Tagalog Republic (; ) is a term used to refer to two revolutionary governments involved in the

Philippine Revolution The Philippine Revolution ( or ; or ) was a war of independence waged by the revolutionary organization Katipunan against the Spanish Empire from 1896 to 1898. It was the culmination of the 333-year History of the Philippines (1565–1898), ...

against the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...

and the

Philippine–American War The Philippine–American War, known alternatively as the Philippine Insurrection, Filipino–American War, or Tagalog Insurgency, emerged following the conclusion of the Spanish–American War in December 1898 when the United States annexed th ...

. Both were connected to the ''

Katipunan The Katipunan (), officially known as the (; ) and abbreviated as the KKK, was a revolutionary organization founded in 1892 by a group of Filipino nationalists Deodato Arellano, Andrés Bonifacio, Valentin Diaz, Ladislao Diwa, José Dizon, an ...

'' revolutionary movement.

Etymology

The term ''Tagalog'' commonly refers to both an ethno-linguistic group in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

and their language. ''Katagalugan'' often refers to the Tagalog-speaking regions of the island of

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

in the Philippine archipelago. However, the ''Katipunan'' secret society extended the meaning of these terms to all of the natives in the Philippine islands. The society's primer explains its use of ''Tagalog'' in a footnote: The revolutionary Carlos Ronquillo wrote in his memoirs: In this respect, ''Katagalugan'' may be translated as the "Tagalog nation."

Andrés Bonifacio Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro (, ; November 30, 1863May 10, 1897) was a Filipino people, Filipino revolutionary leader. He is often called "The Father of the Philippines, Philippine Philippine Revolution, Revolution", and considered a nationa ...

, a founding member of the ''Katipunan'' and later its supreme head (''Supremo''), promoted the use of ''Katagalugan'' for the Philippine nation. The term "Filipino" was then reserved for Spaniards born in the islands. By eschewing " Filipino" and "Filipinas" which had colonial roots, Bonifacio and his cohorts "sought to form a national identity." In 1896, the Philippine Revolution broke out after the discovery of the ''Katipunan'' by the authorities. Prior to the outbreak of hostilities, the Katipunan had become an open revolutionary government. The American historian John R. M. Taylor, custodian of the ''Philippine Insurgent Records'', wrote: Several Filipino historians concur. According to

Gregorio Zaide Gregorio Fernandez Zaide (May 25, 1907 – October 31, 1986) was a Filipino historian, author, and politician from the town of Pagsanjan, Laguna, Philippines. A multi-awarded author, Zaide wrote 67 books and more than 500 articles abou ...

: Likewise,

Renato Constantino Renato Reyes Constantino Sr. (March 10, 1919 – September 15, 1999) was a Filipino historian known for being part of the leftist tradition of Philippine historiography. Apart from being a historian, Constantino was also engaged in foreign se ...

and others wrote that the ''Katipunan'' served as a shadow government. Influenced by

Freemasonry Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

, the ''Katipunan'' had been organized with "its own laws, bureaucratic structure and elective leadership". For each province it involved, the Supreme Council coordinated provincial councils which were in charge of "public administration and military affairs on the supra-municipal or quasi-provincial level" and local councils, in charge of affairs "on the district or

barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city delimited by functional (e.g. residential, comm ...

level".

Bonifacio

In the last days of August 1896, ''Katipunan'' members met in Caloocan and decided to start their revolt (the event was later called the "

Cry of Balintawak The Cry of Pugad Lawin (, ) was the beginning of the Philippine Revolution against the Spanish Empire. In late August 1896, members of the Katipunan led by Andrés Bonifacio revolted somewhere around Caloocan, which included parts of the ...

" or "Cry of Pugad Lawin"; the exact location and date are disputed). A day after the Cry, the Supreme Council of the Katipunan held elections, with the following results: The above was divulged to the Spanish by the ''Katipunan'' member

Pío Valenzuela Pío Valenzuela y Alejandrino (July 11, 1869 – April 6, 1956) was a Filipino physician and revolutionary leader. At the age of 22, he joined the society of Katipunan, a movement which sought the independence of the Philippines from Spanish c ...

while in captivity.

Teodoro Agoncillo Teodoro Andal Agoncillo (November 9, 1912 – January 14, 1985) was a Filipino historian from the 20th century. He and his contemporary, Renato Constantino, were among the first Filipino historians renowned for promoting a Filipino nationalis ...

thus wrote: Milagros C. Guerrero and others have described Bonifacio as "effectively" the commander-in-chief of the revolutionaries. They assert: One name for Bonifacio's concept of the Philippine nation-state appears in surviving ''Katipunan'' documents: ''Haring Bayang Katagalugan'' ("Sovereign Nation of the Tagalog People", or "Sovereign Tagalog Nation") - sometimes shortened into ''Haring Bayan'' ("Sovereign Nation"). ''Bayan'' may be rendered as "nation" or "people". The term ''haring bayan'' (sometimes ''haringbayan'') was Bonifacio's

neologism In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...

which sought to express and adapt in native terms the Western concept of "republic", from Latin ''

res publica ', also spelled ''rēs pūblica'' to indicate vowel length, is a Latin phrase, loosely meaning "public affair". It is the root of the ''republic'', and '' commonwealth'' has traditionally been used as a synonym for it; however, translations var ...

'', meaning public thing or

commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

. Since ''haring bayan'' means both "sovereign nation" and "sovereign people", where sovereign power is held by the nation/people, his concept was essentially democratic and republican in nature. Thus Bonifacio is named as the president of the "Tagalog Republic" in an issue of the Spanish periodical ''

La Ilustración Española y Americana ''La Ilustración Española y Americana'' was a weekly Spanish magazine that was published from 1869 to 1921 on the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 30th of every month. It was also published biweekly. History The magazine was a continuation of ''El Museo U ...

