Aguinaldo table diplomacy

I was once asked, informally, to comment on a long table of Philippine hardwood that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas wants to believe was used at the inauguration of the Malolos Congress in September 1898. Save for the provenance provided by the seller, it is difficult to tell since the archival photograph of the event at Barasoain has Emilio Aguinaldo seated in the middle of a long table covered by a tablecloth.

To complicate matters, there is another long table of Philippine hardwood used in the Department of History, United States Military Academy referred to as the “Aguinaldo Table.” A silver plaque attached to the tabletop reads: “This table from Bangued Province of Abra, P[hilippine] I[slands] was presented to the West Point Army Mess by Brigadier General J. Franklin Bell, USA.” Some years ago, Rolando Borrinaga, the Filipino historian who contributed much toward the return of the Balangiga Bells, said that this was probably captured from Aguinaldo’s camp in Lubuagan, Kalinga, based on the diary of Aguinaldo’s physician and aide, Col. Simeon A. Villa, father of the poet Jose Garcia Villa. In addition, Borrinaga believes the West Point table might be the one used in the Malolos Congress. If so, then Aguinaldo took great lengths to transport this historic table from Malolos up north to Lubuagan.

Over the years, I have found both archival and anecdotal references to a number of Aguinaldo Tables. In one of the caves at Biak-na-Bato, there is a table-like rock formation that local lore says was used by Aguinaldo as a conference table when he set up camp in Biak-na-Bato. In Aguinaldo’s home in Kawit, Cavite, there are a number of round mahogany and marble-topped tables that suggest an active social calendar in his long life. What I found fascinating on my first visit to the Aguinaldo Shrine was the massive kitchen table that was said to cover the entrance to a secret tunnel that led to the air-raid shelter under the house, and further on to two tunnels one that led to the municipio, the other to the town church. Mary Magdalene is more than the patron saint of Kawit, she is also the patron saint of the Katipunan faction of Cavite that bore her name as “Magdalo.” No one I know has ever been inside these tunnels that are probably part of the folklore surrounding the old general like his anting-anting and the friendly “kapre” in the ancient mango trees who warned him of impending danger.

In January 1935, a large table from the Philippines was delivered to the White House as a gift from Aguinaldo to Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was an impressive present with a circular top of red narra, 10 and a half feet in diameter with a six-inch black border of kamagong and a fine white line described as wood, but I think might have been “lanite” or even carabao horn. Highly polished, the table top was reflective as a mirror as can be seen in two autographed photos of Aguinaldo, one standing and another sitting by the table before it was shipped to the US. There were 12 drawers on the sides of the table, one each for the president of the US, the vice president, and 10 Cabinet members. Each drawer was identified by an emblem for each official. For the president, it was the intertwined flags of the Philippines and the US. The New York Times reported the Aguinaldo Table was made in Bilibid prison and shipped via US army transport.

Unfortunately, this table was too big for the White House Cabinet Room, and weighing one ton, it was too heavy to push around so the table was consigned to a lobby at the executive offices in the West Wing where visitors waiting for their appointments parked their hats, coats, canes, umbrellas, and bags. Journalists waiting for a story often sat on the table.

Four carved carabao heads ornamented the table, situated North, East, West, and South, protruding under the top. When their horns and snouts snagged people walking by, the carabao herd was ordered sawn off in 1945 by Gen. Henry Vaughan, military aide to President Harry Truman. The carabao herd was consigned high up a wall of the staff dining room where they could do no harm, until a conscientious White House disbursing clerk, fearing these would get lost, had them restored in 1949, recessed under the table. They snagged and gored anew making Vaughan remark: “Those things are a menace. They are coming down again!”

In August 1949, after Philippine President Elpidio Quirino stepped out into the lobby of the West Wing executive offices following an hour-long meeting with Truman, one of the White House reporters pointed out a crack on the Aguinaldo Table and said, “Maybe we need a new one.” This prompted Quirino to reply, “I promise to give a better one than this. This table was sent when our nation was still cracked. Now it’s a solid one. This crack will not be seen in the next table we send.”

The Quirino Table was presented to Truman in May 1952 by then Ambassador to the US Carlos P. Romulo. Also carved from narra, it was smaller than the former at seven and a half feet diameter and had carabaos safely under the tabletop. The cracked Aguinaldo Table was then sent to the Smithsonian as a relic of “table diplomacy” (From New York Times reports 1935-1952).