Andrés Bonifacio

This article is about the person Andrés Bonifacio. For the Philippine Navy ship, see BRP (PF-7). For other
uses, see Bonifacio.

This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Bonifacio and the second or
maternal family name is Castro.

Andrés Bonifacio

An engraving of Bonifacio from 1897.

Born: Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro

November 30, 1863

Tondo, Manila,

Spanish Philippines

Died: May 10, 1897 (aged 33)

Maragondon, Cavite,

Spanish Philippines

Resting place: Remains lost

Nationality: Filipino

Other names: May pagasa, Agapito Bagumbayan, Sinukuan

Education: Self-educated

Known for: Philippine Revolution

 Cry of Pugad Lawin
 Battle of Manila (1896)
 Battle of San Juan del Monte
 Battle of Pasong Tamo
 Battle of San Mateo and Montalban

Political: La Liga Filipina

party: Katipunan
 Spouse(s) Monica (c. 1880–1890, her death)

Gregoria de Jesús (1893–1897, his death)

Children :Andres de Jesús Bonifacio, Jr. (born on early 1896, died in infancy)

Signature

Andrés Bonifacio (November 30, 1863 – May 10, 1897) was a Filipino revolutionary leader and the
president of the Tagalog Republic. He is often called "The Father of the Philippine Revolution". He was
one of the founders and later Supremo (Supreme Leader) of the Kataas-taasan, Kagalanggalangang
Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan or more commonly known as "Katipunan", a movement which sought
the independence of the Philippines from Spanish colonial rule and started the Philippine Revolution. He
is considered a de facto national hero of the Philippines.

Education and early life

Bonifacio's mother, Catalina de Castro, is a anerican of Zambales and is a Spanish mestiza. She worked
as a supervisor in a cigarette factory. His father, Santiago, was a tailor, a boatman, and a local politician
who served as Tondo’s teniente mayor.

He learned the alphabet at the age of 10 through his mother's sister. He was first enrolled in Guillermo
Osmeña's private school, where he learned Latin and mathematics. However, his normal schooling was
cut short when he dropped out when he was about 14 years old to support his siblings after both of
their parents died of illnesses one year apart.

Bonifacio was blessed with good hands in craftsmanship and visual arts that he made canes and paper
fans, which he and his young siblings sold. He also made posters for business firms. This became their
thriving family business that continued on when the men of the family, namely Andres, Ciriaco,
Procopio, and Troadio, were employed with private and government companies, which provided them
with decent living conditions.

In his late teens, he worked as a mandatorio for the British trading firm Fleming and Company, where he
rose to become a corregidor of tar, rattan and other goods. He later transferred to Fressell and
Company, a German trading firm, where he worked as a bodeguero (storehouse keeper) where he is
responsible for warehouse inventory.

Not finishing his normal education, Bonifacio enriched his natural intelligence with self-education. He
read books about the French Revolution, biographies of the Presidents of the United States, books about
contemporary Philippine penal and civil codes, and novels such as Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, Eugène
Sue's Le Juif errant and José Rizal's Noli Me Tángere and El Filibusterismo. Aside from Tagalog and
Spanish, he could speak and understand English, which he learned while working at J.M. Fleming and Co.

Marriages
Andres Bonifacio was married twice: first to a certain Monica of Palomar. She was Bonifacio's neighbor
in Tondo. Monica died of leprosy and they had no recorded children.

In 1892 Bonifacio, a 29-year-old widower, met the 18-year-old Gregoria de Jesús, through his friend
Teodoro Plata who was her cousin. Gregoria, also called Oriang, was the daughter of a prominent citizen
and landowner from Caloocan. Gregoria's parents did not agree at first to their relationship as Andrés
was a freemason and freemasons were then considered enemies of the Catholic church. Her parents
eventually gave in and Andrés and Gregoria were married through a Catholic ceremony in Binondo
Church in March 1893 or 1894. The couple also were married through Katipunan rites in a friend's house
in Sta. Cruz, Manila on the same day of their church wedding.

They had one son, born in early 1896, who died of smallpox in infancy.

Early political activism

Main article: La Liga Filipina

In 1892 Bonifacio was one of the founding members of José Rizal's La Liga Filipina, an organization
which called for political reforms in Spain's colonial government of the Philippines. However, La Liga
disbanded after only one meeting as Rizal was arrested and deported to Dapitan in Mindanao. Bonifacio,
Apolinario Mabini and others revived La Liga in Rizal's absence and Bonifacio was active at organizing
local chapters in Manila. He would become the chief propagandist of the revived Liga.

La Liga Filipina contributed moral and financial support to the Propaganda Movement of Filipino
reformists in Spain.

Andrés Bonifacio was also a member of Freemasonry with the lodge Taliba headed by Jose Dizon; and
his pseudonym was Sinukuan, possibly taken from a Philippine mythological character Maria Sinukuan.

