 JULY  - Gen. Thomas M. Anderson communicates from the Philippines  to the United  States Adjutant-General in Washington, D.C. that he foresees a  possible conflict with Filipino forces during the Philippine Revolution against Spain and the Spanish-American War--this as  only three days earlier, Philippine President Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo  had informed Anderson that he has already ordered his soldiers "not to  interfere" with the American forces who have been entering the country following American officers' deceptive assurances that the US  is in sympathy with the Filipinos.

14 JULY - President Emilio Aguinaldo of the still-in-revolution Philippine Republic writes to gulliby ask United States Admiral George Dewey to forward to Washington his June 18 and 23 decrees establishing a revolutionary dictatorial government to continue the fight for independence against Spain, further stating that "the  desires on this government are to remain always in friendship with the great North American nation, to which we are under many obligations."

 -- on this same day, the 4th United States Military Expedition to the Philippines sails for Manila under Maj. Gen. Elwell S. Otis, in apparent preparation for the imperialistic American invasion of the Philippines.

 15 JULY --Aguinaldo appoints his government's first Cabinet more than a month after declaring Philippine Independence under the protection of the US, supposedly "the Powerful and Humanitarian Nation," as he declares in a proclamation that the distinction between members and non-members of the Katipunan no longer exists, with the Philippines being the true Katipunan.

 --The fourth expedition of American volunteers sails for Manila, under the command of Major-General E.S. Otis.

 16 JULY  - Gen. Aguinaldo issues a decree imposing taxes on municipal and provincial councils and popular assemblies.

  -- From his Spanish-American War Flagship “Olympia” docked at Cavite, American Rear Admiral George Dewey writes to Gen. Aguinaldo, attaching a copy of a letter from the French Consul at Manila with regards the Philippine Navy's seizure of the steamer Compañia de Filipinas.

 17 JULY - General Francis V. Greene’s The second expeditionary forces of the looming 20th century imperialist nation, the United States, under Gen. Francis V. Greene arrive and land at Parañaque, located midway between Manila and Cavite.

 18 JULY --U.S. Consul R. Wildman writes Acting U.S. Secretary of State J.B. Moore from Hong Kong, informing him that he has suggested to Aguinaldo the establishment of a dictatorial government which could later be the nucleus of a representative form of government similar to that of the U.S.

20 JULY  - United States  Assistant Secretary of State William Rufus Day writes a letter supposedly rebuking American Consul-General E. Spencer Pratt in Singapore  for "undiplomatically" allowing Philippine President General  Aguinaldo to believe that the U.S. Government would recognize  the independence of the Southeast Asian archipelago after Spain  is defeated and on condition that the Filipinos help the US  in the Spanish-American War; truth is, days or weeks earlier, a  number of other American officials, including Gen. Thomas Anderson,  Consul General in Hong Kong Rounsevelle Wildman, and even  Admiral George Dewey took turns deceiving Aguinaldo into thinking the US will honor Philipine Independence

21 JULY  - Felipe Agoncillo, future Minister Plenipotentiary of the fledgling Philippine Republic, writes Apolinario Mabini, key adviser  of President Emilio Aguinaldo, expressing his apprehensions over the supposed "alliance" with the Americans in apparent reference to Aguinaldo's (unofficial and gullible) arrangement with certain United States officials to cooperate in the war against Spain and in return, America is supposed to honor the independence of the Filipino nation.

 23 JULY -The sixth imperialist American expedition sails for Manila with eight companies of the First South Dakota Volunteer Infantry under the command of Brigadier-General H.G. Otis, U.S.V.

 24 JULY  - After being led to believe through verbal promises by United States officials [the consuls in Singapore and Hong Kong, Admiral George Dewey and Gen. Thomas Anderson] that America is an  ally, President Emilio Aguinaldo writes to Gen. Anderson of his people's expectations that while foreign powers have not yet acknowledged  the Philipppine Republic, "the great North American nation, which  struggled first for its independence, and afterward for the  abolition of slavery and is now actually struggling for the  independence of Cuba, would look upon [Filipino assertion of  sovereignty] with greater benevolence than any other nation."

 25 JULY - Gen. Wesley Merritt of the Imperialist United States Army arrives in Manila.

 31 JULY - Brigadier-General Arthur MacArthur arrives in Manila and is assigned to command the Second Brigade of the First Division of the U.S. Army.

