Where are Antonio Luna’s bones?

“Dead men tell no tales” is a saying that has become obsolete with the recent advances in forensic investigation. It would be intriguing to know what an autopsy would reveal from the remains of the ill-fated Andres Bonifacio and Antonio Luna; the only problem is that their bones are missing.

Bonifacio’s bones, or what were said to be his bones, were exhumed in Maragondon, Cavite, in 1917, but these disappeared in the 1930s and have never been seen since. My theory is that these bones were fake and would not have withstood careful scrutiny. I believe that the remains of the Bonifacio brothers, Andres and Procopio, still lie somewhere in the Maragondon range waiting to be found and examined to give us closure on how the Katipunan “Supremo” really met his end.

For Antonio Luna, we have the testimony of Antonio Jimenez, resident of Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, who exhumed Luna’s remains in 1902 or 1903. His narration was published in the Tagalog newspaper edited by Lope K. Santos, La Sampaguita, on July 20, 1926. He did not see the actual assassination, but from his home on Real Street, Cabanatuan, he heard shots from the churchyard around one o’clock in the afternoon. Here is an unedited version of his version of the story:

“I was one of those who were present at the funeral which took place the following morning. Two graves were dug side by side to the left of the entrance to the cemetery and about eight or ten meters from the passage that is found at the middle of the pantheon. In those graves were buried the cadavers of the two deceased military chiefs. General Luna and Colonel [Francisco] Paco Roman, who were placed in their respective coffins, with their feet to the south. The coffin of General Luna was in the grave nearer to the said passage of the cemetery.

“In 1902 or 1903 I have received from Mr. Jose Tombo a request to exhume the remains of General Luna to be delivered to Dr. Jose Luna, brother of the General. Therefore what I did was to ask the necessary permit from the corresponding authorities, when the commanding officer of the locality was still Major Dean who granted it with all his heart.

“After the remains of the said General Luna had been disinterred, I saw in the cranium two marks, of two wounds inflicted with a bolo, one towards the posterior part, two inches long, and the other towards the front which destroyed the cavity wherein was found the left eye. There were also two wounds more in the bones of the right arm which were well marked. I have also seen several holes in the cranium which possibly were the effect of bullets from a gun.

“I brought the said remains or bones which I placed inside a wooden box, to the house of Mr. Jose Tombo and there they remained for more than a month. Upon the request of Señora Trinidad Tinio, widow of Gen. Mamerto Natividad, the said remains were delivered to her to be brought to Manila and delivered to Dr. Jose Luna, brother of Gen. Antonio Luna y Novicio.”

One can only wish that the general’s brother, Dr. Jose Luna, a noted toxicologist, had left his expert opinion on the traces of the assassination, which were left on the bones of Antonio Luna.

An opinion of Dr. Luna was cited by Alfonso Ongpin in two newspaper articles published in the 1950s. But this one was on the death of the painter Juan Luna and it suggested that he did not die of a heart attack, but was murdered. Juan Luna, according to Dr. Luna, died of poisoning. He suspected foul play. Juan Luna’s corpse was cremated soon after necrological services were held in Hong Kong in December 1899 and that should cover the assassin’s trail—or maybe not. Juan Luna’s ashes were first kept under the bed of Joaquin Luna, younger brother of the painter, and were later taken by the painter’s son, the noted architect Andres Luna de San Pedro, who also kept the remains under his bed until they were finally interred in the crypt of San Agustin Church in Intramuros. Will these ashes still reveal its secrets?

Antonio Luna’s bones, on the other hand, were the subject of two articles that appeared in the Manila Times in June 1926. One article locates the general’s bones in San Fernando, La Union, where they were kept under the bed of his brother Joaquin Luna. Another article cites Dr. Jose P. Bantug of the Philippine Health Service, who first confirmed the bones were with Joaquin Luna but later retracted and said that the remains were in Quiapo church, in a niche near the door facing Carriedo Street. Later located was a tombstone that read: “NUMERIANA LUNA Vda. de RAMIREZ 13 de marzo, 1899 ANTONIO LUNA NOVICIO 5 de Junio, 1899 CRISTINA RAMIREZ DE LORENZO 3 de Junio, 1919.” Antonio Santiago, senior sexton of Quiapo church, attested that the remains of the three individuals named above were in the niche and arranged in the order stated on the tombstone. I wonder if the Manila Times reporter verified the tombstone himself because the article ends: “But one can seldom be sure of just where anything is at the moment in the Philippines.”

Antonio Luna’s bones will just confirm what we already know about his death at the hands of assassins, but the closure we seek on this historical mystery should help us realize that while he was one of the “solutions” in the birthing of the Filipino nation, he was also one of its problems. As Rizal once said: “The glory of saving the country does not lie with one who contributed to its ruin.”

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Comments are welcome at aocampo@ateneo.edu.