Chapter 9: The Revolution that Never Was

Dr. Floro Quebuyen

“A change in the historic bloc seems to be accompanied by a corresponding change in the nationalist narrative”

On July 3, 1892 Rizal officially launched La Liga in a secluded house in Tondo at which every person of note in the movement was present (among those present is Bonifacio). The primary aim of the Liga was “to unite the whole archipelago into a compact body, vigorous and homogenous”. Thus in La Liga, Rizal’s meaning of the Filipino nation was explicitly defined as covering the entire archipelago and including all ethnological groups within it.

The consternation and panic triggered by Rizal’s sudden arrest and deportation to Dapitan on July 7, 1892 led to Liga’s immediate dissolution. On the evening of the same day, Bonifacio launched a revolutionary movement by founding the Kataastaasan Kagalanggalangan, Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KKK). The original members of KKK included the radical members of the defunct Liga Filipina and some came from traditional local landed elite. But Katipunan unlike La Liga initially could only count around 30 members, and remained dormant for a while. Bonifacio planned to revive the La Liga and consequently hasten the growth of the Katipunan. In other words, by riding on the prestige of Liga and Rizal’s moral influence, Bonifacio could attract bigger following for separist movement at higher rate and he could also attract illustrados, from whom funding will be secured . Through Bonifacio’s initiative and collaboration with other members, La Liga was revived where Apolinario Mabini was one of the newly recruited members and became the secretary of the council.

The revived La Liga was also a failure. The presence of reformists like Franco, Arellano and Mabini realigned the intention of Rizal for La Liga to be a mass oriented organization. The reformist elements in the La Liga felt alarmed due to the radical composition of the mass base (which is highly recruited by Bonifacio). If and when election occurred, the radical elements would surely capture the leadership of the association and could attract the attention of authorities that may lead to everyone’s arrest. Because of these, the revived La Liga was dissolved in October 1893. When the revived La Liga disbanded, its popular councils were simply absorbed into the pre-existing Katipunan. As del Pilar’s Solidaridad weakened and closed due to abandonment of Rizal, the Katipunan started growing steadily. By June of 1896, the Katipunan membership had reached 30,000. Katipunan had gained a huge following from the neighboring towns where even the young gobernadorcillo was recruited (Including Aguinaldo who runs Katipunan in Kawit called “Magdalo).

The growth in the population of the members of Katipunan was due to three factors, one is the entry of brilliant young man, Emilio Jacinto; and the other was Bonifacio’s organizational leadership (Corpuz, 1979). And the third factor, which was singled out by Pio Valenzuela is the printing and dissemination of the Katipunan’s Organ, “Kalayaan”. The Kalayaan helped Katipunan by appealing to the consciousness of the people through its pasyon discourse (Ileto, 1979). The three factors greatly contributed to the sudden rise of Katipunan, but people must not forget the role played by Bonifacio during this period. He used powerful symbols that evoked strong sentiments of patriotism such as the pilgrimage to Mount Tapusi and most of all is the invoking of both Rizal’s name and the memory of 1872. As a result, many joined the Katipunan presuming that Rizal was its founder. At any rate, Rizal was the Katipunan’s moral inspiration: his picture was hung in every Katipunan meeting hall.

In January 1896, the rank and file, now well over 30,000, had become increasingly restless. For this reason, Bonifacio called a Katipunan convention in early May 1896. The meeting was attended by sixty popular council heads including Bonifacio and Aguinaldo. The agenda was to decide whether or not to begin the uprising because the secrecy of Katipunan had been broken. The house was divided into two factions: Bonifacio was for immediate uprising; Aguinaldo on the other hand, was for putting off the uprising for a more opportune time. To break the deadlock, Pio Valenzuela was assigned to went to Dapitan and confer the issue with Rizal. As Valenzuela reported on his return, Rizal’s twofold counsel was (1) to make necessary preparations and to enlist the support of the affluent ilustrados; (2) to fight rather than run and hide if the regime unleashes a wave of repression and arrests. The advice was unanimously adopted by the group leaving the question “what was to be done?” However the revolution started prematurely, leaving the Katipunan unprepared. Almost

simultaneously, Manila and Cavite rose up in arms, followed by many other provinces nearby. Finally, the “dawn of Redemption” envisioned by Elias in the Noli had arrived.

