Andres Bonifacio

Born 30 November 1863

Tondo, Manila, Spanish East Indies

Died 10 May 1897 (aged 33)

Maragondon, Cavite, Philippines

Cause of death Execution

Nationality Filipino

Known for Philippine Revolution

Political party La Liga Filipina

Katipunan

Religion Roman Catholicism

Spouse Monica (ca. 1880 - 1890)

Gregoria de Jesús (1893 - 1897)

Children Andres De Jesús Bonifacio (died in infancy)

Contribution to Philippine History 

 Its a great privilege of the Filipinos to have a hero like Andres Bonifacio .Though he came from a  lower classs family he still aiming to soar high and that's what he made it when he was also considered as the Philippine heroes here in the Philippines .Aside from that he is also the first president of the Philippines .What a great heroes like him when he also had the same idiologist and dreams towards  the Filipinos and that's to attain peace and independence against the Spaniards .He risk  his life during the battle he  has for  his aiming to fight against them he  had too much courage because of the  Filipinos who were crying for justice and peace in the country . He died for a nonsense reason because of betrayal of power . But then his offering life was not been wasted for He was became a great  and admiring hero in the Philippine.

Bonifacio was the son of Santiago Bonifacio and Catalina de Castro in Tondo, Manila and was the eldest of five children. His father was a tailor who served as a tenyente mayor of Tondo, Manila while his mother was a mestiza born of a Spanish father and a Filipino-Chinese mother who worked at a cigarette factory. As was custom, upon baptism he was named for the saint on whose feast he was born, Andrew the Apostle.

Bonifacio's normal schooling was cut short when he dropped out to support his siblings after both their parents died of illness. He sold canes and paper fans he made himself and made posters for business firms. In his late teens, he worked as a mandatory for the British trading firm Fleming and Company, where he rose to become a corregidor of tar, rattant and other goods. He later transferred to Fressell and Company, a German trading firm, where he worked as a bodeguero (storehouse worker). Bonifacio was also a part-time actor who performed in moro-moro plays.

Not finishing his normal education, Bonifacio was self-educated. He read books about the French Revolution, biographies of the Presidents of the United States, books about contemporary Philippine penal and civil codes, and novels such as Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, Eugène Sue's Le Juif errant and José Rizal's Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. Aside from Tagalog and Spanish, he could speak a little English, learnt from his working for J.M. Fleming and Co.[8]

Bonifacio was married twice, first to a certain Monica who died of leprosy. He then married Gregoria de Jesús of Caloocan in 1893. They had one son named Andrés who died in infancy of smallpox (Chickenpox).

Katipunan

On 7 July 1892, the day after Rizal's deportation was announced, Bonifacio and others founded the Katipunan, or in full, Kataastaasang Kagalanggalangang[9] Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan ("Highest and Most Respected Society of the Children[10] of the Country[11]").[12] The secret society sought independence from Spain through armed revolt.[13][14] It was influenced by Freemasonry through its rituals and organization, and several members aside from Bonifacio were also Freemasons.[15] Within the society Bonifacio used the pseudonym May pag-asa ("There is Hope").[2]

For a time, Bonifacio worked with both the Katipunan and La Liga Filipina. La Liga eventually split because less affluent members like Bonifacio lost hope for peaceful reform, and stopped their monetary aid.[15] Wealthier, more conservative members who still believed in peaceful reforms set up the Cuerpo de Compromisarios, which pledged continued support to the reformists in Spain. The radicals were subsumed into the Katipunan.[13] From Manila, the Katipunan expanded into several provinces, including Batangas, Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga, and Nueva Ecija.[16] Most of its members, called Katipuneros, came from the lower and middle classes, with many of its local leaders being prominent figures in their municipalities.[17] At first exclusively male, membership was later extended to females, with Bonifacio's wife Gregoria de Jesús as a leading member.

Philippine Revolution

Start of the uprising
The Spanish authorities confirmed the existence of the Katipunan on 19 August 1896. Hundreds of Filipino suspects, both innocent and guilty, were arrested and imprisoned for treason. José Rizal was then on his way to Cuba to serve as a doctor in the Spanish colonial army, in exchange for his release from Dapitan.When the news broke, Bonifacio first tried to convince Rizal, quarantined aboard a ship in Manila Bay, to escape and join the imminent revolt. Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto and Guillermo Masangkay disguised themselves as sailors and went to the pier where Rizal's ship was anchored. Jacinto personally met with Rizal, who rejected their rescue offer. Rizal himself was later arrested, tried and executed.
He was  leading the Tejeros convention on  22 March 1897. And the Magdalo  group
Aguinaldo later sent a delegation to Bonifacio to get him to cooperate, but the latter refused. Bonifacio appointed Emilio Jacinto general of the rebel forces in Manila, Morong, Bulacan and Nueva Ecija. In Naik, Bonifacio met with Artemio Ricarte and others, including generals Pío del Pilar and Mariano Noriel of the Magdalo who had gone over to his side. Bonifacio asserted his leadership of the revolution with the Naik Military Agreement, a document which appointed Pio del Pilar commander-in-chief of the revolutionary forces.Bonifacio's meeting was interrupted by Aguinaldo himself, and del Pilar and Noriel promptly returned to Aguinaldo's fold. In late April Aguinaldo fully assumed presidential office after consolidating his position among the Cavite elite – most of Bonifacio's Magdiwang supporters declaring allegiance to Aguinaldo.Aguinaldo's government then ordered the arrest of Bonifacio, who was then moving out of Cavite.
Bonifacio has been suggested as a more worthy candidate on the grounds of having started the Philippine Revolution. Teodoro Agoncillo notes that the Philippine national hero, unlike those of other countries, is not "the leader of its liberation forces".Renato Constantino writes that Rizal is a "United States-sponsored hero" who was promoted as the greatest Filipino hero during the American colonial period of the Philippines – after Aguinaldo lost the Philippine-American War. The United States promoted Rizal, who was taken to represent peaceful political advocacy, instead of more radical figures whose ideas could inspire resistance against American rule. Specifically, Rizal was selected over Bonifacio who was viewed as "too radical" and Apolinario Mabini who was "unregenerate.