AUGUST 1898

 1 AUGUST  - The Act proclaiming Philippine Independence is proclaimed in Bacoor, Cavite during the first convention of town/municipal presidents that included representatives from Tanguay, Nueva Ecija, Laguna, Morong, Pampanga, Manila, Tarlac, Bulacan, Batangas, Bataan, Infanta, Union, Pangasinan, Zambales, Tayabas, and Mindoro; ironically, as the act declares that the Philippine Revolution against Spain is a rational and legitimate action of the Filipino people, who are valiantly defending their national pride and dignity, and asks all foreign governments to recognize the Filipino nation and its sovereignty, during the very same day, the troops of the imperialist United States earlier freely allowed to enter the country (by a gullible Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo) are organized into a division commanded by Gen. Thomas Anderson, later to take part in the undemocratic American invasion of the Philippines and commence the bloody Filipino-American War.

 03 AUGUST - In a speech at Kawit in Cavite province, Emilio Aguinaldo, President of the fledgling Philippine Republic, pleads with local officials to keep unity, peace, and upright conduct; the appeal comes amidst apprehensions expressed by Felipe Agoncillo and Apolinario Mabini, Aguinaldo's diplomatic official and key adviser, respectively, over the former's supposed "alliance" with the Americans, with some Filipino soldiers already thinking at that point they they might need to fight a war with the pale-skinned US forces.

04 AUGUST - American Consul Oscar F. Williams cables U.S. Secretary of State William R. Day to report that he has tried to convince Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo that American rule over the Philippines will supposedly bring greater honor, progress, and profit to the natives compared to any scheme the Filipino leader and his advisers can ever devise, adding that he is on better terms with Aguinaldo than the American military commanders are.

 06 AUGUST -  Generals Artemio Ricarte and Pio del Pilar express their misgivings to Emilio Aguinaldo about the true nature of American policy towards the Philippines; this, as Aguinaldo issues a proclamation to the United States and all foreign governments explaining the nature and scope of the Revolutionary Government and the proclamation of country's independence by provincial representatives, begging for the protection of all nations of the civilized world and beseeching their formal recognition of the state of belligerence and the independence of the Philippines.”

 07 AUGUST - American military officers Admiral Dewey and General Merritt, through the British Vice Consul, H.A. Ramsden, issue a joint ultimatum to the Spanish authorities stating that “the land and naval forces of the United States would commence operations against the defenses of Manila at any time after the expiration of the forty-eight hours from the hour of receipt by you of this communication.”

 11 AUGUST - The camp of Philippine President Emilio Aguinaldo, which has already seized control of most of the archipelago away from the Spanish colonial forces, finally realizes that the Yankees are preparing to take the city of Manila as Filipino forces besieging Intramuros notice a general movement among American militia units.

 13 AUGUST - The "Mock Battle of Manila" occurs between Spanish and American forces, a day after the signing of the Protocol of Peace, as part of the two powers' imperialistic, shoddy and detestably anti-democratic deal to transfer Spanish colonial possessions to the United States, thus depriving Filipinos of their rightful revolutionary victory against colonial Spain.

 14 AUGUST - Two companies of Filipino soldiers are disarmed by imperialist U.S. soldiers when they mistakenly fired at the patrol of American Capt. Cornell, thinking the latter were enemy Spanish soldiers--this, despite the explanation that it is a case of mistaken identity.

 --   Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo writes Gen. Merritt explaining why he could not prevent his troops from entering Manila but promises to withdraw beyond the city limits and observe other conditions in the bid to avoid conflict

 -- Imperialist United States begins its propaganda efforts as part of the looming invasion of the Philippine archipelago, with Gen. Wesley Merritt proclaiming in English, Tagalog, and Spanish that Americans supposedly did not come "to wage war" upon the Filipinos but to "protect them in their homes, in their employments, and in their personal and religious rights"--understood to be contingent, of course, on the natives' unpatriotic acceptance of the Bald Eagle nation's colonization of the islands; the proclamation came some three months after American officials first verbally conned Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo into believing the US will honor Philippine Independence, came five weeks after Gen. Thomas M. Anderson asked for Filipinos' military cooperation against Spain and after Aguinaldo most stupidly ordered his soldiers "not to interfere" and allow American forces to enter the native territory.

