Chapter 9

The 1896 Philippine Revolution

Hello everyone! Welcome to the 1896 Philippine revolution topic. At the end of the chapter,
students should be able to, explain the nature and aims of the Kataas-taasan, Kagalang-galang Katipunan
ng mga Anak ng Bayan or KKK (English translation, Supreme and Honorable Society of the Sons of the
Nation.
On July 6, 1892, Jose Rizal was arrested by the Spanish authorities and was exiled in Dapitan. La
Liga Filipna, the organization established by Rizal in the Philippines was divided into two factions. The
Cuerpo de Compromisarios which continued the aspirations of the La Liga Filipina to ask for reform through
peaceful means and the Katipunan which exhibited a militant form of nationalism.
That night of July 7, 1892, Andres Bonifacio, Valentin Diaz, Teodoro Plata, Ladislao Diwa, Deodato
Arellano and a few others, met secretly at a house on Azcarraga (now Claro M. Recto Avenue), near
Elcano Street, Tondo, and decided to form a new association called Kataas-taasan, Kagalang-galang na
Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan or Katipunan for short. The men gathered around a flickering table lamp,
performed the ancient blood compact, and signed their membership papers with their own blood. It was
agreed to win more members to the society by means of the triangle method in which an original member
would take in two new members who did not know each other, but knew only the original member who took
them in. Thus, original member A, for instance, would take in new members B and C. Both B and C knew
A, but B and C did not know each other. Also agreed upon during the meeting was the payment of an
entrance fee of one real fuerte(twenty-five centavos) and a monthly due of a media real (about twelve
centavos).

The Katipunan Objectives

Under the leadership of Bonifacio, the Katipunan laid down three fundamental objectives or aims:
political, moral and civic. The political objectives consisted in working for the separation of the Philippines
from Spain. The moral objective revolved about around the teaching of good manners, hygiene, good
morals, and attacking obscurantism, religious fanaticism, and weakness of character. The civic aim
revolved around the principle of self-help and the defense of the poor and the oppressed. All members
were urged to come to the aid of the sick comrades and their families, and in case of death the society itself
was to pay for the funeral expenses. For the purpose of economy however, the society saw to it that the
funeral was of the simplest kind, avoiding unnecessary expenses so common under the rule of the friars.

The Katipunan Revolution

The Philippine Revolution, the first against western colonial rule in Asia, was directed against Spain
which had colonized the Philippines since 1565. The Revolution against Spain had two phases: the first
from the declaration of defiance against Spanish rule on August 23, 1896 till the conclusion of a truce in
December 1897; the second from the return till the outbreak of the Filipino-American War in February 1899.
 After over three centuries of Spanish colonial rule characterized by unenlightened government, outright
exploitation of the Indios (the term used to apply to the indigenous population of Filipinos), bleated and half-
hearted attempts at reform, and on the part of the governed, countless sporadic and isolated revolts and
other forms of resistance, the Philippine Revolution exploded on August 23, 1896, in the event that is
commemorated as the “Cry of Pugadlawin.” Located in the outskirts of Manila, there assembled on that
day members of a secret revolutionary society known as the Katipunan (Kataas-taasan Kagalang-galang
na Katipunan nang mga Anak ng Bayan — Highest and Most Respectable Society of the Sons of the
People, founded in July 1892), led by its founder, Andres Bonifacio, and there tore up their cedulas
(identification receipts issued for payment of taxes) as a symbol of their determination to take up arms
against Spain.

The seeds of revolution were, in fact, sown earlier in the nineteenth century when Spain’s enforced
isolation of the Philippines was shattered with the opening of the country to foreign commerce and the
resulting development of an export economy by non-Spanish foreign enterprises (British, American,
Chinese). Revolutionary and liberal movements in Europe and elsewhere, in addition to the persistence of
friar autocratic rule, brought winds of change in the political climate in the Philippines. The most important
event which possibly made the Revolution inevitable was that of February 17, 1872, when three Filipino
secular priests, leaders in the movement for the secularization (in effect, nationalization) of Philippine
parishes, were executed publicly by garrote for their supposed complicity in a military mutiny at a Cavite
arsenal on January 20, 1872. By linking them with the mutiny, the Spanish administration, with the
instigation of Spanish friars, found a convenient way of doing away with the troublesome priests,
considered by them as filibusteros (anyone who showed any radical tendencies) for demanding clerical
equality with the Spanish friars.

