Making Andres Bonifacio proud

Last Sunday, thousands of Filipinos joined mass gatherings at various venues to express indignation over alleged corruption in the national government’s infrastructure development programs, and impatience over the perceived slow pace of investigation and conviction of the personalities involved.

- DR. JUN YNARES

Most participants were from the church and religious organizations, civil society, youth, and labor sectors. We heard that participants in the rallies included retired officers from the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.

It is significant that the rallies, dubbed the “Trillion Peso March,” coincided with Bonifacio Day — a day set aside each year to honor a person recognized as a national hero. As we mentioned in one of our past columns, Andres Bonifacio, “Father of the Katipunan,” is a name synonymous with the proverbial “matapang na tao” — the brave man.

That label came from the image of him that has been passed on from generation to generation of Filipinos. When we hear his name, we imagine him as a bolo-wielding warrior who feared no one. He stood up to and fought the soldiers of our then-colonial masters, who had superior weapons and superior military know-how.

Our image of him is that of the angry leading a ragtag band of fighting men, tearing up their cedulas, and then letting out that classic battle-cry of “Sugod, mga kapatid” (Charge, brethren).

Bonifacio is an “idol” to many Filipinos, particularly those who would describe themselves as “masa.” After all, Bonifacio came from the grassroots. He was the direct contrast of Dr. Jose Rizal. Unlike Dr. Rizal, he received no formal education. Dr. Rizal was the rational intellectual. Bonifacio was the emotional field commander. Like other revolutionary leaders in the mold of Antonio Luna, we saw him as the personification of “puso.”