Literature: Literature : 1) A portion of this document was originally published by Epifanio de los Santos in his article, “Andres Bonifacio” in the Philippine Review, November 1917. According to Prof. Milagros Guerrero of the UP Department of History, Epifanio de los Santos had been commissioned at the start of the 20th century to gather documents and testimonies relative to the Philippine Revolution just a few years after it had exploded. 2) The Tragedy of the Revolution, by Adrian E. Cristobal, published by Studio 5 Publishing, Inc. in commemoration of the Andres Bonifacio Centennial May 10, 1997. Page 144. Full color photograph of Page 15, with the signature of “Gregoria de Bonifacio, Lakambini.”

ABOUT THE WORK

This is truly an extraordinary historical document, rarer still because it is one of a kind. Although, it has been published in parts, it has never been seen in full. It adds greater detail to Andres Bonifacio’s account of the deceit and betrayal at the Tejeros Con-vention — and takes up the rest of the tragic saga. On April 24, 1987 — the date of Bonifacio’s last letter to Emilio Jacinto — he had no idea of the fate that would befall him or that he was in such terrible danger. Gregoria de Jesus tells the tale of his violent arrest, imprisonment in what was an outhouse of a certain bahay na bato in Cavite, trial, and subsequent disappearance. Moreover, in this heart-breaking tale of the day Andres Bonifacio and his brother Procopio were led away to be never seen again, Gregoria de Jesus cannot even bring herself to call the men by their names, so painful was the memory of those tragic times. Partial Transcription: “…At sa kinabukasan ng tanghali nila inalis ang dalawang magkapatid (Andres at Procopio Bonifacio), at ng bandang hapon na ay nagkaroon ng laban sa labas ng bayan na di malayo sa aking kinalagayan ay saka lamang ako pinakawalan. Ng ako’y makawala at ako’y tumawid ng ibayo at aking hahanap ay nasalubong ko ang nangag hatid nadala ang papalimusan king damit na siya kong binibihis pati kumot, gamot sa katawan ng aking bayaw. Ng ako’y itanong kung saan naroon ang kanilang dala, ang sagot sa akin ay naroon sa Bondok sa sang bahay ng tnt, itinanong ko kung bakit nila dala ang damit, ang sagot ay ako na raw ang siyang biling magdala, ay mga kapatid. minulan kuna ang hanap sa pinajeruan sa akin ay natagpuan ko pag dating dono ay itinuro ako sa kabilang Bondok na labis ng taas ang inakyat ng kami any dumating, ay wala. Lakad na naman kami. “Ay mga kapatid. May dalawang Linggo kong hinahanap sa Bundok na walang tigil kami kundi gabi, ng di ko makita at walang makapagsabi kami ay sumunod sa kanilang tropa at kahit ang aking pagtanungan sa kanila ay kung saansaan ako itinuro magpahangang ngayon kaya lamang ako na-tutuluyang ng paglabas ay ng nakausap ko ang aking amain na sinabi sa aking na tapat na siya pang nagpakain bago inaalis sa pinagtigilan nila, kaya isipin ninyo mga kapatid. kung katwiran o hindi ang kanilang ginagawa pag api sa amin ay may iba pang makapag sasabi ng b —?” (Page 14.) Translation: “At noon on the following day, they took the two brothers (Andres and Procopio Bonifacio) out. Towards the afternoon, there was a skirmish outside of the town near where I was, and they let me go. Upon being released, I went to the other side to look for him and I met those who had taken him away. They were carrying with them the clothes I had begged for to clothe him, as well as the medicine for their wounds and the blanket that I had used to cover my brother-in-law. When I asked them where the men they had taken away were, they answered that they had left them in the mountains, in the house of a lieutenant. When I asked why they had the clothes of the two men, they replied that he had sent them to me to bring to them. Alas, my brothers! I then began to look for them at the place they had said, and when I arrived there, I was told to go elsewhere, to another mountain, which was extremely high. I got there but we did not find anyone. “Alas, my brothers! We went from mountain to mountain, combing each one, looking for them for two weeks, resting only at night. As I did not find them and there was nobody who could tell me where they were, we followed the soldiers who had taken them, but these men, in answer to our questions, would reply with all kinds of locations, all for naught. Still, we resolved not to give up and leave — until one of my uncles told me the truth, because he had given them food at the place where they had stopped. I ask you, my brothers, if what they have done is just and if these acts are clearly an injustice?” She narrates how pitiful the brothers were — having been stripped of their clothes. Andres, was mercifully dressed with slapdash clothing that she had to beg for. Her brother-in-law was covered only with a blanket which she, too, managed to provide, When she chances upon the soldiers who had taken her menfolk away, she is told quite nonsensically — and cynically — that the clothes and blanket had been sent for her to fetch to them. It is an astounding ordeal. Gregoria is finally told the truth by her uncle, the General Mariano Alvarez, who was in truth the brother of her mother Baltazara. It was the Alvarezes, head of the Magdiwang faction, and rivals of Emilio Aguinaldo who had beseeched her to come to Cavite and bring her husband, the Supremo, Andres Bonifacio along. In other pages, she narrates the now-familiar methods of election fraud at the Tejeros Convention— as well as trumped-up charges, false testimonies, and miscarriage of justice of Bonifacio’s trial, all too familiar woes in our modern day. In still others, she recalls the shameful and calculated indifference she suffered at the hands of the Magdalo. At the end of her story, she weeps, “Salamat nalamang mga kapatid at akoy nabuhay pa sa hirap na pinag daanan ko na may isang buan akong lumakad na wala kaming kinakain kundi saging na bubot at kung makapaglimos ng kaonting bigas ang aking mga kasamahan at ilulugaw at siyang ikakain sa akin at ang damit ko sa katawan ay dina halos masunog.” (I still give thanks, my brothers, that I have survived all these incredible hardships. We roamed on foot for a month, with nothing to eat but unripe bananas. And when my companions were lucky enough to beg for a few grains of rice, they would boil this into gruel and give that to me to feast on. My clothes had become such filthy rags that they would not burn if I had set a match to them.”) She signs herself “Gregoria de Bonifacio”, a term she rarely used, adamant in her position as “Lakambini” and determined to keep the flame of her husband’s memory alive. -Lisa Guerrero Nakpil