THE KKK AND THE

“KARTILYA NG KATIPUNAN”
GEC 112-READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY
INTRODUCTION:

In July 3, 1892, Jose Rizal and a group of patriotic Filipinos including Andres Bonifacio,
founded the society, La Liga Filipina.
The aims of the Liga:
 To unite the whole archipelago into one strong body;
 To give mutual protection of all members in case of necessity
 To encourage agriculture, commerce, and education
 To members against any kind of violence and injustice
 To study and apply reforms
INTRODUCTION:

• Upon Rizal’s arrest, and exile to Dapitan, a small group of patriotic Filipinos met at a
house on Azcarraga Street, Tondo Manila (now Claro M. Recto) and decided to create
a secret society.
• Founder of the KKK is Andres Bonifacio together with Teodoro Plata, Valentin Diaz,
Ladislao Diwa, Deodato Arellano, and one or two others.
INTRODUCTION: THE AIMS OF THE KATIPUNAN

• POLITICAL – was to completely separate the Philippines from Spain after declaring the
country’s independence
• MORAL –was to teach the Filipinos good manners, cleanliness, hygiene, fine morals, and
how to guard themselves against religious fanaticism
• CIVIC –was to encourage Filipinos to help themselves and to defend the oppressed poor
ANDRES BONIFACIO
• Born in November 30, 1863 in a small hut at
Calle Azcarraga, now Claro M. Recto Avenue in
Tondo, Manila.
• He was known as the Father of the Philippine
Revolution and considered as one of the national
heroes of the Philippines
• He was one of the founder of KKK and became
the supreme president of KKK
EMILIIO JACINTO
• Brains of the Katipunan
• Born in Trozo (Tondo), Manila on December 15, 1875
• Studied law in UST but was not able to finish it
• Remained loyal to Bonifacio even after his death
• He died on April 16, 1899 at the age of 23 years old because of Malaria
• Youngest and greatest writer of the Katipunan
• Pen name: Dimas-Ilaw
• He wrote the following:
• A la Patria –his poetical masterpiece
• Liwanag at Dilim – a series of essays on human rights, liberty, equality of men,
labor, and love of country
• Kartilya ng Katipunan –contains the teachings of the KKK
MEMBERSH
IP IN THE
KATIPUNAN
KATIPUNAN
FLAGS
PROMINENT KATIPUNERAS

• Gregoria de Jesus –wife of Bonifacio, and was called Lakambini of the Katipunan
• Josefa and Trinidad Rizal –sisters of Jose Rizal
• Melchora Ramos y Aquino –known as Tandang Sora; mother of the Katipunan; she fed,
nursed, the katipuneros; she was arrested by the Spanish authorities and was exiled in
Marianas
KARTILYA NG
KATIPUNAN
HIGHLIGHTS:

The Kataastaasan, Kagalanggalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KKK) or Katipunan –

arguably the most important organization formed in the Philippine history.
This organization was the only organization that envisioned
 a united Filipino nation that would revolt against the Spaniards
 total independence of the country from Spain.
 e.g. Diego Silang was known as an Ilocano who took up his arms and led one of the longest running revolts in
the country. Silang was mainly concerned about his locality and referred to himself as El Rey de Ilocos (King of
Ilocos)

On the other hand, the propaganda movements led by the ilustrados like Marcelo H. del Pilar,
Graciano Lopez Jaena, and Jose Rizal demanded equal rights, representation, and protection from
the abuses of the friars.
HIGHLIGHTS:

• Katipunan created a complex structure and a defined value system that would guide the
organization as a collective aspiring for a single goal.
• One of the important Katipunan documents was the Kartilya ng Katipunan.
• Manga [sic] Aral Nang [sic] Katipunan ng mga A.N.B or “Lessons of the Organization of
the Sons of Country” –the original title of the document which was written by Emilio
Jacinto in the 1896 who was then 18 years old when he joined the movement.
• Emilio Jacinto was a law student at the Universidad de Santo Tomas. He became the
secretary of the organization and took charge of the short-lived printing press of the
Katipunan
HIGHLIGHTS:

