Katipunero - Literature of The Society - Kalayaan

"Ang Kalayaan" redirects here. For other uses, see Kalayaan.

Kalayaan (Liberty/Freedom) was the official organ and newspaper of the Katipunan. It was first published March 1896 (even though its masthead was dated January 1896.) The first Kalayaan issue has never been followed.

In 1895, the Katipunan bought an old hand-press with the money generously donated by two Visayan co-patriots Francisco del Castillo and Candido Iban–who returned to the country after working as shell and pearl divers in Australia and had some money from a lottery win. They bought the press and a small quantity of types from Antonio Salazar’s "Bazar el Cisne" on Calle Carriedo, and Del Castillo transported it to the house of Andrés Bonifacio in Santa Cruz, Manila. On January 1, 1896, Valenzuela accepted the position as the Katipunan "fiscal" in exchange of Bonifacio's consent to send the printing press on his house in Calle de Lavezares, San Nicolas, Manila, "so that he could assist and edit a monthly publication which would be the Katipunan's main organ". Bonifacio agreed, and on mid-January, the press was delivered in San Nicolas.

The name Kalayaan was suggested by Dr. Pío Valenzuela, which was agreed both by Bonifacio and Emilio Jacinto. Even though Valenzuela was chosen to become the editor of the organ, they all decided to use the name of Marcelo H. del Pilar as its editor. To fool the Spanish authorities, the Kalayaan was also decided to carry a false masthead stating that it was being printed in Yokohama, Japan.

That very same month, January 1896, the publication of Kalayaan was started. Valenzuela expected it to finish at the end of the month, so they dated it as January. The existence of the press was kept in utmost secrecy. Under the supervision of Valenzuela, two printers, Faustino Duque, a student from Colegio de San Juan de Letran, and Ulpiano Fernández, a part-time printer at El Comercio, printed the revolutionary literature of the society and Kalayaan.

When Valenzuela was appointed as the physician-general of the Katipunan, he dropped his obligation as the editor and passed it to Emilio Jacinto. Jacinto took the job, editing articles after his pre-law classes in University of Santo Tomas. Since the press was in the old orthography and not in the new "Germanized" alphabet, as called by the Spaniards, there are no Tagalog letters such as "k", "w", "h" and "y". To solve this problem, Jacinto obliged his mother, Josefa Dizon, to buy types that resembles such letters. The types used in printing were purchased from publisher Isabelo de los Reyes, but many were taken surreptitiously from the press of the Diario de Manila by Filipino employees who were also members of the Katipunan.

According to Valenzuela, the printing process is so laborious that setting eight pages of typesets require two months to complete. For weeks, Jacinto, Duque and Fernández (and sometimes Valenzuela) took turns at preparing the pages of the Kalayaan, which was approximately nine by twelve inches in size. On March 1896, first copies were issued (dated January 1896), and about 2,000 prints had been circulated in secret, according to Valenzuela. According to Epifanio de los Santos, only 1,000 copies were printed: 700 was distributed by Bonifacio, 300 by Aguinaldo, and some 100 by Valenzuela himself.

The first issue contained a supposed editorial work done by del Pilar, which, in fact, was done by Jacinto himself. It also includes Bonifacio's Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa, Valenzuela's Catuiran? and several works that exposed Spanish abuses and promoting patriotism. Copies spread to nearby Manila provinces, including Cavite, Morong (now Rizal), Kalookan, and Malabon. Surprised by this initial success, Jacinto decided to print a second issue that would contain nothing but his only works.

On August 1896, the second issue was prepared. It was during this time when Spanish authorities began to grow suspicious about anti-government activities and supposition that a subversive periodical is in circulation (see below), raided the place where Kalayaan is being printed, at No. 6 Clavel Street, San Nicolas, Manila. Fortunately, the printers, Duque and Fernández, warned in time, had destroyed the incriminating molds and escaped. Therefore, Spanish authorities never found any evidence of the Kalayaan.