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1. He’s exclusively a product of local educational institutions.

This is simply because he’s not as well-off as Rizal who could afford to study in European universities.

Young Mabini was lucky enough to be at the right place and at the right time to receive a quality education far from the reach of
other Filipino children.

After the first three years in the province, Mabini moved to Manila to start the fourth year of secondary education at the Colegio de
San Juan de Letran. The following year, 1882, he went back to his town because his “poor parents were not able to defray my
further instruction.” 

Although he could not afford the graduation expenses, Mabini still took the preparatory course of the Law curriculum comprised
of History of Philosophy, Theodicy, Cosmology, and Physics.

In 1888, Mabini returned to UST to study the science of law for 6 years. He finally earned his law degree in March 1894.

  Apolinario Mabini had exceptional memory.

Mabini was a humble man gifted with a superior memory, which helped him a lot in his quest to earn a law degree.

His superior intelligence started to manifest during his first three years in the school of Tanauan where he excelled in
almost all subjects. In fact, Diego Gloria, his academic rival at that time, admitted that Apolinario “never complained about the
length of the lessons assigned by Fr. Malabanan; instead, he studied them conscientiously and could recite them by heart to the
last word.”

Mabini also studied several textbooks from cover to cover including ‘Geografia’ of Fr. Martinez Vigil and ‘Geografia
Ilustrada’ by Paluzie.

 He became an achiever despite extreme poverty.

Apolinario Mabini was born to dirt-poor parents, but he never let poverty become a hindrance in making his own success story.

It is said that the young Mabini used to walk to town–approximately 6 kilometers from his native barrio–just to study. Old folks of
Tanauan remembered him as “a quiet boy who never had any books to study with, but who was nevertheless the exemplary
student.”

He once asked his mother to buy him a new uniform for Christmas. But after learning that her mother sold the year’s coffee harvest
so he could choose the best uniform, he refused to take the money.

Even his graduation from law studies became a bit of a challenge: He almost didn’t make it to the ceremony for lack of gown.
Fortunately, a rich lady from Santa Cruz, whom he once offered legal assistance to, volunteered to be her sponsor.

He opened his own school.

To pay his school fees, Apolinario Mabini had to work as an instructor several times and even opened his own school.

After completing his fourth year of secondary education at Colegio de San Juan de Letran, Mabini returned to his province where
he worked as an auxiliary teacher or instructor for a school at Bauan owned by Fr. Malabanan. He used the money he earned from
this job to continue his studies in Manila.

He did the same job after his fifth year but this time, he worked at a school in Lipa owned by Sebastian Virrey. The latter had only
good things to say about Mabini:

In 1893, Mabini decided to open a school which only lasted for two years. According to  D. Manuel Arellano, Inspector of Schools,
Mabini’s venture was “ranked among the best of that period, which were those of Alindada, Villamor (Ignacio) and Mendiola.”

Apolinario Mabini vehemently condemned Bonifacio’s assassination.

As Aguinaldo’s unofficial adviser, he opposed the idea of declaring Philippine independence.

According to historian Teodoro Agoncillo, Mabini rejected the idea on the basis that “it was more important to reorganize the
government in such a manner as to convince the foreign powers of the competence and stability of the new government than to
proclaim Philippine independence at such an early period.”

In his book, A Short History of the Philippine Revolution, Mabini also condemned Bonifacio’s assassination.

He described the incident as the “first triumph of personal ambition upon true patriotism” and concluded that “the revolution failed
because it was badly directed, because its director gained his place not by meritorious, but by irresponsible actions; because
instead of sustaining the most useful men for the country, he rendered them useless by jealousy.”

He won over his envious enemies.

Aguinaldo’s decision to make Mabini his trusted adviser flared up the latter’s enemies. He was called many names such as
the “Dark Chamber of the President” and was even rumored to have contracted syphilis which allegedly caused his paralysis.
 But the gossip was truly unfounded, and author F. Sionil Jose said that this is an “old tactic of Filipinos inflamed by jealousy,
envy or simple cussedness.” The truth is that Mabini contracted polio in 1896 that led to the paralysis of his lower limbs.

Mabini eventually quit the Malolos government and hid in the towns of Balungaw and Rosales, Pagansinan. He later moved to the
nearby town of Cuyapo where he was captured by the Americans in December 1899.

His refusal to sign the oath of allegiance to the United States led to his 2-year exile in Guam with Artemio Ricarte and others. When
his health declined, Mabini finally decided to sign the oath so he could return and die in his native land.

 Apolinario Mabini was way ahead of his time.

Apolinario Mabini’s brilliance and ideas were way ahead of his time, causing conflicts with some of his contemporaries.

For instance, he envisioned the Congress to be an “advisory body of the President” and even warned against a provision in the
proposed Constitution which would give the Congress the power to approve appointments to Cabinet positions.

In his memorandum in 1899, Mabini stated:

“In my case, for example, because Congress does not like me, I will be censured for anything I do until I will be forced to resign.
The members will say that I am a despicable weakling who can swallow all insults.

In short, no one can stay in the department except one who knows how to regale the representatives, do what they want, and be in
cahoots with them even to do such that will be against the interests of the country and justice.

Such department secretaries, even if they should do badly, would be in the good graces of Congress, while the good ones would
not be.”

"The Brains of the Revolution" and "The Sublime Paralytic."

From his hammock and rattan chair, Mabini helped shape the Philippine Republic under president Emilio Aguinaldo. Unable to fight
on the battlefield due to paralysis in both legs, Mabini instead used his brilliance through his written works to inspire Filipinos in
pursuing the struggle for Philippine independence.

