ABOUT THE WORK

Both José Rizal and Andres Bonifacio said that the greatest love of all is the love of one’s native land. And its best expression is when Filipinos fight for it based on the needs of the time, and during the difficult time of the nascent Filipino Nation, it was waging the revolution and starting the difficult job of governing ourselves after being used to being under a foreign power for 333 years. We always refer to the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American War as two of the most important events that hastened the birth of the Nation. Yet, most of the discussion tends to focus on the events surrounding the national leaders, for example the Andres Bonifacio and eventually the subsequent Emilio Aguinaldo’s governments. Yet, if it was about the birth of the nation, why do we tend to focus on events in Luzon? Also, when we look at narratives of the war in the provinces, they were written by either the Spaniards or Americans. To sound off their region’s participation in the national revolution, local historians and writers take great pains to travel to Manila, or even abroad to reconstruct their history, sometimes to no avail because unfortunately, history is skewed towards those who were able to write documents, and stories remain just stories until documentation is found. That is why folders containing historical documents about the Philippine Revolution from a private collector that have surfaced in Leon Gallery is every local historian’s dream Iloilo joined the revolution quite late. One of the provinces loyal to the Spaniards, its elites paid their own volunteers and sent them to fight the “insurrectionists” in Manila. But dissent was brewing. A secret Comité Conspirador was founded in May 1898. By October 1898, a local capitan municipal, Martin Teofilo Delgado, started coordinated simultaneous attacks around Iloilo which eventually gave birth to a new government, the Federal State of the Visayas. This government recognized the authority of the First Philippine Republic, which accounts for them having the distinction of raising the Philippine flag for the first time in the Visayas. Yet, it was also a self-governing entity altogether. Just to underscore the importance of these documents: When some historians claimed that Bonifacio was president of the first national revolutionary government, it was not enough for many to see documents claiming that he had a government. Eventually, various administrative papers were found from those that were confiscated by the guardia civil veterana and now stored at the Archivo General Militar de Madrid proving that indeed it functioned as a government. The Iloilo Revolutionary documents from 1898-1900 at hand consists of 24 various documents of the Revolutionary Government of Iloilo, communications to the council of the provincial board, along with appointment papers signed by Francisco Jalandoni, and 2 copies of election results of 1898 from the town of Macato, Capiz. Fascinating were the receipts issued to donors of the Emprestito Nacional, known as Aguinaldo bonds, and receipts for war contributions, signed by Jovito Yusay and Julio Fernandez which tells us not only of the love of country of the donors, but also of the diligence of the revolutionaries in accounting, thus demonstrating that we valued accountability even at that time. Many of the documents show seals of various town bearing the triangular symbol and even the three stars and the sun, and also various revolutionary stamps dated Jan. 16 to Oct. 28, 1899. Some documents were also signed by later Chief Justice Ramon Avanceña, who unbeknownst to many, was a revolutionary leader who became Vice President of the said government. It was decided that the government eventually should disband on Sept. 23, 1899 at Cabatuan, and will continue as a guerilla movement, that is why the 16 documents that were related to a certain Marcelo Goles, who continued the struggle, sheds light to a hitherto underrated hero. The documents included a Harper’s Weekly illustration of the fall of Iloilo to the Americans. Another evidence of a working government is that its documents reflect the daily concerns of the people. Another folder consisted of revolutionary papers from the Bicol region from 1898-1899 which included 10 documents giving permits and decisions such as those on cockfighting and carrying of fire arms. The documents were sellados (with stamps) and bearing revolutionary seals emanating from Camarines, Nueva Caceres, Tabaco, Ambos Camarines. Two additional documents with tax stamps with the word “Libertad” in 25 centavos of 1 peso denominations, another one with stamps cancelled out, and another with telegraph stamps for a business permit. Another interesting piece is a certification from Guinobatan, Albay attesting that General Ignacia Paua, the Chinese general of the revolution and the one who stabbed Bonifacio during his arrest had accounted for the funds issued to him. And more stamps. There was another three-paged revolutionary document issued from Gapan, Nueva Ecija. So, who says the revolution was only in Katagalugan? Because what Bonifacio started in 1896 truly spread to his “Katagalugan” which is the whole archipelago, and we carried on fighting the new aggressor. How much more inclusive could you get?