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DOCUMENTS
OF THE Katipunan |
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Emilio Jacinto (attrib.) “Sa
mga Kababayan” Source: “Sa mga Kababayan”, incomplete
manuscript copy in Archivo General Militar de Madrid, Caja 5395,
le.4.25; Spanish
translation from Kalayaan by Juan Caro y
Mora published under the title “Á los compatriotas” in Wenceslao E. Retana (comp.), Archivo
del bibliófilo filipino, vol.III (Madrid: Imprenta de la Viuda de M. Minuesa de los Rios, 1897), pp.134-8. |
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Introduction “Sa mga Kababayan”
was the lead editorial in the sole issue of Kalayaan. Pio Valenzuela,
in whose house the paper was produced, recalls in his Memoirs that “I wrote the first editorial and handed it
to Emilio Jacinto for publication in the first issue” [but when] he “showed
me the proof of the first page [I saw to my surprise] that the printed
editorial was not the one I had given him but another by Marcelo H. del Pilar in La Solidaridad,”
the organ of the propaganda movement in Spain that had ceased publication in
1895. This editorial, Valenzuela
continues, “was translated into Tagalog by Jacinto, and was much better than
the one I had prepared. I told Jacinto
that I almost believed that the real editor of [Kalayaan]
was Del Pilar himself. There were various Bulaqueños
who knew the Tagalog of Del Pilar, and they
declared the language used by Jacinto in his translation resembled Del Pilar’s perfectly.”[1] In his conversations many years later with
Agoncillo, Valenzuela varied this account slightly,
recollecting that Jacinto based “Sa mga Kababayan” on a number of editorials by Del Pilar rather than just one.[2] In the piece, the
supposed editor sends his salutations from “the other side of the wide
ocean”, laments that A manuscript copy of “Sa mga Kababayan” that survives in
There is no way
of knowing for certain whether the Madrid manuscript was the final draft
prior to the editorial being set in type, or whether there were later amendments. Nevertheless, any such amendments can only
have been minor, because the text of the manuscript clearly does correspond
very substantially with the Spanish translation made from a printed copy of Kalayaan that
was published by Wenceslao Retana
in 1897.[3]
The manuscript copy,
however, is incomplete. It has seven
paragraphs, whereas the Spanish translation has ten. To give at least an indication of how the
piece concludes, the last three paragraphs have been translated into English
below from the Spanish translation. Paragraph numbers do not
appear in the original, and have been inserted here simply to facilitate
comparison between the Tagalog text and the English translation. |
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Tagalog text
Sa mga Kababayan
1. Buhat dito sa kabila ng malawak
na dagat, sa sinapupunan at pagkakandili ng ibang lupa at ibang mga kautusan,
sa inyo mga kababayan ang tungo ng aming unang bati, ang kaunaunahang salita
na iguhit ng aming kamay, ang unang himutok na pumulas sa aming dibdib, ang
unang pag bigkas ng aming mga labi…sa lahat ay sa inyo. 2. Inyo ngang tangapin, at
masarapin tunay ng inyong kalooban, sa pagkat nagbubuhat sa tapat naming
puso, na wala nang iba pang itinitibok kung di isang matinding pag ibig sa
tinubuang Bayan at tunay na pag daramdam sa pagkaapi at inaabot nyang
kadustaan. 3. Kapagkarakang narinig ng aming
mga tainga ang inyong mga pag daing, kapagkarakang mapag malas ng aming mga
mata ang inyong pagkaaping walang makatulad at mabangis na kahirapan, agad
nang nukal na kusa sa aming kalooban ang isang banal at dakilang nasa, na
kayo’y maibangon sa pagkalugmok at pukawin ang inyong puso sa pagkahimbing at
malusong pagkagupiling o maampat kaya ang matinding dagok ng sakit at
kalumbayang inyong tinitiis. 4. Tunay na kami ay umasa din,
gaya ng makapal na mga kababayan na nagakala na ang inang Espana ay
siyang tanging may karapatang mag bigay ng kaginhawahan nitong
Katagalugan. Nguni’t ang panahung
lumipas, ang patung patung na pag ulol ang walang pangitang silo ng daya na
sa aking isinumang, ang mga pangakung hindi tinutupad, ay siyang omuntag [?]
