ANDRES

BONIFACIO

Biographical notes
Part II: 1892 – 1895

The Katipunan

Jan Andres Bonifacio and other patriots founded the

1892 Katipunan in July 1892, but it had been conceived
some months earlier.

Preserved in the military archives in Madrid is a set

of “Catipunan” statutes dated January 1892, drafted
under the headings “Casaysayan” (Narrative);
“Pinagcasundoan” (Covenant); and “Manga daquilang
cautosan” (Principal Orders). 1 It is not known who
wrote these documents.2

Plainly and unequivocally, the documents make a

declaration of independence: “from this day forward
these Islands are separated from [Spain] and …no
other leadership or authority shall be recognized or
acknowledged other than this Supreme Catipunan.”
Separation from Spain is proclaimed not just as a
goal, but as an action taken, attained by the very act
of its proclamation.

Nor is there any doubt about the extent of the territory over which the Catipunan is
to govern. It is to be the entire Archipelago, “which in time will be given a proper
name.”

No other Catipunan (or Katipunan) documents dated prior to July 1892 have yet been
found, and veterans did not mention the society’s existence prior to that date. The
documents drafted in January 1892 were nevertheless retained and revised by the
Katipunan’s founders, and in August 1892, rewritten by Bonifacio in the “K”
orthography, they formed the basis of the society’s foundational documents.

1
 Masonry

March The Gran Oriente Español, a recently formed Masonic institution in Spain, grants
1892 accreditation to Nilad Lodge, the first all-Filipino Masonic lodge in the Philippines.
This leads to a surge of Masonic organizational activity in Manila and the
surrounding provinces.

When joining a lodge, neophytes declare

their adherence to a “Programa” which
affirmed that “Masonry considers all
men are brothers, regardless of race,
nationality or social position. It believes
in freedom of conscience and thought as
an inherent right of all people.”3

In the absence of political parties and

clubs, the lodges provide a measure of
organizational focus for liberal,
Masonic certificate issued by Lusong lodge in July reformist and anti-friar activists.
1893. Inscribed on the scroll beneath the crest are
the great democratic watchwords of “Liberty,
Equality and Fraternity”.

c. May Bonifacio joins a Masonic “Triangulo” called Taliba in the district of Trozo.4 He takes
1892 the Masonic name “Sinukuan” in honor of the legendary giant of Mount Arayat in
Pampanga.

Triangulo Taliba was chartered as a lodge in

November 1892. Several Katipunan
members besides Bonifacio became
members, including José Dizon (who was
elected as Venerable Master of the Lodge),
Teodoro Plata, Valentin Diaz, José Trinidad,
José Turiano Santiago, José Reyes Tolentino,
Eustaquio Javier, and Alvaro Nepomuceno.5
Mount Arayat

The Liga Filipina

3 July Bonifacio attends the famous meeting in Doroteo Ongjungco’s house on Calle Ilaya in
1892 Tondo at which José Rizal launched (or perhaps relaunched) the Liga Filipina.6 Rizal
had returned to the Philippines from Hong Kong just a few days previously.

Most of those present are prominent members of the Masonic Triangles and Lodges
recently formed in Manila, including José Dizon of Taliba, the Triangle to which
Bonifacio belongs.

2
3 July Rizal is said to have told the meeting that the Liga Filipina, in
1892 accordance with the Estatuto he has written, will be “the means
by which industry and commerce will be developed, and the
people, once they had made themselves prosperous and united,
will achieve not only personal liberty but even national
independence.”7

But the Liga’s foremost task, in the words of the Estatuto, is to

“unite the whole Archipelago into a compact body, vigorous
and homogenous”.

6 July Rizal is arrested in Malacanang Palace whilst paying a visit to Governor General
1892 Despujol. He is taken directly to Fort Santiago.

7 July The Gaceta de Manila and the afternoon paper El Comercio publish a
1892 decree issued by Governor General Despujol accusing Rizal of being a
separatist and an enemy of Catholicism, and ordering his deportation
to the south. The decree does not mention the Liga Filipina. Although
Spanish intelligence agents had been watching Rizal since his arrival
in the Philippines, it seems they failed to find out about the Liga.

In the wake of Rizal’s deportation, however, nobody took his place at

the helm of the Liga Filipina, and it ceased to exist. It “died stillborn, “in his own
words. “After the first meeting, nothing more was said about it....”8

The Katipunan is born

Nearly all the evidence we have about the birth of the Katipunan comes from the
testimony of Katipuneros, given either under interrogation in 1896 or in brief
memoirs and interviews in later life. None of them mentions that the Katipunan had
already been conceived before July 1892, as manifested by the founding documents
dated January 1892 (see above). Given the absence of other evidence that the society
came into existence before July, it most likely did not. Its founding documents had
been drafted, but not yet finalized or put into effect.

The catalyst that brought the society to life, Katipuneros recalled, was Rizal’s arrest
and sentence of banishment. But exactly when did they say the Katipunan was
founded, and where, and who by? Their evidence is conflicting.

When?

Pio Valenzuela (the KKK’s fiscal in 1896) and Isabelo de los Reyes (who interviewed
several Katipunan leaders) both relate that the Katipunan marked the anniversary of
its foundation on July 7.9 That is also the date recalled by José Dizon (who stated
under interrogation that he was among the founders) and by Aguedo del Rosario (a
member of the Supreme Council in 1895-6).10 It was the day, Dizon recalled, that the
Governor General’s order deporting Rizal to the south was published in the Gaceta de
Manila.

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6-7 Founding member Ladislao Diwa and early recruit Teodoro Gonzales, on the other
July hand, said the society had been established a day earlier, on
1892 July 6, when the news spread that Rizal had been detained in
Fort Santiago.11 Initially, it seemed Diwa and Gonzales were in
a minority. Around the 1920s, however, this plaque was put
on the building where (others) said the Katipunan had been
born on “el 6 de julio de 1892,” and in 1930 a committee of
eleven KKK veterans issued a joint statement (about another matter) that attests to the
July 6 date.12

Today, the National Historical Commission endorses July 7 as the foundation date,
and a “July 7” marker is displayed to the right of the foundation site monument. The
old “July 6” plaque, however, has been kept, and it too is displayed, to the left of the
monument.

Where?

Katipunan veterans agreed the

society had been founded in an
apartment (accesoria) near the corner
of Azcarraga (now C.M. Recto) and
Elcano, where the monument now
stands. They differed, however, as to
the precise address.
64 Azcarraga
734 Elcano

6-7 Some said the address was 64 Azcarraga.13 Others, notably Ladislao Diwa, said it was
July a building known as Dalmacio’s at 734 Elcano, “the second door on the left hand side
1892 after turning [into Elcano] from Azcarraga.”14

Today, the National Historical Commission endorses the Azcarraga location, but the
site marker gives the street number as 72. This number was not recalled by KKK
veterans, but it was favored and ordained
by the historian Teodoro Agoncillo.15

Who?

The monument at the Azcarraga site depicts

six founders, named on the marker as
Andres Bonifacio, Teodoro Plata, Ladislao
Diwa, Deodato Arellano, Valentin Diaz and
José Dizon. These were the names given by
Dizon to his Spanish interrogators in 1896.16
The accesoria at 64 Azcarraga is said to have been Deodato Arellano’s residence at that
time.17

4
 Ladislao Diwa, however, said the Katipunan had only three
founders - – himself, Bonifacio and Plata. They decided to form the
society when they met at 734 Elcano on the evening of July 6, and
began to recruit members in the days that followed.18 Diwa was a
court clerk in the district of Quiapo. He is said to have first met
Bonifacio at the University of Santo Tomas, where he was a law
student and Bonifacio was distributing clandestine literature.19 Plata
was also a court clerk, in Binondo.20
Ladislao Diwa

To maintain the utmost

6-7 possible secrecy, Diwa
July recalled, they adopted a
1892
“triangle” method of
recruitment. They formed the
first triangle themselves, and
each undertook to form a new
triangle with two recruits,
who (in theory) might not
even know each other, and
would not know the members
of other triangles. Diwa
recalled that he formed his
own triangle with Roman
Basa (a clerk at the Spanish
naval headquarters) and
Teodoro Gonzales (a lawyer).
Bonifacio formed a triangle with his baptismal sponsor Vicente Molina (a concierge at
the government treasury) and his future wedding sponsor Restituto Javier (one of his
fellow employees at Fressel’s trading company); and Plata formed a triangle with
Valentin Diaz (a court clerk) and Briccio Pantas (also a court clerk).21

Aug The constitution of the Katipunan is revised under

1892 the headings “Kasaysayan; Pinag-kasundoan; Manga
dakuilang kautusan”. The document, which is written
using the “K” rather than the “C” used in the
January 1892 version, specifies that the
“Kataastaasang Katipunan” shall be directed by a
“Central Chief” and six Councilors (Kasanguni) who
shall together comprise the “great Council” (dakilang
Sangunian) – at this early stage the term Supreme
Council (Kataastaasang Sangunian) is not yet used.22

Many sections of the revised statutes are identical to

the January 1892 documents, but other sections are
substantially different – for example in specifying
the triangle pattern of organization.

