23 APRIL

Gat Andres Bonifacio
Photo art: JB

 
1901- The poem "Un Heroe del Pueblo - Andres Bonifacio" which pays a lofty homage to Supremo Andres Bonifacio y de Castro, the great hero, co-founder, and soul of the Philippine revolutionary movement Kataastaasang Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan (KKK) , is penned and read by Filipino poet, essayist, writer, editor and lawyer Cecilio Apostol; the poem read during the first commemoration of Supremo Andres Bonifacio's tragic murder-by-execution, is published in the nationalistic newspaper El Renacimiento", along with Apostol's French translation of "Decalogue"; dubbed the "Father of the Philippine Revolution," Bonifacio was the Supremo of the secret-society-turned-revolutionary-government Katipunan during the Himagsikan launched in August 1896 against the Spanish colonial rule but was deposed from revolutionary power during the fraudulent and scandalous Tejeros Convention by the Magdalo faction of Capitan Emilio Aguinaldo; the Supremo nullified the anomalous elections through the Acta de Tejeros and, together with other Katipuneros , signed the Naik Military Agreement declaring that several Filipino revolutionary leaders (referring to but not naming the camp of Aguinaldo) committed treason by negotiating for a truce with the enemy Spaniards and should therefore not be recognized; a week after the Naic Military Agreement, the Supremo would be seized by the men of Aguinaldo, subjected to kangaroo court martial, and finally executed with his brother Procopio on a tragic Monday on May 10, 1897.