There is more to just reading history. There is also the task of studying historical accounts. Much of
our history is written because there are accounts of eyewitnesses or participants of specific events.
And this is where the problem comes in: which account should we believe?
As the saying in historical studies goes, "there is one past, but many histories." Thus, controversies
on and conflicting views of events in Philippine history exist. This situation, however, does not
detract from any form of historical study, rather it contributes to the scholarship or study of historical
sources by analyzing how perspectives are made on historical events.
The Philippine Revolution of 1896 began with what later became known as the “First City” or the
initial move of the Filipinos to begin with the revolution for independence. down on suspected rebels.
This they did by tearing up their cedulas and proclaiming the start of the fight for independence. The
event happened after the Katipunan was exposed on August 19, 1896 and the Spaniards began to
crack down on suspected rebels. The Katipunan Supremo Andres proceed to a designated meeting
place outside the city to decide on their next move. The original plan was to start the revolution at the
end of August but following the arrests of the Katipuneros, Bonifacio found it wise to begin the
revolution that day and attack Manila at the end of the month.
In 1911, a monument to the Heroes of 1896 was erected in Balintawak where beginning in 1908, it
was believed that the first cry occurred there on August 26. However, the date and place of the event
were later contradicted by different Katipunan personalities who claimed that they were there at the
time. In 1963, the National Historical Commission (today's National Historical Commission of the
Philippines [NHCP]) decided that, following extensive research of primary sources, the First Cry of
the Philippine Revolution of 1896 happened on August 23, 1896 at Pugad Lawin, now part of Project
8 in Quezon City. The controversy, however, persists, with historians and other personalities
(especially the descendants of the Katipunero witnesses) claiming that the official date and place are
wrong.
Dr. Pio Valenzucla's Account
The official date and place of the First Cry were largely haled an official on the account of Dr. Pio
Valenzuela, an official of the Katipun and a friend of Andres Bonifacio, who was present during the
event. His account was published as Memoirs of the K.K.K. the Philippine Revolution (Manila, n.d.)
The Account
The first place of refuge of Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, Procopio Bonifacio, Teodoro Plata,
Aguedo del Rosario, and myself was Balintawak, the first five arriving there on August 19, and I, on
August 20, 1896. The first place where some 500 members of the Katipunan met on August 22, 1896
was the house and yard of Apolonio Samson at Kangkong. Aside from the persons mentioned above,
among those who were there were Briccio Pantas, Alejandro Santiago, Ramon Bernardo, Apolonio
Samson, and others. Here, views were only exchanged and no resolution was debated or adopted. It
was at Pugad Lawin, in the house, store-house and yard of Juan Ramos, son of Melchora Aquino,
where over 1,000 members of the Katipunan met and carried out considerable debate and discussion
on August 23, 1896. The discussion was whether or not the revolution against the Spanish
government should be started on August 29, 1896. Only one man protested and fought against a war
and that was Teodoro Plata. Besides the persons named above, among those present at this meeting
are Cipriano, Alfonso Pacheco, meeting man Tomas Remigio, Sinforoso San Pedro, and others.
After the tumultuous meeting many of those present tore their cedula certificates and shouted "Long
live the Philippines! Long live the Philippines!”
Santiago Alvarez's Account
In 1927, a pre-World War II Tagalog weekly magazine named Sampaguita began publishing the
Katipunan memoirs of Gen. Santiago Virata Alvarez, (nom-de-guerre: Kidlat ng Apoy) one of the
leaders of the Cavite revolution. The series appeared in 36 parts. It told the story of the Philippine
Revolution starting in March 1896 until late 1897 interspersed with personal accounts and stories of
events during the revolution taken from Alvarez' notes. The series was later published as a book,
titled The Katipunan and the Revolution (QC: ADMU, 1992) with an English translation by Paula
Carolina Malay.
The story of the First Cry is found in Chapter 6 of the memoirs. Alvarez presents an account devoid
of any dramatic description as it is merely a narration of the events that happened in Bahay Toro
(now part of Project 8 in Quezon City) on August 24, 1896.
The Account
We started our trek to Kangkong at about eleven that night. We walked through the rain over
drenched expanses of muddy meadows and fields. Our clothes renched and our bodies numbed by
the cold wind, we plodded wordlessly. It was nearly two in the morning when we reached the house
of Brother Apolonio Samson in Kangkong. We crowded into the house to rest and warm ourselves.
We were so tired that, after hanging our clothes out to dry, we soon fell asleep.…
The Supremo began assigning guards at five o'clock the following morning, Saturday 22 August
1896. He placed a detachment at the Balintawak boundary and another at the backyard to the north
of the house where we were gathered....
No less than three hundred men assembled at the bidding of the Supremo Andres Bonifacio.
Altogether, they carried assorted weapons, bolos, spears, daggers, a dozen small revolvers and a
rifle used by its owner, one Lieutenant Manuel, for hunting birds. The Supremo Bonifacio Was
restless because of fear of a sudden attack by the enemy He was worried over the thought that any of
the couriers. carrying the letter sent by Emilio Jacinto could have been intercepted; and in that
eventuality, the enemy would surely know their whereabouts and attack them on the sly. He decided
that it was better to move to a site called Bahay Toro.
