Reading in Philippine History

FILINNIAL REACTION and

PROACTION TO:

COLONIALISM
MARTIAL LAW
EDSA REVOLUTION

2019 EDITION

BY

1
 JOSEPH MICHAEL P. REYES
AB COMMUNICATION

LA CONSOLACION UNIVERSITY PHILIPPINES

CHAPTER 1

HISTORY

History (from Greek ἱστορία, historia, meaning 'inquiry; knowledge acquired by

investigation')[2] is the past as it is described in written documents, and the study
thereof.[3][4] Events occurring before written records are considered prehistory.
"History" is an umbrella term that relates to past events as well as the memory,
discovery, collection, organization, presentation, and interpretation of information
about these events. Scholars who write about history are called historians.

History also includes the academic discipline which uses a narrative to examine and
analyse a sequence of past events, and objectively determine the patterns of cause and
effect that determine them.[5][6] Historians sometimes debate the nature of history
and its usefulness by discussing the study of the discipline as an end in itself and as a
way of providing "perspective" on the problems of the present.[5][7][8][9]

Stories common to a particular culture, but not supported by external sources (such as
the tales surrounding King Arthur), are usually classified as cultural heritage or
legends, because they do not show the "disinterested investigation" required of the

2
discipline of history.[10][11] Herodotus, a 5th-century BC Greek historian is often
considered within the Western tradition to be the "father of history", or by some the
"father of lies", and, along with his contemporary Thucydides, helped form the
foundations for the modern study of human history. Their works continue to be read
today, and the gap between the culture-focused Herodotus and the military-focused
Thucydides remains a point of contention or approach in modern historical writing. In
East Asia, a state chronicle, the Spring and Autumn Annals, was known to be
compiled from as early as 722 BC although only 2nd-century BC texts have survived.

Ancient influences have helped spawn variant interpretations of the nature of history
which have evolved over the centuries and continue to change today. The modern
study of history is wide-ranging, and includes the study of specific regions and the
study of certain topical or thematical elements of historical investigation. Often
history is taught as part of primary and secondary education, and the academic study
of history is a major discipline in university studies.
The word history comes from the Ancient Greek ἱστορία[12] (historía), meaning
'inquiry', 'knowledge from inquiry', or 'judge'. It was in that sense that Aristotle used
the word in his History of Animals.[13] The ancestor word ἵστωρ is attested early on
in Homeric Hymns, Heraclitus, the Athenian ephebes' oath, and in Boiotic
inscriptions (in a legal sense, either 'judge' or 'witness', or similar). The Greek word
was borrowed into Classical Latin as historia, meaning "investigation, inquiry,
research, account, description, written account of past events, writing of history,
historical narrative, recorded knowledge of past events, story, narrative". History was
borrowed from Latin (possibly via Old Irish or Old Welsh) into Old English as stær
('history, narrative, story'), but this word fell out of use in the late Old English
period.[14] Meanwhile, as Latin became Old French (and Anglo-Norman), historia
developed into forms such as istorie, estoire, and historie, with new developments in
the meaning: "account of the events of a person's life (beginning of the 12th century),
chronicle, account of events as relevant to a group of people or people in general
(1155), dramatic or pictorial representation of historical events (c. 1240), body of
knowledge relative to human evolution, science (c. 1265), narrative of real or
imaginary events, story (c. 1462)".[14]

It was from Anglo-Norman that history was borrowed into Middle English, and this
time the loan stuck. It appears in the 13th-century Ancrene Wisse, but seems to have
become a common word in the late 14th century, with an early attestation appearing
in John Gower's Confessio Amantis of the 1390s (VI.1383): "I finde in a bok
compiled | To this matiere an old histoire, | The which comth nou to mi memoire". In
Middle English, the meaning of history was "story" in general. The restriction to the
meaning "the branch of knowledge that deals with past events; the formal record or
study of past events, esp. human affairs" arose in the mid-15th century.[14] With the
Renaissance, older senses of the word were revived, and it was in the Greek sense that
Francis Bacon used the term in the late 16th century, when he wrote about "Natural
History". For him, historia was "the knowledge of objects determined by space and

3
time", that sort of knowledge provided by memory (while science was provided by
reason, and poetry was provided by fantasy).[15]

In an expression of the linguistic synthetic vs. analytic/isolating dichotomy, English

like Chinese (史 vs. 诌) now designates separate words for human history and
storytelling in general. In modern German, French, and most Germanic and Romance
languages, which are solidly synthetic and highly inflected, the same word is still used
to mean both 'history' and 'story'. Historian in the sense of a "researcher of history" is
attested from 1531. In all European languages, the substantive history is still used to
mean both "what happened with men", and "the scholarly study of the happened", the
latter sense sometimes distinguished with a capital letter, or the word
historiography.[13] The adjective historical is attested from 1661, and historic from
1669.[16]

WHY WE NEED TO STUDY THE HISTORY?

The study of history is important because it allows one to make more sense of the
current world. One can look at past economic and cultural trends and be able to offer
reasonable predictions of what will happen next in today's world. One can also
understand why some rules exist in the modern world. For example, one can
understand the importance of the social welfare programs if one looks at the Great
Depression and New Deal. We can also look back on the Civil Rights movement and
see why the United States puts so much effort into creating a system where everyone
is equal before the law and has equal access to public amenities. History also allows
us to see how the United States gradually created the Constitution after it had just
fought a war against a central government that did not care for colonial interests.
Without a background in history, one does not appreciate why the Constitution was
revolutionary for its time. More broadly, history enables us to understand different
cultures.

If those are not good reasons for studying history, one can study history because it
allows one to exercise their critical thinking skills. These critical thinking skills are
important for all areas in life, academic and otherwise. Historians also write a great
deal; a study of history allows one to practice writing for different audienc

CHAPTER 2
PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD

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A recent trip to Manila and Cebu left me wondering what the contemporary feminist
movement looks like in the Philippines. My research unexpectedly led me to learn
about a deep-seated tradition of women's leadership in the Philippines.

It was interesting to learn that the community structure of pre-Hispanic Philippine

society could neither be described as a patriarchy nor a matriarchy. Before the
Spanish colonized the Philippines, there existed a 500-year long tradition of
indigenous feminism that predated women’s liberation in the West.

Babaylan refers to the pre-colonial Philippine tradition of female mystical healers

whose spiritual connectedness was a source of political and social power. Babaylan
women serve as intermediaries between spiritual and material worlds in their
communities. Their leadership roles are multi-fold: warrior, healer, priestess and sage.

Babaylans listen to the community and lead through a deep understanding of the
inter-connectedness of all life forms. To this day, many babaylans remain politically
active in advocacy, activism and working for justice in their communities, especially
in matters of land dispute, displacement, state violence, increased militarization and
the plundering of their land.

Today babaylans lead resistance movements against imperialist interests in their

resource-rich land. Lumad communities of Mindanao such as the Matigsalom, take
great care to appoint a babaylan who can competently lead their community through
crisis and hardship. Community members count on babaylan leadership that will
ensure both peace and active resistance during politically contentious periods.
Babaylans in some Lumad communities even rely on female babaylans to prove
themselves physically capable of wielding weapons in defense of their land.

I often feel cheated by reductive stereotypes that Filipina women are meek and
mahinhin. It is flat-out disingenuous, especially when the reality is that we are
surrounded by literally hundreds of real-life examples of bold and brilliant Filipina
women leaders. And having now learned about babaylans and their unwavering
resistance to colonialism and imperialism, I am humbled by a quiet understanding that
we, powerful, tenacious Filipina women leaders have always existed.

The recorded history of the Philippines begins with the creation of the Laguna
Copperplate Inscription (LCI) in 900, the first written document found in an ancient
Philippine language. The inscription itself identifies the date of its creation, and on its
deciphering in 1992 moved the boundary between Philippine history and prehistory
back 600 years. The Philippines is classified as part of the Indosphere and the

5
Sinosphere, making its many cultures sophisticated and intermixed. Prior to the LCI,
the earliest record of the Philippine Islands corresponded with the arrival of Ferdinand
Magellan in 1521. Magellan's arrival marks the beginning of the Spanish colonial
period.

Prior to Spanish occupation, the islands were composed of different kingdoms,

rajahnates and sultanates. Some are even part of a larger Empire outside of the
modern day map of what is now the Philippines, for example; Manila was once part of
the Bruneian Empire. Another example is many parts of the modern day Mindanao is
theorized to be part of the Majapahit empire with its capital being located in East Java
in the modern day Indonesia. It was the Spaniards that named the collection of
Southeast Asian islands they conquered as Las Islas Filipinas, the geographical
locations of which the modern day country of the Philippines based its territories
today.

Other sources of pre-colonial history include archeological findings, records from

contact with the Song Dynasty, the Bruneian Empire, Japan, and Muslim traders,
genealogical records of Muslim rulers, and the collected accounts which were put into
writing by Spanish chroniclers in the 17th century, as well as then-extant cultural
patterns which had not yet been swept away by the coming tide of hispanization. The
period prior to Spanish colonization made the Philippines a part of both the
Indosphere and Sinosphere.[1][2][3][4]

Iron Age finds in Philippines point to the existence of trade between Tamil Nadu and
the Philippine Islands during the ninth and tenth centuries B.C.[5] The Philippines is
believed by some historians to be the island of Chryse, the "Golden One," which is
the name given by ancient Greek writers in reference to an island rich in gold east of
India. Pomponius Mela, Marinus of Tyre and the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
mentioned this island in 100 BC, and it is basically the equivalent to the Indian
Suvarnadvipa, the "Island of Gold." Josephus calls it in Latin Aurea, and equates the
island with biblical Ophir, from where the ships of Tyre and Solomon brought back
gold and other trade items. Historian Otley Beyer said that the “dawn man”, the
aborigines of the Philippines, existed 250,000 years ago, although the Callao man
fossils have been dated as 65,000 years ago.[citation needed]

Excavations in Rizal, Kalinga in the Cagayan Valley of northern Luzon in the

Philippines yielded 57 stone tools associated with an almost-complete disarticulated
skeleton of Rhinoceros philippinensis showing clear signs of butchery, together with
other fossil fauna remains. The finds originate in a clay-rich bone bed dated to
between 777,000 and 631,000 years. This evidence pushed back the proven period of
colonization of the Philippines by hundreds of thousands of years, and suggested that
early overseas dispersal in Island South East Asia by premodern hominins took place

6
several times during the Early and Middle Pleistocene, and that the Philippines may
have had a central role in southward movements of archaic hominids into Wallacea.[6]
This pushes back occupation of the Philippines to before the known origin of Homo
sapiens.[7] Similarly-aged remains of hominins were found in Flores island in
Indonesia also along Pacific Ocean. Some scientists pointed out that from Luzon to
Flores along Pacific Ocean, the probable source of the mysterious living form could
be the geographical center of the two points, which points to the present pacific side
of the Samar Island. The possibility that Lawan in Samar Island in an important part
of the Polynesian civilization was confirmed somehow by a finding in an Australian
study that the Pacific Island Philippines could be the homeland of Polynesians in the
pacific oceans. The migration of the Filipinos to different pacific islands who are
identified today as Polynesians and inwards into the Philippine islands like in Tondo
happened slowly in thousands of years and is evidenced by an existence of an ancient
shipping industry based in Palapag which was later converted into the shipping repair
stations of the Galleon Trade and is identified by some historians as the so-called
"Lakanate of Lawan" once headed by Datu Iberein and was mentioned by Henry Scott
in his writings, particularly in the "Bingi of Lawan.[8][unreliable source?]

Kamhantik limestone tombs (890 AD – 1030 AD)

The Limestone tombs of Kamhantik in the Buenavista Protected Landscape in

Quezon province was known to Manila researchers of the National Museum of the
Philippines in 2011. The coffins were believed to be at least 1,000 years old, initially.

It is composed of fifteen limestone coffins that can be dated back from the period of
10th to 14th centuries based on one of National Museum's top archaeologist "a
complex archaeological site with both habitation and burial remains from the period
of approximately 10th to the 14th century ... the first of its kind in the Philippines
having carved limestone tombs."[9] However, after carbon-dating the human bones
found on the site, it was known that the age of the site is much older, between 890–
1030 AD.[10]

The archaeological site is part of 280 hectares (690 acres) of forest land that was
declared a government-protected area in 1998 to keep away treasure hunters and
slash-and-burn farmers. However, the site has been looted already prior to proper
archaeological research. All of the lids of the coffins have already been stolen, along
with most of the remains, jars, and possible jewelries inside the coffins that may have
been sarcophagi.[11]

The Laguna Copperplate Inscription and its context (c. 900)

7
In January 1990, the Laguna Copperplate, then just a thin piece of crumpled and
blackened metal, was offered for sale to and was acquired by the National Museum of
the Philippines after previous efforts to sell it to the world of antiques had been
unsuccessful. On examination, it was found to measure about 20 cm square and to be
fully covered on one side with an inscription in ten lines of finely written characters.
Antoon Postma deciphered the text and discovered that it identified the date of its
creation as the "Year of Sakya 822, month of Vaisakha." According to Jyotisha
(Hindu astronomy), this corresponded with the year 900. Prior to the deciphering of
the LCI, Philippine history was traditionally considered to begin at 1521, with the
arrival of Magellan and his chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta. History could not be
derived from pre-colonial records because such records typically did not survive:
most of the writing was done on perishable bamboo or leaves. Because the
deciphering of the LCI made it out to be the earliest written record of the islands that
would later become the Philippines, the LCI moved the boundary between Philippine
history and prehistory back 600 years.[12][13][14]

The inscription forgives the descendants of Namwaran from a debt of 926.4 grams of
gold, and is granted by the chief of Tondo (an area in Manila) and the authorities of
Paila, Binwangan and Pulilan, which are all locations in Luzon. The words are a
mixture of mostly Sanskrit along with some Old Malay, Old Javanese and Old
Tagalog. The subject matter proves conclusively that a developed society with traders,
rulers and international trading existed in the Philippines prior to the Spanish
colonization. The references to the Chief of Medang Kingdom in Indonesia imply that
there were cultural and trade links with empires and territories in other parts of
Maritime Southeast Asia, particularly Srivijaya. The copperplate indicate the presence
of writing and of written records at the time, and the earliest proof of Philippines
language.[12]
Since at least the 3rd century, the indigenous people were in contact with the other
Southeast Asian and East Asian nations. Fragmented ethnic groups established several
polities formed by the assimilation of several small political units known as barangay
each headed by a Datu, who was then answerable to a Rajah or a Lakan, who headed
the city state. Each barangay consisted of about 100 families. Some barangays were
big or city-sized, such as Zubu (Cebu), Maktan (Mactan), Butuan, Ogtong (Oton)[15]
and Halaud (Araut or Halaur, which is Dumangas at present) in Panay,[16] Mait
(Ma-i), Bigan (Vigan) and Selurong (Manila). Each of these big barangays had a
population of more than 2,000. The city-statehood system was also used by the
freedom-loving Waray people of Samar and eastern Leyte, the head-hunting Ilongots
of the Cagayan Valley (now primarily live in Nueva Viscaya and Nueva Ecija after
the Ilokano migrations to the Cagayan Valley), and the peacock-dressed Gaddang
people of the Cagayan Valley. Unlike other areas in the country like Tondo or Cebu
which had royal families, the ancient city-states of the Warays, Ilongots and
Gaddangs were headed through an indigenous leadership system. Both civilizations
developed their own tools and craftsmanship as proven by archaeological evidences in
central Cagayan Valley and southwest Samar. The head of the Ilongot was known as
the Benganganat, while the head of the Gaddang was the Mingal.[17][18][19]

8
The Batanes islands also had its own political system, prior to colonization. The
archipelagic polity was headed by the Mangpus. The Ivatan of Batanes, due to
geography, built the only stone castles known in pre-colonial Philippines. These
castles, called idjang, were not for royalty, but for the people during times of natural
calamity and invasions. Gold was also regarded with high social value by the Ivatan,
having contact with both Taiwan and northern Luzon, later on with the kingdom of
Ryukyu, and then Japan. The British visited the archipelago in 1687, but never
subjugated the people. The Spanish, after subjugating most of the Philippines, were
only able to subjugate the Ivatan in 1783, where they were confronted by Mangpus
Kenan Aman Dangat, the Mangpus of Batanes at the time. Dangat was executed by
the Spanish, and the islands were controlled by Spain through Manila.[20]

The Ilokano people at the northwest side of Luzon, who classically were located in
what is now Ilocos Sur, was headed by the Babacnang. The traditional name of the
polity of the Ilokano was Samtoy. The polity did not have a royal family, rather, it
was headed by its own chieftaincy. The polity had trade contacts with both China and
Japan.[citation needed]

The people of the Cordilleras, collectively known by the Spanish as Igorot, were
headed by the Apo. These civilizations were highland plutocracies with their very
own distinct cultures, where most were headhunters. According to literature, some
Igorot people were always at war with the lowlanders from the west, the
Ilokanos.[20][21]

The Subanons of Zamboanga Peninsula also had their own statehood during this
period. They were free from colonization, until they were overcame by the Islamic
subjugations of the Sultanate of Sulu in the 13th century. They were ruled by the
Timuay. The Sama-Bajau peoples of the Sulu Archipelago, who were not Muslims
and thus not affiliated with the Sultanate of Sulu, were also a free statehood and was
headed by the Nakurah until the Islamic colonization of the archipelago. The Lumad
(autochthonous groups of inland Mindanao) were known to have been headed by the
Datu.

