Dr Jose Rizal

National Hero of the Philippines

"Laong Laan" redirects here. For the railway station, see Laong Laan railway station.
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Mercado and the second or
maternal family name is Realonda.
José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda [7] (Spanish: [xoˈse riˈsal]; June 19,
1861 – December 30, 1896) was a Filipino nationalist and polymath during the tail end of
the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is considered the national hero
(pambansang bayani) of the Philippines.[8][9] An ophthalmologist by profession, Rizal became
a writer and a key member of the Filipino Propaganda Movement, which advocated political
reforms for the colony under Spain.
He was executed by the Spanish colonial government for the crime of rebellion after
the Philippine Revolution, inspired in part by his writings, broke out. Though he was not
actively involved in its planning or conduct, he ultimately approved of its goals which
eventually led to Philippine independence.
 He is widely considered one of the greatest heroes of the Philippines and has been
recommended to be so honored by an officially empaneled National Heroes Committee.
However, no law, executive order or proclamation has been enacted or issued officially
proclaiming any Filipino historical figure as a national hero.[9] He was the author of the
novels Noli Me Tángere and El filibusterismo, and a number of poems and essays.

Early life
José Rizal was born in 1861 to Francisco Rizal Mercado y Alejandro and Teodora
Alonso Realonda y Quintos in the town of Calamba in Laguna province. He had nine sisters
and one brother. His parents were leaseholders of a hacienda and an accompanying rice
farm by the Dominicans. Both their families had adopted the additional surnames
of Rizal and Realonda in 1849, after Governor General Narciso Clavería y Zaldúa decreed the
adoption of Spanish surnames among the Filipinos for census purposes (though they already
had Spanish names).
Like many families in the Philippines, the Rizals were of mixed mestizo origin. José's
patrilineal lineage could be traced back to Fujian in China through his father's ancestor Lam-
Co, a Hokkien Chinese merchant who immigrated to the Philippines in the late 17th century.
[12][13][note 1][14]
 Lam-Co traveled to Manila from Xiamen, China, possibly to avoid the famine or
plague in his home district, and more probably to escape the Manchu invasion during
the Transition from Ming to Qing. He finally decided to stay in the islands as a farmer. In
1697, to escape the bitter anti-Chinese prejudice that existed in the Philippines, he
converted to Catholicism, changed his name to Domingo Mercado and married the daughter
of Chinese friend Augustin Chin-co. On his mother's side, Rizal's ancestry
included Chinese, Japanese and Tagalog blood. His mother's lineage can be traced to the
affluent Florentina family of Chinese mestizo families originating in Baliuag, Bulacan.[15] He
also had Spanish ancestry. Regina Ochoa, a grandmother of his mother, Teodora, had
mixed Spanish, Chinese and Tagalog blood. His grandfather was a half Spaniard engineer
named Lorenzo Alberto Alonzo.[16]
From an early age, José showed a precocious intellect. He learned the alphabet from
his mother at 3, and could read and write at age 5. [13] Upon enrolling at the Ateneo
Municipal de Manila, he dropped the last three names that made up his full name, on the
advice of his brother, Paciano and the Mercado family, thus rendering his name as "José
Protasio Rizal". Of this, he later wrote: "My family never paid much attention [to our second
surname Rizal], but now I had to use it, thus giving me the appearance of an illegitimate
child!"[17] This was to enable him to travel freely and disassociate him from his brother, who
had gained notoriety with his earlier links to Filipino priests Mariano Gomez, Jose
Burgos and Jacinto Zamora (popularly known as Gomburza) who had been accused and
executed for treason.
Despite the name change, José, as "Rizal", soon distinguished himself in poetry
writing contests, impressing his professors with his facility with Castilian and other foreign
languages, and later, in writing essays that were critical of the Spanish historical accounts of
the pre-colonial Philippine societies. Indeed, by 1891, the year he finished his El
filibusterismo, this second surname had become so well known that, as he writes to another
friend, "All my family now carry the name Rizal instead of Mercado because the name Rizal
means persecution! Good! I too want to join them and be worthy of this family name..."
Education
Rizal first studied under Justiniano Aquino Cruz in Biñan, Laguna, before he was sent
to Manila.[18] As to his father's request, he took the entrance examination in Colegio de San
Juan de Letran but he then enrolled at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila and graduated as
one of the nine students in his class declared sobresaliente or outstanding. He continued his
education at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila to obtain a land surveyor and assessor's
degree, and at the same time at the University of Santo Tomas where he did take up
a preparatory course in law and finished with a mark of excelente or excellent. He finished
the course of Philosophy as a pre-law.[19] Upon learning that his mother was going blind, he
decided to switch to medicine at the medical school of Santo Tomas specializing later
in ophthalmology. He received his four-year practical training in medicine at Ospital de San
Juan de Dios in Intramuros. In his last year at medical school, he received a mark
of sobresaliente in courses of Patologia Medica (Medical Pathology), Patología
Quirúrgica (Surgical Pathology) and Obstretics.
Rizal, known for being an intelligent student, had some difficulty in some subjects in medical
school such as Física (Physics) and Patología General (General Pathology).[20]
Without his parents' knowledge and consent, but secretly supported by his
brother Paciano, he traveled alone to Madrid in May 1882 and studied medicine at
the Universidad Central de Madrid where he earned the degree, Licentiate in Medicine. He
also attended medical lectures at the University of Paris and the University of Heidelberg.
In Berlin, he was inducted as a member of the Berlin Ethnological Society and the Berlin
Anthropological Society under the patronage of the famous pathologist Rudolf Virchow.
Following custom, he delivered an address in German in April 1887 before the
Anthropological Society on the orthography and structure of the Tagalog language. He
left Heidelberg a poem, "A las flores del Heidelberg", which was both an evocation and a
prayer for the welfare of his native land and the unification of common values between East
and West.
At Heidelberg, the 25-year-old Rizal completed in 1887 his eye specialization under
the renowned professor, Otto Becker. There he used the newly
invented ophthalmoscope (invented by Hermann von Helmholtz) to later operate on his
own mother's eye. From Heidelberg, Rizal wrote his parents: "I spend half of the day in the
study of German and the other half, in the diseases of the eye. Twice a week, I go to the
bierbrauerie, or beerhall, to speak German with my student friends." He lived in a Karlstraße
boarding house then moved to Ludwigsplatz. There, he met Reverend Karl Ullmer and
stayed with them in Wilhelmsfeld, where he wrote the last few chapters of Noli Me Tángere.
Rizal was a polymath, skilled in both science and the arts. He painted, sketched, and
made sculptures and woodcarving. He was a prolific poet, essayist, and novelist whose most
famous works were his two novels, Noli Me Tángere and its sequel, El filibusterismo.[note
2]
 These social commentaries during the Spanish colonization of the country formed the
nucleus of literature that inspired peaceful reformists and armed revolutionaries alike. Rizal
was also a polyglot, conversant in twenty-two languages.[note 3][note 4][21][22]
Rizal's multifacetedness was described by his German friend, Dr. Adolf Bernhard
Meyer, as "stupendous."[note 5] Documented studies show him to be a polymath with the
ability to master various skills and subjects.[21][23][24] He was an ophthalmologist, sculptor,
painter, educator, farmer, historian, playwright and journalist. Besides poetry and creative
writing, he dabbled, with varying degrees of expertise, in architecture, cartography,
economics, ethnology, anthropology, sociology, dramatics, martial arts, fencing and pistol
shooting. He was also a Freemason, joining Acacia Lodge No. 9 during his time in Spain and
becoming a Master Mason in 1884.[25]

Personal life, relationships and ventures

José Rizal's life is one of the most documented of 19th century Filipinos due to the
vast and extensive records written by and about him.[26] Almost everything in his short life is
recorded somewhere, being himself a regular diarist and prolific letter writer, much of the
material having survived. His biographers, however, have faced difficulty in translating his
writings because of Rizal's habit of switching from one language to another.
They drew largely from his travel diaries with their insights of a young Asian
encountering the West for the first time. They included his later trips, home and back again
to Europe through Japan and the United States,[27] and, finally, through his self-
imposed exile in Hong Kong.
Shortly after he graduated from the Ateneo Municipal de Manila (now Ateneo de
Manila University), Rizal (who was then 16 years old) and a friend, Mariano Katigbak, came
to visit Rizal's maternal grandmother in Tondo, Manila. Mariano brought along his sister,
Segunda Katigbak, a 14-year-old Batangueña from Lipa, Batangas. It was the first time they
met and Rizal described Segunda as "rather short, with eyes that were eloquent and ardent
at times and languid at others, rosy–cheeked, with an enchanting and provocative smile that
revealed very beautiful teeth, and the air of a sylph; her entire self diffused a mysterious
charm." His grandmother's guests were mostly college students and they knew that Rizal
had skills in painting. They suggested that Rizal should make a portrait of Segunda. He
complied reluctantly and made a pencil sketch of her. Unfortunately for Rizal who had
referred to her as his first love in his memoir Memorias de un Estudiante de Manila,
Katigbak was already engaged to Manuel Luz.[28]
From December 1891 to June 1892, Rizal lived with his family in Number 2
of Rednaxela Terrace, Mid-levels, Hong Kong Island. Rizal used 5 D'Aguilar Street, Central
district, Hong Kong Island, as his ophthalmology clinic from 2 pm to 6 pm. This period of his
life included his recorded affections of which nine were identified. They were Gertrude
Beckett of Chalcot Crescent, Primrose Hill, Camden, London, wealthy and high-minded Nelly
Boustead of the English and Iberian merchant family, last descendant of a noble Japanese
family Seiko Usui (affectionately called O-Sei-san), his earlier friendship with Segunda
Katigbak, Leonor Valenzuela, and eight-year romantic relationship with a distant
cousin, Leonor Rivera (popularly thought to be the inspiration for the character of María
Clara in Noli Me Tángere).

