Where are Bonifacio’s bones?

One hundred and twenty seven years since the Bonifacio brothers, Andres and Procopio, were executed in the Maragondon range, questions remain. Was the death sentence handed out by the military court fair? Was Aguinaldo responsible? Why did he initially commute the sentence to exile only to withdraw this later? For me, the more important question is how did Bonifacio die? By bullet or bolo? We will never know because the alleged bones of Andres Bonifacio (Procopio Bonifacio?) exhumed in 1918 have since disappeared.

One story is that, after the bones were examined by doctors Sixto de los Angeles and Fidel Cuajunco at the Philippine General Hospital, the remains were cremated and the ashes deposited under the Bonifacio Monument in Caloocan. Another account is that Manuel Quezon ordered the bones be kept in the National Museum, where these were lost or destroyed during the 1945 Battle for Manila. There is no primary source documentation for these versions. A statement from Domingo Ponce states that the remains were preserved in the temple of the Legionarios del Trabajo, at the junction of Azcarraga and Soler, in downtown Manila. This one is supported by a boxed article in The Independent dated March 6, 1926:

“The most salient note of the week is the mysterious disappearance of the remains, supposed or authentic, of Andres Bonifacio that were deposited in the Templo de Jerusalem de los Legionarios de Trabajo after it arrived in Manila from Maragondon, Cavite where they were exhumed after three months [March 1918].

“No one knows, in the end, where the thief brought the remains of the Great Plebeian, but we remember the discussion and conflicts that were exchanged upon their translation to Manila. While the veterans of the Revolution maintain that these are not Bonifacio’s, others affirm, among them the bibliographer Epifanio de los Santos, that they are authentic. There is an ongoing police investigation into the theft.”

I have been fascinated by the alleged bones of Bonifacio since 1997 when I first heard of them. Taliba on Jan. 12, 1918 reported that the bones were found by a certain Fr. Lupo S. Dumandan, Catholic priest, in the place called “Hulog” in the hacienda of one Jose Reyes. These were excavated from the valley of a hill named “Nagpatong,” under the shade of an “alibangbang” tree, a spot that people in the area swear was the burial place of Andres Bonifacio. Father Dumandan added that, according to his informants, Bonifacio was brought to the site in a hammock, he couldn’t walk from wounds suffered in an encounter, and there he was shot and buried.

Guillermo Masangkay was sent from Manila to investigate and his group was brought to the site by the alibangbang tree. Eloy Santos, photographer of the commission, added that the site was near a camarin and sugar mill of Jose Reyes between Nagpatong and Marikaban. Dr. Fidel Cuajunco in his narrative report provided a general description of the site as follows:

“The ground is slightly sloping towards the brook. The soil is dry, brown in color, with plenty of ‘usiw,’ various kinds of shrubs, and alibangbang trees scattered irregularly. Near a path from the brook is an alibangbang tree, near this tree but at a lower level are some branches of the same tree. This designates the grave.

“The dried branches have been replaced there by those who have previously dug into the grave. Removal of these branches reveals a hollow place that shows recent digging. This is followed down. The soil is soft and can be easily dug. A femur is found at about a depth of 50 cm. obliquely placed; that is, one end is higher and not parallel with the rest of the bones as was found later. This finding determines the direction of the grave.

“The digging is directed towards the alibangbang tree and at about a depth of 90 cm. the forehead is touched. Unlike the finding of the femur, the digging of the skull is difficult for the soil around it is compact showing that it has not been touched for a long time. The rest of the bones were sought after and all the long bones are at about the same level in position to show dorsal decubitus [lying on side] with the lower limbs extended (exception made the first femur found that was displaced by the diggers). The forearm must have been flexed over the chest at the time of the burial as are shown by the position of the radia and ulnar bones of both upper extremities. As in the case of the skull, the other bones are with some difficulty dug out of the compact soil surrounding them. All the remnants of bones, teeth, and buttons are gathered.”

Cuajunco, a forensic doctor, wrote something like an archeologist’s site report, complete with description of the soil layers and measurements of width and depth. This was supplemented by Guillermo Masangkay who claimed that, in 1898, accompanied by Bonifacio’s trusted servant, Gorio, they located the burial site in the place called “Hulog” also known as “Lupa ni Kastila” near an alibangbang tree.

All these were challenged by Lazaro Makapagal, executioner of Bonifacio, who visited the site in “Hulog” and declared that it was not the spot where they buried the Bonifacio brothers. So, where are Bonifacio’s bones? This is a case that is far from closed.

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