At the close of August 1896, members of the Katipunan secret society (Katipuneros) led by Andrés

Bonifacio rose up in revolt somewhere in an area referred to as Caloocan,[2] wider than the jurisdiction
of present-day Caloocan City which may have overlapped into present-day Quezon City.[3]

Originally the term cry referred to the first clash between the Katipuneros and the Civil Guards (Guardia
Civil). The cry could also refer to the tearing up of community tax certificates (cédulas personales) in
defiance of their allegiance to Spain. The inscriptions of "Viva la Independencia Filipina" can also be
referred as term for the cry. This was literally accompanied by patriotic shouts.[4]

Because of competing accounts and ambiguity of the place where this event took place, the exact date
and place of the Cry is in contention.[3][4] From 1908 until 1963, the official stance was that the cry
occurred on August 26 in Balintawak. In 1963 the Philippine government declared a shift to August 23 in
Pugad Lawin, Quezon City.[4]

Different dates and places Edit

Various accounts give differing dates and places for the Cry. An officer of the Spanish guardia civil, Lt.
Olegario Diaz, stated that the Cry took place in Balintawak on August 25, 1896. Historian Teodoro Kalaw
in his 1925 book The Filipino Revolution wrote that the event took place during the last week of August
1896 at Kangkong, Balintawak. Santiago Alvarez, a Katipunero and son of Mariano Alvarez, the leader of
the Magdiwang faction in Cavite, stated in 1927 that the Cry took place in Bahay Toro, now in Quezon
City on August 24, 1896. Pío Valenzuela, a close associate of Andrés Bonifacio, declared in 1948 that it
happened in Pugad Lawin on August 23, 1896. Historian Gregorio Zaide stated in his books in 1954 that
the "Cry" happened in Balintawak on August 26, 1896. Fellow historian Teodoro Agoncillo wrote in 1956
that it took place in Pugad Lawin on August 23, 1896, based on Pío Valenzuela's statement. Accounts by
historians Milagros Guerrero, Emmanuel Encarnacion and Ramon Villegas claim the event to have taken
place in Tandang Sora's barn in Gulod, Barangay Banlat, Quezon City.[5][6]

Some of the apparent confusion is in part due to the double meanings of the terms "Balintawak" and
"Caloocan" at the turn of the century. Balintawak referred both to a specific place in modern Caloocan
City and a wider area which included parts of modern Quezon City. Similarly, Caloocan referred to
modern Caloocan City and also a wider area which included modern Quezon City and part of modern
Pasig. Pugad Lawin, Pasong Tamo, Kangkong and other specific places were all in "greater Balintawak",
which was in turn part of "greater Caloocan".[3][4]
Definition of the Cry Edit

The term "Cry" is translated from the Spanish el grito de rebelion (cry of rebellion) or el grito for short.
Thus the Grito de Balintawak is comparable to Mexico's Grito de Dolores (1810). However, el grito de
rebelion strictly refers to a decision or call to revolt. It does not necessarily connote shouting, unlike the
Filipino sigaw.[3][4]

Accounts of the Cry Edit

GUILLERMO MASANGKAY

On August 26th, a big meeting was held in Balintawak, at the house of Apolonio Samson, then cabeza of
that barrio of Caloocan. Among those who attended, I remember, were Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, Aguedo
del Rosario, Tomas Remigio, Briccio Pantas, Teodoro Plata, Pio Valenzuela, Enrique Pacheco, and
Francisco Carreon. They were all leaders of the Katipunan and composed the board of directors of the
organization. Delegates from Bulacan, Cabanatuan, Cavite, and Morong were also present.

At about nine o'clock in the morning of August 26, the meeting was opened with Andres Bonifacio
presiding and Emilio Jacinto acting as secretary. The purpose was to discuss when the uprising was to
take place. Teodoro Plata, Briccio Pantas, and Pio Valenzuela were all opposed to starting the revolution
too early...Andres Bonifacio, sensing that he would lose the discussion then, left the session hall and
talked to the people, who were waiting outside for the result of the meeting of the leaders. He told the
people that the leaders were arguing against starting the revolution early, and appealed to them in a
fiery speech in which he said:"You remember the fate of our countrymen who were shot in Bagumbayan.
Should we return now to the towns, the Spaniards will only shoot us. Our organization has been
discovered and we are all marked men. If we don't start the uprising, the Spaniards will get us anyway.
What then, do you say?"

"Revolt!" the people shouted as one.

Bonifacio then asked the people to give a pledge that they were to revolt. He told them that the sign of
slavery of the Filipinos were (sic) the cedula tax charged each citizen. "If it is true that you are ready to
revolt... I want to see you destroy your cedulas. It will be a sign that all of us have declared our severance
from the Spaniards.[7]

The Cry of Balintawak occurred on August 26, 1896. The Cry, defined as that turning point when the
Filipinos finally refused Spanish colonial dominion over the Philippine Islands. With tears in their eyes,
the people as one man, pulled out their cedulas and tore them into pieces. It was the beginning of the
formal declaration of the separation from Spanish rule."Long Live the Philippine Republic!", the cry of
the people. An article from The Sunday Tribune Magazine on August 21, 1932 featured the statements of
the eyewitness account by Katipunan General Guillermo Masangkay, "A Katipunero Speaks". Masangkay
recounts the "Cry of Balintawak", stating that on August 26,1896, a big meeting was held in Balintawak
at the house of Apolonio Samson, then the cabeza of that barrio of Caloocan. At about nine o'clock in
the morning of August 26, the meeting was opened with Andres Bonifacio presiding and Emilio Jacinto
acting as Secretary. In August 1896, after the Katipunan was discovered, Masangkay joined Bonifacio,
Emilio Jacinto, and others in a clandestine meeting held on the 26th of that month at Apolonio Samson’s
house in Caloocan.

