Lazaro Makapagal, no relation to Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, would be a forgotten footnote in Philippine history, except that he led the pack that executed Andres Bonifacio, on orders of the Council of War that imposed the death sentence on the brothers Andres and Procopio Bonifacio. The brothers were found guilty of treason against the newly formed Revolutionary Government that had replaced the Katipunan.

On the other hand, in the emotional and contentious matter of Emilio Aguinaldo’s hand in the death of his rival Bonifacio, one believes what one wants to believe despite Makapagal’s two public statements—first to the Philippines Free Press in 1928; second in a detailed letter to historian Jose P. Santos dated June 27, 1929. Biased or inaccurate, Makapagal may be in making these declarations three decades after the fact, but he remains the only eyewitness to Bonifacio’s last moments.