The Katipunan Part 13

I declare that on account of my entrance into the K. K. K. of the A. N. B. I have sworn a solemn oath in my native pueblo and in the presence of a superior of the Junta of the Katipunan, to do away with everything that is possible and even with that which is to me most near and dear and appreciated in this life, and to defend the cause to victory or to death. And in truth of this I swear also to be obedient in everything and to follow in the fight wherever I am led.

And in proof of what I have said I place my true name with the blood of my veins at the foot of this declaration."

Note 84. Pio Valenzuela, who gave some of the most interesting and reliable information concerning the inner life of the Katipunan, testified (fols. 1,663-1,673) that on the 30th of November 1895, the birthday of Bonifacio, a meeting was held in Caloocan, in a house situated in the rice fields, some thirty five or forty individuals a.s.sisting thereat, among them being the witness. This meeting continued all day and all night till the following day, the first of December. At this meeting they p.r.o.nounced the death sentence upon the tailor Guzman for publishing the secrets of the Katipunan; this sentence was signed by all present including the witness, after he had made many observations against it, observations the rest would not listen to. One of the lighter punishments meted out was the public exposition in the lodge rooms of the picture of the person punished, with the word traitor written over or under it.

Note 85. The Katipunan enjoyed a peculiar and special organization, which was given to it in order to avoid surprises and treachery. The a.s.semblies were always held in secluded places and under the cover of the greatest secrecy. Sometimes they were held at midnight in the open cornfields so as not to attract the attention of those indians who were not members of the society. Valenzuela relates how a secret meeting was held in the pueblo of Pasig at midnight, on one occasion to arrange the matter of the annexation of the Islands to j.a.pan in case that nation did not care to declare a protectorate over them.

The Council of Ministers of the Supreme popular Council was as follows:

President Andres Bonifacio.

War Teodoro Plata.

State Emilio Jacinto.

Interior Aguedo del Rosario.

Justice Birecio Pantas.

Finance Enrique Pacheco.

Note 86. Pio Valenzuela mentioned one occasion upon which such a meeting of the society was held, he himself a.s.sisting thereat, in the house of Andres Bonifacio. It was a supper given in honor of the baptism of a child to which the said Valenzuela was G.o.d-father. After the supper, which served as a shield under the which the work of the lodge was to be done, an election was held for the Supreme and the Popular Councils, and the sections. Some thirty members were present.

Another case he mentioned was that of a meeting held on the birthday of Bonifacio 30th of November 1895.

The Katipunan moreover had its own festivals. This is how Valenzuela describes them:

"The Katipunan held its festival, according as Andres Bonifacio had told the witness, on the 7th of July, anniversary of the foundation of the society; it also celebrated another anniversary on the 28th of February, the date of the execution of the three native priests, Burgos, Gomez and Zamora (see note 81). On that day a catafalque draped with black cloth, was erected in each one of the popular Councils, having four hachones [76], one in each of its four angles, adorned with crowns made with plants named Macabuhay [77]. All the members filed before the funeral pile, reciting prayers for the dead and swearing to avenge the death of the three priests.

Note 87. Roman Baza, who was one of the many who suffered the death penalty for his treason, undertook to educate in ultra-democratic ideas, (as Isabelo de los Reyes is doing in our days), all he came in contact with. He printed and spread abroad the "rights of man"

of the French revolution.

He was at one time president of the Katipunan (see p. 44) but being a man little suited to carry out to a successful issue the set plans of the society, Bonifacio determined to remove him, by what Sr. Diaz terms a coup-d'etat, but more properly called an underhand trick. Bonifacio, at that time treasurer, forced a conflict on the subject of the financial conditions of the society, being denounced as an exploiter for his pains. The quarrel was settled by an election, Bonifacio by his unholy influence carrying all before him.

It was during the presidency of Baza that the Katipunan society for women was founded, "the object of which was mutual succor (!). The inst.i.tution serving at the same time to dissimulate the meetings of the male Katipuneros. Whilst the latter were holding their sessions in a retired room, the women were in the salon with some young men dancing, singing or eating. The presidentess of this society of mutual succorers was Mariana Dizon.