By the 14th century, these polities were organized in strict social classes: The Datu or
ruling class, the Maharlika or noblemen, the Timawa or freemen, and the dependent
class which is divided into two, the Aliping Namamahay (Serfs) and Aliping
Saguiguilid (Slaves).

In the earliest times, the items which were prized by the people included jars, which
were a symbol of wealth throughout South Asia, and later metal, salt and tobacco. In

9
exchange, the people would trade feathers, rhino horn, hornbill beaks, beeswax, birds
nests, resin and rattan.

Indianization and the emergence of Suyat scripts (1200 onwards)

In a book entitled Tubod The Heart of Bohol published and accredited by the National
Commission for Culture and the Arts of the Philippines, around the 12th century, a
group of people from Northern Mindanao settled in the straight between mainland
Bohol and the neighbouring island of Panglao. Those people came from a nation in
northern Mindanao called Lutao (probably the animist kingdom of what will soon be
the Islamic Lanao). According to the much credited book, those people established the
Kingdom of Dapitan in western Bohol because the true indigenous people of Bohol in
the Anda peninsula and nearby areas were not open to them, forcing them to establish
settlement in the western part of the island. The kingdom was first built with
hardwood on the soft seabed. It engaged it trade with nearby areas and some Chinese
merchants. The Jesuit Alcina tales about a rich nation he called the 'Venice of the
Visayas', pointing to the Kingdom of Dapitan at that time. The Jesuit also tells of a
princess named Bugbung Hamusanum, whose beauty caused her suitor to raid parts of
southern China to win her hand. By 1563, before the full Spanish colonization agenda
came to Bohol, the Kingdom of Dapitan was at war with the Ternateans of the
Moluccas (who were also raiding the Rajahnate of Butuan). At the time, Dapitan was
ruled by two brothers named Dalisan and Pagbuaya. The Ternateans at the time were
allied to the Portuguese. Dapitan was destroyed and King Dalisan was killed in battle.
His brother, King Pagbuaya, together with his people fled back to Mindanao and
established a new Dapitan in the northern coast of the Zamboanga peninsula. The new
Dapitan eventually was subjugated by the Spanish.[22]

The script used in writing down the LCI is Kawi, which originated in Java, and was
used across much of Maritime Southeast Asia. But by at least the 13th century or 14th
century, its descendant known in Tagalog as Baybayin was in regular use. The term
baybayin literally means syllables, and the writing system itself is a member of the
Brahmic family.[23] One example of the use of Baybayin from that time period was
found on an earthenware burial jar found in Batangas. Though a common perception
is that Baybayin replaced Kawi, many historians believe that they were used
alongside each other. Baybayin was noted by the Spanish to be known by everyone,
and was generally used for personal and trivial writings. Kawi most likely continued
to be used for official documents and writings by the ruling class.[24] Baybayin was
simpler and easier to learn, but Kawi was more advanced and better suited for concise
writing.

Although Kawi came to be replaced by the Latin script, Baybayin continued to be

used during the Spanish colonization of the Philippines up until the late 19th century.

10
Closely related scripts still in use among indigenous peoples today include Hanunóo,
Buhid and Tagbanwa.[25]

No manuscript written before colonization has survived in the present, mostly due to
Spain's intentional destruction of indigenous scripts. Internationally respected
anthropologist H. Otley Beyer (1921) wrote, "The fanatic zeal of the Spaniards for the
Christian faith and corresponding hatred for all other forms of belief led them to
regard the native writings and art as works of the Devil — to be destroyed wherever
found. … It cannot be said that such writings did not exist, since the early Filipinos
were even more literate than the Mexicans; they used syllabaries of Indian origin. One
Spanish priest in southern Luzon boasted of having destroyed more than three
hundred scrolls written in the native character."[26]

Of at least 17 unique scripts, found nowhere else, documented by colonizers in the

Philippines, only 4 survived colonization.[27]

Sinicization and Chinese trade (982 onwards)

The earliest date suggested for direct Chinese contact with the Philippines was 982.
At the time, merchants from "Ma-i" (now thought to be either Bay, Laguna on the
shores of Laguna de Bay,[28] or a site on the island of Mindoro[29][30]) brought their
wares to Guangzhou and Quanzhou. This was noted by the Sung Shih (History of the
Sung) by Ma Tuan-lin who compiled it with other historical records in the Wen-hsien
T'ung-K'ao at the time around the transition between the Sung and Yuan
dynasties.[29]

Present-day Siquijor also had its fair share of royalties during this period. The island
kingdom was called 'Katagusan', from tugas, the molave trees that cover the hills,
which abounded the island along with fireflies. During this time, the people of the
kingdom was already in contact with Chinese traders, as seen through archaeological
evidences which includes Chinese ceramics and other Chinese objects. The art of
traditional healing and traditional witchcraft belief systems also developed within this
period.[31] During the arrival of the Spanish, the ruler of the island was King Kihod,
as recorded by de Legazpi's chronicles. Out of natural hospitality, the Spaniards were
greeted by King Kihod, who presented himself with the words 'si Kihod' (I am Kihod).
The Spaniards mistakenly thinking that he was talking about the island, adopted the
name Sikihod which later changed to Siquijor, as it was easier to pronounce.[32][33]

Islamization and the growth of Islamic sultanates (1380 onwards)

11
In 1380, Makhdum Karim, the first Islamic missionary to the Philippines brought
Islam to the Archipelago. Subsequent visits of Arab, Malay and Javanese missionaries
helped strengthen the Islamic faith of the Filipinos, most of whom (except for those in
the north) would later become Christian under the Spanish colonization. The Sultanate
of Sulu, the largest Islamic kingdom in the islands, encompassed parts of Indonesia,
Malaysia and the Philippines. The royal house of the Sultanate claim descent from
Muhammad.

Around 1405, the year that the war over succession ended in the Majapahit Empire,
Muslim traders introduced Islam into the Hindu-Malayan empires and for about the
next century the southern half of Luzon and the islands south of it were subject to the
various Muslim sultanates of Borneo. During this period, the Japanese established a
trading post at Aparri and maintained a loose sway over northern Luzon.

REACTION

Pre-colonial period was a very liturgical in a manner that it has the so called
“abundant history”. I feel fulfilled when I were informed that the Philippine Literary
history has the highest span of time. Even though if we were colonized by many
countries, still, our country came out with its own cultures, tradition, and discoveries.
I believe that there are many beliefs, wisdom, and traditions were brought to us by
those colonizers. I agree that present day students of Philippine Literature are
fortunate in that they no longer have to go by “myth” of Pre-colonial Philippines,
thanks to researches and writings about Philippine Prehistory which have appeared
during the past two decades. The dances and rituals now found among Filipinos in the
hinterlands suggest that indigenous drama had begun to evolve from attempts to
control the environment.

Most of the literary works during the Pre-colonial times seems to be based on the
categories of nature such as seas, oceans, trees, mountains, and falls. As I had
observed, the claims during present times was just a revise that shows progress from
the Pre-colonial times.

Even if I didn’t experienced the gripped of the colonizers, for me, maybe
experiencing it was a very great one. I’m not saying that I wanted to be colonized but
I want to feel how to fight in our own stand. Being a proud and brave Filipino citizen
is all I can give for this country of us. Bringing out the goodness and greatness of our

12
country is formidable but the pleasure sure gives us the confidence on lifting this
fruitful and loving country, the Philippines.

PRO-ACTION

As a youth and as a filipino citezen in our moder society right now we as a student to
improve our daily life of doing new in our society like in our language, tradition, food
and etc.

CHAPTER 3

SPANISH COLONIALISM

Portugese explorer Ferdinand Magellan successfully led the European expedition to

Philippines
in the service of the King of Spain. On 31 March 1521 at Limasawa Island, Southern
Leyte, as
stated in Pigafetta's Primo Viaggio Intorno El Mondo (First Voyage Around the
World),
Magellan solemnly planted a cross on the summit of a hill overlooking the sea and
claimed for
the king of Spain possession of the islands he had seen, naming them Archipelago of
Saint
Lazarus. The invasion of Philippines by foreign powers however didn’t begin in
earnest until
1564. After Magellan's voyage, subsequent expeditions were dispatched to the
islands.
Four expeditions were sent: Loaisa (1525), Cabot (1526), Saavedra (1527), Villalobos
(1542),
and Legazpi (1564) by Spain. The Legazpi expedition was the most successful as it
resulted in

13
the discovery of the tornaviaje or return trip to Mexico across the Pacific by Andrés
de
Urdaneta. This discovery started the Manila galleon trade1
, which lasted two and a half centuries.
In 1570, Martín de Goiti having been dispatched by Legazpi to Luzon2
, conquered the Kingdom
of Maynila (now Manila). Legazpi then made Maynila the capital of the Philippines
and
simplified its spelling to Manila. His expedition also renamed Luzon Nueva Castilla.
Legazpi
became the country's first governor-general. The archipelago was Spain's outpost in
the orient
and Manila became the capital of the entire Spanish East Indies. The colony was
administered
through the Viceroyalty of New Spain (now Mexico) until 1821 when Mexico
achieved
independence from Spain. After 1821, the colony was governed directly from Spain.
Spain had three objectives in its policy toward the Philippines, its only colony in Asia:
to acquire
a share in the spice trade, to develop contacts with China and Japan in order to further
Christian
missionary efforts there, and to convert the Filipinos to Christianity. Only the third
objective was
eventually realized, though not completely because of the active resistance of both the
Muslims
in the south and the Igorot, the upland tribal peoples in the north. Philip II, king of
Spain
explicitly ordered that pacification of the Philippines be bloodless, to avoid a
repetition of

1
Galleon refers to Spanish ships which were used for warfare and later for trade.
2
Luzon is the largest and most populous island of Philippines.

14
Spain's sanguinary conquests in the Americas. Occupation of the islands was
accomplished with
relatively little bloodshed, partly because most of the population (except the Muslims)
offered
little armed resistance initially. However there have been several incidents of
atrocities
committed by the Spanish authorities, one of the most incredible acts of heinous
torture took
place in the Fortress of Sebastian Intra Mores in Manila where there was a dungeon
known as the
Black Hole. The prison had only two small apertures, one three feet square in the
ceiling, the
other a little gated hole in the floor through which the sea could be seen washing
underneath. The
Spanish authorities used to confine state prisoners in the hole to the brimful without
food and
water and just sufficient air to prevent them from dying immediately. Physical torture
was meted
out to the unmanageable prisoners.
During most of the Spanish colonial period, the Philippine economy depended on the
Galleon
Trade which was inaugurated in 1565 between Manila and Acapulco, Mexico. Trade
between
Spain and the Philippines was via the Pacific Ocean to Mexico (Manila to Acapulco),
and then
across the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean to Spain (Veracruz to Cádiz). Manila
became the
most important center of trade in Asia between the 17th and 18th centuries. All sorts
of products
from China, Japan, Brunei, the Moluccas and even India were sent to Manila to be
sold for silver
8-real coins3
which came aboard the galleons (Spanish ships) from Acapulco (city in Mexico).
These goods, including silk, porcelain, spices, lacquer ware and textile products were
then sent to
Acapulco and from there to other parts of New Spain, Peru and Europe. The European

15
population in the archipelago steadily grew although natives remained the majority.
They
depended on the Galleon Trade for a living. In the later years of the 18th century,
GovernorGeneral Basco introduced economic reforms that gave the colony its first
significant internal
source income from the production of tobacco and other agricultural exports. In this
later period,
agriculture was finally opened to the European population, which before was reserved
only for
the natives.
During Spain’s 333 year rule in the Philippines, the colonists had to fight off the
Chinese pirates
(who lay siege to Manila, the most famous of which was Limahong in 1574), Dutch
forces, Portuguese forces, and indigenous revolts. Moros from western Mindanao and
the Sulu
Archipelago also raided the coastal Christian areas of Luzon and the Visayas and
occasionally

3
Silver 8-real coin was the silver coin minted by the Spanish empire after 1598.
captured men and women to be sold as slaves. On April 25, 1898, the Spanish–
American
War began with declarations of war. On May 1, 1898, the Spanish navy was
decisively defeated
in the Battle of Manila Bay by the Asiatic Squadron of the U.S. Navy led by
Commodore George
Dewey aboard the USS Olympia. Thereafter Spain lost the ability to defend Manila
and therefore
the Philippines.
The Filipino movement against Spanish authorities had both violent and non-violent
proponents.
Jose Rizal was the most prominent face of the moderate opposition to the Spanish rule
who
advocated political reforms of The Philippines under Spain. Jose Rizal was a man of
incredible

16
intellectual power, with amazing artistic talent as well. He excelled at anything that he
put his
mind to - medicine, poetry, sketching, architecture, sociology. In 1882, he traveled to
Spain to
complete his medical degree. While in Europe, José Rizal became part of the
Propaganda
Movement, connecting with other Filipinos who wanted reform. He also wrote his
first
novel, Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not/The Social Cancer), a work that detailed the
dark aspects
of Spain's colonial rule in the Philippines, with particular focus on the role of Catholic
friars. The
book was banned in the Philippines, though copies were smuggled in. Rizal returned
to the
Philippines in 1892. Although the reform society he founded, the Liga Filipino
(Philippine
League), supported non-violent action, Rizal was still exiled to Dapitan, on the island
of
Mindanao. In August 1896, Katipunan, a nationalist Filipino society founded by
Andres
Bonifacio, revolted. Though Rizal had no ties to the group, and disapproved of its
violent
methods, Rizal was arrested shortly thereafter. After a show trial, Rizal was convicted
of sedition
and sentenced to death by firing squad. Rizal's public execution was carried out in
Manila on
December 30, 1896, when he was 35 years old. His execution created more opposition
to
Spanish rule.
On May 19 1898, Filipino radical revolutionary Emilio Aguinaldo returned to the
Philippines
from self exile in Hong Kong aboard an American naval ship and on May 24 took
command of
Filipino forces. Filipino forces had liberated much of the country from the Spanish.
On June 12,
1898 Aguinaldo issued the Philippine Declaration of Independence declaring
independence from

17
Spain and later established the First Philippine Republic. Filipino forces then laid
siege to
Manila, as had American forces. The Americans entered into a pact with the Spanish
governorgeneral in which they agreed to fight a mock battle before surrendering
Manila to the Americans.
The Battle of Manila took place on August 13 and Americans took control of the city.
In
the Treaty of Paris (1898) ending the Spanish–American War, the Spanish agreed to
sell the
Philippines to the United States for $20 million which was subsequently narrowly
ratified by the
U.S. Senate. With this action, Spanish rule in the Philippines formally ended.
However the
sovereignty status of The Philippines remained unchanged till 1946, as the void left
by Spain was
immediately filled with the U.S.A. The Philippines was illegally ceded to the United
States at the
Treaty of Paris for US$20 million, together with Cuba and Puerto Rico. A
Filipino-American
War broke out as the United States attempted to establish control over the islands. The
war lasted
for more than 10 years, resulting in the death of more than 600,000 Filipinos. The
little-known
war has been described by historians as the "first Vietnam", where US troops first
used tactics
such as strategic hamleting and scorched-earth policy to "pacify" the natives.
The United States established an economic system giving the colonizers full rights to
the
country's resources. The Spanish feudal system was not dismantled; in fact, through
the system
of land registration that favored the upper Filipino classes, tenancy became more
widespread
during the US occupation. Native elites, including physicians trained in the United
States, were
groomed to manage the economic and political system of the country. The U.S. also
introduced

18
western models of educational and health-care systems which reinforced elitism and a
colonial
mentality that persists to this day, mixed with the Spanish feudal patron-client
relationship.
Eventually after the second world war, where Filipino forced fought alongside U.S.A
to thwart
the Japanese force, Philippine independence came on July 4, 1946, with the signing of
the Treaty
of Manila between the governments of the United States and the Philippines. The
treaty
provided for the recognition of the independence of the Republic of the Philippines
and the
relinquishment of American sovereignty over the Philippine Islands.
http://www.mcrg.ac.in/Chair_Professor/Articles/Spanish_colonialism_in_The_Philipp
ines.pdf

REACTION

My reflection about Spanish colonization has a big impact for all of us. It tattooed
on our minds their maltreatment and their great contribution to us. I believe that our
country may not be colonized if we Filipinos have the wisdom of what is in our
beautiful land of promise. The abundance that we have when we talk about natural
resources, most especially the unique beauty of our country. Sometimes when I asked
myself, what if we have this awareness and knowledge before? Are we like this? Are
we a slave in our own country? Well, slave is a very hard word but for me, it’s the
truth. As I observed in today’s generation we are still enslaved in our own country.
Other nationalities acted like they were our bosses. It shouldn’t be like that, no one is
the boss but we Filipino’s should be the bosses of our own land. When the Spaniards
came, they were the first country who got a lot of benefits coming from our natural
resources. There are a lot of cultures and traditions of our ancestor was being
devastated because of the influences they have done. But maybe, there are things that
we need to be thankful for.

These parts of life were put into peril and risk Filipinos began to strike back.
Spaniards took a gander at the Filipinos as slaves or peasants not as siblings whom
they ought to love and regard. They changed our arrangement of government and they
got to be rulers that man handled, abused and attacked the Filipinos particularly the
ladies and youngsters. I can arrange the rebellions that happened amid the Spanish
expansionism into three reasons: individual, political and religious rebellions. As man

19
is enriched with body and soul, insightfulness and will, reason and volition, one can’t
be bound and persecuted in his or her natural right and nobility as man. The privilege
to life, right to religious flexibility and right in political try.

