Apolinario Mabini was a Filipino politician and theorist who was the Filipino First Constitution of the Philippine Republic (from 1899 to 1901) was written and in 1899 appointed the first Prime Minister of the Philippines. This makes him one of the Philippines’ national heroes.

Quick Facts: Apolinario Mabini

• Born: July 23, 1864, in Talaga, Tanauan, Batangas
• Full name: Apolinario Mabini y Maranan
• Known for: First Prime Minister of the Philippines; the brains of the revolution
• Also known as: Apolinario Mabini y Maranan
• Parents: Inocencio Mabini and Dionisia Maranan
• Died: May 13, 1903, Manila, Philippines
• Cause of Death: cholera
• Education: Colegio de San Juan de Letran, University of Santo Tomas
• Published works:  El Simil de Alejandro, Programa Constitucional de la Republica Filipina, La Revolución Filipina
• Prizes and awards: Mabini’s face was on the Filipino 10 peso coin and bill, Museo ni Apolinario Mabini, the Gawad Mabini was awarded Filipinos for outstanding foreign service
• Quotes: ” Man, whether he wishes, works and endeavors for the rights that nature has endowed him with because these rights are the only ones that satisfy the requirements of his own being.”

Early Life of Apolinario Mabini

Apolinario Mabini was born on July 23, 1864, in Talaga, a barangay (district) of Tanauan. His father Inocencio Mabini and his mother Dionisia Maranan lived in poor conditions. A scholarship enabled him to study at a school in Tanauan.

Later he changed schools and came under the care of the well-known teacher Father Valerio Malabanan. He then continued his studies at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran and in 1887 attained a Bachelor of Arts degree and later the title of a professor of Latin.

He received his law degree in 1894 from the University of Santo Tomas. During his studies, he earned his living by teaching Latin, working as a copier at the Manila court, and later as an office worker and court assistant. In September 1892 he joined the Freemasons and took the name Katabay.

In 1893 he was one of the parties that founded La Liga Filipinas, an organization created by José Rizal to unite the Philippines and reform Spanish influence on the country. He dreamed of fighting poverty and escaping the priesthood his mother wanted for him.

In the spring of 1896, he became seriously ill, possibly with polio, which led to the paralysis of his lower limbs. When the revolution broke out that year, he was suspected by the Spanish authority of being connected to this unrest.

He was arrested and detained. The fact that he was unable to move his lower limbs convinced the Spaniards of his innocence. He was then released and transferred to the San Juan de Dios Hospital.

Political Activities

While at school, Mabini supports the reform movement. This conservative group consisted mainly of middle and upper-class Filipinos demanding changes to the Spanish colonial rule but as almost Philippine independence. Intellectual, author, and doctor José Rizal was also active in this movement.

In September 1894, Mabini helped establish the Reformist Cuerpo de Comprimisarios – the “Body of Reconcilers” – which sought to negotiate better treatment for Spanish officials. Pro-independence activists, especially from the lower classes, took the more radical Katipunan movement.

Founded by Andrés Bonifacio, the Katipunan movement advocated armed revolution against Spain.

The Spanish-American War

Between his medical condition and his detention, Apolinario Mabini was unable to participate in the early days of the Philippine Revolution. Even so, his experience and execution of Rizal radicalized Mabini and he turned his keen intellect on the issues of revolution and independence.

In April 1898, he wrote a manifesto about the Spanish-American War, presciently warning other Philippine revolutionary leaders that Spain would probably cede the Philippines to the United States if they lost the war. He urged them to fight for independence to continue.

This paper brought him the attention of General Emilio Aguinaldo, who had ordered the execution of Andrés Bonifacio last year and had been exiled to Hong Kong by the Spaniards.

The Filipino Revolution

The Americans hoped to use Aguinaldo against the Spaniards in the Philippines, so they brought him back from exile on May 19, 1898. On land Aguinaldo, the author of the war manifesto ordered his men to bring him and they had to hand over handicapped Mabini the mountains on a stretcher to Cavite.

Mabini reached Aguinaldo’s camp on June 12, 1898, and soon became one of the general’s primary advisors. On the same day, Aguinaldo declared the independence of the Philippines, with itself as the dictator.

