"Si Koronel Bonzon ang bumaril ng rebolber kay G. Andres Bonifacio na ipinagkasugat nito sa kaliwang bisig. Dumaluhong din noon si Koronel Pawa kay G. Andres Bonifacio at ito’y sinaksak ng sundang sa gawing kanan ng liig. Nang anyong bibigyan ulit ng isa pang saksak si G. Bonifacio ay siyang pagdaluhong kay Pawa ni G. Alejandro Santiago na nagsabing: ‘Ako ang patayin ninyo, huwag iyan!’ Noon din ay inilagay si G. Andres Bonifacio sa isang duyan at dinalang bihag sa Indang.”

Thus did General Artemio Ricarte testify to the tragic fate of Gat Andres Bonifacio, the first Pangulo of our Republic (the Haringbayang Katagalugan).

Ricarte’s narration, found on page 71 of his Himagsikan ng mga Pilipino laban sa Kastila, published in 1927 in Yokohama (Japan), is only one source on the maltreatment of President Bonifacio. There are more.

1.  “The execution of Andres Bonifacio, carried out in an atmosphere of intrigue, was a glaring evidence of the abnormal psychology that pervaded the revolutionists toward the close of the first epoch of the national struggle for emancipation.” [Agoncillo, Teodoro A. “The Summing Up.” Revolt of the Masses: The Story of Bonifacio and the Katipunan (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 2002 [1956]), pp. 278-315]

2.  “There were dark forces at work. After Christmas that year (1896) anti-Bonifacio gossip and poison pen letters were circulating, some saying that he had poor schooling. Daniel Tirona, a Magdalo, was suspected as one of the letter writers.” [Corpuz, O. D. The Roots of the Filipino Nation, Vol. II. Quezon City: AKLAHI Foundation, Inc., 1989, pp. 211-19, 243-55]

3.  “The bigger tragedy is that nearly 100 years later, the government, historians, and descendants of the two revolutionary factions, Magdiwang and Magdalo, still cannot confront the truth of this dark episode.” [Joel C. Paredes, Director General of the Philippine Information Agency, “Lighting the dark side of the revolution in Cavite: A RIGGED ELECTION, A SALVAGING,” [Reprinted from Today, January 10, 1996, www.pia.gov.ph/philtoday/pt03/pt0307.htm]

President Bonifacio, a co-founder of the Katipunan, was treacherously kidnapped, rammed through a mistrial, and covertly murdered.

The perpetrators are on record, the mastermind in history books.

But the whole truth of President Bonifacio’s unjust execution has been encased in mud by the executioners and their partisans.

Can this mystery be fully exposed?

Yes, if the current President can summon the moral courage to convene a Truth Commission for his foremost and primeval predecessor.

BENIGNO SIMEON AQUINO III created the Philippine Truth Commission of 2010 because “there is an urgent call for the determination of the truth regarding certain reports of large scale graft and corruption in the government and to put a closure to them by the filing of the appropriate cases against those involved.” [EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 1]

How about a Truth, Reconciliation and Historical Commission for President Bonifacio?

Such a proposal reflects the essence of the Kamalaysayan Imperative. History may have a Muse of its own as well as its camp followers. All well and as should be.

But for non-historians, Clio* is a non-entity. Thus, the average Filipino concentrates on the present with nary a thought for the future or the past. What is history for?

In the Kamalaysayan Imperative, the greatest possible space is allotted for the novice, i.e., the casual reader, the TV channel surfer, the chat room stalker, the corner store regular, the window shopper. Who likes history?

With the Kamalaysayan Imperative, the expert and the activist not only join hands but even extend the hoopla to the vintage car collector, the antique dealer, the hobbyist and the cosplayer. When is history relevant?

Every day is a possible game-changer. Through the Kamalaysayan Imperative, the Filipino is reminded that anniversaries, holidays and other special occasions are enjoyed more fully when the reasons for their observance are respected and shared.

The Kamalaysayan Imperative is here to stay.

When I started Kamalaysayan (then called the Kampanya para sa Kamalayan sa Kasaysayan) late in November 1991, my move was based on what I had strongly felt to be an urgent imperative. By January 1, 1992, I got my vindication in the dozens of my friends who expressed to me a categorical affirmation that, indeed, it really was one! That was coupled with their commitment to help me in this en­deavor in various personal ways. They delivered on that commitment. And our numbers grew in the two decades that followed, the reason why Kamalaysayan (now the Kaisahan sa Kamalayan sa Kasaysayan) is still very active, with many new leaders, champions and advocates. 

We grew the very idea of sense of history, as our beloved nation urgently needs it, with our expanding synergy of insights, researched information and dedication. In 2001, the Lambat-Liwanag Network made the crucial addition of 'collective sense of mission' as part of that imperative, and the Kamalaysayan credo grew much wider and deeper. That, as a product of collective wisdom, is the very pillar of all the contents of this book. These people are all my co-authors here!

To all who have contributed to this synthesis process, and to efforts to put this in one book, the author is forever grateful.

This work is lovingly dedicated to generations within families, where the parents support the aspirations of their children for the latter's own time and circumstantial contexts, and where the latter gratefully value their parents' and grandparents' dreams and struggles, also properly understood and appreciated in their equivalent contexts. 

And it is dedicated, as well, to all the people of various generations, who would exert constructive efforts to clearly forge the synergy of our nation along with all past, present and future chapters of the fluvial flow of our history... where all its parts would make up one clear, deep and continuously flowing and gleaming River of Life.

Finally, my gratitude to the International Academy of Management and Economics and its founder-Chairman-CEO Emmanuel “Noli” Tiu Santos, Ph. D., for bankrolling the publication of this book.

                          Prof. Ed Aurelio “Ding” C. Reyes