Supremo's Only Victory? Andres Bonifacio and the Battle of Antipolo

Recent research publicized by a major news outlet suggested that Andres Bonifacio, president and later Supremo of the revolutionary society Kataastaasan, Kagalanggalang na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan or Katipunan, was being framed wrongly by traditional history textbooks for not having won any battle during the Revolution. It was not as if being a loser in military terms degraded his heroic status. At least according to a March 2011 survey on the "genuine Filipino hero" had Bonifacio trailing Jose Rizal, 34 percent to 75 percent. Also, another acclaimed Filipino hero, Antonio Luna, was known for not having won any battle during the Philippine-American War. Then again, it still merited a review. What if Bonifacio really won a battle during the Philippine Revolution? How would it transform our historical perceptions on the man?

Bonifacio Monument in Caloocan
Photo courtesy of FAQ.ph

The triumph at Antipolo

In a letter by Bonifacio dated December 12, 1896 to the Military Council in the Northern District (the region north and east of the capital Manila, which council was formed in November 1896), it was said that the Katipunan forces organized at the headquarters in Sitio Pantayanin (now in Barangay Dela Paz) managed to prevail against the Spanish offensive. Pantayanin was a strategic spot, located in the vicinity of Hinulugang Taktak and near the future railroad station in Antipolo (now called Daang Bakal, the Sta. Mesa-Antipolo route was abandoned later on). This claim, which the letter did not seem to bother placing an actual date when the battle took place, became the basis of "Bonifacio's victory." Besides, it did appear that Bonifacio himself was quite enthusiastic of this triumph, an observation which would not show later on when he began to deal with the revolutionaries in Cavite. Also, if this was Bonifacio's great win, why do we not see Antipolo itself throw an annual commemorative feast to celebrate the Supremo's victory in the city, considering that it was likely a significant development during the course of the Philippine Revolution?

However, further investigation of the letter immediately dispelled this interpretation. While the Katipuneros did win at the Battle of Antipolo, Bonifacio did not explicitly say it was he who led the revolutionaries there. In fact, he attributed the victory to General Hermogenes Bautista, who was promoted as military commander of the area after this feat. But who was Bautista, one may ask?

The statue of Hermogenes Bautista
in front of the school named after him.
Bautista, also known as
an advocate of women's rights,
died on October 17, 1917.
Photo courtesy of
H. Bautista Elementary School

From Kutsero to Katipunero

If Hermogenes Bautista was somewhat familiar to locals of the area, it was probably because there was a memorial to his honor. One significant reminder was H. Bautista Memorial Elementary School in Marikina. Why build the school there? This is because he was born in Bayan-Bayanan, Marikina on April 19, 1866 as the fifth child of Isidro Bautista and Ines de los Santos. He stopped schooling and went for a job as a cochero (stagecoach/calesa driver) traversing the Marikina, San Mateo, and Pasig areas. In 1884/1885, he was conscripted as an infantryman designated to serve in Lanao. At the time, the Spanish were dealing with the so-called "Second Kudarat", Datu Uto (or Sultan Utto Anwaruddin) of Buayan. Aiming to expand his power beyond the Maguindanao area where Buayan was located, Datu Uto formed a considerable threat to Spanish settlements in Mindanao. The following campaign against him was led personally by the Spanish Governor General Emilio Terrero. In two years, by 1887, Datu Uto signed a peace agreement with the Spanish. This ended his quest to create a strong confederation poised against Spain.

Uto's defeat also signaled the need to redirect military troops elsewhere. The same went for Bautista, who was then assigned as a guardia civil veterana (veteran civil guard) upon his return from Mindanao. At the time, the organization of the guardia civil was still relatively new. It was formed only in 1868 during the term of Governor General Carlos Maria de la Torre. Meanwhile, the veteran contingent began later, in 1872. Even then, the veteranas were quite an elite unit. Of the 3,685 guardia civil members at the time of the Philippine Revolution, only 325 were veterana. Later on, Bautista would be one of the defectors who joined the revolutionaries with the codename "Barras." On September 28, 1896, he led the organization of Katipuneros in Marikina. With him were fellow Katipunan leaders Andres Eustaquio, Jose Eustaquio, Leoncio Bautista, Arcadio Sanvictores, and Tomas Medina, among others. By October 1896, Bautista would be promoted as brigadier general  and second in command of General Francisco de Asis. Two Katipunan headquarters or reales in the area were established. One was in Balara, near the Marikina River (now part of Quezon City), and the other was in Pantayanin, which was also known as Masuyod or Pasong Kawayan (Bamboo Pass). It would only be a few months later when Bonifacio himself would hail the works of Bautista and his unit, especially since it came after Bonifacio and Emilio Jacinto suffered a defeat in nearby San Mateo and Montalban (now Rodriguez) in November 1896. Bautista already succeeded General de Asis as military commander of the Pantayanin area by this time as de Asis resigned his position after the loss, but the ratification of Bautista's promotion was only confirmed by December, and it came after the triumph at Antipolo. Another interesting note for this successful defense of Antipolo was that the Pantayanin revolutionaries were reinforced by Remontado troops. Remontado was the Spanish term for indigenous peoples known as Dumagat. Meanwhile, as to how many Katipuneros were deployed in Antipolo and the surrounding areas at the time, estimates went from 3,000 to 6,000 as of November 1896. Of course, while considering how they were spread over large areas covered by the Northern District, it could be assumed that Bautista commanded all these troops as commanding general (punong hukbo).