5
Sept 2, This is one of the earliest Katipunan documents
1892 yet found: as Secretary (Kalihim) to the
Katipunan directorate, Bonifacio signs his alias
“Maypagasa” in code (“Vzypzgzsz”) at the
bottom of the page. Ladislao Diwa, as Fiscal
(Tagausig), signs his alias “Baliti”; and Teodoro
Plata, as a Representative (Kinatawan) signs his
alias “Pangligtas,” both also in code.

The design of the seal includes compasses and

other Masonic symbols, and within the triangle are the letters A. N. B., signifying
“Anak ng Bayan”. The same seal was used until 1896.

The document authorizes Restituto Javier (alias “Mangahas”) to establish Katipunan

triangles in Mindanao.23

c.Oct The Katipunan directorate, called the great Council (dakilang

1892 Sangunian) in the August 1892 founding documents, is reconstituted
as the Supreme Council (Kataastaasang Sangunian). Appointed as
president is Deodato Arellano, a respected patriot who was the
brother-in-law of the famous propagandist Marcelo H. del Pilar.
Andres Bonifacio is appointed as Auditor (Interventor), Teodoro
Plata as Secretary, Ladislao Diwa as Fiscal, and Valentin Diaz as
Treasurer.24 Deodato Arellano

Dec The Katipunan abandons its triangle structure as unworkable, and adopts Masonic-
1892 style rites that make it possible for several recruits to be initiated at a single
ceremony.25

1892 - Bonifacio later used the title “Founder“(“Maytayo”) of the Katipunan.26 Did he mean
1893 the sole founder? Perhaps not, but he probably did want to be acknowledged as the
principal founder, and there are no grounds for disputing that claim.27 From the
beginning, he was also the key figure in the Katipunan leadership. His “remarkable
audacity and energy,” wrote a Spanish officer who interrogated many Katipuneros,
“together with a bright intelligence, gave him a predominance over his companions”
(“desplegaba una audacia y una energía notables, que, unido á una clara inteligencia, hizo que
predominara sobre sus compañeros.”)28

Deodato Arellano was much less active. Although the Katipunan had been founded
(some said) in his apartment, Arellano had not been included in the first triangles
formed by Bonifacio, Diwa and Plata. When he was chosen to be the Katipunan
president, according to one source, he initially declined (“hindi muna tinangap”),
saying he had not yet decided even to join the society (“sa dahilang hindi pa
napagpapasiyahan sa sarili niya ang pag-anib bagaman napahalal siya na Pangulo…”)29 He
subsequently did accept the post, but then failed to attend meetings.30

Bonifacio thought Arellano was too timid, even cowardly, and instigated his removal
from the presidency and the Supreme Council.31 Arellano had nominally been the
6
 Katipunan’s president for just a few months, and after his removal he apparently left
the Katipunan.

Feb Roman Basa, a clerk in the Comandancia General de Marina, is elected to replace
1893 Deodato Arellano as president of the KKK Supreme Council.32

The post of Auditor previously held by Bonifacio was scrapped, and he instead
became the Fiscal (Tagausig), replacing Ladislao Diwa. The new Secretary (Kalihim)
was José Turiano Santiago (a bookkeeper by profession); the new Treasurer
(Tagaingat-yaman) was Vicente Molina; and five Councillors (Kasanguni) were
appointed - Teodoro Plata, Ladislao Diwa, Restituto Javier, Teodoro Gonzales and
Briccio Brigido Pantas.33

The resurrection of the Liga Filipina

April The Liga Filipina is re-established with Domingo Franco as president and Deodato
1893 Arellano as secretary-treasurer.34 Soon thereafter, Apolinario Mabini took the role of
secretary. Like the original Liga, it is a secret society. Its meetings and activities are
clandestine. Its existence was not discovered by the Spaniards until 1896, long after it
had been dissolved.

The Liga retains the statutes written by Rizal,

and in republishing them it provides a
Tagalog translation of the key sections
alongside the Spanish original.

It is interesting to note that the word

“catipunan” is used in the translation of the
Liga’s first objective. “To unite the whole
archipelago into a compact body, vigorous
and homogenous” is rendered in the Tagalog
as “Pisanin ang lahat ng A*** sa isang catipunang
malago, masicap at iisa ang loob.”35

To the original purposes of the Liga, says

Mabini, was added the collection of funds for the support of La Solidaridad (the bi-
monthly paper edited by Marcelo H. del Pilar in Madrid) and the propaganda
campaign in Spain.36

Mabini says the Liga was resurrected “on the initiative of Domingo Franco, Andres
Bonifacio and others,” and that Bonifacio was one of its most energetic organizers.
“[T]hanks to the efforts of Andres Bonifacio and others, popular councils in Tondo
and Trozo were soon organized. Later, others were formed in Santa Cruz, Ermita,
Malate, Sampaloc, Pandacan etc.”37

Bonifacio becomes president of the Liga Filipina council in the district of Trozo, which
is named “Mayon” after the famous, very active volcano in the province of Albay.
Other members of the council include Ladislao Diwa, Epifanio Saguil, Alvaro
Nepomuceno, José Reyes Tolentino, José Trinidad, Luis Villareal, and José Dizon.38
7
 Most of these men are also Bonifacio’s confrères in the Masonic lodge Taliba, which
according to the reconstituted Liga’s overall president, Domingo Franco, was the only
lodge in which a majority of the members belonged to the Liga. In every other lodge,
Franco reported to Marcelo H. del Pilar, the majority wanted to keep their distance
from the Liga because they thought it too advanced (“muy avanzada”).39

The alias Bonifacio takes within the Liga is “Sandakan,” the name of the town in
British North Borneo (now Sabah) near where Rizal had hoped to acquire land and
establish a Filipino settlement.40

4 Jul Bonifacio assists at the initiation of members into the “Talang Bakero” (Star of the
1893 Shepherds) council of the Liga Filipina, based in the district of Binondo.41

23 Jul Emilio Jacinto, later to become Bonifacio’s closest

1893 associate, figures for the first time under his
Katipunan alias “Pingkian” in the documentary
record, delivering a rousing speech at the age of
just seventeen:

“In the meantime, let us keep our spirits up with

these battle cries: Long live the Philippines! Long
live Liberty! Long live Dr. Rizal! Unity!”42

Twelve years older, Bonifacio had possibly known

Jacinto since the latter was an infant. Their
mothers worked in the same tobacco factory, and
Jacinto’s mother, Josefa Dizon, who also worked as a midwife, had helped in the
delivery and nursing of Bonifacio’s sister, Espiridiona.43

Josefa Dizon was the sister of José Dizon, the Venerable Master of Bonifacio’s Masonic
lodge and an early member of the Katipunan. When Josefa’s husband, Mariano
Jacinto, died whilst Emilio was still young, José Dizon more or less adopted the boy,
and enabled him to study at Letran and the University of Santo Tomas.

The end of the Liga Filipina

c.Sep The Supreme Council of the Liga Filipina orders the suspension of the Mayon council
1893 that Bonifacio heads, believing it is too militant. Bonifacio, however, defies the order
and continues to organize.44

But why, for a few months in 1893, did Bonifacio work in two organizations with
such disparate strategies? The Katipunan was pledged to gain freedom by armed
revolution; the Liga Filipina, on the other hand, though implicitly separatist, pursued
a gradualist, reformist and pacific road to freedom. Masangkay’s reference to the
need for unity perhaps indicates that Bonifacio, himself and other Katipuneros saw
the Liga in 1893 as a means to an end, as a way of reaching and mobilizing liberal and
progressive Filipinos who would be reluctant in the first instance to join an avowedly
revolutionary group, but who might be persuaded to do so if they could be convinced
that peaceful means had already failed. It seems, however, that Bonifacio and the
8
 other KKK activists within the Liga were impatient, and were more inclined to force
the pace than to spend long months, even years, in laborious discussion and debate.

