Guillermo Tolentino's Supremo Bonifacio Monument

On February 23, 1918, an Act was passed to build a national monument for Supremo Andres Bonifacio, known as Father of Philippine Revolution for picking up his gun and bolo fighting for the total independence of Haring Bayang Katagalugan against the Spanish colonizers. Act No. 2760 was passed by the Philippine Legislature, of which former Katipuneros, specially Supremo's friend and comrade, Guillermo Masangkay led the move to build the national monument. Inaugurated on the 70th birth anniversary of Bonifacio (November 30, 1933), the monument demonstrates National Artist Guillermo Tolentino's philosophy that a megalith should be factual and symbolical. Tolentino painstakingly researched and interviewed people who had known Andres Bonifacio, going so far as to even consult a "espiritista" (spirit medium) to discern the true likeness and character of the Supremo.

Supremo Bonifacio wears a "Balintawak Costume" white camisa de chino and red pants, Tolentino basing it on the yearly fiesta of San Bartolome of Malabon, the patron saint of knives and bolos, the only time Tagalogs were allowed by the Spanish Cortes to carry knives and bolos to be bless during the fiesta wearing their "Balintawak" costume . And on this occasion the Supremo took advantage of the fiesta to stage the "First Cry of the Revolution" at Balintawak, the place where devotees passed on the way to Malabon.

The massive structure with figures and design symbolizing the causes of the Philippine Revolution:
# ...Supremo is facing Tondo the place of his birth
# ...octagonal base with an eight-rayed sun symbolized the first eight provinces placed under martial law for revolting against Spain
# ...45-foot tall pylon bearing the winged figure of Victory
# ...pylon or obelisk is composed of five parts corresponding to the five aspects of the society, Kataastaasan, Kagalanggalang na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan
# ...the base is an octagon, the eight sides standing for the first eight provinces to rise against Spain
# ...the base rises in three steps, each step alluding to each century of Spanish rule
# ...the very pools of water that surround the central obelisk were a nod to Rizal's comparison of the Filipino temper to water vital, its mien ever-changing, raging when provoked, an "elemental force," which was among the motifs used in his El Filibusterismo: "That water is very mild and can be drunk, but that it drowns out the wine and beer and puts out the fire, that heated it becomes steam, and that ruffled it is the ocean, that it once destroyed mankind and made the earth tremble to its foundations!"
...Tolentino modelled the figure's bone structure after Bonifacio's surviving younger sister Espiridiona. Tolentino's sacred classical realist aesthetic has, perhaps, given us a Bonifacio so unlike the volatile man of action that has bled into our collective psyche but was nonetheless the best approximation of the man so few could ever define so accurately.
- ka tony
- the 23 of November, '14