Emilio Aguinaldo

     - A Filipino
revolutionary, politician,
and military leader who is
officially recognized as
the first and the youngest
President of the
Philippines (1899–1901)
and first president of a
constitutional republic in
Asia
 2.6. Emilio Aguinaldo, Mga Gunita ng Himagsikan
(Memoirs of the Revolution). (pp. 78-82; 95- 100;
177-188; 212-227) [Memoirs]

One day in November, 1896, a muscular and well-built man who was suspected
to be a secret
agent of the Spaniards came to me in our headquarters at Zapote. He said he
was Edilberto Evangelista, a Filipino civil engineer who came from Dantes,
Italy, purposely to help us liberate the
Philippines. made him the director general of our natural resources
and I assigned him to take charge of the construction of the trenches I asked
him to it that he was not sent to battle.
General Jose Alejandrino to HongKong to buy guns with the sum of P20,
000 that
the two councils, Magdalo and Magdiwang, gave them in January, 1897.
ON NOVEMBER 1, 1896, we planned to attack the detachment of
Spanish soldiers in Bañadero,
Tanauan, Batangas. I had with me my two seasoned generals – Candido
Tria Tirona and Pio del Pilar. We travelled three days
to reach Silang where we asked General Vito Belarmino
to join us. Then we went up to Tagaytay, travelled
about 30 kilometers down to Iruhin and finally
Talisay where we
stayed for two days, finalizing our plans for the attack.
 While in Talisay, a man came hurriedly to us bringing a
message from President Baldomero
Aguinaldo who enjoined us to go home because s large
number of Spanish soldiers using about 50
native boat had landed at Polvorin, Binakayan.

It is about four o’ clock of the following morning, we

started for our homeward journey. When I
noticed that the soldiers were almost running in their
haste to reach our destination, I ordered them
to refrain from running to conserve their energy.
Saddened by the news, many of our men who could not
wait any longer for calesas went ahead
walking. When we reached Imus at about five o’ clock on
the afternoon of November 8, we found it a
veritable ghost town for the people had left, leaving only
the officials headed by the President
Baldomera Aguinaldo behind. But when the news spread
that we had come back, they came out from
their hiding places and joined us once more.
But when they were already near, they
started firing at us. So our soldiers were
taken
unawares, and many of them retreated.
The enemy was head ed by Regiment 73
and followed by five
battalions of cazadores and marine infantry
under the leadership of Captain General
Ramon Blanco.
The troops had hardly gone to their positions when we
heard the bugle of the enemy. On the
opposite shore, we saw the enemy coming. It was a
huge army, the biggest I ever encountered. I
believed there were about 5,000 all armed with guns
and Bayonets which shone in the sun. It was a
horrible sight and fear clutched my heart. However, I did
not show this fear to my companions. I could
not eat my breakfast. I just swallowed two raw eggs and
drank a cup of coffee. Then I went to the
trenches and prepared for any eventuality.
When the enemy saw that it could not
penetrate our lines it slowly backed out,
firing parting
shots as its bugles sounded retreat. Upon
seeing the enemy retreating in a rout, I was
emboldened
and had my own buglers sound the
advance to my bolomen who instantly
emerged from their hiding
places and fell upon the retreating enemy.
When the battle was all over, we realized that the
whole province of Cavite had been liberated.
We gathered 200 guns. I also realized the great
disadvantage to us of my order not to molest the
enemy soldiers carrying their dead for, as a result, we
gathered only a few guns from the 15 cartloads
left of dead soldiers aside from the three bancas of
wounded and dead which they brought to Manila
and brought to Manila and buried at Dalahikan,
Noveleta . I learned later that Governor Blanco was
very much grieved over the loss of his men.
For the next three days, the enemy did not harass us, but
on November 12, 13, 14, 1896, it
started bombarding again the towns of Cavite el Viejo,
Bacoor, and Novieta with cannon shots from
Fort Vaga of Cavite. It was a good thing that no serious
damage on the towns was wrought. We
thanked God whom we believed was on our side, for most
of the shells hurled were duds. As a result,
we gathered phosphorus which we used in our munitions
factory. In the heavy fighting at Binakayan,
we were able to gather many empty catridges.
Bonifacio Invited to Cavite

