"Manila, 21st (Aug. '96).--The Governor General to the Colonial
Minister:
Vast organization of secret societies discovered with anti-national
tendencies.
Twenty-two persons detained, among them the Gran Oriente
(of Philippine freemasonry) of the Philippines, and others of
importance.....................................................
...............................................................
Immediate action taken and special judge will be designated for
greater activity in the proceedings............................
...............................................................
--Blanco.
Such was the telegram sent by Gen. Blanco and read by Sr. Castellano
in the Spanish Camara, announcing the discovery of the revolutionary
movement headed by the Katipunan, the bastard child of Filipino
freemasonry.
Freemasonry in the Philippines was but a pretext: under this pretext
the enemies of Spain, in days of Spanish rule, and the enemies of
the U. S. in these days of American rule, put themselves into close
and secret communion, to earn out plans of revolt.
This Filipino masonry cast its net far and wide, and in its meshes were
caught many fish of all classes and conditions; some of them men of
money who sought in masonry what money could easily purchase,--honors
and titles, grand crosses and medals; others were men whose pockets
were more or less replete, and whose aims were of a great variety of
natures; whilst others were men whose treasuries were more or less
empty and who sought in masonry what they did not care to earn by
honest labor--a livelihood.
Masonry was imported into the Archipelago, shortly after the Spanish
Revolution, and was, during the first years of its life, confined
to Spaniards; but later on it opened its doors to half-castes and
indians. In 1887 it extended by leaps and bounds; but upon the
coming of Gen. Weyler to the Archipelago, as Governor General, in
1888, it dwindled away almost into nothingness. Gen. Weyler was,
and has ever shown himself, a patriotic Spaniard; and he would not
permit the existence here, under his Governorship, of anything which
tended to the detriment of his country. Well did the masons of the
Philippines and elsewhere know this, and hence the vicious and cruel
campaign they carried on against him both in the Peninsular and Cuba,
but more especially in the U. S. of America.
The Katipunan, the bastard child of filipino masonry, that ungrateful
offspring which was unfaithful even to the mother which brought it
forth, was a society within the bosom of which was redeveloped the
malay instinct which had lain dormant for some three centuries. This
instinct, brutal, savage, intensely ignorant, immoral, ungodly;
an instinct found still among some of the uncivilized tribes of the
mountain fastnesses of Luzon; an instinct once almost blotted out after
many years of most difficult labor and self-sacrifice on the part of
the Religious Orders, once again burst forth in all its strength.
The indian left to himself, deprived of the curbing influence of the
christian religion, speedily falls back into the condition of depravity
in which Urdaneta and Legazpi found him. The malay instinct, like the
volcano, vomits forth when least expected; the history of the revolt of
the Tagalogs gives overabundant proof of it. Take one by one the many
leading characters in the revolution, and the instinct will be found
so plainly marked, that it is unmistakable. Take for instance Marcelo
H. del Pilar, in whose brain was conceived the plot of the Katipunan
farsical-tragedy; Andres Bonifacio, whose duty was the materializing
of the plot; the Lunas, Juan especially, who had some time previous,
in Paris, given an example of how easily the malay burned through the
veneer of civilization to which the Filipino indian is susceptible;
and so on, including the Aguinaldos, the Mabinis, the Agoncillos
and even many of those, who in these days boast in public of their
americanist ideas, and in private plot with treacherous zeal to
overthrow the government of those they call their deliverers from
Spanish tyranny. In them all may be traced the strange instinct
of the old time filipino indian. Entering the fold of freemasonry,
they threw off the bridle of religion which restrained them; loosing
respect for Almighty God and for their faith they soon lost respect
for others and for themselves. The result is well known. History,
the history of the last five or six years, has shown it to us.
It is of this society of notables--for such is the meaning of the full
title of the Katipunan--that I wish to say a few words in the following
pages. I have taken as a foundation for my study, a very concise
statement of the whole situation, drawn up by Capt. Olegario Diaz,
Commander of the Guardia Civil Veterana de Manila. This document being
an official statement, is of vital interest in the study of the birth,
life and internal corruption of that diabolical association which,
gigantic though it was, comparatively speaking, could, by reason of
its infantility, have been easily stifled, had it been dealt with,
with a strong hand. I have taken the document as a base, and by a
series of notes in the form of a somewhat more lengthy appendix,
have endeavored to provide my readers with a file of interesting
items of historical value.
This pamphlet is not intended to be a history of the rebellion; I have
endeavored to confine myself to the society which brought about the
revolt, and if at any time I have strayed from the path I laid out
for myself, it has been because there was by the wayside some flower
I wished to pluck to add to the bouquet I herewith present to you.