15 AUGUST - Two days after the Mock Battle of Manila between Spanish and American forces, the imperialist Bald Eagle nation lay the civilian framework for the invasion of the Philippines by assigning military officers to duty to assume civil government in the City of Manila and the district of Cavite.

18 AUGUST - The emerging power that is the United States proceeds with its imperialistic plan of invading the Philippines as Gen. Wesley Merritt is instructed to make the Filipinos recognize the military occupation and "authority" of the Bald Eagle nation.

 22 AUGUST- The fledgling Philippine Republic retreats, transferred by President Emilio Aguinaldo who issues a decree ordering his men to prepare in moving the capital and headquarters from Bacoor, Cavite, to Malolos Bulacan.

29 AUGUST -  Imperialist United States assigns Gen. Wesley Merritt as "military governor" of the Southeast Asian archipelago.

  
Other August Red-letters

There are a host of other significant historical events that occurred in August. The assassination of Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino II took place on August 21, 1986, a murder that will eventually lead to the toppling of the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship. Then there was the 1987 coup staged by now-Senator Gregorio Honasan and other Reform the Armed Forces boys that rocked Cory Aquino administration. During World War II, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed on August 6 and 9, Japan promptly unconditionally surrendered, and on the 17th, President Jose P. Laurel dissolved the Second Philippine Republic established during the war. During the Philippine-American War, August was also the month the fourth de facto President of the Philippines, Macario Sakay, was convicted of banditry and sentenced to die by the colonial court. As well, during the Spanish colonial era, August 31, 1829 was the day the 85-year Dagohoy Rebellion was put to an end.

However, apart from the Battle of Pinaglabanan and preceding crucial events of the Philippine Revolution, nothing else will perhaps equal in terms of critical value the August 1898 events that spelled doom for Philippine freedom. Aguinaldo, for his ambition-driven stupidity before-the-imperialist Americans, seems most unforgettable at that juncture of our history.

_________

References:

Filipiniana.net.

National Historical Institute. "Today in History.

"MR. BRYAN'S SPEECH OF ACCEPTANCE; Devotes Himself Exclusively to Issue of Imperialism. NOT ONE WORD FOR SILVER Pledges Himself, if Elected, to Call Extra Session of Congress to Give Filipinos Independence." New York Times. 9 August 1900. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9E06E4D9143DE433A2575AC0A96E9C946197D6CF

"12. William Jennings Bryan Speech, 8 August 1900." In Documents on Imperialism. http://www2.bc.edu/~weiler/imperialismdocs.htm

Sison, Jose Maria. Struggle for National Democracy.
Image credits:

Filipiniana.net

Open Letter of Filipino Patriots to Obama. P.S. Don't boost Gloria's "wrong side of history"

In anticipation of the scheduled July 30, 2009 visit of Philippine "President" Gloria Arroyo to the White House, a group of Filipino patriots wrote an open letter to United States President Barack Obama urging him to look into the genuine state of the Philippine nation. The communication reminds the US leader of his inaugural address that warned world leaders “who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent…[as being] on the wrong side of history.”

The signatories, which include two former Senate Presidents, former senators and cabinet secretaries, activist religious leaders, and the NBN-ZTE bribery scandal whistle-blower, urge the American leader to be well "mindfulof Ms Arroyo's legacy of corruption, extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, bribery, election cheating, among others." The meat of the letter implores Obama "to inspire hope and be an instrument of change for the common good of the long suffering Filipino people."

**********
P.S.

US President Obama, this humble brown column asks you not to boost RP "President" Arroyo's "wrong side of history" position by letting your office be used to sanitize and legitimize her vile and mandate-less regime. Let me remind you of your Inaugural Address here at:

• Obama's inaugural speech

Excerpts:

...To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it....

May I also kindly ask you to read an interesting account of the history of your relations with Arroyo here:

• Obama's 'strategic interests' call to SE Asia's notoriously corrupt leader

Arroyo had gone on an aggressive seeking of the opportunity to meet up and try forging close relations with (translation 2: stalking) Obama as early as June 2008 when he was yet the presumed Democratic presidential nominee--apparently to ensure the political support of Bush's successor to her precarious presidency.

