We need a Mabini

IAM writing this on the birthday of Apolinario Mabini (23 July) and remembering how little I learned about him during my school days. He was alternately called the “Brains of the Revolution” (not to be mistaken for the Brains of the Katipunan, Emilio Jacinto) or the “Sublime Paralytic” which I think is a literal translation of the Spanish “paralítico sublime”; I have not found out who originally coined that bloviated phrase, which in Tagalog sounds worse, “dakilang lumpo.” None of the three even hints at Mabini’s mental acuity and patriotism.

Apolinario Mabini was a character in the movie “Heneral Luna” played by Eric Quison, son of the famous Dolphy. There were rumors that Mr. Quison was baffled at why the historic character he was portraying was always seated, almost immobile beside President Emilio Aguinaldo; he never had a “walking” or “running” part considering that there was supposed to be a war going on. Poor Mr. Quison, he had not heard about the “sublime paralytic.”

So, I celebrated Mabini’s birthday by reading his correspondence with Marcelo del Pilar and Pres. Aguinaldo and the latter’s instructions, executive orders, letters to the American generals, and proclamations to Filipinos, all of which were ghost-written by Mabini. How fortunate Aguinaldo was to have a loyal, disinterested, nationalistic, and brilliant adviser. None of the succeeding presidents of the Philippine Republic, including the incumbent, had advisers of that caliber. We do need a Mabini.

The First Philippine Republic, though short-lived, was a functioning government that addressed the challenges of a newly independent country. While reading Las Cartas Políticas de Apolinario Mabini, compiled by Teodoro M. Kalaw, I realized that Filipinos in 1898 were generating evidence of their ability for self-government. That was why the Americans branded them insurgents and bandits.

Mabini was one of the few who could perceive the ulterior motives of the United States of America visà-vis the Philippines. He discussed this with Paciano Rizal when the latter would accompany him to the curative baths at Los Baños while Aguinaldo was still in Hong Kong with the co-signers of the Pact of Biak-na-Bato. Mabini had joined Jose Rizal’s La Liga Filipina, in 1892, and that was probably how they met; I am speculating.

Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo sent for him and he arrived in Kawit on the very day Independence was declared from the balcony of Aguinaldo’s house. Mabini considered the declaration imperfect because it was prepared by the military sector, not by duly elected representatives of the people. He believed the civilian sector should always prevail. Consequently, in August of the same year, he advised Aguinaldo to rectify this with a formal proclamation in Bacoor by presidents of municipalities elected by the people, and another one on 29 September, national in character, by the members of the Malolos Congress, the President, and the Cabinet. In contrast to the June declaration, no American was invited to affix his signature.

Mabini was our first Secretary of Foreign Affairs. He found time to read books, periodicals, and newspapers about world history and current events. With interest, he followed the denouement of the Cuban revolution against Spain and how the United States intervened under the pretext of protecting American lives and business interests. He sent the heads of our Revolutionary Army a prescient warning that Spain, due to its weakness, would plead for peace, insist on the Independence of Cuba, but offer the Philippines as indemnification for the costs of war. That came to pass.

Apolinario Mabini and Felipe Calderon, an eminent lawyer from Santa Ana, Manila, were at odds about the Constitution. In Calderon’s draft, the legislative body, the Congress, was more powerful than the President. In Mabini’s, the President of the Republic held supreme authority over all other agencies and departments of government. War with the Americans was imminent so Mabini felt that power should rest in only one person, the President of the Republic. Decisions had to be made and conveyed to the field rapidly, there was no time for congressional deliberations during times of war. However, the Calderon constitutional draft prevailed.

Mabini did not want to crank up a national dispute over the constitution, so he sent Aguinaldo a list of amendments that would secure his predominance. For example, the president had the sole power to appoint his advisers, heads of departments, of the army and government agencies. Mabini warned against giving Congress the power to form a sort of Commission on Appointments that could approve and disapprove presidential choices. The process could be so interminable that qualified people would be discouraged from working for the government.

T. M. Kalaw’s book is a complete course on Mabini. The “Brains of the Revolution” advised Aguinaldo on the organization of local government entities, on electoral processes, on taxation, on how to raise funds for the Republic and to prevent his wealthy followers from controling finances. He reprimanded the President for being lenient and manipulative with his abusive fellow Caviteños. He criticized Gen. Antonio Luna for his temper and harsh methods, but admired the man for his discipline, integrity, patriotism, and for establishing military schools.

The Americans were wary of Mabini because he was one of the “brains of the nation”; disabled yet indomitable, he cut an almost romantic figure who provoked admiration and sympathy. He was a rallying point that had to be banished to the rim of the Pacific, to in hospitable Guam.

Find time to visit Mabini’s nipa house, which used to be beside the Nagtahan Bridge but was relocated to the campus of the PUP in Santa Mesa; there is a Philippine-American War museum beside it. In Tanauan, Batangas, there is a larger Mabini house and a 2-story Philippine-American War Museum. Don’t wait for Mabini’s next birthday, do it now. (ggc1898@gmail.com)