Background
Teodoro Plata was born in 1866 in Manila, Philippines. He was the son of Numeriano Plata and Juana de Jesus.
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Teodoro Plata
Teodoro Plata was a Filipino revolutionary. He was one of the three original founders of the Katipunan.
Education
Teodoro Plata finished his secondary education in the Escuela Municipal de Manila.
Career
From a young age, Teodoro Plata had an inclination for law, but it is not known whether he was able to proceed far in this career. He obtained a clerical appointment in Manila, and it was during that time that he probably became acquainted later on with the activities of Andrés Bonifacio.
He attended the reception honoring Jose Rizal in the evening of June 26, 1892, and after the deportation of the latter to Dapitan became a certainty, Bonifacio, Ladislaw Diwa, and Plata founded the Katipunan organization in the evening of July 7, 1892, the three forming the first triangle. An authority the Philippine Revolution, Epifanio de los Santos Cristobal, stated that the statutes of the society were drawn up by Plata at the behest of Bonifacio and that Plata complied with the commission with the assistance of Diwa and Valentin Diaz and the concurrence of Deodato Arellano. In the propagation of the society, the triangular pattern of initiation was followed in its early existence since in its infant stage utmost secrecy was primordial to its success so that Plata himself catechized Briccio B. Pantas and V. Diaz.
Soon thereafter the supreme council of the Katipunan was constituted and Plata was chosen secretary under the presidency of Arellano. In February 1893 he was made one of the counselors under the presidency of Roman Basa. During this period he was boarding with the Bonifacios on Sagunto (now Santo Cristo) Street. Being a widower he courted Espiridiona Bonifacio, then only seventeen, and Bonifacio had to overcome the opposition of his sister because to her Plata was "an ugly, dark, and bearded old man." But Bonifacio had made up his mind and he advised his sister to accept the man for the cause they were espousing. So Espiridiona finally condescended and she married Plata. In 1894 Plata accepted an appointment as a clerk in the court of the first instance of Mindoro. Therefore, in the third (1895) and fourth (1896) supreme council, his name does not appear in the roster of the governing body of the Katipunan. Nothing is known, however, about Plata's activities in Mindoro during those two years.
About the middle of 1896, he was summoned by Bonifacio to come immediately for a conference in Manila. Bonifacio at this time had been considering launching the revolution, for he had previously sent Dr. Pio Valenzuela to Dapitan to enlist the support of Rizal. Bonifacio then reorganized the Katipunan on a war footing by placing himself at the helm in August 1896 and naming Plata as secretary of war, a position which was not in existence in previous supreme councils. After the discovery of the Katipunan, the leaders moved outside of Manila and in the vicinity of Kangkong, Caloocan, Bonifacio convoked an assembly that discussed the ways and means and timeliness of starting the revolution. Bonifacio also made a number of appointments among which was one making Plata general in chief. Although Bonifacio and Emilio Jacinto carried the crowd by their eloquence, a conservative group did not believe the time propitious. In this group belonged Plata who after manifesting his disagreement, escaped from the wrath of Bonifacio.
Thereafter Plata went back to Mindoro with the avowed purpose of selling his sailboat and other property which were left behind when he was called suddenly to Manila. But an order of arrest was waiting for him in Mindoro. The judge, however, informed him of the order and advised him to hide in Marinduque. But he was followed by the Spanish agents to that island, tracked, brought to Manila, and thrown into Fort Santiago. It is not known whether he underwent any trial at all, but he was shot on the Bagumbayan field the day following the execution of Rizal.
Achievements
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Teodoro Plata was known as a Filipino patriot who was among the founders of the Katipunan.
Membership
Teodoro Plata was a member of La Liga Filipina.
Connections
Teodoro Plata was married to Espiridiona Bonifacio.
- Father:
- Numeriano Plata
- Mother:
- Juana de Jesus
- Wife:
- Espiridiona Bonifacio
