Kartilya ng Katipunan Kartilya ng Katipu

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1. Reading Article : Value thread- Kartilya ng Katipunan
June 16, 2018 || Madrilena de la Cerna
More than a century ago, the Filipino freedom fighters of 1896-1898 beginning with the
Katipuneros were, first and foremost men of honor driven by a moral code. Some historians
observed that the Kartilya of the Katipunan scarcely mentioned rebellion. The Kartilya authored
by Emilio Jacinto mainly taught moral principles.

Rey Ileto observed that Katipunan rituals and practices show that the organization was based both
on nationalistic as well as on spiritual values — a pattern shown likewise by many Filipino
indigenous religious movements that had survived to the present. Early Filipinos do not separate
the secular and the sacred into distinct categories the way we do. The same observation can be
made on the Dekalogo authored by Andres Bonifacio and the “True Decalogue” by Apolinario
Mabini.

The values implicit in these documents are: rectitude, honor, and self-sacrifice; faith in God;
service to country, fellowmen, and family; equality, fairness, and justice; respect for women. The
success of Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Jacinto in midwifing the birth and initial growth of the
Katipunan may be related to the strong moral character of their leadership based on love of God,
country and fellowmen as seen from the Kartilya and the Dekalogo.

Filipino revolutionaries and rebels who were able to mobilize thousands or millions were
successful in doing so because they must have touched or resonated with sensitive elements in the
Filipino character.

There have been Filipino moral outrages versus transgressions of human dignity. (a) The manner
in which the 1896 Philippine Revolution spread like fire after being ignited by the first armed
skirmishes and encounters in late August 1896, (b) the manner in which the student-led First
Quarter Storm ignited a nationalist-democratic and socialist or leftist movement that lasted for two
decades, and (c) the manner in which the People Power Revolution of late February 1986 gathered
momentum bear some similarities. Mass actions over a wide scale of magnitude can only reflect
the common denominators in the character and values of their millions of participants.

The unjust execution by the Spanish government of Fathers Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora and the
senseless unjust assassination of Ninoy Aquino which many attribute to the Marcos government
were powerful triggers that led to mass actions by Filipinos who are normally passive and who
quietly endure difficulties.

The injustices and unfairness of the government before and after declaration of martial law fueled
and strengthened both the leftist insurgency and the Muslim secessionist movements. The public

2. outcry for Flor Contemplacion is another manifestation of how Filipinos react to a perceived
affront to human dignity and fairness by the authorities, in this case, the Singaporean government.
A nation is known by its values. It is difficult to discuss values because, first, it cannot be measured.
You cannot say a ton of goodness or a kilometer of truth. A nation is an assemblage of beings
bound together by the things that they love. Our future depends not only on the values that we
have but how we make use of those values.


The Katipunan Code of Conduct
By: Emilio Jacinto

1. The life that is not consecrated to a lofty and reasonable purpose is a tree without a shade, if not
a poisonous weed.

2. To do good for personal gain and not for its own sake is not virtue.

3. It is rational to be charitable and love one's fellow creature, and to adjust one's conduct, acts and
words to what is in itself reasonable.

4. Whether our skin be black or white, we are all born equal: superiority in knowledge, wealth and
beauty are to be understood, but not superiority by nature.

5. The honorable man prefers honor to personal gain; the scoundrel, gain to honor.

6. To the honorable man, his word is sacred.

7. Do not waste thy time: wealth can be recovered but not time lost.

8. Defend the oppressed and fight the oppressor before the law or in the field.

9. The prudent man is sparing in words and faithful in keeping secrets.

10. On the thorny path of life, man is the guide of woman and the children, and if the guide leads
to the precipice, those whom he guides will also go there.

11. Thou must not look upon woman as a mere plaything, but as a faithful companion who will
share with thee the penalties of life; her (physical) weakness will increase thy interest in her and
she will remind thee of the mother who bore thee and reared thee.

3. 12. What thou dost not desire done unto thy wife, children, brothers and sisters, that do not unto
the wife, children, brothers and sisters of thy neighbor.
13. Man is not worth more because he is a king, because his nose is aquiline, and his color white,
not because he is a *priest, a servant of God, nor because of the high prerogative that he enjoys
upon earth, but he is worth most who is a man of proven and real value, who does good, keeps his
words, is worthy and honest; he who does not oppress nor consent to being oppressed, he who
loves and cherishes his fatherland, though he be born in the wilderness and know no tongue but
his own.

14. When these rules of conduct shall be known to all, the longed-for sun of Liberty shall rise
brilliant over this most unhappy portion of the globe and its rays shall diffuse everlasting joy
among the confederated brethren of the same rays, the lives of those who have gone before, the
fatigues and the well-paid sufferings will remain. If he who desires to enter (the Katipunan) has
informed himself of all this and believes he will be able to perform what will be his duties, he may
fill out the application for admission.

[translation by Gregorio Nieva, 1918]