Andres Bonifacio

A revolutionary life, the Katipunan, and the struggle for freedom.

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Andres Bonifacio — Photo on canvas by David Fabros, based on the Bonifacio Mural by Carlos “Botong” V. Francisco · Museum photograph by Gary Cruz

Portrait of Andrés Bonifacio · Museum collection

A Filipino revolutionary hero who founded the Katipunan, a secret society that spearheaded the uprising against Spain and laid the groundwork for the first Philippine Republic.

Andrés Bonifacio was given the distinct honor of being the architect and the father of the first nationalist revolution in Asia, the Filipino Revolution of 1896. He led the uprising against Spain that set in motion the emancipation of a people who had been colonized and abused for over 300 years.

Andrés Bonifacio was born into a working-class family on November 30, 1863. His hard-working parents were Santiago Bonifacio, a tailor, and Catalina de Castro, a cigarette factory worker.

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Historical notes

Added from published sources.

Kataas-taasang, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan

The Katipunan

The Katipunan, in full the Kataas-taasang, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (Highest and Most Venerable Society of the Children of the Nation), was founded in Manila on the night of July 7, 1892, as news spread of José Rizal’s banishment. Andrés Bonifacio and other members of Rizal’s La Liga Filipina resolved to free the country from Spain by armed revolt, and the society grew in secret until its discovery in August 1896.

Three ranks

Most histories, following Isabelo de los Reyes’s 1899 account, describe three grades of membership, each with its own hood, password, and dues. Members rose by recruiting others and by taking office.

Katipon

New members began as Katipon. At meetings they wore a black hood marked with a white triangle around the letters Z. Ll. B., the society’s cipher for A. N. B., Anak ng Bayan (Child of the Nation), which was also their password. A Katipon who brought in several new members could be promoted to Kawal.

Meaning: Associate or member (from tipon, “to gather”)
Password: Anak ng Bayan
Hood: Black hood with a triangle of white ribbon enclosing the letters Z. Ll. B.
Dues: One real fuerte (12½ céntimos) a month

Kawal

The Kawal wore a green hood with Z., Ll., and B. at the corners of a white triangle, and a medal on a green neck ribbon inscribed with K in baybayin, the old Tagalog script. The password, Gom-Bur-Za, honored Fathers Gómez, Burgos, and Zamora, executed in 1872. A Kawal elected to office became a Bayani.

Meaning: Soldier
Password: Gom-Bur-Za
Hood: Green hood with a white triangle, the letters Z., Ll., and B. at its corners; a medal on a green ribbon bearing the letter K in baybayin
Dues: Twenty centavos a month

Bayani

Officers held the highest grade. A Bayani wore a red mask bearing a white triangle with K. K. K. above Z. Ll. B., and a red sash edged in green; the password was Rizal. Surviving Katipunan papers show that the grades changed over time, and in November 1895 the society’s Supreme Assembly agreed to abolish the Bayani grade.

Meaning: Hero or patriot
Password: Rizal
Hood: Red mask with a white triangle bearing K. K. K. above Z. Ll. B.; red sash with green borders
Dues: Two reales fuertes (25 céntimos) a month

How the Katipunan was organized · Illustration: Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO), 2013 · Official Gazette

How the society was organized

The Katipunan was built like a government in waiting, with councils reaching from the neighborhood to the nation and courts of its own.

Kataas-taasang SanggunianLed the whole society: a president (pangulo), popularly called the Supremo, with a secretary (kalihim), fiscal (tagausig), treasurer (tagaingat-yaman), and councilors (kasanguni).
Sangguniang BayanOversaw the branches of a province or larger district and reported to the Supreme Council.
Sangguniang BalangayRan a local branch, the balangay, where members met, paid their dues, and admitted recruits.
Sangguniang HukumanTried offenses against the society’s rules. Grave cases, such as betrayal, went to a secret chamber of Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, and Pío Valenzuela.

Deodato Arellano was the first president of the Supreme Council, followed in 1893 by Román Basa. Bonifacio led it by 1895 and was Supremo when the revolution began in August 1896. The Supreme Council, joined by the presidents of the provincial and popular councils, formed the Katipunan Assembly, its lawmaking body. The arrangement changed often as the society grew.

