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The Supreme Council

Record of meeting held on April 5, 1896

 

                                                  Source: Archivo General Militar de Madrid: Caja 5677, leg.1.86.

 

 

Introduction

Bonifacio had seen the huge fire in Manila from eight miles away, across the bay in Kawit, and as he feared his own house in Dulumbayan was among the hundreds lost to the flames.  Mercifully, his wife and infant son were unharmed, and the family went to live temporarily at Pio Valenzuela’s house on Calle Lavezares in San Nicolas.  There the KKK Supreme Council convened on the morning of Easter Monday 1896, and the damage wrought by the conflagration on Good Friday was naturally the principal topic of discussion.  

 

The Council decided that the Katipunan should put on a stage show at the Teatro Colon on May 2/3 to raise funds for members affected by the fire, and agreed that tickets should be produced and sold as soon as possible.  An ad hoc committee, headed by Apolonio de la Cruz (“Dinalitiwan”) was elected to organize and promote the event, which it was agreed should be in Tagalog and should appeal to an adult audience.[1]

 

Among the contents of Bonifacio’s house destroyed by the fire was the book collection being assembled by the Katipunan, called the “Basahan ng Bayan”, which was valued at around 300 pesos, and all but two of a set “Vienna chairs” the organization had purchased, presumably for use by the Supreme Council.[2]

 

It was agreed that the Katipunan should produce a leaflet “to incite the anger of the Tagalogs against the act of arson, perpetrated by the enemies.”[3] Those present agreed to contribute a salapi (80 kualta) towards the cost of the leaflet.

 

Aside from the fire, the main item on the Council’s agenda was to receive a report from Bonifacio on the trip to Cavite from which he, Jacinto, Valenzuela and Pantaleon Torres (“Bulalakaw”) had just returned. 

 

 

 

 

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K . K . K.

N. M. A. N. B.

Kataastaasang Sangunian

(Pinagsulatan)

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                Sa ngalan ng Bayang tinubuan at sa lalung kapurihan at ikalalaki ng kaayusa’t lakas ng K.K.K., itong K.S. ay gumawa, sa ikalima ng Abril ng taung isang libo, walong dan, siam na puo’t anim, ng isang pagpupulong sa bahay ng kap. na Dimas Ayaran.

 

            Nagsidalo ang mga kap. na Maypagasa, Pingkian, Silanganan, Talibong, Bulalakaw, Silang at Subiang, at humarap ang kap. na Dinalitiwan.

 

            Sa ikasampung daguk ng bakal sa tansu ng umaga ay binuksan ang kar., at tuloy binasa ng kap. na kal. ang pinagsulatan ng sinundang pagpupulong na minarapat ng lahat, at pinatunayan.

 

            Kapagkatapus, ay pinasumpa at pinatangap ng katungkulang Kasanguni ang kap. na Silanganan, na inihalal ng K.K.[4]

 

            Ipinagbigay alam ng k.p. ang naging bunga ng lakad sa bayan ng Noveleta’t Kawit ng mga kap. na Maypagasa, Dimas Ayaran, Pingkian at Bulalakaw, na nakapagtayu ng dalawang By.:  By. “Magdalo” sa Kawit, at sa Noveleta By. Magdiwang.

 

            Ipinagbigay alam din naman na ang mga libro ng Basahan na nailigpit na, at maghahalaga ng mga tatlong dang piso, ay nasunog ng Viernes na nagdaan, at gayon din ang mga uupang tinatawag na silla de Viena na ari ng Kat, liban sa dalawang nailigtas.  Ang mga libro’t uupang ito ay nakalagak sa bahay ng kap. na Maypagasa.

 

            Pinagkaisahang kumalha at lumimbag ng isang folleto na magpaalab ng kalooban ng mga tagalog laban sa pagpapasunog, na gawa ng mga kaaway.  Sa bagay na ito at nang makapagkalat ng marami ay aambag ng isang salapi ang mga K. ng K.S. at ang kap. na Dinalitiwan at ang iba pang may ibig.

 

            Pinagkaisahang magpapalabas ng dalawang gabi sa Teatro Colon, at ang kitain dito’y ipagbabaha-bahagi sa lahat ng kap. na nasunugan sa Viernes Stong nagdaan.  Wikang tagalog ang palalabasin at matatandang tao, at ng di mangalugi ay ipagbibili ang mga billete nang maaga, upang maubos na pagginawa ang palabas.  Naghalal ng mga kap. na mamahala nito at nagsilabas ang mga kpong. Dinalitiwan, Subiang, Talibong, Tagaisok at Maniangat, p. ang Dinalitiwan, kal. Subiang at ty. Tagaisok.  Ang palabas ay gagawin sa ikalawa at ikatlo ng buan ng Mayong hinaharap.

 

            Kapagkatapus sumumpa ang tanang nakaharap, ayon sa dating ugali, na di isiniwalat sa kanino pa man ang lahat ng namasdan at napakingan, niwakasan itong pagpupulong sa ikalabingdalawang daguk ng bakal sa tansu ng umaga.

 

            Maynila ika 5 ng Abril ng taung 1896.

 

                                                                        Ang k.p.

                                                                        Vzypzgzsz

                        Ang k. kal

                        Pnllknzll

                       

 

 

 

 

 

 

       Notes                      


[1] The Teatro Colon was located in the Palomar district of Tondo.  Established in 1895, it usually staged Spanish zarzuelas.  Cristina Laconico-Buenaventura, The Theater in Manila, 1846-1946 (Manila: De la Salle University Press, 1994), p.192.

[2] “Vienna chairs”, originally imported from Austria, were fashioned from wood bent by steam, enabling it to be worked into sinuous designs in keeping with the art nouveau style then in vogue.  Martin I. Tinio, “Inside Story” in Turn of the Century (Quezon City: GCF Books, 1978), p.239.

[3] It is not known whether this accusation had any basis in fact.

[4] Francisco Carreon (“Silanganan”) took his oath of office as a member of the Council.  He had been elected to this position almost three months previously, on December 24/25, 1895, but for some reason had been absent when his fellow councillors had subsequently taken their oaths.