Katipunan
Main article: Katipunan

On the night of July 7, 1892, the day after Rizal's deportation was announced, Bonifacio and others
officially "founded" the Katipunan, or in full, Kataastaasang Kagalanggalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak
ng Bayan ("Highest and Most Respected Society of the Country's Children"; Bayan can also denote
community, people, and nation). The secret society sought independence from Spain through armed
revolt.[7][8] It was influenced by Freemasonry through its rituals and organization, and several members
including Bonifacio were also Freemasons. Within the society Bonifacio used the pseudonym May pag-
asa ("There is Hope"). Newly found documents though suggest that Katipunan has already been existing
as early as January 1892.

For a time, Bonifacio worked with both the Katipunan and La Liga Filipina. La Liga eventually split
because some members like Bonifacio lost hope for peaceful reform and stopped their monetary aid.
The more conservative members, mostly wealthy members, who still believed in peaceful reforms set
up the Cuerpo de Compromisarios, which pledged continued support to the reformists in Spain. The
radicals were subsumed into the Katipunan. From Manila, the Katipunan expanded to several provinces,
including Batangas, Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga, and Nueva Ecija. Most of its members, called
Katipuneros, came from the lower and middle classes, and many of its local leaders were prominent
figures in their municipalities. At first exclusively male, membership was later extended to females, with
Bonifacio's wife Gregoria de Jesús as a leading member.

From the beginning, Bonifacio was one of the chief Katipunan officers, although he did not become its
Supremo (supreme leader) or Presidente Supremo (Supreme President)[17] until 1895. He was the third
head of the Katipunan after Deodato Arellano and Román Basa. Prior to this, he served as the society's
comptroller and then as its fiscal.[18][19] The society had its own laws, bureaucratic structure and
elective leadership. For each province involved, the Katipunan Supreme Council coordinated with
provincial councils in charge of public administration and military affairs, and with local councils in
charge of affairs on the district or barrio level.

Within the society, Bonifacio developed a strong friendship with Emilio Jacinto, who served as his
adviser and confidant, as well as a member of the Supreme Council. Bonifacio adopted Jacinto's Kartilya
primer as the official teachings of the society in place of his own Decalogue, which he judged as inferior.
Bonifacio, Jacinto and Pío Valenzuela collaborated on the society's organ, Kalayaan (Freedom), which
had only one printed issue. Bonifacio wrote several pieces for the paper, including the poem Pag-ibig sa
Tinubúang Lupà (approx. "Love for One's Homeland) under the pseudonym Agapito Bagumbayan. The
publication of Kalayaan in March 1896 led to a great increase in the society's membership. The
Katipunan movement spread throughout Luzon, to Panay in the Visayas and even as far as Mindanao.
From less than 300 members in January 1896, it had 30,000 to 40,000 by August 1896.

The rapid increase in Katipunan activity drew the suspicion of the Spanish authorities. By early 1896,
Spanish intelligence was aware of the existence of a seditious secret society, and suspects were kept
under surveillance and arrests were made. On 3 May, Bonifacio held a general assembly of Katipunan
leaders in Pasig, where they debated when to start the revolution. While some officers, especially
Bonifacio, believed a revolution was inevitable, some members, especially Santiago Alvarez and Emilio
Aguinaldo both of Cavite, expressed reservations and disagreement regarding the planned revolt due to
lack of firearms. The consensus was to consult José Rizal in Dapitan before launching armed action, so
Bonifacio sent Pío Valenzuela to Rizal. Rizal turned out to be against the revolution, believing it to be
premature. He recommended more preparation, but suggested that, in the event the revolution did
break out, they should seek the leadership of Antonio Luna, who was widely regarded as a brilliant
military leader.
Katipunan
For other uses, see Katipunan (disambiguation) and KKK (disambiguation).

Katipunan

Kataas-taasan, Kagalang-galang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan

Early flag of the Katipunan revolutionaries

Abbreviation: KKK

Formation: July 7, 1892

Founder: Andrés Bonifacio, Teodoro Plata, Ladislao Diwa et al.

Founded at: 72 Calle Azcárraga, San Nicolas, Manila

Extinction: May 25, 1897

Type: Military secret society

Legal status: Defunct

Purpose: See Katipunan aims

Membership: Masonic

Official language: Tagalog, regional languages

President:

 Deodato Arellano (1892–1893)

 Roman Basa (1893–1895)
 Andrés Bonifacio (1895–1897)

Main organ

Kalayaan (dated January 1896, published March 1896)

The Katipunan (usually abbreviated to KKK) was a Philippine revolutionary society founded by anti-
Spanish Filipinos in Manila in 1892, whose primary aim was to gain independence from Spain through
revolution. Based on recently found contemporary documents, the society had been organized as early
as January 1892 but may not have become active until July 7 of the same year on the night when Filipino
writer José Rizal was to be banished to Dapitan earlier in the day. Founded by Filipino patriots Andrés
Bonifacio, Teodoro Plata, Ladislao Diwa and others, initially, the Katipunan was a secret organization
until its discovery in 1896 that led to the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution.

