Provenance: a.) From the Collection of Epifanio de los Santos, famous scholar and historian, head of the Philippine National Library under the American regime. b.) From the Collection of José P. Santos, a historian and scholar, the gifted son of Epifanio de los Santos c.) From the collection of José P. Santos, a historian and scholar, the gifted son of Epifanio de los Santos.

Literature: Photograph of the first page of the original document in Adrian E. Cristobal “The Tragedy of the Revolution” (Makati City, Studio 5 Publishing Inc, 1997), Page 131; Jim Richardson, “Light of Liberty : Documents and Studies of the Katipunan, 1892 - 1897”, (Quezon City, Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2013), Transcribed Pages 342 - 344; Translated 344 - 346. The document has also appeared translated in works by Epifanio de los Santos (in 1917 and 1918) and Jose M. Alejandrino in 1949.

ABOUT THE WORK

For the first time in 121 years, since it was first written in 1897 — and long separated from the Andres Bonifacio letter that accompanied it — the original of Ricarte’s Declaration has surfaced. This fascinating document was first mentioned by Andres Bonifacio in his very last letter before his tragic death, written to his best friend Emilio Jacinto: “The Imus people met the next day at Tanza (after the Tejeros Convention on 22 March 1897) and there they compelled those who had been elected to take their oaths, one by one, as you can see in the document by Don Artemio Ricarte that is sent herewith (with my letter.)” In the original Tagalog text of his letter of 24 April, Bonifacio thundered, “Ang mga taga Ymus sila sila ang nagkapulong sa convento ng Tanza.” General Artemio Ricarte had himself been elected at Tejeros as “Capitan-General” or chief of staff of the new Philippine Revolutionary government — alongside General Emilio Aguinaldo as president and Mariano Trias as vice-president. Quite remarkably, Ricarte would depose in favor of Andres Bonifacio on the very same day of 23 March 1897 that he swore his loyalty to the Aguinaldo presidency in Tanza. In this declaration, Ricarte denounced the “dirty and shady election practices” (karumihan o kalabuan ng pagkaparaan ng pagkahalal) at the Tejeros Convention and for this reason, confirmed his “great disagreement” (totoong hindi pag ayon) on the proceedings of the oath-taking. Ricarte would then go on to sign on both Bonifacio-incited documents: The Acta de Tejeros (The Tejeros Proclamation) on 23 March 1897 as well as the Acta de Naik (Naik Military Agreement) on 19 April 1897. His Declaration — clearly written for the benefit of Andres Bonifacio — would be sent by the Supremo with his last letter to his best friend and closest ally Emilio Jacinto dated April 24, 1897, just days before his arrest, trial and demise. Unbeknownst to Andres Bonifacio, events were moving quickly against him. Katipunan scholar Jim Richardson would write, “Exactly a month after they had joined Andres Bonifacio in signing the “Acta de Tejeros” nullifying the Tejeros convention, the Magdiwang leaders dropped their opposition to Aguinaldo’s election and formally recognized him as “Presidente”. They also agreed that Aguinaldo could appoint whoever he wished to the cabinet — and Aguinaldo appointed Mariano Alvarez and other Magdiwang leaders to these positions. “As soon as his government was in place,” continues Richardson, “Aguinaldo instructed his clerks to make copies of a circular for despatch to the town presidents in all the municipalities that couriers could readily reach. Writing for the first time on notepaper bearing the rubric “Republica de Filipinas – Presidencia,” he warned them that any lack of support for, or even indifference to, the Government would not be tolerated. “Having been elected President of our Nation,” he informed the town chiefs, “at a meeting held in Tejeros on the twenty-second of March, I have begun from this day, the 24th of the present month, to exercise the responsibilities of the aforesaid Office.” Thus, Bonifacio would realize too late that he was surrounded not by friends nor allies but by enemies who would put the machinery in place to engineer the destruction of the Katipunan and his own end. -Lisa Guerrero Nakpil