Cry of Pugad Lawin
The Cry of Pugad Lawin (Filipino: Sigaw ng Pugad Lawin, Spanish: Grito de Pugad Lawin) was the beginning of the Philippine Revolution against the Spanish Empire.[1]
Native name
Sigaw ng Pugad Lawin
August 23, 1896 (exact date disputed)
Province of Manila, Captaincy General of the Philippines, exact location uncertain. See here for more info.
Start of the Philippine Revolution
- Formation of an insurgent government
In late August 1896, members of the Katipunan led by Andrés Bonifacio revolted somewhere around Caloocan, which included parts of the present-day Quezon City.[2][3]
Originally the term cry referred to the first clash between the Katipuneros and the Civil Guards (Guardia Civil). The cry could also refer to the tearing up of community tax certificates (cédulas personales) in defiance of their allegiance to Spain. This was literally accompanied by patriotic shouts.[4]
Because accounts of the event vary, the exact date and place of the event is unknown.[3][4] From 1908 until 1963, the event was thought to have occurred on August 26 in Balintawak. In 1963, the Philippine government declared August 23 to be the date of the event in Quezon City.[5][4]
Characterization of the event[edit]
The term "Cry" is translated from the Spanish el grito de rebelion (cry of rebellion) or el grito for short. Thus the Grito de Balintawak is comparable to Mexico's Grito de Dolores (1810). However, el grito de rebelion strictly refers to a decision or call to revolt. It does not necessarily connote shouting, unlike the Filipino sigaw.[3][4]
Tearing of cédulas[edit]
Not all accounts relate the tearing of cédulas in the last days of August. Of the accounts that do, older ones identify the place where this occurred as Kangkong in Balintawak/Kalookan. Most also give the date of the cédula-tearing as August 26, in close proximity to the first encounter. One Katipunero, Guillermo Masangkay, claimed cédulas were torn more than once – on the 24th as well as the 26th.[4]
For his 1956 book The Revolt of the Masses Teodoro Agoncillo defined "the Cry" as the tearing of cedulas, departing from precedent which had then defined it as the first skirmish of the revolution. His version was based on the later testimonies of Pío Valenzuela and others who claimed the cry took place in Pugad Lawin instead of Balintawak. Valenzuela's version, through Agoncillo's influence, became the basis of the current stance of the Philippine government. In 1963, President Diosdado Macapagal ordered the official commemorations shifted to Pugad ng uwak, Quezon City on August 23.[5][4]
Formation of an insurgent government[edit]
An alternative definition of the Cry as the "birth of the Filipino nation state" involves the setting up of a national insurgent government through the Katipunan with Bonifacio as President in Banlat, Pasong Tamo on August 24, 1896 – after the tearing of cedulas but before the first skirmish. This was called the Haring Bayang Katagalugan (Sovereign Tagalog Nation).[3]
Why Balintawak?[edit]
The Cry of Rebellion in the Philippines happened in August 1896. There are lot of controversies puzzling the minds of the readers regarding the real place and date of this event.[21] Some accounts pointing directly to Balintawak are associated with 'The Cry’. Lt. Olegario Diaz of the Spanish Civil Guards wrote in 1896 that the event happened in Balintawak,[22] which corroborates the accounts of the historian Gregorio Zaide and Teodoro Kalaw. On the other hand, Teodoro Agoncillo based his account from that of Pio Valenzuela that emphasized Pugad Lawin as the place where the ‘cry’ happened.
Here are some reasons why Pugad Lawin is not considered as the place of the ‘cry’. (1) People of Balintawak initiated the revolution against the Spaniards that is why it is not appropriate to call it ‘Cry of Pugad Lawin’. (2) The place Pugad Lawin only existed in 1935 after the rebellion happened in 1896. Lastly, (3) The term ‘Pugad Lawin’ was only made up because of the hawk’s nest at the top of a tall tree at the backyard of Tandang Sora in Banlat, Gulod, Kaloocan where it is said to be one of the hiding places of the revolutionary group led by Andres Bonifacio.[23]
Other cries[edit]
In 1895, Bonifacio, Masangkay, Emilio Jacinto and other Katipuneros spent Good Friday in the caves of Mt. Pamitinan in Montalban (now part of Rizal province). They wrote "long live Philippine independence" on the cave walls, which some Filipino historians consider the "first cry" (el primer grito).[4]
Commemoration[edit]
The Cry is commemorated as National Heroes' Day, a public holiday in the Philippines.[24]
The first annual commemoration of the Cry occurred in Balintawak in 1908 after the American colonial government repealed the Sedition Law. A privately funded Monument to the Heroes of 1896 (a lone Katipunero popularly identified with Bonifacio) that had been inaugurated at Balintawak on September 3, 1911 was dismantled in 1968 to make way for a cloverleaf interchange. Through the efforts of the National Historical Commission and the University of the Philippines, the monument was re-inaugurated on November 29, 1968 in front of Vinzons Hall on the UP Dillman campus.[25] In 1984, the National Historical Institute of the Philippines installed a commemorative plaque in Pugad Lawin.[4]