The drama of Antonio Luna

A poet at 15, a fencer and sharp shooter famed for his personal courage, a talented musician, a Doctor of Pharmacy who was a brilliant chemist, a writer and newspaper editor, a self-taught militarist and founder of a military academy, a firebrand whose monstrous temper and obsession with discipline antagonized almost everyone, and yet a man with a generous streak, doted on by women, a loving son and brother, an unswerving idealist committed to the liberation of his country. This is Antonio Luna, whose assassination in 1899, is the centerpiece of Ang Pagpatay kay Luna, a historical musical written by Paul Dumol, Tanghalang Pilipino’s offering for its 15th season.

Set to open on Feb. 1 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (Little Theater), Luna is the second of a planned trilogy by Dumol on the leaders of the Philippine Revolution, specifically Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, and events leading to the Philippine-American War. The first, Aguinaldo, also a musical, was staged by Tanghalang Pilipino in November 1998. The third Bonifacio is still in the works and, hopefully, may see light of day by next year.

"Aguinaldo, the play, is actually the second part of the trilogy. I rushed writing it to time it with the centennial of Philippine Independence in 1998. When I was writing it, it already occurred to me that perhaps it should have a prequel and a sequel, or plays on Bonifacio and Luna. With Luna now done, I’m actually working backwards! In the future, I want to name the trilogy simply by numbers, 1897, 1898 and 1899."

Undoubtedly, the assassination of Luna on June 5, 1899, is one of the most controversial episodes in Philippine history. "Even at this point in time," observes Dumol, "it leaves a bad taste in the mouth." He relates the event which he incorporates in the play: "Luna, who is in Bayambang, Pangasinan to where he has retreated after the Americans push the Filipinos back from Manila and Pampanga, receives a telegram from Aguinaldo asking him to go to Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, which is the revolutionary capital of the Republic. So Luna leaves, going partly by train, partly by horseback. While he starts out accompanied by some 18 bodyguards, he encounters problems with transportation and leaves some along the way, arriving on June 5 in Cabanatuan with only two.

"He goes up to the town convent where Aguinaldo maintains his headquarters, only to find that the latter left the place the night before. Luna is angry, but he waits about 30 minutes. Then he hears a gunshot from the ground floor. He goes down the stairs and is confronted by precisely the soldiers of the Kawit battalion, led by Capt. Pedro Janolino, whom he had ordered disarmed and punished for refusing to obey him some months earlier during the battle for Kalookan and Manila. As a result, the Filipinos lost the battle, but Aguinaldo failed to punish Janolino. In protest, Luna resigned his command and withdrew to Pampanga, although he is later reinstated.

"While talking to the group, Luna is hacked with a bolo by someone coming from the stairs behind him. When the soldiers have finished with him, Luna has 39 gunshots and bolo wounds. As he lies dying, a window opens above, a woman’s head emerges and she calls out, ‘Nagalaw pa ba iyan?’ It is Doña Trinidad Famy-Aguinaldo, General Aguinaldo’s mother. She has been in the convent all the time."

"My sources are pretty solid," says Dumol, who put in a year of research before actually writing the play in a matter of some two months. "Mainly, I am following the biography of Luna by Juan Villamor. Apparently, he investigated the death of Luna sometime in the ’20s because there was a contest on Luna. The contest was called off, but Villamor continued his research and expanded it into a biography of Luna. He also includes in his book the different documents he used in his investigation. At the end of his book and the play follows him quite closely – he blames the death of Luna on Aguinaldo, Aguinaldo’s mother and Pedro Paterno."

Other sources included, among others, Vivencio R. Jose’s The Rise and Fall of Antonio Luna, the five-volume Taylor Papers, or John R.M. Taylor’s The Philippine Insurrection Against the United States, published by the Eugenio Lopez Foundation in 1971, and La Senda del Sacrificio by Jose Alejandrino

Dumol, who holds both a licentiate and a doctorate in Medieval Studies from Etienne Gilson's Pontifical Institute for Medieval Studies in Toronto, Canada, and is currently vice president for academic affairs of the University of Asia & the Pacific, admits to a fascination with the complex character who is both hero and anti-hero that is Antonio Luna.

An all-star cast headlines Luna with Nonie Buencamino and Eladio Pamaran alternating as Luna, Miguel Vera as Gen. Aguinaldo, Ding Mercado as Paterno, Roeder as Buencamino and Joy Soler de Castro playing the dual role of Inang Bayan and Doña Trinidad Famy-Aguinaldo. Music is by award-winning composer Jesse Lucas. Choreography is by Agnes Locsin. Production design is by Salvador Bernal.

Ang Pagpatay kay Luna runs on Feb. 1, 2 and 3, and on the third and fourth weekends of February. Friday shows at 8 p.m. are on Feb. 1, 15 and 22 with 3 p.m. matinee shows on Feb. 2, 3, 16, 17, 23 and 24. For ticket reservations, call 832-36-61. Tickets are also available at the CCP Box Office, with tel. no. 832-37-04, and at all Ticketworld outlets, with tel. 891-56-10 or 891-57-43.