Republic of the Philippines

UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN PHILIPPINES

Tamag, Vigan City
2700 Ilocos Sur

College of Business Administration and Accountancy

UNP Website: www.unp.edu.ph Mail: nfjpiar1car1718_president@yahoo.com
Phone #: 0966-201-0388

The Philippine Revolution: Apolinario Mabini

A Thought Paper

In partial fulfilment in the subject

Readings in Philippine History

MR. AARON TALOZA

SHAIRA MARIE BABOR

MARISSA LILAN
ANGELA KATE S. MANGOBA
VANESSA MEDALLA
REDEN V. PEREZ
BSA 1 - A

April 30, 2019

INTRODUCTION

In front of the National Library building in Ermita, Manila, are statues of two

prominent Filipino intellectuals. On the right of the building's entrance way is the statue of a

man who may not be connected with the National Library's history, but is nonetheless an

important figure in Philippine history. It is a fitting tribute to Apolinario Mabini, aptly called

"The Brains of the Revolution" and "The Sublime Paralytic."

From his hammock and rattan chair, Mabini helped shape the Philippine Republic

under President Emilio Aguinaldo. Unable to fight on the battlefield due to paralysis in both

legs, Mabini instead used his brilliance through his written works to inspire Filipinos in

pursuing the struggle for Philippine independence.

Born on July 23, 1864, in Tanauan, Batangas, Mabini is the second of 8 children of an

illiterate peasant and a public market vendor. However, Mabini overcame poverty and

became a lawyer. In 1898, he became Aguinaldo's chief adviser during the Philippine

Revolution. He was Prime Minister and Secretary of Foreign Affairs in Aguinaldo's Cabinet

from January to May 1899.

In spite of his terrible suffering from paralysis, Mabini continued writing. He severely

criticized the government, voicing the sentiments of the Filipino people for freedom. He was

ordered to desist, but to this, in one of his writings to the people, he replied: "To tell a man to

be quiet when a necessity not fulfilled is shaking all the fibers of his being is tantamount to

asking a hungry man to be filled before taking the food which he needs."

He was arrested by the Americans on December 1899 during the Philippine-American

War, and was exiled to the island of Guam in the Pacific in 1901. He returned to the

Philippines in 1903, but died months later due to cholera. He was 38. His funeral was the

most largely attended of any ever held in Manila. Although he died from natural
causes, Mabini died a martyr to the cause of Philippine independence. Five years of

persecution left his intense patriotism untouched, but it had made his physical self a ready

victim for a premature death.

One of Mabini's greatest works was his draft of a constitution for the Philippine

Republic. It was accompanied by what he called "The True Decalogue," published in the

pages following. Mabini's "ten commandments" are so framed as to meet the needs of

Filipino patriotism for all time. He also drafted rules for the organization and government of

municipalities and provinces, which were highly successful because of their adaptability to

local conditions.

The Nagtahan Bridge was renamed the Mabini Bridge in 1967 by President Ferdinand

Marcos through Proclamation No. 234. Mabini's residence used to be located at the foot of

the Nagtahan Bridge on the north bank of the Pasig River but was moved to the south bank in

1960, inside the Presidential Security Group Compound in Malacañang Park.

In 2007, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Republic Act 9462, officially

renaming the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR) – running across Batangas from Sto.

Tomas to Batangas City – to the Apolinario Mabini Superhighway.

A Navy ship also carries Mabini's name. One of the most modern ships in the

Philippine Navy fleet, the BRP Apolinario Mabini was acquired in 1997 after a 13-year

service with the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. Meanwhile, 4 towns in the country are

named Mabini: one each in Batangas, Pangasinan, Bohol, and Compostela Valley.

In the contested Spratlys Islands at the West Philippine Sea, there is a reef called the

Mabini Reef. Also known as the Johnson South Reef, it made news in June when the

Department of Foreign Affairs filed a new protest against China for its reclamation activities

on the reef. In addition, at least 6 national roads, 19 streets in Metro Manila, 5 health
facilities, 80 elementary and secondary schools, and 3 colleges nationwide have Mabini in

their names.

The main campus of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) is also

named after Mabini. Another Mabini Shrine is located there, featuring a replica of Mabini's

residence in Nagtahan.

Stated here are some interesting facts on the life and legacy of Apolinario Mabini that

we think would give us much more of an appreciation to mabini, before we dig deeper

to him and his work:

1. Mabini's mother wanted him to be a priest.

In his memoir, La Revolucion Filipina (The Philippine Revolution), Mabini wrote that

his mother, Dionisia Maranan, aspired for him to be a priest. But Mabini said that priesthood

was not meant for him. He wrote, "I am, however, convinced that the true minister of God is

not one who wears a cassock, but everyone who proclaims His glory by good works of

service to the greatest possible number of His creatures."

In 1894, he earned his law degree at the University of Santo Tomas, and admitted to the

bar the following year.

2. Syphilis did not cause Mabini’s paralysis.

Mabini was struck down by paralysis in early 1896. Perfoming an autopsy on Mabini's

remains almost a century later in 1980, doctors from the National Orthopedic Hospital

concluded that polio caused his paralysis.

