What Filipinos Should Know

Andres Bonifacio

(An article written by Andres Bonifacio titled "Ang dapat mabatid ng mga Tagalog", translated
from Tagalog by Epifanio delos Santos. This was published in the first and only circulated issue
of the Kalayaan in March 1896.)

Of old, previous to the arrival of the Spaniards, these Islands were governed by our
own compatriots who were then living in the greatest abundance and prosperity. They
maintained good relations with their neighbors, especially with the Japanese, and traded
with them in commodities of all sorts. The result was that wealth and good customs
were a common patrimony; young and old, the women included, knew how to read and
write, using their own alphabet.

But the Spaniards came, with the pretense of peace. The persons then governing us,
flattered by their honeyed tempting words, allowed themselves to be deceived by their
offers to guide us on the paths of wisdom and increased prosperity. They were,
however, obliged to comply with the ritualistic custom of the islanders, to give binding
force to their compacts by means of an oath of peace, which consisted in taking a small
quantity of blood from the veins of the contracting parties and then drinking the blood
so mixed, as evidence that they were to be absolutely true and loyal to their allies. This
was called the Pact of Blood (which was concluded) between King Sicatuna and the
representative of the King of Spain, Legazpi.

Since then, for over three hundred years, we have been supplying (the wants) of the
race of Legaspi with largesse and have enriched them with abundance, despite the
hunger and privations that we ourselves have suffered. We have wasted our wealth and
blood and even given our lives in their defense; we have even fought our compatriots
who would not willingly submit to their yoke; we have combated the Chinese and the
Dutch who attempted to wrest these Islands from them.

Now, after all this, what comfort or liberal concession have they bestowed upon us in
exchange for all our sacrifices? How have they kept the contract, the cause, precisely,
of our sacrifices? Our munificence they have rewarded with treachery, and far from
guiding us on the path of knowledge, they have blinded us and contaminated us with
their infamous procedure. They have endeavored to make us abandon our own good
customs; they have initiated us in a false belief and have dragged the honor of the
people into the mire. And if we dare beg for a scrap of love, they give us banishment
instead and tear us away from our beloved children, our wives, and our old parents.
Every sigh that we utter they brand as a sin and immediately punish it with implacable
ferocity.

Now nothing is to be seen of popular tranquillity; now our peace is constantly being
disturbed by incessant rumors of complaints and prayers, of the wailing and grief of
orphans, widows, and parents of countrymen of ours whom the dominator has wronged;
of the tears of mothers whose sons have been put to death; of the wail of tender children
whom cruelty has made orphans, and each tear is like a drop of molten lead that
lacerates our suffering wounded heart; now they tighten more and more the links of the
chain of vassalage that dishonors every man of integrity. What, then, must we do? The
sun of reason that shines in the East clearly shows unto our eyes which, alas! have been
blind so long, the way we must follow; by its light we can see the death-dealing claws
in the outstretched hands of the malevolent. Reason tells us that we can not expect
anything but suffering upon suffering, treachery upon treachery, contempt upon
contempt, and tyranny upon tyranny.Reason tells us that we must not waste our time
waiting in vain for promises of a felicity that will never come, that will never
materialize. Reason tells us that we must rely upon ourselves alone and never entrust
our right to life to anybody. Reason teaches us to be united in sentiment, thought, and
purpose, so that we may acquire the strength necessary to crush the evil that is afflicting
our people.

It is time that the light of truth should shine; time that we should show determination,
honor, shame, and mutual cooperation. The time is come now to diffuse the gospel that
shall tear the tough web obscuring our intellect, and that the islanders should see
whence come their misfortunes. Now it will be made evident that every step we are
taking is on unstable ground, on the brink of a horrible abyss of death, dug by our wily
enemy. Therefore, oh my compatriots! let us scatter the mist that befogs our intellect
and let us consecrate all our force to the good cause, with unhakable and absolute faith
in its success, in the ultimate prosperity, so anxiously desired by us, of the land of our
birth.

Andres Bonifacio

Sources:

1. Andres Bonifacio by Epifanio delos Santos, The Philippine Review,

January/February 1918, Volume 1, Number 1/2
2. Proto credit: http://8list.ph/