He Sheltered Bonifacio When The *KKK Faltered

(*KKK = Tagalog name for the society: "Kataastaasan Kagalang-galang Katipunan nang mga Anak nang Bayan" (English: "Highest and Most Respectable Society of the Children of the nation ")

Isabelo Donato y Aquilar sheltered Bonifacio, Supremo of the Katipunan, and performed espionage work for him during those perilous days of the secret society at the risk of his life. For his invaluable services to the cause of the Philippine Revolution, Bonifacio gave him the bolo which he wielded on the battlefield as a historic memento.

Although of the landed gentry, Donato identified himself early in youth with the working class with whose sad plight he commiserated. Following his association with Bonifacio, which started when he set up his house and an apartment for rent on Soler near the Tutuban railroad station, a few meters away from Bonifacio's old house on Azcarraga (now Claro M. Recto), he became a rabid sympathizer of the Katipunan.

After Bonifacio suffered reverses in the hands of the Spaniards at Pinaglabanan and the Langka River, he sought the help of Donato. Early in September, 1896 the supremo, together with his brother, Procopio, and Emilio Jacinto, left their hideout in Balara to set up headquarters in Manila.

Before settling down in the city, the trio took refuge in Donato's house at 168 Soler while he looked for a safer retreat in San Nicolas. Bonifacio finally chose the house at 116 Lavezares. Besides providing them with food and supplies for more than two months, Donato conducted intelligence work in nearby Intramuros for the revolutionary movement.

His tremendous success in this delicate espionage mission, which greatly helped Bonifacio in preparing his second plan to capture Manila, endeared him most to the Katipunan leader who rewarded him generously. 

With the significant role he played in the Katipunan, Donato lived in constant danger. The Spanish police blacklisted him and persistently went after him. As a precaution he left instruction to his wife to hang a red blanket on their front window should the authority look for him, so he could avoid them and give him ample time to flee to the nearby mountains.

After Bonifacio's departure early 1897 for San Francisco de Malabon in Cavite where he was eventually executed, Donato continued to suffer serious reverses. First, his father, who was a Freemason, was arrested, imprisoned at Fort Santiago, and mercilessly tortured. Then during the Philippine-American war his entire property in Aranque, Manila, consisting of a row of commercial and apartment houses was burned by the retreating Filipino forces to delay the advance of the more powerful American invaders.

The eldest of the three children of the couple Capitan Manuel Donato, a prosperous city businessman, and Gregoria Aquilar, a Dutch mestiza, he was born in Santa Cruz, Manila, on July 7, 1866. After taking up the land surveying course at the University of Santo Tomas, he left the comfort of his easy life as a promising businessman to heed the call of patriotic duty. He joined Freemasonry's Lodge Walana.

Left practically penniless after the two wars against Spain and America, Donato had to start all over again to support his growing family. He became a wine dealer, then an insurance underwriter of the Tambunting estate.

Through sheer determination, perseverance and industry, he was able to give his family the comfort and abundance of his pre-revolutionary life.

Donato married early and early became a widower with one child, Pilar. By his second wife, Hipolita San Juan of Manila, he had seven children, four of whom became professionals. He was 59 when he died in Manila on Sept. 6, 1925. 

# many thanks and much obliged Doc. Jim Richardson for sharing and sending me this old newspaper article about my grandfather.
- ka tony

Who is ISABELO DONATO?

I came across a book by Ambeth R. Ocampo, titled "Bones of Contention" The Bonifacio Lectures. In Ocampo's book lecture # 56 and # 57, was about Gat Andres Bonifacio's bolo. Ocampo wrote...
1938 Catalogue Of Paintings, Sculptures and Historical Objects published by the National Library and History there were three bolos in the State collection one of them described as follows: "BOLO OF ANDRES BONIFACIO (19th century) Bonifacio had this bolo with him when the Katipuneros gathered in Balintawak." Unlike the other bolos listed, it had no government property number, because it was not donated to the museum but merely placed on indefinite loan by a certain ISABELO DONATO who issued an affidavit published in the column of Alfredo R. Roces that reads:

" 28 August 1896, three days after the incident in Balintawak which ignited the revolution, Procopio Bonifacio, the brother of the hero and Donato's friend, sought refuge in his home located at 189 Calle Soler, Tondo. Procopio was followed latter by Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Jacinto. There, the hero left a bundle for safe-keeping. Meanwhile, Donato after some discussion with a neighbor, Mariano Gomez, decided that his house was not too safe a refuge for the Bonifacios, and so three days later, Andres Bonifacio and his companions were spirited to another home in Calle Lavezares, Binondo. After about a month's of stay, the refugees decided to leave for Cavite. On the night of their departure a dinner was given in their honor in the house of Mariano Gomez. It was in the evening of this departure, after the dinner, that Donato returned to Bonifacio the bundle entrusted to him on the night the hero arrived in Donato's house. Bonifacio opened the bundle which contained a pistol and a bolo and, keeping the pistol, he said to Donato: "I give you this bolo because it would only be a cumbersome to me" This bundle had been opened in the presence of Mariano Gomez"
...from Alfredo R, Roces, Which Bolo is genuine?" Sunday Times April 10, 1966, p.4)