20
CHAPTER 4

JAPANESE COLONIALISM
The Japanese occupation of the Philippines (Filipino: Pananakop ng mga
Hapones sa Pilipinas; Japanese: 日本のフィリピン占領; Hepburn: Nihon no Firipin
Senryō) occurred between 1942 and 1945, when Imperial Japan occupied the
Commonwealth of the Philippines during World War II.

The invasion of the Philippines started on 8 December 1941, ten hours after the
attack on Pearl Harbor. As at Pearl Harbor, American aircraft were severely damaged

21
in the initial Japanese attack. Lacking air cover, the American Asiatic Fleet in the
Philippines withdrew to Java on 12 December 1941. General Douglas MacArthur was
ordered out, leaving his men at Corregidor on the night of 11 March 1942 for
Australia, 4,000 km away. The 76,000 starving and sick American and Filipino
defenders on Bataan surrendered on 9 April 1942, and were forced to endure the
infamous Bataan Death March on which 7,000–10,000 died or were murdered. The
13,000 survivors on Corregidor surrendered on 6 May.

Japan occupied the Philippines for over three years, until the surrender of Japan.
A highly effective guerilla campaign by Philippine resistance forces controlled sixty
percent of the islands, mostly jungle and mountain areas. MacArthur supplied them by
submarine, and sent reinforcements and officers. Filipinos remained loyal to the
United States, partly because of the American guarantee of independence, and also
because the Japanese had pressed large numbers of Filipinos into work details and
even put young Filipino women into brothels.[1]

General MacArthur kept his promise to return to the Philippines on 20 October

1944. The landings on the island of Leyte were accompanied by a force of 700 vessels
and 174,000 men. Through December 1944, the islands of Leyte and Mindoro were
cleared of Japanese soldiers. During the campaign, the Imperial Japanese Army
conducted a suicidal defense of the islands. Cities such as Manila were reduced to
rubble. Around 500,000 Filipinos died during the Japanese Occupation Period.[2]
Japan launched an attack on the Philippines on December 8, 1941, just ten hours
after their attack on Pearl Harbor.[3] Initial aerial bombardment was followed by
landings of ground troops both north and south of Manila.[4] The defending
Philippine and United States troops were under the command of General Douglas
MacArthur, who had been recalled to active duty in the United States Army earlier in
the year and was designated commander of the United States Armed Forces in the
Asia-Pacific region.[5] The aircraft of his command were destroyed; the naval forces
were ordered to leave; and because of the circumstances in the Pacific region,
reinforcement and resupply of his ground forces were impossible.[6] Under the
pressure of superior numbers, the defending forces withdrew to the Bataan Peninsula
and to the island of Corregidor at the entrance to Manila Bay.[7] Manila, declared an
open city to prevent its destruction,[8] was occupied by the Japanese on 2 January
1942.[9]

The Philippine defense continued until the final surrender of U.S.-Philippine

forces on the Bataan Peninsula in April 1942 and on Corregidor in May.[10] Most of
the 80,000 prisoners of war captured by the Japanese at Bataan were forced to
undertake the infamous "Bataan Death March" to a prison camp 105 kilometers to the
north.[10] Thousands of men, weakened by disease and malnutrition and treated
harshly by their captors, died before reaching their destination.[11] Quezon and
Osmeña had accompanied the troops to Corregidor and later left for the United States,

22
where they set up a government-in-exile.[12] MacArthur was ordered to Australia,
where he started to plan for a return to the Philippines.[13]
The Japanese military authorities immediately began organizing a new
government structure in the Philippines. Although the Japanese had promised
independence for the islands after occupation, they initially organized a Council of
State through which they directed civil affairs until October 1943, when they declared
the Philippines an independent republic.[14] Most of the Philippine elite, with a few
notable exceptions, served under the Japanese.[15] The puppet republic was headed
by President José P. Laurel.[16] Philippine collaboration in puppet government began
under Jorge B. Vargas, who was originally appointed by Quezon as the mayor of City
of Greater Manila before Quezon departed Manila.[17] The only political party
allowed during the occupation was the Japanese-organized KALIBAPI.[18] During
the occupation, most Filipinos remained loyal to the United States,[19] and war
crimes committed by forces of the Empire of Japan against surrendered Allied
forces[20] and civilians were documented.[21]

Throughout the Philippines more than a thousand women, some being under the
age of 18, were imprisoned as "comfort women", kept in sexual slavery for Japanese
military personnel during the occupation.[22] Each of the Japanese military
installations in the Philippines during the occupation had a location were the women
were held, which they called a "comfort station".[23] One such place where these
women were imprisoned is Bahay na Pula.[24]
Japanese occupation of the Philippines was opposed by active and successful
underground and guerrilla activity that increased over the years and that eventually
covered a large portion of the country. Opposing these guerrillas were a
Japanese-formed Bureau of Constabulary (later taking the name of the old
Constabulary during the Second Republic),[25][26] Kempeitai,[25] and the
Makapili.[27] Postwar investigations showed that about 260,000 people were in
guerrilla organizations and that members of the anti-Japanese underground were even
more numerous. Such was their effectiveness that by the end of the war, Japan
controlled only twelve of the forty-eight provinces.[28]

The Philippine guerrilla movement continued to grow, in spite of Japanese

campaigns against them. Throughout Luzon and the southern islands, Filipinos joined
various groups and vowed to fight the Japanese. The commanders of these groups
made contact with one another, argued about who was in charge of what territory, and
began to formulate plans to assist the return of American forces to the islands. They
gathered important intelligence information and smuggled it out to the U.S. Army, a
process that sometimes took months. General MacArthur formed a clandestine
operation to support the guerrillas. He had Lieutenant Commander Charles "Chick"
Parsons smuggle guns, radios and supplies to them by submarine. The guerrilla forces,
in turn, built up their stashes of arms and explosives and made plans to assist

23
MacArthur's invasion by sabotaging Japanese communications lines and attacking
Japanese forces from the rear.[29]

Various guerrilla forces formed throughout the archipelago, ranging from groups
of U.S. Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) forces who refused to surrender to
local militia initially organized to combat banditry brought about by disorder caused
by the invasion.[30] Several islands in the Visayas region had guerrilla forces led by
Filipino officers, such as Colonel Macario Peralta in Panay,[30][31] Major Ismael
Ingeniero in Bohol,[30][32] and Captain Salvador Abcede in Negros.[30][33]

The island of Mindanao, being farthest from the center of Japanese occupation,
had 38,000 guerrillas who were eventually consolidated under the command of
American civil engineer Colonel Wendell Fertig.[30] Fertig's guerrillas included
many American and Filipino troops who had been part of the force on Mindanao
under Major General William F. Sharp. When Wainwright had ordered Sharp's forces
to surrender, Sharp considered compelled to obey this order. Many of the American
and Filipino officers refused to surrender, since they reasoned that Wainwright, now a
prisoner who could be considered under duress, had no authority to issue orders to
Sharp. For several reasons it was unknown how many did not surrender, although
probably around 100 to 200 Americans ended up with Fertig's guerrillas. The names
of new Filipino recruits were purposefully left off the lists of men to be surrendered.
In other cases, documents were fabricated to report fewer men than were actually
under Sharp. Other troops died for various reasons after getting away and others left
Mindanao entirely.[34]

One resistance group in the Central Luzon area was known as the Hukbalahap
(Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa Hapon), or the People's Anti-Japanese Army, organized in
early 1942 under the leadership of Luis Taruc, a communist party member since 1939.
The Huks armed some 30,000 people and extended their control over portions of
Luzon.[35] However, guerrilla activities on Luzon were hampered due to the heavy
Japanese presence and infighting between the various groups,[36] including
Hukbalahap troops attacking American-led guerrilla units.[37][38]

Lack of equipment, difficult terrain and undeveloped infrastructure made

coordination of these groups nearly impossible, and for several months in 1942, all
contact was lost with Philippine resistance forces. Communications were restored in
November 1942 when the reformed Philippine 61st Division on Panay island, led by
Colonel Macario Peralta, was able to establish radio contact with the USAFFE
command in Australia. This enabled the forwarding of intelligence regarding Japanese
forces in the Philippines to SWPA command, as well as consolidating the once
sporadic guerrilla activities and allowing the guerrillas to help in the war effort.[30]

24
 Increasing amounts of supplies and radios were delivered by submarine to aid the
guerrilla effort. By the time of the Leyte invasion, four submarines were dedicated
exclusively to the delivery of supplies.[30]

Other guerrilla units were attached to the SWPA, and were active throughout the
archipelago. Some of these units were organized or directly connected to
pre-surrender units ordered to mount guerrilla actions. An example of this was Troop
C, 26th Cavalry.[39][40][41] Other guerrilla units were made up of former Philippine
Army and Philippine Scouts soldiers who had been released from POW camps by the
Japanese.[42][43] Others were combined units of Americans, military and civilian,
who had never surrendered or had escaped after surrendering, and Filipinos,
Christians and Moros, who had initially formed their own small units. Colonel
Wendell Fertig organized such a group on Mindanao that not only effectively resisted
the Japanese, but formed a complete government that often operated in the open
throughout the island. Some guerrilla units would later be assisted by American
submarines which delivered supplies,[44] evacuate refugees and injured,[45] as well
as inserted individuals and whole units,[46] such as the 5217th Reconnaissance
Battalion,[47] and Alamo Scouts.[47]

By the end of the war, some 277 separate guerrilla units, made up of some
260,715 individuals, fought in the resistance movement.[48] Select units of the
resistance would go on to be reorganized and equipped as units of the Philippine
Army and Constabulary.[49]
When General MacArthur returned to the Philippines with his army in late 1944,
he was well-supplied with information; it is said that by the time MacArthur returned,
he knew what every Japanese lieutenant ate for breakfast and where he had his haircut.
But the return was not easy. The Japanese Imperial General Staff decided to make the
Philippines their final line of defense, and to stop the American advance towards
Japan. They sent every available soldier, airplane and naval vessel to the defense of
the Philippines. The kamikaze corps was created specifically to defend the Japanese
occupation of the Philippines. The Battle of Leyte Gulf ended in disaster for the
Japanese and was the biggest naval battle of World War II. The campaign to liberate
the Philippines was the bloodiest campaign of the Pacific War. Intelligence
information gathered by the guerrillas averted a disaster—they revealed the plans of
Japanese General Yamashita to trap MacArthur's army, and they led the liberating
soldiers to the Japanese fortifications.[29]

MacArthur's Allied forces landed on the island of Leyte on 20 October 1944,

accompanied by Osmeña, who had succeeded to the commonwealth presidency upon
the death of Quezon on 1 August 1944. Landings then followed on the island of
Mindoro and around Lingayen Gulf on the west side of Luzon, and the push toward
Manila was initiated. The Commonwealth of the Philippines was restored. Fighting
was fierce, particularly in the mountains of northern Luzon, where Japanese troops

25
had retreated, and in Manila, where they put up a last-ditch resistance. The Philippine
Commonwealth troops and the recognized guerrilla fighter units rose up everywhere
for the final offensive.[50] Filipino guerrillas also played a large role during the
liberation. One guerrilla unit came to substitute for a regularly constituted American
division, and other guerrilla forces of battalion and regimental size supplemented the
efforts of the U.S. Army units. Moreover, the cooperative Filipino population eased
the problems of supply, construction and civil administration and furthermore eased
the task of Allied forces in recapturing the country.[51][52]

Fighting continued until Japan's formal surrender on 2 September 1945. The

Philippines had suffered great loss of life and tremendous physical destruction by the
time the war was over. An estimated 527,000 Filipinos, both military and civilians,
had been killed from all causes; of these between 131,000 and 164,000 were killed in
seventy-two war crime events.[53][2] According to a United States analysis released
years after the war, U.S. casualties were 10,380 dead and 36,550 wounded; Japanese
dead were 255,795. Filipino deaths during the occupations, on the other hand, are
estimated to be more be around 527,000 (27,000 military dead, 141,000 massacred,
22,500 forced labor deaths and 336,500 deaths due war related famine).[2] The
Philippine population decreased continuously for the next five years due to the spread
of diseases and the lack of basic needs, far from the Filipino lifestyle prior to the war
when the country had been the second richest in Asia after Japan.[53]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_occupation_of_the_Philippines

REACTION
The documentary showed the Japanese Colonial Period of the Philippines. It
showedmany of the different beliefs and practices of the time, mostly concerned with
the atrocitiescommitted against the Filipino people. During the time of the Japanese,
the Philippines received Commonwealth status andtherefore the Filipino people did
not believe in the propaganda of the Japanese that we are‘brothers’ with them. This
belief was affirmed with their treatment of the Filipinos especially thecrimes and
atrocities. Filipinos were constantly slapped by Japanese soldiers - for them this wasa
very humiliating experience especially when it was done in the presence of others.
They wouldgive severe punishments for small crimes. Among the other crimes of the
Japanese werebombings, killing of innocent people or civilians, burning houses,
killing children, beheadingpeople who they thought were guerillas but could be
innocent, rape and many more.

26
 CHAPTER 5

AMERICAN COLONIALISM
The history of the Philippines from 1898 to 1946 describes the period of
American colonization of the Philippines. It began with the outbreak of the Spanish–

27
American War in April 1898, when the Philippines was still a colony of the Spanish
East Indies, and concluded when the United States formally recognised the
independence of the Republic of the Philippines on July 4, 1946.

With the signing of the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898, Spain ceded the
Philippines to the United States, thereby beginning the era of American
colonization.[1] The interim U.S. military government of the Philippine Islands
experienced a period of great political turbulence, characterised by the Philippine–
American War.

Beginning in 1901, the military government was replaced by a civilian

government—the Insular Government of the Philippine Islands—with William
Howard Taft serving as its first Governor-General. Also, a series of insurgent
governments that lacked significant international and diplomatic recognition existed
betweeen 1898 and 1904.[a]

Following the passage of the Philippine Independence Act in 1934, a Philippine

presidential election was held in 1935. Manuel L. Quezon was elected and
inaugurated second President of the Philippines on November 15, 1935. The Insular
Government was dissolved and the Commonwealth of the Philippines, intended to be
a transitional government in preparation for the country's full achievement of
independence in 1946, was brought into existence.[2]

After the World War II Japanese invasion in 1941 and subsequent occupation of
the Philippines, the United States and Philippine Commonwealth military recaptured
the Philippines in 1945. The United States formally recognised the independence of
the Republic of the Philippines on July 4, 1946, according to the terms of the
Philippine Independence Act.[2]
The Philippine Revolution began in August 1896 and ended with the Pact of
Biak-na-Bato, a ceasefire between the Spanish colonial Governor-General Fernando
Primo de Rivera and the revolutionary leader Emilio Aguinaldo which was signed on
December 15, 1897. The terms of the pact called for Aguinaldo and his militia to
surrender. Other revolutionary leaders were given amnesty and a monetary indemnity
by the Spanish government in return for which the rebel government agreed to go into
exile in Hong Kong.[3][4][5]

Spanish–American War (1898)

Main articles: Spanish–American War and Philippine Revolution

28
 The failure of Spain to engage in active social reforms in Cuba as demanded by
the United States government was the basic cause for the Spanish–American War.
American attention was focused on the issue after the mysterious explosion that sank
the American battleship Maine on February 15, 1898 in Havana Harbor. As public
political pressure from the Democratic Party and certain industrialists built up for war,
the U.S. Congress forced the reluctant Republican President William McKinley to
issue an ultimatum to Spain on April 19, 1898. Spain found it had no diplomatic
support in Europe, but nevertheless declared war; the U.S. followed on April 25 with
its own declaration of war.[6][7]

Theodore Roosevelt, who was at that time Assistant Secretary of the Navy,
ordered Commodore George Dewey, commanding the Asiatic Squadron of the United
States Navy: "Order the squadron ...to Hong Kong. Keep full of coal. In the event of
declaration of war Spain, your duty will be to see that the Spanish squadron does not
leave the Asiatic coast, and then offensive operations in Philippine Islands." Dewey's
squadron departed on April 27 for the Philippines, reaching Manila Bay on the
evening of April 30.[8]

Battle of Manila Bay

Battle of Manila Bay

The Battle of Manila Bay took place on May 1, 1898. In a matter of hours,
Commodore Dewey's Asiatic Squadron defeated the Spanish squadron under Admiral
Patricio Montojo.[9][10] The U.S. squadron took control of the arsenal and navy yard
at Cavite. Dewey cabled Washington, stating that although he controlled Manila Bay,
he needed 5,000 additional men to seize Manila itself.[9]

U.S. preparation for land-based operations

The unexpected rapidity and completeness of Dewey's victory in the first
engagement of the war prompted the McKinley administration to make the decision to
capture Manila from the Spanish. The United States Army began to assemble the
Eighth Army Corps—a military unit which would consist of 10,844 soldiers under the
command of Major General Wesley Merritt—in preparation for deployment to the
Philippines.[9]

While awaiting the arrival of troops from the Eighth Corps, Dewey dispatched the
cutter USRC McCulloch to Hong Kong to transport Aguinaldo back to the
Philippines.

