Katipunan - Discovery

Discovery

As the Katipunan was busy preparing for the revolution, various denuinciations regarding its existence reached the Spanish authorities. On July 5, 1896, Manuél Sityar, a Spanish lieutenant of the guardia civíl stationed at Pasig, reported to Governor-General Ramón Blanco y Erenas the mysterious activities of certain Filipinos who had been gathering arms and recruiting men for some unknown purposes. On August 13, 1896, Fr. Agustín Fernández, an Augustinian curate of San Pedro, Makati, wrote to Don Manuél Luengo, Civil Governor of Manila, denouncing anti-Spanish meetings in his parish.

The Katipunan was finally discovered by the Spanish authorities six days after Fernández's letter to Luengo. On early August 1896, two Katipuneros, namely Teodoro Patiño and Apolonio de la Cruz, who were working for the Diario de Manila printing press (leading newspaper during those times) had undergone misunderstanding regarding wages. Press foreman de la Cruz and typesetter Patiño fought over salary increase of two pesos, and de la Cruz tried to blame Patiño for the loss of the printing supplies that were used for the Kalayaan. As an action against de la Cruz, Patiño revealed the secrets of the society to his sister, Honoria Patiño, an inmate nun at the Mandaluyong Orphanage. That afternoon, on August 19, 1896, Honoria grew shocked and very upset to the revelation. The mother portress of the Orphanage, Sor Teresa de Jesus saw Honoria crying so she approached her. Honoria told everything she heard from her brother. At around 6:15 pm that day, Sor Teresa called Teodoro Patiño and advised him to tell everything he knew about the Katipunan through confession to Father Mariano Gíl.

Controlled by his fear of Hell, Teodoro went to Father Mariano Gíl, an Augustinian parish curate of the Tondo convent. Though he is willed to tell anything about the Katipunan, Teodoro confessed to Father Gíl that a lithographic stone was hidden in the press-room of Diario de Manila, which was used by the society for printing receipts. He also said that aside from the stone, there were also documents of membership (that uses member’s blood for signing) hidden, together with a picture of Dr. José Rizal and several daggers that was made for the katipunero-employees of the newspaper.

Alarmed by the stunning truth of existence of a secret society, Father Gíl, accompanied by local Spanish authorities, searched the printing office of Diario de Manila and found the incriminating evidence. They also found Apolonio de la Cruz in possession of a dagger used in Katipunan initiation rites and some list of new accepted members. After the arrest, Father Gíl rushed to Governor-General Blanco to denounce the revolutionary plot of the Katipunan. The Spanish unleashed a crackdown and arrested dozens of people, where many innocent citizens were forced to go to Fort Santiago.

Patiño's alleged betrayal has become the standard version of how the revolution broke out in 1896. In the 1920s, however, the Philippine National Library commissioned a group of former Katipuneros to confirm the truth of the story. José Turiano Santiago, Bonifacio's close friend who was expelled in 1895, denied the story. He claimed that Bonifacio himself ordered Patiño to divulge the society's existence to hasten the Philippine revolution and preempt any objection from members.

Historian Teodoro Agoncillo gives a differing version of events, writing that Patiño revealed the secrets of the society to his sister, Honoria, following on a misunderstanding with Apolonio de la Cruz, another society member who worked with him in the Spanish-owned Diario de Manila periodical. Honoria, an orphanage inmate, was upset at the news and informed Sor Teresa, the orphanage madre portera, who suggested that Patiño tell all to Father Mariano Gil. On August 19, Patiño told Father Mariano what he knew of the secret society. Father Mariano and the owner of the Diario de Manila searched the printing shop, discovering the lithographic stone used to print pring Katipunan receipts. After this discovery the locker of Policarpio Turla, whose signature appeared on the receipts, was forced open and found to contain a dagger, the rules of the society, and other pertinent documents. These were turned over to the police, leading to the arrest and conviction on charges of illegal association and treason of some 500 prominent men.