Apolinario Mabini’s True Decalogue - ROSES AND THORNS by Alejandro R. Roces

On June 23, 1898, Apolinario Mabini advised General Emilio Aguinaldo to change his government from a dictatorship to one that is revolutionary. And the following day, he issued his True Decalogue establishing the Ten Commandments for the Filipino’s norm of behavior. Here is an early English translation of that Decalogue:

1. Thou shalt love God and thy honor above all things: God as the fountain of all truth, of all justice, and of all activity; and thy honor, the only power which will oblige thee to be truthful, just and industrious.

2. Thou shalt worship god in the form which thy conscience may deem most righteous and worthy; for in thy conscience, which condemns thy evil deeds and praises thy good ones, speaks thy God.

3. Thou shalt cultivate the special gifts which God has granted thee, working and studying according to thy ability, never leaving the path of righteousness and justice, in order to attain thy own perfection, by means whereof thou shalt contribute to the progress of humanity, thus thou shalt fulfill the mission to which God has appointed thee in this life, and by so doing, thou shalt glorify thy God.

4. Thou shalt love thy country after God and thy honor and more than thyself; for she is the only Paradise which God has given thee in life, the patrimony of thy race, the only inheritance of thy ancestors, and the only hope of thy posterity; because of her thou hast life, love and interest, happiness, honor and God.

5. Thou shalt strive for the happiness of thy country before thy own, making of her the kingdom of reason, of justice, and of labor; for if she be happy, thou, together with thy family, shalt likewise be happy.

6. Thou shalt strive for the independence of thy country; for only thou canst have any real interest in her advancement and exaltation, because her independence constitutes thy own libery; her advancement, thy perfection; and her exaltation, thy own glory and immortality.

7. Thou shalt not recognize in thy country the authority of any person who has not been elected by thee and thy countrymen: for authority emanates from God, and as God speaks in the conscience of every man, the person designated and proclaimed by the conscience of a whole people is the only one who can use true authority.

8. Thou shalt strive for a republic and never for a monarchy in thy country: for the latter exalts one or several families and founds a dynasty; the former makes a people noble and worthy through reason, great through liberty and prosperous and brilliant through labor.

9. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: for God has imposed upon him, as well as upon thee, the obligation to help and not to do unto thee what he would not have thee do unto him; but if thy neighbor, failing in this sacred duty, attempts against thy life, thy liberty, and thy interest, then thou shalt destroy and annihilate him, for the supreme law of self-preservation prevails.

10. Thou shalt consider thy countryman more than thy neighbor. Thou shalt see in him thy friend, thy brother, or at least thy comrade, with whom thou art bound by one fate, by the same joys and sorrows, and by common aspirations and interests. Therefore, as long as national frontiers subsist, raised and maintained by the selfishness of race of family, with thy countrymen alone shalt thou unite in a perfect solidarity of purpose and interest, in order to have force, not only to resist the common enemy, but also to attain all the aims of human life.

Mabini’s True Decalogue is as pertinent today as when he wrote it in the 19th century.