The Cry of

Balintawak
NGEC 2 – Readings in Philippine History
 Cry of Balintawak or Pugad
Lawin
• The Cry of Balintawak (Filipino: Sigaw ng Balintawak, Spanish: Grito
de Balintawak) was the beginning of the Philippine Revolution against
the Spanish Empire.
• The cry could also refer to the tearing up of community tax certificates
(cedulas personals) in defiance of their allegiance to Spain.
• At the close of August 1896, members of the Katipunan secret society
(Katipuneros) led by Andres Bonifacio rose up in revolt somewhere in
an area referred to as Caloocan, wider than the jurisdiction of present-
day Caloocan City which may have overlapped into present-day Quezon
City.
 Cry of Balintawak or Pugad
Lawin
• Originally the term cry referred to the first clash between
the Katipuneros and Civil Guards (Guardia Civil). The cry
could also refer to the tearing up of community tax
certificates (cedulas personals) in defiance of their
allegiance to Spain. The inscriptions of “Viva la
Independencia Filipino” can also be referred as term for
the cry. This was accompanied by patriotic shouts.
 Definition of the Cry
• 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 rebellion strictly refers to a decision
or call to revolt it. It does not necessarily connote
shouting, unlike the Filipino sigaw.
 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 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 Bagumbagayan. 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.
 Guillermo Masangkay
• Bonifacio asked the people to give a pledge that they were to revolt. He told them that the sign of
slavery of the Filipinos were the cedula tax charged each citizen.
• 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 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.
 Pio Valenzuela
• In 1935, Pio Valenzuela, along with Briccio Pantas and
Enrique Pacheco said “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.
 Pio Valenzuela
• 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 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 Kangkon.
 Santiago Alvarez
• 5 o’clock on Saturday August 22, 1896
• A revolutionary general who wrote Memoirs of a General, which
includes details about the events leading up to the controversial
execution of Andres Bonifacio and his brother Procopio
• He flaunted specific endeavors, as stated: We started our trek to
Kangkong at about eleven at 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.