Assassination of General Antonio Luna at Cabanatuan (1899)

General Antonio Luna, a Filipino lieutenant general, was assassinated on June 5, 1899, at age 32. On June 2 he had received two telegrams, one from President Emilio Aguinaldo ordering him to Cabanatuan to form a new cabinet. By late May his brother had warned him of a plot involving autonomists and a clique of army officers Luna had disarmed, arrested, or insulted.

Episodes

Background and detail

Background. Antonio Luna was a Filipino lieutenant general and pharmacist who fought in the Philippine–American War. On September 26, 1898, Aguinaldo appointed him Chief of War Operations, with the rank of brigadier general, in order to silence him. Luna also established a military academy at Malolos in October 1898. By the end of May 1899, his brother warned him of a plot by autonomists and by a clique of army officers he had disarmed, arrested, or insulted.

Political Context. Emilio Aguinaldo served as president of the First Philippine Republic, established in January 1899. The Philippine Revolutionary Army, active from 1897, suffered heavy losses after the war erupted in February 1899. Luna urged Aguinaldo's adviser to announce guerrilla warfare in April 1899, reflecting tensions within the leadership.

Assassination. On June 2, 1899, Luna received two telegrams: one asked for help launching a counterattack in San Fernando, Pampanga, and the other, sent by Aguinaldo, ordered him to the new capital at Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija to form a new cabinet. Luna was assassinated on June 5, 1899, at age 32. The legacy claim that he was lured there under Aguinaldo's authority is contested; the passages state only that he was ordered to go to Cabanatuan.

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Sources

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