The nation commemorates today the 161st birthday of Andres Bonifacio, the founder of the Katipunan that sparked the Philippine Revolution of 1896 against Spanish colonial rule.
That Bonifacio is one of two national heroes—the other is Jose Rizal— that we now honor every year by declaring their birthdays as regular non-working holidays, is a testament to his pre-eminent role in Philippine history and our quest for independence and freedom.
No doubt, national and local officials will extol the immense contributions of Gat Andres Bonifacio and other heroes in forging a sense of nationhood among Filipinos and defending our independence and freedom even at the cost of their lives.
But while we celebrate Bonifacio’s heroism and determination to see the country freed from the yoke of Spanish rule that spanned four centuries, there’s still lingering questions about his life and times.
Some historians, for instance, dispute the notion that he really came from the working class. An American historian, Glenn May, even went as far as to say that Bonifacio is an “invented hero. Understandably, May’s position has been subjected to a barrage of criticism from local historians. What’s clear is that the debate has yet to conclusively end.
One other controversy revolves around the question of when the defining moment of the Philippine Revolution actually took place. Historian Teodoro Agoncillo chose to emphasize Bonifacio’s move to tear the cedula or tax receipt before a crowd of Katipuneros on the morning of August 23, 1896 in what has come to be known as the Cry of Pugad Lawin. But other writers refer to a Cry of Montalban that took place on April 10, 1895 in the Pamitinan Caves where a group of Katipunan members wrote on the cave walls, “Viva la Independencia Filipina!” more than a year before the actual outbreak of open hostilities between the Katipunan and Spanish forces.
Those inclined toward less scholarly pursuits, however, would tend to dismiss these debates and nitpicking among historians as having little consequence for the lives of contemporary Filipinos. But what should be beyond debate is that the outbreak of the 1896 revolution and the emergence of the First Philippine Republic on June 12, 1898 are significant and defining milestones in our nation’s history.
More than this, we should listen as well to the voices of those Filipinos who feel that freedom and independence mean little when poverty and hunger still affect a significant portion of the population.
Various labor groups have organized a massive protest rally today where their leaders are expected to decry government’s failure to live up to its pledge to improve the lot of the Filipino working class. The stark reality today, after all, is that many Filipino workers still live under conditions of poverty and government has a long way to go to make the benefits of economic growth filter down to them.
If Bonifacio Day is to have real meaning to ordinary Filipinos today, government must pledge to fight poverty, hunger and injustice with all the resources at its command.
