Cry of Balintawak

Part of the Philippine Revolution

Bonifacio Monument
Date August 1896 (exact date disputed)
Disputed, officially recognized in Pugad Lawin or
Location Balintawak, Caloocan, Province of Manila (now
Quezon City)
Start of Philippine Revolution
Result
* Formation of an insurgent government
Belligerents
Katipunan Spanish Empire
Commanders and leaders
Andrés Bonifacio Ramón Blanco
Emilio Jacinto Camilo de Polavieja
Teodoro Plata Bernardino Nozaleda
show

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Philippine Revolution
List of Katipunan Members present in Balintawak in August 1896 by Guillermo Masangkay

The Cry of Pugad Lawin (Filipino: Sigaw ng Pugad Lawin), alternately and originally referred
to as the Cry of Balintawak (Filipino: Sigaw ng Balíntawak, Spanish: Grito de Balíntawak),
was the beginning of the Philippine Revolution against the Spanish Empire.[1]

At the close of August 1896, members of the Katipunan secret society (Katipuneros) led by
Andrés Bonifacio rose up in revolt somewhere in an area referred to as Caloocan,[2] wider than
the jurisdiction of present-day Caloocan City which may have overlapped into present-day
Quezon City.[3]

Originally the term "cry" referred to the first clash between the Katipuneros and the Civil Guards
(Guardia Civil). The cry could also refer to the tearing up of community tax certificates (cédulas
personales) in defiance of their allegiance to Spain. This was literally accompanied by patriotic
shouts.[4]

Because of competing accounts and ambiguity of the place where this event took place, the exact
date and place of the Cry is in contention.[3][4] From 1908 until 1963, the official stance was that
the cry occurred on August 26 in Balintawak. In 1963 the Philippine government declared a shift
to August 23 in Pugad Lawin, Quezon City.[4]

Contents
 1Different dates and places
 2Definition of the Cry
o 2.1First skirmish
o 2.2Tearing of cédulas
o 2.3Formation of an insurgent government
o 2.4Other cries
 3Commemoration
 4References
 5Further reading
 6External links

Different dates and places[edit]

Various accounts give differing dates and places for the Cry. An officer of the Spanish guardia
civil, Lt. Olegario Diaz, stated that the Cry took place in Balintawak on August 25, 1896.
Historian Teodoro Kalaw in his 1925 book The Filipino Revolution wrote that the event took
place during the last week of August 1896 at Kangkong, Balintawak. Santiago Alvarez, a
Katipunero and son of Mariano Alvarez, the leader of the Magdiwang faction in Cavite, stated in
1927 that the Cry took place in Bahay Toro, now in Quezon City on August 24, 1896. Pío
Valenzuela, a close associate of Andrés Bonifacio, declared in 1948 that it happened in Pugad
Lawin on August 23, 1896. Historian Gregorio Zaide stated in his books in 1954 that the "Cry"
happened in Balintawak on August 26, 1896. Fellow historian Teodoro Agoncillo wrote in 1956
that it took place in Pugad Lawin on August 23, 1896, based on Pío Valenzuela's statement.
Accounts by historians Milagros Guerrero, Emmanuel Encarnacion and Ramon Villegas claim
the event to have taken place in Tandang Sora's barn in Gulod, Barangay Banlat, Quezon City.[5]
[6]

Some of the apparent confusion is in part due to the double meanings of the terms "Balintawak"
and "Caloocan" at the turn of the century. Balintawak referred both to a specific place in modern
Caloocan City and a wider area which included parts of modern Quezon City. Similarly,
Caloocan referred to modern Caloocan City and also a wider area which included modern
Quezon City and part of modern Pasig. Pugad Lawin, Pasong Tamo, Kangkong and other
specific places were all in "greater Balintawak", which was in turn part of "greater Caloocan".[3][4]

Definition of the Cry[edit]

The term "Cry" is translated from the Spanish el grito de rebelion (cry of rebellion) or el grito
for short. Thus the Grito de Balintawak is comparable to Mexico's Grito de Dolores (1810).
However, el grito de rebelion strictly refers to a decision or call to revolt. It does not necessarily
connote shouting, unlike the Filipino sigaw.[3][4]

First skirmish[edit]

Up to the late 1920s, the Cry was generally identified with Balintawak. It was commemorated on
August 29, considered the anniversary of the first hostile encounter between the Katipuneros and
the Guardia Civil. The "first shot" of the Revolution (el primer tiro) was fired at Banlat, Pasong
Tamo, then considered a part of Balintawak and now part of Quezon City.[4]

Tearing of cédulas[edit]

Not all accounts relate the tearing of cédulas in the last days of August. Of the accounts that do,
older ones identify the place where this occurred as Kangkong in Balintawak/Kalookan. Most
also give the date of the cédula-tearing as August 26, in close proximity to the first encounter.
One Katipunero, Guillermo Masangkay, claimed cédulas were torn more than once – on the 24th
as well as the 26th.[4]

For his 1956 book The Revolt of the Masses Teodoro Agoncillo defined "the Cry" as the tearing
of cedulas, departing from precedent which had then defined it as the first skirmish of the
revolution. His version was based on the later testimonies of Pío Valenzuela and others who
claimed the cry took place in Pugad Lawin instead of Balintawak. Valenzuela's version, through
Agoncillo's influence, became the basis of the current stance of the Philippine government. In
1963, President Diosdado Macapagal ordered the official commemorations shifted to Pugad ng
uwak, Quezon City on August 23.[4]
Formation of an insurgent government[edit]

An alternative definition of the Cry as the "birth of the Filipino nation state" involves the setting
up of a national insurgent government through the Katipunan with Bonifacio as President in
Banlat, Pasong Tamo on August 24, 1896 – after the tearing of cedulas but before the first
skirmish. This was called the Haring Bayang Katagalugan (Sovereign Tagalog Nation).[3]

Other cries[edit]

In 1895, Bonifacio, Masangkay, Emilio Jacinto and other Katipuneros spent Good Friday in the
caves of Mt. Pamitinan in Montalban (now part of Rizal province). They wrote "long live
Philippine independence" on the cave walls, which some Filipino historians consider the "first
cry" (el primer grito).[4]