Dagadg intro

THE event that ushered in the Philippine Revolution against more than 300 years of
Spanish occupation is as significant as it is controversial. 

evidences
Sumang-ayon ang mga istoryador na ang eksaktong petsa at
lokasyon ay hindi na masyadong mahalaga. Sumang-ayon sila, na ang
"Sigaw" ay naganap sa pagitan ng Agosto 23 at 26, 1896 sa munisipalidad
ng Caloocan. Ngunit, hindi mapalagay ang mga historyador na ang mga
dekada ng debate ay hindi nakagawa ng anumang malinaw na mga sagot.
Hinihingi ng opisyal na kasaysayan ang ekasktong petsa upang alalahanin
at tumpak na lugar upang markahan. Ayon kay Nicolas Zafra noong 1960,
ang detalye ng "Sigaw" ay maaaring hindi gaanong mahalaga kaugnay sa
mas malawak na pag-aaklas ng mga kaganapan at sa katunayan ito ay tila
"walang kabuluhan at hindi kapaki-pakinabang" upang ituloy ang bagay,
ngunit ang historyador ay may tungkulin upang matiyak na ang mga
kasaysayan ay makatotohanan. Ang pag-areglo ng problema, ay mag-
babalik sa "kredito, karangalan at karangalan ng makasaysayang iskolar sa
ating bansa."

Ang kapwa mananalaysay na si Teodoro Agoncillo ay sumulat noong 1956

na naganap ito sa Pugad Lawin noong Agosto 23, 1896, batay sa pahayag
ni Pío Valenzuela. Si Pío Valenzuela, isang malapit na kasama ni Andrés
Bonifacio, ay idineklara noong 1948 na nangyari ito sa Pugad Lawin noong
Agosto 23, 1896.

Si Agoncillo ang paunang kilalang mananalaysay noong panahon, at ang

rebolusyon noong 1896 ay kabilang sa kanyang mga espesyal na
larangan. Pangunahin sa kanyang payo, karaniwang sinasabi, na ang
gobyerno ng Pilipinas ay nagpasiya na ang salitang "Cry of Balintawak" ay
dapat na itapon pabor sa "Cry of Pugad Lawin." Ang pagbabago na ito ay
pormal na sinenyasan noong 1963 ni Pangulong Macapagal, na ang
Proklamasyon 149 ay idineklara na ang ika-67 anibersaryo ng "Cry of
Pugad Lawin" noong Agosto 23 ay magiging isang espesyal na
pampublikong piyesta opisyal sa Lungsod ng Quezon, "kung saan naganap
ang kaganapan."

Sa pamamagitan ng "kaganapan" ng Agosto 23, ang Proklamasyon 149 ay

nangangahulugang ang pasya, hindi ang unang labanan. Ang kahulugan ni
Agoncillo ng "Sigaw" ay naging opisyal na kahulugan.

Noong 1940, isang pangkat ng pananaliksik ng isang tagapagpauna ng

National Historical Institute (NHI) na kasama ang Valenzuela, ay kinilala
ang lokasyon bilang bahagi ng sitio Gulod, Banlat, Lungsod ng Kalookan.
Noong 1964, inilarawan ng NHI ang lokasyon na ito bilang bahay ng
Tandang Sora.

Ang pinakamahalagang tagapagtaguyod ng argumento na ito ay si Dr Pio

Valenzuela, na naging Bise-Presidente ng Katipunan sa pagsiklab ng
rebolusyon at na huli, noong unang bahagi ng 1920, ay naging gobernador
ng lalawigan ng Bulacan. Siya ay isang prestihiyosong tao, ngunit hindi
magandang saksi sa kasaysayan. Binago niya ang kanyang kwento, higit
sa isang beses. Noong 1911, tulad ng nabanggit namin, sinabi niya na ang
desisyon na mag-alsa ay kinuha sa bahay ni Apolonio Samson sa
Kangkong. Noong 1917, nagpatotoo siya sa korte na ito ay dinala sa bahay
ni Melchora Aquino sa daang kilalang Daan Malalim, sa Pasong Tamo,
"kilala rin bilang Pacpac-lawin." Ngunit sa kanyang "Memoirs," na sinabi ni
Agoncillo na itinayo noong unang bahagi ng 1920s, sinabi niya na kinuha
ito sa lugar ng anak ni Melchora Aquino na si Juan Ramos, sa "Pugad
Lawin".