Her first attempt came via an expensive, 10-day, non-state visit to the US in the midst of the American presidential electoral process, but which failed to obtain even a glimpse of his charismatic presence....

But beware, half of the letter's signatories were responsible for installing the bogus "President" Arroyo. Allow me:

• The conspiracy of Edsa 2: how Gloria Arroyo managed not to let President Joseph Estrada finish his term

The Edsa II "People Power" coup d e'tat was hatched through the coalesced leadership of elements of political opportunists galvanizing under then Vice-President Arroyo, rebel military influenced by ex-President Fidel Ramos, Catholic bishops led by Jaime Cardinal Sin, and Philippine leftists such as former communist rebel Satur Ocampo. Undoubtedly, there were other groups behind the unconstitutional "fiesta" mob rule of the 2001 Edsa. There were the influential business elites, of course, and as well, the Protestant Jesus is Lord Movement by Bro. Eddie Villanueva. These groups could be said to be the plotters, each of which falls into the category of either being devious, vengeful, or well-meaning but misguided. Estrada was, after all, far from perfect. It was easy for those with poor democratic values to seek the Machiavellian way out of a President who acted like, and preferred to identify himself with the masses, perhaps much too much.

Then again, Arroyo fraudulently sought her own "mandate." Kindly read all about it here:

• Arroyo, "Hello Garci" and the Anniversary of Her Bogus Presidency

On June 24, 2004, a stealth operation of grave national impact was conducted by the Congress of the Philippines. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the controversial sitting President who took power after the popularly elected Joseph Estrada was deposed in the undemocratic EDSA II conspiracy in January 2001, was proclaimed as the victor of the 2004 May 11 elections in a manner that defied the spirit of electoral victory and the essence of a "proclamation." At around 3:30 am--yes, Virginia, at such a still-dusky morning hour when most Filipinos are generally still tucked in their beds--Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Jose de Venecia raised the hands of Arroyo and proclaimed her "President-elect."

What explains the surreptitious proclamation that ensured the people who were supposed to have given the petite Arroyo the mandate of electoral victory (over "1 M" lead over opposition bet Fernando Poe Jr.) would not be able to share in a supposedly glorious moment is the conspiratorial story of cheating and cover-up sealed at the very halls of the Philippine Congress.

Arroyo's 2009 SONA are full of lies, as usual, actually. Historically, the majority of the Filipinos have taken her SONAs with considerable skepticism, as illustrated here:

• Arroyo's 2008 SONA as pack of lies, again

Only 14 out of every 100 Filipinos believe there will be any truth in the scheduled July 28, 2008 SONA, compared to the 86% percent who either disbelieve or remain undecided... An earlier Pulse Asia survey study held in October 2007 has shown that Filipinos regard Gloria Arroyo as the Most Corrupt President in Philippine History, even beating former dictator Ferdinand Marcos for the ignominious title. Ironically, Joseph Estrada, her predecessor whom she deposed in the 2001 Edsa revolt, is ranked number two as the Least Corrupt President, next to Corazon Aquino, during the post-Martial Law era.

The economic figures she presented in what should be her last SONA are as apparently doctored as the 2004 Congress' tally of her supposedly winning votes vs. Fernando Poe Jr. Your American excellency, kindly take note of the point-by-point exploration of her fantasy "Arroyonomics:"

• Arroyo's SONA Fiction- Estrada

Former President Joseph Estrada, reacting point by point to the achievements claimed by President Arroyo in her State of the Nation Address (Sona), yesterday said the speech was a work of fiction, pointing out that this is due to "Arroyonomics" which he described as a "kind of economics out of touch with reality and real facts."

He also charged the Arroyo administration with implementing anti-poor policies in education, health, housing, agrarian reform and other areas over the past eight years.

Mr. Obama, know what the Filipino people are truly experiencing under their incumbent "President" based on nationwide surveys and not government figures of dubious authenticity. I implore you and your office to check these out:

• Philippine Unemployment at Record High

The First Quarter 2009 Social Weather Survey, fielded over February 20-23, 2009, found adult unemployment rising to record-high 34.2%, or an estimated 14 million, from 27.9% or estimated 11 million from the previous quarter... Unemployment has been over 20% since 2005.

