Prologue
For more than 300
years, Spain ruled over
the Philippine Islands. Under the pretext of
spreading Christianity,
they converted the
natives. But religion isn't
the primary reason, but
commerce and politics. Not so soon the colonial
authorities exploited
their new subjects for
labor and religious
works. Several
instances of abuse and
mistreatment by the
Spaniards lead the
Indios, as the natives
are now called, to rise in
revolt. But these were
easily crushed in the
face of guns and
cannons of the
European colonizers.
The system went on
until the 19th century
when Manila, the
Philippines' capital, was
opened to world trade.
This moment paved
way for the ideas of
Enlightenment to arrive
in these parts of Asia.
The effect, a new class
of people emerged from
the Indios - the
ilustrados. These people who came from
wealthy families had
the chance to study in
Europe, which in turn
made them proponents
of liberalism. As the
ilustrados return to
their homelands, they
began to demand reforms from the
Spanish colonialists, aiming to improve their
fellowmen's standing
within the then-declining Spanish Empire.
But the colonialists
detest any liberal ideas,
seeing it as threat to
their hold on power. So
are the clergy, fearing
the decrease of their
influence (not to mention their lands).
These two factions
began to attack the
liberal movement,
accusing them of
heresy, treason and,
worst of all, rebellion.
Little by little, the hopes of reform began to shatter away. And in
return, the Indios'
resentment over their
Spanish masters
increase. Radicalism is
on the rise.
One of these
disillusioned intellectuals
is Andres Bonifacio, a
self-taught warehouse
clerk. Inspired by the
American and French
Revolutions, he made a
resolve that only independence via armed
revolt can solve his
motherland's grievances. And so in
1892 he founded the
Katipunan, a secret
society aiming at the
overthrow of the
Spanish colonial
government and the
establishment of an
independent nation.
They began issuing
periodicals containing
radical ideas, which
successfully increased
the organization's
membership from a
few hundreds to
several thousands. But
by mid-1896, an incident
in a newspaper
factory* led to the
discovery of the
Katipunan by the
Spanish authorities. This results into mass
arrests, torture and
execution of several
men being suspected as rebels. This measure
only increased the anger of the people. By then, Bonifacio finally decides to start the uprising.
In August 23rd 1896, at
the general meeting of
the Katipunan's regional
leaders, Bonifacio officially formed a revolutionary government, with him
as its President. He
requested a mass mobilization of every
Katipunan chapters to
start the revolt. They ended the meeting with
the tearing of their
cedulas (tax certificates),
symbolizing their
secession from Spanish
rule. The Philippine
Revolution has begun.
---
* the Diario de Manila
incident, where one of the
two workers fighting for
promotion confessed about
the Katipunan to his sister,
which in turn confessed to a
priest, who then reported it
to the authorities, violating
the "secrecy rule" of
Sacrament of Confession.
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