Si John N. Schrumacher, S.J, ng Ateneo de Manila University ay

nagkomento tungkol sa kredibilidad ni Pio Valenzuela:

Tiyak na bibigyan ko ng mas kaunting pagtitiwala sa lahat ng mga account

na nagmumula kay Pio Valezuela, at sa mga interpretasyong nakuha ni
Agoncillo mula sa kanya sa pagsasalita, dahil ang Valenzuela ay nagbigay
ng napakaraming mga bersyon mula noong sumuko siya sa mga awtoridad
ng Espanya at gumawa ng iba't ibang mga pahayag na hindi palaging
magkatugma sa bawat isa hanggang sa panahon na bilang isang
matandang lalaki ay nakapanayam siya ni Agoncillo.

Si Pio Valenzuela ay umatras sa isa pang punto. Noong 1896, nagpatotoo

si Valenzuela na nang kumonsulta ang Katipunan kay Jose Rizal kung
dumating na ang oras ng pag-alsa, mariing laban si Rizal sa rebolusyon.
Nang maglaon, sa Pag-aalsa ni Agoncillo ng masa, binawi ni Valenzuela at
sinabing si Rizal ay talagang para sa pag-aalsa, kung natutugunan ang
ilang mga kinakailangan. Katwiran ni Agoncillo na nagsinungaling si
Valenzuela upang iligtas si Rizal.

In contemporary records, alas, and on contemporary maps, the name

Pugad Lawin cannot be found anywhere. “Isa[ng] ... pagkakamali... ang
sabihing mayroong Pugad Lawin sa Kalookan,” the scholar Sofronio G.
Calderon decided after a fruitless search way back in the 1920s

Valenzuela recalled that Pugad Lawin was in Pasong Tamo – “sa loob ng
nayong Pasong Tamo”. In 1928, Valenzuela went to Pasong Tamo to
commemorate the “Cry” together with four other well-known KKK veterans
– Gregoria de Jesus (Bonifacio’s widow), Briccio Pantas and the brothers
Alfonso and Cipriano Pacheco. The newspaper La Opinion carried this
photograph of the group, who according to the caption were standing
around the exact spot (marked with an “X”) where 1,000 bolos had been
stored just before they were used in “el famoso grito”. On this occasion, it
therefore seems, “the Cry” was taken to mean the unang labanan, which
had indeed taken place near Pasong Tamo. Even though Pio Valenzuela
said the pasya as well as the unang labanan should be commemorated at
or near this site in Pasong Tamo, in other words, there is no evidence that
the other veterans in the photograph took the same view.

At around the same time as this commemoration, in either 1928 or 1929,

Pio Valenzuela, Briccio Pantas and Cipriano Pacheco issued a joint
statement to the effect that the “Cry” had taken place not in Balintawak,
where the monument had been erected, but in “the place known by the
name of Pugad Lawin”. This is the statement, as published in the
Philippines Free Press in November 1930:-

COUNTER-ARGUMETN

They broadly agree that the leading revolutionists went first to Caloocan
(población) after leaving Manila, and then headed eastwards via Kangkong
towards Pasong Tamo and eventually Balara. The sources still offer no
accord, however, as to the whereabouts of the leading revolutionists on the
critical dates of August 23 and 24. Some sources say they left Kangkong
as early as August 23, whereas others say they were still in Kangkong as
late as August 26.

The task of determining the exact place at which the decision to revolt was
taken, therefore, remains difficult and convoluted. The sources offer three
specific possibilities:-

Apolonio Samson’s place in bo. Kangkong, Caloocan

Melchora Aquino’s place near Pasong Tamo in bo. Banlat, Caloocan

Juan Ramos’s place in bo. Bahay Toro, Caloocan

Kangkong

In 1917 a Katipunan veterans’ association, the Labi ng Katipunan, erected

a memorial on the site where they remembered the decision to revolt had
been taken, at Apolonio Samson’s house on the Kaingin Road in barrio
Kangkong. the testimony of veterans who referred specifically to one or
more of the three possible sites – Kangkong, Pasong Tamo (in bo. Banlat),
and Bahay Toro. This tabulation shows that a very clear majority – 8 out of
the 10 individuals who mentioned either Kangkong, Pasong Tamo, or
Bahay Toro - recalled the decisive meeting and/or the “grito” as having
taken place in Kangkong. This was the location specified by Tomas
Remigio, Julio Nakpil, Sinforoso San Pedro, Guillermo Masangkay,
Cipriano Pacheco, Briccio Pantas, Francisco Carreon and Vicente Samson.