Oct The Supreme Council of the Liga Filipina decides that the entire organization should
1893 be dissolved “so that the disagreements amongst its members should not lead to its
discovery by the authorities.” 45

Many of the more militant members, Mabini relates, had stopped contributing to the
support of La Solidaridad because they felt the Spanish government would never heed
its campaign for reforms. When the Liga’s Supreme Council investigated this
dissension amongst the membership, “it transpired that those commissioned to
organize the people’s councils had not required previous assent to the society’s
program as a condition for membership in the society; and that, on the contrary,
Andres Bonifacio, who had recruited more members for the society with his tireless
activity, was firmly convinced of the uselessness of peaceful means. The Supreme
Council, which was more of an organizing committee because its members had not
been elected by vote, saw clearly that, as soon as the rank and file elected their leaders
according to the by-laws, the program would be changed. The Council understood
for the first time that the masses, who the Spaniards believed to be brutish or at best
indifferent, were in the vanguard where political aspirations were concerned.”46

Guillermo Masangkay agrees there was a class dimension to the

tensions that killed the Liga: “Some of those who joined the Liga
Filipina,” Masangkay relates, “more particularly those who
belonged to the so-called intelligent class, either for fear or other
reasons, did not want to join the Katipunan. They considered us
[Katipuneros] mere plebeians, and they wanted to divide the
Liga Filipina into two classes, the “alta” and the “baja,” the high
and the low.” For this reason, Masangkay suggests, the
Katipuneros had already abandoned the Liga before it was
formally dissolved: “We, however, considering that any divided
movement would be fatal in our campaign for freedom, decided to sever our
connection with the Liga Filipina and devote all our efforts [to the Katipunan].”47

Gregoria de Jesus

1893 Bonifacio begins courting Gregoria de Jesus, the first cousin of his friend and fellow
KKK founder Teodoro Plata. (Plata’s mother, Juana de Jesus, was the sister of
Gregoria’s father).48

“When I was about eighteen years old,” Gregoria later recalled,

“young men began to visit our house, and among them was
Andres Bonifacio, who came in company with Ladislao Diwa and
my cousin Teodoro Plata, then a court clerk (escribano), but none
of them talked to me of love, since parents in those days were
extremely careful, and girls did not want people to know that
they already had admirers.”49

9
 “My father was Nicolas de Jesus, [a native of Caloocan], a master mason and
carpenter by occupation, and an office holder during the Spanish regime, having been
second lieutenant, chief lieutenant, and gobernadorcillo. My mother was Baltazara
Alvarez Francisco of the town of Noveleta in Cavite province, a niece of General
Mariano Alvarez of [the Magdiwang council of the KKK] in Cavite, the first to raise
the standard of revolt in that province.”

“I attended the public schools and finished the first grades of instruction, equivalent
to the intermediate grades of today....To enable two brothers of mine to continue their
studies in Manila, I decided to stop studying and to join my sister in looking after our
family interests. Often, I had to go out in the country to supervise the planting and
the harvesting of our rice, to see our tenants and laborers, or to pay them their wages
on Sundays.”

At first, Gregoria says, her parents were strongly opposed to Bonifacio’s courtship.
But there is no indication they thought he was poor or socially inferior, or that they
worried their daughter would find it difficult to adjust to a less comfortable way of
life. Her father’s objection, Gregoria recalls, was that Bonifacio was likely to get in
trouble with the authorities: “I learned that my father was against Bonifacio’s suit
because he was a freemason, and freemasons were then considered bad men, thanks
to the teachings of the friars.”50

Oct Bonifacio was living at this time at 11E Calle de Sagunto [now Santo Cristo],
1893 Binondo.51 E. Arsenio Manuel (who interviewed Espiridiona) indicates this was now
the family home, which presumably means Bonifacio had gone back to live with his
siblings again after he was widowed. At around this time, Manuel says, Espiridiona’s
husband Teodoro Plata was “living with the Bonifacios on Sagunto”.52 Other sources
say Ladislao Diwa and Aurelio Tolentino (another early KKK member) also boarded
at the Sagunto accesoria.53

Calle Sagunto and Calle Madrid

6 Oct Gregoria de Jesus writes to the gobernadorcillo of Binondo saying she wishes to marry
1893 her boyfriend (novio), “Andres Bonifacio, a man from Tondo, of 11E Calle Sagunto.
When my parents found out my good intentions I was brought here to a house on
Calle Madrid, No. 28D. I am truly a prisoner here. I have no liberty at all. I appeal to
your authority to mediate and give me justice. Take me from here, summon my
10
 boyfriend, and fulfil the necessary requirements of the Government so that we can get
married. I ask justice from you and hope that you listen because this appeal is
addressed to anyone of goodwill (magaang kalooban).” 54

The gobernadorcillo subsequently summoned Gregoria so that she could explain her
predicament to him in person, but before going to see him she fell sick and went back
to Caloocan. On January 8, 1894 she sent a second letter to the Binondo gobernadorcillo
saying she had now recovered and would like to be summoned again, but how or
when the matter was eventually resolved is not known. 55

c.1894 Re-organization of the Katipunan

Our knowledge about the Katipunan in its early years is limited, and at present there
is a gap in the documentary record from late 1892 to mid-1894. During that time, the
society added a third “K” to its name. Its August 1892 constitution, as we noted, used
the title “Kataastaasang Katipunan,” and its seal bore the letters “A.N.B.,” meaning
“Anak ng Bayan”. Now its name was lengthened to “Kataastaasang Kagalang-galang
na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan” (Highest and Most Respected Association of
the Sons of the People).56

Around the same time, the Katipunan adopted the basic structure it would retain
until the revolution – with branches (Balangay), grouped together, as soon as there
were sufficient members in the district or town, under the jurisdiction of popular
councils (Sangunian Bayan). The first four Sangunian Bayan to be formed, all based in
Manila, were Laong-Laan in Santa Cruz; Katagalugan in Tondo; Dapitan in Trozo;
and Ilog Pasig in Binondo.

Above the popular councils there were intended to be provincial-level councils called
Sanguniang Hukuman, but it seems these never materialized.

11
1894 Another change within the Katipunan was the creation of the grade of Patriot (Bayani)
above the two existing ranks of Companion (Akibat) and Soldier (Kawal).57 Bonifacio
himself produced the ritual for the elevation of a Kawal to the status of a Bayani.58

When conducting the ceremony, the Supreme President reflects on the martyrdom of
the priests José Burgos, Mariano Gomez and Jacinto Zamora in 1872 - a great wrong,
he says, that tore aside the veil that had covered the eyes of the Tagalogs. He then
describes the persecution that reformists and suspected filibusteros continued to
suffer, dwelling on the pain caused by separation – the separation of the patriots
sentenced to execution, imprisonment or deportation from their wives, children and
aged parents. His evocation of this distress, such as the pain of “the disconsolate
mother down whose cheeks flow the marks of her affliction,” prefigures a passage in
the famous essay “Ang dapat mabatid ng mga tagalog,” published in Kalayaan in 1896.

Marriage to Gregoria de Jesus

1894 In her memoir Mga tala ng aking buhay, Gregoria de Jesus says she married Bonifacio
in March 1893, but the letters quoted above show that this cannot be correct. Perhaps
the true date was March 1894.

“In deference to my parents,” she writes, “we were married in the Catholic church of
Binondo... with Restituto Javier and his wife as sponsors. But the week following, we
were married again in the house of our sponsor in what was then Calle Oroquieta
before the katipuneros at their request, since they gave no importance to the Catholic
ceremony. I remember that there was a little feast, attended, among others, by Pio
Valenzuela, José Turiano Santiago, Roman Basa, Marina Dizon, Josefa and Trining
Rizal, and nearly all the dignitaries of the Katipunan. That very night I was initiated
as a member of the Katipunan and assumed the symbolic name “Lakambini” in order
to obey and practice its sacred principles and rules.” 59

Restituto Javier, wedding sponsor, the Josefa Rizal, wedding Marina Dizon, wedding guest,
half-brother of José Turiano Santiago guest, sister of Jose Rizal daughter of José Dizon and cousin
of Emilio Jacinto
Dulumbayan

1894 After their two weddings, Gregoria de Jesus relates, the couple stayed for about a
week at Restituto Javier’s house on Calle Oroquieta. One source suggests that Emilio
Jacinto was also living there at the time, as was Javier’s half-brother, José Turiano
Santiago.60 Then, continues Gregoria, “we decided to look for a residence of our own
12
 and we found one on Calle Anyahan in front of the San Ignacio chapel.”61 She says
Emilio Jacinto came to live in their
house, and she does not mention
moving again until April 1896, when
their house was destroyed in a
massive fire. 62 Tomas Remigio, who
lived nearby, says explicitly that the
Bonifacios stayed in the Calle
Anyahan property until that time.63

Two regular visitors to the Bonifacios’

house, however, recalled that it was
situated on Calle Zurbaran. Pio
Valenzuela specified that it was on
“Zurbaran, near Oroquieta,”64 and Simeona Rodriguez, a member of the KKK
women’s section, remembered attending meetings “in the house of Bonifacio in
Zurbaran.”65 Given that Anyahan (today Felix Huertas) and Zurbaran (today V.
Fugoso) intersect, and since Oroquieta is just a block away, it seems likely that the
Anyahan and Zurbaran houses were one and the same, and that memories simply
differed as to the exact address.

