Dela Cruz, Joshua

Mabalatan, Fretche Mae

Presto, Von Axl
BSED 1 ENGLISH
Readings in Philippine History
Ms. Cecil Espiritu

Andres Bonifacio: First President of the Philippines

Introduction:
Andres Bonifacio should be and is the First President of the Philippines. Andres
Bonifacio was born on November 30, 1863 in Tondo Manila. He is the eldest sibling of
Catalina de Castro and Santiago Bonifacio. He enrolled at Guillermo Osmena Private
School, then he stopped studying to work as clerk messenger in two companies in Manila.
Andres Bonifacio was once a member of Jose Rizal’s La Liga Filipina during 1892. After
Rizal was arrested and deported the La Liga Filipina was disbanded. Bobifacio and Mabini
revived La Liga Filipina. Bonifacio then founded the “Kataastaasang Kagalanggalangang
Katipunan ng mga anak ng Bayan” Also known as KKK or Katipunan during July 7,1892.
And he is a known president of this revolutionary group that he has founded.
When we were in elementary day. It was told us that he is the FAther of the
Philippine Revolution, alongside with Emilio Jacinto, Melchora Aquino, Emilio Aguinaldo
and other Katipuneros. But there some accounts believed and eager to claim that Andres
Bonifacio had another role in Philippine History, as the first president of the Philippines.
Throughout Philippine history, Andres Bonifacio shows various achievement not in the
skirmishes but to the revolutionary organization as a leader, anak ng bayan and as a
“Supremo”. All of the characteristics of a leader and a hero has seen in Bonifacio; thus,
he should be the proclaimed first president of the Philippines.

Body:
According to Xiao Chua, a historian and currently professor at the De La Salle
University, on August 24, 1896 a meeting handled at the Bahay Toro, in the yard of
Tandang Sora with the supreme Council inside, and 500 Katipuneros outside. They
discuss there about the date of the revolution, the same event that they declare KKK as
a national government (revolutionary government) which means that this government is
all throughout the Philippines, and that is governed or controlled by no other than by the
supreme leader “supremo” Andres Bonifacio himself. Declaring the Bonifacio’s intention
for Katipunan to govern the whole Philippines after they overthrow Spanish regime. It
presents here that in the first place he is rightful president from the very start of revolution
of the national government in the Philippines.
https://www-philstar-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.philstar.com/opinion/2018/12/01/1873117/was-andres-
bonifacio-first-philippine-
president/amp/?usqp=mq331AQEKAFwAQ%3D%3D&amp_js_v=0.1#aoh=15687259535347&referrer=https%3A%2F
%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.philstar.com%2Fopinion%
2F2018%2F12%2F01%2F1873117%2Fwas-andres-bonifacio-first-philippine-president

23 Marso 1897—Bumalik sa Casa Hacienda ng Tejeros sina Bonifacio at mga

tagapanalig upang tutulan ang naganap na halalan sa pamamagitan ng Acta de
Tejeros. Habang nanumpa bilang Pangulo si Aguinaldo sa harapan ni P. Villfranca sa
Tanza. Nang ipahayag ang bagong mga opisyales ng pamahalaan noong 17 Abril 1897,
kapwa mga Magdiwang at Magdalo ay kabilang na dito.
https://xiaochua.net/2013/10/28/an-andres-bonifacio-timeline-in-commemoration-of-the-month-of-the-150th-birth-
anniversary-of-the-father-of-the-filipino-nation/

Bonifacio decided to establish another government independent from that of

Aguinaldo in accordance with the “Naic Pact” enacted by him which signed by his 41
supporters including two of Aguinaldo’s general. These two generals, however, turned
their back on Bonifacio after a talk with Aguinaldo, pledging loyalty to the latter, instead.
http://nhcp.gov.ph/andres-bonifacio-and-the-katipunan/

National Artist Vilgirio Almario also argued that Bonifacio is a better writer than
Rizal because his works – dubbed “akdang Katipunero” – were more easy to grasp for
the masses than the writings of the ilustrados.
https://www.rappler.com/nation/41150-president-andres-bonifacio

Francis Tolentino stated that Bonifacio was the first to take the first big, bold step
towards freedom by leading uprisings that successfully reclaimed indepen-dence from
the colonizers. Andres Bonifacio is a shining sym-bol of Filipino bravery and heroism.
While he may not have written nov-els or books, and while he may not have received
higher education from universities, Bonifacio embodies the true meaning of heroism –
one that is ready to offer his youth, hi talent, his strength, his life to fight for freedom and
independence. The bravery that Bonifacio displayed in the war truly manifests the
strength and courage of Filipinos, these being drawn from the patriotic spirit deep within
every Filipino heart.
http://tempo.com.ph/2018/12/03/the-heroism-of-bonifacio/
 John R.M. Taylor, the American military historian and custodian of the Philippine
Insurgent Records, concluded that Bonifacio established the first Filipino national
government. Taylor interpreted the documents he saw as follows:
The Katipunan came out from the cover of secret designs, threw off the cloak of any
other purpose, and stood openly for the independence of the Philippines. Bonifacio
turned his lodges into battalions, his grandmasters into captains, and the supreme
council of the Katipunan into the insurgent of the Philippines.
Gregorio F. Zaide, who wrote a history of the Katipunan, acknowledged Bonifacio’s
revolutionary government:
The Katipunan was more than a secret revolutionary society; it was, withal, a
Government. It was the intention of Bonifacio to have the Katipunan govern the whole
Philippines after the overthrow of Spanish rule.
Even Teodoro Agoncillo had to concede that:
Immediately before the outbreak of the revolution, therefore, Bonifacio organized the
Katipunan into a government revolving around a ‘cabinet’ composed of men of his
confidence.
A far clearer idea of Bonifacio’s Katagalugan government emerged in the late 1980s when
letters and other important document signed by Bonifacio─part of the collection of noted
historian and former director of the prewar Philippine Library and Museum, Epifanio de
los Santos─became accessible.

