Magat Salamat, Chief of Tondo, A Forgotten Hero of the First Katipunan over 300 years ago

One of the earliest heroes of the Philippines, in the words of Don Isabelo de los Reyes and Professor Austin Craig, was Magat Salamat, one of the chiefs of Tondo. Through the centuries his name has come to us in colors blurred and indistinct. Many are the legends and myths which were woven and rewoven around this hero of the sixteenth century, but most of them are nothing more than the fantasies of some hero-worshipper, which have proved brittle to the touch of reality. They make, therefore, no direct appeal to skeptical scholars, though they may fascinate fictionists and romancers.