Bonifacio and Jacinto: best ‘brods’ forever

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.

We wonder how Bonifacio sized up the long-haired young man, 12 years his junior, during their first meeting. It was said that when Jacinto was enrolled in San Juan de Letran and later in the University of Santo Tomas, he only had a haircut when he could no longer bear the teasing of his classmates.

The freshman pre-law student was about to enter a fraternity of older men, and it could not have been different from what the young male iskolars ng bayan of the University of the Philippines today go through when they join a Greek-letter fraternity there.

We imagine Bonifacio ribbing his prospective “brod” to first go and see a barber before they could even begin talking about the fraternity, what this brotherhood of the country’s noble sons was all about, and going through the secret initiation rites that he and its other founders established.

The final rites always ended with some blood-letting, but not the kind produced in today’s fraternity hazings which  sometimes lead to the death of neophytes.  The Katipunan initiate was asked to draw blood from his arm with which to sign his pledge of allegiance to its principles.

Bonifacio must have discerned a treasure in the neophyte from the very start. It didn’t take long before Jacinto gained the trust and affection of Bonifacio.

The young man spoke the language of Manila—Kastilang tindahan (roughly today’s Taglish)—so he had to learn the language fast. Fraternal discussions were in Tagalog.  The supremo himself would be his Tagalog tutor, and in due time, the young katipunero surpassed his mentor in the quality of his oral and written Tagalog.

One of the things they had in common was a passion for books on revolutions.  Both were fond of the “History of the French Revolution.” Jacinto could have read La Solidaridad, “El Filibusterismo,” “Les Misérables,” and “The Wandering Jew”  from his mentor’s personal library.

“They were like brothers,” Gregoria de Jesus, a katipunera herself, wrote of her husband and Jacinto. Because the young man who became the secretary of the Katipuan lived with them, she took custody of the society’s belongings for Jacinto.

The supremo wrote the first regulations of the Katipunan, and later the younger man put out his own version, the “Cartilla,” which echoed Bonifacio’s ideas. Because he found it better than his own, the supremo deferred to Jacinto’s version.

Bonifacio trusted Jacinto. They shared secrets, and the supremo made sure he consulted him before they pursued any plan or activity. As Epifanio de los Santos’ son Jose put it in his biography of Jacinto, “Wala nang uuna kay Andres Bonifacio sa paghanga at pagdakila kay Emilio Jacinto.  Wala siyang lihim na hindi ipinagtapat dito at walang bagay at pangyayaring hindi muna niya isinangguni kay Emilio Jacinto bago niya isagawa. ”

Together, they refined the policy structure and set up the propaganda machinery of the Katipunan. They secured a printing press, published the  “Cartilla,” some sort of codes—the revolutionary “Liwanag at Dilim” (Light and Darkness) and the commercial “Samahan ng Bayan sa Pangangalakal” (Commercial Association of the People)—and their organ Kalayaan, which only had two issues in 1896.

When they went to war after the discovery of the Katipunan, it is said that the supremo was more worried about the safety of his young brod.

Together they entered Magdalo territory in 1897.  Both revolutionary generals Artemio Ricarte and Santiago Alvarez  had dramatic recollections of the event. Alvarez wrote:

“The Supremo left Imus for Noveleta in the company of Messrs. Emilio Aguinaldo, Daniel Tirona, Baldomero Aguinaldo, Esteban San Juan, and others.  They did not stop at Kawit, although it was along their way to Noveleta.  When they reached Noveleta before two in the afternoon, they were joyfully greeted by the Magdiwang leaders and troops.  They were welcomed by a brass band, flags, fireworks and gunfire, and by shouts of ‘Long live the Supremo!’ The Supremo would then answer back, ‘Long live the Motherland!’”

“The party was led to a house where they ate and rested for a while.  At past three that afternoon, the Supremo and Secretary Emilio Jacinto boarded a luxurious carriage drawn by a well-fed, swift white horse to inspect the defense positions of the Katipunan territories.  A cavalry detachment led by Col. Santos Nocon provided the honor guard in front, on the left and right sides, and at the rear of the carriage.  Astride a magnificent horse, Magdalo Secretary of War Daniel Tirona rode abreast on the right side of the Supremo and Sec. Emilio Jacinto…

“Along the streets, some people shouted, ‘Long live the King!’ to which the Supremo would answer, ‘Long live the Motherland!’”

After their triumphant entry to Magdalo country, where was the secretary during the prosecution of the supremo in Cavite?  He could have acted like John the Beloved, accompanying and protecting Gregoria during the trial and when she went looking for her missing husband. Alas, there’s no passion and death of Andres Bonifacio according to Emilio Jacinto, the beloved brother.

But there is an account of how Jacinto eluded the Spanish authorities after he was wounded in a battle in Majayjay, Laguna, in 1898.  He recovered and went back to Manila, staying there briefly.  When he returned to Majayjay, he got sick and never got well again.  He died on April 16, 1899.

Liberato F. Ramos is a retired nuclear engineer.