Only one veteran – Pio Valenzuela – ever maintained that the decisive
meeting took place at Melchora Aquino’s place near Pasong Tamo. But his
memory was erratic. He also once recalled (in 1911) that the pasya had
been taken in Kangkong. If his testimony on that occasion is counted, the
tally for Kangkong would be 9 out of 10

In contemporary records, alas, and on contemporary maps, the name

Pugad Lawin cannot be found anywhere. “Isa[ng] ... pagkakamali... ang
sabihing mayroong Pugad Lawin sa Kalookan,” the scholar
Sofronio G. Calderon decided after a fruitless search way back in the
1920s

Valenzuela recalled that Pugad Lawin was in Pasong Tamo – “sa loob ng
nayong Pasong Tamo”.  In 1928, Valenzuela went to Pasong Tamo to
commemorate the “Cry” together with four other well-known KKK veterans
– Gregoria de Jesus (Bonifacio’s widow), Briccio Pantas and the brothers
Alfonso and Cipriano Pacheco.

NANINIWALA SILANG WALAN/G PUGAD-LAWIN

MY ARGUMENT
The photograph’s caption is not contemporaneous, because Caloocan did not attain the
status of a city until 1963.  It is possible the description of the site – “Sitio Gulod, Banlat,
Caloocan City” – reflects how the location was known in the 1960s rather than in 1940.
Fortunately, though, Luis Serrano wrote a detailed account of the 1940 expedition which
makes it absolutely clear not only that Valenzuela and his companions believed the “Cry”
took place at or near Melchora Aquino’s place, a spot they remembered as Pugad Lawin,
but also that their geographical point of reference, their starting point for locating the
exact spot, was Pasong Tamo.  
 The trip to Pugad Lawin in 1940, Serrano recalls, was organized by Eulogio B.
Rodriguez in his capacity as chairman of the Philippine Historical Committee “for the
purpose of first, verifying the date of the ‘Cry,’ second, ascertaining the truth of a report
that Bonifacio and some members of the Katipunan had buried certain important
documents of the Katipunan there, and third, locating the exact spot where the house of
Tandang Sora stood.”  After picking up the three veterans, Serrano relates, the party
“negotiated the distance by car up to Pasong-tamo and hiked about an hour to Pugad-
lawin.”

        “We found that Pugad-lawin was a knoll of about 30 or 40 feet higher than the
surrounding territory.  As the remaining vegetation indicated, it must have been well
covered with trees during the revolution.  It was a good observation point from a military
point of view because it commanded an excellent view of the whole country to the south
and west, the only directions from where the Spanish forces could be expected to come.
Some of the big trees which formed landmarks of the place were still recognized by Dr.
Valenzuela.”  

... [Bonifacio and his followers arrived] at the house of Tandang Sora in Pugad-lawin in the
afternoon of August 22.  Tandang Sora’s son, Juan A. Ramos, was a member of the secret
organization; hence it was natural for the Katipuneros to seek refuge there.” [Note: The
dates given here are wrong – as Valenzuela had correctly remembered in 1911, the
Katipuneros arrived at Tandang Sora’s house on August 24, not August 22.]   

Serrano’s account does not mention Bahay Toro, where the site of Pugad Lawin is now
officially marked.  If Valenzuela had directed the expedition in 1940 to Bahay Toro, they
would not have started their hike at Pasong Tamo. They would have parked somewhere
much closer.  

Other evidence
The publications of Medina and others around the time of the 1996 centennial thus
brought to light some fresh sources on the “Cry,” but did nothing to resolve the debate. 
Five years later, in 2001, the National Historical Institute decided to review the evidence
again.  To conduct the review it constituted a special Panel, comprising three historians –
Bernard Karganilla, Doroteo Abaya and Rene Escalante - and (as chair) a retired
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.  The Panel members read some of the
voluminous literature on the subject, and heard testimony from some of the main
protagonists. After due deliberation, the Panel submitted a 15-page report to the Institute
which concluded as follows:-
          “In its search for the truth, the Panel did not find any document that could challenge the
decision that was rendered by the Philippine Historical Committee in 1963.  Therefore,
the Panel respectfully recommends that the National Historical Institute re-affirm said
position that the ‘First Cry’ took place in Pugadlawin on August 23, 1896.”   

