Andres Bonifacio Biography

Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro (Tagalog: [anˈdɾes bonɪˈfaʃo], Spanish: [anˈdɾez βoniˈfaθjo]; November

30, 1863 – May 10, 1897) was a Filipino freemason and revolutionary leader. He is often called "The
Father of the Philippine Revolution", and considered one of the national heroes of the Philippines.
He was one of the founders and later the Kataas-taasang Pangulo (Supreme President, Presidente
Supremo in Spanish, often shortened by contemporaries and historians to just Supremo)[6] of
the Kataas-taasang, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan or more commonly
known as the "Katipunan", a movement which sought the independence of
the Philippines from Spanish colonial rule and started the Tagalog Revolution.[7][8][5] With the onset of
the Revolution, Bonifacio reorganized the Katipunan into a revolutionary government, with himself as
President (Pangulo) of a nation-state called "Haring Bayang Katagalugan" ("Sovereign Nation of the
Tagalog People" or "Sovereign Tagalog Nation"), also "Republika ng Katagaluguan" ("Tagalog
Republic", Republica Tagala in Spanish), wherein "Tagalog" referred to all those born in the
Philippine islands and not merely the Tagalog ethnic group. Hence, some historians have argued
that he should be considered the First President of the Tagalogs instead of the Philippines, that is
why he is not included in the current official line of succession.

Early Life
Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro was born on November 30, 1863, in Tondo, Manila, and was the first
of six children of Catalina de Castro, a Spanish Mestiza, and Santiago Bonifacio, an Alkalde of
Tondo. He learned the alphabet through his aunt. He was later enrolled in Guillermo Osmeña's
private school, and learned English while employed as a clerk-messenger by a British firm. Some
sources assert that he was orphaned at an early age, but, considering the existence of an 1881
record that has Bonifacio's parents listed as living in Tondo, it is disputed by others.
To support his family financially, Bonifacio made canes and paper fans which he and his young
siblings sold (after they were orphaned, according to the traditional view). He also made posters for
business firms. This became their thriving family business that continued when the men of the
family, namely Andres, Ciriaco, Procopio, and Troadio, were employed with private and government
companies, which provided them with decent living conditions.
In his late teens, he worked as a mandatario (agent) for the British trading firm Fleming and
Company, where he rose to become a corredor (broker) of tar, rattan and other goods. He later
transferred to Fressell and Company, a German trading firm, where he worked as
a bodeguero (storehouse keeper) responsible for warehouse inventory. He was also a theater
actor and often played the role of Bernardo Carpio, a fictional character in Tagalog folklore.
Not finishing his formal education, Bonifacio turned to self-education by reading books. He read
books about the French Revolution, biographies of the presidents of the United States, books about
contemporary Philippine penal and civil codes, and novels such as Victor Hugo's Les
Misérables, Eugène Sue's Le Juif errant and José Rizal's Noli Me Tángere and El filibusterismo.
Aside from Tagalog and Spanish, he could speak and understand English, which he learned while
working at J.M. Fleming and Co.
Bonifacio's first wife, Monica (surname unknown), was his neighbor in Palomar, Tondo. She died
of leprosy and they had no recorded children.
In 1892, Bonifacio, a 29-year-old widower, met the 18-year-old Gregoria de Jesús through his
friend Teodoro Plata, who was her cousin. Gregoria, also called Oriang, was the daughter of a
prominent citizen and landowner from Caloocan. Gregoria's parents did not agree at first to their
relationship, for Andrés was a Freemason, and Freemasons were at that time considered enemies
of the Catholic Church. Her parents eventually acquiesced, and Andrés and Gregoria were married
in a Catholic ceremony in Binondo Church in March 1893 or 1894. The couple also were married
through Katipunan rites in a friend's house in Santa Cruz, Manila on the same day of their church
wedding.
They had one son, born in early 1896, who died of smallpox in infancy.