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Most histories say the Katipunan was born on July 7, 1892, and they
may be right, but that was not the date it was conceived. The news circulating
on July 7 of Rizal’s deportation to Mindanao may or may not have been the
final catalyst that brought the society to life, but it had been plotted a while
earlier.
A declaration of independence
Nor is there any doubt or equivocation about the extent of the territory
over which the Catipunan is to govern. It is to be the entire Archipelago,
“which in time will be given a proper name.” The Spaniards will not be
ousted, the document recognizes, by peaceful means; the fight ahead will
demand courage and selfless sacrifice, and in due course the Catipunan will
direct its leaders in the provinces to raise an army.
A statement of motives
But noteworthy too are the matters about which the “Caysaysayan” is
silent. The Spanish friars, for instance, are condemned implicitly for
suppressing modern knowledge and explicitly for fornication. But there is no
mention of the bitterness felt towards them in some localities as landowners
and small-town despots, or to their opposition to the preferment of native
clergy. Other than a passing reference to the “Joloanos,” there is no censure of
the threat posed by the Spanish regime to the cultures and beliefs of the
Muslims and other non-Christianized peoples of the Islands. Abuses of power
by the Spanish provincial governors, the alcaldes, are also left unremarked, as
are the excesses of the Guardia Civil in the provinces, and the conscription of
forced labor for public works projects. Nor is any reference made to Spaniards
as employers, either as hacenderos in the countryside or as the owners of
tobacco factories, print shops and other establishments in the city. The sole
discontent voiced in relation to conditions in places of work is less about
exploitation than discrimination, and the single example cited at that juncture
is not a farm or a factory, but the offices of the Governor General.
An organizational blueprint
The third and final part of this document, the “Manga daquilang
cautosan” or “Principal orders,” calls upon “the entire subject population” to
heed the declaration of independence and to recognize the Catipunan as the
sole sovereign power in the Islands.
The orders then detail the proposed structure of the Catipunan, arrangements
for the collection and safekeeping of dues, the oath that initiates should swear
and sign in blood, and the establishment of a central bank or treasury. This
part of the document has been transcribed in full below, but has not been
translated. The plans it sets out were not put into effect, and in August 1892
they were superseded by the framework set out in the next document. Some
sections of the “Casaysayan” and “Pinagcasundoan” were also discarded or
revised at that time, but others were retained.
Orthography
Two words, signifiers for the hated enemy, are half-suppressed. España, the
nation that subjugates the Archipelago, is deliberately diminished as “E……”,
and the españoles are customarily slighted as “her children”, or simply
“them”. And on another occasion they appear not as the “Castila” but as the
“Kzstnja” – the only word in the whole document written in the newly devised
(and not yet fully mastered) cipher of the Association.
Casaysayan
Pag sasaysay ng mga cadahilanan ng pag jiualay ng Capuloang ito
sa nag aanquing Yna.
1.o Ang cataasan at ualang auang pag singil ng buis namin, maguing
sa aming catauan, maguing sa mga are o cayamanan namin.
11. Jindi cami bigyang layao na maca licja o magcalat ng ano mang
libro o casulatan sa aming uica na icamumulat namin sa gauang magaling
at icaliliuanag ng manga pag-iisip gaya ng manga Artes y Ciencias at iba
pang jindi banal; caya ganoon ay upanding cami ay manatili sa cabulagan,
at cung acayen saan man ay juag macaaninao ng catoiran at iba pang mga
carangalan.
12. Ariing pag labag at pag laban sa Jare ang alin mang dumulog at
itagjoy sa caniya o itala ang mga camalian, calabisan at madlang casaman
ng caniyang manga anac na ditoy pinag catiualaan ng caniyang
capangyarijan at pamamajala sa Capuloang ito.
15. Ang jindi pag ganap nang caniyang manga anac sa mga
cautosang maca pag bibigay ayos sa amin, caya gayon upanding cami ay
malubos sa casalatan.