On April 25, 1897, Bonifacio appointed Jacinto as a commander of the Katipunan in
Northern Luzon. He was then 22 years old. He died of malaria at a young age of 24 in the
town of Magdalena, Laguna.
Kartilya can be treated as the Katipunan’s code of conduct. It countains fourteen (14)
rules that instruct the way a Katipunero should behave and which specific values should
he uphold.
Kartilya can be classified into two.
 First: contain the rules that will make the member an upright individual
 Second: the rules that will guide the way he treats his fellow men
MGA ARAL NG KARTILYA NG KATIPUNAN (THE
KATIPUNAN CODE OF CONDUCT)

• Ang buhay na hindi • The life that is not

ginugugol sa isang Malaki
at banal na kadahilanan ay
kahoy(puno) na walang
lalim, kundi(man) damong
makamandag.
consecrated to a lofty and
reasonable purpose is a
tree without a shade, if
not a poisonous weed.
MGA ARAL NG KARTILYA NG KATIPUNAN (THE
KATIPUNAN CODE OF CONDUCT)

• Ang gawang magaling na • To do good for

nagbubuhat sa paghahambog o
papipita sa sarili (paghahangad
personal gain and not
na makasarili), at hindi for its own sake is not
talagang nasang gumawa ng a virtue.
kagalingan, ay di kabaitan.
MGA ARAL NG KARTILYA NG KATIPUNAN (THE
KATIPUNAN CODE OF CONDUCT)

• Ang tunay na kabanalan ay • It is rational to be

ang pagkakawang-gawa,
ang pag-ibig sa kapwa at
ang isukat ang bawat kilos,
gawa’t pangungusap sa
talagangg katuwiran
charitable and love one’s
fellow creature, and to
adjust one’s conduct, acts,
and words to what is in
itself reasonable.
MGA ARAL NG KARTILYA NG KATIPUNAN (THE
KATIPUNAN CODE OF CONDUCT)
• Maitim man o maputi ang • Whether our skin be black or
kulay ng balat, lahat ng tao’y white, we are all born equal:
magkakapantay; mangyayaring superiority in knowledge,
ang isa’y hihigitan sa dunong, wealth and beauty are to be
sa yaman, sa ganda; ngunit di understood, but not
mahihigitan sa pagkatao.
superiority by nature.
MGA ARAL NG KARTILYA NG KATIPUNAN (THE
KATIPUNAN CODE OF CONDUCT)

• Ang may mataas na kalooban, • The honorable man

inuuna ang (dangal) o puri prefers honor to personal
kaysa pagpipita sa sarili; ang
gain; the scoundrel,
may hamak na kalooban,
inuuna ang pagpipita sa sarili prefers gain to honor
kaysa sa puri.
MGA ARAL NG KARTILYA NG KATIPUNAN (THE
KATIPUNAN CODE OF CONDUCT)

• Sa taong may hiya, • To the honorable

salita’y panunumpa man, his word is
sacred
MGA ARAL NG KARTILYA NG KATIPUNAN (THE
KATIPUNAN CODE OF CONDUCT)

• Huwag mong sayangin ang • Do not waste thy time:

panahon; ang yamang
wealth can be
Nawala’y mangyayaring
recovered but not time
magbalik; ngunit panahong
nagdaan nay di na muli lost
pang magdadaan
MGA ARAL NG KARTILYA NG KATIPUNAN (THE
KATIPUNAN CODE OF CONDUCT)

• Ipagtanggol mo ang • Defend the oppressed and

inaapi; kabakahin fight the oppressor before
(labanan) ang umaapi the law or in the field
MGA ARAL NG KARTILYA NG KATIPUNAN (THE
KATIPUNAN CODE OF CONDUCT)

• Ang taong matalino’y • The prudent man is

ang may pag-iingat sa sparing in words and
bawat sasabihin;
faithful in keeping
matutong ipaglihim ang
secrets
dapat ipaglihim.
MGA ARAL NG KARTILYA NG KATIPUNAN (THE
KATIPUNAN CODE OF CONDUCT)

