50 Interesting Facts About Apolinario Mabini, The Brains of The Revolution Image Source

50 Interesting Facts About Apolinario Mabini, The Brains of The Revolution BRP Apolinario Mabini (PS-36)
Apolinario Mabini is one of the most prominent figures in Philippine History. He is known in the 31.) The house where Mabini died is now located in Santa Mesa, Manila at the campus of the
pages of Philippine History books as “the Sublime Paralytic” and the “Brains of the Revolution”. Polytechnic University of the Philippines or PUP.
Mabini had proven that poverty is not a hindrance to education and if there’s a will, there’s a way. 32.) This simple nipa house contains the original furniture and some of the books written by
1.) His complete name is Apolinario Marana Mabini and was nicknamed Poly. Mabini.
2.) He was born on July 23, 1864 in Barangay Talaga in the town of Tanauan, Batangas. 33.) A replica of the house where he was born was built in Tanauan, Batangas and it contains
3.) This great Filipino political philosopher and a revolutionary died at the very young age of 38. memorabilia as well.
4.) He is known for writing a constitutional plan for the First Philippine Republic of 1899-1901. 34.) People who witnessed Mabini’s funeral said that it was the most largely attended of any ever
5.) To Mabini’s enemies and detractors he is referred to as the “Dark Chamber of the President”. held in Manila.
6.) Mabini was the 2nd of 8 children of Dionisia Maranan and Inocencio Mabini. Her mother was a 35.) His remains were buried in his hometown of Tanauan, now a city.
vendor in the Tanauan market and his father is an unlettered peasant. 36.) In honor of Mabini, his face adorns the Philippine Ten Peso Bill together with another great
7.) His maternal grandfather was the village teacher from whom he began his informal studies. Filipino – Gat. Andres Bonifacio.
8.) Because of Mabini’s exceptional display of intelligence he was transferred to a regular school 37.) There are 4 towns in the country named after him; Mabini, Batangas; Mabini, Bohol; Mabini,
where he worked as a houseboy to the owner of the school. Compostella Valley; and Mabini, Pangasinan.
9.) Mabini also took odd jobs from a local tailor in exchange for free board and lodging. 38.) The BRP Apolinario Mabini (PS-36), the Philippine Navy’s Jacinto class corvette, is named in his
10.) He later transferred to the school conducted by the famous educator Fray Valerio Malabanan. honor.
Image Source 39.) The Apolinario Mabini Awards is presented by the Philippine government annually to
11.) When he was 16, he received a scholarship for Colegio San Juan de Letran in Manila. outstanding people with disabilities.
12.) At one time, he amazed one of his professors by answering a series of very difficult questions 40.) A school in Lipa City, Batangas is named The Mabini Academy. Mabini’s image is depicted in
with ease. the school’s logo.
13.) Due to poverty, Mabini’s studies at Colegio San Juan de Letran were periodically interrupted. 41.) The expressway that connects Batangas to the South Luzon Expressway or SLEX is named
14.) Mabini earned money for his board and lodging by teaching children. He only has 2 pairs of Apolinario Mabini Superhighway or Southern Tagalog Arterial Road.
uniform. 42.) Mabini exposed the vicious opportunism of the Paterno-Buencamino tandem who tried to
15.) His mother wanted him to become a priest but Mabini’s desire to defend the poor made him gain control and to profit from, the financial transactions of the revolutionary government.
decide to become a lawyer. 43.) Because he was poor, like Andres Bonifacio, Mabini found himself opposed in many occasions
16.) He graduated his Bachilles en Artes with highest honors and received the title Professor of by the wealthy bourgeoisie.
Latin from Letran. Mabini was also a member of Jose Rizal’s La Liga Filipina. 44.) Even when Mabini was still alive, there were already controversial rumors saying that his
17.) He then transferred to the University of Santo Tomas and finished his law degree in 1894. paralysis was due to venereal disease. This controversy lasted several decades more after he died.
18.) Mabini also served as copyist in the Court of First Instance in Manila. 45.) It was only in 1980 that this issue was clarified when his bones were exhumed and the
19.) After Rizal’s execution in December 1896, he joined the revolution wholeheartedly. autopsy proved once and for all that the cause of his paralysis was Polio.
20.) During the revolution of 1898, he served as the chief adviser for General Aguinaldo. 46.) Prior to the released of Mabini’s autopsy report, a novel entitled Po-on written by F. Sionil
21.) He drafted the framework of the revolutionary government which was implemented in Jose, a National Artist, was already publish. In this novel, Jose stated that Mabini had indeed
Malolos in 1899. become a paralytic due to syphilis.
