Bonifacio’s bolo

One of the tiring pleasures in an author’s life is meeting readers and signing books. My annual Ayala Museum lectures take one hour, but the book signing often takes two to three hours. It is not enough to sign books these days; one has to smile for selfies, too, so I think my face muscles are quite toned compared to most. Generic author’s inscriptions run from “With all good wishes” (Carmen Guerrero-Nakpil) and “Happy reading!” (Nick Joaquin), so I had to think of specific inscriptions for particular books, like “May you be haunted by this book” (for “Mabini’s Ghost”) or “To (name), who probably knows which ‘bolo’ I am referring to” (for “Bonifacio’s Bolo”).

Bonifacio’s bolo is most significant, iconographically, because the supremo of the Katipunan is always depicted in art brandishing one. Schoolchildren are taught that Bonifacio’s bolo symbolizes his bravery because he fought Spanish guns and cannons with it. Of course, the great debate over his weapon of choice is as old as the grand monument by Guillermo Tolentino in Balintawak, a place on the northern end of Edsa more popularly known as Monumento. Tolentino gave Bonifacio both a bolo and a pistol, leaving an unanswered question for those inclined to debate the finer details of Philippine iconography.

While researching in the Lopez Museum, I came across a front-page story in the Manila Chronicle of March 23, 1966, regarding a 21-inch bolo with a grip fashioned from carabao horn adorned with tiny stars. It was offered to the City of Manila through then Mayor Antonio Villegas as the bolo of Andres Bonifacio. The price tag was P100,000, and the seller was a certain Enrique P. Montinola. The seller was a rather controversial figure, having acquired Rizal memorabilia from the estate of the hero’s youngest sister Trinidad Rizal in a questionable manner.

Despite the seller’s shady reputation, Mayor Villegas consulted an expert on antiques, who was of the opinion that the fair price for the bolo was P70,000. Then a question of authenticity cropped up, and the deal with the mayor did not push through. Montinola threatened to sell the historic bolo to private collectors who, he claimed, were willing to pay more than the price that he offered the City of Manila as a patriotic gesture.

I do not know what happened to the bolo or where it is today, but when I did some cross-referencing in the 1938 Catalogue of Paintings, Sculptures, and Historical Objects published by the National Gallery of Art and History, there were three bolos in the state collection. One of these was described thus: “BOLO OF ANDRES BONIFACIO (19^th century). Bonifacio had this bolo with him when the Katipuneros gathered in Balintawak.” Unlike the two other bolos listed, it had no government property number because it was not donated to the museum but merely loaned by one Isabelo Donato, who issued an affidavit published in the column of Alfredo Roces on April 10, 1966, asking the question “Which bolo is genuine?”

Donato’s affidavit reads:

“28 August 1896, three days after the incident in Balintawak which ignited the Revolution, Procopio Bonifacio, the brother of the hero and Donato’s friend, sought refuge in his home located at 189 Calle Soler, Tondo. Procopio was followed shortly by Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Jacinto. There, the hero left a bundle for safekeeping. Meanwhile Donato after some discussion with a neighbor, Mariano Gomez, decided that his house was not too safe a refuge for the Bonifacios, and so three days later, Andres Bonifacio and his companions were spirited to another house in Calle Lavezares, Binondo. After about a month’s stay, the refugees decided to leave for Cavite. On the night of their departure a dinner was given in their honor in the house of Mariano Gomez. It was in the evening of this departure, after the dinner, that Donato returned to Bonifacio the bundle entrusted to him on the night the hero arrived in Donato’s house. Bonifacio opened the bundle which contained a pistol and a bolo, and keeping the pistol, he said to Donato: ‘I give you this bolo because it would only be cumbersome to me.’ This bundle had been opened in the presence of Mariano Gomez.”

So there was already a Bonifacio bolo in the National Museum as early as 1918, because in the Dec. 5, 1938, issue of La Vanguardia, Jose Escaler, acting director of the National Library and Museum, thanked Donato for his “voluntary gift” of Bonifacio’s bolo. But on Jan. 6, 1919, Donato made it clear to Escaler and the general public that the bolo was not donated but merely entrusted to the National Museum for safekeeping. It was not a permanent gift. The National Museum was destroyed during the Battle for Manila in 1945 and the Bonifacio bolo was believed destroyed as well.

But then a “Bonifacio bolo” surfaced in 1966. Enrique Montinola claimed that he acquired the bolo he was selling to Mayor Villegas from Espiridiona Bonifacio, sister of the supremo, on April 14, 1949, or some eight months before she passed away. He even had a signed affidavit from Espiridiona’s sons, Mauro and Cesar Distrito, stating that their mother gave the bolo to Montinola “in gratitude for [financial] help because of government neglect for her welfare.”

Where is the bolo today? Is it authentic? Those are questions to ponder on Monday, Nov. 30, Bonifacio Day.

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