29
 Aguinaldo arrived on May 19 and, after a brief meeting with Dewey, resumed
revolutionary activities against the Spanish. On May 24, Aguinaldo issued a
proclamation in which he assumed command of all Philippine forces and announced
his intention to establish a dictatorial government with himself as dictator, saying that
he would resign in favor of a duly elected president.[11]

Public jubilation marked Aguinaldo's return. Many Filipino enlisted men deserted
local Spanish army units to join Aguinaldo's command and the Philippine Revolution
against Spain resumed. Soon, many cities such as Imus, Bacoor, Parañaque, Las Piñas,
Morong, Macabebe and San Fernando, as well as some entire provinces such as
Laguna, Batangas, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Bataan, Tayabas (now Quezon), and the
Camarines provinces, were liberated by the Filipinos and the port of Dalahican in
Cavite was secured.[12]

Thomas M. Anderson
The first contingent of American troops arrived on 30 June under the command of
Brigadier General Thomas McArthur Anderson, commander of the Eighth Corps' 2nd
Division (U.S. brigade and division numbers of the era were not unique throughout
the army). General Anderson wrote to Aguinaldo, requesting his cooperation in
military operations against the Spanish forces.[13] Aguinaldo responded, thanking
General Anderson for his amicable sentiments, but saying nothing about military
cooperation. General Anderson did not renew the request.[13]

The 2nd Brigade and the 2nd Division of the Eighth Corps arrived on July 17,
under the command of Brigadier General Francis V. Greene. Major General Merritt
(the Commander in Chief of the Philippine Expedition) and his staff arrived at Cavite
on July 25. The 1st Brigade of the corps' 2nd Division arrived on July 30, under the
command of Brigadier General Arthur MacArthur.[14]

Philippine declaration of independence

Main articles: Revolutionary Government of the Philippines, Philippine
Declaration of Independence, and First Philippine Republic

Aguinaldo Shrine where the Flag of the Philippines was waved declaring the
Philippine independence from Spain

30
 Marcela Agoncillo
On 12 June 1898, Aguinaldo proclaimed the independence of the Philippines at
his house in Cavite El Viejo.[15][16] Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista wrote the
Philippine Declaration of Independence, and read this document in Spanish that day at
Aguinaldo's house.[17] On 18 June, Aguinaldo issued a decree formally establishing
his dictatorial government.[18] On June 23, Aguinaldo issued another decree, this
time replacing the dictatorial government with a revolutionary government (and
naming himself as President).[19][20]

Writing retrospectively in 1899, Aguinaldo claimed that an American naval

officer had urged him to return to the Philippines to fight the Spanish and said "The
United States is a great and rich nation and needs no colonies."[21] Aguinaldo also
wrote that after checking with Dewey by telegraph, U.S. Consul E. Spencer Pratt had
assured him in Singapore:
That the United States would at least recognize the independence of the
Philippines under the protection of the United States Navy. The consul added that
there was no necessity for entering into a formal written agreement because the word
of the Admiral and of the United States Consul were in fact equivalent to the most
solemn pledge that their verbal promises and assurance would be fulfilled to the letter
and were not to be classed with Spanish promises or Spanish ideas of a man’s word of
honour.[21]

Aguinaldo received nothing in writing.

On April 28 Pratt wrote to United States Secretary of State William R. Day,
explaining the details of his meeting with Aguinaldo:
At this interview, after learning from General Aguinaldo the state of an object
sought to be obtained by the present insurrectionary movement, which, though absent
from the Philippines, he was still directing, I took it upon myself, whilst explaining
that I had no authority to speak for the Government, to point out the danger of
continuing independent action at this stage; and, having convinced him of the
expediency of cooperating with our fleet, then at Hongkong, and obtained the
assurance of his willingness to proceed thither and confer with Commodore Dewey to
that end, should the latter so desire, I telegraphed the Commodore the same day as
follows, through our consul-general at Hongkong:--[22]

There was no mention in the cablegrams between Pratt and Dewey of

independence or indeed of any conditions on which Aguinaldo was to cooperate,
these details being left for future arrangement with Dewey. Pratt had intended to
facilitate the occupation and administration of the Philippines, and also to prevent a

31
possible conflict of action. In a communication written on July 28, Pratt made the
following statement:
I declined even to discuss with General Aguinaldo the question of the future
policy of the United States with regard to the Philippines, that I held out no hopes to
him of any kind, committed the government in no way whatever, and, in the course of
our confidences, never acted upon the assumption that the Government would
cooperate with him--General Aguinaldo--for the furtherance of any plans of his own,
nor that, in accepting his said cooperation, it would consider itself pledged to
recognize any political claims which he might put forward.[23]

On June 16, Secretary Day cabled Consul Pratt: "Avoid unauthorized

negotiations with the Philippine insurgents," and later on the same day:[24]
The Department observes that you informed General Aguinaldo that you had no
authority to speak for the United States; and, in the absence of the fuller report which
you promise, it is assumed that you did not attempt to commit this Government to any
alliance with the Philippine insurgents. To obtain the unconditional personal
assistance of General Aguinaldo in the expedition to Manila was proper, if in so doing
he was not induced to form hopes which it might not be practicable to gratify. This
Government has known the Philippine insurgents only as discontented and rebellious
subjects of Spain, and is not acquainted with their purposes. While their contest with
that power has been a matter of public notoriety, they have neither asked nor received
from this Government any recognition. The United States, in entering upon the
occupation of the islands, as the result of its military operations in that quarter, will do
so in the exercise of the rights which the state of war confers, and will expect from the
inhabitants, without regard to their former attitude toward the Spanish Government,
that obedience which will be lawfully due from them.

If, in the course of your conferences with General Aguinaldo, you acted upon the
assumption that this Government would co-operate with him for the furtherance of
any plan of his own, or that, in accepting his co-operation, it would consider itself
pledged to recognize any political claims which he may put forward, your action was
unauthorized and can not be approved.

Tensions between U.S. and revolutionary forces

On July 9 General Anderson informed Major General Henry Clark Corbin, the
Adjutant General of the U.S. Army, that Aguinaldo "has declared himself Dictator

32
and President, and is trying to take Manila without our assistance", opining that that
would not be probable but, if done, would allow him to antagonize any U.S. attempt
to establish a provisional government.[26] On July 15, Aguinaldo issued three organic
decrees assuming civil authority of the Philippines.[27]

Felipe Agoncillo house

On July 18, General Anderson wrote that he suspected Aguinaldo to be secretly
negotiating with the Spanish authorities.[26] In a 21 July letter to the Adjutant
General, General Anderson wrote that Aguinaldo had "put in operation an elaborate
system of military government, under his assumed authority as Dictator, and has
prohibited any supplies being given us, except by his order," and that Anderson had
written to Aguinaldo that the requisitions on the country for necessary items must be
filled, and that he must aid in having them filled.[28]

On July 24, Aguinaldo wrote a letter to General Anderson in effect warning him
not to disembark American troops in places conquered by the Filipinos from the
Spaniards without first communicating in writing the places to be occupied and the
object of the occupation. Murat Halstead, official historian of the Philippine
Expedition, writes that General Merritt remarked shortly after his arrival on 25 June,
As General Aguinaldo did not visit me on my arrival, nor offer his services as a
subordinate military leader, and as my instructions from the President fully
contemplated the occupation of the islands by the American land forces, and stated
that 'the powers of the military occupant are absolute and supreme and immediately
operate upon the political condition of the inhabitants,' I did not consider it wise to
hold any direct communication with the insurgent leader until I should be in
possession of the city of Manila, especially as I would not until then be in a position
to issue a proclamation and enforce my authority, in the event that his pretensions
should clash with my designs.[29]

U.S. commanders suspected that Aguinaldo and his forces were informing the
Spanish of American movements. U.S. Army Major John R. M. Taylor later wrote,
after translating and analyzing insurgent documents,

General Gregorio del Pilar

The officers of the United States Army who believed that the insurgents were
informing the Spaniards of the American movements were right. Sastrón has printed a
letter from Pío del Pilar, dated July 30, to the Spanish officer commanding at Santa

33
Ana, in which Pilar said that Aguinaldo had told him that the Americans would attack
the Spanish lines on August 2 and advised that the Spaniards should not give way, but
hold their positions. Pilar added, however, that if the Spaniards should fall back on the
walled city and surrender Santa Ana to himself, he would hold it with his own men.
Aguinaldo's information was correct, and on August 2 eight American soldiers were
killed or wounded by the Spanish fire.[30]

On the evening of August 12, on orders of General Merritt, General Anderson

notified Aguinaldo to forbid the insurgents under his command from entering Manila.
On 13 August, unaware of the peace protocol signing, U.S. forces assaulted and
captured the Spanish positions in Manila. Insurgents made an independent attack of
their own, as planned, which promptly led to trouble with the Americans. At
0800[clarification needed] that morning, Aguinaldo received a telegram from General
Anderson, sternly warning him not to let his troops enter Manila without the consent
of the American commander, who was situated on the south side of the Pasig River.
General Anderson's request was ignored, and Aguinaldo's forces crowded forward
alongside the American forces until they directly confronted the Spanish troops.
Although the Spanish were waving a flag of truce, the insurgents fired on the Spanish
forces, provoking return fire. 19 American soldiers were killed, and 103 more were
wounded in this action.[31][32]

General Anderson sent Aguinaldo a telegram, later that day, which read:
Dated Ermita Headquarters 2nd Division 13 to Gen. Aguinaldo. Commanding
Filipino Forces.--Manila, taken. Serious trouble threatened between our forces. Try
and prevent it. Your troops should not force themselves in the city until we have
received the full surrender then we will negotiate with you. -Anderson, commanding.

Aguinaldo however demanded joint occupation of Manila. On August 13 Admiral

Dewey and General Merritt informed their superiors of this and asked how far they
might proceed in enforcing obedience in the matter.[33]

General Merritt received news of the August 12 peace protocol on August 16,
three days after the surrender of Manila.[34] Admiral Dewey and General Merritt
were informed by a telegram dated August 17 that the President of the United States
had directed:
That there must be no joint occupation with the Insurgents. The United States in
the possession of Manila city, Manila bay and harbor must preserve the peace and
protect persons and property within the territory occupied by their military and naval
forces. The insurgents and all others must recognize the military occupation and
authority of the United States and the cessation of hostilities proclaimed by the
President. Use whatever means in your judgment are necessary to this end.[33]

34
 Insurgent forces were looting the portions of the city which they occupied, and
were not confining their attacks to Spaniards, but were assaulting their own people
and raiding the property of foreigners as well.[citation needed] U.S. commanders
pressed Aguinaldo to withdraw his forces from Manila. Negotiations proceeded
slowly and, on August 31, General Elwell Otis (General Merritt being unavailable)
wrote, in a long letter to Aguinaldo:
... I am compelled by my instructions to direct that your armed forces evacuate
the entire city of Manila, including its suburbs and defences, and that I shall be
obliged to take action with that end in view within a very short space of time should
you decline to comply with my Government's demands; and I hereby serve notice on
you that unless your troops are withdrawn beyond the line of the city's defences
before Thursday, the 15th instant, I shall be obliged to resort to forcible action, and
that my Government will hold you responsible for any unfortunate consequences
which may ensue.[35]

After further negotiation and exchanges of letters, Aguinaldo wrote on September

16: "On the evening of the 15th the armed insurgent organizations withdrew from the
city and all of its suburbs, ...[36]

Peace protocol between the U.S. and Spain

On August 12, 1898, The New York Times reported that a peace protocol had
been signed in Washington that afternoon between the U.S. and Spain, suspending
hostilities between the two nations.[37] The full text of the protocol was not made
public until November 5, but Article III read: "The United States will occupy and hold
the City, Bay, and Harbor of Manila, pending the conclusion of a treaty of peace,
which shall determine the control, disposition, and government of the
Philippines."[38][39] After conclusion of this agreement, U.S. President McKinley
proclaimed a suspension of hostilities with Spain.[40]

Capture of Manila
Main article: Battle of Manila (1898)
By June, U.S. and Filipino forces had taken control of most of the islands, except
for the walled city of Intramuros. Admiral Dewey and General Merritt were able to
work out a bloodless solution with acting Governor-General Fermín Jáudenes. The
negotiating parties made a secret agreement to stage a mock battle in which the
Spanish forces would be defeated by the American forces, but the Filipino forces
would not be allowed to enter the city. This plan minimized the risk of unnecessary
casualties on all sides, while the Spanish would also avoid the shame of possibly

35
having to surrender Intramuros to the Filipino forces.[41] On the eve of the mock
battle, General Anderson telegraphed Aguinaldo, "Do not let your troops enter Manila
without the permission of the American commander. On this side of the Pasig River
you will be under fire".[42]

On August 13, with American commanders unaware that a ceasefire had already
been signed between Spain and the U.S. on the previous day, American forces
captured the city of Manila from the Spanish in the Battle of Manila.[43][44][45] The
battle started when Dewey's ships bombarded Fort San Antonio Abad, a decrepit
structure on the southern outskirts of Manila, and the virtually impregnable walls of
Intramuros. In accordance with the plan, the Spanish forces withdrew while U.S.
forces advanced. Once a sufficient show of battle had been made, Dewey hoisted the
signal "D.W.H.B." (meaning "Do you surrender?),[46] whereupon the Spanish hoisted
a white flag and Manila was formally surrendered to U.S. forces.[47]

This battle marked the end of Filipino-American collaboration, as the American

action of preventing Filipino forces from entering the captured city of Manila was
deeply resented by the Filipinos. This later led to the Philippine–American War,[48]
which would prove to be more deadly and costly than the Spanish–American War.

U.S. military government

On August 14, 1898, two days after the capture of Manila, the U.S. established a
military government in the Philippines, with General Merritt acting as military
governor.[49] During military rule (1898–1902), the U.S. military commander
governed the Philippines under the authority of the U.S. president as
Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces. After the appointment of a
civil Governor-General, the procedure developed that as parts of the country were
pacified and placed firmly under American control, responsibility for the area would
be passed to the civilian.

General Merritt was succeeded by General Otis as military governor, who in turn
was succeeded by General MacArthur. Major General Adna Chaffee was the final
military governor. The position of military governor was abolished in July 1902, after
which the civil Governor-General became the sole executive authority in the
Philippines.[50][51]

Under the military government, an American-style school system was introduced,

initially with soldiers as teachers; civil and criminal courts were reestablished,
including a supreme court;[52] and local governments were established in towns and

36
provinces. The first local election was conducted by General Harold W. Lawton on
May 7, 1899, in Baliuag, Bulacan.[53]

U.S. and insurgents clash

Main article: Philippine–American War
In a clash at Cavite between United States soldiers and insurgents on August 25,
1898, George Hudson of the Utah regiment was killed, Corporal William Anderson
was mortally wounded, and four troopers of the Fourth Cavalry were slightly
wounded.[54][55] This provoked General Anderson to send Aguinaldo a letter saying,
"In order to avoid the very serious misfortune of an encounter between our troops, I
demand your immediate withdrawal with your guard from Cavite. One of my men has
been killed and three wounded by your people. This is positive and does not admit of
explanation or delay."[55] Internal insurgent communications reported that the
Americans were drunk at the time. Halstead writes that Aguinaldo expressed his
regret and promised to punish the offenders.[54] In internal insurgent communications,
Apolinario Mabini initially proposed to investigate and punish any offenders
identified. Aguinaldo modified this, ordering, "... say that he was not killed by your
soldiers, but by them themselves [the Americans] since they were drunk according to
your telegram".[56] An insurgent officer in Cavite at the time reported on his record
of services that he: "took part in the movement against the Americans on the
afternoon of the 24th of August, under the orders of the commander of the troops and
the adjutant of the post."[57]

Philippine elections, Malolos Congress,

Constitutional government
Elections were held by the Revolutionary Government between June and
September 10, resulting in Emilio Aguinaldo being seated as President in the seating
of a legislature known as the Malolos Congress. In a session between September 15
and November 13, 1898, the Malolos Constitution was adopted. It was promulgated
on January 21, 1899, creating the First Philippine Republic.[58]

Spanish–American War ends

Main article: Treaty of Paris (1898)

Felipe Agoncillo was the Filipino lawyer representative to the negotiations in

Paris that led to the Treaty of Paris (1898), ending the Spanish–American War and
giving him the title of "outstanding first Filipino diplomat."

