The Katipunan Part 2

"In Trozo the popular Council Dapitan [10] presided over by Francisco Carreon, and the sections Silanganan and Alapaap, by Juan de la Cruz and R. Concha.

"In Binondo the popular Council Ilog Pasig by Faustino Ma.n.a.lac.

"In Concepcion and Dilao (Paco) the popular Council Mahiganti, presided over by Rafael Gutierrez, and the sections Panday and Ilog with a delegation in Ermita.

"But why continue? It would not be exaggerating to a.s.sert that the fourth of the native population pertained to the Katipunan, and the task of consigning more names would be useless, as nothing new would be discovered.

"Astounding is the number of the initiated; in Manila and its province alone they exceed 14,000, and in the provinces of Cavite, Batangas, Laguna and Nueva Ecija there are no less than 20,000. Adding to this number those of the remainder of Luzon, the total will ascend to an enormous ma.s.s of "illusioned" who bowed in obedience to an inquisitous schemer. It must be recognized, however, that Bonifacio is not a common man; of active character, energetic and bold, gifted with a facility of expression in his language which suggested itself to his countrymen; of a criterion clear but badly cultivated by the reading of books of an elevated style and a pernicious character [11]

and possessed of an unfathomable ambition--such was the warehouse porter who had charge of the store house of the foreign commercial house of Fressel and Co. in Calle Nueva, Binondo [12].

"His proclamations, pamphlets, and circulars although not a model of literature were possessed of a certain amount of culture.

"In Calle Clavel, in the dwelling house of Alejandro Santiago, the Katipunan possessed a secret printing establishment, in which were prepared many most injurious and insulting publications. There also was edited and published the paper Kalayaan (Liberty) (93) which only twice saw the light and which was supposed to have been printed in Yokohama, (it bearing the name of that town as the place of publication) and was published over the signature of Marcelo H. del Pilar. This was all false, all studied out for the purpose of throwing dust in the eyes of the local authorities. The paper was edited by Bonifacio, his brother-in-law Teodoro Plata and the secretary of the Supreme Council, Emilio Jacinto, a young student of law, of no scanty intelligence.

"On the 19th of August last (1896) the conspiracy was denounced and a great number of imprisonments were made by this Corps. Bonifacio and those more closely connected with him in his schemes, fled aghast to the neighboring pueblo of Caloocan and there remained hidden in the house of the Capitan Munic.i.p.al (a native) and in that of the Capitan Pasado (also a native) Adriano de J, father-in-law to Andres Bonifacio. On the 23rd Bonifacio set out for the barrio of Balintauac, followed by some 200 inhabitants of Caloocan; on the 24th they were combatted by the Civil Guard in the fields of the said pueblo and fled to their former hiding place.

"The Supreme Council convoked a large a.s.sembly to be held on the following day in the said barrio, to which gathered more than 500 members; there a discussion took place concerning the steps which would have to be taken in view of the failure of the conspiracy, and of the imprisonments which were being made. Some, feeling repentant, desired to return to a legal status, submitting to the Spanish authority but the president Bonifacio protested, proposing immediate rebellion. Both propositions were put to the vote, and as a result, that of the president gained by an immense majority; so much for the prestige of Andres Bonifacio! (94).

"The orders were circulated with rapidity throughout Manila, Cavite, Nueva Ecija and other provinces, commanding that armed rebellion should commence at day-break of Sunday the 30th. The day and hour a.s.signed finally arrived, and the whole province of Manila broke out; the rebels committing a thousand and one abuses and crimes upon as many Europeans and loyal natives as were encountered. Like wild beasts they attacked the waterworks and the powder station situated at San Juan del Monte from whence they were valiantly driven back by a section of artillery and another of the 70th regiment. Simultaneously they attempted to invade the suburb of Sampaloc by way of Santa Mesa and there also they were combatted and dispersed by 60 Veteran Guards who prevented, by their defence, a day of mourning for the city of Manila. All Cavite, except the capital, arose in insurrection on the afternoon of the 31st., a.s.sa.s.sinating and disarming the whole of the Civil Guard of the province, after an heroic defence on the part of the latter. They a.s.saulted the convents and estates of the Religious Orders and murdered the defenseless ministers of the Lord (95). On the 3rd of September the capital of Nueva Ecija was attacked by large ma.s.ses of rebels, and the colony [13] and the Civil Guard heroically resisted until the arrival, from Manila, of a column which combatted the enemy and saved that handful of Spaniards from a certain death. But why continue to relate events so well known to all [14].

