BONIFACIO AND


THE KATIPUNAN
(1892-1896)
 The failure of the reform movements led even a
reformist like Marcelo H. Del Pilar to think of

Revolution. “Insurrection”, 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.”
 Andres Bonifacio saw the futility of continuing the
peaceful campaign for reforms. Thus, he established
and organized the Katipunan- the revolutionary
society whose aims were opposed to the aims of the
reformist societies, and was responsible for the
Philippine Revolution of 1986.
 THE FOUNDING OF
THE KATIPUNAN

 July 7, 1892
 News were published about the arrest of Rizal who
was sentence to banish to Dapitan
 A secret council of patriotic Filipinos was convened
in No. 72 Azcarraga Street, Manila (now Claro M.
Recto Avenue)
 These men were Andres Bonifacio, Deodato Arellano,
Valentin Diaz, Teodoro Plata, Ladislao Diwa, Jose
Dizon, and a few others, which are all members of La
Liga Filipina.
 
 Organized a society called Kataastaasang
Kagalanggalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan
 Performed the blood compact ritual to show their
patriotism and love of things that were Filipino
 Agreed that they would recruit Filipinos through
methods called
TRIANGLE SYSTEM
 first method of recruiting members
 Example: Jose would recruit Pedro & Juan. The new
members knew Jose but they did not know each other
 used to minimize the danger of discovery by the Spanish
authorities
 
NEW SYSTEM (similar to MASONRY)
 was used to speed up the process of enlisting
members
 All members agreed to pay a membership &
monthly dues
 THE AIMS AND
STRUCTURE
 OF THE
KATIPUNAN
 Threefold primary objectives of the Katipunan:
 Civic- based on the principle of self-help and the
defense of the weak and the poor
 Political- separation of the Philippines from Spain,
that is, to secure the independence of the colony
 Moral- focused on the teaching of good manners,
hygiene, and good moral character
 The Katipunan
Government

 Three governing bodies:
 Kataastaasang Sanggunian or Supreme Council
 highest governing body
 equivalent of the Central Government
 Sangguniang Bayan or Provincial Council
 equivalent of the Provincial Government
 Sangguniang Balangay or Popular Council
 equivalent to the Municipal Government
 
 Judicial Council (Sangguniang Hukuman)
 passed judgment on members who violated the rules of the
Society
 Katipunan Assembly
 composed of the members of the Supreme Council and the
presidents of the Provincial and Popular Councils
 Secret Chamber
 composed of Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, and Pio Valenzuela
 sentenced members who exposed the secrets of the Katipunan
 The Katipunan Elections

The elected officers of the First Supreme Council:
 President or Supremo: Deodato Arellano
 Comptroller: Andres Bonifacio
 Fiscal: Ladislao Diwa
 Secretary: Teodoro Plata
 Treasurer: Valentin Diaz
 Being a very busy man, Arellano was not very active
in the society.
 In 1983, Bonifacio moved to replace Arellano
through an election. 
The elected officers of the Second Supreme Council:
 Supremo: Roman Basa
 Fiscal: Andres Bonifacio
 Secretary: Jose Turiano Santiago
 Treasurer: Vicente Molina
 Councilors:
 Briccio Brigido Pantas
 Restituto Javier
 Teodoro Plata
 Teodoro Gonzales
 Ladislao Diwa
 
 Early in 1985, 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.
 Membership

 Three Kinds of Katipuneros
 Katipon – first grade
 password: “Anak ng Bayan”
 Kawal – second grade
 password: “Gom-Bur-Za”
 Bayani – third grade
 password: “Rizal”
The Katipunan Codes

 The Katipunan Flags

 Andres Bonifacio requested Benita Rodriguez to make a
flag for the Katipunan
 With the help of Bonifacio’s wife, Gregoria de Jesus, a
flag was made.
 First official flag
 rectangular piece of red cloth with three white letter K’s arranged
horizontally in the middle
 New official flag (August 1896)
 rectangular piece of cloth with a white sun and eight white
rays in the middle
 inside the circle representing the sun was letter K in the
ancient Tagalog transcript

