THE CRY OF

BALINTAWAK
A CONTRIVED CONTROVERSY
Soledad Borromeo-Buehler
SOLEDAD BORROMEO-
BUEHLER
Educational Background:
• PhD in History – UC Berkeley
• Fulbright-Hays scholar
SOLEDAD BORROMEO-
BUEHLER
Career:
-taught history at UP Diliman
-teaching assistant – UC Berkeley
-also taught at San Francisco State College,
San Jose State University, and the College
of Almeda

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THE CRY OF BALINTAWAK: A
CONTRIVED CONTROVERSY
Date of Publication:
1998 (Ateneo De Manila University Press)

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AIMS
• To help resolve the controversy of the First
Cry which led to the Philippine Revolution
of 1896.
• To resolve the questions on when and
where cedulas were torn and when and
where the initial skirmish between the
revolutionaries and the Spanish forces
took place.

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4 INTERPRETATIONS OF THE
“CRY”
1. Traditional View of the Cry
2. Literal Interpretation
3. Formation of a Revolutionary Government
4. On Cedulas Torn

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PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THE
ARTICLE
1. Pio Valenzuela
-Balintawak (first encounter) (August 26) to
Pugad Lawin (cedulas torn) (August 23)
2. Briccio Pantas – Pugad Lawin (cedulas
torn)
3. Cipriano Pacheco – Pugad Lawin
(cedulas torn)
4. Guillermo Masangkay – Balintawak
(August 26, 1896)

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WHY IS THERE A CONTROVERSY OVER
THE FIRST CRY?
• Teodoro Agoncillo’s treatment of the
subject
• The translation of el grito (The “Cry”) led to
the confusion
• Blatant distortion of historical facts by
some scholars

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4 DEVELOPMENTS THAT DISTORTED THE FACTS
REGARDING THE DATE AND VENUE OF THE “CRY”

1. Agoncillo’s flawed methodology that

ignored all documentary evidence in favor
of one source (memoirs of Pio
Valenzuela)

2. Agoncillo’s decision to change the

interpretation of the phrase “Unang
Sigaw” to adapt it to Valenzuela memoirs.
(tearing of Katipuneros’ cedulas)

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4 DEVELOPMENTS THAT DISTORTED THE FACTS
REGARDING THE DATE AND VENUE OF THE “CRY”

3. Unauthorized use and misrepresentation

of an interview made by Agoncillo with
Masangkay dated October 11, 1947

4. Removal of an important piece of

evidence (the transfer of the 1911
monument of the Cry from Balintawak in
1968 to UP Diliman)

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 Original Inscription:
“Homenaje del pueblo
Filipino a los héroes del
’96” Cry of Pugad
26 August 1896 Lawin
3 September 1911

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DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF THE
CRY

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DIFFERENT ACCOUNTS OF PIO
VALENZUELA

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PIO VALENZUELA’S 1896
Statements before the
court of Judge Advocate
Francisco Olivé
-Valenzuela claimed that he
joined the Katipunan only
around March, April or May
1895 (Moriones Affidavit of
surviving Katipuneros:
Valenzuela joined
Katipunan in March 1895)
-Late entry of Valenzuela to
Katipunan because he
admitted that he did not
know anything about its
founding and early history.
-He was with Bonifacio and
others that he was in
Balintawak on 23, 24, and
25 August 1896 (confirmed
by Masangkay and
Samson)
1911 Press Statement and
1947 Conversation with
Agoncillo
-Night of August 24, 1896 –
“…we transferred to the
village of Pasong Tamo
(house of Melchora)…”
-August 25, 1896 –
“…sentinel atop a tall tree
shouted that he discerned
some civil guards coming
towards our way” (began
the uprising as instructed by
Bonifacio prior to the
scheduled date on 29
August 1896)
-night of August 25, 1896 –
stayed at a house in Kulyat.
“I was in the company of
Andres Bonifacio…”
Memoirs
August 20, 1896-his arrival
in Balintawak
August 22, 1896 – meeting
of some 500 members of
the Katipunan at the house
and yard of Apolonio
Samson at Kangkong.
-Views were only
exchanged and no
resolution was debated or
adopted.
August 23, 1896 – “...over
1000 members of
Katipunan met and debated
lengthily...” at the yard of
Juan Ramos in Pugad
Lawin
PIO VALENZUELA’S 1896 1911 Press Statement and Memoirs
Statements before the 1947 Conversation with
court of Judge Advocate Agoncillo
Francisco Olivé
-also included in the -August 26, 1896 – “The discussion was
accounts were his salary as proceded to Balara and whether or not the
physician of the Katipunan, stayed until the next day revolution against the
derogatory comments about Spanish government should
Bonifacio, his disapproval of be started on 29 August
the planned uprising that led 1896.”
to his escape and surrender
to the authorities. -Teodoro Plata was the only
one who protested and
-2 corrections he made: fought against an early war
*Date of attack of Civil
Guard in Balintawak: from -Pantas and Pacheco were
25 to 26 August 1896 present.
*Details of his flight from
that place on the 25 August -”…many of those present
tore their cedulas and
-He left Balintawak with 2 shouted: “Long live the
guides on the night of 25, Philippines!”
1896 and went to Biñang.
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PIO VALENZUELA’S 1896 1911 Press Statement and Memoirs
Statementsbefore the 1947 Conversation with
court of Judge Advocate Agoncillo
Francisco Olivé
Other corrections made by
him:
-He left Balintawak on the
night of 25 August 1896 on
instructions from Bonifacio,
that he proceeded to
Montalban to encourage its
residents to rise up in arms.
-The supremo invited him to
join the “movement of
defensive concentration”
on the expectation of an
attack that evening from the
Civil Guard. Valenzuela said
that he demurred…

