WARFARE AND DEATH BY PULONG: THE NASCENT REVOLUTIONARY MILITARY AND THE EXECUTION OF BONIFACIO

by Tommy Matic IV

"I've read an article before saying that aguinaldo did send a pardon for the bonifacio brothers pero late na sya dumating sa headquarters ni General Noriel. Is this a fact?"

        Aguinaldo was willing to pardon Bonifacio - he wanted Bonifacio to be sent into exile till tempers "cooled down". The problem was Bonifacio had offended far too many people - Generals Mamerto Natividad and official Clemente Zulueta were calling for his blood and the worst betrayal was by Generals Pio del Pilar and Mariano Noriel, the same generals that Bonifacio had subborned at Naik. They demanded that Bonifacio be executed "or Aguinaldo's life would be in danger".

        By the way, do you like Game of Thrones? If you do, that's good because that's how you need to understand the Filipino revolutionary forces. The Filipinos were starting from ZERO. You CANNOT compare the Filipinos to the American or French or Russian Revolutions because those revolutions involved political and military structures that were 1) of the same racial character and open to participation at most levels 2) higher levels of evolutionary development of these structures. Example: American colonies each had Colonial governments in each state. States had representative assemblies. States had infrastructure of government. The Americans had a militia based on the English system. So in 1776 the Americans were not starting from complete NADA. They HAD previous military and governmental structures in place.

         Filipinos had none of those advantages. Most Filipinos had never fired a firearm in their lives (compare to the Americans who hunted and the militia which drilled on weekends) and Alvarez comments on their awe at handling their first Mauser Rifle (I know the feeling - as a reenactor I got to handle a Remington Rolling-Block at a Spanish-American War reenactment event and it was COOL!) Filipino 'colonels' and 'generals' got their rank because they were good RECRUITERS, not because they went to military school or were promoted up the chain. Strength in manpower+firepower = REAL POWER/INFLUENCE. Each of the generals in the Katipunan/Revolutionary Army was a warlord unto himself including Aguinaldo (with his Kawit troops) and Alvarez and yes, even Bonifacio. Bonifacio only had the loyalty and support of the Manila Katipunan - outside of Manila he was respected but had no way to make himself obeyed. Following the disasters at San Juan del Monte and San Mateo even the Manila Katipunan didn't want to follow Bonifacio.

         So when Noriel and del Pilar tell you (imagine you're Aguinaldo) "Your life is in danger" / "Mapanganib ang buhay mo" that can mean several things. That can mean Bonifacio will gather support again and threaten your life. That can mean Noriel and del Pilar will JOIN WITH BONIFACIO AGAIN and threaten your life. That can mean Noriel and del Pilar can ABANDON YOUR LEADERSHIP and form a separatist group and threaten your life. This is NOT the modern Philippine military with 100 years of tradition, hierarchy, discipline and military organization. These are self-proclaimed warlord "generals" making VERY REAL threats.

          This is also why the Katipunan style of leadership was the PULONG. This is attested to in multiple sources and narrated in memoirs like Alvarez. The Sanggunian (Council) itself indicates that their style of leadership in the Katipunan is to MEET, DISCUSS, DECIDE. Bonifacio, for all his exalted rank as Supremo CANNOT JUST ORDER THINGS TO HAPPEN. He and other leaders - including Aguinaldo - would need to PULONG with their subordinates and get their consent. This style of leadership is HIGHLY inefficient - democracy taken to a logical and ineffectual extreme. Even in Pirate Ships, the Captain's word was LAW in battle, even though he might be voted out or opposed successfully outside of battle. For Bonifacio, he could not do anything without getting agreement from his subordinate commanders and this led to his defeats at San Juan del Monte, San Mateo and pretty much everywhere else.

          Aguinaldo, an experienced provincial mayor, was able to exercise more direct leadership over his men. He gave orders and his men obeyed them out of personal loyalty to him - and then, after he began winning battles, because they trusted him to win the fight. This is also what both Magdalo and Magdiwang realized - that the PULONG system was inefficient and that they needed to form a stronger, more authoritative joint Revolutionary Government. Even then, Aguinaldo found that particularly in the matter of executing Bonifacio, the PULONG was still a valid political exercise.

         As the Filipino Revolutionary military evolved the pulong became less viable and was replaced by direct command. Nevertheless, the warlord mentality of the top commanders was still very much in evidence in 1898 as one can see from the Gregorio del Pilar vs Isidro Torres feud, the Antonio Luna vs Tomas Mascardo feud and the infamous Aguinaldo/Buencamino/Janolino/Luna feud which ended up with Luna dead.

         The fact of the matter is that the Filipino Revolutionary Army was a tribal/clan/warlord army that needed to evolve into a modern European Army to face the Americans. That would take time, experience, training and discipline and since the Filipinos had very little time before war broke out with America, they were forced to rely on the experience, training and discipline that they already had and it would not prove sufficient.

