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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.
The historian Teodoro Agoncillo chose to emphasize Bonifacio’s tearing of the cedula (tax receipt) before a crowd of Katipuneros who then did the same.
Teodoro Agoncillo convinced the National Historical Commission to move the traditional Aug. 26 date to Aug. 23 and transfer the historical site from Balintawak to Pugad Lawin. If Agoncillo’s personality wasn’t enough for the Commission, he cited as his principal source Dr. Pio Valenzuela, a close associate of Bonifacio.
The Cry of Pugadlawin. News about the discovery of the Katipunan spread to Manila and nearby suburbs, and Andres Bonifacio immediately called for a general meeting. Various wings of the Katipunan gathered at the house of Juan Ramos in Pugadlawin on August 23, 1896.
For his 1956 book The Revolt of the Masses Teodoro Agoncillo defined “the Cry” as the tearing of cedulas, departing from precedent which had then defined it as the first skirmish of the revolution.
That same night of August 19, Bonifacio, accompanied by his brother Procopio, Emilio Jacinto, Teodoro Plata, and Aguedo del Rosario, slipped through the cordon of Spanish sentries and reached Balintawak before midnight.
The cry is characterized by Agoncillo as the tearing of cedula. The First Cry of the Philippine Revolution is a critical issue to which we should be mindful. We must be cautious in our approach to this issue.