Two other veterans, Valentin Diaz and Santiago Alvarez, locate the Bonifacios’ house
on what today is Rizal Avenue, of which part was then Cervantes and part was
Dulumbayan.66 Alvarez places the house on Calle Cervantes “in the San Ignacio area
of Bambang”. The house, he writes, “was of moderate size, with the floor not too
much raised from the ground; it had timber (tabla) walls and a roof thatched with
nipa.”67

c.1894 Whatever their precise address or addresses, the Bonifacios made their home from
1894 to April 1896 in the part of Santa Cruz known as Dulumbayan (literally “edge of
town”), a grid of streets whose main north-south thoroughfares were Cervantes and
Oroquieta.

At this time, the Katipunan was still small, its total membership perhaps not more
than 300, but Dulumbayan was a neighborhood where it was relatively strong and
well-organized. The KKK branch in Santa Cruz, called Laong Laan, was among the
first to be elevated (in 1894) to the status of a popular council (Sangunian Bayan (Sb.)),
and most of its officers lived in Dulumbayan. The branch president, Tomas Remigio,
later claimed that, due to his efforts, the Katipunan had won more recruits in
Dulumbayan than it had in Tondo, and he seems to have believed Bonifacio decided
to move to Dulumbayan for this very reason.68

13
 Discord within the Katipunan

c.mid- Tomas Remigio’s relationship with Bonifacio, sad to say, was very fractious, and not
1894 solely due to a clash of personalities. Throughout 1894 and 1895, it seems, the
Katipunan’s vitality was diminished, its growth curtailed, by some wider internal
discord. Unfortunately, we only have Remigio’s side of the story, as recounted in two
brief memoirs.69

In one crucial respect, Remigio’s narrative departs from the standard version of
events. Most histories of the Katipunan relate that the office of KKK Supreme
President passed in a straightforward progression from Deodato Arellano (October
1892 to February 1893) to Roman Basa (February 1893 to December 1894) and then to
Bonifacio (December 1894 to May 1897). Remigio, however, relates that at some point
(his chronology is hazy, but probably in mid-1894), Basa told him that “he was
currently the Supreme President and had replaced G. Andres, because, he said, of our
disagreements with the said gentleman.”70

If Remigio’s recollection is correct, Basa and Bonifacio must both have held the
position of Supreme President twice, and the order of succession becomes Arellano
(October 1892 to February 1893); Basa (February 1893 to circa December 1893);
Bonifacio (circa December 1893 to circa July 1894); Basa again (circa July 1894 to
December 1894); and finally Bonifacio again (December 1894 to May 1897). This
sequence cannot be corroborated from other sources, but it does seem plausible.

Other sources, in any event, do confirm that Basa as well as Remigio had serious
disagreements with Bonifacio between 1893 and 1895.71

The main source of acrimony was the management of the KKK’s funds. Remigio says
he angered Bonifacio by persistently questioning and investigating the finances of the
Katipunan. He was prompted to do so, he relates, because some people had noticed a
change for the better in Bonifacio’s lifestyle: “Dahil sa mga napupuna nilang mga kilos,
ayos at pamumuhay ni G. Andres, na anila’y nabago sa dati.”72

In an attempt to ease the friction, Supreme President Roman Basa

summoned Bonifacio, Remigio and several other KKK members to
a meeting at the house of Restituto Javier on Calle Oroquieta. This
was perhaps seen as “neutral territory,” because Javier was close to
both men – he was one of Remigio’s fellow officers in Sb. Laong
Laan, and as we noted he had been the sponsor at Bonifacio’s
wedding. Tomas Remigio

Remigio says that as soon as he raised the issue of the Katipunan’s finances, “Mr
Andres promptly reached under the round table at his side and got out a wooden
cigar box. He then said: ‘Here are the funds that they are always accusing me about.’
(He was really referring to me). When he took out the contents of the box, which he
said contained the funds of the Katipunan, I and everybody else could see that there
were just paper receipts and IOUs in the names of Mr. Andres Bonifacio and others.
Why did the funds of the Katipunan become merely loan receipts? ‘The majority of
14
 members,’ Bonifacio replied, ‘are poor, and because of their poverty they are always
borrowing money, at interest rates of an eighth, quarter or even half a peso a month,
so we decided that the funds of the Katipunan should be distributed or loaned to the
members at a rate of just saikolo (one sixteenth of a peso) per month.’”73

“After this statement of Mr. Andres,” Remigio continues, “I could not stop my
feelings being inflamed, [so]...I asked the members if the charging of interest was
considered honorable by the Katipunan. After some moments of silence, I added: ‘As
far as I am aware, the Katipunan was not founded in order to lend money at interest
or to foster bad conduct, especially among our brothers. The Katipunan was
established, so far as I understand, in order to deliver our country from slavery.’ Then
I asked another question: ‘If the brothers who have borrowed money do not repay
their debts, what will happen to the Association?’ That would not happen, some
replied, because the ones who owed money knew that it would be needed at the time
of revolution. I replied that I did not doubt the honor and integrity of the brothers
who borrowed money, but that I was asking if it was honorable for the KKK ng mga
AnB to become a money-lending institution. When I said this, the group of Mr.
Andres offered their own arguments in opposition to mine, but the discussion was
futile because the money had already been lent out.”74

Roman Basa, the Supreme President, shared Remigio’s concerns about Bonifacio’s
handling of the Katipunan’s funds. He too argued that “the money collected coming
as it did from the lifeblood or the members at so much sacrifice should be preserved
and kept intact as much as possible for the future objectives of the society.”75

There were other disagreements between Basa and Bonifacio. Basa “wanted to do
away with the tedious process of initiation” – not just the lengthy rituals for new
recruits, perhaps, but also the ceremonies that marked the elevation of members from
the first grade, Akibat, to the second, Kawal, and thence to the third grade, Bayani.
Bonifacio, though, resisted such changes. There was also friction between the two
men over Basa’s son, Lucio, who acted as a courier for the Katipunan but had not
formally joined the association. Bonifacio pressed Basa to consent to Lucio being
initiated, but Basa refused, saying his son was still too young.76

Late Pio Valenzuela later recalled what Emilio Jacinto told him had happened after the
1894 meeting at Javier’s house about the missing funds. Basa, it seems, basically agreed
with Remigio that the accounts were muddled, and that the loaning of the society’s
funds to members was imprudent. This led to a confrontation between Basa and
Bonifacio during which they “insulted one another mutually”.

Bonifacio then called a general meeting at which he denounced Roman Basa, accusing
him of having called the members of the society thieves (“ladrones”) and the
Katipunan a society of exploiters”77 “Thieves” was presumably the inference placed
upon Basa’s doubts that all the money loaned to members would be repaid, and
“society of exploiters” was the inference placed upon Basa’s criticism of the fact that
borrowers were charged interest on the sums they borrowed. Those who heard
Bonifacio’s speech at the general meeting, Valenzuela recounts, felt insulted by Basa’s
alleged remarks. 78

15
 Bonifacio also accused Basa of lacking
“character and initiative,” according to a
Spanish source, and of neglecting his duties
(“hindi inalumana ang tungkulin”) according to
Katipunan veteran Teodoro Gonzales.79

24-29 Perhaps recognizing that the tide of opinion

Dec was against him, Basa did not stand for re-
1894 election as Supreme President, and Bonifacio
was elected his successor in a three-way
contest with José Turiano Santiago and
Manuel Ureta. After the second stage of the
balloting process, José Turiano Santiago was
elected as secretary; Emilio Jacinto as fiscal;
and Vicente Molina (Bonifacio’s ninong) as
treasurer.80
Results of the first stage of the balloting
process, held on December 26, 1894, as
recorded by Bonifacio himself

Feb Bonifacio delivers a speech at the KKK’s commemoration of the death anniversary of
1895 the three priests Burgos, Gomez and Zamora, who were executed by garrotte in 1872
after being falsely convicted of complicity in the Cavite mutiny. He looks forward to
the day when the sun of Reason will blaze, and “those with debts will have to pay.”
[“May araw ring sisikat ang araw ng Katuiran, at magbabayad ang may mga utan.”]81

1895 Masonic troubles

The Filipino lodges in Manila had been watched and intermittently harassed ever
since their inception in 1892, but from 1894 onwards the persecution became more
intense, cowing many Masons into passivity. Most of the brethren, one lamented,
“suffer from a weak nervous system and are predisposed to become panicky at the
pop of a champagne cork.”82 Apolinario Mabini, writing to Marcelo H. del Pilar in
January 1895, said much the same thing: the Masons always inclined to prudence
rather than audacity. The police, he reported, had been ordered to raid Masonic
meetings, and the lodges had again suspended their work in order to avoid being
prosecuted for unlawful assembly.83