DENOUNCEMENT OF THE CONSPIRACY AND ITS DISCOVERER.

"Teodoro Patino. A name which all Spaniards should p.r.o.nounce with pleasure, because, by his repentance, inspired by divine Providence (96), Spain was saved from an unending series of bitter experiences.

"Patino, a workman in the printing establishment of the Diario de Manila, pertained to the Katipunan of Tondo, as did also the majority of the compositors and book binders of the said establishment.

"Repentant and fearful of the increase of the a.s.sociation, and of the criminal projects it pursued, he decided to denounce it to his sister, a student of the College of Looban, directed by the learned and virtuous Sisters of Mercy (97). His sister made known the denunciation to her Superior who called Patino into her presence; and realizing the gravity which surrounded the matter, sent him to the Rev. P. Mariano Gil, parish priest of Tondo (98), a suburb of Manila; to this Rev. Father, Patino repeated all that he had manifested, and all that he could know, he being only a simple initiated member. He affirmed that in the printing establishment of the Diario receipts and proclamations were printed, and daggers were secretly made for the Katipunan, and he offered, moreover, to make known where the lithographic stones used for the printing were hidden.

"Srs. Grund and Cortes, lieutenants of the sub-division of the Veterana of that district, were called to the convent by P. Gil, who expounded to them all that had occurred. These officers made known the facts to their chiefs, and const.i.tuted themselves into a "cuartelillo". That same night there fell into the power of P. Gil the lithographic stones, some receipts and printed regulations of the Katipunan: objects which were placed at the disposition of this Corps. In the "cuartelillo"

Patino was minutely examined, and immediate proceedings were commenced for the arrest of 22 oath bound katipuneros, whose houses were also searched. In this search an abundance of doc.u.ments and effects which justified the denunciation were encountered. From that time no stone was left unturned by the officers and guards of this Corps, who for 15 days worked unceasingly and untiringly that their labor might be crowned with the greatest success.

"More than 500 prisoners of importance, among those who were convicted and among those who confessed, were handed over to the Courts of Justice together with all the doc.u.ments, books, pamphlets, seals, attributes and the archives of the Supreme Council. The back of the vast conspiracy was broken; some of the guilty have already expiated their crimes (99), many have suffered deportation, (100) whilst no few still remain in prison awaiting the decision of human justice.

"If with our aid we have contributed to the salvation of this portion of Spanish territory, what better recompense and reward for this Section of the Guardia Civil Veterana?

"Manila, 28th October 1896--Olegario Diaz--Signed--The doc.u.ment bears a seal which reads: Seccion de Guardia Civil Veterana.--Manila.

Here ends the doc.u.ment which forms the text. In continuation follow the notes with their corresponding numbers.

NOTES.

These notes are, as regards historical matter, chiefly taken from Spanish official doc.u.ments drawn up as a result of juridical procee- dings against certain individuals accused of treason.

Note 2. In that period of time in which the evil effects of freemasonry began to tell upon the public and private life of the government officials and upon the morals of the people in general, the Civil Governor of Manila, D. Justo Martin Lunas (1886), gave a ball to which the cream of Manila society was invited. Among the selections for the evening was an extravagant item, nothing more or less than ... a can-can! This in itself was enough; but what made the matter so much the worse was that the governor had invited the venerable Archbishop of Manila to the ball. The news of the innovation spread far and wide, and very soon the whole city was in a state of wild excitement. In the defense of public morals the Archbishop deemed it necessary to issue a pastoral letter condemning such spectacles.

Although not directed at that particular "school of scandal", this pastoral was interpreted by all those concerned, as well as by the public in general, as a severe lesson for Sr. Lunas and those who had gathered in the government house to dance the can-can or to take pleasure therein. Hence Sr. Luna and his party considered themselves offended, and did not hesitate to take revenge when an opportunity occurred, upon the aged and infirm Archbishop who did all he had done, in defense of the morals of his flock.

From this event sprung the seed which gave rise, later on, to the famous, or rather infamous manifestation of '88: an insensate campaign inspired against the Religious Orders by these offended ones and their followers (See note 30).

