Monday, October 17, 2005



Richardson, Jim. "Roster of Katipuneros at Balintawak, August 1896." 2005.

Amidst all the debate about precisely when and where the revolution started, historians have often neglected to ask exactly who gathered in Balintawak or thereabouts in August 1896. In the absence of a complete roster – clearly an impossibility at this distance in time – the fullest listing is to be found in an interview given by the KKK veteran Guillermo Masangkay to the Manila newspaper Bagong Buhay in 1952.1 In this interview, Masangkay recalled the names of 56 men who had met in Balintawak prior to the first encounters with Spanish forces. In the great majority of cases, he also recalled their occupations, and it is fascinating to note that nearly half the patriots on his list worked in some capacity or other for branches of the Spanish administration. The three 'government secret agents', it is presumed, had in the preceding months been supplying useful information to the Katipunan and misinformation to the Spaniards.


Masangkay’s list is reproduced below; the occupational descriptions have been translated into English from the original mix of Tagalog and Spanish, and in a few cases have been amplified. Since the list was reconstructed from memory more than fifty years after the event, erroneous inclusions are likely and omissions are inevitable. Any corrections or other comments will be most welcome.

Aguedo del Rosario
Apolonio Cruz
Alejandro Santiago
Deogracias Fajardo
Juan Fajardo

Tomas Alegre
Pio H. Santos
Patricio Belen
Crispulo Chacon
Lorenzo Martinez
Tomas Villanueva

Procopio Bonifacio

Rogelio Borja
Isaac del Carmen
Hilario Sayo

Melecio Ruestra
Pastor Santos

Guillermo Masangkay
Pedro Zabala

Macario Sakay

Salustiano Cruz

Juan de la Cruz

Emilio Jacinto

Andres Bonifacio

Nicomedes Carreon

Miguel Resurreccion

Vicente Leyva

Cipriano Pacheco

Briccio Pantas
Teodoro Plata
Jose Trinidad
Hermogenes Plata

Tomas Remigio
Pantaleon Torres
Vicente Molina

Enrique Pacheco

Faustino Manalac

Calixto Santiago
Restituto Javier
Hermenegildo Reyes

Valentin Lagasca
Eugenio Santos
Francisco Carreon
Sarhento Marcelo

Roman Ramos
Tito Miguel

Julio Navarro
Alejandro Andaya
Marcelo Badell

Geronimo Cristobal

Cosme Taguyod
Rafael Gutierrez

Estanislao Vargas
Apolonio Samson

Pio Valenzuela

Ramon Bernardo
Printer at the Diario de Manila
Printer at the Diario de Manila
Printer at El Resumen
Printer
Printer

Master cigar maker
Master tobacco worker
Tobacco worker
Tobacco worker
Tobacco worker
Tobacco worker

Railway baggage-master

Mechanic
Mechanic
Mechanic

Draftsman
Draftsman

Kuridor [meaning unknown]
Kuridor [meaning unknown]

Sales agent [personero]

Master tailor

Barber; playwright

Student

Warehouse employee at Fressel & Co.

Salesman at Casa Chupre

Grass (fodder) cutter

Milkman

Clerk

Assistant to Court of First Instance judge
Clerk, Mindoro Court of First Instance
Clerk, Tondo Court of First Instance
Court clerk

Government treasury clerk
Government treasury clerk
Government treasury caretaker

Manila city government clerk

Manila port administration clerk

Customs official
Customs official
Customs official

Customs guard sergeant
Customs guard sergeant
Customs guard
Customs guard

Government arsenal employee
Government arsenal employee

Government secret agent
Government secret agent
Government secret agent

Army corporal

Fire Department lieutenant
Fire Department captain

Property owner
Property owner

Physician

Municipal captain of Pandacan

1"Unang sigaw, unang labanan sa paglaya," Bagong Buhay (25 August 1952).