Recruitment

To grow without being detected, the Katipunan first recruited in threes.

The triangle (hasik): each member recruited two others who did not know each other, so each recruit knew only the person who brought him in. Bonifacio formed the first triangle with Teodoro Plata and Ladislao Diwa.
Why it was dropped: the triangle kept the society hidden, but it grew too slowly. Popular histories date the change to late 1892; historian Jim Richardson’s reading of Katipunan papers places it in 1894.
The later system: members could recruit as many people as they could. Recruits joined a local council (balangay), and local councils answered to popular and provincial councils under the Supreme Council.
Joining: an applicant read the Kartilya, signed a written request to join, and paid one peso on entry and one sikapat (12½ céntimos) a month. His life was looked into before he was admitted.

The triangle method · Illustration: Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO), 2013 · Official Gazette

Recruiting through the councils · Illustration: Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO), 2013 · Official Gazette

Once open recruitment began, the Katipunan spread from Manila to the surrounding provinces. Estimates of its membership by August 1896 vary widely, from about 30,000 (Teodoro Agoncillo) to more than 100,000. Women were admitted from 1893; among the first were Gregoria de Jesús, Josefa Rizal, Marina Dizon, and Angelica Lopez, who guarded the society’s papers.

Initiation

Admission was a staged ordeal, modeled on Masonic ritual, that tested a recruit’s courage and resolve. Practices varied by branch; this is the shorter rite described for 1896.

Accompanied by his sponsor, the recruit was brought to a small “chamber of reflection” draped in black.
Signs on the walls warned him to turn back if he had come out of curiosity or could not master his passions.
At a dimly lit table holding a skull, a loaded revolver, and a bolo, he wrote his answers to three questions about his country’s past, present, and future.
An officer called Brother Terrible warned him that he was taking a grave step and urged him to withdraw if he had doubts.
If he persisted, he faced blindfolded “trials,” such as being ordered to shoot a supposed traitor, who was never in danger.
He signed the oath of membership in blood drawn from a small cut on his left forearm.
He took a symbolic name: Bonifacio was Maypagasa (Hopeful); Gregoria de Jesús was Lakambini.

The three questions

¿Ano ang kalagayan nitong Katagalugan ng unang panahun?

What was the condition of the Katagalugan in early times?

¿Ano ang kalagayan sa ngayon?

What is its condition now?

¿Ano ang magiging kalagayan sa darating na panahun?

What will its condition be in the time to come?

Warnings before the oath

Kung may lakas at tapang, ikaw’y makatutuloy.

If you have strength and courage, you may go on.

Kung ang pag-uusisa ang nagdala sa iyo dito’y, umurong ka.

If curiosity brought you here, turn back.

Kung di ka marunong pumigil ng iyong masamang hilig, umurong ka: hindi kailan man ang pintuan ng Maykapangyarihan at Kagalanggalang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Baya’y bubuksan dahil sa iyo.

If you cannot restrain your evil inclinations, turn back: the doors of the Sovereign and Venerable Katipunan of the Children of the Nation will never open for you.

Coached in advance, the recruit was expected to answer that the people had their own civilization and liberty before Spain came, that colonial rule had not improved their lot, and that with faith, courage, and perseverance the country would be free. Katagalugan meant the whole archipelago and its people.

The Kartilya

The Kartilya was the Katipunan’s primer, a small printed pamphlet that recruits read before joining. It is attributed to Emilio Jacinto, who joined the society in 1894; Bonifacio judged it better than the Decalogue he had written and set his own aside.

