Kartilya ng Katipunan
Decalogue of the Katipunan
Flags of the Katipunan
Cry of Pugadlawin
The Naik Military Agreement
The failure of the reform movement was already evident in 1892 when Rizal was arrested and banished to Dapitan. Yet the more hopeful among the middle class still hung on to the conviction that they could soften the heart of mother Spain into granting the reforms demanded. It is for this reason that the reform movement continued for four more years or until 1896 when the masses, led by Andres Bonifacio, were forced to take to the field against the Spaniards. Andres Bonifacio, a man of scanty education but nevertheless highly intelligent, founded the Katipunan on the very night that the news of Rizal's deportation to Dapitan leaked out. Unlike the members of the middle class, Bonifacio and his plebeian associates did not dream of mere reforms. They were interested in liberating the country from the tyranny of the Spaniards, and the only way, to their minds, to accomplish their end was to prepare the people for an armed conflict. Thus the Katipunan was founded on a radical platform, namely, to secure the independence and freedom of the Philippines by force of arms.
The Founding of the Katipunan
The news of Rizal's deportation shocked and surprised the people, for Rizal to them was the symbol of freedom. That night of July 7, 1892, Andres Bonifacio, Valentin Diaz, Teodoro Plata, Ladislao Diwa, Deodato Arellano and a few others, met secretly at a house on Azcarraga (now Claro M. Recto Avenue), near Elcano Street, Tondo, and decided to form a new association called Kataastaasan, Kagalanggalang na Katipunan nang manga Anak ng Bayan or Katipunan for short. The men gathered around a flickering table lamp, performed the ancient blood compact, and signed their membership papers with their own blood. It was agreed to win more members to the society by means of the triangle method in which an original member would take in two new members who did not know each other, but knew only the original member who took them in. Thus, original member A, for instance, would take in new members B and C. Both B and C knew A, but B and C did not know each other. Also agreed upon during the meeting was the payment of an entrance fee of one real fuerte(twenty-five centavos) and a monthly due of a media real (about twelve centavos).
The Katipunan Objectives
Under the leadership of Bonifacio, the Katipunan laid down three fundamental objectives or aims: political, moral and civic. The political objectives consisted in working for the separation of the Philippines from Spain. The moral objective revolved about around the teaching of good manners, hygiene, good morals, and attacking obscurantism, religious fanaticism, and weakness of character. The civic aim revolved around the principle of self-help and the defense of the poor and the oppressed. All members were urged to come to the aid of the sick comrades and their families, and in case of death the society itself was to pay for the funeral expenses. For the purpose of economy however, the society saw to it that the funeral was of the simplest kind, avoiding unnecessary expenses so common under the rule of the friars.
History of the Filipino People. Teodoro A. Agoncillo
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