To secure admission it was necessary to be a daughter or sister of one of the male members. Mariana Dizon later on married Jose Turiano Santiago, and as a result, the female Katipunan, as an organization was broken up, the late members however continuing to shield as before, the labors of the Katipunan reunions.

Note 88. See notes 74, 75 and 93. Part of the local and provincial Spanish press has not failed to give the public a rehash from time to time, of the greater part of the inventions of the separatists. It is needless to say, however, that in this it has failed to receive the support of representative Spaniards who look upon such an action as little to the honor of the good name of Spain. As to the corresponding English-speaking press in this connection, the less said the better for the good name of American journalism.

Note 89. Jose Dizon Matanza stated during his trial (fols. 1,132-1,138) "that Pio Valenzuela sought money from the wealthy, and as he (the prisoner) understood, from a statement of Bonifacio, had collected over a thousand pesos for the object of covering the expenses of the trip which he made to Dapitan to confer with Rizal; and in order to fool the authorities he took with him a blind individual with his guide, that Rizal might perform a cure or some operation upon the blind man. The motive of the conference was the proposition to Rizal of the armed rebellion, etc., etc."

Valenzuela himself spoke of this trip to Dapitan (see note 16, p. 133) as follows:--

"In the month of May of that year 1896, a reunion was held in Pasig and there it was agreed to send a commission to j.a.pan ... and it was agreed also to commence the armed rebellion, settling the manner in which it should be carried out, but it was decided that, previous to taking action it would be wise to consult with Rizal, the witness being chosen as emissary. The schoolmaster of Cavite Viejo, by name Santos, proposed that a blind man named Raymundo Mata should accompany Valenzuela that Rizal might cure him. The witness embarked on the S. S. Venus at the end of May, meeting on board, one of Rizal's sisters, and his (Rizal's) querida, an American or English woman named Josefina; and arriving at Dapitan, the witness went ash.o.r.e with the two women and a servant that accompanied them, making their way to the house of Rizal, etc., etc."

According to a statement of Isabelo de los Reyes, "Rizal, as has been clearly proved at the trials (of traitors) advised them to wait another two years, as they lacked arms."

I wonder if Rizal foresaw the war to break out two years later between Spain and the United States! His intense desire to go to Cuba would give one that idea.

Note 90. Negotiations indeed! Who can imagine the circ.u.mspect and formal little nation of j.a.pan admitting negotiations with a warehouse porter, a man who was representative only of the worst of the lowest cla.s.ses! Sr. Diaz probably made this statement from hearsay por boca de ganso as they say in Spanish. If any negotiations took place between Bonifacio and the j.a.panese Government they were on a par with those between the late U. S. Consuls of Singapore and Hong-Kong, and a few other irresponsible people, and Aguinaldo, the leader of the Katipunan.

Note 91. As has been seen in the foregoing notes, it was the intention of the separatists to make purchases of arms and their necessary ammunition in j.a.pan. Those wealthy Filipinos who were owners of steamships were looked to as the chief a.s.sistance in the transportation and landing of the said arms, etc.

The date of the arrival of the arms, according as appeared from evidence given during the trial of Francisco L. Roxas, was to have been the 31st of December 1896. Lorenzo de la Paz, however, stated that it was the 1st of September of the said year. Others claimed it to be the 13th of September or the 30th of November. As may be easily seen, there was no lack of disagreement among the chiefs of the revolt, and perhaps, as far as the majority were concerned, still more exploitation.

