Gat Macario Sakay a mislabeled hero, his misplaced monument and mistaken historical facts

The first & only monument of Gat Macario Sakay on Plaza Morga, Tondo, finally unveiled by Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim on September of 2008, finally acknowledge as hero after 101 years when American colonialists and their Filipino sajonistas labeled him as “tulisan” was found guilty, sentenced and hanged under the US colonial court. The mislabeled hero with his misplaced monument also have mistaken historical facts on the plaque prepared by Manila Historical and Heritage Commission. 

a) ...the plaque and many historians assumed Sakay’s birth year was 1870 but his 1907 death certificate recorded he was 29 years old at the time of his execution should have been 37 years old instead. The truth is Sakay was born out of wedlock, date and year of his birth unknown, he never knew, never met his father, even his last name “Sakay” is his mother’s family name. The big question is from whom and where did his middle name “Leon” came from?

b) ...the plaque states that Sakay was born in Calle Tabora, Tondo. The district of Tondo, San Nicolas and Binondo didn’t change much their boundaries even their street names since Spanish colonial time. Calle Tabora was named after Spanish Governor-General Juan Niño de Tabora who brought the image of Nuestra Señor dela Paz y Buen Viaje of Antipolo during the Manila/Acapulco Galleon Trade. Calle Tabora is not in Tondo, but in the district of San Nicolas cuz Calle Azcarraga (now Recto Avenue) where Divisoria (Spanish word meaning “dividing”) is located serves as dividing line or boundary for Manila’s districts of San Nicolas, Binondo, Tondo, Sta. Cruz and Quiapo. 

c) ...the plaque also said that Raja Sulayman like Sakay is from Tondo which is again wrong, Raja Sulayman is from the new Kingdom of May-Nilad where Intramuros now stands which is across the Pasig River from Tondo the Old Kingdom of Lankandula and Magat Salamat. Tondo was a province of Pampanga (from “ka-pampang” meaning of the same riverbank of Pasig River and Pampanga River). 

Gat Macario Sakay is not a “Tondeño” (from Tondo) but from San Nicolas and his only monument at Plaza Morga in Tondo was erected on the wrong district. Though we should be grateful that finally after many years the name “Sakay” will erase the picture that pops into our mind of a “longhaired vicious tulisan” but a patriotic hero who continued the long revolution of masses of Supremo Bonifacio and Gat Emilio Jacinto’s Katipunan.
- ka tony
28 of February, ‘18