Andrés Bonifacio, leader of the Katipunan, a secret society organized to pursue Philippine independence, called for Filipinos to rise up against Spanish colonial rule at Balintawak on August 26, 1896. Like many such proclamations, it was issued in response to a serious betrayal of the movement to the Spanish authorities. Once they learned of the Katipunan from an Augustianian priest Mariano Gil and a member of the society itself, Teodoro Patiño, they searched its meeting place and found arms and documents. When Bonifacio learned of the arrest of fellow Katipuñeros and the confiscation of weapons, he fled to the mountains and issued the Grito de Balintawak.
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