BONIEACIO AND THE KATIPUNAN (1892 - 1896) a p27 ‘The failure of the reform movement led even a reformist like Marcelo H. Del Pilar to think of zevclution. Insurrection,’ Del Pilar ‘wrote in La Solidaridad, “is the{ast remedy, especially when the people have acquired the belief that peaceful means to secure the remedies futiie” With Rizal's La Liga Filipina nipped in the bu‘. arrection no longer seemec.a far-fetched idea. s course crom reform to revolution. age which depended on Spanish goodwill fora = society whose aims were opposed to theaims g, and one that was ready for revolution. Thus | the ipunan—the revolutionary society responsible for . Philippine Revolution of 1896.THE FOUNDING OF THE KATIPUNAN about the arr published the ne On July 7, 1892, the newspape! of Rizal the previous night and the governor-general's order to b. tc Dapitan. That might, a siuall grouy tic cute 4 ‘a house on Azcarraga Street, Manila (now j Jaro M. Recto Avenue}, and decided to create a secret society. These men were Andres Bonifacio, Teodoro Plata, Valentin Diaz, Ladislao Diwa, Deodato Arellano, and one ortwo others. Alfof them belonged to the lower class of society. Arellano | __ was the most educated among them. They organized a society called 1 Kataastaasan Kagatanggalang na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KKK 2 or Katipunan) or Suprerne and Venerable Association of the Sons of the People. The founders of the Katipunan performed the blood compact ritual to show their patriotism and love of things that were Filipino. ‘The blood compact was an ancient Filipino custom of sealing friendship orbrotherhood (kapatiran). The members, at first, agreed that they would | ~ recruic Filipinos tc becorne meiaber, through a meched called triangle system. Bor example, member Jose would recruit Pedro and Juan to become members. These new members krew Jose but they did not know each other. This method was used to minimize the danger of discovery by the Spanish authorities. Later, a new system of recruiting members similar to Masonry was adopted to speed up the process of enlisting members. It was also agreed that each member would pay a membership fee and monthly dves. i Tue AIMS AND STRUCTURE OF THE KATIPUNAN ; ‘Andres Bonifacio, who conceived the idea of organizing the society, | laid down three primary objectives of the Katipunan: civic, political, and moual. The civic objective was based on the principle of self-help and the defense of the weak and the poor. The political objective was the separation of the Philippines from Spain, chat is, to secure the” ips ee focused ontneteaching f good hygiene, and good moral character The Katipun: "members, or Katipuneros, were urged to help sick comrades families. In case of death, the Society paid the funeral expenses. there was damayan among its members. The Katipunan Government Bonifacio had seen and attended the only meeting of the La Liga Filipina. He took note of this society's structure and when he founded the Katipunan he borrowed the structure of the Liga. The Katipunan 7 ; /f had three governing bodies: the Kate sang an or Supreme Council, the Sangeuniang Bayan or Provincial Council, and the Sangguniang Balangay or Popular Council. The Supreme Council __ atic cheat ORE: bories, folle cee Council anc -.< svyssas Council. Respectively, they were the Praceontl or i equivalent of the central government, the provincial government, g cer body Sia ihe ern ipul sa eau There was a Judicial Council, called Sangguniang Hukuman, which | yeaah passed judgment on members who violated the rules of the Society. {purposes The Katipunan Assembly, on the other hand, was composed of the “~n="~ members of the Supreme Council and the presidents of the Provincial and Popular Councils, There was also a Secret Chamber, composed of Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, and Pio Valenzuela. The Chamber sentenced members who exposed the secrets of the Katipunan. Usually, expulsion from the Society was the punishment meted out to erring members who could not keep secrets. | The Katipunan Elections ‘The triangle method of getting new members was slow and ineffective. Asa result, there were only about 100 new members taken into the Society i by the end of 1892. It was, therefore, agreed that all members should be {| *etrbtrelle allowed to get as many new memkers as circumstances permitted. {finenciol Consequently, the membership of the Society increased in a few months, ¢ efi It was then thought that because the Katipunan had enough members, {fiscal ~a legal aset of officers would be elected. The elected officers of the first Supreme { 9fficial in the Council were the following: Deodato Arellano, president or supremo; Andres Bonifacio, comptroller; Ladislao Diwa, fiscal; Todoro Plata, secretary; and Valentin Diaz, treasurer. As months passed, Bonifacio observed that Arellano, being a very busy man, was not very active in the Society. So, early in 1893 Bonitacio, through an election, moved to replace Arellano. Roman Basa was elected in Areliano’s place. The officers of this - “Secor. Supreine Couacil were as foliows: man Basa, supremo; Bonifacio, fiscai; Jose Tutiano Santiago, secretary; and "Vicente Molina, treasurer. The elected ‘councilors were Briccio Brigido Pantas, Restituto Javier, Teodoro Plata, Teodoro Gonzales, and Ladislao Diwa. Early in 1895, Bonifacio, not contented with the performance of Basa as supremo, had himself elected to replace Basa. He remained the Supremo of the Katipunan until the establishment of a revolutionary government in Tejeros, Cavite ‘comptroller —Membership The Katipunan members were of three kinds: the first grade was called katipon; the second grade was kawal; and the third grade was bayani. The password of the katipon was “Anak ng Bayan’; that of the kawal was “Com-he~ Za" and *har of