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1896 VERSION VS. MEMOIRS

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 1896 Statements Memoirs

Arrival in August 22, 1896 August 20, 1896

Balintawak

Arrival of Early morning of August 22, 1896 August 19, 1896

Bonifacio and
companions

Discussions or Discussions in Kangkong – August Inconclusive “exchange of views”

exchange of 23, 24, and 25, 1896 –August 22, 1896
views in
Kangkong

On cedulas August 23, 1896

torn
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• Since his 1896 court statements after the
revolution were damaging his credibility,
Valenzuela tried to nullify them, by alleging
these were made “under duress.”

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• Agoncillo considered the Valenzuela
memoirs a better source.

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GUILLERMO MASANGKAY’S
EXPOSE ON THE “CRY”
• Jose P. Santos published a signed
statement by Valenzuela, Pantas, and
Pacheco about the supposed “Cry of
Pugad Lawin”
• -refuted by Masangkay

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GUILLERMO MASANGKAY’S
EXPOSE ON THE “CRY”
• “…when the Cry of Balintawak took place,
Valenzuela and Pantas already fled to
surrender to the Spaniards, while Pacheco
was never there.”
• Assembly in Balintawak at the invitation of
Bonifacio.
• Bonifacio laid out the plan for general
uprising against the Spanish government

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GUILLERMO MASANGKAY’S
EXPOSE ON THE “CRY”
• Bonifacio and other katipuneros tore up
their cedulas.
• Pantas, Valenzuela, and Plata opposed
the uprising.

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GUILLERMO MASANGKAY’S
EXPOSE ON THE “CRY”
• “…the alarm was raised that the civil
guards were coming. The first to flee were
Pantas and Valenzuela. For this reason,
they could not have witnessed the
‘Supreme Cry’ that launched the [fight for]
the independence of the Philippines at that
moment; neither did they smell gunpowder
of the first shots.”

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BRICCIO PANTAS’ RESPONSE
• He denied Masangkay’s revelations.
• Criticized the Balintawak uprising as ill-
prepared and counter-productive.
• He and his colleagues did not oppose the
planned revolution.
• They did not escape from Balintawak.

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BRICCIO PANTAS’ RESPONSE
• He and Valenzuela were sent by Bonifacio
to perform errands elsewhere.
• Alleged that Valenzuela was a cofounder
of the Katipunan.
• Laong raids on the evening of 25 August
1896 (same with the accounts of
Valenzuela and the Spanish sources)

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PANTAS’ NEW ACCOUNT OF
THE BALINTAWAK EVENTS
• Unknown to the Bonifacio group, he left
Balintawak while Bonifacio and Plata
debated the idea of an attack on Fort
Santiago.
• Suggested a literal interpretation of the
term “Cry” because he could not provide
any information about the Cry of
Balintawak

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• Assembled at the place of Apolonio
Samson [no mention is made of Pugad
Lawin at all]
• The first encounter [allegedly] took place
in Santa Mesa.
• His family burned the minutes of
Katipunan meetings in the wake of mass
arrests and executions

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• A revolutionary government was formed in
Caloocan in late June or early July 1896 in
the form of a War Cabinet.
• The founding fathers of the Katipunan
were Deodato Arellano, Andres Bonifacio,
Teodoro Plata, Ladislao Diwa, and
Valentin Diaz.

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CIPRIANO PACHECO’S
RESPONSE
• He insisted on the Pugad Lawin version
• He contradicted Valenzuela by asserting
that Teodoro Plata made a speech in
Pugad Lawin in support of the revolution
and enjoined his fellow katipuneros to tear
their cedulas.

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WHICH INTERPRETATION?
• Agoncillo discarded the Masangkay
version “because in 1932 he [Masangkay]
said that the Cry took place on 26 August
1896, he nullified in 1947, in the course of
an interview with him, that the cry took
place on 24 August 1896.”

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CRITICISMS TO AGONCILLO’S
CLAIM
• Transcript of 1947 interview with
Masangkay in Tagalog was found in the
Masangkay papers together with a self-
addressed, self-stamped envelope.

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• Agoncillo’s transcript contains only
Masangkay’s answers to Agoncillo’s
questions, but not the questions
themselves.
• August 24 & 26, 1896 - cedula shredding
in the Masangkay version

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• “When I questioned Masangkay on the
subject in the early 1960s, he said that
Agoncillo was mistaken, because neither
Pio Valenzuela nor Emilio Aguinaldo were
in Balintawak at the time.”

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• “If, as Masangkay explained, the tearing of
cedulas in Balintawak signified an act of
defiance against continued Spanish rule
and an irrevocable commitment to support
the planned uprising, is it conceivable that
those who strongly opposed that uprising
would have torn their cedulas? Would
these have dared flee and surrender to the
Spanish authorities without this very
important document?”
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CONCLUSION
• 1896 Court Statements of Valenzuela –
more reliable
• Valenzuela’s memoirs- poor credibility
• Cry of Pugad Lawin -invention

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