According to historian Ambeth Ocampo, the syphilis rumor might have been started by

Mabini's detractors in government, who called him "The Dark Chamber of the President" for
having the ear of Aguinaldo as his adviser and thus being able to persuade him on certain

issues.

3. Mabini was a member of the reformist La Liga Filipina before joining the

revolution.

He joined the revived La Liga Filipina in 1893, and became the secretary of its Supreme

Council. The group advocated reforms in society and sought the audience of the Spanish

Cortes (legislature). It also helped finance the La Solidaridad in Spain.

Mabini also joined a lodge of the Philippine Masonry. Using the nickname Katabay, he

became the Grand Orator of its Regional Grand Council.

4. Mabini wrote significant presidential decrees, his own version of a Philippine

constitution, and a code of ethics for Filipinos.

As President Aguinaldo's adviser, Mabini was entrusted with writing decrees for

Aguinaldo's signature. Some of these decrees laid the groundwork of the new Philippine

Republic.

The decree of June 18, 1898, for instance, reorganized the local governments in

provinces already liberated from Spanish control. It also mandated the election of local

leaders and representatives in Congress.

Another decree, issued on June 23, formalized the shift from a dictatorial to a

revolutionary government, and provided for the creation of Congress, which was convened in

Malolos, Bulacan in September. He also wrote that the republic should function properly so

that it could obtain from all nations, including Spain, their expressed recognition of

Philippine independence.
 It should also be noted that in August 1898, Mabini presided over the ratification of

Philippine independence by elected local leaders themselves. He believed that it better

represents the will of the people, and has more bearing than just a declaration by Aguinaldo

on June 12.

In addition, Mabini submitted a Constitutional Program of the Philippine Republic, but

the Malolos Congress rejected it in favor of the draft created by Felipe Calderon.

El Verdadero Decalogo, or “The True Decalogue” was included in Mabini's constitutional

program as its introduction. It was a code of ethics, a set of 10 values every Filipino should

possess.

Finally, while in exile in Guam from 1901 to 1903, Mabini wrote his memoir, La

Revolucion Filipina, where he pointed out the flaws of the Revolution and expressed his

criticisms on Aguinaldo's leadership.

5. Mabini was buried in two other cemeteries before his remains were finally brought

to his birthplace in Tanauan, Batangas.

After his death, he was buried at the Chinese Cemetery in Manila. But his remains were

dug up and transferred to the Mausoleo de los Veteranos de la Revolucion (Mausoleum for

the Veterans of the Revolution) at the North Cemetery years later.

In 1965, Mabini's remains were moved to a tomb at the Mabini Shrine in Tanauan,

Batangas.

6. Mabini was once featured in the Philippine 1-peso note, and has been featured on

the 10-peso bill and coins since 1968.

Mabini was first featured on a one-peso bill in 1918. He and Jose Rizal (on the 2-peso

bill) were the only Filipino heroes featured on bank notes at the time.
 Mabini (on the one-centavo coin), Rizal, and Andres Bonifacio were also the only

Filipinos on the coins minted for the leper colony in Culion, Palawan, in 1927.

His visage remained on the 1-peso note after the establishment of the Central Bank of the

Philippines in 1949. Mabini was featured in the 10-peso bill starting from the 1968 Pilipino

Series.

Bonifacio joined him on the 10-peso note in 1998, and the pair has been featured on the

10-peso coin since 2000.

7. A bridge, a superhighway, a Philippine Navy ship, and a disputed reef in the West

Philippine Sea bear Mabini's name.

Several places, institutions, and infrastructure have been named in honor of Mabini.

Mabini, like José Rizal, was a true Filipino nationalist and a devoted patriot. Fate would

place his life as that of a mediator between the people's will and the decisions of the first

leadership of the Philippines. His life, despite some flaws, was selfless and motivated by high

ideals. He would state, "I have no other balm to sweeten the bitterness of a harsh and

melancholy life [in exile] than the satisfaction given by the conviction of having always done

what I believed to be my duty. God grant that I can say the same at the hour of my death."

(from La Revolución Filipina, e Introductory Manifesto).

BODY

His last years were his most painful. Apolinario Mabini was one of the foremost of

the Philippine revolutionary heroes. He was the "brains" of the revolution. Crippled as a

young man by polio, he realized that his physical limitations not only limited his personal life

but the struggle his beloved homeland was undergoing to become a sovereign republic. He
would also find his high ideals wounded by persons he sought to serve and by the cruelties

caused by warfare.

His wounds were of the body and of the spirit. His physical problems were perhaps

most painful in the way it seemed, even to his own eyes, to diminish his usefulness. The

struggles in the fight for independence from Spain were hurtful as well. They involved

cutting the ties with Spain that, despite its flaws, had emotional bonds that were hard to

untangle. They involved an ugly and brutal war with the United States, a country with

democratic ideals, but painfully flawed racism.