1
Ang kabuhayang hindi ginugugol sa isang malaki at banal na kadahilanan ay kahoy na walang lilim, kundi damong makamandag.
A life not spent for a great and sacred cause is a tree without shade, if not a poisonous weed.
2
Ang gawang magaling na nagbubuhat sa pagpipita sa sarili, at hindi sa talagang nasang gumawa ng kagalingan, ay di kabaitan.
A good deed that springs from self-interest, and not from a sincere wish to do good, is not virtue.
3
Ang tunay na kabanalan ay ang pagkakawang gawa, ang pagibig sa kapua at ang isukat ang bawat kilos, gawa’t pangungusap sa talagang Katuiran.
True piety is charity, love for one’s fellow human beings, and measuring every act, deed, and word by true Reason.
4
Maitim man at maputi ang kulay ng balat, lahat ng tao’y magkakapantay; mangyayaring ang isa’y higtan sa dunong, sa yaman, sa ganda…; ngunit di mahihigtan sa pagkatao.
Whether the skin is dark or fair, all people are equal. One may surpass another in knowledge, in wealth, in beauty, but not in humanity.
5
Ang may mataas na kalooban inuuna ang puri sa pagpipita sa sarili; ang may hamak na kalooban inuuna ang pagpipita sa sarili sa puri.
A person of noble character puts honor before self-interest; a person of base character puts self-interest before honor.
6
Sa taong may hiya, salita’y panunumpa.
To a person of honor, a word given is an oath.
7
Huag mong sasayangin ang panahun; ang yamang nawala’y mangyayaring magbalik; nguni’t panahong nagdaan na’y di na muli pang magdadaan.
Do not waste time. Lost wealth may return, but time that has passed will never pass again.
8
Ipagtanggol mo ang inaapi, at kabakahin ang umaapi.
Defend the oppressed, and fight the oppressor.
9
Ang taong matalino’y ang may pagiingat sa bawat sasabihin, at matutong ipaglihim ang dapat ipaglihim.
A wise person is careful in everything he says and knows how to keep secret what must be kept secret.
10
Sa daang matinik ng kabuhayan, lalaki ay siyang patnugot ng asawa’t mga anak; kung ang umaakay ay tungo sa sama, ang patutunguhan ng iaakay ay kasamaan din.
On the thorny path of life, the man guides his wife and children; if the one who leads goes toward evil, those he leads will end in evil too.
11
Ang babai ay huag mong tignang isang bagay na libangan lamang, kundi isang katuang at karamay sa mga kahirapan nitong kabuhayan; gamitan mo ng buong pagpipitagan ang kaniyang kahinaan, at alalahanin ang inang pinagbuhata’t nagiwi sa iyong kasangulan.
Do not look on a woman as a mere plaything, but as a partner and companion in the hardships of this life. Treat her weakness with full respect, and remember the mother who bore you and cared for you in your infancy.
12
Ang di mo ibig na gawin sa asawa mo, anak at kapatid, ay huag mong gagawin sa asawa, anak, at kapatid ng iba.
What you would not want done to your wife, children, and brothers and sisters, do not do to the wife, children, and brothers and sisters of another.
13
Ang kamahalan ng tao’y wala sa pagkahari, wala sa tangus ng ilong at puti ng mukha, wala sa pagkaparing KAHALILI NG DIOS, wala sa mataas na kalagayan sa balat ng lupa; wagas at tunay na mahal na tao, kahit laking gubat at walang nababatid kundi ang sariling wika, yaong may magandang asal, may isang pangungusap, may dangal at puri; yaong di napaaapi’t di nakikiapi; yaong marunong magdamdam at marunong lumingap sa bayang tinubuan.
A person’s worth does not lie in being a king, in a high nose and a fair face, in being a priest, a REPRESENTATIVE OF GOD, or in high station on this earth. Pure and truly noble is the one who, though raised in the forest and knowing no language but his own, is of good conduct, true to his word, and has dignity and honor; who does not let himself be oppressed and does not help others oppress; who knows how to feel for, and to care for, the land of his birth.

Paglaganap ng mga aral na ito at maningning na sumikat ang araw ng mahal na Kalayaan dito sa kaabaabang Sangkapuluan, at sabugan ng matamis niyang liwanag ang nangagkaisang magkalahi’t magkakapatid ng ligaya ng walang katapusan, ang mga ginugol na buhay, pagud, at mga tiniis na kahirapa’y labis nang natumbasan.

When these teachings have spread, and the bright sun of beloved Liberty rises over these unhappy islands and sheds its sweet light on a people united as kin and brothers, in happiness without end, then the lives spent, the toil, and the hardships endured will have been more than repaid.

