THE Philippine Revolution has started!
After the first cry of the revolution, the establishment of the national revolutionary government and the first skirmish with the Spaniards under Lt. Ros in Pasong Tamo, which the revolutionaries under Supreme President Andres Bonifacio won, they reached Gulod, Krus na Ligas by noon of Aug. 26, 1896 just by walking. As it was the rainy season, they rested and held a meeting while feeling chilled in their wet clothes with the nonstop rain. The 20-year-old secretary of the Katipunan, Emilio Jacinto, witnessed all of these momentous events and was, at this point, with Bonifacio, Guillermo Masangkay, Pio Valenzuela (although he would leave soon) and others.
The next day, they went to Balara and received some food support from Mandaluyong. Then they continued walking through forests until they reached Ugong, Pasig. From this place, Bonifacio ordered the consolidation of the revolutionaries. By the morning of Aug. 28, they reached Hagdang Bato, Mandaluyong. Bonifacio again urged all the balangays or chapters of the Katipunan to stage a simultaneous attack on Manila that would happen on the night of Aug. 29-30, 1896. Bonifacio’s plan was that of someone intent on leading the nation. Aside from Katipunan forces surrounding Manila, there would be a force of 500 troops inside the colonial capital itself, Intramuros, from among the “voluntarios” who would defect and attack it from within. Unfortunately, the next day, Aug. 29, they were discovered and were immediately put on a ship to Mindanao, where they would also stage a mutiny months later.
That night of the planned simultaneous attack, Bonifacio and Jacinto and their men were able to take the Municipal Hall of Mandaluyong, using bolos, some guns and pointed bamboo spears; many were secretly wearing their amulets. That night, they planned to take El Polvorin, the powder magazine storage of the Spaniards in San Juan, but were waiting for the signal to attack until around 4 a.m. of Aug. 30, when Bonifacio decided to return to their base camp in Balara. But while in Kamias, they started to hear gunshots from the direction of San Juan, so they changed course and followed where the sounds were coming from.
The Spaniards, from their hilly camp atop the water storage of Manila in San Juan, El Deposito, saw the revolutionaries coming and went down in their direction. They met and fought each other at what is now N. Domingo corner Pinaglabanan near El Polvorin, at 9 a.m. And in that battle, the Spaniards saw the determination of our ancestors to be free to the point of sacrificing their lives; 150 died and 200 were arrested. They never reached El Polvorin and never seized its arms.
The colonial government was shocked by the audacity of the Filipino people. Governor General Ramon Blanco placed eight provinces in Luzon, suspected of having revolutionaries, under martial law — Manila, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Laguna, Cavite and Batangas. Cavite also started their revolution there under Mariano Alvarez that day.
According to Professor E. Arsenio Manuel, the very first thing Bonifacio would ask when the smoke clears after the battle was the whereabouts of his young secretary. Jacinto also was usually holding the medicine box.
Eventually, Bonifacio would set up the High Military Council of the North (Mataas na Sanggunian ng Hilagaan), based in Pantayanin at the border of Pasig and Antipolo under his presidency of the Haring Bayang Katagalugan (Sovereign People from the River Delta). This council would have jurisdiction of chapters in Manila, Morong, Bulacan and Nueva Ecija. Eventually, the civil guards would confiscate documents that showed that this high council had promulgated orders, conducted council elections, appointed fiscals, strategized, asked the populace for taxation and even issued birth and marriage certificates. In short, it acted as a government.
The presidents of the high council were Isidoro Francisco (code name: Añora) and eventually, Julio Nakpil (code name: Giliw). Bonifacio appointed Jacinto (code name: Pingkian) their military commander. These officials, among others, signed on those birth and marriage certificates.
That is why, after Bonifacio left them by November to go to Cavite to resolve the rift between the Katipunan chapters there, he continued to keep in touch with them through writing. In a letter dated Dec. 12, 1896, Bonifacio told the High Military Council to prosecute those who lost their guns, ratified the election of their military officers. He also congratulated them in their victory against the enemy in Antipolo.
Jacinto presided at a meeting of the High Council on Dec. 18, 1896 to prepare them for a planned attack on Pasig and after a few days, on Dec. 23, he wrote them again and asked them to release a Katipunan offender and inquired about electric batteries and his plans to test them with dynamite. He was using science to free his people.
Unfortunately, because he was not by Bonifacio’s side fulfilling his own duty when he used to be always by his side, Jacinto would only know about Manong Andres’ last months through their exchange of letters.
