The trial and death of Bonifacio

Title

Creator

Agoncillo, Teodoro

Language

English

Source

Panorama XIV (5) May 1962

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

WHILE Bonifacio was languishing in jail, General Mariano Noriel wrote Emilio Aguinaldo narrating the events that led to the capture of the Bonifacio brothers. On April 29, Aguinaldo for warded Bonifacio’s case to the Council of War in order “to conduct the necessary trial..’ He further instructed the Council to appoint a judgewhose rank must * be that of colonel. Consequently, Colo nel Pedro Lipana was appoint ed Judge Advocate; Mdjor La zaro Makapagal, Secretary; Jose Elises, Riscal’; and Placido Martinez and Teodoro Gonzales, counsels of Andres and Procopio Bonifacib, res pectively. ™e TRIAL and death ~ BONIFACIO Teodoro Agoncillo May 1962 83 The investigation of the case commenced in Naik on April and continued in Maragondon up to~Kfay_A^4B97 Several men, all belonging to the Bonifacio group, testified. Among them were Major Be nito Torres, Pedro Giron, Procopio Bonifacio, and Gregoria de Jesus, Bonifacio’s wife. With the exception of the tes timonies of Procopio and Gre goria, those of the other sol diers were hostile to Bonifacio. The fatal testimony came from Pedia Giron, who said that Andres Bonifacio tried to bribe him in order to kill Aguinaldo “so that Bonifacio may be declared President/’ On the other hand, General Pio del Pilar testified that Bonifacio prevailed upon him to join the latter’s group. ^ndres Bonifacio ripnipd the charges of treason, “.sedition, and_counter-revolution against him, and vehemently declared his innocence.. The mob that gathered to witness the trial was hostile to him and called him down. It was obvious that Bonifacio was up against a strong prejudice_,generated by a sense of regionalism. Judge Pedro Lipana then wrote an official report in which he assessed the merits of the different testimonies. The report was hostile to Bo nifacio. On May 4, General Mariano Noriel, the President of the Council of War, noti fied the other members of the Council that a meeting would be held the next all the members of cil Panorama ' of the Bonifacio brothers commenced on May 5. Major Makapagal read aloud the tes timonies given during the pre liminary investigation. Judge Lipana summarized the find ings of the investigating com mittee and declared that the men at the bar were guilty as charged. In view of these findings, the Judge recom mended that “Andies and Procopio Bonifacio be given capital punishment, each of them to be shot in open space, up to five shots for each; that the distance be ten feet according to the gravity of their crimes.” At this juncture. Placido Martinez, Andres’s defense counsel, stood up and deli vered a speech which was, in The term “defense” is, it seems, difficult in the case of Mr. Andres Bonifacio owing to his bad and abo minable actuations and if there is any other punish ment more severe thap death it should be imposed upon him. x x x Then he pleaded with the Court to bt lenient. He conti nued : Did not our Saviour, Je sus Christ, though punished and put to death by' the Jews, also ask our Lord God the Father to forgive all those who had sinned against Him? And how could we, who are mere creatures made of dust, de ny forgiveness to our fel lowmen? In view of all >i that Andres forgiven for May 1962 »3 all that he had done, so that in so doing we may fulfill what we say in “Our Fa ther” : “Forgive our tres passes as we forgive those who trespass against us.” So saying he sat down and allowed Teodoro Gonzales to have his say. Gonzales plead ed mercy for his client, Procopio, saying that since the declarations of the witnesses maintained that Procopio was in no way involved in the al leged conspiracy to overthrow the existing government of the rebels he, Procopio, should not be punished. The trial was over. The Council of War agreed to meet again the following day to make its decision known. Meanwhile, the Bonifacio brothers were led back behind prison bars. The Council deliberated on the case and came to the con clusion that the prisoners were guilty as charged and sentenced to be shot to death. The proceedings of the case were sent to General Baldomero Aguinaldo who, on May 8, wrote President Emilio Aguinaldo that the Bonifacio brothers were found 'guilty and that it was up to the x-resident to make the final decision. Aguinaldo, after leading the papers, penned his decision, which was to banish the brothers to an iso lated place. This decision was supposed to have been shown to the prisoners, but the do cuments of the trial show that the prisoners never saw the papers. What actually happened was that when Generals No-, riel and Del Pilar learned of President Aguinaldo’s deci sion, they rushed to his head quarters and pleaded with him to withdraw his decision.. They reasoned out that the Revolution could not afford to be divided at a time when the Spanish forces were sli cing through rebel territory. They made Aguinaldo believe that the prisoners were dan gerous and, if allowed to be banished, might lead a coun ter-revolution. Clemente Jose Zulueta, writer and historian, also pleaded with Aguinaldo not to change the decision of the Council of War. Zulueta hated Bonifacio because the latter allegedly accused him of being a stooge of the friars. Owing to this pressure, Agui naldo recalled his decision 86 PANORAMA and allowed the decision of the Council of War to stand. The Bonifacio .brothers^then, were, to die by musketry. Early in the morning of May 10, General Noriel called in Major Makapagal and handed him a sealed enve lope. “This is what you will do,” Noriel told Makapagal. “Go at once to headquarters and tell Colonel Ritual to give you four soldiers. Then go to Ermita and get the two prisoners, Andres and Proco pio Bonifacio. Take them to Mount Tala; open this letter when you arrive there. Read it aloud to the two prisoners so that they may be apprised of its contents. Follow the instructions to the letter.” The morning was bleak; it was raining. On the way to Mount Tala with the prison ers, Andres asked Makapagal whether he would be shot. “No,” Makapagal answered. “As far as I am concerned, the order is to take you to Mount Tala, probably to re move you from the scene of battle.” At the foot of Mount Ta. lat the little group stopped for a moment. Andres took May 1962< 87 the opportunity to inquire about the contents of the sealed letter. “Brother,” he turned to Makapagal, “since we are now near Mt. Tala, won’t you open the letter so we may know where you will leave us?” The request was reasonable, and Makapagal, not knowing the contents of the letter, opened it. He read aloud: Major Makapagal: In accordance with the order of the Council of War 88 Panorama held at Maragondon on May 8 against the brothers Andres and Procopio Boni facio, who have been sen tenced to be shot to death, you and your soldiers un der you are ordered to car ry out the judgment. Andres and Procopio were shocked. They did not expect the letter to contain the sen tence of death. They em braced each other. Makapa gal, with two soldiers, escor ted Procopio to a secluded place and there carried out the sentence. When they re turned for Andres, the latter ran through the woods and on to a stream. Makapagal and his soldiers followed in hot pursuit. Then several shots were heard. Andres stopped suddenly, reeled and fell — dead. The soldiers dug a shallow hole and buried Andres. On the grave, Ma jor Makapagal placed a few twigs. May 1962 89

pages

83-89

Media