Now, however, in his last years, Mabini found himself as an exile from the land he

held dearest. No one tortured or mistreated him. He taught his prison guards Spanish while

they, in turn, returned the favor by teaching him English. As prison life goes, it was not a

harsh life. It was here that he wrote his chief work, La Revolución Filipina. In it he sought to

state for future generations his philosophy of life and the reasons he resisted the rule of both

Spain and the United States.

Yet he longed for his homeland and the place he loved dearest, the place he was

willing to live and die for was not his to enjoy. There were American sympathizers such as

Senator George Hoar, who urged his release. However, the arguments of no less than Elihu

Root, the Secretary of War and William Howard Taft, the Governor of the Philippines, and

later President of the United States, opposed the action. Taft would write that Mabini was

"the most prominent irreconcilable among the Filipinos." He feared that the civil war would

break out anew were Mabini to return to the islands.

Mabini, therefore, remained in seclusion in Guam. Deported in 1901 he would remain

there until a few months before his death in 1903. Today Filipinos deeply admire Mabini. In

those years, however, his countrymen largely forgot him. When he returned to the Philippines
people welcomed him as the nationalist he was. However, the Philippines was turning to the

ways of its American tutors. It would not be for another fifty years that the dream of an

independent nation would become a reality. In many ways Mabini's dreams of independence

seemed irrelevant. He died in poverty.

While he was one of the ilustrado class, he had risen from the peasantry from Talaga,

Tanauan, Batangas. His Father was a "cabeza de barangay" (headman and taxgather for fifty

families) but uneducated. His mother had some formal education and from her Mabini gained

some rudimentary education. Mabini dedicated his closing memoirs, La Revolución Filipina

to his mother and indicated that she had aspired that he be a priest. "Realizing that you were

too poor to meet the expenses of my education," wrote Mabini, "you worked as hard as you

could, heedless of sun and rain, until you caught the illness that took you to your grave."

His grandfather, Juan Maranan, was a popular teacher. While tutoring Mabini's elder

brother, his grandfather noticed that young Apolinario learned the lesson earlier. Although

impoverished he was able to study in Manila. He began his studies at the Colegio de San Juan

de Letrain in 1881 and later received a law degree in 1894 from the University of Santo

Thomas.

During this time, he supported himself in part by teaching Latin. His work as a

copyist in the Court of First Instance, however, proved even more important. It was here that

he came under the influence of Numeriano Adriano who was not only his superior but one

with whom Mabini would develop a deep friendship. It was here that Mabini first began to

sense the nationalistic feelings that were spreading among educated Filipinos. The social and

political issues of the day developed a spirit to which Mabini would dedicate his entire life. It

was also during this time, around 1896, that Mabini developed polio mellitus that was to

deprive him of the use of his legs.

 In 1896, when Andres Bonifacio began his revolt, authorities arrested Mabini as a

member of his revolutionary movement, the Katipunan. In truth, Mabini was not a member of

this movement but, rather, of the reform association of José Rizal, the La Liga Filipina.

Bonifacio's movement sought military insurrection; Rizal's movement aimed at gradual

reform. At first, Mabini opposed to Bonifacio and the insurrection.

Events, however, would transpire that would change Mabini's life forever. Spain

would execute by strangulation three Filipino priests: Padres Burgos, Gomez, and Zamora.

They would bring the man Mabini most idealized, José Rizal, to the Luneta, and would

execute him by musketry.

The Filipino people, especially in areas such as Cavite which were most deeply

controlled by Spanish friars, broke out in complete revolt. Mabini, convinced of the people's

almost fanatical desire for freedom, turned from the ideals of Rizal's reforms to the zeal of

Bonifacio's revolution. Joining the Katipunan, Mabini became a foremost propagandist,

appealing to his countrymen to join the revolution against Spain.

In May of 1896, General Emilio Aguinaldo summoned Mabini to act as his advisor.

Both Aguinaldo and Mabini were aware of the severe limitations that his lameness brought.

Aguinaldo conveyed Mabini to his headquarters in Cavite by hammock. How could an

invalid be of use to the revolution in the exigencies of a revolutionary atmosphere? However,

Aguinaldo soon realized that Mabini's keen intellect, married to his devotion to

independence, far outweighed this liability. He had a largeness of mind, soul, and vision that

dispelled any doubts in Auginaldo's mind.

While devoted to democracy, Mabini first sought to make Aguinaldo a dictator of the

Philippines as a temporary measure. His sentiments mitigated against this; the effect of war

was the sole reason for this drastic compromise with his own philosophy. The decree, given
on June 18, 1898, had a sentence that epitomized his true beliefs: "The first duty of the

government is to interpret the popular will faithfully."

During the first moments of the Filipino experiment in self-rule, Mabini served

Aguinaldo faithfully. He supervised the administration of justice. He managed the election of

delegates to the revolutionary congress. He established the first rudimentary mechanisms of

the revolutionary government.

