5 MAY

Photo Art: JB

1897 - A Council of War is formed by the power-grabbing camp of Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy, head of a new revolutionary body supposedly superseding the the secret-society-turned-revolutionary-government Kataastaasang Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan,  to pass judgment on  Andres Bonifacio y de Castro, Katipunan co-founder and Supreme President, during the Philippine Revolution against Spanish colonial rule; on April 28, the Supremo, along with his brother Procopio, was seized and brought to Naic, Cavite after Aguinaldo's men treacherously attacked the Supremo's camp despite the warm reception given them by the Katipunan leader the night before; during the seditious attack, Ciriaco, another brother of the Supremo, was instantly killed as the Supremo was shot in the arm and then followed up by Col. Ignacio Paua who wanted to kill the Supreme President by stabbing him in the throat; the Supremo, along with his brother Procopio, was then forcibly brought to Naic as his wife, the "Lakambini" Gregoria de Jesus was raped by Col. Agapito Bonzon, alias "Yntong"; Aguinaldo, whose Magdalo camp earlier held the fraudulent and scandalous Tejeros Convention, subsequently took his oath of office as "President" under surreptitious circumstances (and without informing Bonifacio who won as Interior Secretary) in the bid to hide their activity from the rival Magdiwang faction, earlier engineered the power grab against the Supremo, subsequently ordering his capture and court martial regarded as a 'kangaroo court' trial, with appointed defense lawyer, Placido Martinez, also being a judge and condemning, instead of defending, the Supremo; Bonifacio,  has been ridiculously charged with contriving to supposedly assassinate Aguinaldo and overthrow his newly formed revolutionary body formed on the basis of the Tejeros Convention but which has subsequently been nullified by the Supremo and 40 other Katipuneros through the Acta de Tejeros; the day before, Bonifacio testified that he did not know of the existence of any other revolutionary government (other than the Katipunan) because Aguinaldo was not validly elected, as partly based on the statement of Artemio Ricarte and that he was unaware if any oath-taking has taken place; Gen. Mariano Noriel is the head and Lazaro Makapagal, the secretary, of  the Council of War that will pass judgement on the swift ten-day kangaroo trial marked by a lopsided number of prosecution witnesses--Benito Torres, Nicolas Guzman, Rafael Non, Narciso Tiolo, Julian Aguila, Bibiano Rojas, Gervacio Santiago, and Pedro Giron--with virtually only the Supremo; wife and brother testifying for the defense: Gen. Santiago Alvarez will write that the Supremo was not to be allowed to make a defense speech despite requesting the panel twice for that right, with the official records to claim that the denial is made on grounds that Bonifacio has only been repeating his account made during the court examination.


Raw photo credits: 
http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/400/424/Aguinaldo_1_lg.gif
http://www.freewebs.com/philippineamericanwar/collapse1901.htm