16
 Bonifacio observed the same nervousness even within the relatively “activist“ lodge
to which he belonged, Taliba, whose Venerable Master was his fellow Katipunero
José Dizon. In 1893, as noted above, Taliba had been the only lodge in which a
majority of the members also belonged to the Liga Filipina. A
minority, perhaps about a third of the lodge’s thirty or so
members, belonged to the Katipunan. But by 1895 many of
the others had become scared. Alarmed by rumors that the
lodge “was being identified with seditious elements, [they]
convoked a junta blanca, or informal session, to [refute such
allegations] and take a stand against any separatist or
revolutionary movement.” In the middle of the discussion,
which was [as usual] in Spanish, Bonifacio is said to have
sprung up and roared in Tagalog: “Iyan ba lang ang pag-
uusapan natin? At kakasti-kastila pa kayo!” (Is that all we’re
going to talk about? And in Spanish yet!), and he clapped on
his hat and walked out” in disgust.84
José Dizon

In a sense, the Masonic lodges were not political organizations. Their program
“strictly prohibited... any discussion regarding the behavior and purposes of any
political party, which may alter the fraternity existing between men united by a
common bond.”85 Neither the secrets nor the obligations of Masonry, the program
stressed to members, were “in the least contrary to...the laws of your
Government....”86

Nevertheless, the Filipino Masons of the 1890s, not just militants like Bonifacio, must
have believed that the Masonic watchwords of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity were
fundamentally incompatible with Spanish colonial rule. Debates between lodge
members must have echoed the debates within the Liga Filipina, and indeed the
protagonists must sometimes have been the same people. Independence would have
been an aspiration shared by nearly all, but opinion would be deeply divided as to
how and when independence was to be achieved. Given that most Masons
considered the reformist Liga Filipina to be “too progressive,” it follows that an even
greater proportion would have wanted nothing to do with an overtly separatist,
revolutionary organization such as the Katipunan. Most, in all probability, were not
aware until 1896 that the secret society existed, because the Katipuneros, knowing
their cautious, gradualist views, would never have tried to recruit them.

Exasperated by the timidity and “prudence” of his Masonic brothers, Bonifacio seems
to have decided in the months before the revolution that attending Taliba lodge was
no longer time well spent. Others, including the Venerable Master, José Dizon,
reached the same conclusion. With the militants gone, and the non-militants fearful,
the lodge more or less dissolved. By the middle of 1896, if not earlier, it was being
whispered that Taliba had become inactive (“no se hacia nada”) because José Dizon
and Andres Bonifacio were devoting more time to the Katipunan.87

Expedition to the hills

10-11 Bonifacio leads a group of Katipuneros from Manila to the Pamitinan caves, about 18
17
Apr miles north-east of Manila in the foothills of the Sierra Madre. The group is said to
1895 have included Emilio Jacinto, Aurelio Tolentino, Restituto Javier, and Guillermo
Masangkay. The purpose of the expedition, says Teodoro M. Kalaw, was to
reconnoiter the mountains above San Mateo and Montalban “in order... to mature
the... plans for the uprising.” 88 The massive network of caves and underground
passages at Pamitinan had by this time become a destination for adventurous
excursionists from Manila, including westerners such as Robert MacMicking, Jean
Mallat and Joseph Stevens.89 But it was also a place filled with legends. “The indios in
the countryside,” writes Rizal in El Filibusterimo, “keep alive the legend that their
king, imprisoned and chained in the cave of San Mateo, will one day return to free
them from oppression. Every hundred years he breaks one of his chains, so that now
he already has his hands and his left foot loose, and only his left foot is still bound.
This king causes the earthquakes when he struggles or stirs himself.... For some
reason the indios call him King Bernardo, confusing him perhaps with Bernardo del
Carpio.” As we noted, this legend was one of Bonifacio’s own favorites, and he
would certainly have known that Pamitinan was one (amongst others) of the caves
where King Bernardo was reputedly kept in chains.90 How much importance
Bonifacio attached to this connection when he visited the caves in 1895 can only be a
matter of speculation.

Aurelio Tolentino subsequently wrote

a brief account of the expedition,
recalling that the Katipuneros had
inscribed “Viva la Independencia
Filipina!” on the cave walls (though in
reality the message was presumably in
Tagalog, and did not use the word
‘Filipina’.) Intrigued by Tolentino’s
account, Kalaw himself went to the
caves in 1931, accompanied by a
number of KKK veterans (including
Guillermo Masangkay) and local
guides. “We carried oil lamps which we held close to the walls to read the various
inscriptions there,” he relates. “There were places where the passageway was so
small and the roof so low that we had to crawl on our hands and knees to go ahead....
After half an hour or more of walking [we saw an inscription written by Katipunan
troops in 1897]. On the cave walls we also found the names of other visitors who had
preceded us,” going as far back as 1800. We crossed several small lakes filled with
pieces of charcoal. [Then our guide found a signature, and then we saw others ...] On
the left was the signature of Aurelio Tolentino, with the date [Wednesday] April 10,
1895. On the right were those of Emilio Jacinto, Andres Bonifacio, Faustino Mañalak,
Francisco del Castillo, Valeriano Dalida, Pedro Zabala, Guillermo Masangkay and the
date, [Thursday] April 11, 1895.”91

c. Nov Bonifacio’s wife is expecting their first child, and Andres takes her back to her family
1895 home at 13 Calle Baltazar (now Zamora), Caloocan.92

18
c. Nov Continuing discord
1895
By November 1895 Bonifacio and Jacinto had respectively been supreme president
and supreme fiscal of the Katipunan for almost a year. The society, they were keenly
aware, had not made great advances since its foundation in 1892. Its active
membership could at best be counted at around 300, and it had not yet expanded
beyond Manila and a handful of nearby towns. Some of its local sections were barely
functioning, and others were fractious.

Among the most troublesome sections, from Bonifacio’s perspective, was Laong Laan,
the Sangunian Bayan in Santa Cruz headed by Tomas Remigio. In 1894, as noted
above, Remigio had criticized Bonifacio for lending out money from the KKK’s
coffers to individual members. In 1895 there were further tensions. One fresh source
of conflict was Bonifacio’s insistence that all KKK members should provide the
association with a photograph of themselves. Bonifacio perhaps thought this would
be a way of testing and confirming each member’s loyalty and commitment to the
association, but Remigio and others had serious misgivings about the idea, and feared
(rightly) that the pictures would sooner or later fall into the hands of the Spanish
secretas. Remigio recalls that he went to talk to Roman Basa about the issue, and Basa
told him forthrightly that he was “not crazy enough to do the bidding of Mr Andres
and his associates, especially now that they were angry” (“hindi siya ulol na
ipagkakatiwala kina G. Andres, lalo na’t ngayong sila’y nagkakagalit na”).93

So angry, Remigio says, that Bonifacio and his associates sentenced him to death.
They had condemned him as a traitor (“taksil”), Remigio got to hear, at a secret
meeting held in Sulukan, a barrio close to Dulumbayan, and had agreed he should be
killed by poison or by “any means necessary, at any place, day or hour.”94

A meeting was held to try to effect a reconciliation. One evening, Remigio relates, his
uncle Isaias Toribio invited him, Bonifacio and Pio Valenzuela for a frank discussion
behind locked doors. Toribio said he had heard about the death sentence passed on
Remigio directly from “one of the agents of the Secret Chamber” (by whom he seems
to have meant Guillermo Masangkay). Bonifacio and Valenzuela both emphatically
denied that there was any truth to the story, but Remigio was not reassured. “Mr.
Andres,” he said, “as soon as I get home today I shall write a note which will read as
follows: ‘If at some time I should come to a bad end, my assassin is Mr. Andres
Bonifacio,’ I shall make two copies of this note, one of which I shall entrust to the care
of my family and the other I shall always keep on my person...”95

“After I said these words,” Remigio continues, “we spoke for a little while longer, and
since my uncle Isaias was eager to put an end to our differences [the meeting] ended
up most amicably.96

But as usual the amity was short-lived, and the disputes were still frequent
(“malimit”), according to Remigio. Bonifacio, he felt, was behaving like a dictator,
always imposing his own will (“dahil din sa ugali ni G. Andres na maghari at sundin ang
lahat niyang maibig”.)97

Remigio says three other critics of Bonifacio were also sentenced the death – Roman
19
 Basa (the former supreme president), Teodoro Gonzales (a former Supreme Council
member) and Isaias Toribio (Remigio’s uncle, who had never joined the Katipunan,
but who somehow was acquainted with its affairs). Toribio’s death sentence is also
mentioned in another, more contemporary source, the declaration made by Antonio
Salazar under Spanish interrogation in 1896.98 None of the death sentences was
carried out.