The first manifestation of Philippine nationalism followed in the decades of the 1880s and the 1890s,
with a reform or propaganda movement, conducted both in Spain and in the Philippines, for the purpose of
“propagandizing” Philippine conditions in the hopes that desired changes in the social, political and
economic life of the Filipinos would come about through peaceful means. The propaganda movement
failed to secure the desired reforms, especially the expulsion of the friars and their replacement by Filipino
secular priests and equality before the law between Spaniards and Filipinos, largely because the Spanish
friars used their power and resources to thwart the activities of the Filipino ilustrados (educated Filipinos
who led the movement.

The revolutionary society, Katipunan, was established, on July 7, 1892, by Filipinos who had given up
hope that the Spanish government would administer the affairs of Filipinas in the interests of its subjects —
with justice and dignity. A secret association patterned after Freemasonry and the Liga Filipina (a mutual-
aid society founded by the ilustrado Jose Riza on July 3, 1892), it recruited members in the suburbs of
Manila and in the provinces of Central Luzon. By the time of the outbreak of the Revolution in August
1896, membership in the Katipunan has soared to about 30,000, which included some women. The
Revolution broke out prematurely on August 23, 1896 because ofthe untimely discovery by a Spanish friar,
on August 19, of the existence of the revolutionary society. The immediate result ofthe outbreak of the
Revolution was the institution of a reign of terror by the Spanish authorities in an attempt to frighten the
population into submission. Hundreds suspected of joining the Katipunan and the Revolution were arrested
and jailed; prominent Filipinos were shipped to exile to the Carolines or the Spanish penal colony in Africa
(Fernando Po); and still others were executed, including Jose Rizal, who was shot by musketry on
December 30, 1896. The Revolution spread from Manila and Cavite to Laguna, Batangas, Bulacan,
Pampanga, Tarlac, and Nueva Ecija represented as the eight rays in the Philippine flag.
 Andres Bonifacio led the Revolution in its early stages, although he did not excel in the field of battle.
Internal rivalry led to the division of the ranks within the Katipunan organization and with the execution of
Bonifacio in May 1897 (charged with sedition and treason), leadership of the Revolution fell into the hands
of another Katipunan member from Cavite, Emilio Aguinaldo, who distinguished himself in the battlefields in
Cavite, at that time the heartland of the Revolution.

The first phase of the Revolution ended inconclusively, with both Filipino and Spanish forces unable to
pursue hostilities to a successful conclusion. Consequently, between November 18 and December 15, a
truce (in Biak-na-Bato) was concluded between the two sides which resulted in a temporary cessation of
hostilities. Aguinaldo agreed to go on temporary exile to Hong Kong after the Spanish government
compensated him and his revolutionary junta with P400,000. The truce failed as both sides entered the
agreement in bad faith — neither was really willing to abandon hostilities but were biding time and
resources to resume the armed conflict.

Recent historiography on the Philippine Revolution, looking from a perspective of history “from below”
sees a religious dimension in the Katipunan revolutionary movement and a continuity to the many illicit
gatherings and proscribed groups that operated against the colonial state in some towns and in the
hinterland of Luzon and the Visayas towards the latter half of the nineteenth century. In explaining this
view, Reynaldo C. Ileto writes that “In exhorting the lower classes to participate, the Katipunan leadership
juxtaposed events of colonial history with biblical images of the Fall from Eden; joining the rebellion was
interpreted as a redemptive act; the rallying cry of kalayaan (liberty) reverberated with meanings of a return
to a condition of wholeness and prosperity.” These illicit associations of the 1860s in the peripheries re-
emerged after 1897 to fight the Spaniards, and later the Americans — witness the Katipunan of San
Cristobal in Mount Banahaw, the Santa Iglesia of Felipe Salvador, the Papa Isio movement, the Guardia de
Honor, the pulahanes of Samar-Leyte, among others. Movement such as these, led by prophets, saints
and babaylan saw the war years as part of the great cataclysm that would signal the end of the world. At
the turn of the century, religio politico of the earlier decades had largely reappeared as nationalist
movements but distinct from the mainstream revolutionary war against American rule.

Katipunan Documents

Bonifacio's Decalogue
Duties of the Sons of the People
1. Love God with all your heart.
2. Bear always in mind that the love of God is also the love of Country, and this too, is love of one's fellow-
men.
3. Engrave in your heart that the true measure if honor and happiness is to die for the freedom of your
country.
4. All your good wishes will be crowned with success if you have serenity, constancy, reason, and faith in
your acts and endeavor.
5. Guards the mandates and aims of the K.K.K. as you gueard your honor.
6. It is the duty of all to deliver, at the risk of their own lives and wealth, anyone who runs great risks in the
performance of his duty.
7. Out responsibility to ourselves and the performance of our duties will be the example set for our fellow-
men to follow.
8. Insofar as it is within your power, share your means with the poor and the unfortunate.
9. Diligence in the work that gives sustenance to you is the true basis of love—love for your self, for your
wife and children, and for your brothers and countrymen.
10. Punish any scoundrel and traitor and praise all good work. Believe, likewise, that the aims of the K.K.K.
are God-given for the will of the people is also the will of God.

