On June 10, 1863, General Crispulo Aguinaldo was born in Cavite. Finishing his bachelor's degree at Colegio de San Juan de Letran, he was a Mason and eventually joined the Katipunan. Aguinaldo became a veteran of key battles in Cavite, including Binakayan, Perez Dasmariñas, and Salitran, among others.
He was said to have been present in the Tejeros Convention, after which he would inform his brother Emilio Aguinaldo of the election results. Earlier, Colonel Vicente Riego de Dios had already gone to Emilio, but failed to bring back the latter. While Emilio did not wish to leave the battlefield at Pasong Santol, where the Spanish offensive was threatening, Crispulo persuaded him to assume office by taking command of the Filipino troops there.
"Turn over to me this command and the Spaniard will take the line only over my dead body," Crispulo told his brother.
Emilio, meanwhile, hoped he could still help the situation at Pasong Santol. After taking his oath in Tanza, he sought reinforcements for Crispulo's troops. When the reinforcements did not arrive in Pasong Santol, Emilio Aguinaldo suspected Andres Bonifacio and Artemio Ricarte of diverting the forces he sent, citing the rift from the Tejeros Convention. Only one Magdiwang commander, Ariston Villanueva, reached the field in time. Seeing the divisive atmosphere, Emilio decided to retain his title in the Magdalo (Pangulong Digma) instead of using the one decided at Tejeros (Presidente).
On the part of Ricarte, meanwhile, he noted that a number of Magdalo and Magdiwang leaders heeded the protests in the aftermath of Tejeros. To recall, Bonifacio and his supporters issued the "Acta de Tejeros", declaring that the elections were not conducted fairly and they intended to nullify the convention's outcome.
At least one contemporary account attested that the Magdiwang leaders in particular saw it unfair to fight within Magdalo territory, while their sacrifice was not reciprocated in their own towns, an observation reflected in the Acta de Tejeros. It remains unclear, however, if the Magdiwang leaders acted upon Bonifacio's or Ricarte's orders for the case of Pasong Santol. Considering the precarious political setup, the possibility of individual revolutionary leaders deciding on their own could not be discounted.
As if prophetic of the events to come, Crispulo died with 300 other slain Filipino defenders at the Battle of Pasong Santol on March 24, 1897. The Spanish victories in Cavite continued. Learn more about the Philippine Revolution:
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