30 Nov Inevitably, these internal divisions continued to sap the Katipunan’s energy and
to Dec inhibit its growth. Determined to invigorate the association, and to root out the
1, 1895 malcontents, the miscreants and the timid, Bonifacio and Jacinto summoned the
KKK’s leading activists to meet in Caloocan on the morning of Saturday, November
30, 1895. The matters to be discussed, they said, would affect every council and
branch.99 They warned the delegates beforehand that the meeting might last the
whole day, but in the event it continued right through the night as well, not
dispersing until eight o’clock on the Sunday morning. It was held some distance
from the población in a house surrounded by rice fields, and was attended by about
35-40 people.100
In total, the assembly in Caloocan decided that 46 individuals
should be “separated” or “distanced” from the society – the terms
“itiwalag” and “ilayu” seem to be used interchangeably in the
minutes – and many others, it is clear, will also be cast out unless
they show more commitment. Aside from the numbers involved
– perhaps a sixth of the active membership – it is striking how
many of the expellees had at one time or another had belonged to
the society’s inner core. They included Bonifacio’s predecessor as
supreme president, Roman Basa; the existing supreme secretary,
José Turiano Santiago; and five others thought to have been
sometime members of the Supreme Council – Teodoro Gonzales,
Restituto Javier, Faustino Manalac, Tomas Remigio and Teodoro
Vedua.101

Of the 46 named expellees, 15 belonged to the Santa Cruz-based council Laong Laan
(11 of whom were branded as “traitors”) and 11 to the Binondo-based council Ilog
Pasig (including 7 “traitors”). No representative from either of these councils seems to
have been present at the Caloocan assembly. The Ilog Pasig council was reduced in
status to a branch. Laong Laan, according to Tomas Remigio, was dissolved by its
own leaders, who then formed a new organization called Binhing Payapa (Seed of
Peace), which was also committed to fighting for national independence.102

In the course of the proceedings, the gathering in Caloocan was formalized as the first
meeting of the Supreme Assembly (Kataastaasang Kapisanan), which henceforth
became the society’s paramount decision-making body. Theoretically, it comprised
the members of the Supreme Council, the presidents of the popular councils
(Sangunian Bayan) and the presidents of branches (Balangay) not affiliated to popular
councils, but in practice the presidents were often accompanied by one or two other
leading activists from their sections.103

The Supreme Assembly agreed that the grade of Patriot (Bayani - which had only been
created in the previous year) should be abolished, and that henceforth there should
20
 again be just two grades – Companion (Akibat) and Soldier (Kawal). The Assembly
also approved the establishment of a three-member Secret Council (Sanguniang Lihim)
to defend the Katipunan against whoever sought to disrupt or wreck the association,
both from within and without. 104

Dec The Bonifacios’ child, Andres Jr, is born in Caloocan. He is baptized on Christmas
1895 Eve, with Pio Valenzuela acting as godfather.105

24-25 Bonifacio presides over the second meeting of the KKK Supreme Assembly, held in
Dec his house in Dulumbayan. The discussion dwells again on issues of internal
1895 discipline; on plans to reinvigorate sections that had become inactive; and on how to
put the Katipunan’s finances on a firmer footing.

The Supreme Assembly, Bonifacio confirms, would henceforth be the body that
elected the members of the Supreme Council, and since the members elected under
the old arrangements in December 1894 had now completed
their one-year terms, the elections are duly conducted.

Bonifacio is re-elected as president; Emilio Jacinto (law student)

is elected as secretary; Pio Valenzuela (physician) as fiscal;
Vicente Molina (concierge) as treasurer; and Aguedo del Rosario
(bookbinder), Balbino Florentino (student), Pantaleon Torres
(clerk at the Government treasury), Hermenegildo Reyes
(commercial company employee), Francisco Carreon (hat store
employee) and José Trinidad (clerk) as councilors. 106
Pio Valenzuela

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

PICTURE SOURCES

Andres Bonifacio – Archivo General de Indias, Sevilla

“Casaysayan” document – Archivo General Militar de Madrid
Masonic certificate – Archivo de Padres Agustinos de Filipinas, Valladolid
Mount Arayat – Rommel Diaz Photography/Trekearth.com (web)
Estatuto de la Liga Filipina – Archivo General Militar de Madrid
Gaceta de Manila - Biblioteca Virtual de Defensa
Bronze memorial plaque – Traveler on Foot
64 Azcarraga – Manuel Artigas y Cuerva
734 Elcano – Philippines Free Press
Katipunan founders monument – Carinoza
Ladislao Diwa – Filipinas Heritage Library
Katipunan triangles – Graphic
“Kasaysayan” document – Archivo General Militar de Madrid
Document dated September 2, 1892 – Leon Gallery
Deodato Arellano – National Historical Commission of the Philippines
Estatuto de la Liga Filipina – Cultura Filipina
Emilio Jacinto (artist’s impression) – Flickr.com (web)

21
 Guillermo Masangkay – Soledad Borromeo-Buehler
Gregoria de Jesus – Bahay Nakpil-Bautista
Manila map detail – University of Texas (web)
Binondo street scene – Unknown (web)
Restituto Javier – Pinoy History (web)
Josefa Rizal – Unknown (web)
Marina Dizon – Philippines Free Press
Manila map detail – University of Texas (web)
Coins - imperio.numismatico.com (web)
Tomas Remigio – National Historical Commission of the Philippines
“K.K.K.Ll.V.Z.Ll.B.” document - Archivo General Militar de Madrid
“Ang araw ng Katuiran” document - Archivo General Militar de Madrid
José Dizon – Teodoro A. Agoncillo, Revolt of the Masses
Pamitinan cave – Unknown (web)
José Turiano Santiago – Philippines Free Press
Pio Valenzuela – Philippine National Library

Responsibility for errors in these notes is not entirely mine. Many of the errors are embedded in the
sources, which indubitably contain lapses of memory both innocent and deliberate. On some issues
the evidence is conflicting. As always, comments and corrections are welcome, either beneath this
post or to [email protected]

Many of the illustrations have been taken from the web, where many images get posted without
proper attribution. If credit is given below to “secondary sources” rather than the rightful owners I
apologize, and can either amend the acknowledgment or delete the image from the post.

Jim Richardson
Revised March 2021

NOTES

1 “Casaysayan; Pinagcasundoan; Manga daquilang cautosan,” January 1892 [Archivo General Militar de Madrid
(hereafter AGMM): Caja 5677, leg.1.37].
2 The strikingly unusual orthography of these documents – especially the frequent use of the letter “j” in place of

“h” - is discussed at length by Ramon Guillermo, “’Ang manga Ualang Auang Jalimao’: The first Katipunan
document and the mysterious letter ‘J’” in Philippine Studies, 63:3 (August 2015), 393-418, and by two responses to
Guillermo’s article in the same issue – Ricardo Ma. Duran Nolasco, “The Continuing Saga of the Mysterious
Letter ‘J’ in the First Katipunan Document” (419-21).; and Francis A. Gealogo, “Ladislao Diwa, Historiography
and the Curious Letter ‘J” (422-5). The discussants consider the possibility that the orthography reflects
Chabacano influences, and that Ladislao Diwa might have penned the documents, but they reach no definite
conclusion.
3 Quoted in Reynold S. Fajardo, The Brethren: Masons in the Struggle for Philippine Independence (Manila: Enrique L.

Locsin and the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, 1998), 104.
4 Fajardo, The Brethren, 97; Susana Cuartero Escobes, La masonería española en Filipinas, Tomo 1 (Santa Cruz de

Tenerife : Ediciones Idea, 2006), 140-3.

5 Fajardo, The Brethren, 114; 145; 184.
6 Before he arrived in the Philippines from Hong Kong in late June 1892, Rizal was under the impression that the

Liga Filipina was already functioning. One of his purposes in returning to Manila, he wrote to Marcelo H. del
Pilar on May 23, was “to strengthen (fortalecer) the Liga”. Teodoro M. Kalaw (comp.), Epistolario Rizalino, Tomo III
(Manila: Bureau of Printing, 1931), 338.

