Article: Pio Valenzuela -- Last of the Great Katipuneros (1949)

Dr. Pio Valenzuela: Last of the Great Katipuneros

By Salvador F. Zaide

Published in Evening News Saturday Magazine, November 26, 1949.

THE KATIPUNAN, so the story goes, was the generating force of the revolutionary tempest that swept violently over the Philippines toward the close of the last century. Founded by Andres Bonifacio, this underground organization of Filipino Patriots whose membership swelled to hundreds of thousands from a mere handful, actually had been dominated throughout its turbulent lifetime by only three men, all heroic to the core, who soon enough were called “kataastaasang tatlo” (Big Three or Triumvirate).

These men were Andres Bonifacio, explosive and headstrong, Emilio Jacinto, soldier-sage now rated by historians as the “brains of the Katipunan.”-and the only living member of the Triumvirate, Dr. Pio Valenzuela, who now leads a sedate and unexciting life – in complete retirement – in his hometown, Polo, Bulacan. The trio was the “towering and driving power” within the Katipunan, and being themselves the sole members of the much feared secret judicial chamber of the organization, they exercised tremendous power over the Katipuneros,including the power to take life of anyone found guilty of treachery.

The aging Polo Katipunerois a living link of our day with the generation of Rizal, Bonifacio, Mabini and other great figures of the revolutionary era. He was among Bonifacio’s closest friends who remained steadfast and loyal to him up to the time the great patriot was killed on orders of the revolutionary government headed by General Emilio Aguinaldo. After the lapse of over half a century, he still feels bitter and resentful over the death of his friend.

Whenever Dr. Valenzuela talks about Bonifacio’s heroic exploits and the cruel fate which cut short his brilliant career as a revolutionary leader, he invariably describes the tragedy in the words of Apolinario Mabini: “Bonifacio’s death constitutes the first triumph of personal ambition over national patriotism!”  Today, at the mellow but unyielding age of 80 years and three months, Don Pio, as the townsfolk of Polo affectionately call him, still moves sprightly about, carrying his big frame with a jaunty vigor. It is obvious that the adventurous nature of the life he led during the revolutionary years has induced a heightening of his perspective and vision. He feels an intense sense of relationship with the past, and more often now turns his back on the present to reminisce on the past. 

History decidedly will always remember Don Pio, besides being a Katipunan stalwart, as a dashing, cloak-and-dagger figure who had pulled of a number of perilous missions for Bonifacio and the Katipunan. Standouts among his high adventures are his secret meeting with Dr. Jose Rizal at the latter’s place of exile in Dapitan, Mindanao, and the negotiation he conducted with Japanese emissaries over the proposed purchase of three boatloads of arms from Japan by the Filipino revolutionists.   

In Dr. Valenzuela’s own words, the Katipunan which was formally organized on July 7, 1892 coinciding with the public announcement by Spanish Governor-General Despujol of Rizal’s banishment to Dapitan, “aimed to unite the Filipinos under one nationality in order to petition Spain for a representation in the Cortes and demand equality of rights between the inhabitants of the Ultramar and the Peninsula; in case these demands were not granted, to collect enough money and provoke a general uprising for the independence of the Philippine Islands under the protectorate of the Japanese empire.”

Rizal, says Don Pio, had finally swung around to a more tolerant attitude toward the necessity, and inevitability, of open rebellion against Spain, “Rizal told as much to Jacinto when the latter sneaked aboard the boat carrying him to Cuba as voluntary army doctor,” he recounts. “He assured Jacinto that his principal reason in applying for the overseas job was to obtain first-hand knowledge of military tactics, so he could take active part in any impending revolution here.”

Relating his interview with Rizal in Dapitan, he reveals that the Calamba doctor-martyr counselled against immediate uprising on two grounds: first, the would-be rebels had insufficient arms; and second most of the wealthy and prominent Filipinos had not expressed their solid support of the libertarian fight. Rizal was clearly of the opinion that should a rebellion break out, the chances were that these affluent Filipinos would likely become “more deadly enemies to the cause than the Spanish authorities.”

Don Pio continues, “Rizal argued the view that once there were enough arms and the majority of the prominent Filipinos had pledged their cooperation, it would be ready then to strike. There was no need also to worry about his safety as he was ready to cope with any eventuality.”

According to only remaining member of the Katipunan Triumvirate, Bonifacio accepted calmly the counsels of Rizal and was therefore resolved to follow them to the letter but for the sudden turn of events which hastened the shooting war between Filipino patriots and Spanish authorities. 

Significantly, Dr. Valenzuela’s narrative in regard to the reaction of Bonifacio when apprised of the results of the interview with Rizal definitely gives the lie to the popular version about this particular incident contained in most school textbooks on Philippine story. The standard textbook  story shows that Bonifacio, stung to the quick by Rizal’s frigid reception of his proposal for immediate revolt, exploded: “Thunder! Where did Rizal read that for a revolution you must first have ships and arms? Where did he read that?”