Tagalog: the Kartilya (“Katipunan nang manga A. N. B. – Sa may nasang makisanib sa katipunang ito”), attributed to Emilio Jacinto, as printed in José P. Santos, Buhay at mga sinulat ni Emilio Jacinto (Manila, 1935), 59–63, and transcribed in Jim Richardson, Katipunan: Documents and Studies; three evident transcription slips corrected against other published versions (see notes). English: the museum’s translation, revised line by line against the translations of Epifanio de los Santos (Philippine Review, 1918) and Teodoro A. Agoncillo (The Revolt of the Masses, 1956) as compiled by Richardson.

Who joined

The Katipunan began on the night of July 7, 1892, with a handful of La Liga Filipina members in Manila, and by 1896 it counted thousands. The men one veteran remembered at Balintawak were mostly the city’s artisans, workers, and clerks; women were admitted from 1893.

The founders, July 7, 1892

Andrés BonifacioWarehouseman at Fressel & Co.; comptroller of the first Supreme Council, later Supremo.
Deodato ArellanoLiga member and brother-in-law of Marcelo H. del Pilar; the society’s first president, founded in his house.
Ladislao DiwaCourt clerk from Cavite who proposed the secret society; fiscal of the first council; symbolic name Balete.
Teodoro PlataCourt clerk and Bonifacio’s brother-in-law; first secretary of the society; executed in 1897.
Valentín DíazLiga member; treasurer of the first Supreme Council in July 1892.
José DizonEngraver at the Manila mint and Freemason; executed in 1897 as one of the Thirteen Martyrs of Bagumbayan.

Early members

Emilio JacintoLaw student who joined in 1894 at about eighteen; wrote the Kartilya and became the society’s secretary.
Pío ValenzuelaMedical student sponsored by Plata in July 1892; later on the Supreme Council and envoy to Rizal in Dapitan, 1896.
Román BasaElected the society’s second president on February 1, 1893, succeeding Arellano.
Guillermo MasangkayTondo friend and adviser of Bonifacio, among the first members; his 1952 recollection is the Balintawak list.
Macario SakayListed by Masangkay as a personero (sales agent); later fought on against American rule and was hanged in 1907.
Gregoria de JesúsBonifacio’s wife, initiated in 1893 as Lakambini; she kept the society’s secret papers, arms, and seal.
Marina DizonJosé Dizon’s daughter, initiated in 1893; presided over women’s initiations and kept the records.
Josefa RizalJosé Rizal’s sister, among the first women admitted in 1893; elected president of the women’s chapter.
Angelica LopezRizal’s niece, among the first women members, who kept the Katipunan’s confidential documents.

Who was who in the Katipunan — Infographic: PCDSPO, 2013, for the Presidential Museum and Library’s “The Founding of the Katipunan.” List: Guillermo Masangkay, Bagong Buhay, 1952, as transcribed by Jim Richardson. Occupations are an artist’s rendering.

One veteran’s memory, recorded 56 years later, of the men at Balintawak in August 1896: not a founding roster or a membership roll. Richardson warns that errors and omissions are inevitable.

Guillermo Masangkay’s list of 56 men at Balintawak in August 1896 names printers, tobacco workers, mechanics, a tailor, a milk seller, and a fodder cutter, beside a physician, a student, and two property owners. Nearly half worked for the Spanish administration, as clerks, customs men, firemen, and even secret agents. Women, at first members’ relatives, were admitted from 1893. Outside Manila, historians note, the membership differed.

