KKK (Kataas-taasan, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng̃ mg̃á Anak ng̃ Bayan)

The Katipunan was a Philippine revolutionary society founded by anti-Spanish Filipinos in Manila in 1892, whose primary aim was to gain independence from Spain through revolution. The society was initiated by Filipino patriots Andrés Bonifacio, Teodoro Plata, Ladislao Diwa, and others on the night of July 7, when Filipino writer José Rizal was to be banished to Dapitan. Initially, the Katipunan was a secret organization until its discovery in 1896 that led to the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution.

The word "katipunan", literally meaning 'association', comes from the root word "tipon", an indigenous Tagalog word, meaning "society" or "gather together".Its official revolutionary name is Kataas-taasan, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng̃ mg̃á Anak ng̃ Bayan(English: Highest and Most Honorable Society of the Children of the Nation, Spanish: Suprema y Venerable Asociación de los Hijos del Pueblo). The Katipunan is also known by its acronym, K.K.K..

Being a secret organization, its members were subjected to the utmost secrecy and were expected to abide with the rules established by the society.Aspirant applicants were given standard initiation rites to become members of the society. At first, membership in the Katipunan was only open to male Filipinos; later, women were accepted in the society. The Katipunan had its own publication, Kalayaan (Liberty) that had its first and last print on March 1896. Revolutionary ideals and works flourished within the society, and Philippine literature were expanded by some of its prominent members.

In planning the revolution, Bonifacio contacted Rizal for his full-fledged support for the Katipunan in exchange for a promise of rescuing Rizal from his detainment. On May 1896, a delegation was sent to the Emperor of Japan to solicit funds and military arms. The Katipunan's existence was revealed to the Spanish authorities after a member named Teodoro Patiño confessed the Katipunan's illegal activities to his sister, and finally to the mother portress of Mandaluyong Orphanage. Seven days after the Spanish authorities learned of the existence of the secret society, on August 26, 1896, Bonifacio and his men tore their cedúlas during the infamous Cry of Balintawak that started the Philippine Revolution.

Captured Katipunan members (also known as Katipuneros), who were also members of La Liga, revealed to the Spanish colonial authorities that there was a difference of opinion among members of La Liga. One group insisted on La Liga's principle of a peaceful reformation while the other espoused armed revolution.

On the night of July 7, 1892, when Rizal was banished and exiled to Dapitan in Mindanao, Andrés Bonifacio,

Katipunan Kataas-taasan, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng̃ mg̃á Anak ng̃ Bayan
Flag of the Katipunan in 1897
Abbreviation	K.K.K.
Motto	See the Kartilya ng Katipunan
Formation	July 7, 1892
Extinction	May 10, 1897
Type	Secret militant society
Legal status	Defunct
Purpose/focus	See Katipunan aims
Membership	Masonic
Official languages	Tagalog, regional languages
President	Deodato Arellano (1892-1893) Ramon Basa (1893-1895) Andrés Bonifacio(1895-1897)
Main organ	Kalayaan (dated January 1896, published March 1896)

 a member of the La Liga Filipina, founded the Katipunan in a house in Tondo, Manila.Bonifacio did establish the Katipunan when it was becoming apparent to anti-Spanish Filipinos that societies like the La Liga Filipina would be suppressed by colonial authorities.He was assisted by his two friends, Teodoro Plata (brother-in-law) and Ladislao Diwa, plus Valentín Díaz and Deodato Arellano.The Katipunan was founded along Azcarraga St. (now Claro M. Recto Avenue) near Elcano St. in Tondo, Manila.Despite their reservations about the peaceable reformation that Rizal espoused, they named Rizal honorary president without his knowledge. The Katipunan, established as a secret brotherhood organization, went under the name Kataas-taasang, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng̃ mg̃á Anak ng̃ Bayan (Supreme and Venerable Society of the Children of the Nation)

In 1892, after the Katipunan was founded, the members of the Supreme Council consisted of Arellano as president, Bonifacio as comptroller, Diwa as fiscal, Plata as secretary and Díaz as treasurer.

In 1893, the Supreme Council comprised Ramón Basa as president, Bonifacio as fiscal, José Turiano Santiago as secretary, Vicente Molina as treasurer and Restituto Javier, Briccio Pantas, Teodoro Gonzales. Gonzales, Plata, and Diwa were councilors.It was during Basa's term that the society organized a women's auxiliary section. Two of its initial members were Gregoria de Jesus, whom Bonifacio had just married, and Marina Dizon, daughter of José Dizon. It was also in 1893 when Basa and Diwa organized the provincial council of Cavite, which would later be the most successful council of the society.

The Filipino scholar Maximo Kalaw reports that Basa yielded the presidency to Bonifacio in 1894 because of a dispute over the usefulness of the initiation rites and Bonifacio's handling of the society's funds. Basa contested Bonifacio's practice of lending their funds to needy members, complete with promissory notes.Moreover, Basa refused to induct his son into the organization.

It was also in 1894 when Emilio Jacinto, a nephew of Dizon who was studying law at the University of Santo Tomas, joined the Katipunan. He intellectualized the society's aims and formulated the principles of the society as embodied in its primer, called Kartilla. It was written in Tagalog and all recruits were required to commit it to heart before they were initiated. Jacinto would later be called the Brains of the Katipunan.

At the same time, Jacinto also edited Kalayaan (Freedom), the society's official organ, but only one edition of the paper was issued; a second was prepared but never printed due to the discovery of the society. Kalayaan was published through the printing press of the Spanish newspaper Diario de Manila. This printing press and its workers would later play an important role in the outbreak of the revolution.

In 1895, José Turiano Santiago, a close personal friend of Bonifacio, was expelled because a coded message of the Katipunan fell into the hands of a Spanish priest teaching at the University of Santo Tomas. Since the priest was a friend of Santiago's sister, he and his half-brother Restituto Javier were suspected of betrayal, but the two would remain loyal to the Katipunan and Santiago would even join the Philippine revolutionary forces in the Philippine-American War. Jacinto replaced Santiago as secretary.

In early 1895, Bonifacio called a meeting of the society and deposed Basa in an election that installed Bonifacio as president, Jacinto as Fiscal, Santiago as secretary, Molina as secretary, Pío Valenzuela and Pantaleon Torres as physicians, and Aguedo del Rosario and Doreteo Trinidad as councilors.

On December 31, 1895, another election named Bonafacio as president, Jacinto as Fiscal, Santiago as secretary, Molina as secretary, Pío Valenzuela and Pantaleon Torres as physicians, and Aguedo del Rosario and Doreteo Trinidad as councilors.

The members of the Supreme Council in 1895 were Bonifacio as president, Valenzuela as fiscal and physician, Jacinto as secretary, and Molina as treasurer. Enrico Pacheco, Pantaleon Torres, Balbino Florentino, Francisco Carreon and Hermenegildo Reyes were named councilers.

Eight months later, in August 1896, the fifth and last supreme council was elected to renamed offices. Bonifacio was named Supremo, Jacinto Secretary of State, Plata Secretary of War, Bricco Pantas Secretary of Justice, Aguedo del Rosario Secretary of Interior and Enrice Pacheco Secretary of Finance.