Román Basa

Who was Román Basa?

Román Basa was a Filipino patriot who was the second Supremo or leader of the Katipunan, the secret society which sparked the Philippine Revolution against Spanish rule in 1896. Basa was born to Mariano Basa and Dorotea Esteban in San Roque, Cavite where he also completed his primary schooling. It is not known where, or if, he completed his studies but he was employed in the Comandancia de Marina in Manila where he eventually rose to a position of responsibility.

While working in Manila, Basa lived in a boarding house where he met one of the founders of the Katipunan, Ladislao Diwa, who was then a law student at the University of Santo Tomas.

On November 9, 1892, he was initiated into the secret society under the name Liwanag. With the connivance of a crewman of a ship which made weekly trips between Manila and Hong Kong, he smuggled into the country copies of La Solidaridad and the novels of José Rizal which were banned by the Spanish colonial government.

In 1893, he was elected president of the secret society and introduced some changes in its operations, particularly the formation of a women's auxiliary section. But he refused reelection the following year because of a difference with Katipunan founder Andrés Bonifacio. Their difference stemmed from Basa's refusal to induct his son Lucio into the Katipunan and Bonifacio's handling of the society's funds.