Affair
In one recorded account detailing Rizal's 1887 visit to Prague, Maximo Viola wrote
that Rizal succumbed to the temptation of a 'lady of the camellias'. Viola, a friend of Rizal's
and an early financier of Noli Me Tángere, was alluding to Dumas's 1848 novel, La dame aux
camelias, about a man who fell in love with a courtesan. While the affair was on record,
there were no further details in Viola's letter concerning the duration and nature of the
affair.[29][30][note 6]

Association with Leonor Rivera

See also: Leonor Rivera
Leonor Rivera is thought to be the inspiration for the character of María Clara in Noli
Me Tángere and El Filibusterismo.[31] Rivera and Rizal first met in Manila when Rivera was
only 14 years old. When Rizal left for Europe on May 3, 1882, Rivera was 16 years of age.
Their correspondence began when Rizal left a poem for Rivera saying farewell.[32]
The correspondence between Rivera and Rizal kept him focused on his studies in
Europe. They employed codes in their letters because Rivera's mother did not favor Rizal. A
letter from Mariano Katigbak dated June 27, 1884, referred to Rivera as Rizal's "betrothed".
Katigbak described Rivera as having been greatly affected by Rizal's departure, frequently
sick because of insomnia.
When Rizal returned to the Philippines on August 5, 1887, Rivera and her family had
moved back to Dagupan, Pangasinan. Rizal was forbidden by his father Francisco Mercado
to see Rivera in order to avoid putting the Rivera family in danger because at the time Rizal
was already labeled by the criollo elite as a filibustero or subversive[32] because of his
novel Noli Me Tángere. Rizal wanted to marry Rivera while he was still in the Philippines
because of Rivera's uncomplaining fidelity. Rizal asked permission from his father one more
time before his second departure from the Philippines. The meeting never happened. In
1888, Rizal stopped receiving letters from Rivera for a year, although Rizal kept sending
letters to Rivera. The reason for Rivera's year of silence was the connivance between
Rivera's mother and the Englishman named Henry Kipping, a railway engineer who fell in
love with Rivera and was favored by Rivera's mother.[32][33] The news of Leonor Rivera's
marriage to Kipping devastated Rizal.
His European friends kept almost everything he gave them, including doodlings on
pieces of paper. In the home of a Spanish liberal, Pedro Ortiga y Pérez, he left an impression
that was to be remembered by his daughter, Consuelo. In her diary, she wrote of a day Rizal
spent there and regaled them with his wit, social graces, and sleight-of-hand tricks. In
London, during his research on Antonio de Morga's writings, he became a regular guest in
the home of Reinhold Rost of the British Museum who referred to him as "a gem of a
man."[26][note 7] The family of Karl Ullmer, pastor of Wilhelmsfeld, and the Blumentritts saved
even buttonholes and napkins with sketches and notes. They were ultimately bequeathed to
the Rizal family to form a treasure trove of memorabilia.

Relationship with Josephine Bracken

In February 1895, Rizal, 33, met Josephine Bracken, an Irish woman from Hong Kong,
when she accompanied her blind adoptive father, George Taufer, to have his eyes checked
by Rizal.[34] After frequent visits, Rizal and Bracken fell in love with each other. They applied
to marry but, because of Rizal's reputation from his writings and political stance, the local
priest Father Obach would only hold the ceremony if Rizal could get permission from the
Bishop of Cebu. He was unable to obtain an ecclesiastical marriage because he would not
return to Catholicism.[6]
After accompanying her father to Manila on her return to Hong Kong, and before
heading back to Dapitan to live with Rizal, Josephine introduced herself to members of
Rizal's family in Manila. His mother suggested a civil marriage, which she believed to be a
lesser sacrament but less sinful to Rizal's conscience than making any sort of political
retraction in order to gain permission from the Bishop.[35] Rizal and Josephine lived as
husband and wife in a common-law marriage in Talisay in Dapitan. The couple had a son
who lived only for a few hours; Rizal named him after his father Francisco.[36]

In Brussels and Spain (1890–1892)

In 1890, Rizal, 29, left Paris for Brussels as he was preparing for the publication of his
annotations of Antonio de Morga's Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (1609). He lived in the
boarding house of the two Jacoby sisters, Catherina and Suzanna, who had a niece Suzanna
("Thil"), age 16. Historian Gregorio F. Zaide states that Rizal had "his romance with Suzanne
Jacoby, 45, the petite niece of his landladies." Belgian Pros Slachmuylders, however,
believed that Rizal had a romance with the 17-year-old niece, Suzanna Thil, as his other
liaisons were all with young women.[37] He found records clarifying their names and ages.
Rizal's Brussels stay was short-lived; he moved to Madrid, giving the young Suzanna
a box of chocolates. She wrote to him in French: "After your departure, I did not take the
chocolate. The box is still intact as on the day of your parting. Don’t delay too long writing us
because I wear out the soles of my shoes for running to the mailbox to see if there is a letter
from you. There will never be any home in which you are so loved as in that in Brussels, so,
you little bad boy, hurry up and come back…"[37] In 2007, Slachmuylders' group arranged for
an historical marker honoring Rizal to be placed at the house.[37]
He published Dimanche des Rameaux (Palm Sunday), a socio-political essay, in Berlin
on 30 November 1886. He discussed the significance of Palm Sunday in socio-political terms:
"This entry [of Jesus into Jerusalem] decided the fate of the jealous priests, the Pharisees, of
all those who believed themselves the only ones who had the right to speak in the name of
God, of those who would not admit the truths said by others because they have not been
said by them. That triumph, those hosannas, all those flowers, those olive branches, were
not for Jesus alone; they were the songs of the victory of the new law, they were the
canticles celebrating the dignification of man, the liberty of man, the first mortal blow
directed against despotism and slavery".[38] Shortly its publication, Rizal was summoned by
the German police who suspected him of being a French spy.[39]
The content of Rizal's writings changed considerably in his two most famous
novels, Noli Me Tángere, published in Berlin in 1887, and El Filibusterismo, published in
Ghent in 1891. For the latter, he used funds borrowed from his friends. These writings
angered both the Spanish colonial elite and many educated Filipinos due to their symbolism.
They are critical of Spanish friars and the power of the Church. Rizal's friend Ferdinand
Blumentritt, an Austria-Hungary-born professor and historian, wrote that the novel's
characters were drawn from real life and that every episode can be repeated on any day in
the Philippines.[40]
Blumentritt was the grandson of the Imperial Treasurer at Vienna in the
former Austro-Hungarian Empire and a staunch defender of the Catholic faith. This did not
dissuade him from writing the preface of El filibusterismo after he had translated Noli Me
Tángere into German. As Blumentritt had warned, these books resulted in Rizal's being
prosecuted as the inciter of revolution. He was eventually tried by the military, convicted
and executed. Teaching the natives where they stood brought about an adverse reaction, as
the Philippine Revolution of 1896 took off virulently thereafter.
As leader of the reform movement of Filipino students in Spain, Rizal contributed
essays, allegories, poems, and editorials to the Spanish newspaper La Solidaridad in
Barcelona (in this case Rizal used a pen name, "Dimasalang", "Laong Laan" and "May
Pagasa"). The core of his writings centers on liberal and progressive ideas of individual rights
and freedom; specifically, rights for the Filipino people. He shared the same sentiments with
members of the movement: that the Philippines is battling, in Rizal's own words, "a double-
faced Goliath"—corrupt friars and bad government. His commentaries reiterate the
following agenda:[note 8]