22.) 1n 1899, he was appointed Prime Minister and also acted as foreign minister of the 47.) The rumor against Mabini that he became paralytic due to syphilis was spread by the wealthy
independent dictatorial government of Emilio Aguinaldo. mestizos around Aguinaldo who wanted Mabini’s ethical and ideological influence cut off.
23.) Mabini led the first cabinet of the Philippine Republic on January 23, 1899. 48.) In the later editions of the book written by F. Sionil Jose, he corrected the error and issued an
24.) After a few months of serving as Prime Minister, Mabini resigned from government on May 7, apology.
1899. 49.) La Revolution Filipina is Mabini’s chief work. It is a logical analysis that reveals the progressive
25.) Apolinario Mabini was a member of the fraternity of Freemasonry. and democratic impulse behind his thinking.
26.) When negotiations between the Philippines and the U.S failed, Mabini supported the war 50.) According to the former Military Governor of the Philippines, Gen. Arthur McArthur – “Mabini
against the latter. is a highly educated young man who, unfortunately, is paralyzed. He has a classical education, a
27.) Mabini was captured by the Americans on December 10, 1899 in Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija very flexible, imaginative mind, and Mabini’s views were more comprehensive than any of the
28.) He was released in 1901 and was exiled to Guam along with other revolutionists for refusal to Filipinos that I have met. His idea was a dream of a Malay confederacy. Not the Luzon or the
swear allegiance to America. Philippine Archipelago, but I mean of that blood. He is a dreamy man, but a very firm character
29.) After two years in exile, Mabini returned home to the Philippines in 1903 after agreeing to and of very high accomplishments. As said, unfortunately, he is paralyzed. He is a young man, and
take the oath of allegiance to the United State. would undoubtedly be of great use in the future of those islands if it were not for his affliction”.
30.) Just 3 months after coming back home from exile, Mabini died of cholera on May 13, 1903 at Mabini was born to a poor family
the age of 38. Apolinario Mabini was born July 23, 1864, to a market vendor and an unlettered laborer in
Tanauan, Batangas. His informal studies began under his mother and Agustin Santiesteban, a 8.) Because of Mabini’s exceptional display of intelligence he was transferred to a
teacher from Davao. He was later moved to a school owned by Simplicio Avelino, for whom he regular school where he worked as a houseboy to the owner of the school.
worked as a houseboy. (Photo from the Presidential Museum and Library) 9.) Mabini also took odd jobs from a local tailor in exchange for free board and lodging.
Mabini was a working student 10.) He later transferred to the school conducted by the famous educator Fray Valerio Malabanan.
Aside from working as a houseboy, Mabini also took on odd jobs, including that of a tailor, in 11.) When he was 16, he received a scholarship for Colegio San Juan de Letran in Manila.
exchange for board and lodging. He later on moved to Manila at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran. **Apolinaro mabini’s pen name—Katabay
To survive, Mabini taught Latin and then worked as a court copyist. He obtained a law degree from **There are three towns in Philippines named after Apolinario Mabini - Mabini, Batangas, Mabini,
the University of Santo Tomas. (Photo from the Presidential Museum and Library/National Bohol and the Mabini, Pangasinan.
Historical Commission of The Philippines) **The father, Inocencio, son of Felipe Mabini and Eugenia Lira, was unschooled, merely knowing
Mabini was not born a paraplegic how to sign his name, yet in view of the fact that he had held at one time the office of the Cabeza
Mabini contracted polio, which left both his legs paralyzed, only in 1896. He was arrested due to de Barangay of Talaga, he must have been considered a man of worth in his own community. The
his links to the Katipunan later that year, but was held in a hospital. After his release, Mabini spent mother, Dionisia, the daughter of Juan Maranan who kept a small school in Talaga and Florinda
most of his days in Los Banos and Bay, Laguna, where he sought relief for his condition in sulfuric Magpantay, could read and write and appreciated the value which might be derived from
springs. (Photo from the Presidential Museum and Library/Kevin Perez) education.
