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| The site of the Tejeros Convention |
It took me a while to write this entry. For one, I wanted to present a balanced view of events as a historian. I also wanted to ask the opinion of friends who happen to be related to the main protagonists of this narrative so that I understand where the characters stand and what their point of view would be. It's. never easy writing an entry with a historical background so I will try to present them in such a way that you, yes YOU, my dear readers can decide and analyze for yourself the reasons why things happened as they did.
The Advocates for Heritage Preservation family went to re-visit the province of Cavite. It was an early start for the AHP caravan as we had a lot of ground to cover since Cavite is a huge province. At seven in the morning, we were at the site of where the Tejeros Convention was held. Looming large at the site is a re-imagined Spanish Colonial influenced multi-purpose building that serves as a meeting/events/convention/performance art venue. Sadly, the original gargantuan Iberian style Casa -Hacienda residence where the Magdalo and Magdiwang factions met is long gone. The tunnel that leads to the river bank, however, remains. The city government of Cavite has installed a historical marker to signify the importance of the locale.
As a refresher, on the 22nd of March 1897, the Magdalo and Magdiwang factions of the Katipunan met at Tejeros, a barrio of San Francisco de Malabon, to iron out kinks in the Katipunan leadership. The Magdalo council was under Emilio Aguinaldo's leadership while The Magdiwang Council was headed by Andres Bonifacio. At the time of the meeting, Aguinaldo was on the front line of a campaign against the Spaniards in Pasong Santol in Imus. Bonifacio and his supporters had moved to Tejeros specifically to settle an issue on who was to be supreme leader of the revolutionary government. As in their first meeting in Imus, there was no clear direction of the meeting. Purportedly, the meeting in Tejeros was to discuss a line of defense for the province of Cavite against the Spanish forces. However, Bonifacio was prevailed upon by some members of the convention to preside over an election of officers of the Supreme Council under whose banner both the Magdiwang and Magdalo factions were fighting.
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| Pinagbarilan site, Indang, Cavite |
The election result was uninspiring for Andres Bonifacio as he ended up being elected Director of the Interior. The results ended up thus:
| President | Emilio Aguinaldo |
| Vice-President | Mariano Trias |
| Captain-General | Artemio Ricarte |
| Director of War | Emiliano Riego de Dios |
| Director of the Interior | Andres Bonifacio |
The Supremo must have taken the results badly since it was obvious he had been ousted from power as even the Magdiwangs did not elect him as president. To rub the proverbial salt into Bonifacio's wounded ego, Daniel Tirona moved that since Bonifacio was not "educated"*, a lawyer must be in charge of Interior affairs and suggested Jose del Rosario for the position. Resident AHP mentor and SME (subject matter expert) Martin Imperial Tinio quashes the oft-accepted notion that Bonifacio was a complete boor. According to Sr. Tinio, Bonifacio did receive a proper education and was actually fluent in French, being able to read and translate works of some of the French liberalists and free thinkers of their time. So simplifying the squabble between factions into a class struggle was just not the case.
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| Addel de Dios Lapira, Myself, Pheeyah Salones, Bhel Ezquierdo Asinas, Jocelyn Cabrieto, Vica Tigno, Jerry Piunzalan Sagmit photo by Addel de Dios Lapira |
This did not sit well with Bonifacio and he declared the election null and void and left in a huff with his men to establish a front away from the Magdalo faction. The next day, Crispulo Aguinaldo informed Emilio that he had been elected president and prevailed upon his brother, Emilio to proceed to Santa Cruz de Malabon (now Tanza) for the oath taking. Emilio left the front lines to take his oath of office as President upon the assurance that Crispulo will defend it until his last breath . Crispulo did as promised. They were defeated in Imus by the Spaniards.
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| make-shift stockade in Naic Elementary School where the Bonifacio brothers were imprisoned |
In the meantime, Bonifacio and 45 of his men returned to Tejeros where they drew up the Acta de Tejeros. In the document they stated their reasons why they can not accept the results of the previous elections and they believed that they had been railroaded to accept a lesser role in the revolutionary government. They then proceeded to Naik to be as far away as possible from Agunaldo's supporters. Bonifacio and his men drew up another document, the Acta de Naic or Naik Military Agreement, in which they stated the need to establish another government free of and independent from the one established at Tejeros. This document was also signed by Artemio Ricarte, Pio del Pilar and Severino delas Alas.
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| Nstra. Sra. de la Asuncion, Maragondon, Cavite |
On his part, having learned of the Supremo's disgusto over alleged rigged elections (sound familiar?), Aguinaldo sent a small delegation to salve Bonifacio's ego and convince him to go back to the fold and accept the results of the election. Seething in anger, Bonifacio refuses Aguinaldo's reconciliatory gesture and refuses to work under Aguinaldo's leadership. The latter then orders the arrest of Bonifacio and his men for treason under the new government. Aguinaldo's men pursues the ragtag group of Bonifacio until they reach the hilly area now known as Indang, Cavite where the Supremo's Pinagbarilan monument now stands. There, they capture the brothers Andres and Procopio after a skirmish which renders both wounded and defenseless. The brothers are kept in a pantry converted into a stockade where they continue to bleed profusely from wounds inflicted by the arresting soldiers. From Naic, the prisoners are moved to Maragondon where they await trial at a holding room at the Assumption Church temporarily converted into the military headquarters of the supreme command. Tried by a military junta in a nearby house and found guilty of treason, the Supremo and his brother are led to Mount Nagpatong, near Mount Buntis where both are excuted on May 10, 1897. It is still unclear whether Procopio was barely conscious or was in fact already dead when they reached Nagpatong. Bonifacio was believed to have been hacked to death. in which case, both had met their bloody end.
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| Bonifacio Monument in Mount Nagpatong, Maragondon, Cavite |
The AHP Cavite Tour Part 2 was ably organized by Bhel Ezquierdo Asinas assisted by daughter Bea Asinas and her partner with approval from AHP founder Tito Encarnacion. Johnson Bernardo took care of over all arrangements of the transportation. Our thanks also goes to the tourism offices of the local governments of Indang, Naic, Maragondon, Cavite. The next heritage tour initiated by Tito Encarnacion is on the 27th of January, 2018 in Pulilan, Bulacan... Join in on the fun and learning!
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| The AHP Family |