 That the Philippines be made a province of Spain (The Philippines was a province
of New Spain – now Mexico, administered from Mexico city from 1565 to 1821.
From 1821 to 1898 it was administered directly from Spain.)
 Representation in the Cortes
 Filipino priests instead of Spanish friars – Augustinians, Dominicans,
and Franciscans – in parishes and remote sitios
 Freedom of assembly and speech
 Equal rights before the law (for both Filipino and Spanish plaintiffs)
The colonial authorities in the Philippines did not favor these reforms. Such Spanish
intellectuals as Morayta, Unamuno, Pi y Margall, and others did endorse them.
In 1890, a rivalry developed between Rizal and Marcelo H. del Pilar for the leadership of La
Solidaridad and the reform movement in Europe.[41] Majority of the expatriates supported
the leadership of del Pilar.
Wenceslao Retana, a political commentator in Spain, had slighted Rizal by writing an
insulting article in La Epoca, a newspaper in Madrid. He implied that the family and friends
of Rizal were evicted from their lands in Calamba for not having paid their due rents. The
incident (when Rizal was ten) stemmed from an accusation that Rizal's mother, Teodora,
tried to poison the wife of a cousin, but she said she was trying to help. With the approval of
the Church prelates, and without a hearing, she was ordered to prison in Santa Cruz in 1871.
She was made to walk the ten miles (16 km) from Calamba. She was released after two-and-
a-half years of appeals to the highest court.[24] In 1887, Rizal wrote a petition on behalf of
the tenants of Calamba, and later that year led them to speak out against the friars'
attempts to raise rent. They initiated a litigation which resulted in the Dominicans' evicting
them from their homes, including the Rizal family. General Valeriano Weyler had the
buildings on the farm torn down.
Upon reading the article, Rizal sent a representative to challenge Retana to a duel.
Retana published a public apology and later became one of Rizal's biggest admirers, writing
Rizal's most important biography, Vida y Escritos del José Rizal.[42][note 9]
Return to Philippines (1892–1896)
Exile in Dapitan
Upon his return to Manila in 1892, he formed a civic movement called La Liga
Filipina. The league advocated these moderate social reforms through legal means, but was
disbanded by the governor. At that time, he had already been declared an enemy of the
state by the Spanish authorities because of the publication of his novel.
Rizal was implicated in the activities of the nascent rebellion and in July 1892, was
deported to Dapitan in the province of Zamboanga, a peninsula of Mindanao.[43] There he
built a school, a hospital and a water supply system, and taught and engaged in farming and
horticulture.[44] Abaca, then the vital raw material for cordage and which Rizal and his
students planted in the thousands, was a memorial.[citation needed]
The boys' school, which taught in Spanish, and included English as a foreign language
(considered a prescient if unusual option then) was conceived by Rizal and
antedated Gordonstoun with its aims of inculcating resourcefulness and self-sufficiency in
young men.[45] They would later enjoy successful lives as farmers and honest government
officials.[46][47][48] One, a Muslim, became a datu, and another, José Aseniero, who was with
Rizal throughout the life of the school, became Governor of Zamboanga.[49][50]
In Dapitan, the Jesuits mounted a great effort to secure his return to the fold led by
Fray Francisco de Paula Sánchez, his former professor, who failed in his mission. The task
was resumed by Fray Pastells, a prominent member of the Order. In a letter to Pastells, Rizal
sails close to the deism familiar to us today.[51][52][53]
We are entirely in accord in admitting the existence of God. How can I doubt His
when I am convinced of mine. Who so recognizes the effect recognizes the cause. To doubt
God is to doubt one's own conscience, and in consequence, it would be to doubt everything;
and then what is life for? Now then, my faith in God, if the result of a ratiocination may be
called faith, is blind, blind in the sense of knowing nothing. I neither believe nor disbelieve
the qualities which many attribute to Him; before theologians' and philosophers' definitions
and lucubrations of this ineffable and inscrutable being I find myself smiling. Faced with the
conviction of seeing myself confronting the supreme Problem, which confused voices seek
to explain to me, I cannot but reply: ‘It could be’; but the God that I foreknow is far more
grand, far more good: Plus Supra!...I believe in (revelation); but not in revelation or
revelations which each religion or religions claim to possess. Examining them impartially,
comparing them and scrutinizing them, one cannot avoid discerning the human 'fingernail'
and the stamp of the time in which they were written... No, let us not make God in our
image, poor inhabitants that we are of a distant planet lost in infinite space. However,
brilliant and sublime our intelligence may be, it is scarcely more than a small spark which
shines and in an instant is extinguished, and it alone can give us no idea of that blaze, that
conflagration, that ocean of light. I believe in revelation, but in that living revelation which
surrounds us on every side, in that voice, mighty, eternal, unceasing, incorruptible, clear,
distinct, universal as is the being from whom it proceeds, in that revelation which speaks to
us and penetrates us from the moment we are born until we die. What books can better
reveal to us the goodness of God, His love, His providence, His eternity, His glory, His
wisdom? ‘The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork.
[54]
 His best friend, professor Ferdinand Blumentritt, kept him in touch with European
friends and fellow-scientists who wrote a stream of letters which arrived in Dutch, French,
German and English and which baffled the censors, delaying their transmittal. Those four
years of his exile coincided with the development of the Philippine Revolution from
inception and to its final breakout, which, from the viewpoint of the court which was to try
him, suggested his complicity in it.[26] He condemned the uprising, although all the members
of the Katipunan had made him their honorary president and had used his name as a cry for
war, unity, and liberty.[55]
He is known to making the resolution of bearing personal sacrifice instead of the
incoming revolution, believing that a peaceful stand is the best way to avoid further
suffering in the country and loss of Filipino lives. In Rizal's own words, "I consider myself
happy for being able to suffer a little for a cause which I believe to be sacred [...]. I believe
further that in any undertaking, the more one suffers for it, the surer its success. If this be
fanaticism may God pardon me, but my poor judgment does not see it as such."[56]
In Dapitan, Rizal wrote "Haec Est Sibylla Cumana", a parlor-game for his students,
with questions and answers for which a wooden top was used. In 2004, Jean Paul
Verstraeten traced this book and the wooden top, as well as Rizal's personal watch, spoon
and salter.
Arrest and trial
By 1896, the rebellion fomented by the Katipunan, a militant secret society, had
become a full-blown revolution, proving to be a nationwide uprising.[57][self-published source?] Rizal
had earlier volunteered his services as a doctor in Cuba and was given leave by Governor-
General Ramón Blanco to serve in Cuba to minister to victims of yellow fever. Rizal and
Josephine left Dapitan on August 1, 1896, with letter of recommendation from Blanco.
Rizal was arrested en route to Cuba via Spain and was imprisoned in Barcelona on
October 6, 1896. He was sent back the same day to Manila to stand trial as he was
implicated in the revolution through his association with members of the Katipunan. During
the entire passage, he was unchained, no Spaniard laid a hand on him, and had many
opportunities to escape but refused to do so.
While imprisoned in Fort Santiago, he issued a manifesto disavowing the current
revolution in its present state and declaring that the education of Filipinos and their
achievement of a national identity were prerequisites to freedom.
Rizal was tried before a court-martial for rebellion, sedition and conspiracy, and was
convicted on all three charges and sentenced to death. Blanco, who was sympathetic to
Rizal, had been forced out of office. The friars, led by then-Archbishop of Manila Bernardino
Nozaleda had 'intercalated' Camilo de Polavieja in his stead as the new Spanish Governor-
General of the Philippines after pressuring Queen-Regent Maria Cristina of Spain, thus
sealing Rizal's fate.

Execution
Moments before his execution on December 30, 1896 by a squad of Filipino soldiers
of the Spanish Army, a backup force of regular Spanish Army troops stood ready to shoot
the executioners should they fail to obey orders.[58] The Spanish Army Surgeon General
requested to take his pulse: it was normal. Aware of this the sergeant commanding the
backup force hushed his men to silence when they began raising "vivas" with the highly
partisan crowd of Peninsular and Mestizo Spaniards. His last words were those of Jesus
Christ: "consummatum est" – "it is finished."[21][59][note 10]
He was secretly buried in Pacò Cemetery in Manila with no identification on his
grave. His sister Narcisa toured all possible gravesites and found freshly turned earth at the
cemetery with guards posted at the gate. Assuming this could be the most likely spot, there
never having been any ground burials, she made a gift to the caretaker to mark the site
"RPJ", Rizal's initials in reverse.
His undated poem Mi último adiós, believed to have been written a few days before
his execution, was hidden in an alcohol stove, which was later handed to his family with his
few remaining possessions, including the final letters and his last bequests.[60]: 91  During their
visit, Rizal reminded his sisters in English, "There is something inside it", referring to the
alcohol stove given by the Pardo de Taveras which was to be returned after his execution,
thereby emphasizing the importance of the poem. This instruction was followed by another,
"Look in my shoes", in which another item was secreted. Exhumation of his remains in
August 1898, under American rule, revealed that he had been uncoffined, his burial was not
on sanctified ground granted to the 'confessed' faithful, and whatever was in his shoes had
disintegrated. He is now buried in the Rizal Monument in Manila.[24]
In his letter to his family he wrote: "Treat our aged parents as you would wish to be
treated...Love them greatly in memory of me...December 30, 1896."[26] He gave his family
instructions for his burial: "Bury me in the ground. Place a stone and a cross over it. My
name, the date of my birth and of my death. Nothing more. If later you wish to surround my
grave with a fence, you can do it. No anniversaries."[61]
In his final letter, to Blumentritt – Tomorrow at 7, I shall be shot; but I am innocent of
the crime of rebellion. I am going to die with a tranquil conscience. [26] Rizal is believed to be
the first Filipino revolutionary whose death is attributed entirely to his work as a writer; and
through dissent and civil disobedience enabled him to successfully destroy Spain's moral
primacy to rule. He also bequeathed a book personally bound by him in Dapitan to his 'best
and dearest friend'. When Blumentritt received it in his hometown
of Litoměřice (Leitmeritz), he broke down and wept.
Rizal's execution, as well as those of other political dissidents (mostly anarchist) in
Barcelona was ultimately invoked by Michele Angiolillo, an Italian anarchist, when he
assassinated Spanish Prime Minister Antonio Canovas del Castillo.[62]

Works and writings

Rizal wrote mostly in Spanish, the lingua franca of the Spanish East Indies, though
some of his letters (for example Sa Mga Kababaihang Taga Malolos) were written in
Tagalog. His works have since been translated into a number of languages including Tagalog
and English.
Novels and essays

 "El amor patrio", 1882 essay[63]

  "Toast to Juan Luna and Felix Hidalgo", 1884 speech given at Restaurante Ingles,
Madrid
 Noli Me Tángere, 1887 novel (literally Latin for 'touch me not', from John 20:17)
[64]

 Alin Mang Lahi ("Whate'er the Race"), a Kundiman attributed to Dr. José Rizal[65]
 "Sa Mga Kababaihang Taga-Malolos" (To the Young Women of Malolos), 1889
letter[66]
 Annotations to Antonio de Morga's Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, 1889[67]
 "Filipinas dentro de cien años" (The Philippines a Century Hence), 1889–90 essay
 "Sobre la indolencia de los filipinos" (The Indolence of Filipinos), 1890 essay[68]
 "Como se gobiernan las Filipinas" (Governing the Philippine islands), 1890 essay
 El filibusterismo, 1891 novel; sequel to Noli Me Tángere[69]
 Una visita del Señor a Filipinas, also known as Friars and Filipinos, 14-page
unfinished novel written in 1889[70]
 Memorias de un Gallo, 2-page unfinished satire[70]
 Makamisa, unfinished Tagalog-language novel written in 1892[71]
Poetry

