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Cry of Balintawak
 The “First Cry of Revolution”
became the movement of the
Filipinos to fight back on the
tyrannical rule of the Spanish
regime
 it is also called as the “First Cry”,

the revolution of independence

What happened?
In this scenario the Filipinos
tore their cedulas (tax
receipt) and proclaimed the
start to fight for
independence-the main
goal.
 different versions of FIRST CRY..

Dr. Pio Valenzuela’s Account “Cry of Pugad

A.

Lawin’’
= Dr. Pio Valenzuela has been authorized the
‘’Cry of Pugad Lawin, who happened to
eyewitness the event.
= . He was also an official of the Katipunan
and a friend of Andres Bonifacio.
 Two versions presented BY Dr. Pio
Valenzuela
first version, he told that the prime


staging point of the Cry was in

Balintawak on Wednesday of August 26,
1896.
NOTE: He held this account when the
happenings or events are still vivid in his
memory.
On the other hand, later in his
life and with a fading memory, he
wrote his Memoirs of the
Revolution without consulting the
written documents of the
Philippine revolution and claimed
that the ‘’Cry’’ took place at
Pugad Lawin on August 23,
1896.
 The Account
The first place of refuge of Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, Procopio
Bonifacio, Teodoro Plata, Aguedo del Rosario, and myself was Balintawak,
the first five arriving there on August 19, and I, on August 20, 1896. The
first place where some 500 members of the Katipunan met on August 22,
1896 was the house and yard of Apolonio Samson at Kangkong. Aside
from the persons mentioned above, among those who were there were
Briccio Pantas, Alejandro Santiago, Ramon Bernardo, Apolonio Samson,
and others. Here, views were only exchanged and no resolution was
debated or adopted. It was at Pugad Lawin, in the house, store- house and
yard of Juan Ramos, son of Melchora Aquino, where over 1,000 members
of the Katipunan met and carried out considerable debate and discussion
on August 29, 1896. Only one man protested and fought against a war and
that was Teodoro Plata. Besides the persons named above, among those
present at this meeting were Enrique Cipriano, Alfonso Pacheco, Tomas
Remigio, Sinforoso San Pedro, and others. After the tumultuous meeting
many of those present tore their cedula certificates and shouted “Long live
the Philippines! Long live the Philippines!’’
B. Santiago Alvarez’s
Account “The Cry of Bahay
Toro”
(August 24, 1896)
 This version of the “Cry’’ was written by
Santiago Alvarez, a well-known Katipunero
from Cavite and a son of Mariano Alvarez.
Santiago is a relative of Gregoria de Jesus,
who happened to be the wife of Andres
Bonifacio. Unlike the author of the first
version mentioned (Valenzuela), Santiago
Alvarez is not an eyewitness of this event. As
a result, this version of him is not given of
equal value as compared with the other
versions for authors of other accounts are
actually part of the historic event.
 The Account
We started our trek to Kangkong at about eleven that
night. We walked through the rain over dark expanses of
muddy meadows and fields. Our clothes drenched and our
bodies numbed by the cold wind, we plodded wordlessly.
It was nearly two in the morning when we reached the
house of Brother Apolonio Samson in Kangkong. We
crowded into the house to rest and warm ourselves. We
were so tired that, after hanging our clothes out to dry,
we soon asleep….
The Supremo began assigning guards at five o’ clock the
following morning, Saturday 22 August 1896. He placed
a detachment at the Balintawak boundary and another at
the backyard to the north of the house where we were
gathered….
 No less than three hundred men assembled at the bidding of the
Supremo Andres Bonifacio. Altogether, they carried assorted
weapons, bolos, spears, daggers, a dozen small revolvers and a rifle
used by its owner, one Lieutenant Manuel, for hunting birds. The
Supremo Bonifacio was restless because of fear of a sudden attack by
the enemy. He was worried over the thought that any of the couriers
carrying the letter sent by Emilio Jacinto could have been
intercepted; and in that eventuality, the enemy would surely know
their whereabouts and attack them on the sly. He decided that it was
better to move to a site called Bahay Toro.
At ten o’ clock that Sunday morning, 23 August 1896, we
arrived at Bahay Toro. Our number had grown to more than 500
and the house, yard, and warehouse of Cabesang Melchora was
crowded with us Katipuneros. The generous hospitality of Cabeasng
Melchora was no less than that of Apolonio Samson. Like him, she
also opened her granary and he had plenty of rice pounded and
animals slaughtered to feed us….
 The following day, Monday, 24 August, more Katipuneros came and
increased our number to more than a thousand. The Supremo called a
meeting at ten o ‘clock that morning inside Cabesang Melchora’s barn.
Flanking him on both sides at the head of the table were Dr. Pio Valenzuela,
Emilio Jacinto, Briccio Pantas, Enrique Pacheco, Ramon Bernardo, Pantaleon
Torres, Francesco Carreon, Vicente Fernandez, Teodoro Plata, and others. We
were so crowded that some stood outside the barn.
The following matters were approved at the meeting:
1. An uprising to defend the people’s freedom was to be started at midnight of
Saturday, 29 August 1896….
4. To be on a state of alert so that the Katipunan forces could strike should the
situation arise where the enemy was at a disadvantage. Thus, the uprising
could be started earlier than the agreed time of midnight 29 August 1896
should a favorable opportunity arise at that date. Everyone should steel
himself and be resolute in the struggle that was imminent….
 5. The immediate objective was the capture of Manila….

