National Monument, Caloocan City
November 30, 2019

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte led the national celebration commemorating the 156th birth anniversary of Andres Bonifacio with the raising of the Philippine flag and a wreath-laying ceremony at the Andres Bonifacio Monument in Caloocan City.

The President recognized the exemplary contribution of Andres Bonifacio in awakening the sense of nationalism and patriotism in Filipinos. “We owe Bonifacio today and other unsung Filipino heroes the awakening of the Filipino nationalism, conscious to fight for our rights, to build an entire nation and to enjoy the various freedoms that we enjoy today,” he said.

He also urged the Filipinos to draw inspiration from Bonifacio in combatting today’s pressing issues that continue to oppress Filipinos such as illegal drugs, criminality, corruption, terrorism, poverty, environmental degradation and other societal ills that continue to hinder the country’s progress.

With the theme, ‘Bonifacio 2019: Pagpupugay at Pag-alala sa Kagitingang Ipinamalas’, the celebration remembered the legacy of Andres Bonifacio as the father of the Philippine revolution by reading excerpts from his Decalogue — which he penned sometime in 1896 — to serve as duties and responsibilities that will be followed by the members of the secret organization known as the Katipunan (Kataas-taasang, Kagalang-galang na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan) founded in July 1892.

Andres Bonifacio was considered to have led the first revolution against western colonial rule in Asia that later on ended the more than three (3) centuries of Spanish colonization in the Philippines.

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