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At this juncture, Rizal stepped into the picture and proposed the founding of
another civic society. He had prepared a constitution for this society while in
Hong Kong and now he thought that the time had come for concrete action.
The meeting in the house of Doroteo Ongjunco was attended by at least 20
Filipinos, including Andres Bonifacio and Apolinario Mabini. Rizal explained the
aims of the ‘La Liga Filipina’ and officers were afterward elected. Elected were
Ambrosio Salvador, President; Augustine de ka Rosa, Fiscal; Bonifacio Arevalo,
Treasurer; and Deodato Arellano, Secretary.
- The attendees were:
o Pedro Serrano Laktaw (Panday Pira), a Mason and a school teacher
o Domingo Franco (Felipe Leal), Mason and tobacco shopkeeper
o Jose A. Ramos (Socorro), engraver, printer, owner of Bazar Gran Bretaña
and first Worshipful Masterv of Nilad, first Filipino masonic lodge
o Bonifacio Arevalo (Haarem), dentist and Mason
o Deodato Arellano, brother-in-law of M.H. del Pilar and civilian employee in
the army
o Ambrosio Flores (Musa), retired lieutenant of infantry
o Augustine de la Rosa, bookkeeper and Mason
o Moises Salvador (Araw), contaractor and Mason
o Luis Villareal, tailor and Mason
o Faustino Villaruel (Ilaw), pharmacist and Mason
o Mariano Crisostomo, landlord
o Numeriano Adriano (Ipil), notary public and Mason
o Estanislao Legaspi, artisan and Mason
o Teodoro Plata, court clerk and Mason
o Andres Bonifacio, warehouse employee
o Apolinario Mabini (Katabay), lawyer and Mason
o Juan Zulueta, playwright, poet and government employee
The aims of the Liga, as expressed in its constitution, were:
1. To unite the whole archipelago into one compact, vigorous, and homogenous
body;
2. Mutual protection in every want and necessity
3. Defense against all violence and injustice
4. Encouragement of instruction, agriculture, and commerce; and
5. Study and application of reforms.
The aims of the Liga were to be carried out through the creation of the governing
body composed of the Supreme Council, the Provincial Council, and the Popular
Council. The members were each to pay ten centavos as monthly dues. Each of
the members was free to choose a symbolic name for himself. The funds of the
Society were to be used in the following manner:
1. The member or his son who, while not having means shall show application
and great capacity, shall be sustained:
2. The poor shall be supported in his right against any powerful person;
3. The member who shall have suffered any lose shall be aided;
4. Capital shall be loaned to the member who shall need it for an industry or
agriculture.
5. The introduction of machines and industries, new or necessary in the country,
shall be flavored and
6. Shops, stores and establishments shall be opened, where the members may
be accommodated more economically than elsewhere.
Innocent as the society was, the Spanish authorities considered it dangerous and
on the night of July 6, 1892, Rizal was secretly arrested. The following day,
Governor General Eulogio Despujol oredered Rizal's deportation to Dapitan.
Relationships
Emilio Aguinaldo
- Jose Rizal was the founder of La Liga Filipina, the organization that gave
birth to Bonifacio’s Katipunan, the society which launched the Philippine
Revolution against Spain that eventually laid the foundation of Emilio
Aguinaldo’s First Philippine Republic. This historical statement shows the
indirect but significant connection between the national hero and ‘El
Presidente’.
- On May 3, 1896, when Bonifacio convened a council meeting of
Katipunan leaders in Pasig, he (Bonifacio) wanted to launch the uprising
as soon as possible. But it was Emilio Aguinaldo who
categorically expressed reservations because of lack of firearms. It was
thus due to Aguinaldo’s reluctance that the consensus was made to
consult first Jose Rizal in Dapitan. It eventually turned out that Rizal shared
Aguinaldo’s stand, being against a premature revolution and suggesting
more prior preparation. (In fact, Aguinaldo’s group did not join Bonifacio’s
troops in the August 29 and 30, 1896 initial attack in Manila—a battle
which could have won by the Filipinos had Aguinaldo’s Cavite group
cooperated.)
Andre Bonifacio
- Bonifacio had read Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. On
July 3, 1892, he joined Rizal’s La Liga Filipina, being one of the 20
attendees in the meeting administered by Rizal at the house of Doroteo
Ongjunco at Ilaya Street, Tondo, Manila.When Rizal was exiled to
Mindanao, Bonifacio and others revived La Liga in Rizal’s absence,
recruiting members for it.
- Disagreements on how reform must be attained soon emerged however as
some members wanted armed revolution whereas others liked a peaceful
reform. The La Liga was thus dissolved before long and its membership
split into two groups: the ‘Cuerpo de Compromisarios’ which comprised
those who preferred peaceful reform, and the ‘Katipunan’ which consisted
of the radicals led by Bonifacio. The ‘Cuerpo’ ultimately died out while the
Katipunan attracted many Filipinos.
- Bonifacio and his compatriots officially founded the Katipunan on July 7,
1892 when Rizal was to be deported to Dapitan. Considerably inspired by
Jose Rizal, they elected him (Rizal) honorary president (without his
knowledge) and the Katipuneros used his name as one of their passwords.
Moreover, instead of using the old Spanish spelling of letter “c” for the
name of the society, Bonifacio preferred the Tagalog spelling of “k”, as
suggested by Rizal on his earlier La Solidaridad article as a way of
promoting nationalism.
Emilio Jacinto
- Jacinto was just 19 years old when news arrived that the Spanish had
arrested his hero, Jose Rizal. Galvanized, the young man left school and
joined with Andres Bonifacio and others to form the Katipunan, or "Highest
and Most Respected Society of the Children of the Country." When the
Spanish executed Rizal on trumped-up charges in December of 1896, the
Katipunan rallied its followers to war.
Revolution
Emilio Jacinto served as the spokesperson for the Katipunan, as well as handling
its finances. Andres Bonifacio was not well-educated, so he deferred to his
younger comrade on such matters. Jacinto wrote for the official Katipunan
newspaper, the Kalayaan. He also penned the official handbook of the
movement, called the Kartilya ng Katipunan. Despite his young age of just 21,
Jacinto became a general in the group's guerrilla army, taking an active role in
the fight against the Spanish near Manila.
Unfortunately, Jacinto's friend and sponsor, Andres Bonifacio, had gotten into a
heated rivalry with a Katipunan leader from a wealthy family called Emilio
Aguinaldo. Aguinaldo, who led the Magdalo faction of Katipunan, rigged an
election to have himself named president of the revolutionary government. He
then had Bonifacio arrested for treason. Aguinaldo ordered the May 10, 1897
execution of Bonifacio and his brother. The self-proclaimed president then
approached Emilio Jacinto, trying to recruit him to his branch of the organization,
but Jacinto refused.
Apolinario Mabini
- While at school, Mabini supported the Reform Movement. This
conservative group was mainly made up of middle- and upper-class
Filipinos calling for changes to Spanish colonial rule, rather than outright
Philippine independence. Intellectual, author, and physician José Rizal
was also active in this movement.
The Propagandists
- Were patriots who waged their movement by means of pen and tongue to
expose the defects of Spanish rule in the Philippine and the urgency of
reforms to remedy them.
- Were scions of good families, highly intelligent, educated, patriotic and
courageous, who symbolized the flower of Filipino manhood.