The Civil Governor at that time was D. Jose Centeno y Garcia an active propagator of freemasonry, holding the 33rd degree. He, together with Sr. Quiroja, fostered and G.o.dfathered the "manifestation". In this semi-official insult to Archbishop Payo, an insult so ably a.n.a.lysed by Sr. Retana [15], we have one of the best examples that could be furnished of the methods adopted by the masonic enemies of the Catholic faith in this archipelago. This manifestation, fostered by a governor who drew down upon himself the righteous ire of all honorable men and women by reason of his protection of the houses of ill-fame in and about the city, was a truly masonic invention by which many, in fact some 98% of those who signed it, were grossly deceived. The following notes taken from the a.n.a.lysis of Sr. Retana, will give an idea of the real value of the "manifestation" and the part the people had therein. In the Suburb of Sta. Cruz there were 144 people who signed the doc.u.ment, that is to say there were 144 names. Of these no less than 56 were unknown, 3 were minors and 3 did not recognize their signatures; 52 were natives and 8 were Chinese half-castes. In Sampaloc: 61 signatures, all of which were of indians none of whom followed trades or professions which necessitated the use of brain power. In Malate: 38 signatures, 31 of indians, only 15 of whom understood Spanish. In Binondo: 41, 31 of whom were indians; five minors. In Sta. Ana, out of 104, the number of minors was 14, and 50 did not understand Spanish; 66 were indians. In Caloocan: 80 signatures of which 55 were indians who did not understand Spanish; 38 were laborers, 7 were minors. In Navotas: 140 signatures; 49 laborers, and 49 fishermen; 127 did not understand Spanish. In Mariquina: 68, 38 of whom were laborers, 51 did not understand Spanish. In San Fernando de Dilao (Paco): 35; 6 minors and all indians. In San Mateo, 50 signatures; 39 laborers, 45 indians, 41 of whom did not understand Spanish. In San Miguel 49; and here comes the crowning piece of the magnificent work, for of these 49 no fewer than 16 had died! yes died previous to the drawing up of the doc.u.ment and therefore could not possibly have signed it; moreover 7 did not recognize their signatures, and all were indians.

In recapitulation; there were 810 signatures; of these 85 did not declare on examination, 56 were unknown, 39 were minors, 22 did not recognize their signatures and 16 had died previous to the drawing up of the doc.u.ment (Feb. 20th 1888). This brings the 810 down to 592. Of these 592 signatures 208 were of laborers, 50 of fishermen, 31 of carpenters, 7 washermen and 5 barbers: a total of 301 persons whose occupations called for no particular amount of education, and whose interest and concern in such a movement as this may be judged from their social standing. Deducting these 301 from the remaining 592 we have 291 left for further a.n.a.lysis. Of these 25 were of tailors, 4 singers (!) and 3 school masters; 58 escribientes whose occupation it is to make clean copies of doc.u.ments and other ma.n.u.script, the most that can be said of the majority of them being that they can write well, not an uncommon thing anyhow for a filipino; 11 of musicians, men who lead the life of crickets, enjoying hunger by day and noise by night; 9 type-setters, men who after having set a dozen columns of material could not tell you anything of the subject they were composing, in other words, men who like the escribientes reproduce mechanically without knowing what they are reproducing; this gives us 107 of another grade leaving 184 to be divided among the many odds and ends of occupations followed by the native to earn his "fish and rice". No less than 384 of the number did not understand Spanish and 13 could not write. In the matter of races: ONE was a Spaniard, Enrique Rodriguez de los Palacios who called himself a merchant and was domiciled in Binondo. Upon investigation it turned out that he also had been fooled and that he had signed the protest because he had been told that other Spaniards had also signed it; as to its contents he affirmed that he knew nothing. One was a Spanish mestizo, 66 were Chinese half-castes and 524 were indians. So much for the famous manifestation which resulted in giving a most decisive blow to the moral and social standing of those who prepared and those who signed it. Those concerned therein learned the bitter lesson that "they who dig pits for their neighbors are apt to fall therein themselves."

The common opinion has always been that the doc.u.ment in question was drawn up by Doroteo Cortes (see note 11) who had on several occasions been under police vigilance; had been expelled from Navotas and compelled to reside within the walled city, later on pardoned, but still kept under police surveillance. But however that may be, the doc.u.ment was infamous in the extreme, and was the precursor of the modern campaign against the Religious Orders. From that time to this present, this campaign has continued to spread, and is still being fostered by the Federal Party.