22
7 “Interrogation of the suspect José Rizal Mercado y Alonso,” November 20, 1896, in The Trial of Rizal, edited and
translated with notes by Horacio de la Costa (Manila: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1961), 83-4.
8 José Rizal, “Additions to my Defense,” December 26, 1896 in The Trial of Rizal, as cited, 133.
9 Pio Valenzuela, Declaration dated October 21, 1896 in Wenceslao E. Retana (comp.), Archivo del bibliófilo filipino,

vol.III (Madrid: Imprenta de la Viuda de M. Minuesa de los Rios, 1897), 305; Isabelo de los Reyes, La sensacional
memoria de Isabelo de los Reyes sobre la revolución filipina de 1896−97 (Madrid: Tip. Lit. de J. Corrales, 1899), 77.
10 José Dizon, Declaration dated September 23, 1896, in Retana, Archivo del bibliófilo filipino, vol. III, 204; Aguedo

del Rosario, “The Katipunan of 1896” [1908], reproduced as Appendix C to The Minutes of the Katipunan (Manila:
National Heroes Commission, 1964), 113.
11 Fernando Hernandez, “El último superviviente del primer Katipunan,” Philippines Free Press, September 7,

1929, 62–63 (quoting a piece written by Ladislao Diwa in 1928); José P. Santos, “Rectificaciones historicas,”
Philippines Free Press, November 29, 1929; Gregorio F. Zaide, “More Light on the Katipunan,” Graphic, November
25, 1931. Zaide cites (i) an article written by Ladislao Diwa in La Opinion, December 24, 1926; and (ii) a letter
dated December 4, 1924 that Teodoro Gonzales wrote to Teodoro M. Kalaw. In his History of the Katipunan
(Manila: Loyal Press, 1939), Zaide also cites “Teodoro Gonzales’ Katipunan notes given to the author.” It is not
known whether these sources have survived.
12 Teodoro M. Kalaw, The Philippine Revolution [1925] (Mandaluyong: Jorge B. Vargas Filipiniana Foundation,

1969), 24-5; Comité de Antiguos Miembros del K.K.K.Ll.V.Z.Ll.B., Statement dated July 27, 1930, in Soledad
Borromeo-Buehler, The Cry of Balintawak: A contrived controversy (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University
Press, 1998), 24–5.
13 Manuel Artigas y Cuerva, “El fundador del Katipunan,” Renacimiento Filipino, December 7, 1910; Hermenegildo

Cruz, Kartilyang Makabayan: mga tanong at sagot ukol kay Andrés Bonifacio at sa KKK (Manila: n.pub., 1922), 14.
14 Hernandez, “El último superviviente,” as cited (quoting a piece written by Ladislao Diwa in 1928); Gregorio F.

Zaide, “More light,” as cited.

15 Teodoro A. Agoncillo, The Revolt of the Masses: The story of Bonifacio and the Katipunan (Quezon City: University

of the Philippines, 1956), 43.

16 Dizon, Declaration dated September 23, 1896, as cited.
17 Artigas y Cuerva, “El fundador del Katipunan,”as cited; Cruz, Kartilyang Makabayan, 14.
18 Zaide, “More light,” as cited; Hernandez, “El último superviviente,”as cited. According to other veterans,

recruitment did not begin until a month or so after the July foundation date. Comité de Antiguos Miembros del
K.K.K.Ll.V.Z.Ll.B., Statement dated July 27, 1930, as cited.
19 E. Arsenio Manuel, Dictionary of Philippine Biography, vol.1 (Quezon City: Filipiniana Publications, 1955), 155.
20 Ibid., 352.
21 Zaide, “More light,” as cited; Hernandez, “El último superviviente,” as cited. Hernandez’s article on Diwa also

shows a diagram of the first triangles, but in place of Vicente Molina it names Ciriaco Bonifacio as a member of
his elder brother’s triangle.
22 “Kasaysayan; Pinag-kasundoan; Manga dakuilang kautusan,”August 1892 [AGMM: Caja 5677, leg.1.34]. This

“Kasaysayan” document and the draft “Casaysayan” of January 1892 are the only versions of the Katipunan
constitution yet found. The historian Gregorio F. Zaide refers to Katipunan constitutions dated June 19, 1892 and
January 4, 1894, but those two are not authentic – they come from the bogus “Minutes of the Katipunan”.
Gregorio F. Zaide, Documentary History of the Katipunan Discovery, second edition (Manila: Good Shepherd Press,
1932), 2; Gregorio F. Zaide, History of the Katipunan (Manila: Loyal Press, 1939), 3; and Minutes of the Katipunan
(Manila: National Heroes Commission, 1964), 4-8; 27-34.
23 Center (Ubod), Appointment dated September 2, 1892, in Adrian E. Cristobal, Tragedy of the Revolution (Makati

City: Studio 5 Publishing Inc., 1997), 26.

24 The listing of the first Supreme Council’s members and positions is as recalled by Ladislao Diwa and Teodoro

Gonzales. Diwa recalled the Council was constituted in October 1892, whereas Gonzales remembered it was two
months earlier, in August. Diwa’s recollection is more likely to be correct, because Bonifacio signed the
September 2, 1892 document (see previous note) as Secretary, not as Interventor. Sofronio G. Calderon, “Mga
nangyari sa kasaysayan ng Pilipinas ayon sa Pagsasaliksik” vol.II (Maynila, 1925) Typescript, 83-4; Jose P. Santos,
“Mga ulat ukol sa pagkakatatag ng Katipunan” (typescript, n.d., Guillermo Masangkay papers), cited in
Borromeo-Buehler, The Cry of Balintawak, 195.
25 Zaide, History of the Katipunan, 4.
26 Andres Bonifacio, “Notice of appointment, April 15, 1897,” in Agoncillo, Revolt of the Masses, 187.
27 Epifanio de los Santos, “Marcelo H. del Pilar (Plaridel),” Philippine Review, V:8 (August 1920), 528; Agoncillo,

Revolt of the Masses, 47, 71, 75, 321, 329.

23
28 Olegario Diaz, Guardia Civil Veterana, Report dated 28 October 1896, in Wenceslao E. Retana, Archivo del
bibliófilo filipino, vol. III (Madrid: Imprenta de la viuda de M. Minuesa de los Rios, 1897), 433.
29 Calderon, “Mga nangyari sa kasaysayan,”as cited, 20.
30 Pio Valenzuela, Declaration dated October 21, 1896, as cited, 377.
31 Ibid.; Calderon, “Mga nangyari sa kasaysayan,”as cited, 20.
32 The date of February 1893 is given in José P. Santos, Si Bonifacio at ang himagsikan (Manila: n.pub, 1935), 14

(quoting Ladislao Diwa); and Santos, “Mga ulat,” as cited, 195 (where the source seems to have been Teodoro
Gonzales, who was a member of the Supreme Council during Basa’s term as president.) See also Zaide, History of
the Katipunan, 4, citing a letter from Gonzales to Teodoro M. Kalaw dated November 29, 1924. According to Capt.
Olegario Diaz, who interrogated Katipunan prisoners in 1896, Basa replaced Arellano in January 1893 – Diaz,
Report dated 28 October 1896, as cited, 433.
33 The listing of the second Supreme Council’s members and positions is as recalled by Ladislao Diwa and

Teodoro Gonzales. Calderon, “Mga nangyari sa kasaysayan,”as cited, 83-4; Santos, “Mga ulat ukol sa
pagkakatatag ng Katipunan,” as cited, 195.
34 Domingo Franco, Declaration dated September 29, 1896, in Retana, Archivo del bibliófilo filipino, vol. III, 308.
35 Proceso del Dr. José Rizal Mercado y Alonso (Manila: Cultura Filipina, 1913), Appendix A, 9.
36 Apolinario Mabini, La Revolución Filipina (con otros documentos de la época), vol.II (Manila: Bureau of Printing,

1931), 297.
37 Ibid.
38 José Dizon, Declaration dated September 23, 1896, in Retana, Archivo, vol. III, 286; and Domingo Franco,

Declaration dated September 29, 1896 in ibid., 308.

39 Felipe Leal [Domingo Franco], Letter to Marcelo H. del Pilar, July 24, 1893, cited in Teodoro M. Kalaw, La

masonería filipina: su origen, desarrollo y vicisitudes hasta la época presente (Manila: Bureau of Printing, 1920), f.p.126-
7.
40 Juzgado de instrucción de la Capitania General de Filipinas, “Relación nominal de las personas que esteban

afiliados a la “Liga Filipina” con expresión de sus simbolicos y demas antecedents” [AGMM: Caja 5393, leg.9.9].
41 Talang Bakero, Record of meeting held on July 4, 1893 [AGMM: Caja 5393, leg. sn].
42 The Trial of Rizal, 93-4.
43 E. Arsenio Manuel, “New Data on Andres Bonifacio: Manila’s Foremost Hero,” Paper read at the First Andres

Bonifacio and Parian Lectures, November 28, 1989, 10.

44 Domingo Franco, Declaration dated September 29, 1896, as cited, 309.
45 Mabini, La Revolución Filipina, 298.
46 Ibid.
47 Guillermo Masangkay, Statement made at a luncheon at the Manila Hotel, January 29, 1943 [Masangkay Papers

(on microfilm), University of the Philippines, Diliman].

