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Record of meeting held on December 18, 1896

 

                                       Source: Archivo General Militar de Madrid, Caja 5677, leg.1.148A

 

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On December 3, 1896 the Mataas na Sangunian decided that the town of Pasig was to be attacked on either Friday, December 11 or Saturday, December 12, 1896, and gave orders for the troops involved to be assembled without fail at Pantayanin – the Mataas na Sangunian’s base  - on December 10.

 

Subsequently, “due to many obstacles,” it was agreed that the planned attack should be postponed.  The document reproduced below gives a brief record of a meeting held on December 18 to discuss what had gone wrong and to make plans for attacking the town at some date in the near future.  The meeting was presided over by Emilio Jacinto in his capacity as Kataastaasang Punong Hukbong  (Supreme Military Commander).[1]

 

The meeting assigned various tasks to local commanders and units in preparation for the attack on Pasig.  Ponciano de la Paz and Enrique Espiritu were directed to engage the Spanish detachment stationed in Marikina and seize their weapons.  The KKK forces in Kainta, Taytay and Antipolo would obtain the ingredients for dynamite, which Atilano Sta. Ana would use to blow up the roads at strategic points around Pasig.  The forces in Santulan would construct fortifications, and the units along the banks of the Pasig river at Pineda and Malapad-na-bato would also be mobilized. 

 

There being insufficient time to conclude the discussion about the attack on Pasig, the meeting elected Emilio Jacinto, Julian de la Cruz and Francisco Santos to consider the strategy and tactics to be adopted in more detail, and agreed that their decisions and directives should be final.

 

 

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Sa Pantayanin Mataas na Sangunian ng mga lupalup ng Manila, Bulakan, Nueva Exija’t Morong, ika labing-walo ng Diciembre ng isang libo walong daan at siam na pu at anim: nangagkatipon ang mga Ginoong natatala sa kapanig alangalang sa anyaya ng M.N.S., ng maipahayag nito na bukas na ang salitaan at ang Mamumuno sa pulong ay ang K.P.H. si Gn.Emilio Jacinto halal ng K.S. ay ito’i napasintabi sa kalahatang kaginoohan at nagsaysay, na ang pagkaurong ng paglusob sa Pasig ay dahilan sa maraming kapansanan, hiningi naman na waling bahalain sa loob ang pagkaabala ng iba’t ibang Hukbong dumatal dito sa Hukuman, at ang bagay na paguusapan nitong kapisanan ay ang boong kagalingan, at karalian ng nasabing paglusob sa Pasig: ng matanto ng kalahatan, nangagkaisang nagkasundo sa pinagusapang sumusunod: ang mangangasiwa ng paglupig sa mga kahamok sa Marikina at sasamsam ng madlang kasangkapang gamit sapaglalamas ay ang mga Goong Ponciano de la Paz at Enrique Espiritu: ang sa Kainta, Taytay at Antipolo sa pamamagitan ng sasangkaping dinamita ay ang Gn.Atilano Sta Ana: sa Santulan ay ang mga Goong Genaro de los Reyes at Eusebio de los Santos sampu ng pagtatayo ng kuta: sa pangpang ng Pineda si Gn.Juan Manuel: sa pangpang ng Malapad-na-bato si Gn.Tininting Pio; at ang mga daang patungong Pasig sinumangan [?] ng dinamita ni Gn.Atilano Sta. Ana.

 

            Sa kapalangan ng panahon ay hindi nawakasan ang bagay ng pinagpupulungan, kaya nga ang naturang Namamahala ang K.P.H. si Gn.Emilio Jacinto ay inihayag sa kalahatan ang pangangailangan ng paghahalal ng tatlong Kahalig sa mga naturang kaginoohan na sakop nitong Hukuman, at ang pagkaisahan nila sa gagawin mga paraan na di napaguusapan pa, nang tatalimahin ng kalahatlahatang kapatid, ng matanto ng boong kapulungan ay pawang nagsing-ayon, at pinagkasunduang magkamit ng naturang katungkulang Kahalig ay ang mga Gng. Francisco Santos 15 votos, Julian de la Cruz, Emilio Jacinto.

 

            Ang M.N.S. bago hinanganan ang kapulungan ay pinapanumpang lahat sa kabagsikan ng walang hangang kabanalbanalang Katipunan na sino ma’i walang magsisiwalat nitong pinagusapan kahit sa tunay at tapat nakapatid, tuloy inilagda itong kasulatan at tinalaan ng kanikanilang pangalan ang marunong na kanognog ng M.N.P., sa lahat ng ito’i ako’y M.N.K. ay nagpapatibay.

 

Ang M.N.P.

Isid. Franc.

Añora.

 

Calixto Santos                                       Emilio Jacinto

Francisco de los Santos                        Julian de la Cruz[2]

                                                                 Atilano Sta. Ana[3]

H. Valentin [?]                                       Mariano Pasig [?]

Pedro Victorino                                     Genaro de los Reyes[4]

Juan Manuel                                          Eusebio Santos

Gregorio Bonifacio                               Marcelino Martin [?]

Felipe Santos                                         Nicolas Paz [?]

Pedro Magsayo                                     Octabio Kikino [?]

Bonifacio Bedoña[5] [?]

Teodorico Asuncion

 

Ang M. na Kalihim

Julio Nakpil (Giliw)

 

Flaviano Rojas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 NOTES


[1] Santiago Alvarez was therefore mistaken when he recalled Jacinto as being in Cavite on this date, having just arrived there with Bonifacio the day before. Most probably Bonifacio arrived in Cavite at the end of November or beginning of December, and Jacinto stayed there only briefly before heading back north.  Santiago V. Alvarez, The Katipunan and the Revolution: the memoirs of a general, translated by Paula Carolina S. Malay (Manila: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1992), p.67.

[2] A Katipunero named Julian de la Cruz held the position of Taliba (Sentinel) in the KKK chapter “Dimasalang” in Bigaa, Bulacan, and a Julian de la Cruz was also among the signatories to the Truce of Biak-na-bato in November 1897.  But whether these men were one and the same is not known.

[3] The previous month, November 1896, Atilano Sta. Ana had commanded a detachment at the ill-fated engagement with Spanish forces on the Langka River, near San Mateo. Alvarez, The Katipunan and the Revolution, p.165.

[4] Genaro de los Reyes (alias Bato Balani”), from Mandaluyong, was one of Bonifacio’s personal assistants, and held the rank of colonel in the Katipunan army. From his autobiographical notes on the revolution, which Santiago V. Alvarez incorporated in his own memoir, it would appear that at the time of this meeting – December 18, 1896 – he had just returned from a brief visit to Cavite, where he had delivered some firearms to Bonifacio and had doubtless briefed him on the latest situation on the “eastern front” (“dakong Silangan”). Alvarez, The Katipunan and the Revolution, pp.170-2.

[5] The name Bonifacio Bedaña (alias “Suyod”) appears in a document dated February 1897 as the president of the KKK chapter “Nagligtas,” which was based in the barrio of Pulo, Pasig.  Mataas na Sangunian, Certificate of marriage, February 1897. [Archivo General Militar de Madrid, Caja 5677, leg.1.140].