         Finally to answer the question: Bonifacio's execution was ordered by Aguinaldo for any number of reasons, all valid. Bonifacio could constitute a grave threat. The warlord generals were watching the young president and if he did not appear STRONG and DECISIVE they might leave or turn against him. Over and above Aguinaldo's desire to spare Bonifacio, Bonifacio's own actions had earned him the hatred of virtually all the Magdalo AND Magdiwang leaders. That is what REALLY killed Bonifacio.

PS:

     There were several others who shared the same position including Apolinario Mabini (referring to the decision of Aguinaldo to recall the commutation order) - "Ayon kay Ricarte, kasama sa mga nagudyok sa Pangulong Aguinaldo na ipatupad ang hatol ng Consejo de Guerra ay sina Feliciano Jocson, Antonio Montenegro, Teodoro Gonzales, Severino delas Alas, Baldomero Aguinaldo, Mariano Trias Closas at iba pang mga taga lalawigan ng Cavite. (Ricarte, 82)

     At ayon naman sa mananalaysay na si Teodoro Agoncillo sina Clemente Jose Zulueta at Mamerto Natividad ang mga mahigpit na nagbunsod kay Aguinaldo na bawiin ang indulto at ipatupad ang hatol-kamatayan ng Consejo de Guerra. (Agoncillo)

     Si Mabini ay ganoon din ang naging pagkilatis sa pangyayari. Noong Hunyo 11, 1898 nang mahirang siya ni Aguinaldo bilang kalihim, nagpasalamat si Mabini dahil natubos daw ni Aguinaldo ang kabiguan sa panghihimagsik ni Bonifacio, at pinintasan ni Mabini ang malamig na trato sa pagkukudeta ni Bonifacio. Ang sabi ni Mabini kung sa kanya daw nangyari ito ay juicio sumarisimo (patayin ng walang paglilitis) agad ang ipagagawa niya kay Bonifacio at mga kasamahan nito. (Ronquillo, 27) Di kaya kung nabaligtad ang sitwasyon at si Aguinaldo ang tumayo sa lugar ni Bonifacio, hindi kaya ni ha, ni ho, patay agad si Aguinaldo?"

Biak-na-Bato is not a sell-out!

Biak-na-bato, is not a shameful betrayal of people’s sacrifices. 

Aguinaldo made the best of bad bargain. He accepted the Pact but made a secret agreement to use the Spanish indemnity to purchase arms abroad and resume their unfinished revolution. He did purchase arms and return to the Philippines to continue the revolution in May 1898. That could not be a betrayal.

And seemingly following the American colonial policy of denigrating anything that Aguinaldo did resulting into the Filipinos loss of respect towards him, Constantino went on to add that “ because Aguinaldo declaration was not a real independence proclamation, and because it is associated with a man whose revolutionary integrity is in question, June 12 should not be the symbol of our effort to achieve independence…”

With a man whose revolutionary integrity is in question ?

Such accusation referred to the oft repeated issue on handling of the Spanish indemnity of Php 400,000.00. 43 Filipino revolutionary leaders in Hongkong already voluntarily signed an affidavit attesting to the honest handling of that amount on April 23, 1898 as noted by Taylor (1971). These leaders include Mariano Llanera, Miguel Malvar, Tomas Mascardo, Jose Alejandrino, Servillano Aquino, and Mamerto Natividad. American historian John R. M. Taylor who would have been biased to the American point of view, also had a good word for Aguinaldo’s handling of the fund. Jose Alejandrino also defended Aguinaldo’s integrity. Alejandrino emphasized that Aguinaldo “had the integrity and unselfishness to return to his country to expose again his life for an ideal which is the ideal of his people and his race.” Most ironically, Quezon in 1941 even mentioned that “Aguinaldo was as poor as he was when the war started” when he addressed the US House of Representative. Such integrity could not be in question. 

Here is how Elias M. Ataviado, who experienced the Revolution both against Spain and America and interviewed both participants, friend and foe, see “Pact of Biak-na-Bato.” :

“Although the pact had lost a regional insurrection, however it had won an unquestionable triumph of national proportions; it had won the people of the country and made it sympathetic toward the cause of the revolution. The pact, indeed, was the “thunderbolt that struck” in the night of our forefathers, the clap of which awakened the national conscience from its colonial lethargy. It was the voice of God, that in darkness of the time, guided the “scattered tendencies” towards the ideals of the greater struggle ahead.”

The Philippine Revolution in the Bicol Region
Volume One ( August 1896 to January 1899 )
From the Spanish original Lucha y Libertad
Translated into English by Juan T. Ataviado

READ MORE. 

Click:  https://archive.org/stream/filipinojuntainh00bell/filipinojuntainh00bell_djvu.txt