Pinoy-Hapon United Foundation (PHUF), a non-profit organization, Honorary Chairman Takeshi Asanuma

Dr. José Rizal, still loved and honored by the entire nation today as the “Father of the Nation,” was executed by firing squad by the Spanish authorities for treason on December 30, 1896. Yet the ideals of revolution and independence that he left behind, and the actions he took, remained firmly lodged in the hearts of the people of Luzon.

In 1892, two revolutionaries rose up: Andrés Bonifacio (1863–1897) and Emilio Aguinaldo (1869–1964).

In 1565, Miguel López de Legazpi, the representative (governor) of the King of Spain, opened a Spanish settlement at Cebu, a midpoint in these “East Indies Luzon Islands,” placed the area under the jurisdiction of “Nueva España (New Spain)” based in Mexico, advanced colonial rule, and made Manila, with its favorable conditions as a trading port, the capital. In colonizing this land, Spain pursued two main policies.

One was a policy of conversion: Christian education was carried out among the population. Fine churches were built across the islands, and loyalty to God was made equivalent to loyalty to the administration, that is, to Spain. As a result, about 95% of the population (90% Catholic) became Christian, and today the Philippines remains Asia’s only Catholic-majority nation, apart from the recently independent Timor-Leste.

The other was an administrative and governance system. With some 7,000 islands and, it is said, hundreds of languages and dozens of ethnic minorities, the small number of Spaniards alone could never have governed the territory. So Spain created a class of “mestizos,” making up roughly 5–6% of the population, by intermarrying Spaniards with locally influential Malays and with Chinese settlers skilled in commerce and finance. These mestizos swore loyalty to Spain and were granted a measure of land and authority, forming the administrative structure. Rule by these specific families is said to have been made entirely hereditary, keeping the ruling group from growing in number.

In 1898, sovereignty over the islands passed from Spain to the United States; after the war that followed and the Japanese occupation and defeat, the country broke free of American rule on July 4, 1946. But the national governance system was carried over almost unchanged. Land reform was carried out, yet issues remained, and although elections are held, many seats in Congress, many provincial governorships, and many mayorships of major cities continue to be held generation after generation by the traditional mestizo families.

Bonifacio came from the ruled class; he could not receive a higher education, and he taught himself Spanish and other foreign languages. He resonated with the ideals and actions of Dr. Rizal. In 1892 he organized the revolutionary society Katipunan, and in 1896 he led an armed uprising in north-central Luzon, briefly liberating and controlling part of the region. This is said to have been the first large-scale armed uprising by Asians against a Western ruling power.

However, he came into conflict over the direction of the post-revolutionary government with Emilio Aguinaldo, who had come from the establishment, had joined and resonated with his armed uprising, and would later become the country’s first president. On May 10, 1897, Bonifacio was executed. What he sought was anti-establishment social revolution; what Aguinaldo sought was political reform from within the existing order.

Even so, later historians have rated Bonifacio’s achievements highly, judging that without his courageous uprising, the revolution and independence of this land would not have come about.

And because he liberated north-central Luzon from Spain, if only for a time; because he came from the ruled class; because he met an unfortunate death with his ambitions unfulfilled; and for other reasons besides, he is still widely loved by the Filipino people today and is held in a respect equal to that given to Dr. José Rizal.

Bonifacio Global City (BGC) is the proof of that.