SingKapital: The Role of Bayambang in the Birth of Our Nation

SingKapital: The Role of Bayambang in the Birth of Our Nation

The yearly celebration of SingKapital – cobbled together by Rafael Limueco Saygo from the words "singko" and "kapital" originally as “Singtal” then lengthened by Mayor Cezar T. Quiambao to “SingKapital” -- every November 12 commemorates Bayambang's cameo role in the history of the country's fight for freedom and independence during the 1st Philippine Republic.

On November 12, 1899, General Emilio Aguinaldo declared Bayambang as the fifth capital of the country while he and his fellow revolutionaries were fleeing the invading American Army's northward advance. His Council of War turned the Republican Army into guerilla units, and this meant the soldiers resorted to “ambush, concealment, and the avoidance of set piece battles,” (in historian Arnaldo Dumindin’s words).

It seems just another day of encampment, another night of evading the occupying forces led by Brigadier General Arthur MacArthur (under President William McKinley’s command), but other significant things happened. On this same day, Aguinaldo instructed the poet Jose Palma to compose the lyrics of the Philippine national anthem in the then barrio of Bautista. It was originally titled “Filipinas” and written in Spanish. We can thus say that the Philippine national anthem was written in Bautista, Bayambang.

On their way here, Aguinaldo's infant daughter, Flora Victoria, died unbeknownst to the family, and she was buried in the local parish church. As one visiting guest speaker from the field of arts, Jaime ‘Bong’ Antonio Jr., Culture and Development Consultant of the National Council for Culture and the Arts, noted in the first official SingKapital celebration, the name “Flora Victoria” means “flower of victory,” so her demise was like a sacrifice and a portent, for the Revolution would eventually succeed, although it would take some time.

At the Estacion na Tren (which used to have a Bayambang station and a Bautista station), Aguinaldo and company also managed to publish an issue of the fledgling government's newspaper "La Independencia," edited by Gen. Antonio Luna and whose staff included Rosa Sevilla, Cecilio Apostol and Jose Palma, according to historian Jaime B. Veneracion.

They say that Bayambang was a deliberate choice because of its history of being pro-Revolutionary. Aguinaldo and company must have occupied the local parish church (Aguinaldo was not known to be anticlerical, unlike Bonifacio and the others). Again, according to Veneracion, it was most likely that the arrival of Aguinaldo and company was met by the locals with feasting, though it must have been a muted welcome party owing to the tenor of the times.

It must be noted that a few months ahead in that year, for a reason, General Antonio Luna transferred the government's Department of War to Bayambang. Old-timers point to the Dauz house at the junction of M.H. Del Pilar and Quezon Blvd. as his office address, for it used to be called the “Malacañang of the North.”

It is unfortunate that this story of our fight for freedom and independence for the first time as one nation was pockmarked with controversies. Luna would be assassinated in Cabanatuan on June 5, and shortly thereafter, on June 7, General Gregorio del Pilar was reportedly ordered to hunt down Luna's men in Bayambang. This brief story was made into a short film – enhanced with speculative fiction – to connect the "Heneral Luna" (2015) and "Goyo: The Boy General" (2018) films by director Jerrold Tarog. This is also the reason why the annual Heroes’ Trek, a secular pilgrimage of sorts in honor of Goyo’s heroism, retracing the path he took toward his eventual martyrdom at Tirad Pass, routinely makes a pit stop at the Bayambang Municipal Hall. (Among the organizers of this annual trek, which was started in 1998 or 1999, was former Municipal Councilor Gerry de Vera, being the Mayor’s Action Center Executive Director during the term of Mayor Leocadio ‘Boy’ de Vera, together with then University of the Philippines professor Prospero ‘Popoy’ de Vera.)

Aguinaldo especially was a controversial character because of these events, among other incidents thereafter, but these faults, whether perceived or factual, should not overshadow Aguinaldo's achievements and heroism.

What was Aguinaldo Doing Here?

 

A bronze statue representing General Aguinaldo stands in front of the Municipal Hall. The local government at the time commissioned no less than National Artist Napoleon Abueva to work on this sculpture as part of the celebration of the town’s quadricentennial in 2014. The statue was donated by then STRADCOM CEO Cezar T. Quiambao.

 

This is the sole marker that reminds everyone about what transpired in Bayambang that everyone has almost completely forgotten about: that the fledgling Philippine government once encamped in Bayambang, making it a temporary capital of the country, the fifth and the last of the First Philippine Republic (the first capital being Malolos, Bulacan; second San Isidro, Nueva Ecija; third Bamban, Tarlac; and fourth Tarlac, Tarlac), and Aguinaldo must have made a declaration of such on paper.  

 

Surely, the marker was also erected in honor of Aguinaldo and his indelible legacy, among which are the Philippine Constitution which establishes the country as a republic and a government organizational structure with co-equal executive, legislative, and judiciary branches, a national army, a unifying flag, and a national anthem.

 

Understandably, the Aguinaldo statue is one of the very few ones put up in the country outside the general's home province of Cavite, the other statues being in Kawit, Indang, and Baguio City. But the relative unpopularity compared with, say, Jose Rizal, does not diminish his role as the first president of Filipinos.

 

So locals will not forget Bayambang’s modest role in the birth of the nation, the Sangguniang Bayan of Bayambang passed Municipal Ordinance No. 17 in the year 2017, declaring November 12 as the day SingKapital shall be celebrated each year. It is hoped that SingKapital will always be remembered as a symbolic day in history when our heroes bravely took a stand for self-determination and subsequently would spill copious blood for it, and that is why we enjoy our freedom today and can assume an identity, and nationality, as Filipinos.