WHO REALLY ORDERED LUNA’S MURDER?
Gen. Antonio Luna came in Cabanatuan`s kumbento in the late afternoon of June
5, 1899, in order to meet with Emilio Aguinaldo. Felipe Buencamino, with whom
he had previously disagreed, met Luna. The Kawit presidential bodyguards were
also reinstated by Aguinaldo when he had them disarmed, along with Capt.
Luna suffered over 30 wounds from bolos, bayonets and bullets. A lesser man
would have died instantly from half of his wounds, but the general was able to
stagger out of the building, cursing his murderers, before falling lifeless on the
church patio.
Who really ordered the murder of Luna? Was Luna really summoned to a
meeting with Aguinaldo?
If so, why wasn`t Aguinaldo there?
Textbook history has been oversimplified to blame Aguinaldo when the story is
more complicated.
We know about the assassination, but not the other events that led to Luna’s
bloody end. From The Evening News, an American paper published in
Washington, we read this report a week later:
[7.35 p.m.]—General Luna, lieutenant commander of the Filipino army, has been
assassinated by order of Aguinaldo.
Investigation proved, however, that Luna had been killed and General Otis has
authentic information regarding the death of the insurgent general.
“Details regarding the tragedy show that last Tuesday the general and his
adjutant, Colonel Ramon [Roman], visited Aguinaldo`s headquarters at
Cabanatuan, their purpose being to procure Aguinaldo`s authority to imprison all
Filipinos suspected of being friendly to the United States. General Luna asked the
captain of the guard in the lower hall of Aguinaldo`s quarters, if Aguinaldo was at
home, to which question the captain replied in an insolent manner, `I don`t
know.`
“The guard whose insolence to Luna was the main cause of the assassination was,
it is said, arrested, tried by court-martial and promptly acquitted. Further advices
say that Ney [?], by order of Aguinaldo, purposely insulted Luna and forced a
quarrel. One report says Luna was shot before Ney stabbed him.
“The foregoing information was sent by the Filipino leader, Pedro Paterno, to his
brother in Manila by special courier and is confirmed from other sources. The
assassination of Luna recalls the similar fate of Andres Bon[i]facio in the Cavite
province in the beginning of the revolution. Both were rivals of Aguinaldo for the
leadership of the Filipinos.
Paterno was biased against Luna, and it is obvious that those most threatened by
Luna protected themselves by playing on Aguinaldo’s fear and insecurity. They got
rid of Apolinario Mabini by intrigue, Luna had to be disposed of by murder. A
more nuanced reading of the challenges that faced the short-lived First Philippine
Republic leads us to the complex background of the Luna assassination.
THE WAY ANTONIO LUNA DIED
Most of the paintings were acquired by the Far East Bank and Trust Co. (FEBTC)
and donated to the National Museum, where they are currently displayed in a
dedicated hall in the National Gallery of Art. Some of the paintings were retained
by the FEBTC that was eventually acquired by the Bank of the Philippine Islands; a
selection of these are currently on exhibit at the Ayala Museum.
What many people do not know is that an even bigger treasure was neglected in
the Heritage Art Gallery—the papers and memorabilia not just of Juan Luna but
also of his brother, the ill-fated Gen. Antonio Luna, who was assassinated in
Cabanatuan in 1899 by soldiers he had disarmed and discharged
While everyone was busy going over the Juan Luna paintings and speculating on
the scads of money these would command in the art market, I was allowed to
examine the boxes of papers and personal effects of which nobody took notice. In
one box, for example, I saw the painting frock of Juan Luna as well as his brushes
and palette.
Antonio Luna’s papers could have given us more information on the context in
which his tragedy played out. When I was watching the film “Heneral Luna,” I
waited for the assassination scene and got more than I bargained for.