37
 Article V of the peace protocol signed on August 12 had mandated negotiations
to conclude a treaty of peace to begin in Paris not later than October 1, 1898.[59]
President McKinley sent a five-man commission, initially instructed to demand no
more than Luzon, Guam, and Puerto Rico; which would have provided a limited U.S.
empire of pinpoint colonies to support a global fleet and provide communication
links.[60] In Paris, the commission was besieged with advice, particularly from
American generals and European diplomats, to demand the entire Philippine
archipelago.[60] The unanimous recommendation was that "it would certainly be
cheaper and more humane to take the entire Philippines than to keep only part of
it."[61] On October 28, 1898, McKinley wired the commission that "cessation of
Luzon alone, leaving the rest of the islands subject to Spanish rule, or to be the subject
of future contention, cannot be justified on political, commercial, or humanitarian
grounds. The cessation must be the whole archipeligo or none. The latter is wholly
inadmissible, and the former must therefore be required."[62] The Spanish negotiators
were furious over the "immodist demands of a conqueror", but their wounded pride
was assuaged by an offer of twenty million dollars for "Spanish improvements" to the
islands. The Spaniards capitulated, and on December 10, 1898, the U.S. and Spain
signed the Treaty of Paris, formally ending the Spanish–American War. In Article III,
Spain ceded the Philippine archipelago to the United States, as follows: "Spain cedes
to the United States the archipelago known as the Philippine Islands, and
comprehending the islands lying within the following line: [... geographic description
elided ...]. The United States will pay to Spain the sum of twenty million dollars
($20,000,000) within three months after the exchange of the ratifications of the
present treaty."[63]

1898 US political cartoon. U.S. President William McKinley is shown holding

the Philippines, depicted as a native child, as the world looks on. The implied options
for McKinley are to keep the Philippines, or give it back to Spain, which the cartoon
compares to throwing a child off a cliff.
In the U.S., there was a movement for Philippine independence; some said that
the U.S. had no right to a land where many of the people wanted self-government. In
1898 Andrew Carnegie, an industrialist and steel magnate, offered to pay the U.S.
government $20 million to give the Philippines its independence.[64]

On November 7, 1900, Spain and the U.S. signed the Treaty of Washington,
clarifying that the territories relinquished by Spain to the United States included any
and all islands belonging to the Philippine Archipelago, but lying outside the lines
described in the Treaty of Paris. That treaty explicitly named the islands of Cagayan
Sulu and Sibutu and their dependencies as among the relinquished territories.[65]

Benevolent assimilation
38
 Main article: Benevolent assimilation
U.S. President McKinley's December 21, 1898 proclamation of Benevolent
Assimilation was announced in the Philippines on January 4, 1899. Referring to the
Treaty of Paris, it said that as a result of the victories of American arms, the future
control, disposition, and government of the Philippine Islands are ceded to the United
States. It enjoined the military commander (General Otis) to make known to the
inhabitants of the Philippine Islands that in succeeding to the sovereignty of Spain, the
authority of the United States is to be exerted for the securing of the persons and
property of the people of the islands and for the confirmation of all their private rights
and relations. It specified that it will be the duty of the commander of the forces of
occupation to announce and proclaim in the most public manner that we come, not as
invaders or conquerors, but as friends, to protect the natives in their homes, in their
employments, and in their personal and religious rights.[66] On January 6, 1899,
General Otis was quoted in The New York Times as expressing himself as convinced
that the U.S. government intends to seek the establishment of a liberal government, in
which the people will be as fully represented as the maintenance of law and order will
permit, susceptible of development, on lines of increased representation, and the
bestowal of increased powers, into a government as free and independent as is
enjoyed by the most favored provinces in the world.[67]

Philippine–American War (1899–1902)

Main article: Philippine–American War
See also: Moro Rebellion
Tensions escalate

Gregorio del Pilar and his troops in 1898

The Spanish had yielded Iloilo to the insurgents in 1898 for the purpose of
troubling the Americans. On January 1, 1899, news had come to Washington from
Manila that American forces which had been sent to Iloilo under the command of
General Marcus Miller had been confronted by 6,000 armed Filipinos, who refused
them permission to land.[68][69] A Filipino official styling himself "Presidente Lopez
of the Federal Government of the Visayas" informed Miller that "foreign troops"
would not land "without express orders from the central government of Luzon".[69]
On December 21, 1898, President McKinley issued a Proclamation of Benevolent
Assimilation. General Otis delayed its publication until January 4, 1899, then
publishing an amended version edited so as not to convey the meanings of the terms
"sovereignty", "protection", and "right of cessation" which were present in the
unabridged version.[70] Unknown to Otis, the War Department had also sent an
enciphered copy of the Benevolent Assimilation proclamation to General Marcus
Miller in Iloilo for informational purposes. Miller assumed that it was for distribution
and, unaware that a politically bowdlerized version had been sent to Aguinaldo,

39
published it in both Spanish and Tagalog translations which eventually made their
way to Aguinaldo.[71] Even before Aguinaldo received the unaltered version and
observed the changes in the copy he had received from Otis, he was upset that Otis
had altered his own title to "Military Governor of the Philippines" from "... in the
Philippines". Aguinaldo did not miss the significance of the alteration, which Otis had
made without authorization from Washington.[72]

Battle of Quingua, April 23, 1899, during the Philippine–American War

On January 5, Aguinaldo issued a counter-proclamation summarizing what he
saw as American violations of the ethics of friendship, particularly as regards the
events in Iloilo. The proclamation concluded as follows:

Such procedures, so foreign to the dictates of culture and the usages observed by
civilized nations, gave me the right to act without observing the usual rules of
intercourse. Nevertheless, in order to be correct to the end, I sent to General Otis
commissioners charged to solicit him to desist from his rash enterprise, but they were
not listened to.

My government can not remain indifferent in view of such a violent and

aggressive seizure of a portion of its territory by a nation which arrogated to itself the
title champion of oppressed nations. Thus it is that my government is disposed to
open hostilities if the American troops attempt to take forcible possession of the
Visayan Islands. I denounce these acts before the world, in order that the conscience
of mankind may pronounce its infallable verdict as to who are the true oppressors of
nations and the tormentors of human kind.[73]

Battle before Caloocan

After some copies of that proclamation had been distributed, Aguinaldo ordered
the recall of undistributed copies and issued another proclamation, which was
published the same day in El Heraldo de la Revolucion, the official newspaper of the
Philippine Republic. There, he said partly,

As in General Otis's proclamation he alluded to some instructions edited by His

Excellency the President of the United States, referring to the administration of the
matters in the Philippine Islands, I in the name of God, the root and fountain of all
justice, and that of all the right which has been visibly granted to me to direct my dear

40
brothers in the difficult work of our regeneration, protest most solemnly against this
intrusion of the United States Government on the sovereignty of these islands.

I equally protest in the name of the Filipino people against the said intrusion,
because as they have granted their vote of confidence appointing me president of the
nation, although I don't consider that I deserve such, therefore I consider it my duty to
defend to death its liberty and independence.[74]

Battle of Santa Cruz

Otis, taking these two proclamations as a call to arms, strengthened American
observation posts and alerted his troops. In the tense atmosphere, some 40,000
Filipinos fled Manila within a period of 15 days.[75]

Meanwhile, Felipe Agoncillo, who had been commissioned by the Philippine

Revolutionary Government as Minister Plenipotentiary to negotiate treaties with
foreign governments, and who had unsuccessfully sought to be seated at the
negotiations between the U.S. and Spain in Paris, was now in Washington. On
January 6, he filed a request for an interview with the President to discuss affairs in
the Philippines. The next day the government officials were surprised to learn that
messages to General Otis to deal mildly with the rebels and not to force a conflict had
become known to Agoncillo, and cabled by him to Aguinaldo. At the same time came
Aguinaldo's protest against General Otis signing himself "Military Governor of the
Philippines".[68]

On January 8, Agoncillo gave out this statement:[68]

In my opinion the Filipino people, whom I represent, will never consent to

become a colony dependency of the United States. The soldiers of the Filipino army
have pledged their lives that they will not lay down their arms until General
Aguinaldo tells them to do so, and they will keep that pledge, I feel confident.

The Filipino committees in London, Paris and Madrid about this time telegraphed
to President McKinley as follows:

41
 American troops guarding the bridge over the
River Pasig
We protest against the disembarkation of American troops at Iloilo. The treaty of
peace still unratified, the American claim to sovereignty is premature. Pray reconsider
the resolution regarding Iloilo. Filipinos wish for the friendship of America and abhor
militarism and deceit.[68]

Young's Scouts, including Marcus W. Robertson(2nd from right, front row

squating), Richard Moses Longfellow(4th from right, front row squating), Medal of
Honor recipients. Picture taken in Philippines.
On January 8, Aguinaldo received the following message from Teodoro Sandiko:

To the President of the Revolutionary Government, Malolos, from Sandico,

Manila. 8 Jan., 1899, 9.40 p.m..: In consequence of the order of General Rios to his
officers, as soon as the Filipino attack begins the Americans should be driven into the
Intramuros district and the walled city should be set on fire. Pipi.[76]

The New York Times reported on January 8, that two Americans who had been
guarding a waterboat in Iloilo had been attacked, one fatally, and that insurgents were
threatening to destroy the business section of the city by fire; and on January 10 that a
peaceful solution to the Iloilo issues may result but that Aguinaldo had issued a
proclamation threatening to drive the Americans from the islands.[77][78]

Attack on the barracks of Company C of the 13th Minnesota Volunteers by

Filipino forces during the Tondo Fire in Manila, 1899
By January 10, insurgents were ready to assume the offensive, but desired, if
possible, to provoke the Americans into firing the first shot. They made no secret of
their desire for conflict, but increased their hostile demonstrations and pushed their
lines forward into forbidden territory. Their attitude is well illustrated by the
following extract from a telegram sent by Colonel Cailles to Aguinaldo on January 10,
1899:[79]

Most urgent. An American interpreter has come to tell me to withdraw our forces
in Maytubig fifty paces. I shall not draw back a step, and in place of withdrawing, I
shall advance a little farther. He brings a letter from his general, in which he speaks to

42
me as a friend. I said that from the day I knew that Maquinley (McKinley) opposed
our independence I did not want any dealings with any American. War, war, is what
we want. The Americans after this speech went off pale.

Aguinaldo approved the hostile attitude of Cailles, for there is a reply in his
handwriting which reads:[79]

I approve and applaud what you have done with the Americans, and zeal and
valour always, also my beloved officers and soldiers there. I believe that they are
playing us until the arrival of their reinforcements, but I shall send an ultimatum and
remain always on the alert.--E. A. Jan. 10, 1899.

On 31 January 1899, The Minister of Interior of the revolutionary First Philippine

Republic, Teodoro Sandiko, signed a decree saying that President Aguinaldo had
directed that all idle lands be planted to provide food for the people, in view of
impending war with the Americans.[80]

Outbreak of general hostilities

Main article: Battle of Manila (1899)

Philippines, Manila, 1899- U.S. soldiers and insurrecto prisoners

Worcester writes that General Otis' account of the opening of active hostilities
was as follows:

On the night of February 2 they sent in a strong detachment to draw the fire of
our outposts, which took up a position immediately in front and within a few yards of
the same. The outpost was strengthened by a few of our men, who silently bore their
taunts and abuse the entire night. This was reported to me by General MacArthur,
whom I directed to communicate with the officer in command of the insurgent troops
concerned. His prepared letter was shown me and approved, and the reply received
was all that could be desired. However, the agreement was ignored by the insurgents
and on the evening of February 4 another demonstration was made on one of our
small outposts, which occupied a retired position at least 150 yards within the line
which had been mutually agreed upon, an insurgent approaching the picket and
refusing to halt or answer when challenged. The result was that our picket discharged
his piece, when the insurgent troops near Santa Mesa opened a spirited fire on our
troops there stationed.

43
 The insurgents had thus succeeded in drawing the fire of a small outpost, which
they had evidently labored with all their ingenuity to accomplish, in order to justify in
some way their premeditated attack. It is not believed that the chief insurgent leaders
wished to open hostilities at this time, as they were not completely prepared to assume
the initiative. They desired two or three days more to perfect their arrangements, but
the zeal of their army brought on the crisis which anticipated their premeditated action.
They could not have delayed long, however, for it was their object to force an issue
before American troops, then en route, could arrive in Manila.

Thus began the Insurgent attack, so long and so carefully planned for. We learn
from the Insurgent records that the shot of the American sentry missed its mark. There
was no reason why it should have provoked a hot return fire, but it did.

The result of the ensuing combat was not at all what the Insurgents had
anticipated. The Americans did not drive very well. It was but a short time before they
themselves were routed and driven from their positions.

Aguinaldo of course promptly advanced the claim that his troops had been
wantonly attacked. The plain fact is that the Insurgent patrol in question deliberately
drew the fire of the American sentry, and this was just as much an act of war as was
the firing of the shot. Whether the patrol was acting under proper orders from higher
authority is not definitely known.[81]

Surrendered President Aguinaldo boards the U.S.S Vicksburg, 1900.

Other sources name the two specific U.S. soldiers involved in the first exchange
of fire as Privates William Grayson and Orville Miller of the Nebraska
Volunteers.[82]

Subsequent to the conclusion of the war, after analyzing captured insurgent

papers, Major Major J. R. M. Taylor wrote, in part,

An attack on the United States forces was planned which should annihilate the
little army in Manila, and delegations were appointed to secure the interference of
foreign powers. The protecting cloak of pretense of friendliness to the United States
was to be kept up until the last. While commissioners were appointed to negotiate
with General Otis, secret societies were organized in Manila pledged to obey orders of
the most barbarous character to kill and burn. The attack from without and the attack
from within was to be on a set day and hour. The strained situation could not last. The

44
spark was applied, either inadvertently or by design, on the 4th of February by an
insurgent, willfully transgressing upon what, by their own admission, was within the
agreed limits of the holding of the American troops. Hostilities resulted and the war
was an accomplished fact.[83]

War

Filipino casualties

Emilio Aguinaldo's quarters in Manila following his capture by the Americans.

On February 4, Aguinaldo declared "That peace and friendly relations with the
Americans be broken and that the latter be treated as enemies, within the limits
prescribed by the laws of war."[84] On June 2, 1899, the Malolos Congress enacted
and ratified a declaration of war on the United States, which was publicly proclaimed
on that same day by Pedro Paterno, President of the Assembly.[85]

As before when fighting the Spanish, the Filipino rebels did not do well in the
field. Aguinaldo and his provisional government escaped after the capture of Malolos
on March 31, 1899 and were driven into northern Luzon. Peace feelers from members
of Aguinaldo's cabinet failed in May when the American commander, General Ewell
Otis, demanded an unconditional surrender. In 1901, Aguinaldo was captured and
swore allegiance to the United States, marking one end to the war.

First Philippine Commission

Main article: Schurman Commission
President McKinley had appointed a five-person group headed by Dr. Jacob
Schurman, president of Cornell University, on January 20, 1899, to investigate
conditions in the islands and make recommendations.

1899 political cartoon by Winsor McCay. Uncle Sam (representing the United
States), gets entangled with rope around a tree labelled "Imperialism" while trying to
subdue a bucking colt or mule labeled "Philippines" while a figure representing Spain
walks off over the horizon carrying a bag labeled "$20,000,000".
The three civilian members of the Philippine Commission arrived in Manila on
March 4, 1899, a month after the Battle of Manila which had begun armed conflict

45
between U.S. and revolutionary Filipino forces. The commission published a
proclamation containing assurances that the U.S. "... is anxious to establish in the
Philippine Islands an enlightened system of government under which the Philippine
people may enjoy the largest measure of home rule and the amplest liberty."

After meetings in April with revolutionary representatives, the commission

requested authorization from McKinley to offer a specific plan. McKinley authorized
an offer of a government consisting of "a Governor-General appointed by the
President; cabinet appointed by the Governor-General; [and] a general advisory
council elected by the people."[86] The Revolutionary Congress voted unanimously
to cease fighting and accept peace and, on May 8, the revolutionary cabinet headed by
Apolinario Mabini was replaced by a new "peace" cabinet headed by Pedro Paterno.
At this point, General Antonio Luna arrested Paterno and most of his cabinet,
returning Mabini and his cabinet to power. After this, the commission concluded that
"... The Filipinos are wholly unprepared for independence ... there being no Philippine
nation, but only a collection of different peoples."[87]

In the report that they issued to the president the following year, the
commissioners acknowledged Filipino aspirations for independence; they declared,
however, that the Philippines was not ready for it.[88]

On November 2, 1899, The commission issued a preliminary report containing

the following statement:
Should our power by any fatality be withdrawn, the commission believe that the
government of the Philippines would speedily lapse into anarchy, which would excuse,
if it did not necessitate, the intervention of other powers and the eventual division of
the islands among them. Only through American occupation, therefore, is the idea of a
free, self-governing, and united Philippine commonwealth at all conceivable. And the
indispensable need from the Filipino point of view of maintaining American
sovereignty over the archipelago is recognized by all intelligent Filipinos and even by
those insurgents who desire an American protectorate. The latter, it is true, would take
the revenues and leave us the responsibilities. Nevertheless, they recognize the
indubitable fact that the Filipinos cannot stand alone. Thus the welfare of the Filipinos
coincides with the dictates of national honour in forbidding our abandonment of the
archipelago. We cannot from any point of view escape the responsibilities of
government which our sovereignty entails; and the commission is strongly persuaded
that the performance of our national duty will prove the greatest blessing to the
peoples of the Philippine Islands.[89][90]

Specific recommendations included the establishment of civilian government as

rapidly as possible (the American chief executive in the islands at that time was the
military governor), including establishment of a bicameral legislature, autonomous

46
governments on the provincial and municipal levels, and a system of free public
elementary schools.[91]

Second Philippine Commission

Main article: Taft Commission
The Second Philippine Commission (the Taft Commission), appointed by
McKinley on March 16, 1900, and headed by William Howard Taft, was granted
legislative as well as limited executive powers.[92] On September 1, the Taft
Commission began to exercise legislative functions.[93] Between September 1900
and August 1902, it issued 499 laws, established a judicial system, including a
supreme court, drew up a legal code, and organized a civil service.[94] The 1901
municipal code provided for popularly elected presidents, vice presidents, and
councilors to serve on municipal boards. The municipal board members were
responsible for collecting taxes, maintaining municipal properties, and undertaking
necessary construction projects; they also elected provincial governors.[91]

Establishment of civil government

Governor General William Howard Taft addressing the audience at the Philippine
Assembly in the Manila Grand Opera House
On March 3, 1901 the U.S. Congress passed the Army Appropriation Act
containing (along with the Platt Amendment on Cuba) the Spooner Amendment
which provided the President with legislative authority to establish of a civil
government in the Philippines.[95] Up until this time, the President been
administering the Philippines by virtue of his war powers.[96] On July 1, 1901, civil
government was inaugurated with William H. Taft as the Civil Governor. Later, on
February 3, 1903, the U.S. Congress would change the title of Civil Governor to
Governor-General.[97]

A highly centralized public school system was installed in 1901, using English as
the medium of instruction. This created a heavy shortage of teachers, and the
Philippine Commission authorized the Secretary of Public Instruction to bring to the
Philippines 600 teachers from the U.S.A. — the so-called Thomasites. Free primary
instruction that trained the people for the duties of citizenship and avocation was
enforced by the Taft Commission per instructions of President McKinley.[98] Also,
the Catholic Church was disestablished, and a considerable amount of church land
was purchased and redistributed.

