Tracing Bonifacio roots in Pampanga

PROCESO Bonifacio speaks in a ceremony in the village of Sta. Cruz in Masantol, Pampanga, to recall the birth and bravery of Katipunan leader Andres Bonifacio, who he considers as his great grandfather. TONETTE OREJAS

In the coastal community of Maticling, a narrow strip of land in Barangay Sta. Cruz that straddles the mouth of the Pampanga River in Masantol, Pampanga, the late Felix Bonifacio is remembered for his fondness for Nov. 30.

To him, this day was very personal.

“Birthday nang Apu yu (It’s your grandfather’s birthday),” Felix told clan members on those occasions, referring to Andres Bonifacio, one of the leaders of the Philippine revolution against Spain, who he considered to be an uncle.

Apu in Kapampangan, is a general term for forebear (pipumpunan). Felix is the youngest of eight children of Narciso, who is reckoned to be a cousin of the Supremo of the Philippine revolutionary force, Katipunan.

Felix’s son, Claudio, brought home lechon (roasted pig) every Nov. 30, calling relatives in Macabebe and Masantol towns to a reunion.

Like his father, Claudio often called on kin to celebrate: “Nananu ko pa, birthday nang Apu yu (What are you waiting for, it’s your grandfather’s birthday).”

These accounts from Felix’s grandnephews, Vivencio and Manuel Jr., who are in their 50s, added to their claim of blood relations with the hero and his being a Kapampangan, according to history researcher Joel Regala.

“‘Birthday nang Apu mu’ … is an interesting statement in terms of the issue of having possible ‘blood ties’ with the hero, since again it was affirmed by three generation test method [from Felix to his son Claudio, to nephew Manuel Sr. and his sons Vivencio and Manuel Jr.],” Regala said in his book, “In the blood: Tracing the Kapampangan lineage of Andres Bonifacio.”

Published by the Center for Kapampangan Studies of the Holy Angel University in time for the hero’s 151st birth anniversary last year, the book was the first to discuss the ancestry of Andres.

Old relatives

What prompted the research was information there are many people in Masantol whose surnames are Bonifacio and when one of Regala’s students told him that their old relatives claimed blood ties with the hero.

Regala said the “indomitable character and spirit” of Bonifacio fascinated him.

But he told the Inquirer on Monday that the book and his five years of research have yet to give a definitive conclusion on the origin of Andres. There are no documents establishing whether Juan Bonifacio of Maticling (father of Narciso) and Santiago Bonifacio (father of Andres) were cousins.

Despite this, Dr. Ferdinand Llanes, professor of history at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, regarded Regala’s inquiry as “a most interesting journey.”

Scant records

Discovering Andres was “not an easy task,” said Regala.

The men of President Emilio Aguinaldo burned the church and records of Macabebe in 1898 and 1899. Spanish holdouts (troops, families, businessmen) left for Manila via Macabebe, the colonial government’s source of skilled soldiers. Masantol was part of Macabebe until 1878.

“Only a few letters, poems and a single picture of Andres survived. His house was destroyed by fire in 1896, as well as the church records in Macabebe (oldest record was 1899). Sto Niño parish records in Tondo were destroyed during World War II (the oldest record was 1944),” Regala said.

Because there were few documents, he tried tracing the genealogical roots of Andres by gathering the stories of elders, going through birth records, searching linguistic links and looking for migration patterns.

What did he unearth?

The surname Bonifacio did not appear in the 1849 Catalogo Alfabetico de Appellidos of Gov. Narciso Claveria. In the list was a “Boni.” It wasn’t clear if the surname was indigenous or it evolved over time.

In files dated 1881 at the National Archives, Andres Bonifacio and his family were listed as “vecindarios” (residents) of Tondo. His parents, Santiago and Catalina de Castro, were 39 and 36 years old, respectively, and married by then.

At least 10 Bonifacios were in leadership positions, as capitanes, tenientes and cabezas in Macabebe and Masantol from 1731 to 1911, documents in the Luther Parker Collection showed.

The claim of longtime residents like Dr. Luciano Bonifacio, 89, that their families were “tubo ke talagang Masantol” (rooted in Masantol) was corroborated by the Masantol bautismos (baptismal records) between 1894 and 1905.

Narciso, who claimed to be a cousin of Santiago, had told his children that he traveled by boat and visited Andres, 19 years his junior, in Tondo and in Maragondon, Cavite, or wherever he hid, bringing him supplies of rice.

Commission on Elections records between December 2008 and November 2010 showed 1,009 registered voters surnamed Bonifacio in Masantol, 256 in Macabebe, 102 in Tondo (where Andres was said to have been born) and 172 in Taguig where his father was said to have originated.

A number of Bonifacio families believed they originated from Masantol, with several migrating to Tondo via the Pampanga River-Manila Bay route.

Regala had documented things associated with Andres: the Palang Bartolome, a bolo made in Apalit, a type that the hero used; Katipuneros recruited in Masantol; Bulung Bonifacio or leaves that Katipuneros cooked when they ran out of food to eat; and Andres’ use of “Sinukuan” as his masonic name in the Taliba lodge. Sinukuan is the deity of Mt. Arayat in Pampanga.

Claiming Andres

Regala said the Bonifacios of Masantol had been marginalized since past historians did not visit their place.

Enthusiasm on Bonifacio’s supposed Kapampangan roots inspired third and fourth degree descendants of Narciso to pay tribute to Andres since 2009.

In 2013, for the hero’s 150th birth anniversary, the local government held a tribute at the town center and built him a statue.

Old residents that Regala interviewed said if the local lineage of Bonifacio would be confirmed, it would bring pride to the clan as well as the rest of Kapampangan.

“The findings of this inquiry may not be conclusive, but I hope that by stimulating curiosity and encouraging queries, the research will trigger more debates and academic discourse and will eventually lead to the creation of a more comprehensive biography of the Supremo,” said Regala.

“If the Supremo suffered a disheartening injustice with his death, at least let us try to give justice to his birth,” he said.