Jethru S.

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Bonifacio: Ang Unang Pangulo

Bonifacio: Ang Unang Pangulo’ posits that Andres Bonifacio can be considered
the real first president of the republic. In Philippine History, Andres Bonifacio is known
as the leader of the first organized revolt against the Spaniards in the late 1800s,
leading what were referred to as katipuneros. For more than an hour and a half, you get
to give forth on the life of Bonifacio and the other equally heroic and bold figures in
Philippine history.

Andres Bonifacio only recruited about 300 Filipinos to fight beside him and will be
part their organization that will fight for the freedom of our beloved country. It is not easy
to lead this kind of organization because first of all, your enemy is the Spaniards, and
second you’re lack of weapons and lack of men. And not only that, you have the biggest
enemy, your fellowmen, the Filipinos who only think about themselves. So it is not easy
to lead this kind of organization but he has the heart of a true leader.

In the present time, we will meet three students who learned the story of Andres
Bonifacio, and how it differs from what is written in textbooks and taught in school.
Andres Bonifacio is known as “Ama ng Katipunan” or “Supremo” and is considered the
leader of the first independent government, but aside from being known from these
names, he should be the first president of our country other than Emilio Aguinaldo, the
Philippines but a particular cabinet leader insulted him like an uneducated man or like a
trash. I thought that this kind of attitude that insulting your fellow Filipino man like a trash
or degrading others, only lives in the presents, but I was incorrect. This kind of attitude
is a really Filipino-like attitude, your biggest enemy is not your enemy, but it is
ourselves. In the movie, even Andres Bonifacio done a lot of good things just to set our
country free from the Spaniards, his fellowmen treated him as an enemy, treated him as
a trash, bringing him down, and nowadays even in crisis, this kind of attitude still exist.
Many Filipino people followed Andres Bonifacio because they think that he’s the true
leader and he can bring change to the country. He can truly set the Philippine free from
the Spaniards, but he was killed. For me, he was killed by his own fellowmen just
because of the power, and for me, he was killed by Emilio Aguinaldo and his fellow
“trash” men so that they could reign. They brought down the only man that has a heart
of a true leader and can bring change to the country. We lost him, we lost the leader
that we never had, we lost the man that can save us from hell-like situation.

If all of these historical accounts or theories are accurate, so it is a pity that the
beginning of our nation’s independence has its own political and personal agenda. It is
so sad to hear that they only think about themselves, about the power and wealth, not
the nation and its people, and even in the beginning, we had a trash-attitude leaders or
government.