• Sa daang matinik ng buhay, • On the thorny path of life,

lalaki ang siyang patnugot ng
asawa at mga anak; kung ang
umaakay ay tungo sa sama,
patutunguhan ng inaakay ay
kasamaan din.
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.
MGA ARAL NG KARTILYA NG KATIPUNAN (THE
KATIPUNAN CODE OF CONDUCT)
• Ang babae ay huwag mong tingnang • You must not look upon woman as a
isang bagay na libangan lamang, mere plaything, but as a faithful
kundi isang katuwang at karamay ng companion who will share with you the
penalties of life; her (physical) weakness
lalaki sa mga kahirapan nitong
will increase your interest in her and she
buhay; gamitin mo nang buong
will remind you of the mother who bore
pagpipitagan ang kanyang kahinaan, you and reared you.
alalahanin ang inang pinagbuhatan
at nag iwi sa iyong kasanggulan
MGA ARAL NG KARTILYA NG KATIPUNAN (THE
KATIPUNAN CODE OF CONDUCT)

• Ang di mo ibig gawin sa • What you do not desire done

asawa mo, anak at unto your wife, children, and
brothers, and sisters, that do
kapatid, ay huwag mong
not unto the wife, children,
gagawin sa asawa, anak
brothers, and sisters of your
at kapatid ng iba. neighbor.
MGA ARAL NG KARTILYA NG KATIPUNAN (THE
KATIPUNAN CODE OF CONDUCT)
• Ang kamahalan ng tao’y wala sa pagkahari,
wala sa tangos ng ilong at puti ng mukha, wala
sa pagkaparing kahalili ng Diyos, wala sa
mataas na kalagayan sa balat ng lupa: wagas at
tunay na mahal ng tao, kahit laking gubat at
walang nababatid kundi sariling wika, yaong
may magandang asal, may isang pangungusap,
may dangal at puri, yaong di nagpapaapi’t di
nakikiapi; yaong marunong magdamdam at
marunong lumingap sa bayang tinubuan
• Man is not worth more because he is a king,
because his nose is acquiline, 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
MGA ARAL NG KARTILYA NG KATIPUNAN (THE
KATIPUNAN CODE OF CONDUCT)
• Paglaganap ng mga aral na ito, at
maningning na sisikat ang araw ng
mahal na Kalayaan dito sa Kaaba-abang
sangkapuluan at sabungan ng matamis
niyang liwanag ang nangagkaisang
magkakalahi’t magkakapatid, ng liwanag
ng walang katapusan, ang mga ginugol
na buhay, pagod, at mga tiniis na
kahirapa’s labis nang matutumbasan
• 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 Katipunant) 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
ANALYSIS OF THE
“KARTILYA NG KATIPUNAN”
HIGHLIGHTS:

The primary source also needs to be analyzed in terms of content and context.
 As a document written for a fraternity whose main purpose is to overthrow a colonial
regime, we can explain the content and provisions of the Kartilya as a reaction and
response to certain value systems that they found despicable in the present state of things
that they struggled against with.
 In the context of the Spanish colonial era where the indios were treatetd as the inferior of
the white Europeans.
HIGHLIGHTS:

 Moreover, one can analyze the values upheld in the document as consistent with the
burgeoning rational and liberal ideals in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.
 Equality, tolerance, freedom, and liberty were values that first emerged in the eighteenth
century French Revolution, which spread throughout the Europe and reached the educated class
of the colonies.
 Aside from the liberal values, we can also decipher Victorian and chivalrous values in the text.
The teaching of the Katipunan on how women should be treated with honor and respect, while
positive in many respects and certainly a significant stride from the practice of raping and
physically abusing women, can still be telling of the Katipunan’s secondary regard for women
in relation to men.
HIGHLIGHTS:

 In the contemporary eyes, the Katipunan can be criticized because of these provisions.
However, one must not forget the context where the organization was born. Not even in
Europe or in the whole of the West at that juncture recognized the problem of gender
inequality.
 Aside from Rizal’s known Letter to the Women of Malolos, no same effort by the
supposed cosmopolitan Propaganda Movement was achieved until the movement’s
eventual disintegration in the latter part of the 1890s.
HIGHLIGHTS:

 Aside from this, the Kartilya was instructive not just of the Katipunan’s conduct toward
other people, but also for the members’ development as individuals in their own rights.
 Generally speaking, the rules in the Kartilya can be classified as either directed to how
one should treat his neighbor or to how one should develop and conduct one’s self.