48 Manuel, Dictionary of Philippine Biography, vol.1, 351.
49 Gregoria de Jesus, “Autobiography,” [1927] translated by Leandro H. Fernandez, Philippine Magazine, 27:1 (June

1930), 16.
50 Ibid., 17.
51 Gregoria de Jesus, Letter to the gobernadorcillo of Binondo, October 6, 1893, quoted in Ambeth R. Ocampo,

Bones of Contention: The Bonifacio Lectures (Manila: Anvil, 2001), 87.

52 Manuel, Dictionary of Philippine Biography, vol.1, 352.
53 A. B. German, “Ladislao Diwa: The ‘Unknown’ Angle in the KKK Triangle,” Sunday Times Magazine, June 27,

1965; Ocampo, Bones of Contention, 82; E. Arsenio Manuel, Dictionary of Philippine Biography, vol.II (Filipiniana
Publications, 1970), 372.
54 Ocampo, Bones of Contention, 86-7.
55 Ibid.
56 One memoirist, however, recalls the first “K.” as signifying not “Kataastaasan” but “Kamahal-mahala’t,” and a

KKK document in the Spanish archives suggests the second “K.” might at some time have been taken to mean
“Kamahal-mahalang” rather than “Kagalang-galang.”Artemio Ricarte, Himagsikan nang manga Pilipino laban sa
Kastila (Yokohama: “Karihan Café,” 1927), 1; “Panuntunan,” n.d. (Archivo General Militar de Madrid, Caja 5677,
leg.1.38).
57 Supreme Council, Record of meeting held on December 24-25, 1894 [AGMM: Caja 5393, leg.4.15]. Isabelo de los

Reyes and many later commentators say the first grade was called Katipon rather than Akibat, but although the
word Katipon is found in some KKK documents, it seems to be a general term used to refer to members of all
grades. Isabelo de los Reyes, La sensacional memoria de Isabelo de los Reyes sobre la revolución Filipina de 1896-97

24
(Madrid: Tip. Lit. de J. Corrales, 1899), 71; Artigas y Cuerva, Andres Bonifacio y El ‘Katipunan’, 30–1; and Agoncillo,
Revolt of the Masses, 50–1.
58 Andres Bonifacio (attrib.), Ritual for the initiation of a Bayani, c.1894 [AGMM: Caja 5677, leg.1.40].
59 De Jesus, “Autobiography,” 17.
60 Diosdado G. Capino, Stories of Andres Bonifacio: His Life, Character and Teachings (Quezon City, Manlapaz

Publishing Co., 1967), 78.

61 De Jesus, “Autobiography,” 17.
62 Ibid.
63 “Tomas A. Remigio on the Katipunan, Andres Bonifacio, and the ‘Cry,’” in Soledad Borromeo-Buehler, The Cry

of Balintawak, 165-7. According to Remigio, the Anyahan house belonged to Numeriano Zamora, about whom no
details are known.
64 PioValenzuela, “Memoirs,” in Minutes of the Katipunan (Manila: National Heroes Commission, 1964), 104.
65 Capino, Stories of Andres Bonifacio, 59.
66 Valentin Diaz, Declaration dated September 23, 1896, in Retana, Archivo del bibliófilo filipino, vol. III, 298.
67 Santiago V. Alvarez, The Katipunan and the Revolution: Memoirs of a General [1927]. Translated by Paula Carolina

S. Malay (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1992), 5. Emilio Aguinaldo recalls being initiated into
the Katipunan in “Bonifacio’s house on Calle Clavel, in Binondo”. That is not corroborated by any other source,
but Clavel was where Bonifacio’s sister Espiridiona lived. Emilio Aguinaldo, Mga gunita ng himagsikan [1928-46]
(Manila: Cristina Aguinaldo Suntay, 1964), 31.
68 “Tomas Remigio on the Katipunan,” as cited, 166-7.
69 Ibid., 164-79; and [Tomas Remigio,] “Kasaysayan ni Tomas Alup Remigio y Basilio,” n.d. [Masangkay Papers,

UP Diliman].
70 “Tomas Remigio on the Katipunan, “as cited, 167; 171.
71 Manuel, “Roman Basa,” in Dictionary of Philippine Biography, vol.1, 93; Pio Valenzuela, Declaration dated

October 21, 1896, as cited, 378.

72 “Tomas Remigio on the Katipunan, “as cited, 164.
73 Ibid., 168-9.
74 Ibid., 170-1.
75 Manuel, “Roman Basa,” in Dictionary of Philippine Biography, vol.1, 93.
76 Ibid. Manuel’s biographical entry on Basa is based partly on an interview with his son Lucio.
77 Pio Valenzuela, Declaration dated October 21, 1896, as cited, 378.
78 Ibid.
79 Diaz, Report dated 28 October 1896, as cited, 433; Calderon, “Mga nangyari sa kasaysayan,”as cited, 84.
80 Supreme Council, Record of meeting held on December 26, 1894 [AGMM: Caja 5393, leg.4.15].
81 Andres Bonifacio, Fragment of a speech, c. February 1895 [AGMM: Caja 5677, leg.1.92].
82 Domingo Franco, quoted in Teodoro M. Kalaw, 116.
83 Apolinario Mabini, Letter to Marcelo H. del Pilar, January 22, 1895, in The Letters of Apolinario Mabini (Manila:

National Heroes Commission, 1965), 25. How was it, Mabini wondered, that “Freemasonry, being a lawful
association in Spain, could be unlawful in the Philippines, where it is practised exactly as Spanish Freemasonry.”
84 Fajardo, The Brethren, 175-6.
85 Quoted in Fajardo, The Brethren, 104.
86 Ibid., 105.
87 Antonio Salazar, Declaration dated September 18, 1896, in Retana, Archivo del bibliófilo filipino, vol. III, 248.

Salazar was the Venerable Master of another Manila lodge, Modestia.

88 Teodoro M. Kalaw, Aide-de-Camp to Freedom (Manila: Teodoro M. Kalaw Society, Inc., 1965), 225-6.
89 Joseph A. Scalice, “Pasyon, Awit, Legend: Reynaldo Ileto’s Pasyon and Revolution Thirty Years Later,”

unpublished MS, 2009, 46.

90 See Reynaldo C. Ileto, “Bonifacio, the Text and the Social Scientist”, Philippine Sociological Review, 32, (January-

December 1984), 19-28.

91 Kalaw, Aide-de-Camp to Freedom, 225-8.
92 De Jesus, “Autobiography,” as cited, 17.
93 Ibid., 172.
94 “Kasaysayan ni Tomas Alup Remigio y Basilio”. Unpublished MS, n.d. [Guillermo Masangkay Papers,

University of the Philippines Main Library, Diliman].

95 “Tomas A. Remigio on the Katipunan,” as cited, 176-9.
96 Ibid.
97 Ibid., 170-3.

25
98 Antonio Salazar, Declaration dated September 18, 1896, in Retana, Archivo del bibliófilo filipino, vol. III, 248. Pio
Valenzuela, likewise under interrogation, said that another activist, Emeterio (actually Eleuterio) de Guzman,
had been sentenced to death at about this same time. See his declaration dated October 21, 1896, in Wenceslao E.
Retana, Archivo del bibliófilo filipino, vol. III (Madrid: Imprenta de la viuda de M. Minuesa de los Rios, 1897), 381.
99 Supreme Council, Notice to section presidents, November 26, 1895 [AGMM: Caja 5677, leg.1.45].
100 Valenzuela, Declaration dated October 21, 1896, as cited, 377.
101 Supreme Assembly, Record of meeting held on November 30 and December 1, 1895 [AGMM: Caja 5677,

leg.1.41 bis].
102 Some of the expelled activists seem to have left the Katipunan of their own accord, before they were cast out.

But this did not necessarily mean that their patriotism had waned, or that they would not fight for freedom when
the fateful moment came. The former members of the Laong Laan council who established the breakaway
Binhing Payapa, for example, assigned two of their leaders—Tomas Remigio and Lorenzo Alonso—to
rendezvous with the Katipuneros who gathered in Balintawak in August 1896. Bonifacio welcomed their
support, and reportedly assigned Remigio to take charge of the revolutionary forces in Santa Cruz, the district
where Laong Laan had been based. “Tomas Remigio on the Katipunan,” as cited, 176–9; and “Kasaysayan ni
Tomas Alup Remigio at Basilio”, as cited.
103 Supreme Assembly, Record of meeting held on November 30 and December 1, 1895, as cited.
104 Ibid.
105 Valenzuela, Declaration dated October 21, 1896, as cited, 380-1.
106 Supreme Assembly, Record of meeting held on December 24-25, 1895 [AGMM: Caja 5393, leg.4.4].

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