However, quite soon cracks began to develop in the revolutionary movement that

would doom its cause. This was true especially as the revolution turned from a revolt against

Spain to its more powerful "liberator," the United States. Two factions composed the

movement. Bonifacio's revolt was a popular uprising of the masses. The more educated

illustrado class had a different agenda. These learned nationalists could nost bring themselves

to trust the uneducated common man. Perhaps the bloody lessons of the French revolution

caused some concern in their minds.

As time would show, Aguinaldo would side with the illustrado class and abandon the

aims of the revolt. His lieutenants would murder Bonifacio. Many believe that Aguinaldo was

instrumental, also in the assassination of the revolution's most able general: Antonio Luna.

Luna, despite his faults, was, like Mabini, an illustrado who sided with the common man.

Mabini wrote, "Aguinaldo ... ruined himself, damned by his own deeds. Thus are great crimes

punished by Providence." (La Revolución Filipina, Chapter X)

The revolutionary congress reconvened in Barasoain, Malolos, Bulacan, on

September 15, 1898. At this time the sentiment of the majority of the representatives was to

draft a complete constitution. Filipe G. Calderon wrote such a document. Mabini felt that the

revolutionary nature of the times mitigated against anything but a temporary dictatorship.

Mabini opposed it and wrote a different constitution that gave much more authority to the
President (Aguinaldo). The delegates, however, adopted the Calderon document. As time

passed, relations between Mabini and Aguinaldo became more strained. Mabini, however,

continued to serve his commander in chief until his eventual capture.

INTERPRETATION

Apolinario Mabini stands out as one of the greatest, if not the foremost, political

philosophers of the country. He is also one of the most comprehensive and consistent of all

the Filipino philosophers.

According to Mabini, “all men have been given life by God...to preserve and

employ in terms of a preordained mission, which is to proclaim God’s glory in doing what is

good and just.” Men are by nature good and just and have the capacity to unfold his

goodness and sense of justice to others. In this context, freedom can only be understood as

doing what is good and just, meaning what is reasonable. He said: “True liberty is only for

what is good and never for what is evil; it is always in accordance with reason and the

upright and honest conscience of the individual.”

Since life is a gift from God, man has the freedom to acquire all the means to preserve

life in a manner which does not constitute a violation of God’s will as implant in nature. This

freedom is inalienable to man and “prior to all human law.” Thus, anyone who leads a

luxurious life at the expense of others is guilty of violating the natural law. These people,

according to Mabini, “are either the strongest or the most shrewd. Forgetting how they ought

to act...they begin by either force or deceit to appropriate the means of the livelihood of

others. In so doing, they mock the rights which others have by nature. These being reduced

into slavery, are forced to labor for the increase of the personal interests of others.” Because

of this condition, it is imperative for society to have a leader, “who by superior force and

intelligence, will prevent some individuals from usurping the rights of others, and who will

allow everyone to work, in accordance with their respective specialization.”

 The execution of Gomburza awakened strong feelings of anger and resentment among

the Filipinos. They questioned Spanish authorities and demanded reforms. The martyrdom of

the three priest apparently helped to inspire the organization of the Propaganda Movement,

which aimed to seek reforms and inform Spain of the abuses of its colonial government.

The Propaganda Movement never asked for Philippine Independence because its

members believed that once Spain realized the pitiful stat of the country, the Spaniards would

implement the changes the Filipinos were seeking. The friars were bound to lose the case

because the petition was just and lawful, they put it about that the claimants were really

agitators whose aim was to seize the parishes in order to organize an insurrection against the

Spanish regime in the Philippines. The awakening was painful and working to stay alive was

more painful still, but one must live. The sorrow worked a miracle: it made the Filipino

realize their condition for the first time.

The execution of the three priests, on Spanish perspective, serve as a threat to

Filipinos never to attempt to fight the Spaniards again. Ironically, the harsh reaction of the

Spanish ultimately to promote the nationalist cause. The execution of the GOMBURZA was

a blunder on the part of the Spanish government, for the action severed the ill-feelings of the

Filipinos and the event inspired Filipino patriots to call for reforms and eventually

independence.

Spaniards discourage Filipinos from going to Spain or elsewhere abroad for studies

not available in manila, there to pick up liberal and irreligious ideas, the friars amended the

educational structure and opened medical and pharmaceutical schools, believing that they

could thus atleast choose the textbooks and teachers most suitable to their purposes. The

thirst for knowledge and learning that many scions of wealthy families preferred to study in
Spain and travel about Europe. Those who went abroad for the purpose of working for the

improvement of the political situation of the Filipinos.

The political point of view of the Philippines was then in a deplorable state. As a mere

Spanish possession it did not enjoy constitutional guarantees, so that the King, through the

Minister of the Colonies, the member of his government responsible for these matters, had in

his hands, the whole of the legislative and executive power. In so far, as he also appointed

and transferred justices and judges at his discretion, he was also the absolute head of the

judicial branch. There was no representative for municipal government except only in the city

of Manila. Town mayors merely collected taxes and enforced the orders of the provincial

authorities. They could repair highways with forced labor, but otherwise hand neither funds

nor authority to undertake other public works. A mayor was not the leader of his community

but only the servant of the towns’ parish priest and constabulary commanding officer. Manila

was the heart of the Spanish colony in the Philippines. Much of the international trade

conducted by Spain in Asia was linked to manila somehow and most of the rich and powerful

had their homes here. The Spanish accomplishes little in the Philippines.