AFTER SUPREMO Andres Bonifacio and his men

met defeat at the hands of the Spaniards, we in
Cavite had lost track of their whereabouts. As we
were worried about Bonifacio, we sent men look for

him in the forests of Caloocan and Malabon, and

instructed them to invite the Supremo to Cavite
which had already been liberated from Spanish
rule.
By then Cavite had been independent from Spanish rule for three
months and was peacefully
being governed by the Revolutionary Government. But the
Supremo and his wife, Gregoria de Jesus,
his two brothers. Procopio and Ciriaco, General Lucino, and 20
soldiers sis not reach cavite until the
first day of December, 1896. One can easily imagine the dangers,
hardships, and privations they went
through before finally arriving in Cavite.
Magdiwang Council Reorganized

THE SUCCESS of the liberation movement in

Cavite was the result of the leadership and
efforts of the
leadership and efforts of the two councils: the
Magdiwang Council headed initially by General
Mariano Alvarez in Noveleta, and the Magdalo
Council of Cavite el Viejo headed by General
Baldomero Aguinaldo.
The towns under their control were Cavite el Viejo, Imus,
Dasmariñas, Silang, Amadeo, Mendez
Nuñez, Bacoor, and Carmona.
The MagdiwangCouncil was very lucky for it figured in
only one battle from the time war was
declared until April, 1897. This was the victory at
Dalahikan, Noveleta, where many Spaniards were
killed and 100 guns captured. Credit for this victory goes
to Generals Pascual Alvarez, Mariano Riego de
Dios, Santiago Alavarez, and Aguedo Montoya Captain
Francisco Montoya and others.
My Election to the Presidency

WHILE I was busy supervising the building of

our defenses at Pasong Santol in Dasmariñas, a

group of cavalry soldiers headed by Colonel

Vicente Riego de Dios of Magdiwang Council
arrived to tell
me that I had been elected the head of the
government as a result of the Magdiwang and
the Magdalo
factions.
The fallowing is their narration of the results of the
national meeting presided over by Supremo
Andres Bonifaci. In the election for the President of
the Revolutionary Government, Andres Bonifacio
and Emilio Aguinaldo do were nominated. Emilio
Aguinaldo won. For the Vice-President, Andres
Bonifacio was again nominated, but his own Minister
of Justice, Gen. Mariano Trias, defeated him.
Although after this incident, order had
been restored in the meeting,
nevertheless in his bitter
disappointment and anger, the
Supremo stood up and declared, “By
virtue of my being head of this
national meeting, I declare this
election null and void.” Then he
started to leave.
At ten o’ clock of the next morning, March 23, I was very
happy to see a battalion under the
command of Major Andres Villanueva from Naic responds to
our request. So I sent Lieutenant
Villanueva and his men immediately to General Crispulo
Aguinaldo.
It was noon of March 24 when I Received news a t
Tanza that the Supremo and his ministers,
including General Artemio Ricarte, met in council on
the morning of march23 and passed a resolution
declaring null and void the general meeting held on

March 22 in Tejeros, Malabon.

