Readings in Philippine History

1
Content and Contextual Analysis for Selected Primary Resources

Module 4 Week 4 Content and Contextual

Analysis for Selected Primary Resources

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. Discuss and Determine the Content and Contextual Analysis for Selected
Primary Resources
a) The KKK and the “Kartilya ng Katipunan”
b) “Proclamation of the Philippine Independence”
2. Analyze the Content and Contextual Analysis for Selected Primary
Resources.
a) The KKK and the “Kartilya ng Katipunan”
b) “Proclamation of the Philippine Independence”

Content and Contextual Analysis for Selected Primary Resources

A. The KKK and the “Kartilya ng Katipunan”

Kataastaasan, Kagalanggalangan Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KKK) or Katipunan is

ostensibly the most imperative association that shaped Philippine history. While hostile to frontier
developments, endeavors, and associations had just been built up hundreds of years preceding the
establishment of the Katipunan, it was just this association that imagined the accompanying;
1. A united Filipino nation that would revolt against the Spaniards for the total independence of the
country from Spain.
2. Previous armed revolts had already occurred before foundation of the Katipunan, but none of
them envisioned a unified Filipino nation revolting against colonizers.
Katipunan created a complex structure and a defined value system that would guide
the organization as a collection aspiring for single goal. One of the most important Katipunan
documents was the Kartilya ng Katipunan. The original title of the document was “Manga Aral Nang
Katipunan.” The document was written by Emilio Jacinto in the 1896. Jacinto was only 18 years old
when he joined the movement. He was a law student at the Universidad de Santo Tomas.
Despite his youth, Bonifacio recognized the value and intellect of Jacinto that upon seeing that
Jacinto’s Kartilya was much better than the Decalogue he wrote, he willingly favored that the
Kartilya be distributed to their fellow Katipuneros. Jacinto became the secretary of the organization
and took charge of the short-lived printing press of the Katipunan.

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 Bonifacio then formed an underground secret society through the use of secret codes
and passwords called the Katipunan in 1892. The Kataas-taasang, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan
ng mga Anak ng Bayan (Supreme and Venerable Society of the Children of the Nation) provided the
rallying point for the people’s agitation for freedom, independence and equality.

Figure1. Bonifacio Cry of Pugadlawin 1896

The Katipunan patterned its initiation rites after the Freemasonry, which Bonifacio was a
Freemason. The organization had its own structure, law system and system of government.
Symbols, crypto logic languages, clandestine rituals marked the Katipunan’s operations. From the
society’s inception, Bonifacio was one of the Chief Officers and in 1895, he became the Presidente
Supremo.

Figure 2. Katipunan seal with Andres Bonifacio’s

signature

The Katipunan rapidly developed in fame and by 1896 had in excess of 30,000 individuals. It
was on this same year that the Spanish provincial experts found the presence of the mystery society
and were thinking about strides to destroy it. Bonifacio then again together with his different
individuals were arranging how best to rebel against the Spanish.
On August 23, 1896, Bonifacio and his kindred Katipuneros tore their cedulas (living
arrangement authentication) which was set apart as the noteworthy "Cry of Balintawak" which
really happened in Pugadlawin. Along these lines, it is additionally called "Sigaw ng Pugadlawin".
This denoted the start of the Philippine unrest. Be that as it may, the Katipuneros endured a
noteworthy annihilation when they met the capability of the Spaniards. They understood they
gravely required weapons and ammo. Clearly the underlying clashes of the Katipunan were strategic
botches.
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Content and Contextual Analysis for Selected Primary Resources

The Katipunan Organizational Structure

The commanding structure of the Katipunan involved three positions of enrollment, with
new individuals beginning as "katipon," at that point climbing to "kawal" and in the end to "bayani."
Members were to pay an extra charge of one genuine fuerte, a unit of money equivalent to 1/8 of a
silver genuine peso, and month to month duty and different expenses paid only to the Benefit Fund
and gathered at each session or meeting.

