Katipunan

For the municipality, see Katipunan, Zamboanga del Norte.

For the LRT station, see Katipunan LRT Station.

The Katipunan

The Katipunan was a nationalistic secret society founded in the Philippines in 1892 by Andrés Bonifacio aimed towards liberating much of Luzon from the Spanish and then the American colonizers. The name Katipunan is actually a shorter version of the official name, which is in Tagalog: Kataastaasang, Kagalanggalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (roughly translated as The Highest and Noblest Society of the Nation's Children). The Katipunan is also known by its acronym, KKK (not to be mistaken with the "Ku Klux Klan"). The word katipunan is a Tagalog term for society, the root word being the verb tipon, which means to gather.

Contents

1 Rizal and peaceful reforms
2 Factions and Bonifacio
3 Notable Katipuneros
4 External links

Rizal and peaceful reforms

The Katipunan was founded on July 11, 1892 after the arrest of the leading members of the La Liga Filipina founded by Dr. José Rizal and of which Bonifacio himself was a member. La Liga, composed mainly of middle class intellectuals, advocated peaceful reform. The suppression of La Liga by the Spanish regime proved to Bonifacio the futility of achieving peaceful reforms under Spanish rule. Armed revolution by the Katipunan started in August 1896, after the existence of the group was discovered by the authorities. The Spanish blamed Rizal, whom the Katipunan regarded as its honorary president, for the uprising and sentenced him to death by musketry on December 30, 1896. Rizal's martyrdom only added fuel to the rebellion, with the Katipuneros (Katipunan fighters) shouting "Mabuhay ang kasarinlan ng Pilipinas" (long live the Philippine independence) "Mabuhay si Dr. José Rizal" (long live Dr. José Rizal) in battle. It is interesting to note that Rizal himself had been against armed rebellion against Spain, which he considered premature; he had worked towards equal representation in the Spanish Government, the same status that other Spanish colonies enjoyed.

The society was discovered by Fr. Mariano Gil who broke his vow of confession and reported to the Spanish authorities the confession of a parishioner who was a sister of a Katipunero.(Honoria Patinio, the sister of Teodoro Patinio) The Philippine Revolution broke out.

Factions and Bonifacio

Early flag of the Katipunan

In the course of the revolution against Spain, a split developed between the Magdiwang faction (led by Gen. Mariano Alvarez and the Magdalo faction (led by Gen. Baldomero Aguinaldo, cousin of General Emilio Aguinaldo), both situated in Cavite.

At a convention in Tejeros, Cavite, the revolutionaries assembled to form a revolutionary government. There, Bonifacio lost his bid for the presidency of the revolutionary government to Emilio Aguinaldo and instead was elected Secretary of the Interior. When members of the Magdalo faction tried to discredit him as uneducated and unfit for the position, Bonifacio declared the results of the convention as null and void, speaking as the Supremo of the Katipunan. Bonifacio was later arrested upon orders of Gen. Aguinaldo and executed on May 10, 1897.

At the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, Gen. Aguinaldo had agreed with the Spanish Governor General to end the hostilities and went on self-exile in Hong Kong. The peace treaty soon collapsed and hostilities resumed. Aguinaldo returned to the Philippines at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War. Aguinaldo believed the United States to be an ally in the fight against the Spanish and declared Philippine independence from the Spanish on June 12, 1898.

Suspicions that the United States actually had an imperialistic ambition was confirmed when Philippine representation was denied in the Treaty of Paris, through which the Philippines were ceded by Spain to the United States for 20,000,000 US dollars. Soon hostilities between Philippine and US forces began. The fighting ended after the capture of Aguinaldo in Palanan, Isabela. Aguinaldo called on all Katipunan forces to end the fighting. One Filipino general after another surrendered to the Americans, but other Katipunan generals continued to fight, notably Gen. Macario Sakay.

Members of the society are bound by utmost secrecy. The final initiation rights to become a member involve writing their name in their own blood in a book.

Notable Katipuneros

External links

[Spanish]

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.