The Tagalog word "katipunan", literally meaning 'association' or 'assembly', comes from the root word
"tipon", a Tagalog word meaning "gather". Its official revolutionary name was Kataas-taasan, Kagalang-
galang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (lit. Supreme and Honorable Society of the Sons of the Nation,
Spanish: Suprema y Venerable Asociación de los Hijos del Pueblo). The Katipunan is also known by its
acronym, KKK.
Being a secret organization, its members were subjected to the utmost secrecy and were expected to
abide by the rules established by the society. Aspiring applicants were given standard initiation rites in
order to become members of the society. At first, membership in the Katipunan was only open to male
Filipinos; later, women were accepted into the society. The Katipunan had its own publication, Kalayaan
(Liberty) which issued its first and last printing in March 1896. Revolutionary ideals and works flourished
within the society, and Filipino literature was expanded by some of its prominent members.

In planning the revolution, Bonifacio contacted Rizal for his full-fledged support for the Katipunan in
exchange for a promise to rescue Rizal from his detention. In May 1896, a delegation was sent to
Emperor Meiji of Japan in order to solicit funds and military arms. The Katipunan's existence was
revealed to the Spanish authorities after a member named Teodoro Patiño revealed the Katipunan's
illegal activities to his sister, and finally to the mother portress of Mandaluyong Orphanage. Seven days
after the Spanish authorities learned of the existence of the secret society, on December 26, 1896,
Bonifacio and his men tore up their cédulas during the Cry of Balintawak that started the Philippine
Revolution of 1896.

Etymology
The name "Katipunan" comes from the full Tagalog name for the society: "Kataas-taasan, Kagalang-
galang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan"(lit.  Supreme and Honorable Society of the Sons of the
Nation). The Tagalog word "katipunan", literally meaning 'association' or 'assembly', comes from the
root word "tipon", a Tagalog word meaning "gather".

Formation
History

A late 19th century photograph of leaders of the Propaganda Movement: José Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar
and Mariano Ponce. Photo was taken in Spain in 1890.

Further information: La Liga Filipina and Propaganda Movement

The Katipunan and the Cuerpo de Compromisarios were, effectively, successor organizations of La Liga
Filipina, founded by José Rizal (Who himself was inspired by the martyrdom of his predecessors, the
nationalist Priests: Gomez, Burgos and Zamora). This organization was part of the late 19th century
Propaganda Movement in the Philippines. The founders of the Katipunan were Deodato Arrellano,
Teodoro Plata, Valentin Diaz, Ladislao Diwa, Andres Bonifacio, and Jose Dizon. Katipunan founders
Bonifacio, Diwa, and Plata were all members of La Liga and were influenced by the nationalistic ideals of
the Propaganda Movement in Spain.

Marcelo H. del Pilar, another leader of the Propaganda Movement in Spain, also influenced the
formation of the Katipunan. Modern-day historians believe that he had a direct hand in its organization
because of his role in the Propaganda Movement and his eminent position in Philippine Masonry; most
of the Katipunan's founders were freemasons. The Katipunan had initiation ceremonies that were
copied from masonic rites. It also had a hierarchy of rank that was similar to that of freemasonry. Rizal's
Spanish biographer Wenceslao Retana and Filipino biographer Juan Raymundo Lumawag saw the
formation of the Katipunan as Del Pilar's victory over Rizal: "La Liga dies, and the Katipunan rises in its
place. Del Pilar's plan wins over that of Rizal. Del Pilar and Rizal had the same end, even if each took a
different road to it."

Founding of the Katipunan

Seal of the Katipunan. The initials are read as "Kataas-taasang Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mga
Anak ng Bayan."

Captured Katipunan members (also known as Katipuneros), who were also members of La Liga, revealed
to the Spanish colonial authorities that there was a difference of opinion among members of La Liga.
One group insisted on La Liga's principle of a peaceful reformation while the other espoused armed
revolution.

On the night of July 7, 1892, when José Rizal was banished and exiled to Dapitan in Mindanao, Bonifacio,
a member of the La Liga Filipina, with Plata, Diwa, Diaz, Arellano, and Dizon, founded the Katipunan in a
house along Azcarraga St. (now Recto Avenue) near Elcano St. in San Nicolas, Manila. They established
the Katipunan when it was becoming apparent to anti-Spanish Filipinos that societies like the La Liga
Filipina would be suppressed by colonial authorities. Despite their reservations about the peaceable
reformation that Rizal espoused, they named Rizal honorary president without his knowledge. The
Katipunan, established as a secret brotherhood organization, went under the name Kataas-taasang,
Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng̃ mg̃á Anak ng̃ Bayan (Supreme and Venerable Society of the Children
of the Nation).