They introduced Catholicism, established a Walled City in Manila but ultimately they

were disappointed because they couldn’t find spices or gold (gold was only discovered in

large quantities after the Americans arrived.

“Going on from there to the reforms or improvements which might assuage the

people’s anxieties. the periodical asked, among other things, that the insular government

cease to be military in nature and become civil; that the powers of the governor general be

limited and fixed by law; that the individual liberties sheltered under the Spanish constitution

be given to the Filipinos; that the friars be expelled or that at least the parishes be entrusted

to the secular clergy; that, except for the posts of governor general and heads of department,
which should always be reserved for Spaniards, public offices in the insular government be

filled by competitive examinations, such examinations to be held in Spain for half of the

vacancies and in the Philippines for the other half; that tenure of such offices be secure; that

the constabulary should be reformed or suppressed, etc.” (La Revolución Filipina ,Chapter

V)

All those Filipinos concerned with the future of their country could not remain

indifferent. The abuses being committed in the Philippines found no echo in Spain, nor did

the complaints of the Filipinos, because the latter had no representatives in the parliament. On

the other hand, any political demonstrations in the islands were suppressed and rigorously

punished so that neither the statesmen nor the other sectors of the Spanish nation had any idea

of the real and true needs and desires of the Filipinos. Certain Manila residents took it upon

themselves to solicit subscriptions and contributions to meet the necessary expenses, and the

fortnightly La Solidaridad was published, first with Don Graciano Lopez Jaena as editor, and

shortly afterward, Don Marcelo H. del Pilar. Filipinos longed and hoped for from the Spanish

government those changes and reforms which would gradually allow them the progressive

enjoyment of the benefits of civilization. Very few Filipinos then living in Spain were

compelled to give public expression to the desires of their countrymen. The Spanish

government should not let these suppressed desires explode into an insurrection.

“The foregoing extract from his works shows that Rizal made it his purpose to give, in

particular, two pieces of advice which might serve as warnings not only to the Spaniards but

also to the Filipinos.” (La Revolución Filipina , Chapter VI)

It was necessary to picture the miseries of the Filipinos more movingly, so that the

abuses, and the afflictions they caused, might be publicly revealed in the most vivid colours

of reality. “Noli me tangere” states the purpose of its author, which was no other than to
expose the sufferings of the Filipino people to the public gaze, as the ancients did with their

sick, so that the merciful and generous might suggest and apply a suitable cure. “El

Filibusterismo”, continues the story of Ibarra.

First, he served notice on the Spaniards that, if the Spanish government in order to

please the friar remained deaf to the demands of the Filipino people, the latter would have

recourse in desperation to violent means and seek in independence relief for its sorrows.

Second, he warned the Filipinos that, if they should take up their country’s cause motivated

by personal hatred and ambition, they would, far from helping it, only make it suffer all the

more

He wanted to say that only those actions would benefit the Filipinos which were

dictated by true patriotism.

It is undeniable that in the Philippines the desire for improvement was great and

widespread; it is not possible to explain otherwise the mistrust and hatred that the Filipinos,

from the most ignorant to the most cultured, were beginning to feel toward the friars in the

measure that they realized that the latter tenaciously opposed all reform.

Jose Rizal organized the La Liga Filipina before his rustication to Dapitan in

Mindanao. Which lasts only for few days for it was dissolved after Rizal was banished. And

was reorganized later on the initiative of Don Domingo Franco, Andres Bonifacio and others,

and Mabini was given the secretarial post in the supreme council. The society didn’t last that

long for they need to be dissolved it before the authorities find out about this. After

dissolution, the members were grouped into two: The Compromisarios and Katipunan ng

mga Anak ng Bayan (the former La Liga Filipina was reorganized by Bonifacio with

Independence as its objective). The society grew rapidly because of the people growing

hatred against the friars. (Chapter VII)

 “Such cruelties could do no less than arouse general indignation, and, rather than

suffer them, the rebels preferred to die fighting even though armed only with bolos.” (La

Revolución Filipina , Chapter VIII)

In August 1896 the head of the printing press of the Diario de Manila, having

discovered that some of his employees belonged to a secret society, handed them over to the

constabulary for the corresponding investigation. Other Masonic brotherhood and societies

were dissolved. Spanish authorities seek to seized the katipuneros and Masons as well as

those who had belonged to the dissolved societies, decided to teach them a terrible exemplary

lesson

Many died as a result; many were executed under sentence of courts-martial; many

others, shot without any trial at all; and still others, suffocated in grim dungeons. Those who

suffered only imprisonment and deportation were lucky. Rizal was shot on the 30th

December 1896 as the principal instigator of the movement, and those really guilty of giving

cause for the Filipinos to hate the very name of Spaniard were praised for their patriotism.