16. [sic] Juag caming payagang macapag palimbag nang ano mang
tagabalita (Periodico) lalo pa cung sa aming uica, na jindi magdaraan
muna sa punajan (Sensura) pagcat ito,i, casaboat, bajalang pumintas cun
ang salitaan ay may sisiualat nang manga camalian nang pinuno. Caya
ganoon ay nang juag dumating sa balita ng iba lalo na sa E........ ang mga
capusongang guinagaua dito, at bajala na ang nasasactan, cung may
gagastajin, lumayag patungo doon at mag sacdal, baga mat jindi rin
didinguin at juala namang gagaua pa nang ganoong paraan, upang juag
nang mabasagulojan.
17. Pag api ngay malabis gaya nang nangyayare sa mga Oficina
nang Jare sa manga Capuloang ito na ang manga utosan at tagasulat ay
pauang tagalog at ang manga tinatauag na Oficiales at Jefes ay tagauas na
Castila, baga mat iilan sa manga Pinunong ito ang maalam gumaua at ang
caramijan ay jindi pumapasoc at nangag lilibot lamang, bajalang gumaua
na ang canicanilang manga tagasulat ng manga gagaoin na natutungcol sa
canila at cung mayari ay sucat na lamang ang canilang tibayan o firmajan.
!Mabubuting upajan....!
Pinagcasundoan
Caming nag
Yamang mag bujat nang una, ang E.... sa caniyang pag samsam at
pag cacalat ng caniyang capangyarijan sa boong Capuloang ito, jindi
gumugol ng malaquing pujunan, maguing pagod, dugo o bujay man,
pagcat, ang manga Campon niyaon ay sinalubong ng malaquing
capacumbabaan at tinangap nang boong pag irog, ayon sa canilang
magandang pangaco at pag asang aarinig Anac at Capatid ang boong
tagarito, na di lulupiguin at pag lililicjan sa manga pinag casundoan.
Yamang ang E.... ay nag tubo na at nag camal nang hindi cacaunting
cayamanan sa caniyang pag jauac at pag lupig sa mga Capuloang ito.
1o
2o
3o
4o
5o
6o
7o
8o
9o
Ipinagbibilin ang pitagan nang isa sa isa, gayon din naman ang
ucol at magandang pagsunod nang mababa sa nacatataas sa caniya tungcol
sa catungcolan, at ang manga Pinuno ay mag papatanao ng magandang
gaua at tapat na Catoiran na ualang quiquilingan, upang maguing
jalimbaua sa canicanilang manga campon, na mangag sisigalang sa canila.
10.
11.
Cailan man mag caron ng anomang dajilang dapat mag tayo nang
Sanguni sa jarap ng Cataastaasang Catip... ay ang Pangulo mag papatauag
sa manga Jaligue na mag pulong upanding mag pasiya ang isa at iba sa
arao, horas at lugar na ipag bilin niyaon at capagdacay tutupdin ang
gayong pabilin.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
Ynalilijim sa ngayon nang Cataast... Catip... ang manga ganting bijis
na ibibigay sa magpaquita nang mabuting gaua, pag tupad nang
catungculan, carunongan at catalasan sa mag panuncala, catapangan at
cabaitan.
20.
21.
Sulong
Ps Rs Cs
1a Clase
Pangulo
2a Clase
Jaligue
3a Clase
Sujay
4a Clase
Camay
5a Clase
Campon
22.
23.
Ang ibang manga Pinuno ay ang sulong gagaoin mag bujat sa unang
arao jangang sa icasumpuo na matangapan nang sumpa.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
Balang singil ay mag daraan sa manga pinuno mag bujat sa mababa
jangang dumating sa mataas at lalaquipan nila ng isang talata na mag
sasaysay nang pangalan nang manga nag bigay.
English translation
Narration
1. The pitiless imposition of high taxes upon us, even on our bodies,
even upon our produce or wealth.
3. The imposition of a high tariff on any goods that pass through the
Customs.
8. Does not grant us any privileges like those she gives to her children,
who are the only ones she loves.
9. Does not create positions with salaries that are high unless they are
for her children, whilst our monthly pay is meager.