47
 Official end to the war
The Philippine Organic Act of July 1902 approved, ratified, and confirmed
McKinley's Executive Order establishing the Philippine Commission, and also
stipulated that the bicameral Philippine Legislature would be established composed of
an elected lower house, the Philippine Assembly and the appointed Philippine
Commission as the upper house. The act also provided for extending the United States
Bill of Rights to the Philippines.[91][99]

On July 2, 1902 the Secretary of War telegraphed that the insurrection against the
sovereign authority of the U.S. having come to an end, and provincial civil
governments having been established, the office of Military Governor was
terminated.[51] On July 4, Theodore Roosevelt, who had succeeded to the U.S.
Presidency after the assassination of President McKinley on September 5, 1901
proclaimed a full and complete pardon and amnesty to all persons in the Philippine
archipelago who had participated in the conflict.[51][100]

On April 9, 2002, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo proclaimed that

the Philippine–American War had ended on April 16, 1902 with the surrender of
General Miguel Malvar, and declared the centennial anniversary of that date as a
national working holiday and as a special non-working holiday in the Province of
Batangas and in the Cities of Batangas, Lipa and Tanaun.[101]

Post-1902 hostilities
Some sources have suggested that the war unofficially continued for nearly a
decade, since bands of guerrillas, quasi-religious armed groups and other resistance
groups continued to roam the countryside, still clashing with American Army or
Philippine Constabulary patrols. American troops and the Philippine Constabulary
continued hostilities against such resistance groups until 1913.[102] Some historians
consider these unofficial extensions to be part of the war.[103]

US colonization: the "Insular Government"

(1901–1935)
Main article: Insular Government

Tranvia in Manila during the American Era with Bahay na Bato houses. Calle
San Sebastian, present-day Felix Hidalgo St.

48
 The 1902 Philippine Organic Act was a constitution for the Insular Government,
as the U.S. colonial administration was known. This was a form of territorial
government that reported to the Bureau of Insular Affairs. The act provided for a
Governor-General appointed by the U.S. president and an elected lower house, the
Philippine Assembly. It also disestablished the Catholic Church as the state religion.
The United States government, in an effort to resolve the status of the friars,
negotiated with the Vatican. The church agreed to sell the friars' estates and promised
gradual substitution of Filipino and other non-Spanish priests for the friars. It refused,
however, to withdraw the religious orders from the islands immediately, partly to
avoid offending Spain. In 1904 the administration bought for $7.2 million the major
part of the friars' holdings, amounting to some 166,000 hectares (410,000 acres), of
which one-half was in the vicinity of Manila. The land was eventually resold to
Filipinos, some of them tenants but the majority of them estate owners.[91]

Manila, known as the Paris of the Asia was pushed forward even more by Daniel
Burnham the Manila Urban planner. Plaza Goiti, present-day Plaza Lacson
In socio-economic terms, the Philippines made solid progress in this period.
Foreign trade had amounted to 62 million pesos in 1895, 13% of which was with the
United States. By 1920, it had increased to 601 million pesos, 66% of which was with
the United States.[104] A health care system was established which, by 1930, reduced
the mortality rate from all causes, including various tropical diseases, to a level
similar to that of the United States itself. The practices of slavery, piracy and
headhunting were suppressed but not entirely extinguished.

Economy rose as reflected to the great edifices of the cities. El Hogar Filipino
Building
Two years after completion and publication of a census, a general election was
conducted for the choice of delegates to a popular assembly. An elected Philippine
Assembly was convened in 1907 as the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with
the Philippine Commission as the upper house.

Every year from 1907 the Philippine Assembly and later the Philippine
Legislature passed resolutions expressing the Filipino desire for independence.

Philippine nationalists led by Manuel L. Quezon and Sergio Osmeña

enthusiastically endorsed the draft Jones Bill of 1912, which provided for Philippine
independence after eight years, but later changed their views, opting for a bill which
focused less on time than on the conditions of independence. The nationalists

49
demanded complete and absolute independence to be guaranteed by the United States,
since they feared that too-rapid independence from American rule without such
guarantees might cause the Philippines to fall into Japanese hands. The Jones Bill was
rewritten and passed Congress in 1916 with a later date of independence.[105]

Busy street of early American-era Manila. Plaza Moraga

View of Binondo from Jones Bridge

The law, officially the Philippine Autonomy Act but popularly known as the
Jones Law, served as the new organic act (or constitution) for the Philippines. Its
preamble stated that the eventual independence of the Philippines would be American
policy, subject to the establishment of a stable government. The law maintained the
Governor-General of the Philippines, appointed by the President of the United States,
but established a bicameral Philippine Legislature to replace the elected Philippine
Assembly (lower house); it replaced the appointive Philippine Commission (upper
house) with an elected senate.[106]

Americans and Filipinos choose to preserve Spanish-era buildings for historical,

tourism and urban purposes.
The Filipinos suspended their independence campaign during the First World
War and supported the United States against Germany. After the war they resumed
their independence drive with great vigor.[107] On March 17, 1919, the Philippine
Legislature passed a "Declaration of Purposes", which stated the inflexible desire of
the Filipino people to be free and sovereign. A Commission of Independence was
created to study ways and means of attaining liberation ideal. This commission
recommended the sending of an independence mission to the United States.[108] The
"Declaration of Purposes" referred to the Jones Law as a veritable pact, or covenant,
between the American and Filipino peoples whereby the United States promised to
recognize the independence of the Philippines as soon as a stable government should
be established. U.S. Governor-General of the Philippines Francis Burton Harrison had
concurred in the report of the Philippine legislature as to a stable government.

With Manila's Filipino Hispanic roots, Daniel Burnham developed the Urban
planning of Manila through the City Beautiful Movement; Neo-Classical architecture
of Paris through Manila's Government buildings, Canals of Venice through the
Esteros of Manila, Sunset view of Naples through Manila Bay and Winding River of

50
Paris through the Pasig River. A fine example of the Burnham plan is the Manila
Central Post Office and Jones Bridge Manila circa 1930s.

The central façade of the Legislative Building

The Philippine legislature funded an independence mission to the U.S. in 1919.
The mission departed Manila on February 28 and met in the U.S. with and presented
their case to Secretary of War Newton D. Baker.[109] U.S. President Woodrow
Wilson, in his 1921 farewell message to Congress, certified that the Filipino people
had performed the condition imposed on them as a prerequisite to independence,
declaring that, this having been done, the duty of the U.S. is to grant Philippine
independence.[110] The Republican Party then controlled Congress and the
recommendation of the outgoing Democratic president was not heeded.[109]

After the first independence mission, public funding of such missions was ruled
illegal. Subsequent independence missions in 1922, 1923, 1930, 1931 1932, and two
missions in 1933 were funded by voluntary contributions. Numerous independence
bills were submitted to the U.S. Congress, which passed the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Bill
on December 30, 1932. U.S. President Herbert Hoover vetoed the bill on January 13,
1933. Congress overrode the veto on January 17, and the Hare–Hawes–Cutting Act
became U.S. law. The law promised Philippine independence after 10 years, but
reserved several military and naval bases for the United States, as well as imposing
tariffs and quotas on Philippine exports. The law also required the Philippine Senate
to ratify the law. Manuel L. Quezon urged the Philippine Senate to reject the bill,
which it did. Quezon himself led the twelfth independence mission to Washington to
secure a better independence act. The result was the Tydings–McDuffie Act of 1934
which was very similar to the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act except in minor details. The
Tydings-McDuffie Act was ratified by the Philippine Senate. The law provided for
the granting of Philippine independence by 1946.[111]

The Tydings–McDuffie Act provided for the drafting and guidelines of a

Constitution, for a 10-year "transitional period" as the Commonwealth of the
Philippines before the granting of Philippine independence. On May 5, 1934, the
Philippines legislature passed an act setting the election of convention delegates.
Governor-General Frank Murphy designated July 10 as the election date, and the
convention held its inaugural session on July 30. The completed draft constitution was
approved by the convention on February 8, 1935, approved by U.S. President Franklin
Roosevelt on March 23, and ratified by popular vote on May 14. The first election
under the constitution was held on September 17, and on November 15, 1935, the
Commonwealth was put into place.[112]

Philippine Commonwealth (1935–1946)

51
 Manuel Quezon y Molina, once the President of the Senate of the Philippines
(and the first to hold that office), was elected to become the President of the
Philippines during the Commonwealth era of American colonization and occupation
Main article: Commonwealth of the Philippines

Manila before the war

It was planned that the period 1935–1946 would be devoted to the final
adjustments required for a peaceful transition to full independence, a great latitude in
autonomy being granted in the meantime. Instead there was war with Japan.[113]

On May 14, 1935, an election to fill the newly created office of President of the
Commonwealth of the Philippines was won by Manuel L. Quezon (Nacionalista
Party), and a Filipino government was formed on the basis of principles superficially
similar to the U.S. Constitution. The Commonwealth as established in 1935 featured a
very strong executive, a unicameral national assembly, and a supreme court composed
entirely of Filipinos for the first time since 1901. The new government embarked on
an ambitious agenda of establishing the basis for national defense, greater control
over the economy, reforms in education, improvement of transport, the colonization
of the island of Mindanao, and the promotion of local capital and industrialization.
The Commonwealth however, was also faced with agrarian unrest, an uncertain
diplomatic and military situation in South East Asia, and uncertainty about the level
of United States commitment to the future Republic of the Philippines.

In 1939–40, the Philippine Constitution was amended to restore a bicameral

Congress, and permit the reelection of President Quezon, previously restricted to a
single, six-year term.

During the Commonwealth years, Philippines sent one elected Resident

Commissioner to the United States House of Representatives, as Puerto Rico currently
does today.

Japanese troops on Bataan, Philippine Islands, circa 1942. Captured Japanese

photograph. - NARA - 531353

Japanese occupation and World War II (1941–

1945)
52
 Main article: Second Philippine Republic

Surrender of Filipino and American troops at Corregidor, Philippine Islands, May

1942.
See also: Military history of the Philippines during World War II
A few hours after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the
Japanese launched air raids in several cities and US military installations in the
Philippines on December 8, and on December 10, the first Japanese troops landed in
Northern Luzon. Filipino pilot Captain Jesús A. Villamor, leading a flight of three
P-26 "Peashooter" fighters of the 6th Pursuit Squadron, distinguished himself by
attacking two enemy formations of 27 planes each and downing a much-superior
Japanese Zero, for which he was awarded the U.S. Distinguished Service Cross. The
two other planes in that flight, flown by Lieutenants César Basa and Geronimo Aclan,
were shot down.[114]

General Douglas MacArthur, commander of the United States Armed Forces in

the Far East (USAFFE), was forced to retreat to Bataan. Manila was occupied by the
Japanese on January 2, 1942. The fall of Bataan was on April 9, 1942 with Corregidor
Island, at the mouth of Manila Bay, surrendering on May 6.[115]

Meeting of Jorge B. Vargas, a secretary of President Manuel Quezon, and

Homma Masaharu, a General Lieutenant of the Imperial Japanese Army on February,
20th 1943

José P. Laurel Became the President of the Philippines during the Japanese
occupation

General Tomoyuki Yamashita surrenders to the Filipino soldiers and guerrillas in

the presence of Generals Jonathan Wainwright and Arthur Percival.
The Commonwealth government by then had exiled itself to Washington, DC,
upon the invitation of President Roosevelt; however many politicians stayed behind
and collaborated with the occupying Japanese. The Philippine Commonwealth Army
continued to fight the Japanese in a guerrilla war and were considered auxiliary units
of the United States Army. Several Philippine Commonwealth military awards, such
as the Philippine Defense Medal, Independence Medal, and Liberation Medal, were
awarded to both the United States and Philippine Armed Forces.

53
 Gen. Douglas MacArthur wades ashore during initial landings at Leyte,
Philippine Islands.
As the Japanese forces advanced, Manila was declared an open city to prevent it
from destruction, meanwhile, the government was moved to Corregidor. In March
1942, General MacArthur and President Quezon fled the country. Guerrilla units
harassed the Japanese when they could, and on Luzon native resistance was strong
enough that the Japanese never did get control of a large part of the island. The
Hukbalahap, a communist guerilla movement formed by peasant farmers in Central
Luzon, did most of the fighting. The Hukbalahap, also known as Huks, resisted
invaders and punished the people who collaborated with the Japanese, but did not
have a well-disciplined organization, and were later seen as a threat to the Manila
government.[116] Before MacArthur came back, the effectiveness of the guerilla
movement had decimated Japanese control, limiting it to only 12 out of the 48
provinces.

In October 1944, MacArthur had gathered enough additional troops and supplies
to begin the retaking of the Philippines, landing with Sergio Osmeña who had
assumed the Presidency after Quezon's death. The Philippine Constabulary went on
active service under the Philippine Commonwealth Army on October 28, 1944 during
liberation under the Commonwealth regime. The battles entailed long fierce fighting;
some of the Japanese continued to fight until the official surrender of the Empire of
Japan on September 2, 1945.[117]

After their landing, Filipino and American forces also undertook measures to
suppress the Huk movement, which was founded to fight the Japanese Occupation.
The Filipino and American forces removed local Huk governments and imprisoned
many high-ranking members of the Philippine Communist Party. While these
incidents happened, there was still fighting against the Japanese forces and, despite
the American and Philippine measures against the Huk, they still supported American
and Filipino soldiers in the fight against the Japanese.

Over a million Filipinos (including regular and constable soldiers, recognized

guerrillas and non-combatant civilians) had been killed in the war. The 1947 final
report of the High Commissioner to the Philippines documents massive damage to
most coconut mills and sugar mills; inter-island shipping had all been destroyed or
removed; concrete highways had been broken up for use on military airports; railways
were inoperative; Manila was 80 percent destroyed, Cebu 90 percent, and Zamboanga
95 percent.[118]

54
 Independence (1946)

Philippine Independence, July 4, 1946 from all the Colonizers. The Flag of the
United States of America is lowered while the Flag of the Philippines is raised.
Philippine independence came on July 4, 1946, with the signing of the Treaty of
Manila between the governments of the United States and the Philippines. The treaty
provided for the recognition of the independence of the Republic of the Philippines
and the relinquishment of American sovereignty over the Philippine Islands.[119]
From 1946 to 1961, Independence Day was observed on July 4. On 12 May 1962,
President Macapagal issued Presidential Proclamation No. 28, proclaiming Tuesday,
June 12, 1962 as a special public holiday throughout the Philippines.[120][121] In
1964, Republic Act No. 4166 changed the date of Independence Day from July 4 to
June 12 and renamed the July 4 holiday as Philippine Republic Day.[122]

World War II veteran benefits

During World War II, over 200,000 Filipinos fought in defense of the United
States against the Japanese in the Pacific theater of military operations, where more
than half died. As a commonwealth of the United States before and during the war,
Filipinos were legally American nationals. With American nationality, Filipinos were
promised all the benefits afforded to those serving in the armed forces of the United
States.[123] In 1946, Congress passed the Rescission Act (38 U.S.C. § 107) which
stripped Filipinos of the benefits they were promised.[123]

Since the passage of the Rescission Act, many Filipino veterans have traveled to
the United States to lobby Congress for the benefits promised to them for their service
and sacrifice. Over 30,000 of such veterans live in the United States today, with most
being United States citizens. Sociologists introduced the phrase "Second Class
Veterans" to describe the plight of these Filipino Americans. Beginning in 1993,
numerous bills titled Filipino Veterans Fairness Act were introduced in Congress to
return the benefits taken away from these veterans, only to die in committee. The
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, signed into law on February 17,
2009, included provisions to pay benefits to the 15,000 remaining veterans.[124]

On January 6, 2011 Jackie Speier (D-CA), U.S. Representative for California's

12th congressional district, serving since 2008, introduced a bill seeking to make
Filipino WW-II veterans eligible for the same benefits available to U.S. veterans. In a
news conference to outline the bill, Speier estimated that approximately 50,000
Filipino veterans survive.[125][126]

55
56
CHAPTER 6

MARTIAL LAW
is the imposition of direct military control of normal civilian functions by a
government, especially in response to a temporary emergency such as invasion or
major disaster, or in an occupied territory.[1][2]

Martial law can be used by governments to enforce their rule over the public, as
seen in multiple countries listed below. Such incidents may occur after a coup d'état
(Thailand in 2006 and 2014, and Egypt in 2013); when threatened by popular protest
(China, Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, 2009's Iranian Green Movement that led
to the takeover by Revolutionary Guards); to suppress political opposition (Poland in
1981); or to stabilize insurrections or perceived insurrections (Canada, the October
Crisis of 1970). Martial law may be declared in cases of major natural disasters;
however, most countries use a different legal construct, such as a state of emergency.

