The Untold Story of Andres Bonifacio’s

Execution
One hundred twenty-two years ago, one of the most pivotal events in
Philippine history occurred: Two brothers, Andres and Procopio, were killed
in the mountains of Marogondon. The execution of the Bonifacio brothers on
Emilio Aguinaldo’s orders signified a new change in the Philippine Revolution,
one that would ultimately lead to the Pact of Biak-na-Bato and Aguinaldo’s
exile to Hong Kong.

Multiple anecdotes have been written about the incident, and the story of
Bonifacio’s trial and execution are well-known, but some details still remain
unclear even now. Here, a look back at the events leading to that fateful day.

Two Boys Falling Out

Why did Aguinaldo send Bonifacio to his death? The conflict ultimately
started after the events of the Tejeros Convention. Bonifacio, who felt that the
Magdalo faction maneuvered to rig the elections (tenuous at best; most of the
Cabinet was from Bonifacio’s Magdiwang), stormed out and declared the
results of the convention null and void, drawing up the Acta de Tejeros with
44 other generals signing the document. Meanwhile, Aguinaldo was surprised
he was even elected President. He was busy in Silang when word came that he
won an election.

The moments after Tejeros were tense for both parties. Bonifacio made his
way to Naic with 40 other generals, including some of Aguinaldo’s men, to
further denounce the results of Tejeros, creating the Naic Military Agreement.
They declared that all military forces be consolidated under Pio del Pilar or
face treason.
When Aguinaldo heard of this, he made his way to Naic to see what was going
on himself. Though suffering from malaria at the time, he managed to reach
the town and confronted Bonifacio, who was meeting with Aguinaldo’s
generals Artemio Ricarte, Mariano Noriel, and del Pilar. The two were
surprisingly civil: Bonifacio invited him, saying, “Magtuloy po kayo at makinig sa
aming pulong.” Aguinaldo replied, “Salamat po, at marahil kung ako’y inyong
kailangan, disin sana’y inanyayahan ninyo ako,” before leaving.

The Arrest at Indang

Aguinaldo took his time before deciding to act, taking care not to alienate
Bonifacio’s supporters. Noriel and del Pilar immediately went back to
Aguinaldo’s side, as did others. Bonifacio decided to camp near Indang with
around 1,000 men, corresponding with Emilio Jacinto and Julio Nakpil up
north and drawing up plans for an offensive in Laguna. This would prove to be
fatal, however, as Bonifacio’s courier, Antonino Guevara, failed to deliver the
messages and instead spent the time around Indang. The Supremo was left
waiting for replies that never came.
Meanwhile, reports from Severino de las Alas and Jose Coronel reached
Aguinaldo. By this time, Aguinaldo had finished consolidating his power base
among the Cavite elite, giving him the confidence to act. Armed with
allegations of Bonifacio burning down a village and ordering the burning of a
church in Indang, he decided to exercise his prerogative as President and
arrest Bonifacio, dispatching Agapito Bonzon and Jose Ignacio Paua to arrest
the Supremo.
What happened next would live in infamy. Bonifacio received the party
cordially, but were met with attack. Bonifacio ordered his men to stand down,
refusing to fight his “fellow Tagalogs,” cries that were made in vain. A few
shots were fired, and Bonifacio was shot in the arm by Bonzon and stabbed in
the neck by Paua. Bonifacio's brother, Ciriaco, was shot dead. His other
brother, Procopio, was beaten. His wife, Gregoria de Jesus, was raped by
Bonzon. Bonifacio, starved and wounded, was carried in a hammock to Naic,
where Aguinaldo waited.

From Exile to Execution

The trial was a sham. Tried by a jury of Aguinaldo’s peers and defended by a
lawyer who declared his guilt, Bonifacio was assured of an unfavorable verdict.
He was not allowed to confront the witness who charged him with conspiracy,
on account of the said witness having died in battle. The witness was present
during the trial.

In the end, Bonifacio was found guilty of treason. Aguinaldo, not wanting to
further anger any of Bonifacio’s supporters and not seeing the threat of a
living Bonifacio, commuted his sentence to exile. Noriel and del Pilar, who
were both signatories of the Acta de Naic, argued otherwise and strongly urged
for death sentence. The order was given and signed by Aguinaldo’s hand.

Bonifacio would die.

The two brothers, Andres and Procopio, were taken to the mountains of
Marogondon, near Mount Nagpatong and Mount Buntis. Andres, still reeling
from his injuries and blood loss, was taken there in a hammock. The execution
party was led by Lazaro Makapagal (ancestor of Diosdado Macapagal and
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo), who shared multiple accounts of the execution
with contemporaries.
Armed with a written letter from Aguinaldo, Makapagal read the sentence out
loud. This is where his accounts start to differ. In one account, he turned away
before having his men shoot Procopio and Andres. In another account,
Procopio was shot first, the Supremo tried to run away, and Makapagal had to
chase and gun him down.

Another version comes from other people in the execution party, as told
to Guillermo Masangkay: Procopio was shot first, and Andres, unable to stand
properly, was hacked down in order to save bullets. In any case, the brothers
were buried in shallow graves on the mountain.

Ghosts of the Revolution

Bonifacio’s death marked a clear shift in the Katipunan and the Philippine
Revolution in general. Bonifacio, Supremo, the Great Proletarian, was born of
the masses and connected with the Katipunan’s nationalist and anti-colonial
struggle. 

In stark contrast, Aguinaldo and his men were part of the liberal
educated ilustrado bourgeoisie. Aguinaldo himself was part of the Cavite elite
and grew up surrounded by the trappings of privilege and upper middle class
comfort. Bonifacio, on the other hand, grew up having to work to survive when
his parents passed away.
The change in leadership transformed the aims of the revolutionary
movement and essentially doomed it to failure. At its core, the revolutionary
movement was an anti-colonial and anti-feudal struggle led by the masses
through its leader, the Supremo Andres Bonifacio. When Aguinaldo and his
faction took over the struggle, it lost its anti-feudal character—why would
Aguinaldo wish to remove the very system he benefited from? 

This disconnect between the leadership’s aims and that of the people was what
ensured that the Katipunan would not succeed. Ultimately, Aguinaldo led the
revolution to exile, then to American colonialization; both far removed from
Bonifacio’s ideal.

And yet, Bonifacio lives on in the struggle for true independence. A hundred
years on, some things didn’t change. The nation is still dominated by foreign
interest, semi-feudal relationships, and systemic profiteering at the expense of
the Filipino people. Andres Bonifacio may have perished in the mountains of
Marogondon, but his spirit still inspires and leads the Filipino people in their
search for freedom.