Tahanan Books

You may think of Andres Bonifacio as a bolo-wielding figure, rallying his comrades to battle. Or you may have joined the popular debate over who deserves to be the national hero–is it Jose Rizal, the well-to-do doctor who sought peaceful reforms with Mother Spain? Or does the honor belong to Bonifacio, Tondo’s native son, who believed that only an armed revolt against colonial tyranny would set his country free?

Unlike Rizal, who left behind volumes of correspondence, Bonifacio wrote little and lost most of his possessions in a fire. Even the whereabouts of his remains are unknown.

So who was the man behind the statues and pictures?

Andres Bonifacio is remembered as the Father of the Katipunan, the secret society that ignited the Philippine Revolution against Spain. As its supreme leader, Bonifacio lived in the eye of the revolutionary tempest that swept the land. His bitter rivalry with Emilio Aguinaldo, the general who turned Cavite into a rebel stronghold, left the brotherhood splintered and on the run.

Through exhaustive research Sylvia Mendez Ventura has pieced together the largely undocumented life of Bonifacio–from his humble roots to his tragic execution at the hands of his own Katipunero brothers. Ms. Ventura’s comprehensive biography and Egai Fernandez’ dramatic sketches transport readers to one of the most pivotal and bloodstained chapters in the Philippines history.