JULIO NAKPIL – KATIPUNERO
As a young revolutionary and an musician and entrepreneur later in life.
On the early morning of 2 November 1896 Nakpil left his house in Manila and proceeded to Sulukan, Sampaloc, where he was to meet two guides ready to conduct him to the spot in San Francisco del Monte where Andres Bonifcaio was waiting for him. At midnight they went to Balara, Marikina, where they set up their Headquarters.
Nakpil took part in the battle at San Mateo, Morong. But the Katipuneros, under the command of Bonifacio and Jacinto, were badly beaten, suffering many casualties, because of lack of armaments and poor organization against the superior arms and training of the enemy. From this experience Nakpil realized he could help the Revolution by procuring arms and ammunitions. He was then entrusted with this dangerous and delicate mission.
Nakpil was appointed by Bonifacio as president of the Katipunan government in the “Northern District”, the region to the north and east of the capital. He worked in tandem with Emilio Jacinto, the commander of KKK military forces in the Northern District, and it seems both men moved back and forth (sometimes together, sometimes separately) in the early months of 1897 between the seat of their civil administration (“Mataas na Sangunian”) in Pasig and their military encampments in the Sierra Madre, including the base near San Mateo to which Bonifacio reportedly intended to head.
His nom-de-guerre was J. Giliw.
Transcribed below (in the original Tagalog, with an English translation) is a previously unpublished letter that Bonifacio wrote on February 13, 1897 to Julio Nakpil.
Sa Kap… na M. Julio Nakpil Guiliw, Pangulo ng M. na Sangunian sa bayan ng Pasig.
- Guiliw kong kapatid: tinangap ko po rito ang iniyong kalatas gawa ng ika 30 ng Enerong nagdaan, at sa pagkatanto ng doo’y iniyong saad, ay ang tugon ko’y ang sumusunod.
- Ako po ay tumangap ng sulat niniyo na dalawang veces na at aking sinagot naman, nguni’t ang di malaman ay kun tinangap niniyo, baga man aquing ipinaaalaala na ang sagot ng huli ay saloob na ng buang ito.
- Kalakip ng kalatas niniyo na sinasagot ko, na dumating sa akin ng ika [blank] ng lumalakad, ay tinangap ko ang Himno Nacional at susundin ang tanging hiling sainiyo ukol dito.
- Ang Fraileng si Antonio Piernavieja ay mabute at kalakip na ipinadadala ko sa iniyo upang gawin ang nararapat, ang sulat ng nasabing Fraile sa kaniyang anak na ibinabalita ang kaniyang kalagayan at tuloy sinasabi na siya ang may nasa na maabuloy sa atin. Ayon dito sa abuloy na ito at sa sabi niniyo na ang anak na iyan ay ayos sa atin at makaabuloy ng halagang $1000; sa akala ko ay makahihingi tayo ng $5000 – limang libong piso, sapagka sa balita ko ay may kualtang marame na hindi niya lubos ipagdadamdam ang halagang ito; kaya ka yo ang bahalang tumapon. Masasahe niniyo tuloy sa anak niya ang kaniyang amo ay hindi mapapatay na at dili naman pahihirapan, sapagka ipinagutos ko na taga ingat ng bilanguan na huag na siyang papagtrabahuhin.
- Ako ay lubos nagagalak sa balita inyo tungkol sa kay Grl. Francisco de los Santos, at kun kayo ay susulat sa kaniya ay masabi niniyo ang aking sa kaniya ay pagpupuri.[16]
- Mangyare po lamang na kun ano man ang mangyare sa sulat ni Piernavieja sa kanyang anak, ay malaman ko agad.
- Ako po at ilang mga taga rian ay may panukala na humagay sa bayang Bakood at ng malapit dian sa atin at ang isapa ay ng doon magawa ang mga paggagayak ng mga kakailanganin sa paguwi namin dian na ito ay di malalaon, sapagka talastas ko na malaking lubha ang kailangan na tayo ay magkapipisan dian.[17]
- Ingatan kayong lahat dian ng Maykapal; at tangapin ang yakap na ipinahahatid namin.
Malabon, ika 13 ng Febrero ng 1897.
Ang K. Pangulo
And.: Bonifacio
Maypagasa
To Brother Mr Julio Nakpil, Guiliw, President of the High Council in the town of Pasig.
- My brother Guiliw: I have received here your letter written on 30th January last, and, having understood what you say in it, my reply is as follows.
- I received your [earlier?] letter twice already, and have also replied, but what I don’t know is whether you received it, although I have reminded you to reply to it within the present month.
- Together with your letter to which I am now replying, which reached me on the [blank] of the present month, I received the National Hymn and I will comply with the special request that has been made to you in this regard.
- The friar Antonio Piernavieja is well, and together with this I am sending you, so that you can do what is necessary, the letter of the said friar to his son giving news of his current situation and going on to say that he has the desire to give us a contribution. In relation to this donation, and to what you said about the son settling with us to contribute the amount of $1,000: in my opinion we could ask for $5,000 – five thousand pesos, because my information is that they have lots of money and this amount would not totally overwhelm them; so it is up to you to agree. Then you can go ahead and tell the son that his father will not be killed, nor even suffer hardship, because I have instructed the guards of the prison that he should not be made to work.
- I am overjoyed by your news about Grl. Francisco de los Santos, and if you are going to write to him could you tell him that I applaud him.
- Whatever happens in relation to the letter of Piernavieja to his son, please can I know as soon as possible.
- Myself and some people from there have a plan to position ourselves in the town of Bakood so that we are nearer to there, and one other thing is that it will not take long there for the necessary preparations to be made for our return home, because I appreciate very gravely the need for us to group together there.
- May the Lord take care of you all there; and accept the embrace that we send.
Malabon, February 13, 1897
The Supreme President
And.: Bonifacio
Maypagasa