Born on July 23, 1864, in Tanauan, Batangas, Mabini is the second of 8 children of an illiterate peasant and a public market
vendor. However, Mabini overcame poverty and became a lawyer.

In 1898, he became Aguinaldo's chief adviser during the Philippine Revolution. He was Prime Minister and Secretary of Foreign
Affairs in Aguinaldo's Cabinet from January to May 1899.

He was arrested by the Americans on December 1899 during the Philippine-American War, and was exiled to the island of Guam in
the Pacific in 1901. He returned to the Philippines in 1903, but died months later due to cholera. He was 38. (QUIZ: How well do
you know Apolinario Mabini?)

Syphilis did not cause Mabini’s paralysis.

Mabini was struck down by paralysis in early 1896. Perfoming an autopsy on Mabini's remains almost a century later in 1980,
doctors from the National Orthopedic Hospital concluded that polio caused his paralysis.

According to historian Ambeth Ocampo, the syphilis rumor might have been started by Mabini's detractors in government, who
called him "The Dark Chamber of the President" for having the ear of Aguinaldo as his adviser and thus being able to persuade him
on certain issues.

Mabini was a member of the reformist La Liga Filipina before joining the revolution.

He joined the revived La Liga Filipina in 1893, and became the secretary of its Supreme Council. The group advocated reforms in
society and sought the audience of the Spanish Cortes (legislature). It also helped finance the La Solidaridad in Spain.

Mabini also joined a lodge of the Philippine Masonry. Using the nickname Katabay, he became the Grand Orator of its Regional
Grand Council.

Mabini wrote significant presidential decrees, his own version of a Philippine constitution, and a code of ethics for
Filipinos.
As President Aguinaldo's adviser, Mabini was entrusted with writing decrees for Aguinaldo's signature. Some of these decrees laid
the groundwork of the new Philippine Republic.

The decree of June 18, 1898, for instance, reorganized the local governments in provinces already liberated from Spanish control.
It also mandated the election of local leaders and representatives in Congress.

Another decree, issued on June 23, formalized the shift from a dictatorial to a revolutionary government, and provided for the
creation of Congress, which was convened in Malolos, Bulacan in September. He also wrote that the republic should function
properly so that it could obtain from all nations, including Spain, their expressed recognition of Philippine independence.

It should also be noted that in August 1898, Mabini presided over the ratification of Philippine independence by elected local
leaders themselves. He believed that it better represents the will of the people, and has more bearing than just a declaration by
Aguinaldo on June 12.

In addition, Mabini submitted a Constitutional Program of the Philippine Republic, but the Malolos Congress rejected it in favor of
the draft created by Felipe Calderon.

El Verdadero Decalogo, or “The True Decalogue” was included in Mabini's constitutional program as its introduction. It was a code
of ethics, a set of 10 values every Filipino should possess.

Finally, while in exile in Guam from 1901 to 1903, Mabini wrote his memoir, La Revolucion Filipina, where he pointed out the flaws
of the Revolution and expressed his criticisms on Aguinaldo's leadership.

Mabini was buried in two other cemeteries before his remains were finally brought to his birthplace in Tanauan, Batangas.

After his death, he was buried at the Chinese Cemetery in Manila. But his remains were dug up and transferred to the Mausoleo de
los Veteranos de la Revolucion(Mausoleum for the Veterans of the Revolution) at the North Cemetery years later.

In 1965, Mabini's remains were moved to a tomb at the Mabini Shrine in Tanauan, Batangas.

Mabini was once featured in the Philippine 1-peso note, and has been featured on the 10-peso bill and coins since 1968.

Mabini was first featured on a one-peso bill in 1918. He and Jose Rizal (on the2-peso bill) were the only Filipino heroes featured on
bank notes at the time.

Mabini (on the one-centavo coin), Rizal, and Andres Bonifacio were also the only Filipinos on the coins minted for the leper colony
in Culion, Palawan, in 1927.

His visage remained on the 1-peso note after the establishment of the Central Bank of the Philippines in 1949. Mabini was featured
in the 10-peso bill starting from the 1968 Pilipino Series.

Bonifacio joined him on the 10-peso note in 1998, and the pair has been featured on the 10-peso coin since 2000.

A bridge, a superhighway, a Philippine Navy ship, and a disputed reef in the West Philippine Sea bear Mabini's name.

Several places, institutions, and infrastructure have been named in honor of Mabini.

The Nagtahan Bridge was renamed the Mabini Bridge in 1967 by President Ferdinand Marcos through Proclamation No. 234.
Mabini's residence used to be located at the foot of the Nagtahan Bridge on the north bank of the Pasig River but was moved to the
south bank in 1960, inside the Presidential Security Group Compound in Malacañan Park.

In 2007, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Republic Act 9462, officially renaming the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road
(STAR) – running across Batangas from Sto Tomas to Batangas City – to the Apolinario Mabini Superhighway.

A Navy ship also carries Mabini's name. One of the most modern ships in the Philippine Navy fleet, the  BRP Apolinario Mabini was
acquired in 1997 after a 13-year service with the United Kingdom's Royal Navy.

Meanwhile, 4 towns in the country are named Mabini: one each in Batangas, Pangasinan, Bohol, and Compostela Valley.
In the contested Spratlys Islands at the West Philippine Sea, there is a reef called the Mabini Reef. Also known as the Johnson
South Reef, it made news in June when the Department of Foreign Affairs filed a new protest against China for its reclamation
activities on the reef.

In addition, at least 6 national roads, 19 streets in Metro Manila, 5 health facilities, 80 elementary and secondary schools, and 3
colleges nationwide have Mabini in their names.

The main campus of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) is also named after Mabini. Another Mabini Shrine is
located there, featuring a replica of Mabini's residence in Nagtahan. – Rappler.com