Katipunan

Katipunan, formally Kataastaasan, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (often abbreviated KKK), was a Philippine secret society founded in 1892 in Manila by Andres Bonifacio together with Deodato Arellano and other reformists. The organization aimed to secure independence from Spanish colonial rule through an armed revolution and operated as a clandestine network with secret initiation rites, coded signals, and oaths to preserve membership and discipline. Its name and symbols were intended to evoke unity, self-determination, and national identity.

The Katipunan recruited among urban workers and disenfranchised Filipinos and organized in small local cells that could act independently. It fostered a growing sense of national consciousness and coordinated efforts among various revolutionary groups. By the mid-1890s, the movement had begun planning and coordinating uprisings against Spanish authorities, shifting from reformist ideas to outright revolt.

In 1896 the society was discovered by Spanish authorities, triggering arrests of hundreds of members and contributing to the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution. The rebellion then continued under different leaders and factions, with the Katipunan forming an important network that helped sustain insurgent operations even as it faced suppression.

Today, the Katipunan is remembered as a pivotal force in the Philippine struggle for independence, illustrating how clandestine organizations helped catalyze the broader nationalist movement and the eventual achievement of independence from Spain.