I went through my notes after watching the film, and wondered why the assassins
were never punished. It is odd to even think that it was a case of self-defense
because it was one man against a company of soldiers. One would think that once
wounded, Luna was easy to disarm and contain, but that he received more than
30 wounds from bolos and gunshots is proof that much anger was released in that
killing. One or two fatal wounds would have been enough for an ordinary murder,
but 30? Then, of course, we have heard of Aguinaldo’s mother watching the
murder from a window in the convent and, when all was done, shouting for
confirmation that Luna had indeed been killed: “Nagalaw pa ba yan?”
Luna’s last will and testament were found in his papers after his death. It is dated
March 31, 1899, and written en route from San Fernando to Calumpit: “1. I leave
whatever I have to my mother. 2. If they will kill me, wrap me in a Filipino flag
with all the clothing with which I was dressed when killed, and bury me in the
ground. 3. I wish to state freely that I would die willingly for my country, for our
independence, without thereby looking for death.”
With his tragic death Luna will be remembered for a long time because the way
he died continues to our time.
‘NANLABAN’: BONIFACIO AND LUNA
Nanlaban” is a word that echoes in this administration’s deadly war against drugs.
Nanlaban is invoked by police, who claim self-defense against suspects killed in
cold blood while unarmed, running away, prostrate in surrender, or kneeling in
supplication. Nanlaban was the basis for the controversial deaths of Andres
Bonifacio and Antonio Luna, two murders that popular opinion has laid at Emilio
Aguinaldo’s door.
During Bonifacio`s trial, the prosecution claimed that Bonifacio resisted arrest in
Limbon, on April 23, 1897. Aguinaldo`s soldiers were said to have merely returned
fire in an encounter that left Andres Bonifacio wounded; his elder brother,
Ciriaco, dead; and his younger brother, Procopio, beaten unconscious with fists,
boots and rifle butts.
Adding insult to injury, Bonifacio’s wife Oryang was sexually abused by the
arresting officer, Col. Agapito Bonzon. In vain did Bonifacio request the court to
present his confiscated weapons that had all bullets intact—proof that he did not
discharge his weapons, and that the arresting party shot at them without
provocation.Bonifacio and his brother were executed for treason on May 10,
1897.
Antonio Luna was summoned, by telegram, to an important meeting with the
president in Cabanatuan.When he presented himself at Aguinaldo`s headquarters
on June 5, 1899, exhausted from a long journey on horseback, he was told the
president was away.There he saw Felipe Buencamino, a high-ranking official he
had arrested for treason, and Aguinaldo`s Kawit bodyguards whom he had
disarmed and punished for insubordination.
LUNA AND HIS AIDE COULD HAVE BEEN DISABLED OR RESTRAINED, BUT THE
HANDY ALIBI, THEN AS NOW, WAS SIMPLY NANLABAN.
In his angry Guam memoirs, Apolinario Mabini blamed Aguinaldo for the deaths
of Bonifacio and Luna. He even recommended a glorious death on the battlefield
as Aguinaldo’s only redemption.
Cutting through auction house hype, we know that Luna received two telegrams
while he was directing the construction of the defenses at Binmaley. The first one,
sent from Angeles, called Luna to a meeting on the defense of Pampanga. The
second, sent from Cabanatuan, called Luna to a meeting on a revamp in
government.
Antonio K. Abad, in his 1926 book “Ang Mahiwagang Pagkamatay ni Heneral
Luna” (The Mysterious Death of General Luna), wrote that the Angeles telegram
was from Aguinaldo, while the Cabanatuan one was a trap, set by people to settle
scores with the fiery general.
Partly in code, the message reads: Decoded, it reads: “Paging for an important
meeting, therefore you are ordered to come here immediately. Waiting for a
reply to my previous telegram about urgent matters to discuss. Beseech urgency.”
Luna’s reply at the bottom of the coded message, supplied by the auction house,
is “Felipe Buencamino not yet detained based on my accusation.”
While this is not the telegram fished out of Luna’s pockets as he lay dead in the
afternoon sun, his fists clenched in defiance, his mouth curled from the curses
hurled at his murderers as they finished him off, it reopens a wound in our history
too painful to bear.
