Comprehensive and Descriptive Discussion Lectures PDF

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Summary

Stop the clocks, it's amazing
You should see the way the light dances off your head
A million colours of hazel, golden and red
Saturday morning is fading
The sun's reflected by the coffee in your hand
My eyes are caught in your gaze all over again...

Description

DIFFERING ACCOUNTS OF THE FIRST CRY OF THE REVOLUTION  Dr. Pio Valenzuela 's Account The official date and place or the first cry were largely based on the account of Dr. Pio Valenzuela, an official of the Katipunan and a friend of Andres Bonifacio, who was present during the event. His account was published as Memoirs of the K.K.K. and the Philippine Revolution (Manila, n.d.) The Account: The first place of refuge of Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, Procopio Bonifacio, Teodoro Plata, Aguedo del Rosario, and myself was Balintawak, the first five arriving there on August 19, and I, on August 20, 1896. The first place wbere some 500 members of the Katipunan met on August 22, 1896 was the house and yard of Apolonio Samson at Kangkong. Aside from the persons mentioned above, among those who were there were Briccio Pantas, Alejandro Santiago, Ramon Bernardo, Apolonio Samson, and others. Here, views were only exchanged and no resolution was debated or adopted. It was at Pugad Lawin, in the house, store-house and yard of Juan Ramos, son of Melchora Aquino, where over 1,000 members of the Katipunan met and carried out considerable debate and discussion on August 23, 1896. The discussion was whether or not the revolution against the Spanish government should be started on August 29, 1896. Only one man protested and fought against a war and that was Teodoro Plata. Besides the persons named above, among those present at this meeting were Enrique Cipriano, Alfonso Pacheco, Tomas Remigio, Sinforoso San Pedro, and others. After the tumultuous meeting, many of those present tore their cedula certificates and shouted "Long live the Philippines! Long live the Philippines!"

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 Santiago Alvarez's Account In 1927, a pre-World War II Tagalog weekly magazine named Sampaguita began publishing the Katipunan memoirs of Gen. Santiago Virata Alvarez, (nom-de-guerre: Kidlat ng Apoy) one of the leaders of the Cavite revolution. The series appeared in 36 parts. It told the story of the Philippine Revolution starting in March 1896 until late 1897 interspersed with personal accounts and stories of events during the revolution taken from Alvarez's notes. The series was later published as a book, titled The Katipunan and the Revolution (QC: ADMU, 1992) with an English translation by Paula Carolina Malay. The story of the First Cry is found in Chapter 6 of the memoirs. Alvarez presents an account devoid of any dramatic description as it is merely a narration of the events that happened in Bahay Toro (now part of Project 8 in Quezon City) on August 24, 1896. The Account: We started our trek to Kangkong at about eleven that night. We walked through the rain over dark expanses of muddy meadows and fields. Our clothes drenched and our bodies numbed by the cold wind, we plodded wordlessly. It was nearly two in the morning when we reached the house of Brother Apolonio Samson in Kangkong. We crowded into the house to rest and warm ourselves. We were so tired that, after hanging our clothes out to dry, we soon fell asleep.... The Supremo began assigning guards at five o'clock the following morning, Saturday August 1896. He placed a detachment at the Balintawak boundary and another at a the backyard to the north of the house where we were gathered... No less than three hundred men assembled at the bidding of the Supremo Andres Bonifacio. Altogether, they carried assorted weapons, bolos, spears, daggers, a dozen small revolvers and a rifle used by its owner, on e Lieutenant Manuel, for hunting birds. The Supremo Bonifacio was restless because of fear of a sudden attack by the enemy. He was worried over the thought that any of the couriers carrying the letter sent by Emnilio Jacinto could bave been intercepted; and in that eventuality, the enemy would surely know their whereabouts and attack them on the sly. He decided that it was better to move to a site called Bahay Toro. At ten o'clock that Surnday morning, 23 August 1896, we arrived at Bahay Toro. Our number had grown to more than 500 and the house, yard, and warehouse of Cabesang Melchora was getting crowded with us Katipuneros. The generous hospitality of Cabesang Metchora was no less than that of Apolonio Samson. Like him, she also opened her granary and had plenty of rice pounded and animals slaughtered to feed us.... The following day, Monday, 24 August, more Katipuneros came and increased our number to more than a thousand. The Supremo called a meeting at ten o'clock that morning inside Cabesang Melchora's barn. Flanking him on both sides at the head of the table were Dr. Pio Valenzuela, Emilio Jacinto, Briccio Pantas, Enrique Pacheco, Ramon Bernardo, Pantelaon Torres, Francisco Carreon, Vicente Fernandez, Teodoro Plata, and others. We were so crowded that some stood outside the barn. 2