Another of the advanced ideas which saw the light of day during the interim governorship of D. Jose Centeno y Garcia, a 33rd degree freemason and a stout republican, was the toleration, for the first time in the history of the Archipelago, of houses of prost.i.tution. Centeno was a governor who, having erred considerably during his governorship, attempted some years later to regain public confidence by the publication of an insulting pamphlet against the Religious Orders. This novelty of semi-official houses of ill-fame was, for Manila, a most genuine expression of modern democracy. Scandals until then unheard of or undreamed of in Manila, became the order of the day. White girls imported or inveigled, were hired out by their mistresses to pander to the sensual appet.i.tes of blacks, merely because the said black-skinned sensualists were wealthy enough to pay the price demanded. What edification! Fundicion street became a centre in which the scandals daily increased in number and importance. The native weaned after many long years of careful training at the hands of the Religious Orders, from the vices in which he was found submerged at the time of the Spanish Conquest, was brought face to face with the same scandalous surroundings, introduced by people of the same white race which had removed his forefathers therefrom. Gradually but surely this leaven of corruption has eaten its way into the customs of the people, and to-day we are witnesses of its terrible effects. A comparison of the public morals of to-day with those of 20 years or so ago, would reveal facts which would astound many of those who are at a loss to account for the reason of the existence of the "querida"

evil among so many of the Filipinos of modern Manila. A quarter of a century ago Manila was a paradise to what it is to-day, crimes so common in these days that they are scarcely worth recording, were unheard of; and even drunkenness was almost entirely confined to foreign sailors. What Manila is to-day it owes to the advanced and anti religious ideas introduced by freemasonry and modern democracy.

Note 3. Separatism, vulgarly called filibusterism, has always, in the Philippines, been marked by essential characteristics. It was always, under the circ.u.mstances by which it was surrounded, necessarily anti-patriotic. One thing which helped to give it the robust life it enjoyed among the middle cla.s.s of people, was the supposition of the existence of a Tagalog civilization anterior to the discovery of the archipelago by the famous Magallanes. This fantastic doctrine was preached and propagated princ.i.p.ally by two of the more prominent Filipinos, Pedro Paterno and Jose Rizal. The former, much less cultured than Rizal, was the one to whom the most insensate ideas on this subject were owing, and this because although Rizal upheld the idea, he was led to do so by his perverse character rather than by his belief; whilst Paterno really believes in this pre-Spanish civilization, and that to such a degree that many of his own country-men call him a fool and ridicule him. Another essential mark was the enmity demonstrated against the Religious Orders. But few, if any at all of the propagators of the doctrines of separatism labored outside of the four walls of the masonic lodge room. In other words they were freemasons. Masonry was to them a medium through which they might carry on their conspiracies; it was an excuse for the creation of the spirit of a.s.sociation, till then unknown in the Philippines.

The aims of separatism may be cla.s.sed as direct and indirect. The indirect aim was the independence of the country from the yoke of Spain. At the best this idea of independence was but second hand, a lesson learned by heart by a scholar whose power of thought was insufficient to enable him to grasp the true meaning of the words of the lesson. The average Filipino lacks the sentiment of nationality; hence in the minds of the majority of the people independence is but the enjoyment of the unbridled liberty to do as they please, in fact to revert to the times of their ancestors when everyone who could exert an authority was a king, a prince or a ruler of some description. To the Filipino it is of little importance whether his sovereign or his supreme ruler be the King of Spain or the President of the U. S. of America, as long as he is protected from his "friends"

and from his own country-men and may enjoy his c.o.c.k-fighting and have the necessary supply of rice and fish for his daily sustenance.

The direct aims of the separatists were those they sought in public, viz: representation in the Spanish Cortes, the expulsion of the Religious Orders, etc., etc. The result of representation in the Cortes would have been a veritable comedy; that of the expulsion of the Friars a decided tragedy for Spain, in as much as the Religious was ever the backbone of the administration of the colony. The consequences of the independence of the country would have been equally disastrous. There would have been the tremendous preponderance of the black over the white and eventually inter-tribal disputes and even armed struggles for the mastery. This would entail the complete stagnation of the moral and material progress of the people, who would gradually but surely drift back into the savage ways of their ancestors. And at last, who knows but that j.a.pan or perhaps China would have to step in to save the inhabitants from becoming cannibals.