Kartilya by Emilio Jacinto

The Teachings of the Katipunan
Realizing the importance of a primer to indoctrinate the members of the society in its ideals, Jacinto
prepared one which he called Kartilla, a word adopted from the Spanish cartilla which at the time meant a
primer for grade school students. The Kartilla consisted of thirteen "teachings" which the members of the
society were expected to follow. The primer follows:

1. Ang buhay na hindi ginugugol sa isang malaki at banal na kadahilanan ay kahoy na walang lilim, kundi
damong makamandag. (The life that is not spent in the service of a great and noble cause is like a tree
without a shade, or like a poisonous weed.)
2. Ang gawang magaling na nagbuhat sa paghahambog o pagpipita sa sarili, at hindi talagang nasang
gumawa ng kagalingan, ay di kabaitan. (The good work that is done out of self-interest and not for its own
sake has no merit.)
3. Ang tunay na kabanalan ay ang pagkakawang-gawa, ang pag-ibig sa kapwa at ang isukat ang bawat
kilos, gawa't pangungusap sa talagang Katuwiran. (True piety consists in doing good to others, in loving
one’s neighbor and in making right reason the rule for every action, work and word.)
4. Maitim man o maputi ang kulay ng balat, lahat ng tao'y magkakapantay; mangyayaring ang isa'y hihigtan
sa dunong, sa yaman, sa ganda...; ngunit di mahihigtan sa pagkatao. (All men are equal whether the color
of their skin be white or black. One man may surpass another in wisdom, wealth or beauty, but
not in that which makes him a man.)
5. Ang may mataas na kalooban, inuuna ang puri kaysa pagpipita sa sarili; ang may hamak na kalooban,
inuuna ang pagpipita sa sarili kaysa sa puri. (The magnanimous man puts honor before self-interest; the
mean-spirited man, self-interest before honor.)
6. Sa taong may hiya, salita'y panunumba. (The word of a man of sensibility is as good as an oath.)
7. Huwag mong sayangin ang panahon; ang yamang nawala'y mangyayaring magbalik; ngunit panahong
nagdaan ay di na muli pang magdadaan. (Do not squander time, for wealth lost may be recovered, but time
that has passed you by will not come your way again.)
8. Ipagtanggol mo ang inaapi; kabakahin ang umaapi. (Champion the oppressed and defy the oppressor.)
9. Ang mga taong matalino'y ang may pag-iingat sa bawat sasabihin; matutong ipaglihim ang dapat
ipaglihim. (An intelligent person is one who is careful with one’s words, and knows how to keep a secret.)
10. Sa daang matinik ng buhay, lalaki ang siyang patnugot ng asawa at mga anak; kung ang umaakay ay
tungo sa sama, ang pagtutunguhan ng inaakay ay kasamaan din. (In this hazardous life, it is the father who
is the leader of the family; if the one leading is headed towards evil, then those following such leader are
led into evil as well.)
11. Ang babae ay huwag mong tingnang isang bagay na libangan lamang, kundi isang katuwang at
karamay sa mga kahirapan nitong buhay; gamitin mo nang buong pagpipitagan ang kanyang kahinaan, at
alalahanin ang inang pinagbuharan at nag-iwi sa iyong kasanggulan. (The female person should not be
looked upon as a mere object for amusement; but should be treated with respect and be recognized as a
partner in this hazardous life; in being with her, remember your mother who gave birth to you in this life.)
 12. Ang di mo ibig gawin sa asawa mo, anak at kapatid, ay huwag mong gagawin sa asawa, anak at
kapatid ng iba. (That which you do not want to be done to your wife, kids or siblings, do not do unto the
wife, kids, or siblings of others.)

Sources:
http://msc.edu.ph/centennial/katipunan.html
Churchill, B.R., History of the Philippine Revolution. Retrieved from
http://ncca.gov.ph/subcommissions/subcommission-on-cultural-heritagesch/historical-research/history-of-
the-philippine-revolution/
http://www.oocities.org/valkyrie47no/decalogue.htm
https://haringbayan.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/kartilya-ng-katipunan-emilio-jacinto/