ENRIQUE PACHECO
(Ca. 1896-1897)
Revolutionary Officer
Like many of his fellow participants in the Philippine Revolution, little is known of the life
of Enrique Pacheco, who joined the Katipunan with his sons Cipriano and Alfonso, such as that he
worked as an escribiente or clerk, at an accounting office in the Manila civil government.
Pacheco was probably recruited into the Katipunan during its formative days. He was
quite active in it. With his sons and other members like Francisco Carreon and Tomas Remigio, he
was often at the house of Katipunan Supremo Andres Bonifacio and his wife Gregoria de Jesus,
assisting in the induction of hundreds of new recruits or in planning other Katipunan activities,
with everyone working well into the night or until dawn.
His son Cipriano came to head the section “Pagtibain” of the Katipunan branch
“Katagalugan,” which was then based in Tondo. He was himself named councilor of the Katipunan
Supreme Council in January 1896, together with Pantaleon Torres, Balbino Florentino, Francisco
Carreon, and Hermenegildo Reyes. When the supreme Council was reorganized in August of that
year, he was given the portfolio of Finance (“hacienda”) Secretary or, Treasurer.
Pacheco and Cipriano were also named in May 1896 to a committee tasked to negotiate a
possible arms deal with the Japanese government through the admiral of the Japanese ship Kongo,
then stationed at the Manila Bay. However, nothing came of the rebels’ preliminary meeting with
the admiral held at the “Japanese Bazaar”.
On August 19,1896, the day of the Katipunan’s discovery, the Pachecos were with Bonifacio
and hundreds of other Katipuneros in the vicinity of Balintawak, far from the seat of the colonial
government. Pio Valenzuela corroborated the Pachecos’ presence in that meeting during his
testimony before a military court in September 1896. This was further borne in Santiago Alvarez’
memoirs, where Pacheco is mentioned as being present in the Katipunan meeting at Melchora
Aquino’s house on August 24. Valenzuela testified that “during the days prior to” the encounter
with elements of the Guardia Civil on the 26th of August (according to Valenzuela), Pacheco and his
son Cipriano, together with Valenzuela, were in a meeting presided by Andres Bonifacio “in a
house in Balintawak”.
On the 21st, they preceded to the house of Apolonio Samson in Kangkong, where the rebels
planned and discussed their next move without achieving, however, any resolution. Two days
later, on August 23, the rebels, this time numbering around a thousand, regrouped in the house of
Juan Ramos in the same area, where they finally decided to launch the revolution on the 29th of the
same month, notwithstanding the odds against them owing to a lack of arms.
The rebels marked their resolution with a cry and the tearing of their cedulas, symbol of
Filipino bondage. As events turned out, however, their first clash with government soldiers
occurred on the 25th, when as the rebels were finalizing their revolutionary plans in the house of
Melchora Aquino, news that the Guardia Civil was already in the vicinity reached them. Hardly
had they deployed when the enemy shot at them.
On August 30, Governor-General Ramon Blanco issued a declaration of amnesty for rebels
willing to surrender, even as his government cracked down on well-known Masons, some of whom
were also Katipuneros such as Cipriano, whose house was forcibly searched for telltale evidence
and his properties subsequently sequestered. Later, Cipriano continued to participate in the
revolution, eventually being named Secretary of War of the Departmental Government of Central
Luzon established in Puray, Rizal in 1897, under the jurisdiction of the over-all Revolutionary
Government, with Pedro Dandan as President.
Meanwhile, at one point during the aforementioned testimony of Valenzuela, he cites
Pacheco as the source of the information that, “there were about 5,000 persons forcibly initiated
into the Katipunan in the towns surrounding Manila.” Moreover, an early and undated report
submitted by Manuel Luengo, Civil Governor of Manila, to the “Minister of the Colonies”, identifies
Pacheco as a “clerk of this civil government”. What eventually became of Pacheco is not yet known.
References:
Agoncillo, Teodoro A. Revolt of the Masses, The Story of Bonifacio and the Katipunan
Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1996.
Alzona, Encarnacion, editor and translator. Julio Nakpil and the Philippine Revolution
Manila: 1964
Minutes of the Katipunan. Manila: National Heroes Commission, 1964
Retana, Wenceslao O. Archivo del Bibliofilo Filipino, Recopilacion de Documentos.
Tomo Tercero. Madrid: 1897.
Santos, Antonia S.J. “Tondo: 1896-1897”, Revolution in the Provinces. Edited by
Bernardita R. Churchill. Manila: PNHS & NCAA.
Taylor, John R. M. The Philippine Insurrection Against the United States. Volume 1
Pasay City: Eugenio Lopez Foundation, 1970.
Zaide, Gregorio F. Documentary Sources of Philippine History. Volume VIII. Metro
Manila: National Book Store, Inc., 1990.
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