• 
  Philippine Hunger Rises to Near-Record Level: 1 out of 5 Families Affected


The Second Quarter 2009 Social Weather Survey, fielded over June 19-22, 2009, found the proportion of families experiencing involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months rising to 20.3% or an estimated 3.7 million families, from 15.5% or an estimated 2.9 million families in the previous quarter.

The new Hunger figure is just 3 points lower than the record-high 23.7% (or estimated 4.3 million families) in December 2008, and is 8 points above the ten-year average of 12.8% [Chart 1, Table 1]... Hunger has consistently been in double-digits for five years, since June 2004.

Great President Obama, you've successfully campaigned on a mantra of "Change." Eight thousand six hundred miles away, the present-day people of the Southeast Asian country that your early predecessor, the 25th US President William McKinley, decided to colonize--the poor Philippines--earnestly count on you to keep your word in their struggle against a most conspiratorial, most power grabbing, most fraudulent, and most repudiated "leader" in the islands' history. Can Filipinos count on you?



____________________________________________________

Postscript

After playing hard-to-get for several months, Obama ultimately invited, and met with, his Filipino stalker of rather midget proportions. The scene reminds this column of two historical entities circa turn-of-the-past-century: two groups of traitors during the Philippine American War--a group of "Macabebes", traitors to the Filipino side; and deserter black American soldiers, traitors to the American side. The "Macabebes" were some local mercenaries from the Philippine province of Pampanga--where Arroyo partly hails--who were paid by the US forces tracking down the revolutionary leader Emilio Aguinaldo; on the other, the 29 black American deserters of the first US imperialistic war of conquest deplored their ironic role in "an unjust racial war," leading them to abandon their American posts.
Arroyo can be likened to one of the Macabebes who betrayed Aguinaldo, while Obama, being one dark-skinned biracial, looks like Private David Fagen of the 24th Infantry's Company I who even became a captain on the side of the Filipino revolutionaries. Of course, Obama is no traitor to the American side. During the two presidents' meeting, the 44th US President actually behaved more like a white-skinned, trimmed-down McKinley as he asked his counterpart to serve as the "chief coordinator in Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)" for the US! The 14th RP "President" gleefully accepted that role of servitude but surely not without a payment of sorts, just like the Macabebes of old.


________

References:
Dizon, Lino. Macabebes 1571-1901: More than a footnote in history. http://www.geocities.com/kapampanganx/s4_1.html
Dumindin, Arnaldo. Philippine-American War, 1899-1902. http://www.freewebs.com/philippineamericanwar/thewarin19001901.htm
Ellen Tordesillas. http://www.ellentordesillas.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/letter-to-pres-obama-72909.pdf
Gloria propaganda gone wrong. 4 August 2009. http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20090804com1.html
Pelorina, Renato. "Ang Mga Macabebe sa Digmaang Pilipino-Amerikano (1899-1902)." Philippine Social Sciences Review, 58-59.1-2 (Jan 2006-Dec 2007). Abstract. http://journals.upd.edu.ph/index.php/pssr/article/view/1270
San Juan, E. African American Soldiers in the Philippine Revolution. http://philcsc.wordpress.com/2009/06/27/african-american-soldiers-in-the-philippine-revolution/



Photo Credits:

Social Weather Stations. http://www.sws.org.ph
Pulse Asia. http://pulseasia.com.ph/
http://cm1.theinsider.com/
AllPosters.com
http://www.ellentordesillas.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/letter-to-pres-obama-72909.pdf
Philippine Commentary. http://philippinecommentary.blogspot.com/2009/07/gloria-upstaged-by-beer-summit.html

Gat Andres Bonifacio: The Anti-Colonial National Hero of the Philippines (Bonifacio Series I)

• 
  
  Recommended:
  
  Andres Bonifacio's Tagalog Nation & Predictions of Global Warming (Bonifacio Series II)
  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 I)
  
  
  
  EVERY November 30, the Philippines celebrates Bonifacio Day to commemorate the birthday of the Father of Philippine Revolution, Andres Bonifacio y de Castro. The second foremost figure in the country's pantheon of heroes, he is in fact regarded by Filipino nationalists more highly than the only one other but 'more official' national hero,* Jose Rizal, who is criticized as having been an "American-sponsored hero" chosen by the United States colonial government over the "too radical" Bonifacio and the 'Sublime Paralytic' Apolinario Mabini.
  