“The sudden general uprising had at one blow destroyed the structure established by

the Spanish administration in the provinces and towns of the archipelago, and it was

therefore urgently necessary to found a new structure so that anarchy might not lead to fatal

consequences. I proposed a scheme reorganizing the provinces and towns in the most

democratic form possible in the circumstances and, with Mr Aguinaldo’s approval, it was

carried out without loss of time.” (La Revolución Filipina , Chapter VIII)

“It is interesting to observe that the Republican Party, led by a Lincoln in its

beginnings, freed many millions of slaves in the United States, while, led by a McKinley in its

greatest period of vigor and prosperity, it made the United States the absolute owner of many

millions of Filipinos. The immortal Washington, speaking of the Constitution of the United
States, said that so long as the civic virtues did not wholly vanish among the classes of North-

American society, the distribution of powers made in that Constitution would not permit an

unjust policy to become permanent. God grant that the Americans do not forget the father of

their country, or defraud his fond hopes!” (La Revolución Filipina , Chapter IX)

Mabini was a man who sought to live a principled life. The effects of war were

troubling to his spirit. As the United States would learn many years later in Viet Nam,

brutality, on both sides, brought out the worst of the human spirit. Especially troubling to

Mabini were the abuses of Filipino soldier to Filipino citizen. His decree of June 18, 1898,

included provisions that would curb military abuses. He brought those abuses that came to his

attention before Aguinaldo. The general, however, ignored most of these criminal actions. He

would put in his closing remarks in La Revolución Filipina the "disgust I felt whenever I

heard of the rape of Filipinas by Filipino soldiers. I am sure that the first instances would not

have been repeated if the commanders concerned had punished such outrages energetically

and without hesitation. How shall we get foreigners to respect our women when we ourselves

set the example of offending them?” (Chapter XI)

This leads to a basic question in Mabini’s philosophy: “Who shall be that power who

will order others and to whom obedience is necessary...and who will mediate on the clash of

interests -- that chronic disease of society?” Now, since all virtues can hardly be found in one

man, society has to elect him who is the most qualified. Thus, he, “although equal to all

others, has the right to direct others, because his associates have conferred upon him this

power.” It is important to stress the point that Mabini conceived political power as something

that is derived from the consent of the governed. The political leader possesses power

because his associates in society grant him such power. The moment the leader disgraces

himself before his people, he ceases to possess the power granted to him.
 Mabini considered the probability that a political leader can veer away from the

objectives of his office. He said: “It is necessary that the members of society should nominate

a group of men that will represent them before this authority, with the expressed purpose of

determining the limitations of the power of this authority and the extent of how to fulfill his

mission. This group of men should also see to it that the maintenance of this public power

should be done with the greatest possible equality and in proportion to the individual capacity

of each member of society. This is the only method by which the elected one will be

prevented from abusing his powers.” What Mabini describes is the check and balance

mechanism between two organs of the government, namely the executive and the legislative.

The executive needs the guidelines from the legislative in order to perform his functions.

Thus lawmaking, which is the function of the legislative body, shall be for the purpose of

setting the terms of reference for the executive.

Mabini defines revolution as the “violent means utilized by the people in the

employment of the right to sovereignty that properly belongs to them, to destroy a duly

constituted government, substituting for it another that is more in consonance with reason and

justice.” A revolution can be justified because the “tendency of betterment or progress is a

necessity or law found in all creatures whether individually or collectively. As it is unnatural

that a being should resign itself to its own death, the people must employ all… energies in

order that a government that impedes its progressive development be destroyed.”

Mabini, probably as a result of his wide readings, had begun to develop egalitarian

ideas of sorts while a student at Letran. On one of his trips to Tanauan, he met a priest on the

road. Following the custom then, the priest extended his hand to Mabini, expecting the young

man to kiss it. Mabini shook the priest’s hand instead, explaining to his brother afterwards

that only parents’ hands should be kissed. He began to take an active part in politics while

studying law. It is believed that at the University of Santo Tomas – considered Asia’s oldest
university – he came into contact with fellow students who had links with the Reform

Movement. He would later be given the task of corresponding regularly with Marcelo del

Pilar, who was then agitating for reforms in Madrid through the paper La Solidaridad. His job

was to inform del Pilar of the situation on the home front and explain what reforms were

needed. He did this task assiduously even while practicing his profession.

Mabini would become a leading luminary of the resistance against the U.S.

occupation of the Philippines. He wrote articles and pamphlets urging his compatriots to

continue the struggle for freedom and condemning American military atrocities against the

Philippine populace. He also disputed U.S. propaganda which described the occupation as

intending to train the Filipinos in the art of self-government: he would argue that self-

government is learned by experience, as proven by the American people themselves, and that

Filipinos would never learn self-government while under foreign control – and this would

give the Americans “justification” for staying in the country indefinitely. He also junked the

U.S. line that the occupation of the Philippines would serve to make the country prosperous,

arguing that any “prosperity” that would be derived from the American occupation would

benefit the Americans and not the Filipinos. Mabini would suffer for his uncompromising

stand for independence. Even in the early days of the Philippine-American war, there were

those in the Revolutionary Congress who were open to the idea of autonomy instead of

independence, most notably Pedro Paterno (who, just two years before, had negotiated for the

Spanish government in the Pact of Biak na Bato, a pact that made peace between the

Philippines and Spain – within the framework of continued Spanish sovereignty over the

Philippine islands). Mabini would inevitably come into conflict with these elements within

the Revolutionary Government. He had no choice except to resign, as General Aguinaldo

would show partiality toward the forces of autonomy.