The following matters were approved at the meeting: 1. An uprising to defend the people's freedom was to be started at midnight of Saturday, 29 August 1896. 4. To be on a state of alert so that the Katipunan forces could strike should the situation arise where the enemy was at a disadvantage. Thus, the uprising could be started earier than the agreed time of midnight of 29 August 1896 should a favorable opportunity arise at that date. Everyone should steel himself and be resolute in the struggle that was imminent. 5. The immediate objective was the capture of Manila... After the adjournment of the meeting at twelve noon, there were tumultuous shouts of Long live the Sons of the People!"

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 Guillermo Masangkay's Account In 1932, Guillermo Masangkay, a friend and fellow Katipunero of Andres Bonifacio, recounted his experiences as a member of the revolutionary movement. In an interview with the Sunday Tribune magazine, Masangkay said that the First Cry happened in Balintawak on August 26, 1896. In the first decade of American rule, it was his account that was used by the government and civic officials to fix the date and place of the First Cry which was capped with the erection of the "Monument to the Heroes of 1896" in that place. However, in an interview published in the newspaper Bagong Buhay on August 26, 1957, Masangkay changed his narrative that the revolution began on August 23, 1876, similar to the assertion of Dr. Pio Valenzuela. But Masangkay's date was later changed again when his granddaughter, Soledad Buehler-Borromeo, cited sources, including the Masangkay papers, that the original date was August 26. The Account: On August 26, a big meeting was held in Balintawak at the house of Apolonio Samson, then the cabeza of that barrio of Caloocan. Among those who attended, I remember were Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, Aguedo del Kosario, Tomas Remigio, Briccio Pantas, Teodoro Plata, Pio Valenzuela, Enrique Pacheco, and Francisco Carreon. They were all leaders of the Katipunan and composed the board of directors of the organization. Delegates from Bulacan, Cabanatuan, Cavite, and Morong (now Rizal) were also present. At about nine o'clock in the morning of August 26, the meeting was opened with Andres Bonifacio presiding and Emilo Jacinto acting as secretary. The purpose was to discuss when the uprising was to take place. Teodoro Plata, Briccio Pantas, and Pio Valenzuela were all opposed to starting therevolution too early. They reasoned that the people would be in distress if the revolution were started without adequate preparation. Plata was very forceful in his argument, stating that the uprising could not very well be started without arms and food for the soldiers. Valenzuela used Rizal's argument about the rich not siding with the Katipunan organization. Andres Bonifacio, sensing that he would lose in the discussion then left the session hall and talked to the people who were waiting outside for the result of the meeting the leaders. He told the people that the leaders were arguing against starting the revolution early, and appealed to them in a fiery speech in which he said: "You remember the fate of our countrymen who were shot in Bagumbayan. Should we return now to the towns, the Spaniards will only shoot us. Our organization has been discovered and we are all marked men. If we don't start the uprising, the Spaniards will get us anyway. What then, do you say?" "Revolt," the people shouted as one. Bonifacio then asked the people to give a pledge that they were to revolt. He told them that the sign of slavery of the Filipinos were (sic) the cedula tax charged each citizen. "If it is true that you are ready to revolt," Bonifacio said,

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"I want to see you destroyed your cedulas. It will sign that all of us have declared our severance from the Spaniards." With tears in their eyes, he people, as one man, pulled out their cedulas and tore them to pieces. It was the beginning of the formal declaration of the separation from Spanish rule.... When the people's pledge was obtained by Bonifacio, he returned to the session hall and informed the leaders of what took place outside. "The people want to revolt, and they destroyed their cedulas, " Bonifacio said, "So now we have to start the uprising, otherwise the people by hundreds will be shot. There was no alternative. The board of directors, in spite of the protests of Plata, Pantas, and Valenzuela, voted for the revolution. And when this was decided, the people shouted, "Long Live the Philippine Republic."

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