The story of the nation had not ended here. There are two factors that would continually extend the script: the ascendancy of Aguinaldo and the coming of the Americans. These two factors were not entirely unrelated: Aguinaldo’s rise to power within the revolutionary ranks facilitated the triumph of the Americans.

HISTORIC BLOCS, NATIONALIST NARRATIVE AND THE STRUGGLE FOR HEGEMONY

A change in the historic bloc seems to be accompanied by a corresponding change in the narrative. As with the nationalist narrative, the historic bloc that constituted the counter hegemonic struggle in the Philippines at the turn of the century was always fluid and unstable. Thus to understand the development of Philippine nationalism, two interacting levels of historical phenomena need to be explored. On one hand is the impact of colonialism/imperialism on the political economy and culture of the colonized society; on the other hand, is the internal dynamics of the nationalist resistance, the formation of historic blocs and the creation of nationalist narratives.

Both Rizal and Bonifacio appreciated the crucial necessity of linking the masses and the narrative elite into a “historic bloc.” Rizal warned the Katipunan via Pio Valenzuela, of the “great harm” that the “prominent Filipino” could do that is why he suggested that Katipunan should get the help of these people through Antonio Luna. Bonifacio fully agreed on this matter and made some steps to get the support of the native elite. Bonifacio’s method of neutralizing the native is different from Rizal’s ethical structure. Bonifacio fabricated roster of alleged financial contributors of Katipunan and made sure that the list will fell in the hands of the authorities, thereby leaving the compromised gentry no choice but to join the Katipunan. However the native elite of Katipunan surrendered them rather than seeking refuge, a move that proved suicidal. Thus, the historic bloc that Rizal had envisioned did not materialize at the outbreak of the Bonifacio-led uprising in Manila. This might have contributed to the setbacks that the Katipunan suffered.

The situation on Cavite, Aguinaldo’s place, was very different. The local elite, illustrados and wealthy native were in favor with the revolutionary forces. The triumph of Aguinaldo meant Bonifacio’s demise, an unfortunate event that led to a rewriting of the third part (redemption part) of the nationalist narrative. In the Katipunan agenda, the postcolonial part of the nationalist narrative was defined in terms of the perspective of the Pasyon, that is, as Redemption. However, what this meant and how it related to the notion of an independent nation-state was never defined. Neither Bonifacio nor Emilio Jacinto spelled out what a postcolonial Philippine state would be. In this matter Bonifacio and Jacinto did not envision what an independent state would be. In their manifestos and writings, Bonifacio and Jacinto usually use the term “Sangkatagalugan or Nation of Tagalog” referring to nation. This usage was alien to Rizal, who had always used the terms “Filipino” or “Filipinas”.

With Aguinaldo’s ascendancy, the third part of the nationalist narrative acquired its new content. The narrative of redemption as the forging of a moral community was pushed aside by the narrative of establishing an independent nation state. In the Tejeros convention that aimed t resolve the conflict between the two revolutionary camps, it was decided to dissolve Katipunan and replace it with a revolutionary government. When Bonifacio refused to abide by this decision, he was executed for sedition. His execution had been ordered and carried out by men who he had earlier initiated into the Katipunan brotherhood. The arrest and execution of Bonifacio demoralized the ranks of the revolutionary forces outside the province of Cavite (Mabini, 1969).

Aguinaldo eventually found it necessary to sue for peace; hence, the Truce of Biak na Bato in November 1897, which was made possible though Padre Paterno was made. Aguinaldo, in exchange for 400,000 and a promise of reforms from the Spanish government, voluntarily exiled themselves to Hong Kong, where they set up a revolutionary government in exile. As a result of Biak na Bato, fighting in the Philippines did not stop. In fact, it spread beyond Manila and the Tagalog Provinces.

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