"To carry to a head their fearful and criminal idea, they found it
necessary to recruit many people of all classes and from all the
provinces, seeking a useful means to facilitate the conjuration. And
the indian being by reason of his ignorance and his barbarianism,
like all peoples of his kind, easily fanaticised, they set to work to
fanaticise the masses, these hordes of childish people, these ignorant
laborers; and they fanaticised them by means of the pacto-de-sangre,
making them swear war to the death to Spaniards, practicing an incision
in the left arm, and with the blood which flowed from the wound made
them sign their frightful oath."
"The masonic attributes discovered, and the "apron" [62] upon which
appeared the head of a Spaniard suspended by the hair, by the hand
of a criminal indian, whilst with the other hand a dagger was plunged
into the throat, evidenced, in a notorious manner, that this Society
was found well provided with masonic rites."
Note 72. Deodato Arellano, Bonifacio, Dina and Plata, it will be
remembered, were energetic workers of the Liga. They had entered into
the scheme of Rizal's association before Pilar's idea of a similar
society had become known. Two months or so after the foundation of
the Liga, at the time when its founder was deported to Dapitan, it
was decided to take up Pilar's project and see what could be done
towards carrying it to a successful issue.
José Dizon y Matanza (fols. 1,129-1,131) testified that "on the
same day in which General Despujols ordered the publication in the
Gaceta of the deportation of Rizal, there gathered in a house in
calle Ilaya, Bonifacio, Arellano, Valentin Diaz, Teodoro Plata, Dina
and the witness; and they agreed to form a society to be known as the
Katipunan, the object and ends of which were to be filibusterism, or,
in other words, the liberty of the country from Spanish rule; the six
persons present immediately proceeded to perform upon themselves the
incision of the pacto-de-sangre, signing with their own blood a blank
paper, placing after the signature, the symbolic name each chose
for himself. They then drew up the programme of the Society. This
programme was composed of 6 articles, viz.: 1st: to constitute a
secret society known as the Katipunan; 2nd: that the organization
was to be by triangles, to the end that no more than three members
should know one another; 3rd: that the initiated should pay one real
entrance fee, and a half real as a monthly subscription; 4th: that
as the number of the members increased they should found one or more
balangay in each district; 5th: to try to gather funds to carry out
the purposes of the society; 6th: that when the opportunity occurred
they should reform these articles.
They also agreed upon the form of oath which should be taken by the
initiated, which was to promise to shed even the last drop of blood
for the liberty of the Philippines.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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