The Katipunan; or, The Rise and Fall of the Filipino Commune

by Francis St. Clair

Note 90. Negotiations indeed! Who can imagine the circumspect and formal little nation of Japan admitting negotiations with a warehouse porter, a man who was representative only of the worst of the lowest classes! Sr. Diaz probably made this statement from hearsay por boca de ganso as they say in Spanish. If any negotiations took place between Bonifacio and the Japanese Government they were on a par with those between the late U. S. Consuls of Singapore and Hong-Kong, and a few other irresponsible people, and Aguinaldo, the leader of the Katipunan.

Note 91. As has been seen in the foregoing notes, it was the intention of the separatists to make purchases of arms and their necessary ammunition in Japan. Those wealthy Filipinos who were owners of steamships were looked to as the chief assistance in the transportation and landing of the said arms, etc.

The date of the arrival of the arms, according as appeared from evidence given during the trial of Francisco L. Roxas, was to have been the 31st of December 1896. Lorenzo de la Paz, however, stated that it was the 1st of September of the said year. Others claimed it to be the 13th of September or the 30th of November. As may be easily seen, there was no lack of disagreement among the chiefs of the revolt, and perhaps, as far as the majority were concerned, still more exploitation.

Note 92. Pio Valenzuela y Alejandrino was a licentiate of Medicine, and one of the members of the inferior Supreme Council of the Katipunan. According to his own story he entered the files of the society under compulsion at the hands of Andrés Bonifacio, who on the strength of a love affair, gave him the alternative of death or membership in the Katipunan (see p. 132). In his declaration during his trial (fol. 142–147) on the 6th of September 1896, he recorded how on the 30 day of November, S. Andrew’s day of the year 1895, he was presented by Andrés Bonifacio to various Katipuneros as “brother” Medico (Doctor), Bonifacio stating that from that time he (Valenzuela) would be the doctor of the society. He also stated how, in the following month of January and in another meeting, he was nominated Fiscal, and official doctor with a salary of thirty pesos monthly, a salary he had no little difficulty in collecting. He was commissioned in May 1896 to go to Dapitan to hold a conference with Rizal concerning armed rising against the supreme authority of Spain in the Archipelago; but Rizal was shrewder and more far-sighted than the others and would not consent to the carrying out of the scheme as proposed by Bonifacio. On the return of Valenzuela Bonifacio imposed upon him a strict silence concerning the outcome of the conference; but being pressed by certain members of the society, among whom were Emilio Jacinto, Secretary of the Supreme Council, and capita Ramon of Pandacan, he revealed the secret of Rizal’s opposition to a plan he feared would be abortive. When once the cat was out of the bag the facts soon became public among the principal members, with the result that many who had promised funds for the purchase of arms etc. in Japan, refused to pay the amounts promised. Among these was a colonel of Malabon who had promised 500 pesos for the said object. This breach of confidence on the part of Valenzuela brought about the separation of himself and Bonifacio, and the former presented his resignation as doctor and fiscal of the society. Bonifacio opposed the idea of his resignation but it was finally accepted, and the former friends parted company each to work in his own sphere.

Valenzuela was in fact one of the chief movers of the rebellion; this was confessed by Domingo Franco, the late president of the then defunct Liga Filipina. “The rebellion,” says he, “was produced by a foolish child, whose name it would dirty the tongue to pronounce, because after being the author of all (this however is somewhat inexact) has given himself up to the authorities to denounce those he has succeeded in misleading.”

During his trial in the Bilibid prison, before Col. Francisco Olive y García on the 2nd of September 1896, he gave some of the most interesting and reliable information that has yet been gathered concerning the interior workings and doings of the Katipunan.

When the Guardia Civil set out from Manila to break up Bonifacio’s party in Caloocan, several of those forming the leadership fled, and among them Valenzuela. He entered Manila by way of Sampaloc, passing through Quiapo to the Escolta and down the Pasaje de Pérez, embarking there on one of the lake steamers. On arrival at Biñang he went to the house of the co-adjutor D. Silvino Manaol (native priest), to whom he recounted what had taken place. The co-adjutor asked of the parish priest the proclamation of the Governor General conceding pardon to those who should present themselves[64]. Having read it with care and under the advice of the co-adjutor, he set out for the capital disembarking at the Ayala bridge from whence he took a quiles and went immediately to the palace of the Governor to present himself to him. The Governor General was not at home so Valenzuela at once started for the offices of the Military Government.

Speaking of this giving up of himself of Valenzuela, Sr. José M. del Castillo y Jimenez says: “The forty-eight hours conceded by the proclamation of the Governor Blanco were about to close when there reached the palace of Sta. Potenciana, worn out, bathed in perspiration, and almost in a period of agony, Pio Valenzuela, an important person of revolution he being in such a condition that it was necessary to assist him previous to his passing into the presence of Gov. Blanco. When he had come to himself and was in a condition to make an explicit and ample confession he had two hours conference with the Governor, giving information of as such as he knew.”

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“Valenzuela and Rosario were of great utility in clarifying the facts and especially in the explanation of the cipher documents discovered in the house of Villaruel and others.”