Apolinario Mabini (1864-1903) was a Filipino political philosopher and architect

of the Philippine revolution. He formulated the principles of a democratic popular

government, endowing the historical struggles of the Filipino people with a coherent
ideological orientation.

Apolinario Mabini was born in Talaga, Tanauan, Batangas, on July 22, 1864. His
parents belonged to the impoverished peasantry. He studied at the Colegio de San
Juan de Letran in 1881 and at the University of Santo Thomas, where he received the
law degree in 1894. During this time he earned his living by teaching Latin and then
serving as copyist in the Court of First Instance in Manila.

In 1896 Mabini contracted an illness, probably infantile paralysis, that deprived him
of the use of his legs. When the Katipunan revolt broke out late that year, the Spanish
authorities arrested him. Unknown to many, Mabini was already a member of José
Rizal's reformist association, the Liga Filipina. And though as a pacifist reformist, he
was at first skeptical of Andres Bonifacio's armed uprising, Mabini later became
convinced of the people's almost fanatical desire for emancipation. Subsequently, he
turned out subversive manifestos appealing to all Filipinos to unite against Spain.

In May 1898 Emilio Aguinaldo summoned Mabini to act as his adviser. Mabini
formulated the famous decree of June 18, which reorganized the local government
under Filipino control. His policy throughout the struggle can be epitomized by a
statement in that decree: "The first duty of the government is to interpret the popular
will faithfully." Mabini was also instrumental in supervising the proper administration
of justice, the election of delegates to the revolutionary congress, and the
establishment of the mechanism of the revolutionary government itself.

When the revolutionary congress was convoked in Barasoain, Malolos, Bulacan, on

Sept. 15, 1898, Mabini found himself opposed to the plans of the wealthy bourgeoisie
to draft a constitution. He believed that, given the emergency conditions of war, the
function of the congress was simply to advise the president and not to draft a
constitution. Defeated by the majority, Mabini then submitted his own constitutional
plan, based on the Statutes of Universal Masonry. It was rejected in favor of a
composite draft submitted by Felipe G. Calderon, which became the basis of the
Malolos Constitution of the first Philippine Republic.

Mabini's conflict with the conspiracy of property owners and the landlord class in the
congress led to his eclipse in 1899 as Aguinaldo's trusted adviser--the only competent
thinker and theoretician in the Aguinaldo Cabinet. Mabini succeeded in exposing the
vicious opportunism of the Paterno-Buencamino clique, who were trying to gain
control over, and to profit from, the financial transactions of the revolutionary
government. When the Aguinaldo camp fled from the advancing American forces,
Mabini was captured on Dec. 10, 1899. Still refusing to swear an oath of allegiance to
the U.S. government and continuing to support the insurgents in their ideological
struggle, he was deported to Guam in 1901. He died on May 13, 1903.

Mabini's chief work, La Revolution Filipina, a reasoned analysis and cogent argument
concerning the ideological implications of the revolution against Spain and the
resistance to the American invaders, reveals the progressive and democratic impulse
behind his thinking. He always tried to mediate between the people's will and the
decisions of their leaders. He was a selfless and dedicated patriot.