Macario Sakay

Macario Sakay (1870 – September 13, 1907) was a Filipino general who took part in the Philippine Revolution against Spain and in the Philippine-American War. After the war was declared over by the United States in 1902, Sakay continued resistance and the following year he became president of the Tagalog Republic.

Sakay came down from the mountains on the promise of an amnesty for him and his officials, and the formation of a Philippine Assembly composed of Filipinos to serve as the "gate of freedom". His surrender was a prerequisite for a state of peace that would supposedly ensure the election of Filipino delegates to the Philippine Assembly. Sakay believed that the struggle had shifted to constitutional means, with the Assembly a means to winning independence.

In 1905, Dominador Gomez, a Filipino labor leader, was authorized by Governor General Henry Clay Ide to negotiate for the surrender of Sakay and his men. Gómez met with Sakay at his camp and argued that the establishment of a national assembly was being held up by Sakay's intransigence, and that its establishment would be the first step toward Filipino independence. Sakay agreed to end his resistance on conditions that a general amnesty be granted his men, that they be permitted to carry firearms, and that he and his officers be permitted to leave the country. Gómez assured Sakay that these conditions would be acceptable to the Americans, and Sakay's emissary, General León Villafuerte, obtained agreement to them from the American Governor-General. Sakay and Villafuerte traveled to Manila, where they were welcomed and invited to receptions and banquets. One invitation came from the Constabulary Chief, Colonel Harry H. Bandholtz. The invitation was a trap and Sakay and his principal lieutenants were disarmed and arrested while the party was in progress.

Sakay was accused of "bandolerismo under the Brigandage Act of Nov. 12, 1902, which interpreted all acts of armed resistance to American rule as banditry." The colonial Supreme Court of the Philippines upheld the decision. On September 13, 1907, Macario Sakay was hanged. Before his death, he made the following statement: ""Death comes to all of us sooner or later, so I will face the Lord Almighty calmly. But I want to tell you that we are not bandits and robbers, as the Americans have accused us, but members of the revolutionary force that defended our mother country, the Philippines! Farewell! Long live the Republic and may our independence be born in the future! Long live the Philippines!""

Early life
Sakay was born in 1870 in Tabora Street, Tondo, Manila. He first worked as an apprentice in a calesa manufacturing shop. He was also a tailor, and an actor, performing in a number of plays including Prince Baldovino, Doce Pares de Francia, and Amante de la Corona. An original member of the Katipunan movement, of which he joined in 1894, he fought alongside Andrés Bonifacio throughout the Philippine Revolution. In 1899, he continued the struggle for Philippine independence against the United States. Early in the Philippine-American War, he was jailed for seditious activities, and later released as part of an amnesty.

After the war
Sakay was one of the founders of the Nacionalista Party, which strove for Philippine independence through legal means. The party appealed to the Philippine Commission. However, the Commission passed the Sedition Law, which prohibited any form of propaganda advocating independence. (An unrelated Nacionalista Party which survives to the present day was founded in 1907.) Sakay thus took up arms again.

On November 12, 1902, the Philippine Commission passed the Bandolerism Act which proclaimed all captured resistance fighters or insurgents to be tried in court as bandits, ladrones, and robbers. In April 1904, Sakay issued his own manifesto proclaiming himself President and established his own government called the Repúblika ng Katagalugan (Tagalog Republic) in opposition to U.S. colonial rule. The U.S. Government did not recognize Sakay's government and, through the Bandolerism Act, labeled him an outlaw.

The Governor General, the U.S. Government, and the U.S. military left the pursuit of Sakay in the hands of the Philippine Constabulary and Philippine Scouts. In 1905, concentration camps, often referred to as Zonas, were re-established in parts of Cavite, Batangas, and Laguna. This had little effect on Sakay and his fighters and extensive fighting continued in Southern Luzon for months afterwards.

In popular culture

 * Sakay is the subject of the biographical film Sakay directed by Raymond Red, in which he is portrayed by actor Julio Diaz.


 * A life-size statue of Sakay was unveiled at Plaza Morga in Tondo, by the Manila Historical Heritage Commission, on September 13, 2008. Also in September 2008, the Philippine Senate adopted two separate resolutions expressing the sense of the Senate to honor the life of Macario Sakay and his fellow freedom fighters for their contribution to fight for Philippine Independence.