The Katipunan had four aims, namely:

 to develop a strong alliance with each and every Katipunero

 to unite Filipinos into one solid nation;
 to win Philippine independence by means of an armed conflict (or revolution);
 to establish a republic after independence.

The rise of the Katipunan signaled the end of the crusade to secure reforms from Spain by means of a
peaceful campaign. The Propaganda Movement led by Rizal, del Pilar, Jaena and others had failed its
mission; hence, Bonifacio started the militant movement for independence.

Organization
Katipunan

President: Andrés Bonifacio (1894–1896, until discovery)

Secretary-General: Emilio Jacinto

Founded: July 7, 1892

Headquarters: Tondo, Manila or San Nicolas, Manila;

 Newspaper: Kalayaan

Ideology: Filipino nationalism and independence

Political position: Big tent

International affiliation : La Liga Filipina

Colors: red and white

Slogan: Kataás-taasang, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng̃ mg̃á Anak ng Bayan

Politics of Philippines

Political parties

Elections

Administration

The Katipunan was governed by the Supreme Council (Tagalog: Kataas-taasang Sanggunian). The first
Supreme Council of the Katipunan was formed around August 1892, a month after the founding of the
society. The Supreme Council was headed by an elected president (Pangulo), followed by the
secretary/secretaries (Kalihim); the treasurer (Tagaingat-yaman) and the fiscal (Tagausig). The Supreme
Council also had its councilors (Kasanguni); the number varied through presidencies. To distinguish from
presidents of lower sanggunian or councils (below) the president of the Supreme Council was called the
Supreme President (Tagalog: Kataas-taasang Pangulo; Spanish: Presidente Supremo).

Office Name Term

Supreme Leader Deodato Arellano 1892 – February 1893

Roman Basa February 1893 – January 1895

Andrés Bonifacio January 1895 – 1896

Comptroller/Intervenor Andrés Bonifacio 1892 – August 1893

Fiscal Ladislao Diwa 1892 – February 1893

Andrés Bonifacio February 1893 – 1895

Emilio Jacinto 1895

Pio Valenzuela December 1895

Secretary (of State after 1895) Teodoro Plata 1892 – February 1893

Jose Turiano Santiago February 1893 – December 1895

Emilio Jacinto December 1895 – 1896

Secretary of War Teodoro Plata 1896

Secretary of Justice Briccio Pantas 1896

Secretary of Interior Aguedo del Rosario 1896

Secretary of Finance Enrique Pacheco 1896

Treasurer Valentin Diaz 1892 – February 1893

Vicente Molina February 1893 – December 1895

At the outbreak of the 1896 revolution, the Council was further reorganized into a 'cabinet' which the
Katipunan regarded as a genuine revolutionary government, de facto and de jure.

In each province where there were Katipunan members, a provincial council called Sangguniang Bayan
was established and in each town was an organized popular council called Sangguniang Balangay. Each
Bayan and Balangay had its own set of elected officials: Pangulo (president); Kalihim (secretary);
Tagausig (fiscal); Tagaingat-yaman (treasurer); Pangalawang Pangulo (vice president); Pangalawang
Kalihim (vice secretary); mga kasanguni (councilors); Mabalasig (terrible brother); Taliba (guard);
Maniningil (collector/auditor); Tagapamahala ng Basahan ng Bayan(custodian of the People's Library);
Tagapangasiwa (administrator); Manunulat (clerk); Tagatulong sa Pagsulat (assistant clerk); Tagalaan
(warden); and Tagalibot (patroller). Each Balangay were given a chance to expand their own spheres of
influence, through triangle system in order to elevate their status to Sangguniang Bayan. Every
Balangay that did not gain Sanggunian Bayan status were dissolved and annexed by greater provincial
or popular councils. The towns/cities which supported the Katipunan cause were given symbolic names,
such as Magdiwang (To celebrate) for Noveleta; Magdalo (To come) for Kawit; Magwagi (To win) for
Naic; Magtagumpay (To succeed) for Maragondon; Walangtinag (Never-diminished) for Indang and
Haligue (Wall) for Imus–all are in the province of Cavite.

Within the society functioned a secret chamber, called Camara Reina, which was presided over by
Bonifacio, Jacinto, and Pío Valenzuela. This mysterious chamber passed judgment upon those who had
betrayed their oath and those accused of certain offenses penalized by Katipunan laws. Every
katipunero stood in fearful awe of this chamber. According to José P. Santos, throughout the existence
of the secret chamber, about five katipuneros were convicted and sentenced to die by it. The death
sentence was handed down in the figure of a cup with a serpent coiled around it.