Significance of the Battle of Antipolo

While it might not be Bonifacio's personal victory, the Battle of Antipolo still held great importance to the morale of the revolutionaries at the time. The High Council which had jurisdiction of revolutionary activity in Manila, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, and Morong (now Rizal) began to gather at Antipolo in December 1896, seeing that it was a stronghold capable of withstanding the Spanish attacks. It also allowed the organization of local government units in Antipolo, and Katipunan offensives in nearby areas like Pasig began to be launched from Antipolo. However, as the council itself admitted in a letter dated December 17, 1896, the Katipunan was unable to establish "large liberated zones" in the areas under their jurisdiction as the revolutionaries under Emilio Aguinaldo did in Cavite. In sum, this victory of the Antipoleños and Marikeños was most likely a blip in a series of military reverses, especially as the Governor General at the time, Ramon Blanco, seemed to focus his forces on the north than on the south. In a way, this strategy was a factor favoring the wins at Cavite. Then again, considering that at the time Bonifacio and Jacinto were defeated by a smaller force of some 1,000 Spanish troops in San Mateo and Montalban, Aguinaldo and the Caviteño leaders with him won against a larger force of 15,000 Spanish troops in Binakayan and Dalahican (November 1896), the effect was by no means minimal. Even the Spanish began to wonder if their initial strategic objectives were correct. Blanco's successor, Camilo de Polavieja, would later shift the main offensive against Cavite.

Emilio Aguinaldo on the field
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Whether or not it weighed on Bonifacio's reputation elsewhere, at least in Cavite, there was an evident and determined push for reorganization. This could be observed in the Imus Assembly on December 31, 1896, just a day after Jose Rizal was executed. Presided by Bonifacio himself, no clear resolution came out of the meeting. However, it was already foreshadowing the events to come. Only three months later, the Tejeros Convention would elevate Aguinaldo as president of a newly organized government, and a series of events set up by this convention would eventually lead to the death of Bonifacio himself.

Meanwhile, should Filipinos celebrate the victory at Antipolo? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But with this, it has to be cleared that Bonifacio's brilliance was by no means defined only by his personal performance in the field. For instance, the reales system which he set up in the provinces under the jurisdiction of the High Council proved to be useful even after his demise. The idea of the reales was to build temporary strongholds also serving as strategic supply points. Unlike the more permanent trenches built in Cavite, they were meant to be abandoned if the battle proved to be unwinnable, appealing to the precolonial military tactics which employed a retreat and attack pattern. Later on, when Cavite was lost to the Spanish, Aguinaldo would effectively utilize the reales to escape and establish a new headquarters in Bulacan by June 1897. It took the Spanish by surprise to know that Aguinaldo, who they thought was cornered in Cavite, managed to escape their cordon with some 500 troops through this system.

Bautista and his unit also made effective use of the reales in the Battle of Antipolo. If the debate would boil down to whether or not all victories recorded during the first phase of the Revolution should be credited to Bonifacio because he was by all intents and purposes the Supremo, the supreme leader of the Katipunan, it might prove to be an affair with no clear resolution like the Imus Assembly. Besides, conclusions in history are at best tentative. Then again, it probably would not make much of a difference if Bonifacio personally won a military battle or not. As a primary architect of the Revolution, his contributions to building the nation that is now the Philippines and his patriotic fervor for the country was by no means discounted. Perhaps the same also goes for the rest of our national and local heroes, less known or well known, like Hermogenes Bautista. After all, heroism in the Filipino language is bayanihan, the spirit of cooperation and building each other up, especially in times of crisis. It was less of a matter of personalities than it was a matter of the country.

"Ipaghandog-handog ang buong pag-ibig

Hanggang sa mga dugo'y ubusang itigis

Kung sa pagtatanggol, buhay ay mailit

Ito'y kapalaran at tunay na langit."

(Andres Bonifacio)

See the references here.