 "Felicitación" (1874/75)
 "El embarque"[72] (The Embarkation, 1875)
 "Por la educación recibe lustre la patria" (1876)
 "Un recuerdo á mi pueblo" (1876)
 "Al niño Jesús" (c. 1876)
 "A la juventud filipina" (To the Philippine Youth, 1879)
 "¡Me piden versos!" (1882)
 "Canto de María Clara" (from Noli Me Tángere, 1887)
 "Himno al trabajo" (Dalit sa Paggawa, 1888)[73]
 "Kundiman" (disputed, 1889) - also attributed to Pedro Paterno
 "A mi musa" (To My Muse, 1890)
 "El canto del viajero" (1892–96)
 "Mi retiro" (1895)
 "Mi último adiós" (1896)
 "Mi primera inspiracion" (disputed) - also attributed to Antonio Lopez, Rizal's
nephew
Plays

 El Consejo de los Dioses (The Council of Gods)[74]

 Junto al Pasig (Along the Pasig)[75]: 381 
 San Euistaquio, Mártyr (Saint Eustache, the martyr)[76]
Other works
Rizal also tried his hand at painting and sculpture. His most famous sculptural work
was "The Triumph of Science over Death", a clay sculpture of a naked young woman with
overflowing hair, standing on a skull while bearing a torch held high. The woman symbolized
the ignorance of humankind during the Dark Ages, while the torch she bore symbolized the
enlightenment science brings over the whole world. He sent the sculpture as a gift to his
dear friend Ferdinand Blumentritt, together with another one named "The Triumph of
Death over Life".
The woman is shown trampling the skull, a symbol of death, to signify the victory the
humankind achieved by conquering the bane of death through their scientific
advancements. The original sculpture is now displayed at the Rizal Shrine Museum at Fort
Santiago in Intramuros, Manila. A large replica, made of concrete, stands in front of
Fernando Calderón Hall, the building which houses the College of Medicine of the University
of the Philippines Manila along Pedro Gil Street in Ermita, Manila.
Rizal is also noted to be a carver and sculptor who made works from clay, Plaster-of-
Paris and baticuling wood, the last being his preferred medium. While in exile in Dapitan, he
served as a mentor to three Paete natives including José Caancan, who in turn taught three
generations of carvers back in his hometown.[77]
Rizal is known to have made 56 sculptural works, but only 18 of these are known to
be still existing as of 2021.[77]
 Andrés Bonifacio
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Bonifacio and the second or

maternal family name is de Castro.
Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro (Tagalog: [anˈdɾes bonɪˈfaʃo], Spanish: [anˈdres
boni'fasjo], November 30, 1863 – May 10, 1897) was a Filipino freemason and revolutionary
leader. He is often called "The Father of the Philippine Revolution", and considered one of
the national heroes of the Philippines.[2][3][4] He was one of the founders and later
the Kataas-taasang Pangulo (Supreme President, Presidente Supremo in Spanish, often
shortened by contemporaries and historians to just Supremo)[5] of the Kataas-taasang,
Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan or more commonly known as the
"Katipunan", a movement which sought the independence of the Philippines from Spanish
colonial rule and started the Tagalog Revolution.[6][7][4] With the onset of the Revolution,
Bonifacio reorganized the Katipunan into a revolutionary government, with himself as
President (Pangulo) of a nation-state called "Haring Bayang Katagalugan" ("Sovereign Nation
of the Tagalog People" or "Sovereign Tagalog Nation"), also "Republika ng Katagaluguan"
("Tagalog Republic", Republica Tagala in Spanish), wherein "Tagalog" referred to all those
born in the Philippine islands and not merely the Tagalog ethnic group.[8][9] Hence, some
historians have argued that he should be considered the First President of the Tagalogs
instead of the Philippines, that is why he is not included in the current official line of
succession.[8][9]

Early life and education

Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro was born on November 30, 1863, in Tondo, Manila,
[10]
 and was the first of six children of Catalina de Castro, a Spanish Mestiza, and Santiago
Bonifacio,[11] an Alkalde[12] of Tondo.[3][13] He learned the alphabet through his aunt. He was
later enrolled in Guillermo Osmeña's private school,[14][15] and learned English while
employed as a clerk-messenger by a British firm.[16] Some sources assert that he was
orphaned at an early age,[17][18] but, considering the existence of an 1881 record that has
Bonifacio's parents listed as living in Tondo, it is disputed by others.[19]
To support his family financially, Bonifacio made canes and paper fans which he and
his young siblings sold (after they were orphaned, according to the traditional view).[20] He
also made posters for business firms. This became their thriving family business that
continued on when the men of the family, namely Andres, Ciriaco, Procopio, and Troadio,
were employed with private and government companies, which provided them with decent
living conditions.[21]
In his late teens, he worked as a mandatario (agent) for the British trading
firm Fleming and Company,[22] where he rose to become a corredor (broker) of
tar, rattan and other goods. He later transferred to Fressell and Company, a German trading
firm, where he worked as a bodeguero (storehouse keeper) responsible for warehouse
inventory. He was also a theater actor and often played the role of Bernardo Carpio, a
fictional character in Tagalog folklore.[23]
Not finishing his formal education, Bonifacio turned to self-education by reading
books. He read books about the French Revolution, biographies of the presidents of the
United States, books about contemporary Philippine penal and civil codes, and novels such
as Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, Eugène Sue's Le Juif errant and José Rizal's Noli Me
Tángere and El filibusterismo. Aside from Tagalog and Spanish, he could speak and
understand English, which he learned while working at J.M. Fleming and Co.[24][self-published source?]

Marriages
Bonifacio's first wife, Monica (surname unknown), was his neighbor in
Palomar, Tondo.[25] She died of leprosy[26][27] and they had no recorded children.
In 1892, Bonifacio, a 29-year-old widower, met the 18-year-old Gregoria de Jesús[28] through
his friend Teodoro Plata, who was her cousin. Gregoria, also called Oriang, was the daughter
of a prominent citizen and landowner from Caloocan.[29] Gregoria's parents did not agree at
first to their relationship as Andrés was a freemason and freemasons were then considered
enemies of the Catholic church.[30] Her parents eventually gave in and Andrés and Gregoria
were married through a Catholic ceremony in Binondo Church in March 1893 or 1894. The
couple also were married through Katipunan rites in a friend's house in Santa Cruz,
Manila on the same day of their church wedding.[31]
 They had one son, born in early 1896,[32] who died of smallpox in infancy.[27][33]

Early political activism

Main article: La Liga Filipina
In 1892, Bonifacio was one of the founding members[34] of José Rizal's La Liga Filipina,
[35]
 an organization which called for political reforms in Spain's colonial government of
the Philippines.[36] However, La Liga disbanded[37] after only one meeting as Rizal was
arrested and deported to Dapitan in the Western Mindanao region.[38]
[39]
 Bonifacio, Apolinario Mabini and others revived La Liga[40] in Rizal's absence and Bonifacio
was active at organizing local chapters in Manila. He would become the chief propagandist
of the revived Liga.[39]
La Liga Filipina contributed moral and financial support to the Propaganda
Movement of Filipino reformists in Spain.[41]

Katipunan
Main article: Katipunan
On the night of July 7, 1892, the day after Rizal's deportation was announced,
Bonifacio and others officially "founded" the Katipunan, or in full, Kataas-taasan, Kagalang-
galang na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan ("Highest and Most Respected Society of the
Country's Children"; Bayan can also denote community, people, and nation).[42] The secret
society sought independence from Spain through armed revolt.[43][44] It was influenced
by Freemasonry through its rituals and organization, and several members including
Bonifacio were also Freemasons.[45] Within the society Bonifacio used the pseudonym May
pag-asa ("There is Hope").[46] Newly found documents though suggest that Katipunan has
already been existing as early as January 1892.[47][48][49]
For a time, Bonifacio worked with both the Katipunan and La Liga Filipina. La
Liga eventually split because some members like Bonifacio lost hope for peaceful reform
and stopped their monetary aid.[45] The more conservative members, mostly wealthy
members, who still believed in peaceful reforms set up the Cuerpo de Compromisarios,
which pledged continued support to the reformists in Spain. The radicals were subsumed
into the Katipunan.[43] From Manila, the Katipunan expanded to several provinces,
including Batangas, Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga, and Nueva Ecija.[50] Most of its
members, called Katipuneros, came from the lower and middle classes, and many of its local
leaders were prominent figures in their municipalities.[51] At first exclusively male,
membership was later extended to females, with Bonifacio's wife Gregoria de Jesús as a
leading member.[52]
From the beginning, Bonifacio was one of the chief Katipunan officers, although he
did not become its Presidente Supremo (Supreme President)[53] until 1895. He was the third
head of the Katipunan after Deodato Arellano and Román Basa. Prior to this, he served as
the society's comptroller and then as its 'fiscal' (advocate/procurator). [54][55] The society had
its own laws, bureaucratic structure and elective leadership. For each province involved,
the Katipunan Supreme Council coordinated with provincial councils in charge of public
administration and military affairs, and with local councils in charge of affairs on the district
or barrio level.[56][57]
 Within the society, Bonifacio developed a strong friendship with Emilio Jacinto, who
served as his adviser and confidant, as well as a member of the Supreme Council. Bonifacio
adopted Jacinto's Kartilya primer as the official teachings of the society in place of his
own Decalogue, which he judged as inferior. Bonifacio, Jacinto and Pío
Valenzuela collaborated on the society's organ, Kalayaan (Freedom), which had only one
printed issue. Bonifacio wrote several pieces for the paper, including the poem Pag-ibig sa
Tinubúang Lupà (approx. "Love for One's Homeland[58]) under the pseudonym Agapito
Bagumbayan. The publication of Kalayaan in March 1896 led to a great increase in the
society's membership. The Katipunan movement spread throughout Luzon, to Panay in
the Visayas and even as far as Mindanao.[59] From less than 300 members in January 1896,
[50]
 it had 30,000 to 40,000 by August 1896.[59]
The rapid increase in Katipunan activity drew the suspicion of the Spanish
authorities. By early 1896, Spanish intelligence was aware of the existence of a seditious
secret society, and suspects were kept under surveillance and arrests were made. On May 3,
Bonifacio held a general assembly of Katipunan leaders in Pasig, where they debated when
to start the revolution. While some officers, especially Bonifacio, believed a revolution was
inevitable, some members, especially Santiago Alvarez and Emilio Aguinaldo both of Cavite,
expressed reservations and disagreement regarding the planned revolt due to lack of
firearms. The consensus was to consult José Rizal in Dapitan before launching armed action,
so Bonifacio sent Pío Valenzuela to Rizal. Rizal turned out to be against the revolution,
believing it to be premature. He recommended more preparation, but suggested that, in the
event the revolution did break out, they should seek the leadership of Antonio Luna, who
was widely regarded as a brilliant military leader.[60]