 After the adjournment of the meeting at twelve noon, there were

tumultuous shouts of ‘’ Long live the Sons of the People!’’

 Guillermo
Masangkay’s Account
‘’ The Cry of
Balintawak’’
(August 26, 1896)
 I n 1932, Guillermo Masangkay, a friend and fellow Katipunero of
Andres Bonifacio, recounted his experiences as a member of the
revolutionary movement. In an interview with the Sunday Tribune
magazine, Masangkay said that the First Cry happened in Balintawak
on August 26, 1896. In the first decade of American rule, it was his
account that was used by the government and civic officials to fix date
and place of the First Cry which was capped with the erection of the
‘’Monument to the Heroes of 1896’’ in that place.
However, in an interview published in the newspaper Bagong
Buhay on August 26, 1957, Masangkay changed his narrative stating
that the revolution began on August 23, 1896, similar to the assertion
of Dr. Pio Valenzuela. But Masangkay’s date was later changed again
when his granddaughter, Soledad Buehler- Borromeo, cited sources,
including the Masangkay papers, that the original date was August 26.
Source:Torres Jose Victor. (2018). Batis : Sources in the Philippine
History. C & E Publishing, Inc.
 The Account
On August 26, a big meeting was held in Balintawak, at the house of
Apolonio Samson, then the cabeza of that barrio of Caloocan. Among those who
attended, I remember, were Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, Aguedo del Rosario,
Tomas Remigio, Briccio Pantas, Teodoro Plata, Pio Valenzuela, Enrique
Pacheco, and Francesco Carreon. They were all leaders of the Katipunan and
composed the board of directors of the organization. Delegates from Bulacan,
Cabanatuan, Cavite, and Morong ( now Rizal) were also present.

At about nine o’ clock in the morning of August 26, the meeting was
opened with Andres Bonifacio presiding and Emilio Jacinto acting as secretary.
The purpose was to discuss when the uprising was to take place. Teodoro Plata,
Briccio Pantas, and Pio Valenzuela were all opposed to starting the revolution
too early. They reasoned that the people would be in distress if the revolution
were started without adequate prearation. Plata was very forceful in his
argument, stating that the uprising could not very well be started without arms
and food for the soldiers. Valenzuela used Rizal’s argument about the rich not
siding with the Katipunan organization.
 Andres Bonifacio, sensing that he would lose in the discussion then left
the session hall and talked to the people who were waiting outside for the
result of the meeting of the leaders. He told the people that the leaders were
arguing against starting the revolution early, and appealed to them in a fiery
speech in which he said: ‘’ You remember the fate of our countrymen who
were shot in Bagumbayan. Should we return now to the towns, the
Spaniards will only shoot us. Our organization has been discovered and we
are all marked men. If we don’t start the uprising, the Spaniards will get us
anyway. What then, do you say?’’
 
“Revolt,’’ the people shouted as one.
Bonifacio then asked the people to give a pledge that they were to revolt. He
told that the sign of slavery of the Filipinos were ( sic) the cedula tax charged
each citizen. ‘’ If it is true that you are ready to revolt, ‘’ Bonifacio said, ‘’I
want to see you destroyed your cedulas. It will be the sign that all of us have
declared our severance from the Spaniards.’’
 With tears in their eyes, the people, as one man, pulled out their cedulas
and tore them to pieces. It was the beginning of the formal declaration of the
separation from Spanish rule….
 When the people’s pledge was obtained by Bonifacio, he returned to the

session hall and informed the leaders of what took place outside. ‘’ The
people want to revolt, and they destroyed their cedulas, ‘’ Bonifacio said, ‘’
So now we have to start the uprising, otherwise the people by
hundreds will be shot.” There was no alternative. The board of directors, in
spite of the protest of Plata, Pantas, Valenzuela, voted for the revolution.
And when this was decided, the people outside shouted, “ Long live the
Philippine Republic.”
 Gregoria de Jesus’ The First “
Cry”
(August 25, 1896)
 This version was written by no other than the “ Lakambini of
the Katipunan” and wife Andres Bonifacio, Gregoria de
Jesus. She has been a participant of this event and became the
keeper of the secret documents of the Katipunan. After the
revolution in August 1896, she lived with her parents in
Caloocan then fled to Manila when she was told that the
Spanish authorities wanted to arrest her. Eventually, she
joined her husband in the mountains and shared adversities
with him. In her account, the First “Cry” happened near
Caloocan on August 25, 1896.
 The Account
“The activities of the Katipunan had reached nearly all corners of the
Philippine Archipelago, so that when its existence was discovered and some of
the members arrested, we immediately returned to Caloocan. However, as we
were closely watched by the agents of the Spanish authorities, Andres Bonifacio
and other Katipuneros left the town after some days. It was then that the
uprising began, with the first cry for freedom on August 25, 1896. Meanwhile, I
was with my parents. Through my friends, I learned that Spanish were coming
to arrest me. Immediately, I fled town at eleven o’ clock at night, secretly going
through the rice fields to La Lorna, with the intention of returning to Manila. I
was treated like an apparition, for, sad to say, in every house where I tried to get
a little rest, I was driven away as if people therein were frightened for their own
lives. Later, I found out that the occupants of the houses which I had visited
were seized and severely punished – and some even exiled. One of them was an
uncle of mine whom I had visited on that night to kiss his hands, and he died in
exile.’’