Foundation of the New Government

On July 23, 1898, Mabini was able to speak Aguinaldo from the Philippines ruled as an autocrat. He convinced the new president to build a revolutionary government with a convention instead of a dictatorship.

In fact, Aguinaldos Apolinario Mabini’s persuasiveness was so strong that his opponents named him the “Dark Chamber of the President”, while his admirers named him “The Sublime Paralytic.”

Because his personal life and morale were tough to attack, Mabini’s enemies in the new government resorted to a whisper campaign to slander him. a rumor that his paralysis was due to syphilis, rather than polio, even though syphilis did not cause Jealous’ immense power to cause paraplegia, she began.

Creation of Institutional Foundations

even as these rumors spread, Mabini continued to shape a better country to work in. He wrote most of Aguinaldo’s presidential decrees. He has also formed provincial, judicial, and police organization policies, as well as property registration and military regulations.

Aguinaldo appointed his cabinet as Minister for Foreign Affairs and President of the Council of Secretaries. In these roles, Mabini exercised significant influence over the drafting of the first constitution for the Philippine Republic.

Prime Minister of Philippines

On January 2, 1899, Apolinario Mabini was appointed both Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Emilio Aguinaldo’s new independent dictatorial government. The corresponding ceremony for the proclamation of the First Philippine Republic was celebrated on January 23, 1899. Mabini then headed the first cabinet of this new republic.

Mabini was now at the center of the most critical period in the history of this new state and had to deal with problems that he could hardly have imagined. One of these tasks was negotiating with the Americans, which began on March 6, 1899, shortly after the Philippine-American War broke out.

The United States and the new Filipino Republic were in an extremely controversial and violent confrontation at the time. During the peace talks, American negotiators Mabini offered autonomy for Aguinaldo’s new government. The talks failed, however, because Mabini’s terms included a ceasefire that was opposed by the other side.

Mabini then continued negotiations and attempted a ceasefire, but the talks failed again. Since he could not see any willingness on the American side for a serious peace solution, he swore off the negotiations, gathered his people, and cleared the way for further armed conflicts. On May 7, 1899, he finally resigned from his post and government.

Back in The War

When the war began, the revolutionary government in Cavite had to flee. Once again, Mabini was carried in a hammock, this time in the north, 119 miles to Nueva Ecija. On December 10, 1899, he was captured there by the Americans and made a prisoner of war in Manila until September next.

After his release on January 5, 1901, Mabini published a devastating newspaper article entitled “El Simil de Alejandro” or “The Similarity of Alejandro”, which read:

“Man, whether he wishes, works, and endeavors for the rights that nature has endowed him with because these rights are the only ones that satisfy the requirements of his own being. Telling a man to be calm when a need is not met shakes all the fibers of his being asking a hungry man is tantamount to being filled with the food intake that he needs. ”

The Americans immediately arrested him again and exiled him to Guam when he refused to swear fealty to the United States. During his long exile, Apolinario Mabini wrote “La Revolucion Filipina”, a treatise. Worn down and sickly and afraid that he would die in exile, Mabini finally agreed to take the oath of allegiance to the United States.

Apolinario Mabini Death

On December 10, 1899, he was captured by the American forces in Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija, but was released shortly afterward. In 1901 he was exiled to Guam. He returned to his homeland in 1903 after agreeing to express his loyalty to the United States, and on February 26, 1903, he swore an oath to the chief customs officer.

He was then offered a leading position in the American colonial government but declined to do so because he preferred to retire at his residence in Nagtahan. Apolinario Mabini died of cholera in Manila on May 13, 1903.

Apolinario Mabini Quotes

• Woe to the Revolution when the day comes, when the people, overburdened by contributions and consumed by abuses, turn to their enemies for salvation!
•  Man, whether he wishes, works, and endeavors for the rights that nature has endowed him with because these rights are the only ones that satisfy the requirements of his own being.
• The Revolution failed because it was badly directed because its leader won his post not with praiseworthy but with blameworthy acts because instead of employing the most useful men of the nation he jealously discarded them.
• A nation will perish because not of evil men but of good men who just watch and did nothing.

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