DISCUSSION
 A revolution can also be external and internal. External revolution means effecting

changes in institutions that fail to respond to the needs and desires of the people. This type of

revolution should be accompanied by an internal one which consists in changing “our ways

of thinking and behaving”.

A third organ of the state is the judiciary, which is tasked to determine the “kind of

punishment for evil in society”. The legislature checks the judiciary by seeing to it that the

exercise of judicial power “should be done with the greatest possible equality and in

proportion to the individual capacity of each member of society.” While Jose Rizal and

Emilio Jacinto used the phrase “welfare of the people,” Mabini is more Mabini is more

specific by saying that the function of the government is to “study the needs and interpret the

desires of the people in order to fulfill the one and satisfy the other.” This idea is consistent

with his notion of governance as one which is based on the consent of the people. This

consent is based on the principle that the leader governs in order to promote the people’s

interests. The moment a political leader fails to perform this duty, the legitimacy of his

government is in jeopardy. State laws are derived from natural law as interpreted by Reason.

Thus obedience to law simply means obedience to Reason. The collective Reason of the

people constitutes what is called authority.

When the revolution led by Andres Bonifacio broke out in 1896, Mabini did not

immediately support it. He believed that the Reform Movement had not yet been given a full

chance. It was also in that year that he contracted a disease which paralyzed him from the

waist down. He had to be confined at the San Juan de Dios Hospital. His involvement in the

Reform Movement had made him suspect in the eyes of the Spanish authorities, but his

condition saved him from Bagumbayan – where a number of his friends were executed.
 The execution of Rizal in December 1896 signified to Mabini the death of the Reform

Movement. At this point he transferred his whole support to the Revolution. He wrote the

pamphlets “El Verdadero Decalogo” and “Ordenanzas de la Revolucion,” which were

intended to inspire the revolutionaries in the fields and guide them in their conduct of the

struggle; and a constitutional program for the Philippine government. In 1898, Gen. Emilio

Aguinaldo invited Mabini to work in the Revolutionary Government. He helped in organizing

it and wrote laws and decrees. He was appointed President of the Cabinet – a position

equivalent to today’s Executive Secretary, which is now manned by Alberto Romulo.

Unlike Aguinaldo, Mabini was suspicious of the Americans – who presented

themselves purportedly to help the Filipinos secure liberty from Spain – early on. He was in

fact against the declaration of independence on June 12, 1898; he thought it premature, as it

revealed to the Americans the real objectives of the Filipinos, while the intentions of the

supposed allies were unknown. But other forces within the Revolutionary Government had

prevailed at that time. Later developments would prove Mabini right. In December 1898,

unknown to the Filipinos, the United States obtained the Philippines from Spain for $20

million. In February 1899, the United States launched its war of conquest against the

Philippines.

When the American forces began to pursue the leaders of the Philippine resistance

movement, Mabini went into hiding in Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija. Soon, he would be arrested by

American soldiers, courtesy of a group of Macabebe Scouts who led them to his hiding place.

He was imprisoned in Fort Santiago from December 11, 1899 to September 23, 1900. Mabini

would continue his agitation for independence after his release. He flatly rejected offers to

serve in the colonial government, and also refused to take the oath of allegiance to the

American flag. Because of this, he was exiled to Guam, where he was to stay for two years.
PRESENT ARGUMENTS

Even during his lifetime, there were controversial rumors regarding the cause of

Mabini's paralysis. Infighting among members of the Malolos congress led to the spread of

rumors saying that Mabini's paralysis had by caused by venereal disease - specifically,

syphilis. This was debunked only in 1980, when Mabini's bones were exhumed and the

autopsy proved once and for all that the cause of his paralysis was Polio. This information

reached National Artist F. Sionil José too late, however. By the time the historian Ambeth

Ocampo told him about the autopsy results, he had already published Po-on, the first novel of

his Rosales Saga, that novel contained plot points based on the premise that Mabini had

indeed become a paralytic due to syphilis.

In later editions of the book, the novelist corrected the error and issued an

apology,which reads in part: “I committed a horrible blunder in the first edition of Po-On. No

apology to the august memory of Mabini no matter how deeply felt will ever suffice to undo

the damage that I did.... According to historian Ambeth Ocampo who told me this too late,

this calumny against Mabini was spread by the wealthy mestizos around Aguinaldo who

wanted Mabini's ethical and ideological influence cut off. They succeeded. So, what else in

our country has changed?” In the later editions, Mabini's disease - an important plot point -

was changed to an undefined liver ailment. The ailing Mabini takes pride in the fact that his

symptoms are definitely not those of syphilis, despite the rumors spread by his detractors in

the Philippine Revolutionary government. Prof. Lapuz also clarified some issues concerning

Mabini, especially his description as "sublime paralytic" by a great majority of Filipinos.

