Bonifacio Arevalo was born on May 14, 1850, in Manila, Philippines. He was the fourth among five children of Justo Arevalo and Esperanza Flores. His father died in the twenty-fifth year and while Bonifacio was only seven years old, and so he was left to the care of his uncle, sculptor and pioneer dentist, Jose Arevalo.
It was Bonifacio Arevalo's uncle's wife, Eulalia Asuncion, who taught him the first lessons in woodcarving. And it did not take a long time before he became a helpful hand in his uncle's shop. At the same time, he was sent to school. Then he became an attendant in the San Juan de Dios Hospital, and after undergoing some kind of internship, he was granted the certificate of surgeon's assistant in 1876.
Arevalo must have learned a great deal of practical dental knowledge from his uncle, an architect, too who did not fail to pass on his craft to his ward.
After receiving his certificate, Arevalo opened a dental clinic. In 1888, in view of the new regulations, he was required to take an examination to continue in his profession, and he successfully passed it. By 1890, he was one of the accredited dentists of Manila. By using dough for his godiva he made dental work and fixture very exact and fitting which was the envy of later dentists. On several occasions, he made full denture work by carving the same from ivory and dyeing the gum part. This took him several months to finish, the result becoming a work of art and an object of admiration during his time. He enjoyed a lucrative practice which enabled him to indulge in cultural activities.
Arevalo's sculptural works may be divided into three classes: those that have religious subjects or motifs, pieces that depict some local custom, scene, occupation, etc., which were called tipos del pais (country types), and portraits. To the first group belong La Purisima Concepcion, San Rafael, Cristo de Velasquez, a copy in the wood of Velasquez's painting, Ecce Homo, which used to belong to the Florentino Herrera family in Manila, and Calvario (circa 1890). Bayad, Magmamais, and Zapatero are typical of the miniature studies of the common tao which belong to the second class. He sometimes employed a doll technique. For instance, in his Mga Pulubi, he carved the heads and hands of wood and colored the garments of the figures, using cloth for this purpose. Portraits of the Emperor and Empress of Japan were exhibited in the Hanoi Exposition of 1902. He also executed busts of Gen. Ramon Blanco and Cayetano Arellano. He used lanite wood as a rule for his medium, and for the bigger pieces santol wood.
Another facet of Arevalo's varied love for the arts was music. Although he was not a musician, he had an ear for music and he could detect a false note. About the early part of the 1890s, he learned that the Pasig Band was in the process of dissolution. This was under the management of Felipe Marifosque and his wife, parents of Vicente Marifosque, the bandmaster. Arevalo managed to reorganize the band, bought new instruments, and hired an ex-director of a Spanish regimental band, Marcelino Asuncion, to lead the organization. Thus a new vigour was infused into the old group whose membership had by then dwindled to some 25 or 30 members, and from that time on it became known as the Banda Arevalo.
Arevalo did not know that the management would require so much of his attention and would entail expense for its operation and support. He had to house the members, take care of their health, fix up their teeth which he did himself, and he looked into the welfare of the players and their families. He was, therefore, able to form a compact, well-disciplined, and cooperative unit which grew into some eighty members and made one of the finest band music during this period. This band furnished music in the seat of the Revolutionary government in 1898 and played at the Hanoi Exposition in 1902 under the direction of Ladislao Bonus. Four well-known musicians or band-masters directed the Banda Arevalo: M. Asuncion. L. Bonus, V. Marifosqui, and Macario Honofre who had retired from the United States Navy Band. This organization lived for twenty years.
Arevalo lived in an age of the flowering of the Moro-moro drama. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, he was swept by this climax, and so caused to be built a kumedyahan, or Moro-moro theater, in his backyard on San Anton Street, Sampalok. It was constructed of bamboo and wood with nipa roof and could accommodate 500 or more persons. He gathered together a number of actors and actresses, some of whom were languishing for want of a better patron, had them coached and taught the Moro-moro dramatic art as practices during the period. His band furnished the music. It was the fortune of some members of this company to experience the transition to the new period of Tagalog drama and zarzuela that was to start at the beginning of the twentieth century, Ildefonsa Alianza and Adriana Nicolas, for instance, reaping the abundant harvest in Walang Sugat and other plays of Severino Reyes.
The Moro-moro venture did not last long, however. In 1893 or 1894 there came a touring Italian opera company. This time Arevalo acted as the impresario, and more than that, quartered the members thereof in his own house as if they belonged to his family. The operas Barbero de Sevilla, Ernani, Sonnambula, and others were produced at the Zorrilla Theater. Although Arevalo sustained losses, this patronage was just another pleasant interlude in his life. A picture autographed by the leading lady, Lucia Caballini, on April 20, 1894, and dedicated to Arevalo is all that remained as a memento of that opera season.
Arevalo was a man of other enterprises and belief. He thought that sari-sari stores run by native owners should receive support. Hence, he not only patronized them but also organized nine stores opposite Chinese stores in different parts of the city during the last years of the Spanish period, had them manned by relatives with his own capital. But like so many other of his activities, this venture flopped. In 1909, he started an association for native weaving and hat making. Then he wanted to build a textile factory, an undertaking in which Jose A. Ramos Ishikawa had a hand. In order to put into operation this idea, he went to Japan to study the ways and methods of operation in that country with the end in view of acquiring machinery and installing it in Manila. But this plan did not prosper.
Bonifacio Arevalo is known and recognized as a dentist as well as a notable sculptor. His works received a gold medal in the Exposicion Regional de Filipinas in Manila in 1895. The works exhibited in the Hanoi Exposition in 1902 also received awards. As a physician, he was one of the very few licensed dentists of Manila during that time.
Arevalo is also celebrated as a musician for the creation of Banda Arevalo which became one of the finest band music during this period. He is remembered for the patronage of the theatre arts. He organized an actor's company and regularly staged productions of the then very popular moro-moro plays. In addition, he patronized and established a number of sari-sari stores.
Bonifacio Arevalo was an admirer of Jose Rizal, and when the Liga Filipina was formed, he accepted its treasurership. He supported the propaganda movement abroad and was one of the Compromisarios. He suffered imprisonment of nine months after the events of August 1896 for his political activities. After his release from prison, he became the first president of the Sociedad Dental de Filipinas upon its organization. In 1898 he was named one of the members of the Asamblea Consultiva created by Gen. Augustin on May 3rd. Later, he was named by Pres E. Aguinaldo as colonel of militia with assignment in Sampalok, Manila, and shortly thereafter, as a counselor of the Revolutionary government in Manila. After the rupture of Filipino-American relations, he was appointed intendant for the second zone of operations of Filipino forces but was arrested in Manila and imprisoned by the American military in occupation. His incarceration, however, did not last long, and upon being freed devoted his attention to his profession and to his band.
Arevalo married twice. By his first wife, Trinidad Arevalo, he had three sons but only one, Juan, survived. By his second wife, Benita Ocampo, he had the only child, Dolores.