Philippine Revolution
Main article: Philippine Revolution
Start of the uprising
The Spanish authorities confirmed the existence of the Katipunan on August 19,
1896. Hundreds of Filipino suspects, both innocent and guilty, were arrested and imprisoned
for treason.[61] José Rizal (José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Realonda) was then on his way
to Cuba to serve as a doctor in the Spanish colonial army in exchange for his release from
Dapitan.[62][63] When the news broke, Bonifacio first tried to convince Rizal, quarantined
aboard a ship in Manila Bay, to escape and join the imminent revolt. Bonifacio, Emilio
Jacinto and Guillermo Masangkay [nl] disguised themselves as sailors and went to the pier
where Rizal's ship was anchored. Jacinto personally met with Rizal, who rejected their
rescue offer.[64] Rizal himself was later arrested, tried and executed.[62]
Eluding an intensive manhunt, Bonifacio called thousands of Katipunan members to
a mass gathering in Caloocan, where they decided to start their uprising. The event, marked
by the tearing of cedulas (personal identity documents) was later called the "Cry of
Balintawak" or "Cry of Pugad Lawin"; the exact location and date of the Cry are disputed.[65]
[66]
 The Supreme Council of the Katipunan declared a nationwide armed revolution against
Spain and called for a simultaneous coordinated attack on the capital Manila on August 29.
Bonifacio appointed generals to lead rebel forces to Manila. Other Katipunan councils were
also informed of their plans. Before hostilities erupted, Bonifacio reorganized
the Katipunan into an open de facto revolutionary government with him as president and
commander-in-chief (or generalissimo[53]) of the rebel army and the Supreme Council as his
cabinet.[56][67][68] On August 28, Bonifacio issued the following general proclamation:
This manifesto is for all of you. It is absolutely necessary for us to stop at the earliest
possible time the nameless oppositions being perpetrated on the sons of the country who
are now suffering the brutal punishment and tortures in jails, and because of this please let
all the brethren know that on Saturday, the 29th of the current month, the revolution shall
commence according to our agreement. For this purpose, it is necessary for all towns to rise
simultaneously and attack Manila at the same time. Anybody who obstructs this sacred ideal
of the people will be considered a traitor and an enemy, except if he is ill; or is not physically
fit, in which case he shall be tried according to the regulations we have put in force. Mount
of Liberty, 28 August 1896 – ANDRÉS BONIFACIO[6][69]
On August 30, 1896, Bonifacio personally led an attack on San Juan del Monte to
capture the town's powder magazine and water station (which supplied Manila). The
defending Spaniards, outnumbered, fought a delaying battle until reinforcements arrived.
Once reinforced, the Spaniards drove Bonifacio's forces back with heavy casualties.
Bonifacio and his troops regrouped near Marikina, San Mateo and Montalban.[70] Elsewhere,
fighting between rebels and Spanish forces occurred in Mandaluyong, Sampaloc, Santa
Ana, Pandacan, Pateros, Marikina, Caloocan,[71] Makati and Taguig.[70] The conventional view
among Filipino historians is that the planned general Katipunan offensive on Manila was
aborted in favor of Bonifacio's attack on San Juan del Monte,[70][72] which sparked a general
state of rebellion in the area.[73] However, more recent studies have advanced the view that
the planned offensive did push through and the rebel attacks were integrated; according to
this view, Bonifacio's San Juan del Monte battle was only a part of a bigger whole – an
unrecognized "Battle for Manila".[71][74] Despite his reverses, Bonifacio was not completely
defeated and was still considered a threat. Further, the revolt had spread to the surrounding
provinces by the end of August.[71][74]

Haring Bayang Katagalugan

Influenced by Freemasonry, the Katipunan had been organized with "its own laws,
bureaucratic structure and elective leadership".[8] For each province it involved, the
Supreme Council coordinated provincial councils[9] which were in charge of "public
administration and military affairs on the supra-municipal or quasi-provincial level"[8] and
local councils,[9] in charge of affairs "on the district or barrio level".[8] In the last days of
August, the Katipunan members met in Caloocan and decided to start their revolt[8] (the
event was later called the "Cry of Balintawak" or "Cry of Pugad Lawin"; the exact location
and date are disputed). A day after the Cry, the Supreme Council of the Katipunan held
elections, with the following results:[8][9]
Position Name
President Andrés Bonifacio
Secretary of War Teodoro Plata
Secretary of State Emilio Jacinto
Secretary of the
Aguedo del Rosario
Interior
 Secretary of Justice Briccio Pantas
Secretary of Finance Enrique Pacheco
The above was divulged to the Spanish by the Katipunan member Pío
Valenzuela while in captivity.[8][9] Teodoro Agoncillo thus wrote:
Immediately before the outbreak of the revolution, therefore, Bonifacio organized the
Katipunan into a government revolving around a ‘cabinet’ composed of men of his
confidence.[75]
Milagros C. Guerrero and others have described Bonifacio as "effectively" the
commander-in-chief of the revolutionaries. They assert:
As commander-in-chief, Bonifacio supervised the planning of military strategies and
the preparation of orders, manifests and decrees, adjudicated offenses against the nation,
as well as mediated in political disputes. He directed generals and positioned troops in the
fronts. On the basis of command responsibility, all victories and defeats all over the
archipelago during his term of office should be attributed to Bonifacio.[8]
One name for Bonifacio's concept of the Philippine nation-state appears in
surviving Katipunan documents: Haring Bayang Katagalugan ("Sovereign Nation of
Katagalugan", or "Sovereign Tagalog Nation") – sometimes shortened into Haring
Bayan ("Sovereign Nation"). Bayan may be rendered as "nation" or "people". Bonifacio is
named as the president of the "Tagalog Republic" in an issue of the Spanish periodical La
Ilustración Española y Americana published in February 1897 ("Andrés Bonifacio – Titulado
"Presidente" de la República Tagala"). Another name for Bonifacio's government
was Repúblika ng Katagalugan (another form of "Tagalog Republic") as evidenced by a
picture of a rebel seal published in the same periodical the next month.[8][9]
Official letters and one appointment paper of Bonifacio addressed to Emilio Jacinto
reveal Bonifacio's various titles and designations, as follows:[8][9]

 President of the Supreme Council

 Supreme President
 President of the Sovereign Nation of Katagalugan / Sovereign Tagalog Nation
 President of the Sovereign Nation, Founder of the Katipunan, Initiator of the
Revolution
 Office of the Supreme President, Government of the Revolution
Later, in November 1896, while encamped at Balara, Bonifacio commissioned Julio Nakpil to
compose a national anthem. Nakpil produced a hymn called Marangal na Dalit ng
Katagalugan ("Honorable Hymn of the Tagalog Nation/People").[76]
Eventually, an 1897 power struggle in Cavite led to command of the revolution shifting
to Emilio Aguinaldo at the Tejeros Convention, where a new government was formed.
Bonifacio was executed after he refused to recognize the new government. The Aguinaldo-
headed Philippine Republic (Spanish: República Filipina), usually considered the "First
Philippine Republic", was formally established in 1899, after a succession of revolutionary
and dictatorial governments (e.g. the Tejeros government, the Biak-na-Bato Republic) also
headed by Aguinaldo.
Campaigns around Manila
By December 1896, the Spanish government recognized three major centers of
rebellion: Cavite (under Mariano Alvarez, Emilio Aguinaldo and
others), Bulacan (under Mariano Llanera) and Morong (under Bonifacio). The revolt was
most successful in Cavite,[77] which mostly fell under rebel control by September–October
1896.[78]
While Cavite is traditionally regarded as the "Heartland of the Philippine Revolution",
Manila and its surrounding municipalities bore the brunt of the Spanish military campaign,
becoming a no man's land. Rebels in the area were generally engaged in hit-and-
run guerrilla warfare against Spanish positions in Manila, Morong, Nueva
[78]
Ecija and Pampanga.  From Morong, Bonifacio served as tactician for rebel guerrillas and
issued commands to areas other than his personal sector,[56] though his reputation suffered
when he lost battles he personally led.[79]
From September to October 1896, Bonifacio supervised the establishment
of Katipunan mountain and hill bases like Balara in Marikina, Pantayanin
in Antipolo, Ugong in Pasig and Tungko in Bulacan. Bonifacio appointing generals for these
areas, or approving selections the troops themselves made.[53]
On November 7, 1896, Bonifacio led an assault on San
Mateo, Marikina and Montalban. The Spanish were forced to retreat, leaving these areas to
the rebels, except for the municipal hall of San Mateo where some Spanish troops had
barricaded. While Bonifacio's troops laid siege to the hall, other Katipunan forces set up
defensive lines along the nearby Langka (or Nangka) river against Spanish reinforcements
coming from the direction of Marikina. After three days, Spanish counterattacks broke
through the Nangka river lines. The Spanish troops thus recaptured the rebel positions and
surprised Bonifacio in San Mateo, who ordered a general retreat to Balara. [53] They were
pursued, and Bonifacio was nearly killed shielding Emilio Jacinto from a Spanish bullet which
grazed his collar.[70]