This doctrine of separatism was the doctrine disseminated by Filipino masonry, a daughter of Spanish freemasonry. Filipino freemasonry however, was to a great extent addicted to views not held or sustained by the Gr. Or. Espanol, and hence did not make common cause with Universal Freemasonry, although it used its ritual, its signs and its name, to shield from public view those of its labors which could not be allowed to see the light of day. Hence the diving into the subject of Universal Freemasonry is somewhat irrelevant to our present study, suffice it to say that the brotherhood, universal as it is, suffers no other division than that into families. Its aim is one; its methods one; its doctrine one [16]; it is the worldly imitation of the unparalleled Catholic unity of divine foundation.

The Spanish family was founded in 1811 by the Count de Gra.s.se-Tilley. On the 21st of February 1804 the Supreme Council of Charleston issued a circular to the Count in which it said among other things which demonstrate the aim of the foundation: "Above the idea of country is the idea of humanity"; "frontiers are capricious demarcations imposed by the use of force." And others of the same nature.

When the Count set forth to found the Spanish Supreme Council he was armed with a letters patent issued by the Supreme Council of Charleston containing this sentence: "the masonic solidity will never be effective whilst the brethren do not recognize one only power, as is one only the earth we inhabit, and one also the horizon we contemplate.... To unify, therefore, the masonic labors we all journey to the one end to which the work of this Supreme Council is directed, and hence what we have pointed out to Spain as one of the points in which is more necessary than elsewhere the one direction to which we refer."

In 1882 Spanish freemasons were divided into different Orientes each of which claimed continuity with the inst.i.tution of Gra.s.se-Tilley; the matter was finally settled by the Supreme Council of Charleston.

Opinion is divided on the question of the responsibility of the Spanish freemason lodges or rather the ruling "Oriente" for the beliefs and practices of their filipino brethren. That they were indirectly responsible is more than certain; and oft-times they were so indirectly. D. Manuel Sastron ex-Deputy to the Spanish Cortes, ex-Civil Governor of the Philippines, speaking on this subject says: "It is not possible for us on any account to fall in line with these suspicious reasonings: never have we had a disposition to form a part of such a sect, because we are old time Christians; but we repeat that we cannot believe nor do we imagine that any masonic centre composed of peninsular Spaniards could tolerate, and much less foment consciously, the propagation of doctrines which, whatever masonry brought about in the Philippines, could have given origin to the congregation of separatist elements."

"Nevertheless side by side with this firm conviction we repeat what we tersely maintained, viz: that freemasonry has been the medium which marshalled the element which generalled the Filipino insurrection. Filibusterism knew how to exploit it to a fine point."

"We do not find it inconvenient to affirm, but just the opposite, we repeat with pleasure and absolute belief that Spanish freemasonry was ignorant of the true ends of the Filipino masons. But it is proved to our way of thinking, to the point of evidence, that Filipino masonry pursued no other ends than the independence of those islands (the Philippines.)" [17]

It must be noted that this is the opinion of a Spanish patriot, for a patriot Sastron certainly was, and what is more natural than that a true patriot should doubt the possibility of his own countrymen mixing themselves up in anti-patriotic movements: Yet while Sastron and other writers would redeem their fellow countrymen from such a stain as that of treason, I am inclined to believe that the a.s.serted ignorance of the Spanish freemason was too often official, that is to say it was not genuine, but limited to the members of the society who enjoyed the privileges of the lower degrees.

There are two sides to every question, however, and that the "other side" may be given a fair hearing, I will quote a declaration of Antonio Luna on this subject. Luna, among the many statements made before the Lieut. Col. in command of the Cuartel de Caballeria, on the 8th of October 1896, confessed that "in the year 1890 or 91, of his own free-will, he formed a masonic project based on Spanish masonry: a project which might, at its proper time be applied to filibuster conspiracy. This project was discussed and approved by the Oriente Espanol in Madrid; but that center did not know the secondary ends to which it would be applied.... Of his own free-will he manifested that his ideas were, when he formed the project, anti-Spanish...."