Oliver Neil C.
Manaog 2BSMT-1
The Cry of Pugadlawin or Balintawak
Account/ Version of
Chronological Event
The Cry of Pugadlawin
By Teodoro A. Agoncillo
In the midst of this dramatic scene,
some Katipuneros who had just
arrived from Manila and Kalookan
shouted "Dong Andres! The civil
guards are almost behind us, and
will reconnoiter the mountains."
Bonifacio at once ordered his men
to get ready for the expected attack
of the Spaniards. Since they had
inferior arms the rebels decided,
instead, to retreat. Under cover of
darkness, the rebels marched
towards Pasong Tamo, and the next
day, August 24, they arrived at the
yard of Melchora Aquino, known
as Tandang Sora. It was decided
that all the rebels in the
surrounding towns be notified of
the general attack on Manila on the
night of August 29, 1896.
At ten in the morning of August 25,
some women came rushing in and
notified Bonifacio that the civil
guards and some infantrymen were
coming. Soon after, a burst of fire
came from the approaching
Spaniards. The rebels deployed and
prepared for the enemy. In the
skirmish that followed, the rebels
lost two men and the enemy one.
Because of their inferior weapons,
which consisted mostly of bolos
and a few guns, the rebels decided
to retreat. On the other hand, the
Spaniards, finding themselves
greatly outnumbered, also decided
to retreat. So both camps retreated
and thus prevented a bloody
encounter. This was the first
skirmish fought in the struggle for
national emancipation.
Similarities
 National Heroes Day was
assigned in August due to the Cry By Former Senate President Manny
of Pugad Lawin/Balintawak Villar
The Cry heralded the formal start
of the Filipino insurrection against
Spanish colonial rule by members
of the Katipunan revolutionary
group, when they gathered to
discuss plans for the upcoming
revolution and tore up
their cedulas (tax certificates) in
defiance of Spanish authorities.
The events that involved the Cry
ranged from as early as August 17
to as late as August 26.
The date and location of the Cry,
however, has been a longstanding
dispute among historians. Initially,
from 1911 to 1962, the Philippines
officially commemorated the Cry
on August 26, calling the event
“The Cry of Balintawak.” Come
1963, following the
recommendations of historian
Teodoro Agoncillo, the date was
changed to August 23 and the
location to Pugad Lawin.
Issues have been raised regarding
the validity of the Cry having taken
place in Pugad Lawin, as firsthand
accounts showed little evidence to
support it.
As it was the general consensus
that the Cry took place in the latter
days of August, and with the
commemoration of the Cry slowly
evolving over the years into the
commemoration of all Filipino
heroes, National Heroes Day was
set in the last week of August.
Differences
Cry of Freedom
The event that ushered in the
Philippine Revolution against more
than 300 years of Spanish
occupation is as significant as it is
controversial. Sick of the
oppression under foreign rule and
craving for freedom and
independence, Filipino
revolutionaries under the leadership
of Andres Bonifacio tore their
“cedulas” (residence certificate) as
a sign of their resistance.
 It has been called the “Cry of
Balintawak” and celebrated every
26th of August for the longest time.
But the National Historical
Commission changed the date to
August 23 and the location to
Pugad Lawin based mainly on the
accounts of Dr. Pio Valenzuela.
There have been many claims,
backed up by multiple and
contradictory sources, as to the
dates and venue of the “Cry.” The
date of the “Cry” has been placed
any time between August 23 and
August 25 and the venue in
Kangkong, Caloocan, or in Pasong
Tamo in Banlat, Caloocan, or in
Bahay Toro, Caloocan.
Cry of Balintawak or Cry of
Pugad Lawin by Totoy Batotoy
This controversy remains
unresolved except in our textbooks.