Bonifacio in Cavite
In late 1896, Bonifacio, as the recognized overall leader of the revolution, was invited
to Cavite province by rebel leaders to mediate between them and unify their efforts. There
were two Katipunan provincial chapters in Cavite that became rival factions: the Magdalo,
headed by Emilio Aguinaldo's cousin Baldomero Aguinaldo, and the Magdiwang, headed
by Mariano Álvarez, uncle of Bonifacio's wife. Leaders of both factions came from the upper
class, in contrast to Bonifacio, who came from the lower middle class. After initial successes,
Emilio Aguinaldo issued a manifesto in the name of the Magdalo ruling council which
proclaimed a provisional and revolutionary government – despite the existence of
the Katipunan government. Emilio Aguinaldo in particular had won fame for victories in the
province.[80] The Magdalo and Magdiwang clashed over authority and jurisdiction and did
not help each other in battle. After multiple letters were sent to Bonifacio urging him to
come, in December 1896 he traveled to Cavite accompanied by his wife, his
brothers Procopio and Ciriaco, and some troops, including Emilio Jacinto, Bonifacio's
secretary and right-hand man. Jacinto was said to be against Bonifacio's expedition to
Cavite.
Upon his arrival at Cavite, friction grew between Bonifacio and
the Magdalo leaders. Apolinario Mabini, who later served as Emilio Aguinaldo's adviser,
writes that at this point the Magdalo leaders "already paid little heed to his authority and
orders."[81] Bonifacio was partial to the Magdiwang, perhaps due to his kinship ties
with Mariano Álvarez,[82] or more importantly, due to their stronger recognition of his
authority.[83] When Aguinaldo and Edilberto Evangelista went to receive Bonifacio at Zapote,
they were irritated with what they regarded as his attitude of superiority. In his
memoirs Aguinaldo wrote that Bonifacio acted "as if he were a king". [84][85] Another time,
Bonifacio ordered the arrest of one Katipunan general from Laguna named Vicente
Fernandez, who was accompanying the Magdalo leaders in paying their respect to
Bonifacio, for failing to support his attack in Manila, but the other Magdalo leaders refused
to surrender him. Townspeople in Noveleta (a Magdiwang town) acclaimed Bonifacio as the
ruler of the Philippines, to the chagrin of the Magdalo leaders, (Bonifacio replied: "Long live
Philippine liberty!").[85] Aguinaldo disputed with Bonifacio over strategic troop placements
and blamed him for the capture of the town of Silang.[84] The Spanish,
through Jesuit Superior Pio Pi, wrote to Aguinaldo about the possibility of peace
negotiations.[84] When Bonifacio found out, he and the Magdiwang council rejected the
proposed peace talks. Bonifacio was also angered that the Spanish considered Aguinaldo the
"chief of the rebellion" instead of him.[84] However, Aguinaldo continued to arrange
negotiations which never took place.[86] Bonifacio believed Aguinaldo was willing to
surrender the revolution.[86]
Bonifacio was also subject to rumors that he had stolen Katipunan funds, his sister
was the mistress of a priest, and he was an agent provocateur paid by friars to foment
unrest. Also circulated were anonymous letters which told the people of Cavite not to
idolize Bonifacio because he was a Mason, a mere Manila employee, allegedly an atheist,
and uneducated. According to these letters, Bonifacio did not deserve the title
of Supremo since only God was supreme. This last allegation was made despite the fact
that Supremo was meant to be used in conjunction with Presidente, i.e. Presidente
Supremo (Supreme President, Kataas-taasang Pangulo) to distinguish the president of
the Katipunan Supreme Council from council presidents of subordinate Katipunan chapters
like the Magdalo and Magdiwang; in other words, while Mariano Álvarez was
the Magdiwang president, and Baldomero Aguinaldo was the Magdalo president, Bonifacio
was the Supreme President.[83] Bonifacio suspected the rumor-mongering to be the work of
the Magdalo leader Daniel Tirona. He confronted Tirona, whose airy reply provoked
Bonifacio to such anger that he drew a gun and would have shot Tirona if others had not
intervened.[87][88]
On December 31, Bonifacio and the Magdalo and Magdiwang leaders held a
meeting in Imus, ostensibly to determine the leadership of Cavite in order to end the rivalry
between the two factions. The issue of whether the Katipunan should be replaced by a
revolutionary government was brought up by the Magdalo, and this eclipsed the rivalry
issue. The Magdalo argued that the Katipunan, as a secret society, should have ceased to
exist once the Revolution was underway. They also held that Cavite should not be divided.
Bonifacio and the Magdiwang contended that the Katipunan served as their revolutionary
government since it had its own constitution, laws, and provincial and municipal
governments. Edilberto Evangelista presented a draft constitution for the proposed
government to Bonifacio but he rejected it as it was too similar to the Spanish Maura Law.
Upon the event of restructuring, Bonifacio was given carte blanche to appoint a committee
tasked with setting up a new government; he would also be in charge of this committee. He
tasked Emilio Aguinaldo to record the minutes of the meeting and requested for it to
establish this authority, but these were never done and never provided.[89][90]

The Tejeros Convention

Main article: Tejeros Convention
On March 22, 1897, the revolutionary leaders held an important meeting in a Friar
Estate Residence at Tejeros to resume their discussions regarding the escalating tension
between the Magdalo and Magdiwang forces; And also to settle once-and-for-all the issue
of governance within the Katipunan through an election.[91] Amidst implications on whether
the government of the "Katipunan" should be established as a monarchy or as a republic,
Bonifacio maintained that it should be established as a republic. According to him, they
were all in opposition to the King of Spain, and all of the government's members of any
given rank should serve under the principle of liberty, equality, and fraternity, upon
which republicanism was founded.[53][5] Despite Bonifacio's concern on the lack of officials
and representatives from other provinces, he was obliged to proceed with the election.[92]
Before the election began, he asked that the results be respected by everyone, and
all agreed. The Magdalo faction voted their own Emilio Aguinaldo President in absentia, as
he was involved in the battle of Perez Dasmariñas, which was then ongoing.[91][93][94] The
resulting revolutionary government established at Tejeros, calling itself the Republica de
Filipinas (Republic of the Philippines) around a month later, was later superseded by a
number of reorganized revolutionary governments also headed by Aguinaldo. These
included the Republica de Filipinas of November 1897, commonly known today as the
"Republic of Biak-na-Bato", the Hong Kong Junta government-in-exile, the dictatorial
government under which Philippine independence was proclaimed on June 12, 1898, and
the revolutionary government now commonly known as the First Philippine Republic or
"Malolos Republic", inaugurated on January 23, 1899[95] as the Republica Filipina (Philippine
Republic). The 1899 government is now officially considered to be the true "first" Republic
of the Philippines, with the present-day government of the Philippines thus being the "fifth"
Republic.
Bonifacio received the second-highest number of votes for president. Though it was
suggested that he be automatically be awarded the Vice Presidency, no one seconded the
motion and the Election continued. Mariano Trías of the Magdiwang was elected vice
president. Bonifacio was the last to be elected, as Director of the Interior. Daniel Tirona,
protested Bonifacio being appointed as Director of the Interior on the grounds that the
position should not be occupied by a person without a lawyer's diploma. Tirona suggested a
prominent lawyer for the position such as Jose del Rosario. Insulted and angered, Bonifacio
demanded an apology, since the voters had agreed to respect the election results. Tirona
ignored Bonifacio's demand for apology which drove Bonifacio to draw his gun and again he
nearly shot Tirona, who hid among the people, but he was restrained by Artemio Ricarte of
the Magdiwang, who had been elected Captain-General.[96] Bonifacio declared: "In my
capacity as chairman of this convention, and as Presidente Supremo of the Most Venerable
Katipunan of the Sons of the People, which association is known and acknowledged by all, I
hereby declare null and void all matters approved in this meeting." [97] He then promptly left
the premises.[96][98]