  The Anti-Colonial National Hero
  
  Rizal, writes eminent historian Renato Constantino, was undoubtedly a great Filipino--true martyr and patriot-- but the fact remains that veneration to him was promoted by the US colonial government because among others, he did not advocate independence, neither armed resistance to the government. This, in contrast to Bonifacio, who founded the revolutionary secret society Kataastaasan Kagalang-galang na Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan ((KKK), and subsequently launched the revolution against Spanish colonial rule. Choosing the "unregenerate" Mabini, who lived long enough to support continued war against America well into his last years, or Bonifacio, who clearly aimed for independence for his country, would have been counter to the colonial policy of the new imperialist master.
  
  Supremo of the Filipino Revolutionary Government
  
  Bonifacio, in fact, formed the first national government of the natives with the intent and vision that the Katipunan would govern the islands after any overthrow of Spanish colonial rule. Beyond being a secret militant organization, the Katipunan was a revolutionary government with a bureaucratic framework, own set of laws and founded on democratic and moral principles summed up under the KKK Cartilla or primer. Even the US Library of Congress record proves such to an extent: "the Katipunan insinuated itself into the community by setting up mutual aid societies and education for the poor." The same text points to how Bonifacio, with a 30,000-strong** KKK "proclaimed Filipino independence on August 23, 1896."***
  
  After the Katipuneros launched the uprising against the Spaniards, the "Great Plebeian" hero set out to transform the national secret organization into an open and de facto revolutionary government. The founder of the Katipunan became the president and headed a cabinet composed of those he trusted, including Emilio Jacinto, Secretary of State; Teodoro Plata, War; Aguado del Rosario, Interior; Briccio Pantas, Justice; and Enrique Pacheco, as Secretary of Finance. While certain historians had tried to downplay or dispute his formation and leadership of the earliest national government by and of the Filipinos, clear evidence that had only quite recently been made available bestows on Andres Bonifacio the glorious, unequivocal title of being the truly first President of the Philippine Revolutionary Government.
  
  Surviving official letterhead communications dated 1897 point to the great hero’s various designations that include being the "Supreme President, Government of the Revolution." Perhaps the most telling proofs come from non-partisan sources of the period. Nineteenth century Spanish historian Jose M. del Castillo, in his 1897 writing "El Katipunan" or "El Filibusterismo en Filipinas," describes the first national elections in the Philippines from which Bonifacio emerged as the President, and Plata, Jacinto, del Rosario, Pantas and Pacheco as cabinet officials. This is corroborated by the February 8, 1897 issue of the international publication "La Ilustracion Espanola y Americana" in its article about the Philippine revolution and which featured an engraved portrait of “Andres Bonifacio, Titulado ‘Presidente’ de la Republica Tagala,”**** clad in a dark suit and white tie.
  
  Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa" (Love of Motherland)
  
  Bonifacio Day for 2008 is the 145th birth anniversary of this fervent, plebeian, nationalist hero who might arguably have not been very effective in the battlefield, but possessed the organizational genius that paved the way for the revolutionary struggle for independence by the Malay race of the Philippine Islands. The depth of Gat Andres Bonifacio's ardent love for his country and people can be gleaned from his famous poem "Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa" (Love for Motherland), which has been popularized as a song in the modern times.
  
  The poem is a poignant call for nationalism that emanates from within the people and not from anyone or anywhere else. In it, Katipunan Supremo Andres Bonifacio laments the suffering of his people under Spanish colonial misrule and as well, the seeming loss of pride in their race. A patriotic song, it views love for country as perhaps the noblest and purest love there is. "Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa" was first disseminated during the Philippine Revolution against Spanish rule in the 1890s, appearing in the first and only issue of the Katipunan publication, Kalayaan. It was adapted to music during the Martial Law years.
  
  
  
  

  PAG-IBIG SA TINUBUANG LUPA
  (ni Andres Bonifacio y de Castro)
  
  Aling pag-ibig pa ang hihigit kaya
  sa pagkadalisay at magkadakila
  Gaya ng pag-ibig sa sariling lupa?
  Aling pag-ibig pa? Wala na nga, wala.
  