THE TEACHINGS OF

THE KATIPUNAN
- constituted by the two writings of
two great katipuneros
-guide for Katipuneros in a highly moral life
-a decalogue or ten cmmandments
-prepared by Andres Bonifacio
1. Love God with all your heart
2. Bear always in mind that the love of God

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 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.
 • Kartilla

- basic teaching ; consist of 13 teachings
- written by Emilio Jacinto
- this “teachings” should be taken to heart of the members
of society
1. Life which is not consecrated to a 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 consists in 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 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
partner in the hardships 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 you do not want done to your wife,
daughter and sister, do not do to the wife,
daughter and sister of another.

13. The nobility of a man does 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, but 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
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 katpunan.
 The women who are eligible for
membership

Wife
Sister
Daughter of a katipunero
Few selected women
 Katipunera’s Duty:

 To help the male members in their work of
propagating the ideas and ideal of the society.
 To make the police authorities believe that n
Katipunan meeting was held in the house.
 Prominent women
members:

 President: Josefa Rizal
 Vice president: Gregoria de Jesus
 Secretary: Marina Dizon
 Fiscal: Angelica Lopez Rizal
 THE KALAYAAN

Bonifacio and Jacnto believed
that they could easily propagate
their revolutionary ideas by
having printing press. However,
the organization had no money
to purchase a printing machine.
 Candido Iban and Francisco

Del Castillo

Patriots from Kalibo, Capiz

Won one thousand pesos in a
lottery
Donated money to purchase a
printing press.
Ulpiano Fernandez and Faustino
Duque – katipuneros,
managed the press.

Dr. Pio Valenzuela suggested the

name of newspaper, ‘’Kalayaan’’.
 
In the middle of March 1896, the
newspaper written in tagalog came
out.
To mislead the authorities, they put
Yokahoma as the place of
publication and Marcelo H. Del
Pilar as the editor.
Pen Names of the authors:

Emilio Jacinto – ‘’Pingkian and
Dimas-ilaw’’
Andres Bonifacio – ‘’Agapito
Bagumbayan’’
Valenzuela – ‘’ Madlang – away’’
 The fiery pen, revolutionary
spirit, political
 will f the
tandem Bonifacio – Jacinto in
the newspper proved
effective in unifying the
people towards kalayaan.
 TWIN SOULS OF THE KATIPUNAN
Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Jacinto


 Bonifacio and Jacinto both believed that the time had
come to change strategy and tactics.

 Katipunan, was a totally different society from the

liga which worked for radical reforms using
evolutionary or peaceful means.
 ANDRES BONIFACIO
 The founder of the ‘’Katipunan’’

 Born on November 30, 1863
 He belonged to a lower middle class family
 His parents died while he was in his teens
 He had to support the family which consisted of 6,
including himself
 Worked as a messenger and an agent of the German
Trading Firm
 Taught himself to read and write spanish and
became literate to it
 He was anti-friar and anti-spanish. He hated all
spaniards, whether they were friars, civil employees,
or officials
 His poems in tagalog, especially ‘’Tapunan ng Lingap’’

and ‘’Ang mga Cazadores’’ attacked spaniards furiously.
 He called the spaniards ‘’ white cattle’’
 Another poem entitled ‘’ Huling Hibik ng Pilipinas’’
called for independence from colonial rule.
 He ruled the REVOLUTION OF 1896 and regarded as
the leading thinker of the said revolution
 EMILIO JACINTO

 Born in Tondo on December 15, 1875
 He also lived a hard life when he was younger
 Studied at San Juan de Letran and University of
Santo Tomas where he studied law
 When he was 18, he heard about the Katipunan and
immediately joined it leaving his studies
 They succeeded in uniting the people
 Wrote such pieces as the KARTILLA, LIWANAG AT
DILIM, PAHAYAG, SA MGA KABABAYAN
 He died at the young age of 24