The wording here is slightly inaccurate.  In 1963, as noted, the Philippine Historical
Committee had not in fact identified the supposed site of the “Cry.”  It had agreed only
that the location should be shifted from Balintawak to “Pugad Lawin, wherever it was”. 

ISANG PAGUNITA

Upang Matuwid ang Paniwala sa Unang Sigaw sa

Panhihimasik Kaming Naguing Kasanguni ng Pangulo ng

Kataas taasan, Kagalanggalang Katipunan ng mga

Anak ng Bayan na si Andres Bonifacio.

Kaming nalalabi pang Kasama sa unang labanan iyon.

Alang-Alang sa Ikapapanuto ng mga Mananalaysay at ng hinaharap

ay Nagpapahayag :-

NA HINDI SA BALINTAWAK NGYARI ANG UNANG

SIGAW NG PANHIHIMAGSIK SA KINALALAGUIAN

NGAYON NG BANTAYOG, KUNG DI SA POOK NA

KILALA SA TAWAG NA PUGAD-LAWIN.

Briccio Pantas C. Pacheco Pio Valenzuela.

Like the coverage of the 1928 commemoration, this statement refers to the
“unang labanan,” which had indeed been fought near Pasong Tamo. It
does not imply that Pantas and Pacheco agreed with Valenzuela that the
pasya should be marked in that same vicinity. Pacheco, as we noted,
located the pasya and pagpupunit in Kangkong, and Pantas had not been a
direct eyewitness, having left Kangkong for Manila before the pasya was
taken.

As may be seen, the veterans do not explicitly state the place they
remembered as Pugad Lawin was where, or near where, Melchora Aquino
had lived in 1896.

But it was. Any doubt that Pio Valenzuela identified Pugad Lawin with
Pasong Tamo, and specifically with Melchora Aquino’s place, was dispelled
in August 1940, when together with two other Katipunan veterans (Genaro
de los Reyes and Sinforoso San Pedro) he returned there with Eulogio B.
Rodriguez and Luis Serrano of the Philippine Historical Committee (a
forerunner of the NHCP) to verify the location. Before posing for
photographs, the party marked the site of Melchora Aquino’s house with a
thin wooden stake on which somebody placed their hat.

It is possible the description of the site – “Sitio Gulod, Banlat, Caloocan

City” – reflects how the location was known in the 1960s rather than in
1940. Fortunately, though, Luis Serrano wrote a detailed account of the
1940 expedition which makes it absolutely clear not only that Valenzuela
and his companions believed the “Cry” took place at or near Melchora
Aquino’s place, a spot they remembered as Pugad Lawin, but also that
their geographical point of reference, their starting point for locating the
exact spot, was Pasong Tamo.

The trip to Pugad Lawin in 1940, Serrano recalls, was organized by Eulogio
B. Rodriguez in his capacity as chairman of the Philippine Historical
Committee “for the purpose of first, verifying the date of the ‘Cry,’ second,
ascertaining the truth of a report that Bonifacio and some members of the
Katipunan had buried certain important documents of the Katipunan there,
and third, locating the exact spot where the house of Tandang Sora stood.”
After picking up the three veterans, Serrano relates, the party “negotiated
the distance by car up to Pasong-tamo and hiked about an hour to Pugad-
lawin.”

Pio Valenzuela had several versions of the Cry. Only after they are
compared and reconciled with the other accounts will it be possible to
determined what really happened.

Was there a meeting at Pugad Lawin on 23 August 1896, after the meeting
at Apolonio Samson’s residence in Hong Kong? Where were the cedulas
torn, at Kangkong or Pugad Lawin?

In September 1896, Valenzuela stated before the Olive Court, which was
charged with investigating persons involved in the rebellion, only that
Katipunan meetings took place from Sunday to Tuesday or 23 to 25 August
at Balintawak.

In 1911, Valenzuela averred that the Katipunan began meeting on 22

August while the Cry took place on 23 August at Apolonio Samson’s house
in Balintawak.

