The Tragedy of Andres Bonifacio
The Tragedy Of Andres Bonifacio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
November 27, 2005
Isagani A. Cruz
Let me express these non-historian's thoughts about a patriot of our land whose birth anniversary we shall celebrate this coming Wednesday. It is an official holiday declared by law in his honor as Bonifacio Day.
Andres Bonifacio was the unknown indio who organized and led the Katipunan that was to ignite the Philippine Revolution of 1896 and ultimately free this country from Spanish rule after more than three centuries of oppression. That enslavement might have continued indefinitely (probably up to now, considering the tribulation we patiently endured during the ordeal of martial law), if he had not chosen to defy the alien tyrant in his impregnable citadel.
Bonifacio was not known as a civic leader and did not belong to the principalia of middle-class educated natives that included among its members Jose Rizal and other propagandists. He joined the Liga Filipina but was not prominently active in it. He was a private person with a secret dream and consuming passion: to form the Kataastaasan at Kagalanggalang na Katipunan ng manga Anak ng Bayan. It was a task in which he excelled and succeeded as an efficient organizer and a dedicated plotter.
I think it was the historian Teodoro Agoncillo who disagreed with the popular notion that as between Bonifacio and Rizal, it was the former who was the realist and the latter the idealist. Agoncillo held the opposite view, with which I humbly concur.
Bonifacio was the idealist because he believed the Katipuneros would win despite their limited resources because they were fired by the spirit of liberty. Rizal, who was more practical, argued that an appeal to reason and justice was sharper than the Filipinos' rusted bolos against the Spanish artillery that he challenged with the Noli and the Fili.
Both of them, to their everlasting credit, died for their convictions. It is regrettable, though, that while Rizal's execution
Philippine Daily Inquirer
November 27, 2005
Isagani A. Cruz
Let me express these non-historian's thoughts about a patriot of our land whose birth anniversary we shall celebrate this coming Wednesday. It is an official holiday declared by law in his honor as Bonifacio Day.
Andres Bonifacio was the unknown indio who organized and led the Katipunan that was to ignite the Philippine Revolution of 1896 and ultimately free this country from Spanish rule after more than three centuries of oppression. That enslavement might have continued indefinitely (probably up to now, considering the tribulation we patiently endured during the ordeal of martial law), if he had not chosen to defy the alien tyrant in his impregnable citadel.
Bonifacio was not known as a civic leader and did not belong to the principalia of middle-class educated natives that included among its members Jose Rizal and other propagandists. He joined the Liga Filipina but was not prominently active in it. He was a private person with a secret dream and consuming passion: to form the Kataastaasan at Kagalanggalang na Katipunan ng manga Anak ng Bayan. It was a task in which he excelled and succeeded as an efficient organizer and a dedicated plotter.
I think it was the historian Teodoro Agoncillo who disagreed with the popular notion that as between Bonifacio and Rizal, it was the former who was the realist and the latter the idealist. Agoncillo held the opposite view, with which I humbly concur.
Bonifacio was the idealist because he believed the Katipuneros would win despite their limited resources because they were fired by the spirit of liberty. Rizal, who was more practical, argued that an appeal to reason and justice was sharper than the Filipinos' rusted bolos against the Spanish artillery that he challenged with the Noli and the Fili.
Both of them, to their everlasting credit, died for their convictions. It is regrettable, though, that while Rizal's execution