Masangkay’s list: 56 names and occupations

#	Name	Occupation
1	Melecio Ruestra	Draftsman
2	Pastor Santos	Draftsman
3	Salustiano Cruz	Master tailor
4	Procopio Bonifacio	Railway baggage-master
5	Juan Cruz	Playwright; Barber
6	Emilio Jacinto	Student
7	Andres Bonifacio	Warehouse employee at Fressel & Co.; walking cane maker; calligrapher
8	Pio Valenzuela	Physician
9	Vicente Leyva	Milk seller
10	Ramon Bernardo	Municipal captain of Pandacan
11	Geronimo Cristobal	Army corporal
12	Vicente Molina	Government treasury caretaker
13	Miguel Resurreccion	Grass (fodder) cutter
14	Patricio Belen	Tobacco worker
15	Crispulo Chacon	Tobacco worker
16	Lorenzo Martinez	Tobacco worker
17	Tomas Villanueva	Tobacco worker
18	Pio H. Santos	Master tobacco worker
19	Tomas Alegre	Master cigar maker
20	Roman Ramos	Government arsenal employee
21	Tito Miguel	Government arsenal employee
22	Aguedo del Rosario	Printer (Diario de Manila)
23	Apolonio de la Cruz	Printer (Diario de Manila)
24	Alejandro Santiago	Printer (El Resumen)
25	Deogracias Fajardo	Printer
26	Juan Fajardo	Printer
27	Rogelio Borja	Mechanic
28	Isaac del Carmen	Mechanic
29	Hilario Sayo	Mechanic
30	Cipriano Pacheco	Clerk
31	Teodoro Plata	Clerk (Mindoro Court of First Instance)
32	Jose Trinidad	Clerk (Tondo Court of First Instance)
33	Hermogenes Plata	Clerk (court clerk)
34	Tomas Remigio	Clerk (Government treasury)
35	Pantaleon Torres	Clerk (Government treasury)
36	Enrique Pacheco	Clerk (Manila city government)
37	Faustino Manalac	Clerk (Manila port administration)
38	Cosme Taguyod	Fire Department lieutenant
39	Rafael Gutierrerez	Fire Department captain
40	Guillermo Masangkay	Kuridor (buyer and seller)
41	Pedro Zabala	Kuridor (buyer and seller)
42	Briccio Pantas	Assistant to Court of First Instance judge
43	Estanislao Vargas	Property owner
44	Apolonio Samson	Property owner
45	Julio Navarro	Government secret agent
46	Alejandro Andaya	Government secret agent
47	Marcelo Badell	Government secret agent
48	Macario Sakay	Sales agent (personero)
49	Nicomedes Carreon	salesman at Casa Chofre, Cobrador
50	Francisco Carreon	Customs guard
51	Sarhento Marcelo	Customs guard
52	Valentin Lagasca	Customs guard sergeant
53	Eugenio Santos	Customs guard sergeant
54	Calixto Santiago	Customs official
55	Restituto Javier	Customs official
56	Hermenegildo Reyes	Customs official

Names follow Jim Richardson’s transcription; three differ from the graphic: #5 Juan Cruz (printed “Juan de la Cruz” in the graphic); #11 Geronimo Cristobal (printed “Geronimo Medina y Cristobal”); #23 Apolonio de la Cruz (printed “Apolonio Cruz”).

Flag, cipher, seal, and banknote

The Supremo’s flag

Tradition identifies this design, a white sun above three white K’s on a red field, as Bonifacio’s own standard, made by women of the Katipunan and raised when the revolution began in August 1896. Few eyewitness descriptions of Katipunan flags survive, and sources differ on the details. The flag displayed in the museum is a modern reproduction.

Secret letters and names

Katipuneros wrote key words in a cipher alphabet. Z. Ll. B., on the members’ hoods, stands for A. N. B., Anak ng Bayan, and Bonifacio’s Decalogue is addressed to the “Z. Ll. B.” Members signed with symbolic names: recruits’ oaths survive signed “Mapagtanggol” (Defender) and “Tiktik” (Lookout), and Bonifacio signed himself Maypagasa.

Seal and signature

During the revolution Bonifacio signed his letters as president of the Haring Bayang Katagalugan (Sovereign Tagalog Nation), adding his symbolic name, Maypagasa. Beside the signature is stamped the seal of its Kataas-taasang Kapulungan (Supreme Council), with the baybayin letter K at its center.

The twenty-peso note

The Central Bank of the Philippines’ English-series 20-peso note, issued from 1951 until 1971, honored the Katipunan. Its face shows Bonifacio and Emilio Jacinto; its back shows the Kartilya and the monument to the heroes of 1896 at Balintawak. This example bears the signatures of President Diosdado Macapagal and Governor Andrés V. Castillo.

