Bonifacio and His Unfinished Revolution

This is slightly delayed, but about two weeks ago, November 30 to be exact, the Philippines commemorated the birth of the Great Plebeian, Andres Bonifacio. What struck me about this annual holiday is that it was hardly mentioned in the news. Yes, it was a holiday, which meant no work and no classes. Other than that though, hardly anyone remembered what the celebration was all about.

I know not too many people know about this, but the life and death of Bonifacio has always been shrouded in mystery. And for reasons only history knows, his heroism has consistently been chopped down to pieces as time passes by.

The youth of today is probably unaware that unlike Rizal, Aguinaldo, and other Filipino heroes, Bonifacio's remains are still unaccounted for, more than a hundred years after he was executed in the mountains of Cavite. His attempts at freeing our ancestors from Spanish cruelty were constantly belittled, and often allowed to be overshadowed by the many victories of General Aguinaldo during the heat of the revolution.

In countless commemorative acts, Bonifacio was often left in the dark. And even the few memorabilia that were supposedly made in remembrance of the Supremo were taken away from the man. Who could forget the original five-peso bill in the 70's which carried his picture, only to be rivaled by a similar note which had the image of Aguinaldo?

Then, by some stroke of mystery, Bonifacio's bill was stopped from circulation, leaving that of Aguinaldo's to have the field all by itself.

Then, the powers-that-be appeared to have realized the mistake and decided to produce five-peso coins bearing Bonifacio's image. But this did not last long, for Aguinaldo soon came into the picture again, coming up with his own five-peso coin.

Then in another stroke of feign genius, the Bonifacio-bearing five-peso coin vanished from monetary circulation, and Aguinaldo again crowned himself king of the coin kingdom.

In between, there was also a short-lived two-peso coin that supposedly carried the face of the Katipunan founder, but this too disappeared from circulation for unknown reasons.

Today, Bonifacio's face has to content itself to the much smaller ten-peso coin. Few people, however, could hardly recognize him. Not only is his image too small, Bonifacio has to share space with another local hero, the Sublime Paralytic, Apolinario Mabini.

It was said that Rizal's image was placed in the one-peso coin because our early officials wanted a national hero that everyone can afford to hold. It was also said to be the case with all the other Philippine coins, but with the obvious exception of Bonifacio whose memory and heroism seems to be undergoing continuous and systematic execution.

Some historians believe that Bonifacio continues to be slain up to this day. With all the things that I have seen, I could hardly disagree. Yes, there are monuments and statues that have been erected in various places honoring the Great Plebeian; yet, they can never hide the way he has been treated both then and now.

The next time you get to hold a ten-peso coin in your hand, stop awhile and try to look at the picture of this man whose personal revolution remains unfinished.