‘Bonifacio made a lasting one, the ultimate sacrifice. Those of us who are forever appalled at the idea of personal loss will find new courage in the life of the Great Plebeian.’
HIS dossier may look something like this:
(1) Name: Andres Bonifacio
(2) Aliases: Maypagasa, Agapito Bagumbayan
(3) Localities Frequented: Taliba Lodge, Mount Masuyod (Pasong Kawayan or Pantayanin)?
(4) Known Associates: Pio Valenzuela, Emilio Jacinto, Hermenegildo Reyes, Balbino Florentino, José Trinidad and Pantaleon Torres [The Supreme Council Record of meeting, 05 January 1896, Mandaluyong; Archivo General Militar de Madrid: Caja 5677, leg.1.85] Macario Sakay, Personero (sales agent); Briccio Pantas, Assistant to Court of First Instance judge; Apolonio Samson, Property owner; Ramon Bernardo, Municipal captain of Pandacan [Roster of Katipuneros at Balintawak, August 1896; “Unang sigaw, unang labanan sa paglaya,” Bagong Buhay, 25 August 1952]
(5) Occupation(s): Warehouse employee at Fressel & Co.; walking cane maker; calligrapher
(6) Past Exploits: organizer, Liga Filipina
(7) Extract of writings/beliefs/declarations: “Sa lahat ng ito, ng malubos ang kabanalan at kapurihan ng ating lahi, ng tanghalin ng Sandaigdaigan ang kamahalan ng ating kalooban, ay huag nating tularan ang kalabang kastila sa pagkahamak ng asal na ugaling gamit sa pakikidigma, huag tayong makipaghamok sa kaibigan lamang pumatay, kundi sa pagtatangol ng Kalayaan ng ating Bayan, at abutin sa mahigpit na pagkakayakap nating mga anak ng Bayan, ay maihiyaw ng buong lakas na Mabuhay! Mabuhay! ang Haring Bayang Katagalugan!” (To preserve the sanctity and glory of our race so that the world may recognize our nobility, let us not imitate our Spanish enemies in debasing the conduct of war. Let us not fight and kill merely for the sheer desire of killing. Rather, let us do so in defense of the Liberty of our Nation. Sons of the People, receive our close embrace, and let us shout with all our might: “Long Live! Long Live the Sovereign Tagalog Nation!”)
[Mararahas na manga Anak ng Bayan, February or March 1897; Archivo General Militar de Madrid: Caja 5677, leg.1.63ch 1897; Photograph of original leaflet in Pedro S. de Achutegui and Miguel A. Bernad. Aguinaldo and the Revolution of 1896: a documentary history. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1972, p. 570]
(8) Positions in organizations: Ang Plo. ng Haringbayan (The President of the Sovereign Nation) [Andres Bonifacio, Letter to the High Military Council in the Northern District, 12 December 1896; Archivo General Militar de Madrid: Caja 5677, leg.1.120]
(9) Reports of activities: Presided over the promotion of the KKKANB Balangay Kasilawan in Santa Ana to the status of a Sangunian Bayan [The Supreme Council Record of meeting, 21 June 1896, Sta. Ana; Archivo General Militar de Madrid: Caja 5677, leg.1.57] Witnessed the reconciliation between Katipuneros Kalasutsi and Palakul [The Supreme Council Record of meeting, 24 June 1896, Pandacan; Archivo General Militar de Madrid: Caja 5677, leg.1.63]
We created this dossier in observance of the 100th Bonifacio Day: “November 30… celebrated as Bonifacio Day by virtue of Act No. 2946 s. 1921.”
[https://mirror.officialgazette.gov.ph/featured/national-heroes-day/] Ang selebrasyon ng Bonifacio Day tuwing Nobyembre 30 taun-taon ay alinsunod sa Philippine Legislature Act No. 2946 at ang tema nito ngayong taon ay “Bonifacio 2021: Uniting for the Safety and Wellness of the Nation.” [http://www.pcup.gov.ph/index.php/2-uncategorised/1911-happy-158th-bonifacio-day]
The precedent: “On February 23, 1918, Act No. 2760 was passed, which approved the building of a memorial to Bonifacio, as well as the creation of national committee to oversee it…Our collective memory has successfully immortalized this boy from Tondo: Bonifacio the noble, Bonifacio the indignant, Bonifacio the defiant: Bonifacio, ever the proud ‘Pangulo Nang Haring-Bayang Katagalugan,’ even in his final days, toppled from power.” [https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/bonifacio-150/]
Thus have Philippine chief executives echoed the struggle, for instance: “Bonifacio’s voice still rings loud and clear. We the living must understand and appreciate its real message.
Let us not believe that because we have become politically independent, that because we have acquired our national sovereignty and our cherished liberty which has been hallowed and purified by the blood of Bonifacio and our other heroes, we can become complacent.”
[https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1962/08/26/address-of-president-macapagal-at-the-ceremony-for-the-laying-of-cornerstone-of-new-balintawak-monument/]
November 30 is the birthday of Gat Andres and the message reverberates: “The story of his life and death should re-impress upon us more deeply the fact that no sacrifice is too dear that we cannot afford to make it for the sake of this land that we call ours. Bonifacio made a lasting one, the ultimate sacrifice. Those of us who are forever appalled at the idea of personal loss will find new courage in the life of the Great Plebeian.”
[https://mirror.officialgazette.gov.ph/1938/11/30/statement-president-quezon-on-celebration-of-bonifacio-day-november-30-1938/]
And the sacrifice? Execution of the brothers Andres and Procopio Bonifacio. “While the government of the Philippine Republic was established in Buntis, one of the most wooded and rocky mountains between Maragondon and Looc, Emilio Aguinaldo, probably to get rid of his already fallen rival, who was covered with wounds which were almost in a state of putrefaction for lack of medicine and attention, ordered the execution, first of Procopio Bonifacio and then of Andres who, because of his wounds, was carried in a hammock to the place where his brother Procopio, two hours before, had been executed by Colonels Bonson and Paua. These two, it will be remembered, were those who had captured the Bonifacios in Limbon, Indang. Thus ended the life of the man who, scorning dangers, had established the K. K. K. nang mga A. nang B.; the man who had taught the Filipino people the true way to shake off the Spanish yoke; the man from whose mouth, and whenever he spoke with the officials of the forces, always came the following expressions: ‘Commit no acts that will cast a stain upon your name.’ ‘Fear history, for in it none of your acts can be hidden!’ [http://malacanang.gov.ph/3622-artemio-ricarte-on-the-arrest-and-execution-of-bonifacio/]
Even as we grapple with the continuing deaths from the 2019 Wuhan Outbreak and the economic crisis exploited by the bureaucrats big and small, we recall President Bonifacio’s words: “May araw ring sisikat ang araw ng Katuiran, at magbabayad ang may mga utan.”
[Fragment of a speech, circa February 1895; Archivo General Militar de Madrid: Caja 5677, leg.1.92]