Note 92. Pio Valenzuela y Alejandrino was a licentiate of Medicine, and one of the members of the inferior Supreme Council of the Katipunan. According to his own story he entered the files of the society under compulsion at the hands of Andres Bonifacio, who on the strength of a love affair, gave him the alternative of death or membership in the Katipunan (see p. 132). In his declaration during his trial (fol. 142-147) on the 6th of September 1896, he recorded how on the 30 day of November, S. Andrew's day of the year 1895, he was presented by Andres Bonifacio to various Katipuneros as "brother" Medico (Doctor), Bonifacio stating that from that time he (Valenzuela) would be the doctor of the society. He also stated how, in the following month of January and in another meeting, he was nominated Fiscal, and official doctor with a salary of thirty pesos monthly, a salary he had no little difficulty in collecting. He was commissioned in May 1896 to go to Dapitan to hold a conference with Rizal concerning armed rising against the supreme authority of Spain in the Archipelago; but Rizal was shrewder and more far-sighted than the others and would not consent to the carrying out of the scheme as proposed by Bonifacio. On the return of Valenzuela Bonifacio imposed upon him a strict silence concerning the outcome of the conference; but being pressed by certain members of the society, among whom were Emilio Jacinto, Secretary of the Supreme Council, and capita Ramon of Pandacan, he revealed the secret of Rizal's opposition to a plan he feared would be abortive. When once the cat was out of the bag the facts soon became public among the princ.i.p.al members, with the result that many who had promised funds for the purchase of arms etc. in j.a.pan, refused to pay the amounts promised. Among these was a colonel of Malabon who had promised 500 pesos for the said object. This breach of confidence on the part of Valenzuela brought about the separation of himself and Bonifacio, and the former presented his resignation as doctor and fiscal of the society. Bonifacio opposed the idea of his resignation but it was finally accepted, and the former friends parted company each to work in his own sphere.

Valenzuela was in fact one of the chief movers of the rebellion; this was confessed by Domingo Franco, the late president of the then defunct Liga Filipina. "The rebellion," says he, "was produced by a foolish child, whose name it would dirty the tongue to p.r.o.nounce, because after being the author of all (this however is somewhat inexact) has given himself up to the authorities to denounce those he has succeeded in misleading."

During his trial in the Bilibid prison, before Col. Francisco Olive y Garcia on the 2nd of September 1896, he gave some of the most interesting and reliable information that has yet been gathered concerning the interior workings and doings of the Katipunan.

When the Guardia Civil set out from Manila to break up Bonifacio's party in Caloocan, several of those forming the leadership fled, and among them Valenzuela. He entered Manila by way of Sampaloc, pa.s.sing through Quiapo to the Escolta and down the Pasaje de Perez, embarking there on one of the lake steamers. On arrival at Binang he went to the house of the co-adjutor D. Silvino Manaol (native priest), to whom he recounted what had taken place. The co-adjutor asked of the parish priest the proclamation of the Governor General conceding pardon to those who should present themselves [78]. Having read it with care and under the advice of the co-adjutor, he set out for the capital disembarking at the Ayala bridge from whence he took a quiles and went immediately to the palace of the Governor to present himself to him. The Governor General was not at home so Valenzuela at once started for the offices of the Military Government.

Speaking of this giving up of himself of Valenzuela, Sr. Jose M. del Castillo y Jimenez says: "The forty-eight hours conceded by the proclamation of the Governor Blanco were about to close when there reached the palace of Sta. Potenciana, worn out, bathed in perspiration, and almost in a period of agony, Pio Valenzuela, an important person of revolution he being in such a condition that it was necessary to a.s.sist him previous to his pa.s.sing into the presence of Gov. Blanco. When he had come to himself and was in a condition to make an explicit and ample confession he had two hours conference with the Governor, giving information of as such as he knew."

"Valenzuela and Rosario were of great utility in clarifying the facts and especially in the explanation of the cipher doc.u.ments discovered in the house of Villaruel and others."

SPECIAL NOTE.

The reader's attention is called to paragraph 3 on the following page of the text (p. 47).

Apart from the Councils spoken of in this and the former paragraphs there were others formed at a later date. These were more properly variations and were as follows:

Trozo: Popular Council Maypagasa with four sections, Dapitan, Silanganan, Dimasagaran, and Dimas-Alang.

Palomar: Popular Council Pinkian with two sections.