Just a clarification, for Christmas is a time for love and not for hate. The Bonifacio for First President petition only aims to prove an existence of a government of a national character before General Emilio Aguinaldo. It will not take any honor already bestowed on Aguinaldo as President of the First Constitutional Democratic Republic in Asia and Father of Philippine Independence. His place is already secured. THIS IS NOT AN ISSUE OF PRO-BONIFACIO OR PRO-AGUINALDO. THIS IS AN ISSUE OF HISTORICAL TRUTH BASED ON NEW RESEARCH. Some sign this petition to seek justice for the crime that happened to Bonifacio. We understand such feelings but first and foremost, this is a petition for acceptance of Bonifacio's real role in the story of our nationhood. ANG HINDI LUMINGON SA TUNAY NA PINANGGALINGAN, AY LAGING HINDI MATUTUTO AT LAGI DING UULITIN ANG MGA NANGYARI. The following is part of the draft petition paper that the secretariat is preparing: Will Not Diminish Aguinaldo’s Place in History If Andres Bonifacio will be recognized as the first president of the Philippines, will it lessen or diminish Aguinaldo’s place in history? No. Because Aguinaldo was still the president, the only one, of the First Constitutional Democratic Republic in the modern Western sense not just in the Philippines but in all of Asia, the Republica Filipina, established in Malolos on 23 January 1899 (Where we start to count his term of office in the present arrangement). In fact, if we recognize Bonifacio’s first presidency, it will lengthen Aguinaldo’s historical term of office as far back as 1897 to include his presidency in the Republica Filipina in Cavite, and even, his presidency of the Biak-na-Bato Republica Filipina and his presidency of the Gobierno Dictatorial in June of 1898, which were not included in his recognized official term of office. We are actually short changing Aguinaldo by not recognizing his presidencies Pre-Malolos, when in fact, he was already de facto leader of the National Revolutionary Forces since 1897. We are actually doing injustice to historical reality. We don’t even recognize today his presidency when he proclaimed that important milestone, our Independence from Spain, 12 June 1989. Since no constitution exists at that time that sets the term of office, we can fix Bonifacio’s presidency of the Haring Bayang Katagalugan from 24 August 1896 to his death on 10 May 1897, and fix Aguinaldo’s first term from his swearing in after the Tejeros Convention from 23 March 1897, or when he assumed presidential powers with a reorganized government with both Magdiwang and Magdalo on 24 April 1897, to 14 December 1897 during the signing of the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, and again for a second term on the proclamation of Philippine Independence, 12 June 1898 to his arrest in Palanan, Isabela by the Americans, 23 March 1901. If we make Bonifacio first president, we will be recognizing all the other presidential positions that Aguinaldo held! We will be giving the due recognition to Aguinaldo. But there would be a term overlap between 23 March 1897 and 10 May 1897 where there were two presidents. This is was also the case with President Jose P. Laurel, president of the Japanese-Sponsored Philippine Republic, whose term (1943-1945) also overlapped with Commonwealth President Manuel Quezon and President Sergio Osmeña, yet Laurel was recognized. This was also the case when Ferdinand Marcos and Corazon Aquino were our two presidents for a few hours in 25 February 1986. Properly Re-Arrange Numbering of the Presidents With this, I therefore humbly propose to the National Historical Commission of the Philippines a re-arrangement of the numbering of the presidents based on which government they served and not to mix them all together. For example, Bonifacio as first president, could be the President of the Haring Bayang Katagalugan (1896-1897), then Aguinaldo the president of the First Philippine Republic (Republica Filipina, 1897, 1898-1901), then Manuel Quezon, the first President of the Philippine Commonwealth (1935-1944), and so on until Manuel Roxas, the First President of the Third Philippine Republic (1946-1948), then Elpidio Quirino, the Second President of the Third Philippine Republic (1948-1953), and so on. With this kind of arrangement, we will be putting each president in their proper contexts. A Commonwealth, despite being a National Government, is definitely not a Republic but a protectorate home rule government under the United States. A history graduate from the University of the Philippines Eufemio Agbayani, III was able to point out that in looking at history text books from the post-war period, Emilio Aguinaldo and Jose P. Laurel were not considered presidents. So the arrangement that makes President Benigno Simeon Aquino, III as the 15th president was not cast in stone. We can change it. Independence Day May Not Have To Be Changed Some historians say that to make Andres Bonifacio the first president is to change Independence Day from Aguinaldo’s June 12 proclamation to Bonifacio’s August 24 establishment of the revolutionary government in Caloocan (Balintawak). This may not be the case. Although August 24, 1896 is so important to become Revolution Day just like France’s National Day / Bastille Day because it is the start of the Philippine revolution, the June 12, 1898 proclamation is very important because it was born out of the news of the apparent victory of the Filipino forces, our own forces, in many places against the Spaniards. This victory was part of Bonifacio’s dream. Hence, even if we recognize Bonifacio as first president, June 12 can still be our National Day.