What was so surprising was to find
out that depending on the book one
read, there were five dates for the
Cry – August 20, 23, 24, 25, and 26
– and five different venues for the
first cry: Balintawak, Pugadlawin,

On August 26, Spanish
reinforcements were dispatched to
Pasong Tamo to drive away the
rebels. But the latter, who were
going to or were already in Balara,
could not be found. The Spaniards,
frustrated in their attempt to contact
the Filipino contingent, shot,
instead, two innocent farmers who
were leisurely going on their way
home. Returning to Manila, the
Spanish soldiers boasted that a
great fight has taken place at
Pasong Tamo, and that they had
driven the rebels to the interior.
This was the origin of the so-called
"Cry of Balintawak", which neither
happened on August 26 nor in
Balintawak.
Meanwhile, the rebels, skirting the
mountain trails day and night,
finally arrived in Mariquina. Later
in the day, however, they
abandoned it and proceeded to
Hagdang Bato on August 27. The
following day, Bonifacio issued a
manifesto inciting the people to
take up the Filipino cause and to
get set for a concerted attack on the
Spaniards on August 29.
The “CRY” of Pugadlawin
The news of the discovery of
the Katipunan spread throughout
Manila and the suburbs. Bonifacio,
informed of the discovery, secretly
instructed his runners to summon
all the leaders of the society to a
general assembly to be held on
August 24. They were to meet at
Balintawak to discuss the steps to
be taken to meet the crisis. That
same night of August 19,
Bonifacio, accompanied by his
brother Procopio, Emilio Jacinto,
Teodoro Plata, and Aguedo del
Rosario, slipped through the cordon
of Spanish sentries and reached
Balintawak before midnight. Pio
Valenzuela followed them the next
day. On the 21st, Bonifacio
changed the Katipunan code
because the Spanish authorities had
already deciphered it. In the
afternoon of the same day, the
rebels, numbering about 500, left
Balintawak for Kangkong, where
Apolonio Samson, a Katipunero,
gave them food and shelter. In the
afternoon of August 22, they
proceeded to Pugadlawin. The
following day, in the yard of Juan
A. Ramos, the son of Melchora
Aquino who was later called the
"Mother of the Katipunan",
Bonifacio asked his men whether
they were prepared to fight to the
bitter end. Despite the objection of
his brother-in-law, Teodoro Plata,
all assembled agreed to fight to the
last. "That being the case,
" Bonifacio said, "bring out
your cedulas and tear them to
pieces to symbolize our
determination to take up
arms!" The men obediently tore up
their cedulas, shouting "Long live
the Philippines!" This event
marked the so-called "Cry of
Balintawak," which actually
happened in Pugadlawin.
Kangkong, Bahay Toro, and
Pasong Tamo.
In 1989, after a series of articles on
the controversy over Balintawak
and Pugadlawin, I received a batch
of photocopied manuscripts with an
invitation to peruse the originals of
what appeared to be the papers of
Bonifacio. Knowing that these
were transcribed and printed by
Agoncillo in two separate books, I
did not bother to decipher
Bonifacio’s fine script. Months
later, I decided to compare the
Agoncillo transcriptions with the
Bonifacio originals. I was surprised
to find discrepancies in the text.
While Agoncillo reproduced the
“orihinal sa Tagalog,” it proved to
be slightly different from the
manuscripts. I realized immediately
that Agoncillo did not have access
to the original Bonifacio papers. He
merely translated an English
translation of the Bonifacio papers,
which were themselves translated
from Spanish by Epifanio de los
Santos who possessed the original
Tagalog manuscripts. Agoncillo’s
so-called “originals” were actually
a tertiary or, at least, a second-
generation translation! Missing for
almost fifty years, the original
Katipunan papers were offered for
sale and broken up into smaller
collections now owned by at least
two private collectors and an
antique dealer. Fortunately,
Bonifacio’s papers are made
available by the present owners,
Mr. Emmanuel Encarnacion of
Quezon City and Atty. Jorge de los
Santos of Malabon; but the
notebooks of Emilio Jacinto
continue to be with an antique
dealer who would not allow
scholarly access.