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MGA ARAL NG KARTILYA NG KATIPUNAN (The Katipunan Code of Conduct)

o The life that is not consecrated to a lofty and

reasonable purpose is a tree without a shade, if not
a poisonous weed.

o To do good for personal gain and not for its own

sake is not virtue.

o It is rational to be charitable and love one's fellow

creature, and to adjust one's conduct, acts and
words to what is in itself reasonable
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Content and Contextual Analysis for Selected Primary Resources

o Whether our skin be black or white, we are all born equal: superiority in knowledge, wealth
and beauty are to be understood, but not superiority by nature.

o The honorable man prefers honor to personal gain; the scoundrel, gain to honor.

o To the honorable man, his word is sacred.

o Do not waste thy time: wealth can be recovered but not time lost.

o Defend the oppressed and fight the oppressor before the law or in the field.

o The prudent man is sparing in words and faithful in keeping secrets.

o On the thorny path of life, man is the guide of woman (“parents”) and the children, and if the
guide leads to the precipice, those whom he guides will also go there.

o Thou must not look upon woman as a mere plaything, but as a faithful companion who will
share with thee the penalties of life; her (physical) weakness will increase thy interest in her
and she will remind thee of the mother who bore thee and reared thee.

o What thou dost not desire done unto thy wife, children, brothers and sisters, that do not unto
the wife, children, brothers and sisters of thy neighbor.

o Man is not worth more because he is a king, because his nose is aquiline, and his color white,
not because he is a priest, a servant of God, nor because of the high prerogative that he enjoys
upon earth, but he is worth most who is a man of proven and real value, who does good,
keeps his words, is worthy and honest; he who does not oppress nor consent to being
oppressed, he who loves and cherishes his fatherland, though he be born in the wilderness
and know no tongue but his own.

o When these rules of conduct shall be known to all, the longed-for sun of Liberty shall rise
brilliant over this most unhappy portion of the globe and its rays shall diffuse everlasting joy
among the confederated brethren of the same rays, the lives of those who have gone before,
the fatigues and the well-paid sufferings will remain. If he who desires to enter (the
Katipunan) has informed himself of all this and believes he will be able to perform what will
be his duties, he may fill out the application for admission.
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 Figure 3. Katipunan Flag

B. “The Proclamation of the Philippine Independence”

The Philippine Declaration of independence was proclaimed on June 12, 1898 in Cavite II el Viejo
(present-day Kawit, Cavite), Philippines. With the public reading of the Act of the Declaration of
independence (Spanish: Acta de la proclamación de independencia del pueblo Filipino), Filipino
revolutionary forces under General Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed the sovereignty and independence of the
Philippine Islands from the colonial rule of Spain.

The Proclamation on June 12

Independence was declared on June 12, 1898 around four and five in the evening in Cavite at the
ancestral home of General Emilio Aguinaldo somewhere in the range of 30 kilometers South of Manila. The
occasion saw the spreading out of the National Flag of the Philippines, made in Hong Kong by Marcela
Agoncillo, Lorenza Agoncillo, and Delfina Herboza, and the execution of the Marcha Filipina Magdalo, as
the national song of praise, now known as Lupang Hinirang, which was formed by Julián Felipe and played
by the San Francisco de Malabon marching band.
The Act of the Declaration of Independence was organized, written, and read by Ambrosio Rianzares
Bautista in Spanish. The Declaration was signed by ninety-eight people, among them an American army
officer who witnessed the proclamation. The last passage expresses that there was a "stranger" (stranger
in English translation — extrangero in the original Spanish, meaning foreigner) who joined the
proceedings, Mr. L. M. Johnson, described as "a citizen of the U.S.A, a Coronel of Artillery". The proclamation
of Philippine independence was, however, propagated on 1 August, when many towns had already been
organized under the rules laid down by the Dictatorial Government of General Aguinaldo] Later at Malolos,
Bulacan, the Malolos Congress modified the declaration upon the determination of Apolinario Mabini who
objected to that the original proclamation fundamentally placed the Philippines under the protection of
the United States.
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Content and Contextual Analysis for Selected Primary Resources

