The Brain of the Katipunan

 Emilio Jacinto, the right hand of Andres Bonifacio was born on December 15,1875, in Troso , Manila. They were poor. When his father, Mariano Jacinto died, he lived with his mother Josefa's brother, Don Jose Dizon , who enrolled him at San Juan de Letran College. Then, he transferred to the University of Sto. Tomas  to take up law. He was a very bright student and was unusually serious for his age. .However, he did not finish the law course because he joined the patriotic association of which Andres Bonifacio was the head. He devoted much  time to the work of this association ; devised its secret code, established a printing press, and in time made himself its recognized leader, second to Andres Bonifacio .To Bonifacio, he was an adviser , a secretary and a fiscal. He founded and edited the Kalayaan, the newspaper of the Katipunan which informed the people of the activities of the association. He wrote the Kartilla, the primer of the Katipunan which contained its rules and regulations. He was the author of the pamphlet embodying the ideals of the Katipunan and of other writings regarding it. He used a penname "Dimasilaw" in his writings and in Katipunan, his pseudonym was "Pinkian".

Emilio Jacinto, the youngest (19 years old) and most intellectual Katipunero, was the greatest writer of the Katipunan.. He wrote "Liwanag at Dilim", a series of articles of human rights, liberty, equality, labor and love of country. He also wrote a poem in Spanish, "A la Patria", which echoed the same sentiments of Rizal's  Last Farewell .He wrote "Katwiran"? an essay addressed to the motherland. He also worked with Bonifacio in the article, "Sa mga Kababayan".He supervised the printing of the Kalayaan, the first issue of which came out in January , 1896. He was not only of great value to the Katipunan, because of his writings and his  brilliance  as a soldier, but also because of his knowledge of wielding iron into weapons and manufacturing gunpowder and dynamites  which were used by the Katipuneros in fighting against the Spaniards. He was recognized as the "Brain of the Katipunan".

In the life of Jacinto, his ideal was Jose Rizal , whom he admired for his ethics  in his writings, and Marcelo del Pilar was his model in the field of politics. Because of this, his published writings were distinct from the rest and earned exceptional admiration of the many.

During the first revolutionary battle at Balintawak and Pasong Tamo, Bonifacio appointed Jacinto as the military commander in the North, covering the provinces of Rizal (Morong),Nueva Ecija, Bulacan  and the city of Manila. In one of the battles of Majayhay, Laguna, he was wounded and died on April 16, 1899 at the age of 24 years old  His remains was interred at the Veteran's Cemetery in Manila North Cemetery.

References _A Brief History of the Philippines   ,Bulwagan ng mga Bayani  , Philippines: A Unique Nation