At ten o'clock that Sunday morning, 23 August 1896, we arrived at Bahay Toro. Our number had
grown Cabesang more than SOO and the house, yard, and warehouse of Cabesang Melchora was
getting crowded with us Katipuneros. The generous hospitality of Cabesang Melchora was no less
than that of Apolonio Samson. Like him, she also opened her granary and had plenty of rice pounded
and animals slaughtered to feed us.…
The following day, Monday, 24 August, more Katipuneros came and increased our number to more
than a thousand. The Supremo called a meeting at ten o'clock that morning inside Cabesang
Melchora's barn. Flanking him on both sides at the head of the table were Dr. Pio Valenzuela,
Emilio Jacinto, Briccio Pantas, Enrique Pacheco, Ramon Bernardo, Pantelaon Torres, Francisco
Carreon, Vicente Fernandez, Teodoro Plata, and others. We were so crowded that some stood
outside the barn.
The following matters were approved at the meeting:
1. An uprising to defend the people's freedom was to be started at midnight of Saturday, 29 August
1896....
2. To be on a state of alert so that the Katipunan forces could strike should the situation arise enemy
was at a [Link], the uprising could
3. To be started earlier than the agreed time of midnight of 29 August 1896 should a favorable
opportunity arise at that date.
4. Everyone should steel himself and be resolute in the struggle that was imminent....
5. The immediate objective was the capture of Manila....
After the adjournment of the meeting at twelve noon, there were tumultuous shouts of "Long live the
Sons of the People!"
Guillermo Masangkay's Account
In 1932, Guillermo Masangkay, a friend and fellow Katipunero of Andres Bonifacio, recounted his
experiences as a member of the revolutionary movement. In an interview with the Sunday
Tribune magazine, Masangkay said that the First Cry happened in Balintawak on August 26, 1896. In
the first decade of American rule, it was his account that was used by the government and civic
officials to fix the date and place of the First Cry which was capped with the erection of the
"Monument to the Heroes of 1896" in that place.
However, in an interview published in the newspaper Bagong Buhay on August 26, 1957,
Masangkay changed his narrative stating that the revolution began on August 23, 1896, similar to the
assertion of Dr. Pio Valenzuela. But Masangkay's date was later changed again when his
granddaughter, Soledad Buehler-Borromeo, cited sources, including the Masangkay papers, that the
original date was August 26.
The Account
On August 26, a big meeting was held in Balintawak, at the house of Apolonio Samson, then the
cabeza of that barrio of Caloocan. Among those who attended, I remember, were Bonifacio, Emilio ,
Pantas, Jacinto, Plata, Pio Valenzuela, Enrique Pacheco, and Remigio, Briccio Francisco Carreon.
They were all leaders of the Katipunan and composed the board of directors of the organization.
Delegates from Bulacan, Cabanatuan, Cavite, and Morong (now Rizal) were also present.
At about nine o'clock in the morning of August 26, the meeting was opened with Andres Bonifacio
presiding and Emilo Jacinto acting as secretary. The purpose was to discuss when the uprising was
to take place. Teodoro Plata, Briccio Pantas, and Pio Valenzuela were all opposed to starting the
revolution too early. They reasoned that the people would be in distress if the revolution were started
without adequate preparation. Plata was very forceful in his argument, stating that the uprising
could not very well be started without arms and food for the soldiers. Valenzuela used Rizal's
argument about the rich not siding with the Katipunan organization.
Andres Bonifacio, sensing that he would lose in the discussion then left the session hall and talked to
the people who were waiting outside for the result of the meeting of the leaders. He told the people
that the leaders were arguing against starting the revolution early, and appealed to them in a fiery
speech in which he said: "You remember the fate of return countrymen who were shot in
Bagumbayan. Should we now to the towns s w , the Spaniard only shoot us. Our organization has
been discovered and we are all marked men. If we don't start the uprising, the Spaniards will get us
anyway What then, do you say?”
"Revolt," the people shouted as one.
Bonifacio then asked the people to give a pledge that they were to revolt. He told them that the sign
of slavery of the Filipinos were (sic) the cedula tax charged each citizen. “If it is true that you are
ready to revolt," Bonifacio said, "1 want to see you destroyed your cedulas. It will be the sign that all
of us have declared our severance from the Spaniards."
With tears in their eyes, the people, as one man, pulled out their cedulas and tore them to pieces. It
was the beginning of the formal declaration of the separation from Spanish rule.…
When the people's pledge was obtained by Bonifacio, he returned to the session hall and informed
the leaders of what took place outside. "The people want to revolt, and they destroyed their cedulas,"
Bonifacio said, "So now we have to start the uprising, otherwise the people by hundreds will be
shot." There was no alternative. The board of directors, in spite of the protests of Plata, Pantas, and
Valenzuela, voted for the revolution. And when this was decided, the people outside shouted, "Long
Live the Philippine Republic."
Bagong Buhay (published August 26, 1957) featuring an article on the First Cry of the Revolution
based on the accounts of Guillermo Masangkay