Sources Jim Richardson, Katipunan: Documents and Studies · Emilio Jacinto (attrib.), the Kartilya (Tagalog text and English translation, with commentary) · Jim Richardson, Katipunan: Documents and Studies · Initiation rites, c.1896 (De los Reyes’s three questions, the warning signs, the shorter 1896 rite) · Jim Richardson, Katipunan: Documents and Studies · Andrés Bonifacio (attrib.), Ritual for the initiation of a Bayani, c.1894 (grades, Akibat, Bayani abolished November 1895, triangle structure discarded 1894) · Jim Richardson, Katipunan: Documents and Studies · Oath, c.1894 (cipher; symbolic names Mapagtanggol and Tiktik) · Jim Richardson, Katipunan: Documents and Studies · Andrés Bonifacio, “Katungkulang gagawin ng mga Z. Ll. B.” (the Decalogue) · PCDSPO, Heroism, Heritage, and Nationhood: Essays and Features from the Official Gazette (Mark Blanco, “The Founding of the Katipunan,” 2013; ranks, structure, and recruitment graphics); reuse permitted for noncommercial purposes with attribution · Official Gazette · Bonifacio Sesquicentennial special section · NHCP · “Andres Bonifacio and the Katipunan” (founding, succession of Supremos, women members, Lakambini, discovery) · NHCP · “Values we must learn from Andres Bonifacio” (Decalogue withdrawn in favor of Jacinto’s Kartilya) · Ambeth R. Ocampo, “‘Dagdag-bawas’ in 1897,” Philippine Daily Inquirer, February 21, 2018 (seal of the Haring Bayang Katagalugan–Kataastaasang Kapulungan beside Bonifacio’s “Maypagasa” signature) · NCCA, Balanghay (May–June 2012), “The Personal Flag of Andres Bonifacio” (same caption wording as the museum’s flag caption; describes a different design) · Wikipedia · Philippine twenty-peso note (English series issue and withdrawal dates; signature varieties), secondary · Wikimedia Commons · File:Katipuneros.jpg (described as “Philippine Republican troops in 1898”) · PCDSPO, “Who was who in the Katipunan” (infographic, 2013), Internet Archive copy uploaded by PCDSPO · Presidential Museum and Library (PCDSPO), “The Founding of the Katipunan,” July 2013 (founders, Supreme Councils of 1892, 1893, 1894, 1896; publishes the Who’s Who graphic), archived copy · Jim Richardson, Katipunan: Documents and Studies · “Roster of Katipuneros at Balintawak, August 1896” (Masangkay’s list, from Bagong Buhay, August 25, 1952); also in Richardson, The Light of Liberty (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2013), p. 259 · NHCP, Filipinos in History, vol. 1 (Ladislao Diwa; Marina Dizon-Santiago; Emilio Jacinto; Gregoria de Jesus) · NHCP, Filipinos in History, vol. 4 (Jose M. Dizon; Jose Turiano Santiago) · Arturo E. Valenzuela Jr., Dr. Pio Valenzuela and the Katipunan (National Historical Institute, 1992) (founders; Valenzuela’s joining on July 15, 1892; table of Supreme Council officers) · Quennie Ann J. Palafox (NHCP researcher), “Lest we forget our unsung founding mothers,” Philippine Daily Inquirer, June 12, 2011 (women’s chapter, July 1893) · Ambeth R. Ocampo, “Revolt of the masses?,” Philippine Daily Inquirer, November 26, 2014 (reading of Masangkay’s list against Agoncillo; Guerrero on membership outside Manila) · Philippine Daily Inquirer, “Did You Know: Guillermo Masangkay,” June 24, 2016 · Wikipedia · Macario Sakay (secondary; later career only)

Explore the life

A life in moments.

From Tondo to the Katipunan and the revolution.

