The Cry of the Rebellion in Pugad Lawin 

marked the beginning of the Philippine Revolution

in 1896 which ultimately led to Philippine Independence in 1898. After Bonifacio's death on
May 10, 1897, in Maragondon, Cavite, General Emilio Aguinaldo continued the revolution.
The Cry of Dolores (Spanish: Grito de Dolores) occurred in Dolores, Mexico, on 16 September
1810, when Roman Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rang his church bell and gave the
call to arms that triggered the Mexican War of Independence. The Cry of Dolores is most
commonly known by the locals as "El Grito de Independencia".

Brazil the “Cry of Ypiraga” (September &, 1822), and in Cuba the “Cry of Matanza” (February
24, 1895).  In August 1896, northeast of Manila, Filipinas similarly declared their rebellion
against the Spanish historian, who institutionalized the phrased for the Philippines in his 1897
book, La Insurreccion en Filipinas.

On August 19, 1896, Katipunan was discovered by a Spanish friar, which resulted in the
start of the Philippine Revolution. The revolution initially flared up in Central Luzon.The
Philippine Revolution, called the Tagalog War by the Spanish, was a revolution, a civil war and
subsequent conflict fought between the people and insurgents of the Philippines and the Spanish
colonial authorities of the Spanish East Indies, under the Spanish Empire.

 Nineteenth-century journalists used the phrase “el grito de rebelion” or “the Cry of
Rebellion” to describe the momentous events sweeping the Spanish colonies;
 in Mexico it was the “Cry of Dolores” (16 September 1810), Brazil the “City of Ypiraga” (7
September 1822),
 and in Cuba the “Cry of Matanza” (24 February 1895).
 In August 1896, northeast of Manila, Filipinos similarly declared their rebellion against
the Spanish colonial government. It was Manuel Sastron, the Spanish historian, who
institutionalized the phrased for the Philippines in his 1897 book, La Insurreccion en
Filipinas. All these “Cries” were milestones in the several colonial-to-nationalist histories
of the world.

 Raging controversy If the expression is taken literally –the Cry as the shouting
of nationalistic slogans in mass assemblies –then there were scores of such
Cries.

 Some writers refer to a Cry of Montalban on April 1895, in the Pamitinan Caves
where a group of Katipunan members wrote on the cave walls, “Viva la
indepencia Filipina!” long before the Katipunan decided to launch a nationwide
revolution.

 The historian Teodoro Agoncillo chose to emphasize Bonifacio’s tearing of the

cedula (tax receipt) before a crowd of Katipuneros who then broke out in cheers .
However, Guardia Civil Manuel Sityar never mentioned in his memoirs (1896-
1898) the tearing or inspection of the cedula, but did note the pacto de sangre
 (blood pact) mark on every single Filipino he met in August 1896 on his
reconnaissance missions around Balintawak.

 To commemorate this martial event upon his return from exile in Hong Kong,
Emilio Aguinaldo commissioned a “Himno de Balintawak” to herald renewed
fighting after the failed peace of the pact of Biyak na Bato.

 On 3 September 1911, a monument to the Heroes of 1896 was erected in what is

now the intersection of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue and Andres Bonifacio
Drive –North Doversion Road. From that time on until 1962, the Cry of
Balintawak was officially celebrated every 26 August.

 The “Cry of Pugad Lawin” (August 23, 1896) cannot be accepted as historically
accurate. It lacks positive documentation and supporting evidence from the
witness.

 The testimony of only one eyewitness (Dr. Pio Valenzuela) is not enough to
authenticate and verify a controversial issue in history. Historians and their living
participants, not politicians and their sycophants, should settle this controversy.
 

Conflicting accounts

 Pio Valenzuela had several versions of the Cry. Only after they are compared
and reconciled with the other accounts will it be possible to determined what
really happened.

 In September 1896, Valenzuela stated before the Olive Court, which was
charged with investigating persons involved in the rebellion, only that Katipunan
meetings took place from Sunday to Tuesday or 23 to 25 August at Balintawak.

 In 1911, Valenzuela averred that the Katipunan began meeting on 22 August

while the Cry took place on 23 August at Apolonio Samson’s house in
Balintawak.

 From 1928 to 1940, Valenzuela maintained that the Cry happened on 24 August
at the house of Tandang Sora (Melchora Aquino) in Pugad Lawin, which he now
situated near Pasong Tamo Road.

 A photograph of Bonifacio’s widow Gregoria de Jesus and Katipunan members

Valenzuela, Briccio Brigido Pantas, Alfonso and Cipriano Pacheco, published in
La Opinion in 1928 and 1930, was captioned both times as having been taken at
the site of the Cry on 24 August 1896 at the house of Tandang Sora at Pasong
Tamo Road.
 In 1935 Valenzuela, Pantas and Pacheco proclaimed “na hindi sa Balintawak
nangyari ang unang sigaw ng paghihimagsik na kinalalagian ngayon ng
bantayog, kung di sa pook na kilala sa tawag na Pugad Lawin.” (The first Cry of
the revolution did not happen in Balintawak where the monument is, but in a
place called Pugad Lawin.)

 In 1940, a research team of the Philippines Historical Committee (a forerunner of

the National Historical Institute or NHI), which included Pio Valenzuela, identified
the precise spot of Pugad Lawin as part of sitio Gulod, Banlat, Kalookan City . In
1964, the NHI’s Minutes of the Katipunan referred to the place of the Cry as
Tandang Sora’s and not as Juan Ramos’ house, and the date as 23 August.