From 1928 to 1940, Valenzuela maintained that the Cry happened on 24

August at the house of Tandang Sora (Melchora Aquino) in Pugad Lawin,
which he now situated near Pasong Tamo Road. A photograph of
Bonifacio’s widow Gregoria de Jesus and Katipunan members Valenzuela,
Briccio Brigido Pantas, Alfonso and Cipriano Pacheco, published in La
Opinion in 1928 and 1930, was captioned both times as having been taken
at the site of the Cry on 24 August 1896 at the house of Tandang Sora at
Pasong Tamo Road.

In 1935 Valenzuela, Pantas and Pacheco proclaimed “na hindi sa

Balintawak nangyari ang unang sigaw ng paghihimagsik na kinalalagian
ngayon ng bantayog, kung di sa pook na kilala sa tawag na Pugad Lawin.”
(The first Cry of the revolution did not happen in Balintawak where the
monument is, but in a place called Pugad Lawin.)

In 1940, a research team of the Philippines Historical Committee (a

forerunner of the National Historical Institute or NHI), which included Pio
Valenzuela, identified the precise spot of Pugad Lawin as part of sitio
Gulod, Banlat, Kalookan City. In 1964, the NHI’s Minutes of the Katipunan
referred to the place of the Cry as Tandang Sora’s and not as Juan Ramos’
house, and the date as 23 August.

Valenzuela memoirs (1964, 1978) averred that the Cry took place on 23
August at the house of Juan Ramos at Pugad Lawin. The NHI was
obviously influenced by Valenzuela’s memoirs. In 1963, upon the NHI
endorsement, President Diosdado Macapagal ordered that the Cry be
celebrated on 23 August and that Pugad Lawin be recognized as its site.

Napansin na rin ng mga Kastila ang madalas na pagtitipon ng mga babae

at naghinala na rin silang may nagaganap ng mga pagpupulong ang mga
lalaki para sa isang balak na pag-aalsa. Ang hinalang ito ay napatotohanan
noong Agosto 14, 1896 nang ibinunyag ni Teodoro Patino, isang
manggagawa sa Diario de Manila, ang tungkol sa samahan sa kapatid
niyang si Honoria. Matapos ihikayat ng kapatid ni Patino na ikumpisal kay
Padre Mariano Gil ang tungkol sa samahan ay nakipag-ugnayan ito sa
awtoridad. Kaya noong Agosto 19, 1896, sorpresang nilusob ang
palimbagan at dito natagpuan ang kagamitan ng Katipunan.

Ang himagsikan sa Pilipinas ay nagsimula noong Agosto 23, 1896, ilang

araw matapos matuklasan ng mga Espanyol ang Katipunan. Sinimulan ang
himagsikan sa pamumuno ni Andres Bonifacio, Sa Pugad Lawin, sa bahay
nagpatawag ng pulong ang mga kasapi nito sa bakuran ni Juan Ramos,
anak ni Melchora Aquino na mas kilala sa tawag na Tandang Sora.

Sa pulong, pinag-usapan kung ilulunsad na ang paglaban. May ilang

tumutol ngunit marami ang sumang-ayon. Matapos ang pagpapasya,
kinuha ni Bonifacio ang kanyang sedula na patunay ng pagkamamamayan
sa ilaim ng Espanya at pinunit iyon habang sumisigaw ng “Mabuhay ang
Pilipinas.” Ang pagpunit ng cedula personal ay isa sa mga mahahalagang
pangyayari na inuugnay sa himagsikan; ito ay tinatawag na “Sigaw ng
Pugad Lawin.”

But the issue did not rest there. In 1970, the historian Pedro A. Gagelonia
pointed out:

The controversy among historians continues to the present day. The “Cry
of Pugad Lawin” (August 23, 1896) cannot be accepted as historically
accurate. It lacks positive documentation and supporting evidence from the
witness. The testimony of only one eyewitness (Dr. Pio Valenzuela) is not
enough to authenticate and verify a controversial issue in history.
Historians and their living participants, not politicians and their sycophants,
should settle this controversy.

Ayon sa National Historical Commision na ipinahigayag ni Toedoro

Agoncillo na nagpagawa ng pagpupulong sa pangunguna ng Andres
Bonifacio, itinakda niya ang araw na iyon dahil kasalukuyan ding piyesta ng
San BArtolome para makaiwas sa security check sahil dala-dala nila ang
kanilang armas.