Emilio Aguinaldo’s telegram to Antonio Luna fetches P3.74M at auction

A telegram that could link President Emilio Aguinaldo to the assassination of General Antonio Luna in 1899 went for almost P4 million at auction on Saturday.

Leon Gallery curator Lisa Guerrero-Nakpil said that the telegram that summoned Luna to Cabanatuan, where he was killed, went for P3.74 million from a starting bid of P500,000.

"There was spirited bidding from three to four zealous Philippine history fans—fighting over the various papers as if they were Heneral Luna themselves. Each bidder had a very definite strategy. But like in any battle, only one can win," Guerrero-Nakpil said. 

The handwritten telegram dated June 4, 1899 and sent by Aguinaldo to Luna was unearthed from Luna's son's archive.

Guerrero-Nakpil said the telegram has been visited for the last weeks by "all walks of life:  A real cross-section of our community, from society matrons to millennial students who came to León Gallery to view the Bonifacio documents, the Luna telegram, and the Tinio Brigade dagger. It was quite heartening to see the interest in our history."

Bonifacio's Tejeros Proclamation went for P4.4 million, while the Naic Military Agreement fetched P4.9M. The Tinio Brigade Dagger went for P1.05 million and Artemio Ricarte's narrative of the Tejeros convention fetched P444,000. — Jannielyn Ann Bigtas/BM, GMA News