'' published in February 1897 (''"Andrés Bonifacio - Titulado "Presidente" de la República Tagala"''). Another name for Bonifacio's government was ''Repúblika ng Katagalugan'' (another form of "Tagalog Republic") as evidenced by a picture of a rebel seal published in the same periodical the next month. Official letters and one appointment paper of Bonifacio addressed to Emilio Jacinto reveal Bonifacio's various titles and designations, as follows: * President of the Supreme Council * Supreme President * President of the Sovereign Nation of Katagalugan / Sovereign Tagalog Nation * President of the Sovereign Nation, Founder of the Katipunan, Initiator of the Revolution * Office of the Supreme President, Government of the Revolution An 1897 power struggle at the

Imus Assembly The Imus Assembly was the meeting held between the ''Magdalo'' and ''Magdiwang'' factions of the Katipunan at Imus, Cavite, Philippines, on December 31, 1896, the day following the execution of José Rizal. This was convened in order to settle ...

Cavite Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite (; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region. On the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest of Manila, i ...

led to command of the revolution shifting at the

Tejeros Convention The Tejeros Convention (Spanish: ''Convención de Tejeros''; Tagalog: ''Kapulungan sa Tejeros''), also referred to as the Tejeros Assembly or Tejeros Congress, was a meeting held on March 22, 1897, in San Francisco de Malabon (now General Tria ...

, where a new insurgent government was formed with

Emilio Aguinaldo Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy (: March 22, 1869February 6, 1964) was a Filipino revolutionary, statesman, and military leader who became the first List of presidents of the Philippines, president of the Philippines (1899–1901), and the first pre ...

as president. Bonifacio refused to recognize the new government after his election as Director of the Interior was questioned by

Daniel Tirona Daniel Tirona y Tria (July 22, 1864 — September 2, 1939) was a Filipino people, Filipino politician. He became infamous for causing divisions within the Revolutionary government in the Philippines#Historical revolutionary governments, Philippi ...

. This led to the

Acta de Tejeros The Acta de Tejeros was a document prepared on March 23, 1897 which proclaimed the events at the Tejeros Convention on March 22 to have been disorderly and tarnished by chicanery. Signatories to this petition rejected the insurgent government insti ...

, the

Naic Military Agreement The Naic Military Agreement was a document prepared on April 18, 1897, in which a number of participants in the Tejeros Convention repudiated the convention results. This repudiation, which followed the Acta de Tejeros issued on March 23, would lat ...

and Bonifacio's trial and execution.

Sakay

After Emilio Aguinaldo and his men were captured by the US forces in 1901, General

Macario Sakay Macario Sakay y de León (March 1, 1870 – September 13, 1907) was a Filipino general who took part in the 1896 Philippine Revolution against the Spanish Empire and in the Philippine–American War. After the war was declared over by the Un ...

, a veteran ''Katipunan'' member, re-established in 1902 the Tagalog Republic (, or ''Republika ng Kapuluang Katagalugan'', ''kapuluan'' referring to the entire Philippine archipelago, as in "Philippine Islands" or "Islas Filipinas") as a continuation of Bonifacio's Katipunan government in contrast to Aguinaldo's Republic. Sakay was based in the mountains of Morong (today, the province of

Rizal Rizal most commonly refers to: * Rizal (province), a province of the Philippines * José Rizal, Filipino national hero whom the province is named after Rizal may also refer to: People * Akmal Rizal Ahmad Rakhli, Malaysian footballer * Atep Ri ...

), and held the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

with Francisco Carreón as

vice president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

. In April 1904, Sakay issued a manifesto declaring Filipino right to

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

at a time when support for

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

was considered a crime by the American colonial government. The republic ended in 1906 when Sakay and his leading followers surrendered on July 14 to the American authorities upon being promised

amnesty Amnesty () is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power officially forgiving certain classes of people who are subject to trial but have not yet be ...

and being convinced of the need for a

Philippine Assembly The Philippine Assembly (sometimes called the Philippine National Assembly) was the lower house of the Philippine Legislature from 1907 to 1916, when it was renamed the House of Representatives of the Philippines. The Philippine Assembly ...

as a peaceful "gate to liberty". Instead they were arrested days later at a welcoming reception party in Cavite, imprisoned at the Old Bilibid Prison in Manila, and the following year executed for

banditry Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, kidnapping, and murder, ...

. Some of its survivors escaped to Japan to be joined with

Artemio Ricarte Artemio Ricarte y García (October 20, 1866 – July 31, 1945) was a Filipino general during the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine–American War. He is regarded as the ''Father of the Philippine Army'', and the first Chief of Staff of ...

, an exiled Katipunan veteran, who later returned to support the

Second Philippine Republic The Second Philippine Republic, officially the Republic of the Philippines and also known as the Japanese-sponsored Philippine Republic, was a Japanese-Axis powers, backed government established on October 14, 1943, during the Japanese occupatio ...

, a client state of Japan, during World War II.

Notes

References

* * * * {{coord missing, Philippines Former countries in Philippine history Former unrecognized countries Former republics History of Calabarzon Philippine–American War Philippine Revolution States and territories established in 1896 States and territories disestablished in 1902 1896 establishments in the Philippines 1896 establishments in the Spanish East Indies 1903 disestablishments in the Philippines

Etymology

Bonifacio

Sakay

See also

Notes

References