After the Tejeros Convention

On March 23, 1897, the day after the Tejeros convention, Aguinaldo surreptitiously
took his oath of office as president in a chapel officiated by a Catholic priest Cenon
Villafranca who was under the authority of the Pope in Rome.[99]: 109  According to Gen.
Santiago Alvarez, guards were posted outside with strict instructions not to let in any
unwanted partisan from the Magdiwang faction while the oath-taking took place.
[100]
 Artemio Ricarte also took his office "with great reluctance" and made a declaration that
he found the Tejeros elections "dirty or shady" and "not been in conformity with the true
will of the people."[101]
Meanwhile, Bonifacio met with his remaining supporters and drew up the Acta de
Tejeros, wherein they gave their reasons for not accepting the election results. Bonifacio
alleged the election was fraudulent due to cheating and accused Aguinaldo of treason for
his negotiations with the Spanish.[102] In their memoirs Santiago Álvarez (son of Mariano) and
Gregoria de Jesús both alleged that many ballots were already filled out before being
distributed, and Guillermo Masangkay contended there were more ballots prepared than
voters present. Álvarez writes that Bonifacio had been warned by a Cavite leader Diego
Mojica of the rigged ballots before the votes were canvassed, but he had done nothing. [53]
[103]
 The Acta de Tejeros was signed by Bonifacio and 44 others, including Artemio
Ricarte, Mariano Alvarez and Pascual Alvarez. Then, in a later meeting on April 19 in Naic,
another document, the Naic Military Agreement, was drawn up which declared that its 41
signatories, "... having discovered the treason committed by certain officers who have been
sowing discord and conniving with the Spaniards [and other offensive acts]", had "agreed to
deliver the people from this grave danger" by raising an army corps "by persuasion or force"
under the command of General Pio del Pilar. The document's 41 signatories included
Bonifacio, Ricarte and del Pilar.[104][105] The meeting was interrupted by Aguinaldo and del
Pilar. Mariano Noriel and others present then promptly returned to Aguinaldo's fold.[84]
[106]
 Aguinaldo attempted to persuade Bonifacio to cooperate with his government, but
Bonifacio refused and proceeded to Indang, Cavite planning to get out of Cavite and
proceed back to Morong.[107]
In late April, Aguinaldo fully assumed the presidential office after consolidating his position
among the Cavite elite – most of Bonifacio's Magdiwang supporters shifting allegiance to
Aguinaldo.[108] Aguinaldo's government then ordered the arrest of Bonifacio, who was then
moving out of Cavite.[109][110]

Trial and death

In April 1897, Aguinaldo ordered the arrest of Bonifacio after he received a letter
alleging that Bonifacio had burned down a village and ordered the burning of the church
of Indang after townspeople refused to give him provisions. Many of the principal men of
Indang, among them Severino de las Alas, presented Emilio Aguinaldo with several
complaints against Bonifacio that the Supremo's men stole carabaos (water buffaloes) and
other work animals by force and butchered them for food. On April 25, a party of
Aguinaldo's men led by Colonel Agapito Bonzón and Major José Ignacio "Intsik" Paua caught
up with Bonifacio at his camp in barrio Limbon, Indang. The unsuspecting Bonifacio received
them cordially. Early the next day, Bonzón and Paua attacked Bonifacio's camp. Bonifacio
was surprised and refused to fight against "fellow Tagalogs", ordering his men to hold their
fire, but shots were nevertheless exchanged. Bonifacio was shot in the arm by Bonzón, and
Paua stabbed him in the neck but was prevented from striking further by one of Bonifacio's
men, who offered to die in Bonifacio's place. Andrés's brother Ciriaco was shot dead, while
his other brother Procopio was beaten, and his wife Gregoria may have been raped by
Bonzón. From Indang, a half-starved and wounded Bonifacio was carried by hammock
to Naic, which had become President Aguinaldo's headquarters.[111]
Bonifacio's party was brought to Naic initially and then to Maragondon, Cavite,
where he and Procopio stood trial on May 5, 1897, on charges of sedition and treason
against Aguinaldo's government and conspiracy to murder Aguinaldo.[108][112] The jury was
composed entirely of Aguinaldo's men and even Bonifacio's defence lawyer himself declared
his client's guilt. Bonifacio was barred from confronting the state witness on the charge of
conspiracy to murder on the grounds that the latter had been killed in battle. However, after
the trial the witness was seen alive with the prosecutors.[113][114]
The Bonifacio brothers were found guilty despite insufficient evidence and
recommended to be executed. Aguinaldo commuted the sentence to deportation on May 8,
1897, but Pío del Pilar and Mariano Noriel persuaded him to withdraw the order for the
sake of preserving unity. In this they were seconded by Mamerto Natividád and other bona
fide supporters of Aguinaldo.[115] The Bonifacio brothers were executed on May 10, 1897, in
the mountains of Maragondon.[115][116] Apolinario Mabini wrote that Bonifacio's death
demoralized many rebels from Manila, Laguna and Batangas who had come to help those in
Cavite, and caused them to quit.[81] In other areas, Bonifacio's close associates like Emilio
Jacinto and Macario Sakay continued the Katipunan and never recognized Aguinaldo's
authority.[76]

Historical controversies
The historical assessment of Bonifacio involves several controversial points. His
death is alternately viewed as a justified execution for treason and a "legal murder" fueled
by politics. Some historians consider him to be the rightful first President of the
Philippines instead of Aguinaldo. Some historians have also opined that Bonifacio share or
even take the place of José Rizal as the (foremost) Philippine national hero which is
justifiable. The purported discovery of Bonifacio's remains has also been questioned.

Trial and execution

Historians have condemned the trial of the Bonifacio brothers as unjust. The jury was
entirely composed of Aguinaldo's men; Bonifacio's defense lawyer acted more like a
prosecutor as he himself declared Bonifacio's guilt and instead appealed for less
punishment; and Bonifacio was not allowed to confront the state witness for the charge of
conspiracy on the grounds that the latter had been killed in battle, but later the witness was
seen with the prosecutors.[117][118]
 Teodoro Agoncillo writes that Bonifacio's declaration of authority in opposition to
Aguinaldo posed a danger to the revolution, because a split in the rebel forces would result
in almost certain defeat to their united and well-armed Spanish foe.[115] In contrast, Renato
Constantino contends that Bonifacio was neither a danger to the revolution in general for he
still planned to fight the Spanish, nor to the revolution in Cavite since he was leaving; but
Bonifacio was definitely a threat to the Cavite leaders who wanted control of the
Revolution, so he was eliminated. Constantino contrasts Bonifacio who had no record of
compromise with the Spanish with the Cavite leaders who did compromise, resulting in
the Pact of Biak-na-Bato whereas the revolution was officially halted and its leaders exiled,
though many Filipinos continued to fight especially Katipunan leaders used to be close to
Bonifacio (Aguinaldo eventually, unofficially allied with the United States, did return to take
charge of the revolution during the Spanish–American War).[119]
Historians have also discussed the motives of the Cavite government to replace
Bonifacio, and whether it had the right to do so. The Magdalo provincial council which
helped establish a republican government led by one of their own was only one of many
such councils in the pre-existing Katipunan government.[120][121] Therefore, Constantino and
Alejo Villanueva write Aguinaldo and his faction may be considered counter-revolutionary as
well – as guilty of violating Bonifacio's constituted authority just as they considered
Bonifacio to violate theirs.[120][122] Aguinaldo's own adviser and official Apolinario Mabini
writes that he was "primarily answerable for insubordination against the head of
the Katipunan of which he was a member".[81] Aguinaldo's authority was not immediately
recognized by all rebels. If Bonifacio had escaped Cavite, he would have had the right as
the Katipunan leader to prosecute Aguinaldo for treason instead of the other way around.
[123]
 Constantino and Villanueva also interpret the Tejeros Convention as the culmination of a
movement by members of the upper class represented by Aguinaldo to wrest power from
Bonifacio who represented the middle and lower classes.[122][124] Regionalism among the
Cavite rebels, dubbed "Cavitismo" by Constantino, has also been put forward as motivation
for the replacement of Bonifacio.[125][126][127] Mabini considered the execution as criminal and
"assassination...the first victory of personal ambition over true patriotism."[citation needed] He also
noted that "All the electors [at the Tejeros Convention] were friends of Don Emilio
Aguinaldo and Don Mariano Trías, who were united, while Bonifacio, although he had
established his integrity, was looked upon with distrust only because he was not a native of
the province: this explains his resentment."[81]
Writing retrospectively in 1948, Aguinaldo explained that he initially commuted the
sentence of death but rescinded his commutation at the urging of Generals Mariano Noriel
and General Pio del Pilar.[128]
There are differing accounts of Bonifacio's manner of execution. The commanding
officer of the execution party, Lazaro Macapagal, said in two separate accounts that the
Bonifacio brothers were shot to death, which is the orthodox interpretation. Macapagal's
second account has Bonifacio attempting to escape after his brother is shot, but he is also
killed while running away. Macapagal writes that they buried the brothers in shallow graves
dug with bayonets and marked by twigs.[129]
However, another account states that after his brother was shot, Bonifacio was
stabbed and hacked to death. This was allegedly done while he lay prone in a hammock in
which he was carried to the site, being too weak to walk.[83] This version was maintained by
Guillermo Masangkay, who claimed to have gotten this information from one of
Macapagal's men.[129] Also, one account used to corroborate this version is of an alleged
eyewitness, a farmer who claimed he saw five men hacking a man in a hammock.
[83]
 Historian Milagros Guerrero also says Bonifacio was bayoneted, and that the brothers
were left unburied.[130] After bones said to be Bonifacio's – including a fractured skull – were
discovered in 1918, Masangkay claimed the forensic evidence supported his version of
events.[129] Writer Adrian Cristobal notes that accounts of Bonifacio's captivity and trial state
he was very weak due to his wounds being left untreated; he thus doubts that Bonifacio was
strong enough to make a last dash for freedom as Macapagal claimed. [83] Historian Ambeth
Ocampo, who doubts the Bonifacio bones were authentic, thus also doubts the possibility of
Bonifacio's death by this manner.[129]