Martial law has also been imposed during conflicts, and in cases of occupations,
where the absence of any other civil government provides for an unstable population.
Examples of this form of military rule include post World War II reconstruction in
Germany and Japan, the recovery and reconstruction of the former Confederate States
of America during Reconstruction Era in the United States of America following the
American Civil War, and German occupation of northern France between 1871 and
1873 after the Treaty of Frankfurt ended the Franco-Prussian War.

Typically, the imposition of martial law accompanies curfews; the suspension of

civil law, civil rights, and habeas corpus; and the application or extension of military

57
law or military justice to civilians. Civilians defying martial law may be subjected to
military tribunal (court-martial).

During the Second World War, President José P. Laurel placed the Philippines
(then a client state of Imperial Japan) under martial law via Proclamation № 29, dated
21 September 1944 and enforced the following day at 09:00 PST. Proclamation № 30
was issued on 23 September, declaring the existence of a state of war between the
Philippines and the United States and the United Kingdom, effective 10:00 that day.

The country was under martial law again from 1972 to 1981 under President
Ferdinand Marcos. Proclamation № 1081 ("Proclaiming a State of Martial Law in the
Philippines") was signed on 21 September 1972 and came into force on 22 September.
The official reason behind the declaration was to suppress increasing civil strife and
the threat of a communist takeover, particularly after a series of bombings (including
the Plaza Miranda bombing) and an assassination attempt on Defense Minister Juan
Ponce Enrile in Mandaluyong.

The policy of martial law was initially well received, but it eventually proved
unpopular as the military's human rights abuses (e.g. use of torture in intelligence
gathering, forced disappearances), along with the decadence and excess of the Marcos
family and their allies, had emerged. Coupled with economic downturns, these factors
fermented dissent in various sectors (e.g. the urban middle class) that crystallised with
the assassination of jailed oppositionist senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. in 1983, and
widespread fraud in the 1986 snap elections. These eventually led to the 1986 People
Power Revolution that ousted Marcos and forced him into exile in Hawaii where he
died in 1989; his rival presidential candidate and Aquino's widow, Corazon, was
installed as his successor.

During this 9-year period, curfews were implemented as a safety measure.

Majority of radio and television networks were suspended. Journalists who were
accused of speaking against the government were taken as political prisoners, some of
them to be physically abused and tortured by the authorities.

Others have stated that the implementation of Martial Law was taken advantage
by the Marcos regime. Billion pesos worth of property and ill-gotten wealth was said
to be acquired by Marcos' consort, First Lady Imelda Marcos. This alleged money
laundering issue was brought back recently, particularly in the PiliPinas Debates 2016
for the recently held Philippine Presidential Elections on May 9, 2016. Ferdinand
"Bongbong" Marcos, Jr., Marcos' son, ran for the Vice Presidency and lost.

58
 There were rumours that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was planning to
impose martial law to end military coup d'etat plots, general civilian dissatisfaction,
and criticism of her legitimacy arising from the dubious results of the 2004
presidential elections. Instead, a State of National Emergency was imposed in 2006
from 24 February to 3 March, in order to quash a coup attempt and quell protesters.

On 4 December 2009, President Arroyo officially placed the Province of

Maguindanao under a state of martial law through Proclamation № 1959.[19] As with
the last imposition, the declaration suspended the writ of habeas corpus in the
province.[20] The announcement came days after hundreds of government troops
were sent to the province to raid the armories of the powerful Ampatuan clan. The
Ampatuans were implicated in the massacre of 58 persons, including women from the
rival Mangudadatu clan, human rights lawyers, and 31 media workers. Cited as one of
the bloodiest incidents of political violence in Philippine history, the massacre was
condemned worldwide as the worst loss of life of media professionals in one day.[19]

On 23 May 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law throughout the
main southern island of Mindanao, through Proclamation No. 216, due to the attack of
Maute Group in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur. It was announced in a briefing in
Moscow by Secretary Ernesto Abella,[21] and will be in effect until December 2019.

SpaceNext50

The Philippines since c. 1990

The presidential election of May 1992, in which Aquino was not a candidate, was
a seven-way race in which the winner, Fidel Ramos, received less than 24 percent of
the overall vote. Ramos was a former army chief of staff and defense minister under
Aquino; he was unpopular in some quarters because he had headed the agency
charged with enforcing martial law under Marcos before turning against Marcos to
give crucial support to Aquino in 1986. Some observers had wryly noted during the
election that the winner might come to envy the losers, and indeed Ramos inherited
the onus of having to deal with insurgencies from the right and the left, a severe
energy crisis that produced daily electricity outages, an infrastructure in decay, a large
foreign debt, and the troubles of a population half of whom lived in deep poverty.

The Ramos administration remedied the energy crisis and proceeded to create a
hospitable environment for economic recovery. Peace was successfully negotiated

59
with the military rebels and the MNLF; it proved to be more elusive with the NDF. A
more open economy was created through a series of macroeconomic reforms.
Consequently, by the time of the Asian financial crisis that swept the region in 1997,
the Philippine economy was stable enough to escape serious damage. A proactive
foreign and security policy prevented the deterioration of relations with China, one of
several countries with which the Philippines disputed a claim to certain islands and
islets in the South China Sea. Ramos’s foreign policy also earned positive diplomatic
gains for the country abroad.

The election of Joseph Ejercito Estrada—former movie star, mayor of a small

town in Metro Manila, senator, and vice president under Ramos—to the presidency in
May 1998 brought a reversal of many of the economic, political, and diplomatic
accomplishments of the Ramos administration. Although Estrada generally
maintained economic growth and political stability in the first year of his
administration, he subsequently came under fire largely because of his failure to fulfill
promises to reduce poverty and to open the economy further to private enterprise.
Estrada was impeached in November 2000, charged with bribery, graft and corruption,
betrayal of the public trust, and culpable violation of the constitution. The refusal of
Estrada’s senatorial allies to open an envelope that allegedly held evidence against
him during the impeachment trial triggered a popular revolt; the uprisings ultimately
led to Estrada’s ouster, subsequent arrest, detention, and trial before the
Sandiganbayan, the country’s corruption court.

In January 2001 Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Estrada’s former vice president, was

sworn in as the country’s 14th president. A daughter of former president Diosdado
Macapagal with a doctorate in economics, Arroyo was faced with the challenges of
leading a democracy that had remained dominated by the elite, stimulating the
economy to grow faster than the country’s population, providing jobs for an
abundance of the country’s large group of college graduates each year, and relieving
poverty. Despite some reduction of poverty, as well as the curbing of corruption in
certain arenas, Arroyo struggled with political instability and widespread crime,
including the increasingly common kidnappings for ransom. She herself became
implicated in corruption, which stirred disillusioned soldiers to attempt a coup in 2003.
The coup failed, and Arroyo was reelected to the presidency in 2004. Later allegations
of election fixing and an increasingly repressive approach to government, however,
sparked a call for impeachment and another coup plot in 2006; once again the coup
failed. Arroyo subsequently declared a “state of emergency” and banned all public
demonstrations. Although the declaration was quickly lifted, the gesture was broadly
perceived as emblematic of authoritarian rule. In September 2007 Estrada, who had
been under house arrest outside of Manila since 2001, was convicted on additional
graft charges and given a life sentence; however, Arroyo soon pardoned him of all
charges.

60
 Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Lance Cpl. Ethan Hoaldridge/U.S. Marine Corps
Throughout the turmoil in the executive branch, political and economic issues
continued to animate the Philippines in other realms. In the Muslim south,
increasingly militant and widespread unrest was a growing concern. In the north, a
concerted movement was under way to reformulate the country’s constitution. In the
international arena, remittances from overseas Filipinos (which have become an
important component of the economy) were jeopardized as neighbouring countries
rewrote their laws regarding foreign employment and threatened to deport
undocumented workers.

Carolina G. Hernandez
Gregorio C. Borlaza
In 2009, underscoring the delicacy of the situation in the south, members of a
powerful ruling clan in Mindanao were implicated in a November incident in which a
political opponent of the clan and his entourage were massacred. Until then the
Arroyo government had been allied with the clan as a means of counteracting Moro
separatists. However, in early December Arroyo broke with the clan and declared
martial law in a portion of Mindanao—the first time it had been imposed since the
Marcos era—precipitating considerable domestic debate. The decree was lifted
several days later, after the government declared it had thwarted a potential rebellion
in Mindanao.

The 2010 presidential and parliamentary elections featured a number of

candidates with familiar names. Benigno S. (“Noynoy”) Aquino III, son of Benigno
and Corazon, defeated a field of presidential hopefuls led by Joseph Estrada. In
addition, Arroyo, Imelda Marcos, and boxing star Manny Pacquiao each won seats in
the House of Representatives. In October 2012 Aquino announced the conclusion of a
peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that would grant a
significant degree of autonomy to a Muslim-majority region on the southern island of
Mindanao. The four-decade conflict had claimed roughly 120,000 lives and displaced
some two million people.

Aquino, Benigno, III

Aquino, Benigno, III

61
 Benigno Aquino III.
Bullit Marquez/AP
In early November 2013, large portions of the central Philippines were devastated
by Super Typhoon Haiyan, a massive tropical cyclone that cut a broad swath some
500 miles (800 km) long across several islands before exiting into the South China
Sea. Thousands of people were killed, and hundreds of thousands were made
homeless. It was the most severe of several natural calamities to hit the country that
year, including typhoons in August and October and a magnitude-7.1 earthquake, also
in October.

Super Typhoon Haiyan destruction

Super Typhoon Haiyan destruction
Community devastated in November 2013 by Super Typhoon Haiyan (or
Yolanda) along the coast of Panay island in Iloio province, central Philippines.
Reuters/Landov
Perhaps the most-pressing foreign policy issue for the Philippines in the 2010s
was China’s increasingly assertive posture in the South China Sea. As the Philippines
worked to shore up its weak military forces, in 2014 it filed a case with the Permanent
Court of Arbitration in The Hague. It sought a ruling under the UN Convention on the
Law of the Sea concerning a reef that was within Philippine territorial waters. China
claimed ownership of waters close to the Philippines and in April 2015 began
construction of an artificial island at Fiery Cross Reef, heightening tension in the
region. In July 2016 the court concluded that there was no evidence of any historical
Chinese claim to the waters, and it ruled that China had violated the Philippines’
sovereign rights. In addition, it stated that China’s island-building program had
caused serious environmental damage. Officials from the Philippines greeted the
decision, but China dismissed the ruling, claiming that the court lacked both
jurisdiction and any kind of enforcement mechanism.

Spratly Islands: claim

Spratly Islands: claim
Philippine residents of one of the Spratly Islands displaying a banner asserting the
Philippines' claim to the island, July 2011.
Rolex Dela Pena/AP
On the domestic front, a crowded field in the 2016 presidential election was
headed by Rodrigo Duterte, the longtime mayor of Davao City. Duterte rode to the
top of the polls with incendiary populist rhetoric and a broad anticorruption platform,
and he was elected president on May 9, 2016. Duterte had campaigned on a promise
to execute 100,000 criminals, and upon his inauguration in June there was a dramatic

62
spike in extrajudicial killings of suspected illegal drug dealers. Human rights groups
protested Duterte’s draconian methods, and in 2018 the International Criminal Court
(ICC) opened an investigation into the more than 12,000 deaths associated with his
“war on drugs.” Duterte responded by withdrawing the Philippines from the ICC and
instructing police to shoot activists if they were seen “obstructing justice.”
Independent journalists and political rivals were imprisoned on spurious charges, but
Duterte retained significant popularity with the Filipino public. In May 2019 voters
endorsed Duterte’s agenda in legislative elections, giving him majorities in both
houses and removing the final obstacle to his consolidation of power.

REACTION
SpaceNext50

The Philippines since c. 1990

The presidential election of May 1992, in which Aquino was not a candidate, was
a seven-way race in which the winner, Fidel Ramos, received less than 24 percent of
the overall vote. Ramos was a former army chief of staff and defense minister under
Aquino; he was unpopular in some quarters because he had headed the agency
charged with enforcing martial law under Marcos before turning against Marcos to
give crucial support to Aquino in 1986. Some observers had wryly noted during the
election that the winner might come to envy the losers, and indeed Ramos inherited
the onus of having to deal with insurgencies from the right and the left, a severe
energy crisis that produced daily electricity outages, an infrastructure in decay, a large
foreign debt, and the troubles of a population half of whom lived in deep poverty.

The Ramos administration remedied the energy crisis and proceeded to create a
hospitable environment for economic recovery. Peace was successfully negotiated
with the military rebels and the MNLF; it proved to be more elusive with the NDF. A
more open economy was created through a series of macroeconomic reforms.
Consequently, by the time of the Asian financial crisis that swept the region in 1997,
the Philippine economy was stable enough to escape serious damage. A proactive
foreign and security policy prevented the deterioration of relations with China, one of
several countries with which the Philippines disputed a claim to certain islands and
islets in the South China Sea. Ramos’s foreign policy also earned positive diplomatic
gains for the country abroad.

The election of Joseph Ejercito Estrada—former movie star, mayor of a small

town in Metro Manila, senator, and vice president under Ramos—to the presidency in

63
May 1998 brought a reversal of many of the economic, political, and diplomatic
accomplishments of the Ramos administration. Although Estrada generally
maintained economic growth and political stability in the first year of his
administration, he subsequently came under fire largely because of his failure to fulfill
promises to reduce poverty and to open the economy further to private enterprise.
Estrada was impeached in November 2000, charged with bribery, graft and corruption,
betrayal of the public trust, and culpable violation of the constitution. The refusal of
Estrada’s senatorial allies to open an envelope that allegedly held evidence against
him during the impeachment trial triggered a popular revolt; the uprisings ultimately
led to Estrada’s ouster, subsequent arrest, detention, and trial before the
Sandiganbayan, the country’s corruption court.

In January 2001 Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Estrada’s former vice president, was

sworn in as the country’s 14th president. A daughter of former president Diosdado
Macapagal with a doctorate in economics, Arroyo was faced with the challenges of
leading a democracy that had remained dominated by the elite, stimulating the
economy to grow faster than the country’s population, providing jobs for an
abundance of the country’s large group of college graduates each year, and relieving
poverty. Despite some reduction of poverty, as well as the curbing of corruption in
certain arenas, Arroyo struggled with political instability and widespread crime,
including the increasingly common kidnappings for ransom. She herself became
implicated in corruption, which stirred disillusioned soldiers to attempt a coup in 2003.
The coup failed, and Arroyo was reelected to the presidency in 2004. Later allegations
of election fixing and an increasingly repressive approach to government, however,
sparked a call for impeachment and another coup plot in 2006; once again the coup
failed. Arroyo subsequently declared a “state of emergency” and banned all public
demonstrations. Although the declaration was quickly lifted, the gesture was broadly
perceived as emblematic of authoritarian rule. In September 2007 Estrada, who had
been under house arrest outside of Manila since 2001, was convicted on additional
graft charges and given a life sentence; however, Arroyo soon pardoned him of all
charges.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Lance Cpl. Ethan Hoaldridge/U.S. Marine Corps
Throughout the turmoil in the executive branch, political and economic issues
continued to animate the Philippines in other realms. In the Muslim south,
increasingly militant and widespread unrest was a growing concern. In the north, a
concerted movement was under way to reformulate the country’s constitution. In the
international arena, remittances from overseas Filipinos (which have become an
important component of the economy) were jeopardized as neighbouring countries

64
rewrote their laws regarding foreign employment and threatened to deport
undocumented workers.

Carolina G. Hernandez
Gregorio C. Borlaza
In 2009, underscoring the delicacy of the situation in the south, members of a
powerful ruling clan in Mindanao were implicated in a November incident in which a
political opponent of the clan and his entourage were massacred. Until then the
Arroyo government had been allied with the clan as a means of counteracting Moro
separatists. However, in early December Arroyo broke with the clan and declared
martial law in a portion of Mindanao—the first time it had been imposed since the
Marcos era—precipitating considerable domestic debate. The decree was lifted
several days later, after the government declared it had thwarted a potential rebellion
in Mindanao.

The 2010 presidential and parliamentary elections featured a number of

candidates with familiar names. Benigno S. (“Noynoy”) Aquino III, son of Benigno
and Corazon, defeated a field of presidential hopefuls led by Joseph Estrada. In
addition, Arroyo, Imelda Marcos, and boxing star Manny Pacquiao each won seats in
the House of Representatives. In October 2012 Aquino announced the conclusion of a
peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that would grant a
significant degree of autonomy to a Muslim-majority region on the southern island of
Mindanao. The four-decade conflict had claimed roughly 120,000 lives and displaced
some two million people.

Aquino, Benigno, III

Aquino, Benigno, III
Benigno Aquino III.
Bullit Marquez/AP
In early November 2013, large portions of the central Philippines were devastated
by Super Typhoon Haiyan, a massive tropical cyclone that cut a broad swath some
500 miles (800 km) long across several islands before exiting into the South China
Sea. Thousands of people were killed, and hundreds of thousands were made
homeless. It was the most severe of several natural calamities to hit the country that
year, including typhoons in August and October and a magnitude-7.1 earthquake, also
in October.