Instead of going after Bonifacio and his cohorts since I
had the power to do so, I chose to ignore
them. I patiently accepted this difficult situation so that
petty jealousies and recriminations of brother
against brother be stopped.
But what a bitter disappointment and sorrow we had when
we learned that our troops bound
for Pasong Santol were all intercepted by General Ricarte,
upon orders of the Supremo. They were
gathered at the big yard of Mrs. Estefania Potente in
Malabon where the Supremo ordered them to
wait for the enemy. They were also instructed to kidnap me
on my way to Imus. When I learned about
this plot, I heaved I sigh and said, “Our Revolution is bound
to fail because of the selfishness and
vindictiveness of one person.” General Trias suggested that
I order the arrest of the traitors.
I Returned to Imus
IN THE face of these events, especially our defeat at Pasong Santol
caused by the failure of the
Magdiwang troops to help, I was plunged into deep thinking about
the fate of our Revolution. I had to
go over the events with regret and remorse. Added to this depressing
state of affairs was the news that
the Supremo had ordered my capture on my way home to Pasong
Santol. This was perhaps the reason
for gathering in his big yard my troops who were to reinforce Pasong
Santol. It was not illogical to
conclude that perhaps the plan of Andres Bonifacio was not merely
to cripple the forces of General
Crispulo Aguinaldo, but also to make my capture easy.
On the morning of April 29, 1897, the troops led by Colonels
Bonson, Pava, and Topacio
returned to Naic with their captives headed by Andres and
Procopio Bonifacio. They were taken to the
tribunal first before medical treatment was given to them in the
convent.
I summoned Generals Emiliano Riego de Dios,
Baldomero Aguinaldo, and Tomas Mascardo
and
we chose the officials to compose the tribunal or
military court to try Bonifacio brothers. The
capture of
the Supremo by Colonels Bonson, Topacio, and
Pawa and the immediate surrender of his troops

averted unnecessary bloodshed and killing on

both sides. It was a good thing, too, that
General Ricarte
and his troops were not there then.
The Military Court

THE GENERALS whom I consulted regarding the creation of

a military court were all against this
plan. They thought that such court was unnecessary for two
reason; first, because we were in a state of
war, and, secondly, because we were harassed by the
enemy at many points almost every day.
At the meeting, the generals drew up five serious charges
against the Bonifacio brothers.
These charges and their attempt to subvert the interest of the
revolutionary Government, if prove, were
sufficient to warrant the death penalty for them. The charges
were: (1) the anonymous letter accusing
me of an alleged plot to surrender to General Lachambre, (2)
there plan to establish another
government, (3) there plan to liquidate me, (4) the escape of
the brothers and General Ricarte to evade
responsibility for their acts, and (5) derelictions of duty for
refusing to fight for their country.
After my explanation, everyone was silent. So I
directed General Mariano Noriel to create the
court at once. I appointed Colonnel Jose Lipana
as presiding judge; Colonnel Jose Elises, fiscal;

Colonnels Placido Martinez and Teodoro

Gonzales (one secretary of the Supremo),
defense counsels for
the Bonifacio brothers. I instructed the court to
be lenient because they were merely following
their
superior’s orders. The court started the trial at
Naic, but later moved to Maragondon.
Death of the Bonifacio Brothers

AFTER a detailed and careful trial by the military court composed of

seven members headed by
General Mariano Noriel, the two Bonifacio brothers were found guilty
of disloyalty to and treachery
against the revolutionary Government as well as the sedition and
rebellion. Having established their
guilt beyond reasonable doubt, the court unanimously imposed the
death sentence on them.
The decision was referred to me as head of
Revolutionary Government and military
commander. When I learned of the decision,
pity for two former comrades seized my
heart. In this
connection, I have to mention here that ever
since my early childhood, and even in
school, I never had
any enemy. I never thought that in that in this
struggle against Spain, I would have an
enemy and a
Filipino at that!
I rescinded my order.
Thereupon, General Mariano Noriel ordered major
Lazaro Macapagal to bring with him a squad of
soldiers to fetch the prisoners and carry out the
punishment originally imposed by the military court.
Very early on the morning of May 10, 1897, Major
Macapagal and his men took the prisoners
to Mount Tala where they were shot.
As I was busy leading the fight against the enemy in
Maragondon, I did not learn of the
execution of the Bonifacio brothers until days later.
Activity
If you were in the position of Aguinaldo?
Will you the same thing?

Enumerate the things you will modify with

his actions, if there were nothing you will
change, then write a persuasive essay to
depend his actions.