sa aming payapang at katiwalang
kalooban at nag pakilalang tayo’y siyang gumawa at may yaman at umiasa’t
antain sa ating lakas na sarili ikabubuhay. 5. ¿Ano pa ang inaantay at hinahangad? Tatlong daang taung mahigit na
pag titiis sa bigat ng pamatok ng pagkaalipin, malaung panahung wala tayong
ginawa kungdi ang lumuhogluhog at humingi sa kanila ng kahit gabuhit na pag
lingap at kaunting paglingon, gayon ma’y ¿ano ang nakikita nating isinasagut at iginaganti sa ating pag
mamakaawa? Wala kung di ang tayo’y
itapun isadlak sa lalung kamatayan. 6. Pitong taung walang tigil na
ang “La Solidaridad” ay kusang nagpumilit na iniubos ang buong lakas niya,
upang tamuhin natin ang mga matamo ng kaunting karapatan sa kabuhayan ng tao,
at ¿ano ang inabot niyang pala sa mga pagud at
panahung ginugol? Pangako, daya,
alipusta at mapait na pagkamatay...... 7. Ngayong hapu na ang ating nag
taas na kamay sa laging pag luhog; ngayong na namamaus na’t unti unting na wala
ang sigaw ng ating mapanghan na tingig sa laging pag daing, ngayong inaagaw
na halus ang ating hininga sa bangis ng hirap, aming itinayu ang yukong ulong
a gawi na sa pag suko, at kumuhang lakas sa matibay na pananalig namin sa
tunay na katuiran, na maimulat ang kaisipan ng aming mga kababayan at
maipakitang malinaw sa kanila na ang salitang Inang Espana ay isang
pag limang at hibo lamang, na maitutulad, sa basahang pangbalut sa tanikalang
kaladkad; walang ina’t walang anak; wala kung di isang lahing lumulupig at
isang lahing palulupig, isang bayang nagtatamasa at nabubusog sa di niya
pagud at isang bayang nagpapagud sa di niya pinakikinabangan at ikinabubusog. |
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English
translation To
the Compatriots
1. From here on the
other side of the wide ocean, under the bosom and protection of another land
and other laws, to you, compatriots, is sent our first greeting, the first
word written by our hand, the first sigh that leaves our breast, the first
enunciation, too, of our lips... everything is to you. 2.
Receive
it then, and truly savour it in your being, because it comes from our sincere
heart, which beats with nothing but an intense love for the native land and a
true compassion for her in the oppression she suffers. 3.
Readily our ears
can hear your complaints; readily our eyes so often have the misfortune to
see your singular oppression and cruel hardship; immediately and
spontaneously there springs in our soul a great and exalted desire that you
may rise up from your prostration and rouse your hearts from their deep and
restful slumber, and thus bring to an end the heavy blows of pain and your
woeful tribulations. 4. Truly we also
hoped, as a great number of compatriots believed, that only mother 5.
What
else is to be expected and desired? Over
three hundred years suffering the heavy yoke of slavery, yet for a long time
we did nothing but beseech and ask them for just a little consideration and a
little mercy. And then what answers
were seen in response to our supplications and pitifulness? None, except that we were sent into exile
or even to our deaths. 6. For seven years La
Solidaridad worked incessantly and exhausted
its whole strength in order that we might achieve some modest right to a
human existence. And yet what was the
result of the expended time and effort?
Promises, deceit, scorn and bitter death…. 7. Now we are weary of raising our
hands aloft in constant supplication; now the cry of our mournful voice in
constant complaint is gradually ceasing; and now our breath has almost been
taken away from us by the cruelty of our suffering; we raise our bowed heads,
accustomed to being submissive, and drawing strength from our firm belief in
true reason, we can open the minds of our fellow countrymen and show them
clearly that the phrase Mother Spain is only a distraction and deceit that
can be compared to a rag wrapped around encumbering shackles; that there is
no mother and no child; that there is nothing else than a race that oppresses
and a race that is oppressed; a people that tirelessly enriches and satiates
itself and a people that is tired of deprivation and hunger. ____________________________________________ From this point
onwards, the Tagalog text has not been located. The remainder of the editorial, as
published in Spanish translation in Retana’s Archivo, was many years ago translated in turn
into English by my father, Geoffrey Walter Richardson, and is as follows:- 8. Too well we know
that this must cause great misgivings and fears, must give rise to a cruel
persecution and all kinds of torments and sufferings for our compatriots
there. But what do one, or five, or
ten, or a hundred, signify in comparison with a million brothers? We firmly believe, moreover, that these
abominations and vilenesses will come to us first
from the arms of collaborators, as was already predicted by the wisest, most
noble and most esteemed of the Tagalogs [José
Rizal] when they notified him of the arrest of those who were exiled: “Weep,
I tell them - the son for the disgrace of the father, the father for the
disgrace of the son, the brother for the brother - but he who loves the
country where he was born, and considers what is necessary to better it,
should rejoice, because by this road alone can freedom now be attained.” 9. And now that we
have shown our aim and purpose, we will not end these inadequate lines
without sharing your lamentations. We
see the truth, and in our hearts and breasts we have a great and deep desire
that you help us in the publication and propaganda of Kalayaan,
above all amongst the unfortunate people of the country, for the insults they
suffer are the cause and motive of this publication. 10. And if by chance
they could not use it for any greater purpose, may it at least serve as a cloth
to wipe the tears that fall from their eyes and the sweat that runs from
their humbled brows. |
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NOTES