WHAT FILIPINOS SHOULD KNOW - ANDRES BONIFACIO

(An article written by Andres Bonifacio titled "Ang dapat mabatid ng mga Tagalog", translated from Tagalog by Epifanio de los
Santos. This was published in the first and only circulated issue of the Kalayaan in March 1896.)

Of old, previous to the arrival of the Spaniards, these Islands were governed by our own compatriots who were then living
in the greatest abundance and prosperity. They maintained good relations with their neighbors, especially with the Japanese, and
traded with them in commodities of all sorts. The result was that wealth and good customs were a common patrimony; young and
old, the women included, knew how to read and write, using their own alphabet.

But the Spaniards came, with the pretense of peace. The persons then governing us, flattered by their honeyed tempting
words, allowed themselves to be deceived by their offers to guide us on the paths of wisdom and increased prosperity. They were,
however, obliged to comply with the ritualistic custom of the islanders, to give binding force to their compacts by means of an oath
of peace, which consisted in taking a small quantity of blood from the veins of the contracting parties and then drinking the blood so
mixed, as evidence that they were to be absolutely true and loyal to their allies. This was called the Pact of Blood (which was
concluded) between King Sicatuna and the representative of the King of Spain, Legaspi.

Since then, for over three hundred years, we have been supplying the wants of the race of Legaspi with largesse and have
enriched them with abundance, despite the hunger and privations that we ourselves have suffered. We have wasted our wealth and
blood and even given our lives in their defense; we have even fought our compatriots who would not willingly submit to their yoke;
we have combated the Chinese and the Dutch who attempted to wrest these Islands from them.

Now, after all this, what comfort or liberal concession have they bestowed upon us in exchange for all our sacrifices? How
have they kept the contract, the cause, precisely, of our sacrifices? Our munificence they have rewarded with treachery, and far
from guiding us on the path of knowledge, they have blinded us and contaminated us with their infamous procedure. They have
endeavored to make us abandon our own good customs; they have initiated us in a false belief and have dragged the honor of the
people into the mire. And if we dare beg for a scrap of love, they give us banishment instead and tear us away from our beloved
children, our wives, and our old parents. Every sigh that we utter they brand as a sin and immediately punish it with implacable
ferocity.

Now nothing is to be seen of popular tranquility; now our peace is constantly being disturbed by incessant rumors of
complaints and prayers, of the wailing and grief of orphans, widows, and parents of countrymen of ours whom the dominator has
wronged; of the tears of mothers whose sons have been put to death; of the wail of tender children whom cruelty has made
orphans, and each tear is like a drop of molten lead that lacerates our suffering wounded heart; now they tighten more and more
the links of the chain of vassalage that dishonors every man of integrity. What, then, must we do? The sun of reason that shines in
the East clearly shows unto our eyes which, alas! Have been blind so long, the way we must follow; by its light we can see the death-
dealing claws in the outstretched hands of the malevolent. Reason tells us that we cannot expect anything but suffering upon
suffering, treachery upon treachery, contempt upon contempt, and tyranny upon tyranny. Reason tells us that we must not waste
our time waiting in vain for promises of a felicity that will never come, that will never materialize. Reason tells us that we must rely
upon ourselves alone and never entrust our right to life to anybody. Reason teaches us to be united in sentiment, thought, and
purpose, so that we may acquire the strength necessary to crush the evil that is afflicting our people.

It is time that the light of truth should shine; time that we should show determination, honor, shame, and mutual
cooperation. The time is come now to diffuse the gospel that shall tear the tough web obscuring our intellect, and that the islanders
should see whence come their misfortunes. Now it will be made evident that every step we are taking is on unstable ground, on the
brink of a horrible abyss of death, dug by our wily enemy. Therefore, oh my compatriots! Let us scatter the mist that befogs our
intellect and let us consecrate all our force to the good cause, with unshakable and absolute faith in its success, in the ultimate
prosperity, so anxiously desired by us, of the land of our birth.