Professor : Dr. Clarita C.

Lomodag
Subject : Philippine History
Section : NR-11,12,13
 CHAPTER 7

BONIFACIO AND THE KATIPUNAN

(1892-1896)
 The failure of the reform movement led even a reformist like
Marcelo H. Del Pilar to think of revolution. “Insurrection,” Del
Pillar wrote in La Solidaridad, is the last remedy, especially when
the people have acquired the belief that peaceful means to
secure the remedies for evils prove futile.” with Rizal’s La Liga
Pilipina nipped in the bud, Del Pilar’s warning of insurrection no
longer seemed a far-fetched idea. By 1892, the struggle changed
its course from reform to revolution.
 Bonifacio had a different idea; he would teach the people to

depend on themselves for their salvation. He wanted an

organization unlike those which depended on Spanish goodwill
for a solution. He establish a society, and one that was ready for
revolution. Thus was organized the Katipunan- the revolutionary
society responsible for the Philippine Revolution of 1896.
THE 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 moral. 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, that is, to secure
the independence of the colony. The moral objective
focused on the teaching of good manners, hygiene, and
moral character. The Katipunan members, or Katipuneros,
were urged to help the sick comrades and their families.
In case of death, the society paid the funeral expenses,
hence, there was damayan among the members.
 The Katipunan Government
 Bonifacion 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 had
three governing bodies: Kataastaasang Sanggunian or Supreme Council,
the Sanggunian Bayan or Provincila Council, and the Sanggunian
Balangay or Popular Council. The Supreme Council was the highest of
these governing bodies, followed by the Provincial Council and the
Popular Council. Respectively, they were the equivalent of the central
government, the provincial government, and the municipal government.
 There was a Judicial Council, called Sangguniang Hukuman, which passed

judgment on members who violated the rules of the Society. The

Katipunan Assembly, on the other hand, was composed of the members
of the Supreme Council and the presidents of the Provincial and Popular
Councils. There was also a Secret Chamber, composed of Bonifacio,
Emillio Jacinto, and Pio Valenzuela. The Camber sentenced members who
exposed the secrets of the Katipunan, Usually, expulsion from the
Society was the punishment meted out to erring members who cold not
keep secrets.
The teachings of the Katipunan

1) Love God with all your heart.

2) Bear always in mind that the love of Good is also love of Country, and this, too, is
love of one’s fellowmen
3) Engrave in your heart that the true measure of 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) Guard the mandates and aims of the K.K.K. as you guard your honor.
6) It is the duty of all to defend, at the risk of their own lives and wealth, anyone who
runs great risks in the performance of his duty.
7) Our responsibility to ourselves and the performance of our duties will be the
example set for our fellowmen 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 own 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.
 Emillio Jacinto, Bonifacio’s close friend and right-hand man, wrote the Kartilla which consisted
of thirteen “teachings”. Members of the Society were expected to take the “teaching” to heart. Here are the
important portions of the Kartilla:
1. Life which is not consecrated to al lofty and sacred cause is like a tree without a shadow, if not a poisonous
weed.\
2. A good deed that springs from a desire for personal profit and not from a desire to do good is not
kindness.
3. True greatness consist in the being charitable, in loving one’s fellowmen and in adjusting every movement,
deed and word to true Reason.
4. All men are equal, be the color of their skin black or white. One may be superior to another in knowledge,
wealth , and beauty, but cannot be superior in being.
5. He who is noble prefers honor to personal gains; he who is mean prefers personal profit to honor.
6. To a man with a sense of shame, his word is inviolate.
7. Don’t fritter away time; lost riches may be recovered, but time lost will never come again.
8. Defend the oppressed and fight the oppressor.
9. An intelligent man is he who is cautious in speech and knows how to keep the secrets that must be
guarded.
10. In the thorny path of life, man is the guide of his wife and children; if he who guides moves toward evil,
they who are guided likewise move toward evil.
11. Think not of woman as a thing merely to while away time with, but as a helper and a partner in the hardship
of life. Respect her in her weakness, and remember the mother who brought you into this world and who
cared for you in your childhood.
12. What do you not want done to your wife, daughter and sister, do not do to the wife, daughter and sister
and others.
13. The nobility of a man doses not consist in being a king, nor in the highness of the nose and the whiteness
of the skin, nor in being a priest representing God , nor in the exalted position on this earth, nut pure and
truly noble is he who, though born in the woods, is possessed of an upright character; who is true to his
words; who has dignity and honor; who does not oppress and does not help those who oppress; who knows
how to look after and loves the land of his birth
THE WOMEN OF THE KATIPUNAN

 This strict requirement compelled the women members to

keep secrets of the Katipunan. The Katipunera’s duty , aside
from helping the male members in their work of propagating
the ideas and ideal of the Society, was to make the police
authorities believed that no Katipunan meeting was being
held in a house. The women engaged in dancing and singing
in full view of the people on the street. While Katipuneras
were doing this, the male member were holding a meeting in
a room behind the sala, where the women were singing and
dancing. In this way, the authorities were not able to detect
the meetings of the Katipunan in place designated by
Bonifacio
THE KALAYAAN
 Bonifacio and Jacinto believed that they could easily propagate
their revolutonary ideas by having a printing press. However,
the organization had no money to purchase a printing
machine. Fortunately fo rthem, two Visayan patriots from
Kalibo, Capiz gave the Katipunan for them, two purchase a
printing press. They were Candido Iban and Francisco del
Castillo, who won one thousand pesos in a lottery. The
printing press was purchsed for four hundred pesos and it was
at once transferred to the house of Bonifacio.
 Jacinto purchased some templates to be used in printing the
Katipunan newspaper. Other templates were stolen from
Spanish printing press. To experienced printers, Ulpiano
Fernadez and Faustino Duque, both Katipuneros, managed the
press. Dr. Pio Valenzuela suggested the name of the
newspaper, Kalayaan.
 The Revolution of 1896 was, therefore, the Katipunan Revolution, for it was
the Katipunan that sowed the seeds of national independence in the minds of
the masses. As founder and later as supremo of the Katipunan, Bonifacio may
be rightly regarded as a leading thinker of the Revolution of 1896.
 Bionifacio found a twin soul in Katipunan- the young and intelligent Emillio
Jacinto. Born in Tondo, Manila on December 15, 1875, Jacinto also lived a
hard life when he was young like Bonifacio. His father died early which
compelled his mother to send him to his uncle’s house for support. He first
studied at San Juan de Letran and later transferred to the University of Santo
Tomas were he studied law.
 Jacinto, like Bonifacio, wrote in Tagalog, the language of the masses, except
for one poem in Spanish. A Mi Patria (To My Country). Like Bonifacio, Jacinto
believed that the people, the masses, could be reached only through their
own language, so they both wrote in Tagalo. It is for this reason that
Bonifacio and Jacinto succeeded in uniting the people behind them. This was
where the reformists failed because they wrote for the intellectuals and
Spaniards who read only in Spanish, more that in any the Philippine language.