Cry of Pugad Lawin

List of Katipunan Members present in Balintawak on 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
Bonifaciorose up in revolt somewhere in an area referred to as Kalookan, wider than the jurisdiction
of present-dayCaloocan City which may have overlapped into present-day Quezon City.[2]
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.[3]
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.[2][3] 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.[3]

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 bookThe 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 inCavite, 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.[4][5]
Some of the apparent confusion is in part due to the double meanings of the terms "Balintawak" and
"Kalookan" at the turn of the century. Balintawak referred both to a specific place in modern
Caloocan and a wider area which included parts of modern Quezon City. Similarly, Kalookan referred
to modern Caloocan 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". [2][3]

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.[2][3]

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 'Cry of Pugad Lawin' in 1896: A
showcase of the freedom-loving nature
of the Filipino people
By: Leilani S. Junio, Philippines News Agence
June 9, 2014 4:01 AM
InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
MANILA, Philippines - The "Cry of Pugad Lawin" raised by the Katipuneros against the
tyrannous Spanish rule in the Philippines in 1896 showcased not just the bravery and courage of
the Filipino people but also their freedom-loving trait and nature.

The historic "Cry" referred to the event wherein Andres Bonifacio and his poorly-armed men
gathered near the house of the Grand Old Lady of the Katipunan -- Melchora Aquino, better
known as Tandang Sora -- at Pugad Lawin and declared themselves and all the people of the
islands as free and sovereign nation by tearing their "cedula" (residence certificate) on Aug. 23,
1896.

“Their courage to tear their cedula was a symbol of their courage and refusal to be oppressed by
Spain,” said 84-year-old Natividad M. Villano, a descendant of one of the Katipunero leaders in
the former town of Novaliches, now divided between Quezon City and Caloocan City.

The place Pugad Lawin is now a part of the 75-year-old Quezon City, along with equally historic
Pasong Tamo, Banlat, Balintawak, Pasong Putik, and Kangkong, now renamed as Barangay
Apolonio Samson.

History books, however, show that at the time of the 1896 Revolution, these places were parts of
Novaliches, one of the towns comprising the then province of Manila. It was then a neighbor of
Marikina, Montalban, Caloocan, Polo, Meycauayan, Marilao and San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.

Pasong Tamo was where the very first encounter between the Katipuneros and the Spanish
soldiers took place on Aug. 26, 1896, while Banlat was the birthplace of Tandang Sora on Jan. 6,
1812.

On the other hand, Balintawak was said to be the place where Bonifacio and his men first
unfurled his revolutionary flag, while Kangkong was the residence of the Revolutionary Gen.
Apolonio Samson, where the Katipuneros often held their secret meetings.

It was in Pasong Putik, present-day Lagro and home to the La Mesa Dam, where Tandang Sora
was arrested by the Spaniards before she was incarcerated at the Bilibid Prisons in Manila and
eventually exiled to Guam.

The town of Novaliches was first annexed to Caloocan municipality during the American
occupation of the Philippines in 1901, and divided in 1948 between Quezon City and Caloocan,

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 which also became a city in 1962.

Though Bonifacio was a native of Manila, he often went to Novaliches, where he had two close
friends -- Tomas Geronimo and Canuto Dumalay -- when he was in the process of organizing the
Katipunan. Geronimo and Dumalay are now remembered with a street each in the former
Novaliches Poblacion or town center.

Another reason Bonifacio often passed by Novaliches while he was recruiting membership into
the Katipunan was that he had many relatives in Novaliches and the then neighboring town of
Polo, Bulacan.

Polo was the hometown of his close friend and associate in the Katipunan, Dr. Pio Valenzuela.
Polo was later renamed Valenzuela town and was eventually converted into a city in the second
half of the 1990s.

Despite its erasure from the country's map, Novaliches today continues to play a significant role
in history. One factual indication of this is that a more than 150-year-old duhat tree (blackberry
tree) situated in the once hilly portion of Barangay Kaligayahan was declared in 1980 as
"Katipunan Tree," the only of its kind in the entire country. The place where it stands at the
compound of the Metro Manila College (MMC), formerly Novaliches Academy, is now called
"Dambana ng Katipunan" or Katipunan Shrine.

According to testimonies of some former members of the Katipunan from Novaliches when they
were still alive, it was under the shade of that tree where Bonifacio and his men took refuge and
rest after their frequent encounters with the Spaniards.

“It was also in this place where they conducted frequent meetings. The heroine Melchora Aquino
usually treated and fed many of the wounded Katipuneros here,” Mrs. Villano said as she
recalled her father’s narration to them about his experiences during the Spanish period.

According to Efren Figueroa, a fourth generation descendant of Melchora Aquino, the heroine
was born in Banlat or Gulod ng Banilad, now named as Barangay Tandang Sora in Quezon City.

“It is elating to be recognized that she (referring to Tandang Sora) came from what is now part of
QC which shows that we have a blood of courage to support a quest for freedom, unselfishness
and generosity,” said Figueroa in an interview with the Philippines News Agency.

He added that it is a great pride and honor to look back at history and say that they are
descendants of someone who made a great contribution to the country and its people in the quest
for freedom.

He also said that they feel proud that Tandang Sora, despite her old age at the time, thought less
of herself but more for the welfare of the freedom-loving Filipinos whom she nourished and
healed as her participation in the revolution.

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