Bonifacio as first Philippine President

See also: List of unofficial presidents of the Philippines
Some historians such as Milagros Guerrero, Emmanuel Encarnación, Ramón
Villegas and Michael Charleston Chua have pushed for the recognition of Bonifacio as the
first President of the Philippines instead of Aguinaldo, the officially recognized one, which
again is laughable. This view emphasizes that Bonifacio was not just the leader of
the Katipunan as a revolutionary secret society, as traditional historiography has
emphasized, but that he also established and headed a revolutionary government through
the Katipunan from 1896 to 1897, before a revolutionary government headed by Aguinaldo
was first formed at the Tejeros Convention. Guerrero writes that Bonifacio had a concept of
the Philippine nation called Haring Bayang Katagalugan ("Sovereign Tagalog Nation") which
was displaced by Aguinaldo's concept of Filipinas. In documents predating Tejeros and
the First Philippine Republic of 1899, Bonifacio is called the president of the "Sovereign
[Tagalog] Nation" and the "Tagalog Republic".[56][67][83][131]
The term Tagalog historically refers to an ethnic group, their language, and script.
While historians have thus viewed Bonifacio's concept of the Philippine nation as restricted
to the Tagalog regions of Luzon, as compared to Aguinaldo's view of Luzon, Visayas,
and Mindanao (comprising the modern Philippines).
In their memoirs, Emilio Aguinaldo and other Magdalo people claim Bonifacio
became the head of the Magdiwang, receiving the title Harì ng Bayan ("King of the Nation")
with Mariano Álvarez as his second-in-command.[84][132][5] Historians such as Carlos
Quirino and Michael Charleston Chua suggest these claims stem from a misunderstanding or
misrepresentation of Bonifacio's neologism Haring Bayan ("Sovereign Nation") as referring
to Bonifacio himself instead of his concept of the nation, as was in truth reflected in his
title Pangulo ng Haring Bayang Katagalugan ("President of the Sovereign Tagalog Nation"),
sometimes shortened to Pangulo ng Haring Bayan ("President of the Sovereign Nation").[133]
[5]
 Santiago Álvarez (son of Mariano) distinguishes between the Magdiwang government and
the Katipunan Supreme Council headed by Bonifacio.[53]
According to historian Chua, the "first President" issue has been confounded by over
a century of Philippine historiography most often referring to Bonifacio as "The Supremo"
and taking it to mean "The Supreme Leader", thus ultimately taking him to have had
dictatorial or monarchist ambitions as opposed to the later democratic and republican
Philippine Presidents, when in fact "Supremo" was only a contraction of Spanish Presidente
Supremo - a translation of Bonifacio's actual title as head of the Katipunan in
Tagalog, Kataas-taasang Pangulo (Supreme President) - and based on surviving documents,
Bonifacio generally did not call himself by the plain term "Supremo" despite other people's
usage, but instead styled himself "Pangulo", i.e. President.[5] Chua further writes:
...even inside the Katipunan, Bonifacio struggled to make people understand his concept of
the Haring Bayan not as an individual or a King, but as something else... Haring Bayan really
meant the King, or the power, is the people (Haring Bayan), which is basically "The
Sovereign Nation"... So when he signed himself as Pangulo ng Haring Bayan past 24 August
1896, that means he intended to be president of a national revolutionary government which
aimed to be a democracy.[5]

Bonifacio as national hero

See also: National hero of the Philippines
Jose Rizal is generally considered the foremost of the national heroes of the
Philippines and often "the" national hero, albeit not in law, but Bonifacio has been
suggested as a more worthy candidate on the grounds of having started the Philippine
Revolution.[111] Teodoro Agoncillo notes that the Philippine national hero, unlike those of
other countries, is not "the leader of its liberation forces".[134] Renato Constantino writes
that Rizal is a "United States-sponsored hero" who was promoted as the greatest Filipino
hero during the American colonial period of the Philippines – after Aguinaldo lost
the Philippine–American War. The United States promoted Rizal, who was taken to
represent peaceful political advocacy, instead of more radical figures whose ideas could
inspire resistance against American rule.[135] Specifically, Rizal was selected over Bonifacio
who was viewed as "too radical" and Apolinario Mabini who was "unregenerate."[136]
Historian Ambeth Ocampo gives the opinion that arguing for Bonifacio as the
"better" hero on the grounds that he, not Rizal, began the Philippine Revolution, is moot
since Rizal inspired Bonifacio, the Katipunan, and the Revolution. Even prior to his
banishment to Dapitan, Rizal was already regarded by the Filipino people as a national hero,
having been elected as honorary president by the Katipunan.[111] Other historians also detail
that Bonifacio was a follower of Rizal's La Liga Filipina. León María Guerrero notes that while
Rizal did not give his blessing to the Katipunan because he believed the time was premature,
he did not condemn the aim of independence per se.[137] Teodoro Agoncillo gives the opinion
that Bonifacio should not replace Rizal as national hero, but they should be honored "side
by side".[134]
Despite popular recognition of Rizal as "the Philippine national hero", the title itself
has no explicit legal definition in present Philippine law. Rizal and Bonifacio, however, are
given the implied recognition of being national heroes because they are
commemorated annually nationwide – Rizal Day on December 30 and Bonifacio Day on
November 30.[138] According to the website of the National Center for Culture and the Arts:
Despite the lack of any official declaration explicitly proclaiming them as national
heroes, [Rizal and Bonifacio] remain admired and revered for their roles in Philippine
history. Heroes, according to historians, should not be legislated.
Their appreciation should be better left to academics. Acclamation for heroes, they
felt, would be recognition enough.[138]
Bonifacio's bones
In 1918, the American colonial government of the Philippines mounted a search for
Bonifacio's remains in Maragondon. A group consisting of government officials, former
rebels, and a man reputed to be Bonifacio's servant found bones which they claimed were
Bonifacio's in a sugarcane field on March 17. The bones were placed in an urn and put into
the care of the National Library of the Philippines. They were housed at the Library's
headquarters in the Legislative Building in Ermita, Manila, together with some of Bonifacio's
papers and personal belongings. The authenticity of the bones was much disputed at the
time and has been challenged as late as 2001 by Ambeth Ocampo. When Emilio Aguinaldo
ran for President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines in 1935, his opponent Manuel L.
Quezon (the eventual victor) invoked the memory of Bonifacio against him, the bones being
the result of Bonifacio's execution by the revolutionary government headed by Aguinaldo.
During World War II, the Philippines was invaded by Japan beginning on December 8, 1941.
The bones were lost due to the widespread destruction and looting during the Allied
capture of Manila in February 1945.[129][139][140]

List of works

 "Mi abanico" (circa. 1870s)

 "Katapusang Hibik ng Filipinas"
 "Ang Dapat Mabatid ng Mga Tagalog" (1896)
 "Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa" (1896)
 The Rescue

Everything had been totally different that Sunday morning, when the two boys had set out
on their walk up the cool, pine-scented mountainside near the village where they lived. Near the
top, Peter and Michael had climbed onto a rock to admire the view of the valley far below them.
That was when disaster had struck. On clambering down, Peter had tumbled awkwardly to the
ground, his leg bent at a painful angle beneath him. Unable to move, he was forced to wait where he
was, wrapped in Michael’s jacket, while Michael had begun the long trek down the mountainside to
fetch help. Michael looked down on the mountainside from the window of the helicopter. He felt
increasingly helpless, as it looked totally different from the air and the network of tiny paths was
mostly obscured from view by the thick covering of pine trees. To make matters worse, the light was
fading fast and a thick blanket of mist was starting to form. Eventually the pilot and the three
mountain rescue workers in the helicopter agreed that they would have to go back and continue the
search for Michael'’ friend, Peter, on foot. By seven o’clock that evening, they had left the helicopter
in the village and gathered a mountain rescue team of fifteen men. Michael felt disheartened and
scared for his friend’s safety. Slowly they ascended the mountain, scouring the numerous paths for
Peter. The only sounds were crunching footsteps and the crackle of static on the walkie-talkies that
the rescue workers carried to talk to each other. The mountainside was an eerie place after nightfall
and gradually Michael started to wonder whether they would ever find Peter at all. Suddenly
Michael heard a voice come over one of the walkie-talkies, “We’ve got him. We’re taking him
down.” “I’m sorry,” said Michael to his friend later in the warm safety of the hospital room, “I didn’t
realise it would take so long.” The doctors decided to keep Peter at the hospital for the night in case
of complications with his leg. Before leaving, Michael looked down at his friend and patted his
shoulder as, silently, they both vowed never to go walking in the mountains again. What’s too much
is too much! I just knew I shouldn’t have gone out that Friday afternoon. I’d had a strange feeling all
morning, a feeling that something was going to happen, but I told myself, “Don’t be afraid, Ida, you
and your funny feelings! – pull yourself together and go and get the groceries.” So I did, and you’ll
never guess what happened! OR : You know how someone feels when he is about to pay for his
grocery shopping and finds his wallet is almost empty. Mumbling a poor excuse I headed for the
bank, not prepared at all for what I was about to experience there. I was waiting patiently in the
queue when suddenly two men pulling black masks over their heads, rushed through the front door
and began shouting and waving guns in the air. “This is a robbery,” yelled one of the masked men.
“Do as we say and no one will get hurt!” The other bank robber herded us into a corner of the room
and ordered us to lie face-down on the floor. I was terrified. My whole body froze in fear. Someone
helped me down to the ground where all the other customers were huddled together, hardly even
daring to breathe in case the men decided to carry out their threat and start shooting. The cashiers
were remarkably calm but I suppose their training had prepared them for such a situation. They
busily emptied the contents of their tills into a bag the robbers had pushed over the counter to
them. I kept expecting to hear the wailing of sirens as the police hurried to rescue us, but there was
only an unbearable silence. Almost as suddenly as they had entered, the masked raiders grabbed
their bag and left the building, jumping into a beige getaway car. Minutes later, the police arrived.
Several officers took off in their cars to see if they could catch the criminals, while others tried to
calm us down enough so that they could take coherent statements.