ON November 30, when the whole nation celebrated the 154th birth anniversary of the Supremo Andres Bonifacio, President Duterte encouraged all Filipinos to emulate the hero’s nationalism. It came largely unnoticed by many of those who read the president’s message, but it is something that may not be taken so lightly.
A tall order, to say the least, because the Katipuneros of Bonifacio’s time, and especially the Supremo himself, pledged in blood their loyalty for country and for their compatriots. The Katipuneros believed that it is only when people have good intentions for each other will true well-being and freedom be attained.
Emilio Jacinto, a general during the Philippine revolution and one of the country’s brave heroes, penned the Kartilya ng Katipunan, or the Katipunan’s Code of Ethics. The 14-point guideline served as the members’ touchstone when it came to behavior, character and intentions. Allow me to reprint here the Katipunan’s Code of Ethics, to inspire us to act, think and speak like the Supremo and his loyal Katipuneros.
- Life which is not consecrated to a lofty and sacred cause is like a tree without shadow, if not a
poisonous weed. - A good deed that springs from a desire for personal profit and not a desire to do good is not kindness.
- True greatness consists in being charitable, in loving one’s fellow men and in adjusting every movement, deed and word to true reason.
- All men are equal, whether the color of their skin is black or white. One may be superior to another in knowledge, wealth and beauty, but no one may be superior in being.
- He, who is noble prefers honor to personal gains; he, who is mean prefers personal profit to honor.
- To a man with a sense of shame, his word is inviolate.
- Don’t waste away time; lost riches may be recovered, but lost time can never be regained.
- Defend the oppressed and fight the oppressor.
- An intelligent man is he who is cautious in speech and knows how to keep the secrets that must be guarded.
- In the challenging path of life, the man leads the way and his wife and children follow. If the leader goes the way of evil, so do the followers.
- Think not of women as objects for whiling time away but as a helper and partner in the hardships of life. Respect her in her weakness and remember the mother who brought you into this world and who cared for you in your childhood.
- What you do not want done to your wife, daughter and sister, do not do to the wife, daughter and sister of another.
- The nobility of a man does not consist in being a king, nor in the sharpness of his nose and the whiteness of his skin, nor is it in being the priest representing God, nor in the exalted position he has on this earth; but pure and truly noble is he who, though born in the woods, possesses an upright character, who is true to his word, who has dignity and honor, who does not oppress and does not help those who oppress, and he who knows how to look after and love the land of his birth.
- When these doctrines spread and the Sun of beloved liberty shines with brilliant effulgence on these unhappy isles and sheds its soft rays upon the united people and brothers in everlasting happiness, the lives, labors and suffering of those who are gone shall be more than recompensed.