the bayan: was “Rizal.” In order to recoy..ize each other ™ she streets, a mersher, upon meeting anothe member, would place the palm of his right hand on his breast, and as he passed the other member he would close his hand and bring his index finger and his thumb together. The Katipunan Codes Because the danger of discovery of the Society was always present, Bonifacio invented a system of writing which would make it difficult for the Spaniards to read the Katipunan letters or any written communication, The first secret code invented by Bonifacio was the following: Spanish equivalent in the 1897. The changes in the by the discovery of the previous codes by people considered as enemies by the{ Decalogue—ien | commonciments | ‘ | scoundrel — ‘ © t € . unscrupulous person; villain TEACHINGS OF THE KATIPUNAN To guide the Katipuneros in leading a highly moral life, Bonifacio prepared some sort of Ten Commandments for the ae aileas Gagaw ng mga Anck ng Bayan (Duvies of the Sons of the People). These teachings may be described as a Decalogue. (1) Love God with all pourgearh: (2) Bear always in mind that the love of God is also love of Couitry, and this, too, is love of one's fellowmen. (3) Engrave in your Beart shat the true measure of honor and. tt. is to die es the freedom of your country. All your gerd. ji Se crovoned + serenity, Gaia reason, and faith in your acts and endeavrr. < ( (5) Guard the mandates and aims of the K.K:K. as you guard your honor. (6) Ieis the duty of all to defend, at the risk oftheir own lives and. |Emit Jacinto, Bonifacio’s close friend anid right-hand man, wrote the Kartilla which consisted of thirteen “teachings.” Members of the Society were expected to take the “teachings” to heart. Here are the important portions of the Kartilla: 1)_Life which is not consecrated to a iofi, and sacred cause is lik> a tree without a shadow, if not a poisonous weed. chat springs from a desire for personal profit and not 1 desire 0 do good is wot kindness. ©) True greatness consists in being charitable, in loving one’s and in adjusting every. movement, deed and word to { Kertilla — ba: {teachings % 9 not violated; net broken,These two writings of the two great katipuneros constituted the i of the Katipunan.” Teachir Tre WoMEN OF THE KaTIPUNAN Bonifacio wanted to involve the women in the Katipunan without putting it in danger of discovery. So he suggested that women be taken in as members of the Katipunan. To minimize the danger of exposing the Society to women who could not be relied upon, Bonifacio decided that only the wife, sister, daughter of a Katipunero, and a few selected women, could be eligible for membership. This anu Th compelled the women members to keep the secrets of the Katipunan. The Katip":nera’s duty, aside from helping the male members hetheir work of propagating the ideas and ideal of the Society, was to make the police authorities believe that no Katipunan meeting was being held ina house. The women engaged in dancing and singing in full view of the people on the street While the Katipunerar were doing this. the male members were holding a meeting in a room behind the salz, where the women were singing and dancing. in this way, the autherities were not able to detect the meetings of the Katipunan in places designated by Bonifacio. ‘Among the prominent women members of the Katipunan were | Josefa Rizal, president; Gregoria de Jesus, vice president; Marina Dizon, secretary; and Angelica Lopez Rizal, Rizal’s niece, as fiscal. Gregoria de Jesus, in particular, frequently risked her life by keeping Katipunan ‘documents in her person at a time when the Spanish authorities were watching the movements of the members.jacinto, and Valenzuela, To mislead the Spanish authorities, they put ee Yokohama as the place of publication and Marcelo H. Del Pilar as the editor. Jacinto's Pahayag (Manifesto) and Bonifait's roc Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupang (Love of Countr)) were published in the | tthe Kalayaan. They did not sign their true names for fear shat the Katipe 73m might be discovered | ‘ke they uic ot Bie the Spanish authorities to run after chem. Jacinto used the pen names Pingkian and Dimas-Ilaw; Bonifacio used Agapito Bagumbgyan; and Valenzuela used Madlang-Away. “he Bonifacio and Jacinto thought, the Kalayaan easily influenced many Filipinos to become members of the Society- In January 1896, the total inembershin did not exceed 300. But after the distribution of the Kalayaan in Pampanga, Tarlac, and in the Tagalog provinces, from Manila in the center to Nueva Ecija on the north, and Batangas on the south, the total seembership reached about 30,000. The Kalayaan had done its duty before jt was destroyed by Fernandez and Duque to prevent the Spanish authorities from confiscating it. The fiery pen, revolutionary spirit, and political will of the tai.dem Sonifacio-Jacinto in the newspaper proved effective in Unifying the people towards kalayaan (freedom and independence). Twin SOULS OF THE KATIPUNAN: Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Jacinto Bonifacio and Jacinto both believed that the time had come to change strotegy and tactics. The Katipunan with revolutionary aims, was a totally SEiferent society from the Liga which worked for radical reforms ust cccbitianary or peaceful means. The Katipunan aimed to make the Philippines a free country by force of arms. "7 Tes founder, Andres Bonifacio, was born on November 30, 1863 ima small nipa house on what is now Azcarraga Street near the t Manila Railroad ‘station. His parents, Santiago facio and, de C ° senger of J.M. Fleming and Co., an ; and later, as an agent of the German1 prea the dine on Mahevhes Capune on Apr Pilar shifted to the abes ot revobution pevebotion”Drutios a? the Sovet ot the Fe ta still erlewamt” Faptain cour ate woth the tone? oe