The first Catholic Encyclopedia was published about a hundred years ago; preserved inside this monumental work, like fossil in amber, is an unlikely and dated entry on Jose Rizal. Make that “carbon-dated.” The errors and emphases of this 1912 entry allow us a close, specific look at a particular era, when Catholic Americans in the Philippines had all but rationalized the national hero as one of their own.
THE NATION paused yesterday to remember Andres Bonifacio’s legacy of leadership, selflessness and sacrifice. Or at least we were supposed to, but honestly, who among us really knew the man and what he stood for? Yes, he was the Supremo of the Kataastaasang Kagalanggalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan. Yes, he led a revolution against centuries of Spanish oppressive rule, and yes, he and his brother Procopio were tried and found guilty of treason and sentenced to death by Emilio Aguinaldo’s revolutionary government.
His cousin-in-law Jose Turiano Santiago led Emilio Jacinto to the Kataastaasang, Kagalanggalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan, and thus began his amazing friendship with supremo Andres Bonifacio.