Donato also stated in the affidavit that the sister of Bonifacio and a certain Vicente Carmona were like wise present and could verify his claims. The so-called Bonifacio bolo was already in the museum as early as 1918 because in the December 5, 1918 issue of La Vanguardia quoted in Roces, Acting Library and Museum Director Jose Escaler thanked Donato for his "voluntary gift" of the bolo. But on January 6, 1919 Donato made it clear to Escaler and the general public that the bolo was not donated but entrusted to the museum for safekeeping. It was not a permanent gift. The museum was destroyed during the Battle of Manila in 1945 and Bonifacio bolo was believed destroyed, too."
It's unfortunate that Bonifacio's bolo was one of the many victims cause by the shelling and bombardment by the Americans, in the Battle of Manila!

…and I'm very proud to say that ISABELO DONATO is my Lolo! According to my father Antonio Donato Sr., the reason why the brothers Bonifacio & Emilio Jacinto only stayed in my Lolo's house for four days, Mariano Gomez felt it was not safe because persons close to Father Mariano Gil the priest who exposed the Katipunan, live around the neighborhood.

My Lola Poleng (Hipolita San Juan), accompanied by the wife of Mariano Gomez found a place at 840 Clavel near the corner of Elcano in San Nicolas, where the three can spend some time. But again did not stay there long, either. The Supremo "did not find it to his liking." It was near the site where the printing press of "Kalayaan" the Katipunan organ was discovered by the Spanish authorities.

The three moved to 116 Calle Lavezares, a few blocks from Pio Valenzuela's residence where Bonifacio & his wife Gregoria stayed for a time. The Supremo knew San Nicolas quite well & in case of detection, escape is easy. My Lolo Isabelo took care of the daily food, supplies & important news for them. Being a good friend of his brother Procopio, Andres Bonifacio trusted my Lolo Isabelo for intelligence work, the strength, movements of the enemies & their collaborators, in the few days they were together. My Lola Poleng was the niece of Lieutenant Colonel Felipe San Juan, commander of Company I of the Guardia Civil, who was later to join Gen. Aquinaldo as a general. The reason why my Lolo Isabelo could get in & out of the Spanish headquarters in Intramuros without arousing suspicion.

In an interview conducted on August 13, 1965 by historians, my Lola Poleng told the researchers that my Lolo was constant danger. She said he had asked her to hang a red blanket on their window should he get detected & the Spanish authorities look for him in their house, so he would know. She said, my Lolo Isabelo was ready to flee to the mountains with the Supremo in the event that their activities were discovered. This was the man entrusted by Bonifacio to handle espionage work for the Katipunan. San Nicolas a most unlikely place, a growing Manila suburb, dangerously close to the enemy fortress, that Bonifacio chose to set up his headquarters, to direct the operations of the Katipunan, to plot out the next move to wrest the city from Spanish hands. He would leave the place only to inspect the troops in the areas around Manila, to look into their problems, to help them solve their difficulties. It was for the same purpose that he left his San Nicholas headquarters in late November, never to come back.

Having reorganized the Katipunan chapters in Manila & the suburbs, Bonifacio must have decided to look into the conditions of the provincial chapters, particularly Cavite where he had been invited to mediate in the conflict between the Magdalo & Magdiwang factions.

On the day of departure & the request by brothers Andres & Procopio & Emilio Jacinto, Mariano Gomez prepared a farewell dinner for them at their house. At the table were gathered the Bonifacio brothers & their sister, Emilio Jacinto, Mariano Gomez, with his son in law Vicente Carmona, my Lola Poleng & my Lolo Isabelo Donato. After dinner, my Lolo returned to Bonifacio the bundle entrusted to him on the night the hero arrived in his house. Bonifacio opened the bundle which contained a pistol and a bolo and, keeping the pistol, he said to my Lolo: "I give you this bolo because it would only be a cumbersome to me."
With Guardia Civils watching like hawks the areas of Tondo, Binondo & San Nicolas, because of its involvement with the Katipunan, my Lola Poleng said during her interview... "I gave the three my baro't sayas. It's funny they all fitted into them. And Emilio - we could not help laughing he really looked like a maiden." Dressed like women, the three were able to pass the heavily guarded place. From Tondo, Gomez & my Lolo drove the quiles bearing the Supremo & his companion to Tejeron in Makati near the British cemetery.

Latter, off to Cavite the Supremo Andres Bonifacio with Gregoria & his two brothers: Procopio & Ciriaco went to the web of the factional strife between the Magdalos & the Magdiwangs. The brothers not sensing their end is near, our country's freedom & the socialistic dream of greatness ended with them!

ka tony
the 16th of March, 2009