Figure 4. Philippine Flag

The statement introduced with a portrayals of the conditions in the Philippines amid the Spanish
frontier time frame. The report particularly said misuse and disparities in the province. The affirmation
says:
“…taking into consideration, that their inhabitants being already weary of bearing the ominous yoke
of Spanish domination, on account of the arbitrary arrests and harsh treatment practiced by the Civil Guard
to the extent of causing death with the connivance and even with the express orders of their commanders,
who sometimes went to the extreme of ordering the shooting of prisoners under the pretext that they were
attempting to escape, in violation of the provisions of the Regulations of their Corps, which abuses were
unpunished and on account of the unjust deportations, especially those decreed by General Blanco, of
eminent personages and of high social position, at the instigation of the of the Archbishop and friars
interested in keeping them out of the way for their own selfish and avaricious purpose, deportations which
are quickly brought about by a method of procedure more execrable than that of the Inquisition and which
every civilized nation rejects on account of a decision being rendered without a hearing of the personal
accused .”
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 The above passage demonstrates the justifications behind the revolution against Spain.
The statement of the autonomy likewise summons that the built up republic would be driven
under the oppression of Emilio Aguinaldo. The primary specify was at the absolute starting point of the
statement. It stated:
“In the town of Cavite Viejo, in this province of Cav ite, on the twelfth day of June eighteen
hundred and ninety-eight, before me, Don Ambrosio Rainzares Bautista, Auditor of war and Special
Commissioner appointed to proclaim and solemnize this act by the Dictatorial Government of these Philippine
Islands, for the purpose and by virtue of the circular addressed by the Eminent Dictator of the same Don Emilio
Aguinaldo y Famy.”
The same was reused toward the last piece of the declaration. It stated:
“We acknowledge, approve and confirm together with the orders that have been issued
therefrom, the Dictatorship established by Don Emilio Aguinaldo, whom we honor as the Supreme Chief of this
Nation, which this day commences to have a life of its own, in the belief that he is the instrument selected by
God, in spite of his humble origin, to effect the redemption of this unfortunate people, as foretold by Doctor
Jose Rizal in the magnificent verses which he composed when he was preparing to be shot, liberating them
from the yoke of Spanish domination in punishment of the impunity with which their Government allowed the
commission of abuses by its subordinates.”
There are some other details in the proclamation that is worth looking at its explanation on
the Philippine flag that was first waved on the same day. The document explained:
“And finally, it was unanimously resolved that this Nation, independent from this day, must use
the flag used herefore, whose design and colors and described in the accompanying drawing, with design
representing in natural colors the three arms referred to. The white triangle represents the distinctive emblem
of the famous Katipunan Society, which by means of its compact of blood urged on the masses of the people to
insurrection; the three stars represent the three principal Islands of this Archipelago, Luzon, Visayas,
Mindanaoand Panay, in which this is insurrectionary movement broke out; the sun represents gigantic strides
that have been made by the sons of this land on the road of progress and civilization, its eight rays symbolizing
the eight provinces of Manila, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Bataan, Lagunaand Batanga, which
were declared in a state of war almost as soon as the first insurrectionary movement was initiated; and the
colors blue, red and white, commemorate those of the flag of the United States of North America, in
manifestation of our profound gratitude towards that great nation for the disinterested protection she is
extending to us and will continue to extend to us.”
This regularly neglected detail uncovers much about the recorded exact importance behind
the most broadly known national image in the Philippines.

Figure 5. Embroidery of the Philippine Flag Figure 6. The Proclamation of the Philippine
Independence
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Content and Contextual Analysis for Selected Primary Resources

References and Supplementary Materials

Books and Journals
1. Antonio, Eleonor D., Dallo, Evangeline M. at et al... ; 2010; Kayamanan (kasaysayan ng
Pilipinas); Sampaloc, Manila; Rex Book Store, Inc.
2. Agoncillo, Teodoro A.; 2010; Philippine History; South Triangle, Quezon City; C & E
Publishing, Inc.
3. Candelaria, John Lee P., Alporha, Veronica C.: Reading in Philippine History; Sampaloc
Manila : REX Book Store, Inc.

Online Supplementary Reading Materials

1. http://philippinefolklifemuseum.org/collection/andres-bonifacio/
2. http://fileserver.net-texts.com/asset.aspx?dl=no&id=26668

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