How well do you know Andres Bonifacio?

Rome, 16/05/2014

The life and death of Andres Bonifacio were filled with tragedy as well as mystery. Sadly, for most Filipinos, the Great Plebeian is nothing more than a face etched in our coins or an eponymous hero behind Fort Bonifacio. 

So how well do we really know our national heroes beyond our boring history class? In the case of Bonifacio, do we know anything about this revolutionary leader besides being the founder of Katipunan?

(Image source: Prof. Michael “Xiao” Chua)

Contrary to the teachings in our school, Andres Bonifacio was not formally executed, he was actually murdered.

Accused of treason, Andres and his brother, Procopio Bonifacio, were sentenced to die in the hands of Aguinaldo’s men. On May 10, 1897, the execution team led by Lazaro Macapagal brought the Bonifacio brothers to the bushy mountain of Maragondon. There, several gunshots instantly killed the two–at least, according to orthodox interpretations.

And then came Gen. Guillermo Masangkay. According to his accounts, one of Macapagal’s men admitted that while Procopio was shot to death, Andres was stabbed using a bolo (large Filipino machete). In 1918, skeletal remains–allegedly of Andres Bonifacio–were exhumed in Maragondon.

 It included a fractured skull which supported Masangkay’s version of story.

The “death by bolo” theory has long been supported by several historians as well as the hero’s great-great-grandnephew himself, Atty. Gary Bonifacio.