Provenance: From the Collection of Epifanio de los Santos, famous scholar and historian, head of the Philippine National Library under the American regime.

Literature: Epifanio de los Santos would transcribe the document in the Philippine Review, sometime in 1917; and later in the book “The Revolutionists”, Page 134.

ABOUT THE WORK

This important document reveals the rumors that swirled around General Emilio Aguinaldo and Andres Bonifacio a fortnight after Bonifacio’s death on 10 May 1897. News of Bonifacio’s actual demise is not captured in this document — only that he is reported to have been shot and his brother Procopio seen being led away with his hands tied. Various reasons for the leaders’ rifts are mentioned — from Bonifacio’s dismissive words for Aguinaldo and the even more outrageous suspicion that he had engineered the demise of the famous trench-warfare expert Edilberto Evangelista. (Evangelista had actually perished in the Battle of Zapote by Spanish bullets.) Epifanio de los Santos, commented Katipunan scholar Jim Richardson, describes the letter of ‘Anonymous in Tanay’, and says “the bit about Edilberto Evangelista, and other bits, are 'gossip pure and simple, and entirely unfounded’.” It is, however, a fascinating text that gives insight to the atmosphere of this momentous period in Philippine history. -Lisa Guerrero Nakpil Anonymous Letter of a Katipunero to D. Ysidro S. Jose dated 28 May 1897, relating the start or the cause of the secret feud between Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo and Andres Bonifacio. Sr. D. Ysidro S. Jose — 28 May ’97 My dear Brother: I wish to inform your honor that from the information I gathered, Aguinaldo received “samples” from abroad of an order consisting of 40,000 remodeled five-shot Remington rifles with their accessories, 40 rapid-firing guns, and 100 packages of 4 quintals, the packages of English saltpeter and copper sheets for shell cartridges. This information was relayed by Emilio Aguinaldo to Andres Bonifacio. So, a meeting of thousands of their followers was arranged somewhere near the the Straits of San Bernardino an the China Sea which were outside the reach of the Spanish forces. The purpose of this scheduled meeting was to come to an agreement regarding the intended purchase of arms. Bonifacio, who was a party to this meeting, remained non-committal about the plan, commenting that Aguinaldo was formerly a nobody in the organization but somehow managed to be a Comandante at present. As this gave rise to a misunderstanding between them and their groups, the intended order for the shipment of these war materials failed to materialize. The resulting rift between them was the reason why the Spanish forces succeeded in taking Imus and Malabon Grande. Aggravating the misunderstanding was the suspicion which Aguinaldo had harbored regarding Edilberto Evangelista’s death. Aguinaldo believed that Bonifacio could have a hand in Evangelista’s killing. He wondered how Evangelista could be killed in “Aromahan” or Zapote, a place so distant from where the Spanish soldiers were encamped. Aguinaldo was supposed to have written Bonifacio about this suspicion of his. It was believed that this was one of the reasons why bad blood had developed between the two leaders. Later, reports were received that the Supremo was shot twice in the neck and once in the body which was rumored to have been perpetrated by someone named Paua. Procopio, the brother of Andres, was also seen being led by Aguinaldo’s me with his hands tied. On Friday, the 28th, the marketplace was raided by the Katipuneros. Yesterday evening, five sea vessels arrived, carrying the wounded. According to some eye-witnesses, earlier arrivals, on May 16 or 17 and from Wednesday to Sunday, were some 3,000 soldiers who boarded a train for Dagupan prepared to do battle in Arayat. We also received information that several Spanish soldiers had secretly dug in the area and were seen to be armed with 190 heavy firearms and Mausers. Tanay — 29 of May ‘97