According to him, that description is un-fittingly appropriated for the hero because it was but

paraplegia which caused paralysis in his physique. Paraplegia, according to Prof. Lapuz, is

not a simple paralysis like polio but a complete paralysis of the lower half of the body

including both legs, usually due to the damage of the spinal cord.
There were several reasons why the Philippine Revolution failed in its struggle with the

United States:

The United States had better weapons. However, the difference in armed power in the

Filipino - American conflict was not nearly as great as would be the later Vietnamese -

American conflict.

With the murder of Antonio Luna, the struggle lost its most effective military

strategist. The Americans were, on the whole, more adept at military science. If the Filipinos

had carried out a full scale guerrilla operation from the beginning of the struggle, the

revolution might have lasted longer and (as in Viet Nam) the American public might have

eventually tired of the effort. Even after the capture of Aguinaldo, General Miguel Malvar

continued the desperate struggle with guerrilla tactics against America until 1902. In fact,

Macario Sakay continued with guerrilla activity against the United States until 1907 when he

was captured in a ruse.

Time would determine that the illustrado class, joined with the wealthy hacienderos

had a greater loyalty to their own interests than that of Filipino independence. Mabini

exposed a vicious opportunism of such illustrados as Pedro Peterno and Felipe Buencamino

who sought to gain control over and profit from the financial transactions of the revolutionary

movement.

Even Aguinaldo would evidence this trait. He would submit to self-exile in Hong

Kong under an agreement with the Spanish at Biak na Bato. When captured by Colonel

Frederick Funston in Palanan, Isabela, he proclaimed submission to the Americans. At the

end of his life, he would likewise embrace the occupying Japanese. Mabini could not contain

the disappointment he felt in the man he served so faithfully. "To sum it up, the Revolution

failed because it was badly led; because its leader [Aguinaldo] won his post by reprehensible
rather than meritorious acts; because instead of supporting the men most useful to the people,

he made them useless out of jealousy. Identifying the aggrandizement of the people with his

own, he judged the worth of men not by their ability, character and patriotism but rather by

their degree of friendship and kinship with him; and, anxious to secure the readiness of his

favorites to sacrifice themselves for him, he was tolerant even of their transgressions.

Because he thus neglected the people, the people forsook him; and forsaken by the people, he

was bound to fall like a waxen idol melting in the heat of adversity. God grant we do not

forget such a terrible lesson, learned at the cost of untold suffering." (La Revolución Filipina,

chapter X) The Philippine society of a few rich and many poor plagues democracy to this

day. While Filipinos control the Philippines, the unequal distribution of wealth continues to

be a source of unrest and often results in armed conflict.

It also became apparent to the common Filipino that Americans were not the severe

colonial masters as were most European conquerors. With the arrival of American

schoolteachers, and the advent of universal education, the lowliest peasant realized his

aspirations for education. Ingrained in Americans were the ideals of democracy. Despite

many flaws, their goal was a democratically stable Philippine government. Spain subjected

the Philippines to its control for three hundred years; the United States tutored the Philippines

for fifty.

CONCLUSION

Apolinario Mabini was undoubtedly the most profound thinker and political

philosopher that the Filipino race ever produced. Someday, when his works are fully

published, but not until then, Mabini will come into his own. A great name awaits him, not

only in the Philippines, for he is already appreciated there, but in every land where the cause

of liberty and human freedom is revered.

 What we have written in this, or should we say, what we have only reacted on, were

the only things and happenings that we based on our own understandings of what we have

searched for. The most important things that we think with regards about Mabini’s

perspective is how he interprets the happenings way back before with just aspiration and

critic. “I am sorry that the logic of events should take me to such painful conclusions, but I

aspire to be a critic and I must tell the truth. Having written these memoirs only to seek in the

past the most useful lessons for the present and the future, I have tried to be impartial. I have

also tried to render judgment on events and not on particular individuals, but, in adjudging

the Revolution, I could do no less than pass judgment on the man who did not recoil from

crime in order to embody the Revolution in himself from beginning to end. I am sure that I

have chronicled events as I saw them happen or heard about them, and that I have passed

judgment on them as dispassionately as possible, but, if I have been mistaken or unjust by

involuntary omission or because of wrong information, I am ready to correct my mistakes or

make such amends as may be proper. If in the course of my narrative I have often made

reference to myself, it has not been from a desire to single myself out to others’ disadvantage

but only to indicate my personal participation in the great drama of the Revolution,

sometimes as a mere spectator, at other times as a member of the cast, and thus to provide a

gauge for the trustworthiness of my account. I do not see anything wrong in examining our

past in order to draw up a balance-sheet of our failures, mistakes and weaknesses; whoever

voluntarily confesses his sins shows at least a praiseworthy and honorable purpose of

amendment and correction.” (La Revolución Filipina, Chapter XI) he said. Well, we wish we

have made a point well said.