Cavite congressman bears weight, raises honor of Aguinaldo name

Growing up to be the great grandson of Philippine revolution icon, General Emilio Aguinaldo was quite exciting for Cavite 1st district Rep. Francis Gerald Aguinaldo Abaya.

However, bearing a hero’s name–especially one belonging to the country’s first president--also has its share of responsibilities. After all, Abaya admits that his great “lolo” (grandfather) was a controversial hero — but still nothing less than a hero.

“It was cool but there were no special privileges. When you go to school, you just know that you’re carrying that name,” said Abaya, who is in his first term in the House of Representatives (HOR).

“Minsan mabigat din na dala mo yung name na Aguinaldo (Carrying the Aguinaldo name is a responsibility). I mean it’s something that you have to be careful with,” he underscored.

Field trip organizer “Field trips to the Aguinaldo shrine would be organized by my mom. At that time the curators of the shrine were our relatives. For me it was a playground, a big house with many secret rooms,” Abaya recalled. “Every time I go there, I learn something new.”

It was at the 1,324-square meter mansionshrine that Aguinaldo led the declaration of Philippine Independence from Spain on June 12, 1898, which is pretty much to the reason why we celebrate Araw ng Kalayaan or Independence Day on that date.

On that momentous day, the Philippine national flag was first unfurled, the Marcha Filipina Magdalo (now called the Lupang Hinirang) was performed by a marching band and the 21-page Act of the Declaration of Independence was read out in public.

Formerly the Aguinaldos’ ancestral home, the shrine in Kawit, Cavite was donated to the Philippine government on June 12, 1963, the year before the “General of the Revolution” passed away.

Hero worship Abaya said that as a kid, it was “mindblowing” to realize just how important a person his great grandfather was. He noted how surprised he was to read about Aguinaldo in school text books and to see the latter’s face on money.

“For me when I first saw my lolo on money, it was mind-blowing. My mommy would say, ‘yung lolo mo yung nasa pera (That’s your lolo’s picture on money). Yung pera minsan tinitipid ko yun ayokong gastusin (I tried to keep the money rather than spend it).”

Abaya said he still keeps one of the old, green five peso bills bearing his great grandfather’s face and familiar flattop inside his wallet.

During the Centennial of Philippine Independence in 1998, Abaya–who was still in his teens then — bared that he and his cousins all sported flattop hairdos in honor of the their great lolo.

He likened family celebrations of Independence Day as well as Aguinaldo’s birth and death anniversaries to “one big reunion” among the related clans.

“Basically it’s a reunion for us. All descendants of Gen. Aguinaldo come together from the side of Prime Minister Virata, Justice Herera... it’s a big family. We’re from the kin of Emilio Aguinaldo Jr. We try to go to the shrine and see the rest of the family. Sometimes there are 80 to 100 people in all.”

“There are many descendants especially in Kawit,” he said.

Defending Aguinaldo Speaking of school, the congressman found it to be a familiar battleground to defend the Aguinaldo name.

“As you grow up, issues come out about Aguinaldo, who is a very controversial hero. We always had to defend it in school. In class, knowing that you’re a direct descendant, ‘OK, automatic ikaw magdedefend sa lolo mo!’ (they tell me, ‘OK, you’ll automatic defend your lolo!),” he said.

Perhaps, the most persistent and piercing issue Abaya had to answer for regarding his great grandfather was the execution of another hero of the revolution, Katipunan founder Andres Bonifacio.

“It was a school project for history class. I was in Grade 10, sophomore high school. The class was divided into two: Aguinaldo side and Bonifacio side. I defended my lolo. I gave my personal opinion on how things were. Many negative things were said against Aguinaldo with all these issues about Bonifacio,” he recounted.

“I don’t think he did that (order Bonifacio’s execution). From our side we always believed that he wanted banishment when that thing happened. Bonifacio was accused of treason, and the punishment for that was banishment,” Abaya said. “I don’t think (Aguinaldo was) a violent guy.”

Referring to June 12, 1898, the Cavite solon said: “That was the time that he freed the Filipino people from the Spaniards.”

“If you look at the whole picture, ang laki pa rin ng nagawa niya for the Philippines (he had a huge contribution to the Philippines),” he said.

Lost heirloom? In his native Cavite, General Aguinaldo is famous for being “undefeated” in a series of skirmishes against the Spanish colonists just before the declaration of independence. Abaya claims to have known his great lolo’s secret, although he said the latter died with it.

“Si Gen. Aguinaldo may anting-anting ’yan eh. Yan yung laging kwento sa amin ng mommy namin. Kaya yan walang talo sa lahat ng giyera niya, sa lahat ng laban niya, until he died (Gen. Aguinaldo has a talisman. That’s what my mommy used to tell us. That’s why in all wars and battles he was never beaten, until he died),” he said.

“Meron pa yan kaibigan na kapre na nagtatabako (He is also friends with a tree demon who smokes tobacco),” Abaya said, suggesting that Aguinaldo’s unusual friend somehow gives him good luck.

The young lawmaker tells a story of how his grandfather, Emilio Aguinaldo Jr., missed out on possibly inheriting the aforementioned talisman from the general’s hospital deathbed.

“According to my titas, during the time he was dying, he was looking for my grandfather, but my grandfather wasn’t in the hospital at that time. Gen. Aguinaldo didn’t die in a battle; he died of old age,” Abaya said.

“Feeling namin is that there was this anting-anting from his mouth that needs to be passed. Eh wala, walang nakakuha (Nobody was able to receive it).”

Abaya joked that he, in effect, was also deprived of receiving his great grandfather’s special heirloom one day.

The Aguinaldo patriarch died of coronary thrombosis at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City on February 6, 1964. He was 94.

He lived a full life, the solon said, one that he tries to emulate beyond just occasionally having the same hairstyle.

“We try our best... here in Congress, it’s something different. We try to continue what Gen. Aguinaldo started. But instead of battling for independence, now it’s for Tuwid na Daan.”

Folk story Another descendant of the great Filipino general, Angelo J. Aguinaldo, told the Manila Bulletin in Kawit, Cavite that talk about the hero’s “kapre”-friend and “anting-anting” are all folklore.

“The claims are not true, there is no proof (about the talks). Folklore will always be folklore,” said Aguinaldo, curator of the Aguinaldo Shrine in Kawit and a great grandson of the revolutionary leader.

He was reacting to the claim that the “kapre” (a mythical tree demon) and “anting-anting” (mythical charms) had saved the life of the general in encounters against the Spaniards and later the Americans during the revolution.

The folk story goes that Aguinaldo met the “kapre” and became his friend at a tree under a bridge in Marulas, an area not far from his home.

As friends, so the story goes, the “kapre” had served as guardian of Aguinaldo and his house, and deflected bullets fired his way by Spanish soldiers.

It was the kapre that supposedly gave a white stone or amulet to Aguinaldo, which he allegedly coughed out before he died at the Veterans Memorial Hospital in Quezon City on February 6, 1964. He passed away at the age of 94.

His great grandson says all these are untrue.

But in the middle alley of the newly renovated Shrine Museo de Aguinaldo, there is a glass case which displays triangular and rectangular medallions and some papers with Latin incantations.

It was not known if the amulets belonged to Aguinaldo as there was no note bearing ownership or his name in the glass case.

A story line in one of a display pull-out boxes near the door of the state-of-the-art museum reads: Cavite is known for the fabrication and use of amulets for medicinal purposes and as protection from enemies. Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo was believed to have possessed an amulet.” (With a report from Anthony Giron)