Initially, the leaders of the movement quarreled over strategy and tactics, and many of its members
questioned the wisdom of an open rebellion due to the lack of arms and logistical support. However,
after Bonifacio’s intense and convincing speech, everyone destroyed their cedulas to symbolize their
defiance towards Spain and, together, raised the cry of “Revolt". [4]

PIO VALENZUELA

In 1935, Pio Valenzuela, along with Briccio Pantas and Enrique Pacheco said (in English translation) "The
first Cry of the revolution did not happen in Balintawak where the monument is, but in a place called
Pugad Lawin." In 1940, a research team of a forerunner of the National Historical Institute (NHI) which
included Valenzuela, identified the location as part of sitio Gulod, Banlat, Kalookan City. IN 1964, the NHI
described this location as the house of Tandang Sora.[8]

The first place of refuge of Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, Procopio, Bonifacio, Teodoro Plata, Aguedo
del Rosario, and myself was Balintawak, the first five arriving there on August 19, and I on August 20,
1896. The first place where some 500 members of the Katipunan met on August 22, 1896, was the house
and yard of Apolonio Samson at Kangkong. Aside from the persons mentioned above, among those who
were there were Briccio Pantas, Alejandro Santiago, Ramon Bernardo, Apolonio Samson, and others.
Here, views were only exchanged, and no resolution was debated or adopted. It was at Pugad Lawin, the
house, store-house, and yard of Juan Ramos, son of Melchora Aquino, where over 1,000 members of the
Katipunan met and carried out considerable debate and discussion on August 23, 1896. The discussion
was on whether or not the revolution against the Spanish government should be started on August 29,
1896... After the tumultuous meeting, many of those present tore their cedula certificates and shouted
"Long live the Philippines! Long live the Philippines!"[9]

SANTIAGO ALVAREZ

The account of Santiago Alvarez regarding the Cry of Balintawak flaunted specific endeavors, as stated:

We started our trek to Kangkong at about eleven that night. We walked through the rain over dark
expanses of muddy meadows and fields. Our clothes drenched and our bodies numbed by the cold wind,
we plodded wordlessly. It was nearly two in the morning when we reached the house of Brother
Apolonio Samson in Kangkong. We crowded into the house to rest and warm ourselves. We were so tired
that, after hanging our clothes out to dry, we soon feel asleep. The Supremo began assigning guards at
five o'clock the following morning, Saturday 22 August 1896. He placed a detachment at the Balintawak
boundary and another at the backyard to the north of the house where we were gathered. No less than
three hundred men assembled at the bidding of the Supremo Andres Bonifacio. Altogether, they carried
assorted weapons, bolos, spears, daggers, a dozen small revolvers and a rifle used by its owner, one
Lieutenant Manuel, for hunting birds. The Supremo Bonifacio was restless because of fear of sudden
attack by the enemy. He was worried over the thought that any of the couriers carrying the letter sent by
Emilio Jacinto could have been intercepted; and in that eventuality, the enemy would surely know their
whereabouts and attack them on the sly. He decided that it was better to move to a site called Bahay
Toro. At ten o'clock that Sunday morning, 23 August 1896 we arrived at Bahay Toro. Our member had
grown to more than 500 and the house, yard, and warehouse of Cabesang Melchora was getting
crowded with us Katipuneros. The generous hospitality of Cabesang Melchora was no less than that of
Apolonio Samson. Like him, she also opened her granary and had plenty of rice pounded and animals
slaughtered to feed us. The following day, Monday, 24 August, more Katipuneros came and increased our
number to more than a thousand. The Supremo called a meeting at ten o'clock that morning inside
Cabesang Melchora's barn. Flanking him on both sides at the head of the table were Dr. Pio Valenzuela,
Emilio Jacinto, Briccio Pantas, Enrique Pacheco, Ramon Bernardo, Pantelaon Torres, Francisco Carreon,
Vicente Fernandez, Teodoro Plata, and others. We were so crowded that some stood outside the barn.
The following matters were approved at the meeting:

An uprising to defend the people's freedom was to be started at midnight of Saturday, 29 August 1896;

To be on a state of alert so that the Katipunan forces could strike should the situation arise where the
enemy was at a disadvantage. Thus, the uprising could be started earlier than the agreed time of
midnight of 29 August 1896 should a favorable opportunity arise at that date. Everyone should steel
himself and be resolute in the struggle that was imminent; and
He immediate objective was the capture of Manila.

After the adjournment of the meeting at twelve noon, there were tumultuous shouts of "Long live the
Sons of the People!