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.

The Cry of Balintawak

First Skirmishes

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.

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.

History of the Filipino People. Teodoro A. Agoncillo

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/soc.culture.filipino/0x6RB83sx1k/RZkIP2n5lh0J

One of Agoncillo’s major points was the debunking of the Grito de Balintawak
tradition. Since the turn of the century, it has been widely believed that the
first cry of the revolution took place in Balintawak, Caloocan. Then along came
Agoncillo who gave the exact date for the cry as August 23, 1896, and the exact
place to be not Balintawak but Pugadlawin. Despite these becoming textbook
facts, the Balintawak tradition continues to thrive. Nick Joaquin still writes
in support of Balintawak, and I myself did not think about this very much until
I was invited to deliver a paper for the first Annual Bonifacio Lectures in
1989. Reviewing sources on the revolution, I found out that the Balintawak
tradition was more popular than that of the Pugadlawin.

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, Kangkong, Bahay Toro, and
Pasong Tamo!

Writing about it did not settle things because readers demanded an exact answer
which I was unable to give. So when and where did it actually happen? To this
day, I am still confused and stumped, and the only reply I have is that the cry
occurred towards the end of August 1896 and that all the places mentioned are
in Caloocan, which in those times was a district of Balintawak!

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, on a lazy
afternoon, 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 unless one was interested in buying them!

If there is so much that is debatable in simple things, like the date and place
of Bonifacio’s Cry or his attire and weaponry, what more with the general
picture of the Katipunan and the Revolution? As materials resurface and new
documents and manuscripts both here and abroad are discovered, it becomes
necessary to evolve new ways of interpreting the Katipunan, such as that of
Reynaldo Ileto in his book, Pasyon and Revolution (1979). Perhaps we need
another major book on the Katipunan that will give us a view different from
that of Agoncillo’s. Instead of focusing on the great men or heroes, maybe we
can try to find out about the “underside” of history – those forgotten
men and women who fought under the Katipunan, and their beliefs, motives, and
appearances, among other things. Only then can this generation rewrite its own
history, separate myth from reality, clarify legend from truth, and thereby
gain a new way of seeing into our past and hopefully into our future. 5 July
1992

Reprinted with permission from Ambeth R. Ocampo from Bonifacio’s Bolo (Pasig:
Anvil Publishing, Inc., 1995).
The Colour of Aqueous Solutions

Apart from compounds containing ions giving characteristic flame colours,

aqueous solutions of these compounds also give characteristic colours.

Solution Colour Ion responsible for the

colour
Copper II sulfate Blue Cu2+
Iron II sulfate Green Fe2+
Iron III sulfate Brown Fe3+
Copper II nitrate Blue Cu2+
Potassium manganate Purple MnO42-
VII
Potassium chromate Yellow CrO42-

https://www.saburchill.com/physci/chemB/chemB02.html
byAnne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.
Updated November 30, 2018

The flame test is a fun and useful analytical technique to help you identify the
chemical composition of a sample based on the way it changes the color of a
flame. However, interpreting your results can be tricky if you don't have a
reference. There are many shades of green, red, and blue, usually described
with color names you wouldn't find on even a large crayon box!

Remember, the color will depend on the fuel you are using for your flame and
whether you're viewing the result with the naked eye or through a filter.
Describe your result in as much detail as you can. You might want to take
pictures with your phone to compare results from other samples. Keep in
mind that your results may vary depending on your technique and the purity
of your sample. This photo reference of test flame colors is a good place to
start, though.
https://www.thoughtco.com/flame-test-colors-photo-gallery-4053133