The Manila Times

What we got wrong about the Battle of Pinaglabanan

MICHAEL “XIAO” CHUA

ALTHOUGH not the first battle of the Philippine Revolution, the Battle of Pinaglabanan on Aug. 30, 1896 was definitely the consequential clash which initiated that revolution. On the day it happened, martial law was proclaimed in eight provinces by Governor-General Jose Blanco on mere suspicion that there were Katipunan members there (although the revolution had only started at this point in Manila and Cavite). Those eight provinces are now represented in the eight rays of the sun in our flag.

As a young instructor, my knowledge of Pinaglabanan, also known as the Battle of San Juan del Monte, was based on the most basic text on the Revolution of 1896, Teodoro Agoncillo’s Revolt of the Masses. He wrote that since Bonifacio’s plan to “surprise the Spaniards in Manila on the night of August 29, the deadline for the offensive against the city, did not materialize,” Bonifacio and Jacinto just “seized the powder magazine, and besieged the Spanish Garrison manned by a handful of Spaniards who, realizing their predicament, fought a delaying battle until reinforcements arrived. Cavalry and infantry contingents were immediately sent to the defenders, and in the battle that followed the rebels were driven off.” He also mentioned among the attackers, a certain Sancho Valenzuela. So, two battles of Pinaglabanan in this version, one winning and one losing.

Previous historians claimed that Bonifacio lost all his battles, but this passage from Agoncillo was the basis used by the films “Supremo” and “Bonifacio: Ang

Unang Pangulo” to depict the Katipunan as seizing a polvorín (powder magazine storage) and winning. According to this version, they lost when reinforcements came. I used to say as a Bonifacio defender that this is one of the “evidence” that Bonifacio at least won the “first” battle of Pinaglabanan at the polvorín.

But adding to my confusion is a badly written marker that is still displayed at the Diwa ng 1896 monument at the corner of N. Domingo and Pinaglabanan Streets (lower end). It did not come from the National Historical Institute. The marker claimed that instead of a battle in the polvorín (there was no mention of its seizure), the battle happened on that intersection, “Pinaglabanan” (battleground), so-called since at this crossing the first fight…took place at dawn on Aug. 30, 1896.” Some Bonifacio admirers are irritated by it and want it removed because it calls Bonifacio a “commoner,” calls his men “unarmed.” It says that Bonifacio was able to kill the commanding officer and three artilleros because of his “only shooting gun” (he was not the only one who had a gun). The number of casualties mentioned did not have any basis from any primary sources. It only mentions Bonifacio losing a number of his men and wasn’t able to seize anything. It also claims that after losing that battle, his men were able to proceed to Santa Mesa where they “met” the Spanish reinforcements from Manila. Not in any sources.

The placement of the Spirit of 1896 monument by Eduardo Castrillo, and subsequently the NHCP Museo ng Katipunan, in what used to be El Depósito (the large underground water storage which was a Spanish detachment aboveground) on the other, higher end of the Pinaglabanan Street, made people assume that the Battle of Pinaglabanan really happened there or also happened there. Honestly, because of this, I once thought that they won in the polvorín at dawn and then attacked

Opinion

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2022-01-29T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-29T08:00:00.0000000Z

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The Manila Times