Barrio Tondo, 1875 · Museum collection
Map of Manila and its suburbs, 1898 · Francisco J. de Gamoneda (spelled “Franciso” on the Commons page) · Source · PD-Philippines; PD-US
November 30, 1863
Early life · Tondo, Manila
Beginnings in Tondo
Born in Tondo, Bonifacio pursued learning through his own efforts and took part in Tagalog theater. These experiences belong to the life behind the revolutionary image.
The eldest of six children of Santiago Bonifacio and Catalina de Castro, he was orphaned in his teens and supported his siblings by making canes and paper fans. He educated himself, reading Rizal’s novels and histories of the French Revolution.
He was born in a small hut on Calle Azcárraga, now Claro M. Recto Avenue. His only recorded schooling came from a tutor, Guillermo Osmeña of Cebu, before his parents’ deaths ended it. He worked as a messenger for the British trading firm Fleming and Company, then as a warehouse keeper for Fressel and Company, whose warehouse served as his library and study until 1896.
His reading ranged from Eugène Sue’s The Wandering Jew and Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables to lives of the United States presidents and books of law. He helped found Teatro Porvenir in Trozo, where he played the legendary hero Bernardo Carpio. Few of his papers survive, partly because fire destroyed his Tondo home in 1896, so much of what is known comes from his contemporaries.
Sources NHCP · “Andres Bonifacio and the Katipunan” (birthplace, tutor, employers) · NHCP · C. B. A. Melendez, “Andres Bonifacio: More than a Revolutionary” (2023) · NHCP marker · Andres Bonifacio 1863–1897 (Teatro Porvenir, Trozo)
NHCP · Bonifacio birthplace marker
The structure of the Katipunan · Museum collection
Photograph of Andrés Bonifacio · Chofre y Cia (now Cacho Hermanos Inc.), 1896 · Source · PD-Philippines-1972
July 7, 1892
Katipunan · Manila
The Katipunan is founded
Bonifacio founded the Katipunan to seek Philippine independence through revolution. The organization became central to the movement against Spanish colonial rule.
He founded the society in Tondo with Ladislao Diwa, Teodoro Plata, Deodato Arellano and others on the night news spread of Rizal’s deportation. Members took the oath in blood and used ranks, passwords and the Kartilya.
Its full name was Kataastaasan, Kagalanggalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan, the Highest and Most Venerable Society of the Children of the Nation. The founders met at Deodato Arellano’s house on Azcárraga Street; Valentín Díaz and José Dizon were also present. Arellano served as the first supreme head, followed by Román Basa, before Bonifacio took the post.
Women were admitted from 1893. Among the first were Gregoria de Jesús, Bonifacio’s wife, Josefa Rizal, Marina Dizon and Angelica Lopez, who kept the society’s papers and hosted gatherings that screened its meetings. Its newspaper, Kalayaan, edited by Emilio Jacinto, printed Bonifacio’s poem “Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa.” By 1896 estimates of its membership started at about 100,000.
Sources NHCP marker · Kataastaasan Kagalanggalang na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (founding site) · NHCP · “Andres Bonifacio and the Katipunan” (succession, women members, Kalayaan) · Official Gazette · Bonifacio Sesquicentennial (translation of the society’s name)
- The Katipunan, in The Hero of the Filipinos
NHCP · Bonifacio marker
The Cry, after the mural by Carlos “Botong” Francisco · Museum collection photograph
First prisoners of the revolution, 1896 · Unknown (Commons credits “US military personnel”; image from the University of Michigan Philippine collection) · Source · PD-old
August 1896
Revolution · Pugad Lawin, Caloocan
Revolution against Spain
Bonifacio led the uprising against Spanish rule. This milestone introduces the revolutionary struggle presented in the museum’s Bonifacio collection.
In late August 1896, after the society was discovered, members gathered in the hills north of Manila, tore up their cédulas and declared the revolt. The first major clash followed at San Juan del Monte on August 30.
The secret broke after a quarrel at the Diario de Manila printing shop: Teodoro Patiño confided in his sister and then in Father Mariano Gil, the parish priest of Tondo, who alerted the authorities. The cry itself is still debated. The official date is August 23, but accounts give dates from August 20 to 26 and places including Balintawak, Kangkong and Bahay Toro.
For decades the event was commemorated as the Cry of Balintawak, where a monument to the heroes of 1896 rose in 1911; it now stands at the University of the Philippines Diliman. The NHCP counts 153 Katipuneros killed at San Juan del Monte. Governor-General Ramón Blanco then declared a state of war in eight provinces, remembered in the eight rays of the sun on the Philippine flag.
