The Kartilya of the Katipunan

1. A life that is not consecrated to a large and holy greatness is a tree without
shade, if not a poisonous weed.
2. Good work that comes from selfish desires and not from a true desire for
excellence is not kindness.
3. Real piety is hard work and love for fellowmen, and measuring each action,
labor and speech by true Reason.
4. Whether one’s skin be black or white, all people are equal; it may be that
each is superior in knowledge, wealth, and beauty but there is no
superiority in human dignity.
5. One who has a high inner spirit, puts honor, goodness and virtue before
self-interest; one who has a lowly inner spirit puts self-interest before
honor, goodness and virtue.
6. To the person with shame, his or her word is sacred.
7. Do not waste time: wealth can be lost and recovered; but time that already
passes will not pass again. Defend the oppressed and fight the oppressor.
8. The intelligent person is one who is careful in all that he or she says; and
learns to keep secret that which should deb kept in confidence.
9. On the thorny path of life, man is the guide of woman and of children; if the
guide leaded to evil, the destiny of those being led is also evil.
10.Thou must not look upon woman as a mere plaything, but as a partner and
sympathetic companion in the hardships of this life; in your strength,
consider her weakness, and remember the mother who birthed thee and
reared thee.
 11.What thou dost not desire done unto thy wife, children, and siblings, do not
do unto the wife, children, and siblings of others.
12.The value of a person is not in being sovereign, not in an aquiline nose or in
a white face, it is not in the priestly SUBSTITUTE FOR GOD, nor is it in the
high station one has in life. Pure and truly highly esteemed, beloved and
noble is the person even if he or she was raised in the forest and speaks
nothing but his or her own language; who has beautiful behavior, and only
one sentence (which is) honor and virtue; who does not oppress others or
allow one’s self to be oppressed; who knows how to be sensitive and knows
how to cherish the land of his birth

The Teachings of the Katipunan

Realizing the importance of a primer to indoctrinate the members of the society
in its ideals, Jacinto prepared one which he called Kartilla, a word adopted from
the Spanish cartilla which at the time meant a primer for grade school students.

The Kartilla consisted of thirteen "teachings" which the members of the society
were expected to follow. The primer follows:Filipino version from a handout of
the Centennial Commission. Strangely, it consisted only of twelve teachings.

For the Katipunan leadership, such as Emilio Jacinto, the ideas of Right and Light,
Katwiran and Kaliwanagan, were of utmost importance. They saw themselves as
not only as inheritors of the Age of Enlightenment, but intellectual and moral
revolutionaries fighting to create and define a nation and culture that was post-
Enlightenment; that was no longer shackled by the ideological and colonial
restraints of the West, but a country that adopted and merged the best of Spain,
the United States, France, and our own unique culture and society, in support of
being Filipino.

REASON:
Emilio Jacinto wrote the 'Kartilya ng katipunan' as a guide for the katipuneros. It
was stated in the writing the value of life, time, respect for women and speaks
about the virtue of living as lesson for self-reflection. The kartilya contained the
ideas which helped the katipuneros understand the true essence of charity, love
for one another, actions/deeds/ speech guided by judicious reasons.

It was Andres Bonifacio who first formulated a code of conduct and to whom the
Dekalogo ng Katipunan was attributed. But it was not published; instead, it was
said that upon reading the Kartilya drafted by Jacinto, Bonifacio decided that it
was superior to his Dekalogo, and adopted it as the official primer of the
Katipunan. Emilio Jacinto, then became the chief theoretician and adviser of
Bonifacio and later earned for him the title Brains of the Katipunan. Joining the
Katipunan in 1894, he was the youngest member and nicknamed, according to
historian Dr Isagani R. Medina (1992), Emiliong Bata to distinguish him from
Emiliong Matanda, or Emilio Aguinaldo. The Dekalogo had only ten points and
dealt primarily with one’s duties to God, country, family, neighbor, the Katipunan
and himself. It spoke of honor, charity and self-sacrifice but warned of penalty to
the traitor and disobedient.

Background of Author
Emilio Jacinto was a nineteen year old law student at the University of Santo
Tomas when he joined the Katipunan in 1894. He could have been a brilliant
lawyer like Apolinario Mabini but his schooling was cut short when he committed
himself fully to the ideals and work of the movement. Jacinto became a close
friend and adviser of Andres Bonifacio. He wrote the Kartilya ng Katipunan which
became not only a primer for members, but an ideology, embodying moral and
nationalistic principles.