[9][10] Bonifacio was executed in 1897 by Major Lázaro Macapagal under orders of the Consejo de la Guerra (Council of War) led by General Mariano Noriel, on the basis of committing sedition and treason against the government.

[23] To support his family financially, Bonifacio made walking canes and paper fans which he and his young siblings sold (after they were orphaned, according to the traditional view).

[25] In his late teens, he first worked either as an agent or mandatario (messenger) for the British trading firm Fleming and Company,[26][14] where he rose to become a corredor (broker) of tar, rattan and other goods.

[32][38] In 1892, Bonifacio became one of the founding members[39] of José Rizal's La Liga Filipina,[40] an organization that called for political reforms in Spain's colonial government of the Philippines.

While some officers, especially Bonifacio, believed a revolution was inevitable, some members, especially Santiago Alvarez and Emilio Aguinaldo both of Cavite, expressed reservations and disagreement regarding the planned revolt due to lack of firearms.

He recommended more preparation, but suggested that, in the event the revolution did break out, they should seek the leadership of Antonio Luna, who was widely regarded as a brilliant military leader.

[70][71] The Supreme Council of the Katipunan declared a nationwide armed revolution against Spain and called for a simultaneous coordinated attack on the capital Manila on August 29.

Before hostilities erupted, Bonifacio reorganized the Katipunan into an open de facto revolutionary government with him as Supremo of the rebel army and the Supreme Council as his cabinet.

It is absolutely necessary for us to stop at the earliest possible time the nameless oppositions being perpetrated on the sons of the country who are now suffering the brutal punishment and tortures in jails, and because of this, please, let all the brethren know that on Saturday, the 29th of the current month, the revolution shall commence according to our agreement.

[9][10] Teodoro Agoncillo thus wrote: Immediately before the outbreak of the revolution, therefore, Bonifacio organized the Katipunan into a government revolving around a ‘cabinet’ composed of men of his confidence.

They assert: As commander-in-chief, Bonifacio supervised the planning of military strategies and the preparation of orders, manifests and decrees, adjudicated offenses against the nation, as well as mediated in political disputes.

Another name for Bonifacio's government was Repúblika ng Katagalugan (another form of "Tagalog Republic") as evidenced by a picture of a rebel seal published in the same periodical the next month.

[84] While Cavite is traditionally regarded as the "Heartland of the Philippine Revolution", Manila and its surrounding municipalities bore the brunt of the Spanish military campaign, becoming a no man's land.

[85] From September to October 1896, Bonifacio supervised the establishment of Katipunan mountain and hill bases like Balara in Mariquina, Pantayanin in Antipolo, Ugong in Pasig and Tungko in Bulacan.

While Bonifacio's troops laid siege to the hall, other Katipunan forces set up defensive lines along the nearby Langka (or Nangka) river against Spanish reinforcements coming from the direction of Mariquina.

[92] Bonifacio was also subject to rumors that he had stolen Katipunan funds, his sister was the mistress of a priest, and he was an agent provocateur paid by friars to foment unrest.

Also circulated were anonymous letters which told the people of Cavite not to idolize Bonifacio because he was a Mason, a mere Manila employee, allegedly an atheist, and uneducated.

[93][94] On December 31, Bonifacio and the Magdalo and Magdiwang leaders held a meeting in Imus, ostensibly to determine the leadership of Cavite in order to end the rivalry between the two factions.

[95][96] On March 22, 1897, the revolutionary leaders held an important meeting in a Friar Estate Residence at Tejeros to resume their discussions regarding the escalating tension between the Magdalo and Magdiwang forces; And also to settle once-and-for-all the issue of governance within the Katipunan through an election.

[102][104] On March 23, 1897, the day after the Tejeros convention, Aguinaldo surreptitiously took his oath of office as president in a chapel officiated by a Catholic priest Cenon Villafranca who was under the authority of the Pope in Rome.

[106] Artemio Ricarte also took his office "with great reluctance" and made a declaration that he found the Tejeros elections "dirty or shady" and "not been in conformity with the true will of the people.

On April 25, a party of Aguinaldo's men led by Colonel Agapito Bonzón and Major José Ignacio "Intsik" Paua caught up with Bonifacio at his camp in barrio Limbon, Indang.

[121][122] Apolinario Mabini wrote that Bonifacio's death demoralized many rebels from Manila, Laguna and Batangas who had come to help those in Cavite, and caused them to quit.

[123][124] Teodoro Agoncillo writes that Bonifacio's declaration of authority in opposition to Aguinaldo posed a danger to the revolution, because a split in the rebel forces would result in almost certain defeat by their united and well-armed Spanish foe.

"[87] Writing retrospectively in 1948, Aguinaldo explained that he initially commuted the sentence of death but rescinded his commutation from the pressure of the Consejo dela Guerra (Council of War) including Generals Mariano Noriel, Pio del Pilar, Severino de las Alas, all of which are supporters and loyalist of Bonifacio, among with General Mamerto Natividad, Sr. Anastacio Francisco together with the poet and historian Jose Clemente Zulueta among many others[135] [136] There are differing accounts of Bonifacio's manner of execution.

[137] Some historians such as Milagros Guerrero, Emmanuel Encarnación, Ramón Villegas and Michael Charleston Chua have pushed for the recognition of Bonifacio as the first President of the Philippines instead of Aguinaldo, the officially recognized one.

[citation needed] In their memoirs, Emilio Aguinaldo and other Magdalo people claim Bonifacio became the head of the Magdiwang, receiving the title Harì ng Bayan ("King of the Nation") with Mariano Álvarez as his second-in-command.

So when he signed himself as Pangulo ng Haring Bayan past 24 August 1896, that means he intended to be president of a national revolutionary government which aimed to be a democracy.

The United States promoted Rizal, who was taken to represent peaceful political advocacy, instead of more radical figures whose ideas could inspire resistance against American rule.

León María Guerrero notes that while Rizal did not give his blessing to the Katipunan because he believed the time was premature, he did not condemn the aim of independence per se.