Sources NHCP · “Andres Bonifacio and the Katipunan” (discovery, state of war) · NHCP marker · Ang Sigaw ng Pugadlawin 1896 · NHCP · I. C. B. Alfonso, “Bonifacio, the Katipunan and the Independence Day” (2013) (disputed dates and sites)
NHCP · Bonifacio marker
Acta de Tejeros, March 23, 1897 · Not stated (copied from an image of the document published by malacanang.gov.ph), 1897-03-23 · Source · PD-1923
March 22, 1897
Revolution · Tejeros, Cavite
The Tejeros Convention
The assembly elected a central revolutionary government, naming Bonifacio director of the interior. Disputes at the convention led him to reject its proceedings.
Held in Tejeros, San Francisco de Malabon (now General Trias), the assembly elected Emilio Aguinaldo president. When Bonifacio’s election as Director of the Interior was challenged, he declared the proceedings void.
Bonifacio had come to Cavite in December 1896 at the invitation of Mariano Álvarez of the Magdiwang council, to settle its feud with the rival Magdalo council. An assembly at Imus had already failed. At Tejeros, in the hacienda’s estate house, Bonifacio presided over the election after an unruly start, asking all present to respect the result. Aguinaldo was elected in his absence.
Daniel Tirona objected to Bonifacio’s election as director of the interior, arguing that the post should go to a lawyer. Insulted, Bonifacio declared the proceedings void and left with his supporters. The next day they signed the Acta de Tejeros, and in April the Naic agreement laid plans for a separate government. Aguinaldo’s revolutionary government was completed by appointment on April 17, 1897.
Sources NHCP · “Andres Bonifacio and the Katipunan” (Tejeros, Tirona, Acta, Naic) · NHCP marker · The Tejeros Convention · NHCP marker · House where Andres Bonifacio lived (Magdiwang invitation)
NHCP · Tejeros Convention marker
Maragondon, Cavite
May 1897
Final days · Maragondon, Cavite
Trial in Maragondon
Andrés and his brother Procopio were tried before a court-martial headed by Mariano Noriel. The trial marks a painful conflict within the revolutionary movement.
Arrested in Indang in late April, the brothers were tried by a council of war that found them guilty of sedition and treason and sentenced them to death.
Bonifacio was heading back toward Montalban when his party clashed with Aguinaldo’s men at Limbon, Indang, at the end of April. His brother Ciriaco was killed, and Andrés was wounded, stabbed in the neck. Taken to Indang, Naic and then Maragondon, the brothers were tried in a stone house built in 1889 by Teodorico Reyes, accused of plotting against Aguinaldo and of the hostilities at Limbon.
By the NHCP’s account, Aguinaldo first commuted the sentence to exile, then withdrew the commutation after Generals Mariano Noriel and Pío del Pilar argued that leniency would endanger the revolutionary government. Maragondon remembers that its own Emiliano and Mariano Riego de Dios opposed the execution. The trial house was declared a national historical landmark in 1997 and has been a museum since 2000.
Sources NHCP · “Andres Bonifacio and the Katipunan” (Limbon, commutation) · NHCP marker · Ang Pagdakip kay Bonifacio, 1897 (Limbon, Indang) · NHCP marker · Where Bonifacio was Court-Martialled
NHCP · Bonifacio Trial House marker
Andrés Bonifacio, statue by Anastacio Caedo · Museum collection photograph
Andrés Bonifacio in La Ilustración Española y Americana, 1897 · La Ilustración Española y Americana, 1897-02-08 · Source · PD-old
May 10, 1897
Final days · Cavite
Bonifacio’s death
Bonifacio was executed in Cavite. His life remains central to the history of the Katipunan and the struggle for independence.
He and his brother Procopio were executed in the mountains of Maragondon after the council of war’s sentence. Bonifacio was 33.
After the trial the brothers were held for five days in the Maragondon church; Gregoria de Jesús did not know where her husband was. On May 10, soldiers led by Major Lázaro Makapagal took them into the hills to Nagpatong, near Mount Buntis. The official markers say they were shot; another tradition holds that Andrés was hacked to death. The accounts have never been fully reconciled.
Bones exhumed at Nagpatong in 1918 were never conclusively identified, and his remains are considered lost. Guillermo Tolentino’s Bonifacio Monument in Caloocan, unveiled in 1933, was conceived partly as a symbolic resting place. November 30, his birthday, has been a national holiday since 1921, and Maragondon lays wreaths each May 10 and November 30.
Sources NHCP marker · Bundok Nagpatong, Maragondon · Inquirer, “Witness to the Supremo’s trial” (2017) (church, Makapagal, two versions, 1918 bones, wreath-laying) · Official Gazette · Bonifacio Sesquicentennial (Monumento; lost remains)
NHCP · Bonifacio Trial House marker