  Pagpupuring lubos ang palaging hangad
  Sa bayan ng taong may dangal na ingat,
  Umawit, tumula, kumata't at sumulat,
  Kalakhan din niya'y isinisiwalat.
  
  Walang mahalagang hindi inihandog
  Ng may pusong mahal sa Bayang nagkupkop,
  dugo, yaman, dunong, katiisa't pagod,
  Buhay ma'y abuting magkalagut-lagot.
  
  Bakit? Alin ito na sakdal ng laki,
  Na hinahandugan ng busong pagkasi,
  Na sa lalong mahal nakapangyayari,
  At ginugulan ng buhay na iwi?
  
  Ay! Ito'y ang iang bayang tinubuan:
  Siya'y iona't tangi sa kinamulatan
  Ng kawili-wiling liwanang ng araw
  Na nagbigay-init sa buong katawan.
  
  Kalakip din nito'y pag-ibig sa Bayan,
  Ang lahat ng lalong sa gunita'y mahal,
  Mula sa masaya'y gasong kasanggulan
  Hanggang sa katawa'y mapasa-libingan.
  
  Sa aba ng abang mawalay sa bayan!
  Gunita ma'y laging sakbibi ng lumbay,
  Walang alaala't inaasa-asam
  Kundi ang makita'y lupang tinubuan.
  
  Pati ng magdusa'y sampung kamatayan
  Wari ay masarap kung dahil sa bayan
  At lalong mahirap. Oh, himalang bagay!
  Lalong pag-irog pa ang sa kanya'y alay.
  
  Kung ang bayang ito'y masasa-panganib
  At siya ay dapat na ipagtangkilik,
  Ang anak, asawa, magulang, kapatid;
  Isang tawag niya'y tatalidang pilit.
  
  Hayo na nga, hayo, kayong nagabuhay
  Sa pag-asang lubos ng kaginhawahan
  At walang tinamo kundi kapaitan,
  Hayo na't ibangon ang naabang bayan!
  
  Kayong nalagasan ng bunga't bulaklak
  Ng kaho'y ng buhay na nilanta't sukat,
  Ng bala-balaki't makapal na hirap,
  muling manariaw't sa baya'y lumiyag.
  
  Ipahandug-handog ang busong pag-ibig
  At hanggang may dugo'y ubusing itigis;
  kung sa pagtatanggol, buhay ay mapatid,
  Ito'y kapalaran at tunay na langit!

  
  
  Legend:
  
  *According to the NCCA,
  
  

  No law, executive order or proclamation has been enacted or issued officially proclaiming any Filipino historical figure as a national hero... Aside from Rizal, the only other hero given an implied recognition as a national hero is Andres Bonifacio whose day of birth on November 30 has been made a national holiday.

  
  **Estimates vary from 30.000 to 400,000
  ***Recent records have established the true date to be August 24, 1896
  ****Bonifacio referred to the whole of the Philippine Islands as Katagalugan or Tagala in his writings.
  
  
  
  ________
  
  
  References:
  
  
  Andres Bonifacio: “Titulado Presidente De La Republica Tagala”. http://www.geocities.com/umalahokanstribe/EXHIBIT.html.
  
  
  Constantino, Renato. Veneration without Understanding. Third National Rizal Lecture, December 30, 1969. 13 January 2008. PinoyPress Site. http://www.pinoypress.net/2008/01/13/jose-rizal-veneration-without-understanding/7/.
  
  
  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.
  
  
  Medina, Isagani. Heroes of the Philippines Revolution. In The Great Lives Series, Andres Bonifacio, Tahanan Books for Young Readers, Bookmark, 1992. Bakbakan Site. http://www.bakbakan.org/heroes.html.
  
  
  Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa. Philippine Revolution Web Center Site. http://www.philippinerevolution.net/cgi-bin/kultura/awit.pl?title=pag-ibig%20sa%20tinubuang%20lupa.
  
  
  Revolución filipina (1896-1898). Museo Oriental de Valladolid Site. http://www.museo-oriental.es/ver_didactica.asp?clave=138&loc=0.
  
  
  *Selection and Proclamation of National Heroes and Laws Honoring Filipino Historical Figures. *From the Reference and Research Bureau Legislative Research Service, House of Congress. NCCA Site. http://www.ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/culture-profile/culture-profile-nationalhero.php.