Sequencing of Events

Primary Source: The Katipunan and the Revolution: Memoirs of a General by Santiago V.

Alvarez

Before the assembly at Tejeros, the Secretary of War, Ariston Villanueva of the

Magdiwang, had been warned about Mr. Daniel Tirona’s plans (Magdalo) to undermine the

assembly as he had the support of the Magdiwang leaders. With this, Sec. Villanueva alerted

Capt. Gen. Apoy to be ready.

The assembly Tejeros happened on March 25, 1897 where members from both factions;

The Magdalo and Magdiwang, gathered to come to terms. The invitations for this assembly were

signed by Sec. Jacinto Lumbreras of the Magdiwang whom presided over the assembly. The

Convention started by tackling the major issue of the choice of the kind of government to be

established. Mr. Severino de las Alas, Chairman Lumbreras and Andres Bonifacio had an

argument. Mr. Antonio Montenegro supports Mr. de las Alas’ stand and reaffirms his point. This

triggers Gen. Apoy and angrily argues against the motion. The argument was then settled by

Trinidad (Jose Rizal’s sister), along with his widow, Josephine.

After settling the argument, Mr. Lumbreras directs the chairmanship to Andres Bonifacio.

Then, the election for the positions of President, Vice President, Minister of Finance, Minister of

Welfare, Minister of Justice, and Captain General occurred. Andres Bonifacio opens by giving a

speech about accepting the results of the election despite the credentials or educational level of a

person as agreed to by the members. The ballots for voting were then distributed and collected.

Mr. Diego Mojica discovers and informs Bonifacio of the pre-filled ballots during the

distribution, but was ignored. Then, the votes were counted. As results, Emilio Aguinaldo
surpassed Emilio Aguinaldo and became President. Each position evaded Bonifacio until he was

elected as Secretary of Interior despite Tirona moving against it with disrespect. Furiously,

Bonifacio aimed his revolver at Tirona and demanded an apology. Everything became chaotic as

people were frantic. As the Chairman of the Katipunan, Bonifacio declared all happenings during

the convention as null and void and left quickly.

When night came, some Magdalo leaders had a meeting a parish house in Tanza. Here,

Baldomero Aguinaldo requests a reconciliation meeting at Tejeros. However, the Magdalo

faction did not appear. Rumors about their absence were thought of them also having a separate

meeting at the Tanza parish house wherein they already had took their oath of office under Fr.

Cenon Villafranca and that the Magdalo were on tight guard to prevent members from the

Magdiwang to cause trouble. The narrative ends.

Secondary Source: The Revolt of the Masses: The Story of Bonifacio and the Katipunan (Seeds

of Discontent) by Teodoro A. Agoncillo.

This article starts by introducing the division of the Katipunan into two factions; the

Magdiwang and the Magdalo, each with their own sovereign power over a number of towns. As

independent factions, each had elected their own officials with the different positions. However,

both factions made the decision for their armies to wear the same uniform but later proved to be

too expensive.

Between the factions, tension rose as each factions wanted supremacy over the other.

Neither would bow nor want to be placed upon the other’s command. Each believed to have won

more victories than the other. It was a silent conflict. The disputes between the two factions led

the members of Magdiwang to ask help from Andres Bonifacio who refused at first but
ultimately agreed. He left for Cavite with Ciriaco and Procopio on Dec 1896. Bonifacio was

invited by the rebel leaders and brought to houses in Imus, Novaleta, and Malabon. With the

growing suspicion of both parties against each other, a conclusion was made to call an assembly

at Imus to finally remedy the growing tension. As they started, each factions greeted the other

and Bonifacio independently proceeded to the head of the table and seated the Magdiwang at his

right which hinted impartiality. The Magdalo kept quiet and sat on the left.

As the assembly opened, the two factions argued on whether or not to create a new

government. As they went on, heated discussions sparked arguments and led to Bonifacio having

the choice as he was the President as he was the Supremo. The arguments rose and the assembly

ended with no tangible results. Each faction had more suspicions. A conflict arose between the

Magdiwang namely Alvarez and San Gabriel. The Magdiwang had organized another assembly

at the estate house in Tejeros. Meanwhile, the Magdalo battled the Spaniards. Despite the events,

the convention was continued but mostly had Magdiwang attendees.

At the Tejeros Convention, the attendees first tackled about the establishment of a new

kind of government which could be done though election. During this, tension rose when a

Magdalo, Antonio Montenegro, angered the Magdiwang by pointing out their indecisiveness.

Santiago Alvarez, a member of Magdiwang, was furious and incited trouble at the assembly.

Meanwhile, Jacinto Lumbreras decided to call for a recess so that both sides would have time to

settle down. After the recess, the assembly went on and started with Lumbreras stepping down

from his position. He was replaced by Bonifacio.

He reiterates that the decisions to be made were to be respected as long as it was within

the decision of the majority. The Republic of the Philippines was then proclaimed and the

election of nine officers took place. Ballots for voting were distributed and then gathered. The
results revealed Aguinaldo taking position as President over Bonifacio. Bonifacio was then

suggested to become Vice President but the men disagreed. The voting went on. As night came,

the members sped up the election by letting the men who voted for a candidate stand on his side.

Bonifacio missed every position until voted for the last position which was the Director of the

Interior. However, Daniel Tirona (Magdalo), stated that a lawyer should be in this position and

that Bonifacio lacked the credentials. This angered Bonifacio and demanded an apology from

Tirona but was ignored. As this escalated, Bonifacio drew his gun and tried to shoot Tirona but

was held back. This led the members to start leaving the Assembly. Bonifacio who was offended,

declared the results null and void.

After the events of the Tejeros Convention, Andres Bonifacio wrote to Mariano Alvarez

mentioning that he was belittled during the assembly as the men voted over other men for

positions. He also stated that the results of the Convention were null. He also wrote to

Emilio Jacinto stating that he was against the idea of establishing a new government and that he

lost the election against Aguinaldo for the President position as he had influenced more people

for their approval. Bonifacio reiterates that he would only respect the outcome of the election if it

showed the unanimous decision of the people that was uninfluenced by others. Since he was the

Head, he had the power choose to respect the results. The article ends with Don Artemio Ricarte

saying that the election was due to bad practices.