Andrés Bonifacio
Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro (Tagalog: [anˈdɾes (anˈdɾez-) bonɪˈfaʃo], Spanish: [anˈdɾes βoniˈfaθjo];[2] November 30, 1863 – May 10, 1897) was a Filipino revolutionary leader. He is often called "The Father of the Philippine Revolution", and considered one of the national heroes of the Philippines.[3][4][5]
This article is about the person Andres Bonifacio. For other uses, see Bonifacio.
Andrés Bonifacio
Office established
Office abolished
Emilio Aguinaldo (as President of Tejeros Revolutionary Government)
Organization defunct
November 30, 1863[1]
Tondo, Manila,[1] Captaincy General of the Philippines, Spanish Empire
May 10, 1897 (aged 33)
Maragondon, Cavite, Captaincy General of the Philippines, Spanish Empire
Execution
1
Maypagasa
(The First President of the Republic of the Philippines )
1896–1897
- Cry of Pugad Lawin
- Battle of Manila (1896)
- Battle of San Juan del Monte
- Battle of Pasong Tamo
- Battle of San Mateo and Montalban
- Battle of Marikina
- Battle of Balara
He was one of the founders and later the Kataastaasang Pangulo (Supreme President, Presidente Supremo in Spanish, often shortened by contemporaries and historians to just Supremo)[6] of the Kataastaasan, Kagalanggalang na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan or more commonly known as the "Katipunan", a movement that sought the independence of the Philippines from Spanish colonial rule and started the Philippine Revolution.[7][8][5]
With the onset of the revolution, Bonifacio reorganized the Katipunan into a revolutionary government, with himself as President (Pangulo) of a nation-state called "Haring Bayang Katagalugan" ("Sovereign Nation of the Tagalog People" or "Sovereign Tagalog Nation"), also "Republika ng Katagaluguan" ("Tagalog Republic", Republica Tagala in Spanish), where in "Tagalog" referred to all those born in the Philippine islands and not merely the Tagalog speaking regions [9][10] Hence, some historians have argued that he should be considered the First President of the Tagalogs instead of the Philippines; that is why he is not included in the current official line of succession.[9][10]
Bonifacio was executed by Major Lázaro Macapagal under the order of the Consejo dela Guerra (Council of War) headed by General Mariano Noriel in 1897 on the basis of committing sedition and treason against the government.[11][12]
Early life and education[edit]
Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro was born on November 30, 1863, in Tondo, Manila,[13] and was the first of six children of Catalina de Castro, a tornatras from Zambales, and Santiago Bonifacio, a native of Taguig.[14] His parents named him after Saint Andrew the Apostle, the patron saint of Manila whose feast day falls on his birth date.[15][16] He learned the alphabet through his aunt. He was enrolled in Guillermo Osmeña's private elementary school[17][18] and also in Escuela Municipal de Niños on Calle Ilaya in Tondo. He reached third year in a private secondary school in Manila.[14]
Some sources assert that he was orphaned at an early age,[19][20] but, considering the existence of an 1881 record that has Bonifacio's parents listed as living in Tondo, it is disputed by others.[21] To support his family financially, Bonifacio made canes and paper fans which he and his young siblings sold (after they were orphaned, according to the traditional view).[22] He also made posters for business firms. This became their thriving family business that continued when the men of the family, namely Andres, Ciriaco, Procopio, and Troadio, were employed with private and government companies, which provided them with decent living conditions.[23]
In his late teens, he first worked either as an agent or mandatario (messenger) for the British trading firm Fleming and Company,[24][14] where he rose to become a corredor (broker) of tar, rattan and other goods. He later transferred to Fressell and Company, a German trading firm, where he worked as a bodeguero (storehouse keeper) responsible for warehouse inventory. He was also a theater actor and often played the role of Bernardo Carpio, a fictional character in Tagalog folklore.[25]
Not finishing his formal education, Bonifacio turned to self-education by reading books. He read books about the French Revolution, biographies of the presidents of the United States, books about contemporary Philippine penal and civil codes, and novels such as Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, Eugène Sue's Le Juif errant and José Rizal's Noli Me Tángere and El filibusterismo. Aside from Tagalog and Spanish, he could at least speak some English because of his work in a British firm.[26][27]
Marriages[edit]
Bonifacio's first wife, Monica (surname unknown), was his neighbor in Palomar, Tondo.[28] She died of leprosy[29][30] and they had no recorded children.
In 1892, Bonifacio, a 29-year-old widower, met the 18-year-old Gregoria de Jesús[31] through his friend Teodoro Plata, who was her cousin. Gregoria, also called Oriang, was the daughter of a prominent citizen and landowner from Caloocan.[32] Gregoria's parents did not agree at first to their relationship, for Andrés was a Freemason, and Freemasons were at that time considered enemies of the Catholic Church.[33] Her parents eventually acquiesced, and Andrés and Gregoria were married in a Catholic ceremony at Binondo Church in March 1893 or 1894. The couple were also married through Katipunan rites in a friend's house in Santa Cruz, Manila on the same day of their church wedding.[34]
They had one son, born in early 1896,[35] who sadly died of smallpox in infancy.[30][36]