Mabini and Aguinaldo only met on June 12, 1898 **How did Apolinario Mabini become paralyzed? In the 1980's Mabini’s remains were exhumed
Mabini is considered the “brains of the revolution” for the counsel he provided Emilio Aguinaldo and examined by a Dr. Pujalte of the National Orthopedic Hospital; the conclusion was that
during the early days of the latter's dictatorship and revolutionary government. The two Mabini’s paralysis was caused by polio and not, as suggested by some, syphilis. The matter on
communicated mostly in letters, however, and met only when Aguinaldo declared independence, syphilis is supposedly circulated by the detractors of Mabini, since they fear that Mabini might gain
when he had Mabini fetched. (Photo from the Presidential Museum and Library/Mabini Shrine) power in Aguinaldo's government that they have been aspiring for all along.
Mabini was the country’s first prime minister
Upon Aguinaldo’s declaration of Philippine Independence and establishment of a dictatorial Apolinario Mabini was a Filipino political thinker and architect of the Philippine revolt. He
government, he appointed Mabini as the first prime minister and also minister of foreign affairs. expressed the philosophies of a democratic popular administration, giving the past struggles of the
He led efforts for other countries to recognize Philippine independence. Mabini headed the Filipino people with a coherent ideological orientation. He was undoubtedly the most profound
Aguinaldo Cabinet until his resignation in 1899. (Photo from the Presidential Museum and thinker and political philosopher that the Filipino race ever produced. Someday, when his works
Library/National Historical ...more are fully published, but not until then, Mabini will come into his own. [1]
Mabini got deported to Guam
After the fall of the Aguinaldo government during the Filipino-American War, Mabini fled to Nueva Mabini's main work, La Revolution Filipina, a logical analysis and tough argument
Ecija. American soldiers captured him in Cuyapo in December 1898. He was kept a prisoner of war regarding the ideological consequences of the revolt against Spain and the struggle to the
until September 1900. His article in newspaper El Liberal led to his rearrest and deportation to American intruders, tells the advanced and independent desire behind his philosophy. He
Guam. (Photo from the Presidential Museum and Library/Mabini Shrine) constantly tried to intervene among the publics' determination and the choices of their
Mabini in the end condemned Aguinaldo’s government frontrunners.[1]
In his memoirs titled “La Revolucion Filipina,” Mabini wrote: “The Revolution failed because it was
badly led; because its leader won his post by reprehensible rather than meritorious acts; because One of Mabini's greatest works was his draft of a constitution for the Philippine Republic. It
instead of supporting the men most useful to the people, he made them useless out of jealousy.” was accompanied by what he called "The True Decalogue". The man who wrote it was a great
(Photo from the Presidential Museum and Library/Cora Lopez) nationalist who lived at a time when the advocacy of nationalism was a matter of life and death.
Mabini died of cholera at age 39 He was a revolutionary intellectual who applied a dedicated mind and a wide knowledge to the
Mabini returned to the Philippines in Feburary 1902, after reluctantly taking the oath of allegiance determining of a government and of a society newly liberated from foreign rule. Of frail health, he
to the United States. He was offer a high position in government, but he turned it down, preferring dedicated himself to the task at hand with an ardour that stemmed from a profound belief in
to retire in his Nagtahan home. He died of cholera on May 13, 1903. He was 39. freedom and honor.[2] Mabini's "ten commandments" are so framed as to meet the needs of
Filipino patriotism for all time. He also drafted rules for the organization and government of
1.) His complete name is Apolinario Marana Mabini and was nicknamed Poly. municipalities and provinces, which were highly successful because of their adaptability to local
2.) He was born on July 23, 1864 in Barangay Talaga in the town of Tanauan, Batangas. conditions. Mabini continued by declaring that what was enclosed in the papers were his plans for
3.) This great Filipino political philosopher and a revolutionary died at the very young age of 38. the internal revolt for the publics to embrace as their moral and behavioral guide and for the
4.) He is known for writing a constitutional plan for the First Philippine Republic of 1899-1901. outside revolt for the revolutionary administration to embrace as the structure of authority.[3]
5.) To Mabini’s enemies and detractors he is referred to as the “Dark Chamber of the President”.
6.) Mabini was the 2nd of 8 children of Dionisia Maranan and Inocencio Mabini. Her mother was a He wrote the pamphlets "El Verdadero Decalogo" and "Ordenanzas de la
vendor in the Tanauan market and his father is an unlettered peasant. Revolucion," which were intended to inspire the revolutionaries in the fields and guide them in
7.) His maternal grandfather was the village teacher from whom he began his informal studies. their conduct of the struggle; and a constitutional program for the Philippine government.[4]