Today is just another national holiday for many Filipinos.
Some will go straight to a mall, not even taking a moment to recall the hero who gave workers a day off midweek this year. A few may mumble a careless thank you for the rare day off, and not for his real contribution to our country.
Andres Bonifacio is a name, a hero, a hazy figure in our history whose life and character probably escape the comprehension of not just the youngest generation.
Who, indeed, is "the great plebeian," as he has been painted in history?
For starters Bonifacio, recent information reveals, was not "poor," or even a blue-collar worker. He was, like many in our population today, middle class.
So how did he come to be widely known as a crass equivalent to the "educated" men we also call our national heroes?
When we think of Bonifacio, we think of "downtrodden Indio," as succinctly put in an article on "little-known facts about Andres Bonifacio" on filipiknow.net.
On the contrary, the Katipunan founder was "highly intellectual," as another history buff describes recently.
He was "a voracious reader." His father was working class, but highly paid for his skills as a tailor. This allowed the young Andres to get an education.
The aforementioned website added that Bonifacio was, in fact, "managing warehouse inventory" and not hauling wares in the German company he worked as a "bodeguero."
We might gain some understanding of the kind of man he was if we dug up more information and read about the research done by local and foreign historians.
It would be like peeling off layers of his personality, like the onion that nowadays costs almost P300 a kilo.
During Bonifacio's time, this pantry staple no doubt cost very little — there would have been food if one cared to grow them, not like today when food scarcity stems from high demand and insufficient supply.
What would Bonifacio have thought if he knew the recommended daily wage for a family of five to survive in 2022 is over a thousand pesos?
Would he have cared to fight for farmers who are still selling their produce at measly farmgate prices while traders rake in the profits? Would he have torn up price tags like that cedula scene in the 1890's?
Bonifacio, the idealist, was portrayed as brawn and not much brain — or he would not have been outmaneuvered by other Filipinos who opposed his views or his ways.
Born on 30 November 1863, Bonifacio was killed at age 33. Why did others turn on him? If politics was a problem then, what makes the Marcos Jr. Administration believe that Filipinos are capable of being united?
Perhaps today is the day to contemplate on this.