  In 1963, upon the NHI endorsement, President Diosdado Macapagal ordered
that the Cry be celebrated on 23 August and that Pugad Lawin be recognized as
its site.

The Pugad Lawin marker

 The prevalent account of the Cry is that of Teodoro Agoncillo in Revolt of the
masses (1956):

 It was in Pugad Lawin, where they proceeded upon leaving Samson’s place in
the afternoon of the 22nd, that the more than 1,000 members of the Katipunan
met in the yard of Juan A. Ramos, son of Melchora Aquino,…in the morning of
August 23rd. Considerable discussion arose whether the revolt against the
Spanish government should be started on the 29th. Only one man protested…
But he was overruled in his stand…

 Bonifacio then announced the decision and shouted: “Brothers, it was agreed to
continue with the plan of revolt. My brothers, do you swear to repudiate the
government that oppresses us?” And the rebels, shouting as one man replied:
“Yes, sir!” “That being the case,” Bonifacio added, “bring out your cedulas and
tear them to pieces to symbolize our determination to take arms!” .. . Amidst the
ceremony, the rebels, tear-stained eyes, shouted: “Long live the Philippines!
Long live the Katipunan!

 Macapagal ordered that the Cry of Balintawak be called the “Cry of Pugad
Lawin,” and that it be celebrated on 23 August instead of 26 August.

 The 1911 monument in Balintawak was later removed to a highway . Student

groups moved to save the discarded monument, and it was installed in front of
Vinzons Hall in the Diliman campus of the University of the Philippines on 29
November 1968.

 In 1962, Teodoro Agoncillo, together with the UP Student Council, placed a

marker at the Pugad Lawin site. According to Agoncillo, the house of Juan
 Ramos stood there in 1896, while the house of Tandang Sora was located at
Pasong Tamo.

 On 30 June 1983, Quezon City Mayor Adelina S. Rodriguez created the Pugad
Lawin Historical Committee to determine the location of Juan Ramos’s 1896
residence at Pugad Lawin.

The NHI files on the committee’s findings show the following:

 In August 1983, Pugad Lawin in barangay Bahay Toro was inhabited by squatter
colonies.• The NHI believed that it was correct in looking for the house of Juan
Ramos and not of Tandang Sora. However, the former residence of Juan Ramos
was clearly defined.• There was an old dap-dap tree at the site when the NHI
conducted its survey I 1983. Teodoro Agoncillo, Gregorio Zaide and Pio
Valenzuela do not mention a dap-dap tree in their books.

• Pio Valenzuela, the main proponent of the “Pugad Lawin” version, was dead by
the time the committee conducted its research.

• Teodoro Agoncillo tried to locate the marker installed in August 1962 by the UP
Student Council. However, was no longer extant in 1983.

 On the basis of the 1983 committee’s findings, the NHI placed a marker on 23
August 1984 on Seminary Road in barangay Bahay Toro behind Toro Hills High
School, the Quezon City General Hospital and the San Jose Seminary. 

Cartographic changes

Was there a Pugad Lawin in maps or literature of the period?

 A rough sketch or croquis de las operaciones practicadas in El Español showed

the movements of Lt. Ros against the Katipunan on 25, 26, and 27 August 1896.
The map defined each place name as sitio “Baclac” (sic: Banlat). In 1897, the
Spanish historian Sastron mentioned Kalookan, Balintawak, Banlat and Pasong
Tamo. The names mentioned in some revolutionary sources and interpretations-
Daang Malalim, Kangkong and Pugad Lawin- were not identified as barrios.

 Even detailed Spanish and American maps mark only Kalookan and Balintawak

 In 1943 map of Manila marks Balintawak separately from Kalookan and Diliman.
The sites where revolutionary events took place are within the ambit of
Balintawak.

 Government maps issued in 1956, 1987, and 1990, confirm the existence of
barangays Bahay Toro, but do not define their boundaries. Pugad Lawin is not on
any of these maps.
  According to the government, Balintawak is no longer on the of Quezon City but
has been replaced by several barangays.

 Barrio Banlat is now divided into barangays Tandang Sora and Pasong Tamo.
Only bahay Toro remains intact.

 Writer and linguist Sofronio Calderon, conducting research in the late 1920s on
the toponym “Pugad Lawin,” went through the municipal records and the Census
of 1903 and 1918, could not find the name, and concluded that “Isang…
pagkakamali… ang sabihing mayroong Pugad Lawin sa Kalookan.” (It would be
a mistake to say that there is such as Pugad Lawin in Kalookan.)

 First, that “Pugad Lawin” was never officially recognized as a place name on any
Philippine map before Second World War. Second, “Pugad Lawin “ appeared in
historiography only from 1928, or some 32 years after the events took place. And
third, the revolution was always traditionally held to have occurred in the area of
Balintawak, which was distinct from Kalookan and Diliman.

  “Pugad Lawin” is more romantic, it is more accurate to stick to the original “Cry
of Balintawak.”

The turning point

 The Cry, however, must be defined as that turning point when the Filipinos finally
rejected Spanish colonial dominion over the Philippine Islands, by formally
constituting their own national government, and by investing a set of leaders with
authority to initiate and guide the revolution towards the establishment of
sovereign nation.

https://ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/in-focus/balintawak-the-cry-for-a-
nationwide-revolution/