Dr. Pio Valenzuela was born in Polo, fourth child of Francisco Valenzuela and Lorenzana Alejandrino. His parents were well off, and belonged to the local aristocracy. Even from early childhood, Don Pio had shown such strong inclination towards the medical profession that the entire Valenzuela household took it for granted that he would grow up to be a successful medico. No one was surprised then when young Valenzuela, upon completion of his secondary education, enrolled in the Santo Tomas University, the only school at the time offering complete courses in medicine. 

He did not dream that when he pursued his studies in Manila he would be heading for far bigger things. Valenzuela, in his fourth year in medicine, came to know of the Katipunan, which was barely a week-old, from a housemate, Luciano de Guzman, another young student from Angat, Bulacan. He promptly joined the underground society. 

No living man possesses such intimate background of the Katipunan and its earlier exploits than Dr. Valenzuela who from the day he signed up as a member, had been the constant companion of Bonifacio and Jacinto. Their long intimacy gave, as expected, Valenzuela a rare insight into the character of both leaders.     

What kind of man was Andres Bonifacio? What about Jacinto? “Bonifacio was a born leader of men, with a flair for organization and an unbending fortitude in the face of danger,” thus Valenzuela pictures his friend. “He possessed a rare aptitude for political science and the military. Despite lack of formal education, Bonifacio was thoroughly informed on the American and English governments, as well as on the lives of the US presidents and Joan of Arc.”

Jacinto was only 20 when he died from gunshot wounds sustained during a bitter fighting in Laguna, in Valenzuela’s own words, was: “A towering intellectual whose writing in the Kalayaan, Katipunan newspaper, inflamed the Filipinos into action against Spanish misrule.”

Dr. Valenzuela fought with Bonifacio and Jacinto in the initial skirmish with the enemy 48 hours after the Katipunerosdecided to revolt in a secret meeting held in barrio Pugad Lawin, Caloocan, on Aug. 22, 1896. The engagement which was fought in barrio Pasong Tamo, also in Caloocan, was brief and bitter. “TheGuardia Civiles took to their heels in the face of the determined fight that we put up,” he recollects.

The Pasong Tamoepisode was not without humor as far as Dr. Valenzuela is concerned. It seems that he and Bonifacio got a bellyful of laughs at the expense of Jacinto. Jacinto reportedly was thrown off his horse many times while the trio galloped toward the enemy. And every time he hit the ground, his friends were forced to give him succor, “Poor Jacinto,” Dr. Valenzuela chuckles, “that was the first time he ever rode a horse!”

The revolution spread rapidly to neighboring provinces. Dr. Valenzuela frequently found himself undertaking dangerous missions as Bonifacio’s personal envoy. Returning to Manila from Binan, following a secret mission, the Spanish authorities, who had been closely watching his movements for a long time, caught up with him. Governor-General Ramon Blanco sentenced him to life imprisonment. Other prominent Filipinos imprisoned with Dr. Valenzuela included Antonio Luna, a young chemist who later became the outstanding military strategist of the revolution, and Juan Castaneda, father of the present Philippine army chief of staff.

With Castaneda and Luna, Dr. Valenzuela who was interned at Fort Santiago, was shipped out to Spain where he was thrown in a jail in Barcelona. During his Barcelona “prison stint” he helped the Swiss friends of Luna get him out of jail by testifying that Luna was not a member of the Katipunan. 

From Barcelona, Dr. Valenzuela, Castaneda and other Filipino patriots were transferred to the prison in Madrid, thence to Malaga, also in Spain. Afterwards, the prisoners were moved out to Melilla, an outlying Spanish outpost in Africa, where they remained until after the Treaty of Paris was inked by representatives of the American and Spanish governments. With peace established between the US and Spain, the Spanish authorities put the prisoners on a freighter for Manila. 

But prison life did not end for Dr. Valenzuela and Castaneda, for the US army authorities placed them under arrest upon arrival in Manila. They were imprisoned in a house in Intramuros within a stone’s throw of San Juan de Letran. There they remained until the early part of 1899 when they were finally set free.

The prison pallor was still very much discernible in his features when Dr. Valenzula plunged into peacetime politics. He became the first municipal president of Polo, and afterwards, governor of the province of Bulacan.  

Numerous yarns are now told and re-told by Bulacan folks regarding their former governor. “Barely a week after Dr. Valenzuela assumed the governorship, one story runs, a powerful gambling syndicate in Baliuag sent an emissary to him with a “proposition.” The gambling clique offered him P 1,000 monthly in exchange for official protection. Unmoved by the tempting bribe, Dr. Valenzuela quietly told the gamblers’ representative to get out of his office-fast. Then he acted immediately: he hounded the local constabulary until gambling and vice in the province, especially in Baliuag, disappeared.

Dr. Valenzuela lives quietly with his wife and seven children. He is the favorite story teller of a big brood of 38 grandchildren who like to listen to his stories of his renowned friends, Bonifacio and Jacinto. The good patriot and his wife will celebrate their golden wedding anniversary in February, next year.

Dr. Valenzuela keeps himself well informed on current events. He is alarmed at the worsening communist situation on the domestic front, attaching great significance to the influx of Chinese into the Philippines. “The urge for change prevailing throughout the world may further aggravate the social ferment here unless the government does the right things to buttress our people’s faith in democracy,” says Dr. Valenzuela.