11. Does not give us any freedom to produce or distribute any book or
document in our language that would open our eyes to beneficial pursuits and
enlighten our thinking on the Arts and Sciences and other things that are not
holy, so that thus we remain in blindness, and wherever we are led we are
prevented from glimpsing reason and other virtues.
12. Deems to be illicit and against the King anything that resembles a
lament about her, or enumerates the mistakes, abuses and public
misdemeanors of her children who are supporting her power and authority
here in this Archipelago.
15. Does not require her children to observe the laws given to order our
affairs, so that any guilt is entirely ours.
20. If sometimes one of these prisoners dies, without any justice, it will
always be pretended that the victim was forced to admit the denunciations or
imputations against them. If they get a confession by such means, the case
will be referred to the corresponding Judge or whatever authority and these
Chiefs will accept that confession.
21. Allows the friars to fornicate with women, so that in the provinces it
is rare for the majority not to have children, and it is rare too that they have
not violated the young women.
22. The parents and other relatives of these women who detest this
conduct have to say immediately that it did not really happen, because
otherwise they will be deported far away.
Covenant
We,
Whereas men depend on the God the Father to achieve their desires.
Whereas the Almighty does not mandate any one of His creations to
oppress and trample on another, particularly if this other has given no cause.
Whereas a people whose interests, needs and true and genuine desires
are under overwhelming attack has just cause to bring down the rulers who
behave in such a way, and if this eventuality arrives it is not lawless or
treasonous, but a response forced by the flame of hardship, and what arouses
the people, in a word, is the defense of true reason.
Whereas for over three hundred years this unfortunate Tagalog people
has labored under the dominion of the Spaniards, bearing great humiliation
and obeying blindly, even though kept under complete slavery, dragged and
submerged in vast hardship, denied loving care, weighed down by heavy
burdens, and never allowed to escape.
Whereas the manner in which the Spaniard behaves and acts does
nothing but wound and hurt the heart of the most peaceful and long-suffering,
and whoever has a genuine love for him.
Whereas this land has been broken from the stem and withered, and
shows no inclination to grow fresh shoots or spring back to life. More
precisely (and a sharp mind is needed to comprehend these mysteries), this
unfortunate land is like a body of which only a skeleton of fragile bones is left
standing, but the body still manages to scratch deeper, and finally it sucks the
last of its own flesh so that it lives no more, and so perhaps gains revenge for
the oppression it has suffered.
Whereas when they were first paying court in order to tread on these
Islands she solemnly promised to treat us like her godchildren, to call us
brothers, to defend us from all dangers, to clothe our nakedness, and not to
talk down to us, but the compact was never honored.
Considering that from the outset, Sp… did not have to incur great
expense, or even effort, blood or life in her confiscation and extension of her
power in this entire Archipelago, because the subjects at that time greeted her
with great humility and received her with full affection on account of her
pledges that everybody here would be her Children and Brothers, that they
would not be subjugated, and that the compact would not be betrayed.
Considering that Spain has prospered and accumulated not
inconsiderable riches as a result of her possession and subjugation of these
Islands.
Having regard to all the abuses narrated above, which open deep
wounds in our heart, and for the reasons enumerated here, we affirm below
this document that we are of one accord and resolve to put an end to this
enslavement, maltreatment, injustice and many other abuses that this
subjugated Archipelago suffers at the hands of its pitiless, ravenous and
bestial oppressors.
We swear also that we approve and shall put into effect the rules set out
below, which have been signed and agreed by the gentlemen at the fore of this
Supreme Catipunan. With our respect and salutations, on _______the
________ of January one thousand, eight hundred and ninety-two.
Principal orders
For the achievement of all that is set out in the foregoing Covenant, we
are ordering the entire subject population of these Islands, which in time will
be given a proper name, and we are appealing to them with the utmost fervor
to implement and accomplish the following decisions:
1o
It is hereby now declared that from this day forward these Islands are
separated from --------- and that no other leadership or authority shall be
recognized or acknowledged other than this Supreme Catipunan.
2o