Three letters and one appointment paper, written by Bonifacio on printed letterheads
dated from 8 March to 24 April 1897, and all addressed to Emilio Jacinto, prove that
Bonifacio was the first president of a national government. These letters contained the
following titles and designations:
Pangulo ng Kataastaasang Kapulungan
( President of the Supreme Council)
Ang Kataastaasang Pangulo
(The Supreme President)
Pangulo nang Haring Bayang Katagalugan
(President of the Sovereign Nation of Katagalugan)
Note: “Bayan” means both “people” and “country”
Ang Pangulo ng Haring Bayan
May tayo nang K.K. Katipunan nang mga Anak ng
Bayan,
Unang nag galaw nang Panghihimagsik
(The President Sovereign Nation Founder of the Katipunan,
Initiator of the Revolution)
Kataastaasang Panguluhan,
Pamahalaang Panghihimagsik
(Office of the Supreme President,
Government of the Revolution)
The prewar scholar Jose P. BAntug referred to Bonifacio as the “Kataastaasang Pangulo”
and “General’ No. 1.” Jose P. Santos in 1933, and Zaide in 1939, came to the same
conclusion and recognized the Bonifacio presidency.

However, both men misread the phrase Ang Haring Bayan─found in the Minutes of
Tejeros Assembly (23 March 1897), the Jacinto Appointment Paper (15 April 1897), as
well as the undated Bonifacio Manifesto entitled Katipunan Marahas ng mga Anak ng
Bayan─as Ang Hari ng Bayan. The first phrase refers to Bonifacio’s adaptation of the
Western concept of republic─from res publica, literally public thing or common wealth ─to
the Filipino concept of “sovereign people.”

Thus, the government headed by Bonifacio prior to 22 March 1897 was democratic in
nature and national in scope, contrary to some postwar historians’ contention that
Bonifacio attempted to establish a government separate from Aguinaldo’s only after the
Tejeros Assembly, and was therefore guilty of treason.

An article on the Philippine revolution appeared in then 8 February 1897 issue of the La
Ilusracion Español y Americana. It was accompanied by an engraved portrait of Bonifacio
wearing a black suit and white tie, with the caption “Andres Bonifacio, Titulado
“Presidente’ de la Republica Tagala” and described him as the head of the native
government. The reporter, GA. Reparaz, referred to Aguinaldo only as a generalissimo.
The key officers in the Bonifacio government, according to Reparaz, were as follows :
Teodoro Plata, Secretary of war; Emilio Jacinto, Secretary of State; Aguedo del Rosario,
Secretary of Interior; Briccio Pantas, Secretary of Justice; and Enrique Pacheco as
Secretary of Finance.

In his 1897 work, "El Katipunan" or "El Filibusterismo en Filipinas," the Spanish historian
Jose M.del Castillo reiterated the results of what was, in effect, the first Philippine national
elections and listed the same names as La Ilustracion.
The August 1896 transformation of the Katipunan into a revolutionary government and
Bonifacios election to the presidency were confirmed by Pio Valenzuela in his testimony
before the Spanish authorities. Del Roasario, who was captured, was described as “one
of those designated by the Katipunan to form the Revolutionary Government of the
Philippines and to carry out the function of local government administration.”
https://web.archive.org/web/20090813000448/http://www.ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/articles-on-c-n-
a/article.php?i=5&subcat=1

It is believed that the first incidence of election fraud was held in the Tejeros
Convention. Alvarez wrote of the proceedings: “When the ballots had been collected
and the votes were ready to be canvassed, Mr. Diego Mojica, the Magdiwang Secretary
of the Treasury, warned the Supremo that many ballots distributed were already filled
out and that the voters had not done this themselves.”

In an interview, Atty. Gary Bonifacio, the great-great-grandson of Bonifacio’s younger

brother Procopio says: “The first election that made Aguinaldo president was marred by
corruption. There were more votes counted than the actual registered voters.”

He continues: “Aguinaldo’s taking over of the Philippine Revolution in 1897 by the

controversial election at the Tejeros Convention in Cavite was a takeover of power.”
https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/113049

Conclusion:
According to the different resources from credible historians and archived
documents, Andres Bonifacio should be the First President of the Philippines it is
because Bonifacio contributed more than Aguinaldo and sacrificed his dignity for the
freedom of this country. Despite of his poor condition to his family and his life, Bonifacio
had his motivation to lead the revolution against the spanish colonization. He is
constantly member of different organizations yet did not have the opportunity to sit on
the throne that he honestly deserved. He is the one who first won the battle but it is like
he is the one who got less attention. According to Epifanio De Los Santos he actually
voted as the first president but it was just manipulated by the Aguinaldo’s men. And
according to Atty. Gary Bonifacio: “Aguinaldo did write a confession in 1949 admitting
that he was behind the killing of Bonifacio.” He was prodded by Council of War to
maintain the stability of the government.