Marc Aran Reyes (b. 1996)
Dissolve and Mute
signed and dated 2016 (lower left)
oil on canvas
36” x 48” (91 cm x 121 cm)
Accompanied by a certificate issued by the artist confirming the authenticity of this lot
WRITE UP:
J ust eight months after Andres Bonifacio’s execution, his worst fears would materialize. On December 15, 1897, Emilio Aguinaldo would sign a peace treaty with the Spanish called the Pact of Biakna-Bato. In it, he and his revolutionary council of officers and advisers would put an end to all hostilities and agree to leave the Philippines for exile in HongKong. As indemnity, the Spanish crown also agreed to pay 800,000 Mexican Pesos, half to be paid as soon as they surrendered their weapons and left the Bulacan town. Aguinaldo and his entourage would arrive in Hongkong on December 27. On the first banking day after New Year’s, or on January 2, 1898, he would deposit the first tranche of 400,000 Mexican Pesos in a bank under the name of ‘Aguinaldo and Company.’ The first letter in this lot, although not included in the Letterbook, is dated January 5, 1898 and is addressed to the Spanish governor-general Fernando Primo de Rivera. Primo de Rivera’s aide-de-camp and nephew Miguel had accompanied Aguinaldo to HongKong, a ‘hostage’ until full payment of the indemnity was made. (He is to be found in a wellknown photograph at the center of the junta, seated beside Aguinaldo; Pedro Paterno stands behind him.) Aguinaldo writes with a certain degree of cordiality to Primo de Rivera, even praising the Philippines in comparison to HongKong and thus the merits of Spanish rule against that of the British. He is apologetic that it is his first communication since the Pact had been signed. He is apparently on friendly enough terms to make an ‘ask’ for the official’s intervention in a court case involving one Maximiano Rosales, “whose wife was a witness” at his wedding. The next missives are to be found in the Aguinaldo Letterbook. It contains what could be called almost photographic copies of Aguinaldo’s correspondence from January 24 to April 28, 1898, by the method popular at the time called the letterpress copybook. (See sidebar story on the History of LetterPress Copybooks on page x.) The pages reveal Aguinaldo’s innermost thoughts, his fears and strategies to cope with his new-found status as an exile as he grappled with keeping the junta members in line. It is a revealing behind-the-scenes look at a little-appreciated period of our Revolutionary history, immediately preceding the historic declaration of independence on June 12, 1898. From the collector’s notes : “In that crucial period, in which Aguinaldo was conducting the political and military affairs from abroad, these letters to the Philippines show how worried he was by many concerns, which at times appear somehow contradictory. He was intent on honoring the terms of the treaty with the Spaniards but wanted to ascertain that they fulfilled their own. He was concerned about reaffirming his preeminence over the other militants at a time when his departure to Hong-Kong had favored new rivalries, divisions, and suspicions within the movement. “This difficult climate seems to largely explain why so much of this corpus of these Hong-Kong letters are addressed to his mother and other family members, the people he trusted most for passing on his messages and controlling the situation on the ground. In particular, he sought reassurances as to his own handling of the finances of the revolution. “Indeed, one of the main issues he needed to deal with during his exile was the complex money matters of the movement. At the time, the Spanish authorities had paid only the first chunk of money stipulated by the peace treaty, the second installment was delayed, and he was not as yet aware that the last payment would ever be forthcoming. Many of the letters, mostly addressed to close family members, i.e. his mother, his sister-in-law, his cousin Baldomero Aguinaldo and a few trusted friends, dealt with claims from various fighters who wanted their shares or seemed to argue about his legitimacy to handle the funds. Therefore his messages insist repeatedly on the importance for his entourage to obtain a signed receipt for each and every payment made to various persons. One message to Baldomero makes it clear that he should be the only one who decides who gets what. “Apart being worried about these claims and those that opposed his management of the funds, he also complains about the infiltration of various elements in Hong Kong whom he accuses of spending the money of the insurrection on superfluous expenses such as expensive rentals. One letter (no. 17) to Ysabelo Artacho blames the latter for having permitted too many people join him in Hong Kong. (Artacho would eventually be cast out of the hierarchy.) “In other letters, he also expresses concern over “four bearded men” who are in exile with him and who he suspects may be plotting against him. “In yet another letter to Baldomero Aguinaldo, he instructs him to have the minister of interior of the Katipunan replaced, indicating that he is intent in demonstrating that he is still firmly at the helm.” The last letter, dated April 29, 1898, is the most historic and famous of the lot, the famous “Sa Lahat ng Mga Pinuno ng Insurectos Filipinos.” The original is to be found in Volume I, John R. M. Taylor, Philippine Insurrection Records. In it, Aguinaldo calls for all his officers to be at the ready. He says it is the time to strike once more in the cause of liberty and without doubt, he will be among them soon. A transcription provided by Mr. Jim Richardson, KKK scholar, is as follows : Sa lahat ng pinuno ng insurrektos Filipinos Mga Kd*: oras ng pag tangap ninyo nitong kautusan, ay mag-biglaang mag-handa sa pakikidigma sa dating kalaban, gauin agad ang boong medios ma-kopo ang mga kalaban, na ngayo’y talagang mabuting panahon ng pag-usig ng kalayaan ng bayan, huag ng mag-lalagay [?] ng ano pa mang duda, at sa madaling panahon ay mag-kikita tayo agad na walang sala. Ipag-hatid-hatiran yaring kautusan ni [?] iniuutos [?] huag atrasuhin. Ingatan kayo ni Bathala ng mahabang panahong tuloy sapitin ang dakilang ninanasa. Hong-kong 29 Abril 1898 (in code) Magdalo Emilio Aguinaldo In truth, Aguinaldo would be in negotiation with the American government. After the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1st, Aguinaldo would return to the Philippines hurriedly and land on May 19th 1898.