65
 Super Typhoon Haiyan destruction
Super Typhoon Haiyan destruction
Community devastated in November 2013 by Super Typhoon Haiyan (or
Yolanda) along the coast of Panay island in Iloio province, central Philippines.
Reuters/Landov
Perhaps the most-pressing foreign policy issue for the Philippines in the 2010s
was China’s increasingly assertive posture in the South China Sea. As the Philippines
worked to shore up its weak military forces, in 2014 it filed a case with the Permanent
Court of Arbitration in The Hague. It sought a ruling under the UN Convention on the
Law of the Sea concerning a reef that was within Philippine territorial waters. China
claimed ownership of waters close to the Philippines and in April 2015 began
construction of an artificial island at Fiery Cross Reef, heightening tension in the
region. In July 2016 the court concluded that there was no evidence of any historical
Chinese claim to the waters, and it ruled that China had violated the Philippines’
sovereign rights. In addition, it stated that China’s island-building program had
caused serious environmental damage. Officials from the Philippines greeted the
decision, but China dismissed the ruling, claiming that the court lacked both
jurisdiction and any kind of enforcement mechanism.

Spratly Islands: claim

Spratly Islands: claim
Philippine residents of one of the Spratly Islands displaying a banner asserting the
Philippines' claim to the island, July 2011.
Rolex Dela Pena/AP
On the domestic front, a crowded field in the 2016 presidential election was
headed by Rodrigo Duterte, the longtime mayor of Davao City. Duterte rode to the
top of the polls with incendiary populist rhetoric and a broad anticorruption platform,
and he was elected president on May 9, 2016. Duterte had campaigned on a promise
to execute 100,000 criminals, and upon his inauguration in June there was a dramatic
spike in extrajudicial killings of suspected illegal drug dealers. Human rights groups
protested Duterte’s draconian methods, and in 2018 the International Criminal Court
(ICC) opened an investigation into the more than 12,000 deaths associated with his
“war on drugs.” Duterte responded by withdrawing the Philippines from the ICC and
instructing police to shoot activists if they were seen “obstructing justice.”
Independent journalists and political rivals were imprisoned on spurious charges, but
Duterte retained significant popularity with the Filipino public. In May 2019 voters
endorsed Duterte’s agenda in legislative elections, giving him majorities in both
houses and removing the final obstacle to his consolidation of power.

REACTION

66
 SpaceNext50

The Philippines since c. 1990

The presidential election of May 1992, in which Aquino was not a candidate, was
a seven-way race in which the winner, Fidel Ramos, received less than 24 percent of
the overall vote. Ramos was a former army chief of staff and defense minister under
Aquino; he was unpopular in some quarters because he had headed the agency
charged with enforcing martial law under Marcos before turning against Marcos to
give crucial support to Aquino in 1986. Some observers had wryly noted during the
election that the winner might come to envy the losers, and indeed Ramos inherited
the onus of having to deal with insurgencies from the right and the left, a severe
energy crisis that produced daily electricity outages, an infrastructure in decay, a large
foreign debt, and the troubles of a population half of whom lived in deep poverty.

The Ramos administration remedied the energy crisis and proceeded to create a
hospitable environment for economic recovery. Peace was successfully negotiated
with the military rebels and the MNLF; it proved to be more elusive with the NDF. A
more open economy was created through a series of macroeconomic reforms.
Consequently, by the time of the Asian financial crisis that swept the region in 1997,
the Philippine economy was stable enough to escape serious damage. A proactive
foreign and security policy prevented the deterioration of relations with China, one of
several countries with which the Philippines disputed a claim to certain islands and
islets in the South China Sea. Ramos’s foreign policy also earned positive diplomatic
gains for the country abroad.

The election of Joseph Ejercito Estrada—former movie star, mayor of a small

town in Metro Manila, senator, and vice president under Ramos—to the presidency in
May 1998 brought a reversal of many of the economic, political, and diplomatic
accomplishments of the Ramos administration. Although Estrada generally
maintained economic growth and political stability in the first year of his
administration, he subsequently came under fire largely because of his failure to fulfill
promises to reduce poverty and to open the economy further to private enterprise.
Estrada was impeached in November 2000, charged with bribery, graft and corruption,
betrayal of the public trust, and culpable violation of the constitution. The refusal of
Estrada’s senatorial allies to open an envelope that allegedly held evidence against
him during the impeachment trial triggered a popular revolt; the uprisings ultimately
led to Estrada’s ouster, subsequent arrest, detention, and trial before the
Sandiganbayan, the country’s corruption court.

67
 In January 2001 Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Estrada’s former vice president, was
sworn in as the country’s 14th president. A daughter of former president Diosdado
Macapagal with a doctorate in economics, Arroyo was faced with the challenges of
leading a democracy that had remained dominated by the elite, stimulating the
economy to grow faster than the country’s population, providing jobs for an
abundance of the country’s large group of college graduates each year, and relieving
poverty. Despite some reduction of poverty, as well as the curbing of corruption in
certain arenas, Arroyo struggled with political instability and widespread crime,
including the increasingly common kidnappings for ransom. She herself became
implicated in corruption, which stirred disillusioned soldiers to attempt a coup in 2003.
The coup failed, and Arroyo was reelected to the presidency in 2004. Later allegations
of election fixing and an increasingly repressive approach to government, however,
sparked a call for impeachment and another coup plot in 2006; once again the coup
failed. Arroyo subsequently declared a “state of emergency” and banned all public
demonstrations. Although the declaration was quickly lifted, the gesture was broadly
perceived as emblematic of authoritarian rule. In September 2007 Estrada, who had
been under house arrest outside of Manila since 2001, was convicted on additional
graft charges and given a life sentence; however, Arroyo soon pardoned him of all
charges.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Lance Cpl. Ethan Hoaldridge/U.S. Marine Corps
Throughout the turmoil in the executive branch, political and economic issues
continued to animate the Philippines in other realms. In the Muslim south,
increasingly militant and widespread unrest was a growing concern. In the north, a
concerted movement was under way to reformulate the country’s constitution. In the
international arena, remittances from overseas Filipinos (which have become an
important component of the economy) were jeopardized as neighbouring countries
rewrote their laws regarding foreign employment and threatened to deport
undocumented workers.

Carolina G. Hernandez
Gregorio C. Borlaza
In 2009, underscoring the delicacy of the situation in the south, members of a
powerful ruling clan in Mindanao were implicated in a November incident in which a
political opponent of the clan and his entourage were massacred. Until then the
Arroyo government had been allied with the clan as a means of counteracting Moro
separatists. However, in early December Arroyo broke with the clan and declared

68
martial law in a portion of Mindanao—the first time it had been imposed since the
Marcos era—precipitating considerable domestic debate. The decree was lifted
several days later, after the government declared it had thwarted a potential rebellion
in Mindanao.

The 2010 presidential and parliamentary elections featured a number of

candidates with familiar names. Benigno S. (“Noynoy”) Aquino III, son of Benigno
and Corazon, defeated a field of presidential hopefuls led by Joseph Estrada. In
addition, Arroyo, Imelda Marcos, and boxing star Manny Pacquiao each won seats in
the House of Representatives. In October 2012 Aquino announced the conclusion of a
peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that would grant a
significant degree of autonomy to a Muslim-majority region on the southern island of
Mindanao. The four-decade conflict had claimed roughly 120,000 lives and displaced
some two million people.

Aquino, Benigno, III

Aquino, Benigno, III
Benigno Aquino III.
Bullit Marquez/AP
In early November 2013, large portions of the central Philippines were devastated
by Super Typhoon Haiyan, a massive tropical cyclone that cut a broad swath some
500 miles (800 km) long across several islands before exiting into the South China
Sea. Thousands of people were killed, and hundreds of thousands were made
homeless. It was the most severe of several natural calamities to hit the country that
year, including typhoons in August and October and a magnitude-7.1 earthquake, also
in October.

Super Typhoon Haiyan destruction

Super Typhoon Haiyan destruction
Community devastated in November 2013 by Super Typhoon Haiyan (or
Yolanda) along the coast of Panay island in Iloio province, central Philippines.
Reuters/Landov
Perhaps the most-pressing foreign policy issue for the Philippines in the 2010s
was China’s increasingly assertive posture in the South China Sea. As the Philippines
worked to shore up its weak military forces, in 2014 it filed a case with the Permanent
Court of Arbitration in The Hague. It sought a ruling under the UN Convention on the
Law of the Sea concerning a reef that was within Philippine territorial waters. China
claimed ownership of waters close to the Philippines and in April 2015 began
construction of an artificial island at Fiery Cross Reef, heightening tension in the

69
region. In July 2016 the court concluded that there was no evidence of any historical
Chinese claim to the waters, and it ruled that China had violated the Philippines’
sovereign rights. In addition, it stated that China’s island-building program had
caused serious environmental damage. Officials from the Philippines greeted the
decision, but China dismissed the ruling, claiming that the court lacked both
jurisdiction and any kind of enforcement mechanism.

Spratly Islands: claim

Spratly Islands: claim
Philippine residents of one of the Spratly Islands displaying a banner asserting the
Philippines' claim to the island, July 2011.
Rolex Dela Pena/AP
On the domestic front, a crowded field in the 2016 presidential election was
headed by Rodrigo Duterte, the longtime mayor of Davao City. Duterte rode to the
top of the polls with incendiary populist rhetoric and a broad anticorruption platform,
and he was elected president on May 9, 2016. Duterte had campaigned on a promise
to execute 100,000 criminals, and upon his inauguration in June there was a dramatic
spike in extrajudicial killings of suspected illegal drug dealers. Human rights groups
protested Duterte’s draconian methods, and in 2018 the International Criminal Court
(ICC) opened an investigation into the more than 12,000 deaths associated with his
“war on drugs.” Duterte responded by withdrawing the Philippines from the ICC and
instructing police to shoot activists if they were seen “obstructing justice.”
Independent journalists and political rivals were imprisoned on spurious charges, but
Duterte retained significant popularity with the Filipino public. In May 2019 voters
endorsed Duterte’s agenda in legislative elections, giving him majorities in both
houses and removing the final obstacle to his consolidation of power.

The Philippines since c. 1990

The presidential election of May 1992, in which Aquino was not a candidate, was
a seven-way race in which the winner, Fidel Ramos, received less than 24 percent of
the overall vote. Ramos was a former army chief of staff and defense minister under
Aquino; he was unpopular in some quarters because he had headed the agency
charged with enforcing martial law under Marcos before turning against Marcos to
give crucial support to Aquino in 1986. Some observers had wryly noted during the
election that the winner might come to envy the losers, and indeed Ramos inherited
the onus of having to deal with insurgencies from the right and the left, a severe
energy crisis that produced daily electricity outages, an infrastructure in decay, a large
foreign debt, and the troubles of a population half of whom lived in deep poverty.

70
 The Ramos administration remedied the energy crisis and proceeded to create a
hospitable environment for economic recovery. Peace was successfully negotiated
with the military rebels and the MNLF; it proved to be more elusive with the NDF. A
more open economy was created through a series of macroeconomic reforms.
Consequently, by the time of the Asian financial crisis that swept the region in 1997,
the Philippine economy was stable enough to escape serious damage. A proactive
foreign and security policy prevented the deterioration of relations with China, one of
several countries with which the Philippines disputed a claim to certain islands and
islets in the South China Sea. Ramos’s foreign policy also earned positive diplomatic
gains for the country abroad.

The election of Joseph Ejercito Estrada—former movie star, mayor of a small

town in Metro Manila, senator, and vice president under Ramos—to the presidency in
May 1998 brought a reversal of many of the economic, political, and diplomatic
accomplishments of the Ramos administration. Although Estrada generally
maintained economic growth and political stability in the first year of his
administration, he subsequently came under fire largely because of his failure to fulfill
promises to reduce poverty and to open the economy further to private enterprise.
Estrada was impeached in November 2000, charged with bribery, graft and corruption,
betrayal of the public trust, and culpable violation of the constitution. The refusal of
Estrada’s senatorial allies to open an envelope that allegedly held evidence against
him during the impeachment trial triggered a popular revolt; the uprisings ultimately
led to Estrada’s ouster, subsequent arrest, detention, and trial before the
Sandiganbayan, the country’s corruption court.

In January 2001 Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Estrada’s former vice president, was

sworn in as the country’s 14th president. A daughter of former president Diosdado
Macapagal with a doctorate in economics, Arroyo was faced with the challenges of
leading a democracy that had remained dominated by the elite, stimulating the
economy to grow faster than the country’s population, providing jobs for an
abundance of the country’s large group of college graduates each year, and relieving
poverty. Despite some reduction of poverty, as well as the curbing of corruption in
certain arenas, Arroyo struggled with political instability and widespread crime,
including the increasingly common kidnappings for ransom. She herself became
implicated in corruption, which stirred disillusioned soldiers to attempt a coup in 2003.
The coup failed, and Arroyo was reelected to the presidency in 2004. Later allegations
of election fixing and an increasingly repressive approach to government, however,
sparked a call for impeachment and another coup plot in 2006; once again the coup
failed. Arroyo subsequently declared a “state of emergency” and banned all public
demonstrations. Although the declaration was quickly lifted, the gesture was broadly
perceived as emblematic of authoritarian rule. In September 2007 Estrada, who had
been under house arrest outside of Manila since 2001, was convicted on additional

71
graft charges and given a life sentence; however, Arroyo soon pardoned him of all
charges.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Lance Cpl. Ethan Hoaldridge/U.S. Marine Corps
Throughout the turmoil in the executive branch, political and economic issues
continued to animate the Philippines in other realms. In the Muslim south,
increasingly militant and widespread unrest was a growing concern. In the north, a
concerted movement was under way to reformulate the country’s constitution. In the
international arena, remittances from overseas Filipinos (which have become an
important component of the economy) were jeopardized as neighbouring countries
rewrote their laws regarding foreign employment and threatened to deport
undocumented workers.

Carolina G. Hernandez
Gregorio C. Borlaza
In 2009, underscoring the delicacy of the situation in the south, members of a
powerful ruling clan in Mindanao were implicated in a November incident in which a
political opponent of the clan and his entourage were massacred. Until then the
Arroyo government had been allied with the clan as a means of counteracting Moro
separatists. However, in early December Arroyo broke with the clan and declared
martial law in a portion of Mindanao—the first time it had been imposed since the
Marcos era—precipitating considerable domestic debate. The decree was lifted
several days later, after the government declared it had thwarted a potential rebellion
in Mindanao.

The 2010 presidential and parliamentary elections featured a number of

candidates with familiar names. Benigno S. (“Noynoy”) Aquino III, son of Benigno
and Corazon, defeated a field of presidential hopefuls led by Joseph Estrada. In
addition, Arroyo, Imelda Marcos, and boxing star Manny Pacquiao each won seats in
the House of Representatives. In October 2012 Aquino announced the conclusion of a
peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that would grant a
significant degree of autonomy to a Muslim-majority region on the southern island of
Mindanao. The four-decade conflict had claimed roughly 120,000 lives and displaced
some two million people.

Aquino, Benigno, III

72
 Aquino, Benigno, III
Benigno Aquino III.
Bullit Marquez/AP
In early November 2013, large portions of the central Philippines were devastated
by Super Typhoon Haiyan, a massive tropical cyclone that cut a broad swath some
500 miles (800 km) long across several islands before exiting into the South China
Sea. Thousands of people were killed, and hundreds of thousands were made
homeless. It was the most severe of several natural calamities to hit the country that
year, including typhoons in August and October and a magnitude-7.1 earthquake, also
in October.

Super Typhoon Haiyan destruction

Super Typhoon Haiyan destruction
Community devastated in November 2013 by Super Typhoon Haiyan (or
Yolanda) along the coast of Panay island in Iloio province, central Philippines.
Reuters/Landov
Perhaps the most-pressing foreign policy issue for the Philippines in the 2010s
was China’s increasingly assertive posture in the South China Sea. As the Philippines
worked to shore up its weak military forces, in 2014 it filed a case with the Permanent
Court of Arbitration in The Hague. It sought a ruling under the UN Convention on the
Law of the Sea concerning a reef that was within Philippine territorial waters. China
claimed ownership of waters close to the Philippines and in April 2015 began
construction of an artificial island at Fiery Cross Reef, heightening tension in the
region. In July 2016 the court concluded that there was no evidence of any historical
Chinese claim to the waters, and it ruled that China had violated the Philippines’
sovereign rights. In addition, it stated that China’s island-building program had
caused serious environmental damage. Officials from the Philippines greeted the
decision, but China dismissed the ruling, claiming that the court lacked both
jurisdiction and any kind of enforcement mechanism.

Spratly Islands: claim

Spratly Islands: claim
Philippine residents of one of the Spratly Islands displaying a banner asserting the
Philippines' claim to the island, July 2011.
Rolex Dela Pena/AP
On the domestic front, a crowded field in the 2016 presidential election was
headed by Rodrigo Duterte, the longtime mayor of Davao City. Duterte rode to the
top of the polls with incendiary populist rhetoric and a broad anticorruption platform,

73
and he was elected president on May 9, 2016. Duterte had campaigned on a promise
to execute 100,000 criminals, and upon his inauguration in June there was a dramatic
spike in extrajudicial killings of suspected illegal drug dealers. Human rights groups
protested Duterte’s draconian methods, and in 2018 the International Criminal Court
(ICC) opened an investigation into the more than 12,000 deaths associated with his
“war on drugs.” Duterte responded by withdrawing the Philippines from the ICC and
instructing police to shoot activists if they were seen “obstructing justice.”
Independent journalists and political rivals were imprisoned on spurious charges, but
Duterte retained significant popularity with the Filipino public. In May 2019 voters
endorsed Duterte’s agenda in legislative elections, giving him majorities in both
houses and removing the final obstacle to his consolidation of power.

REACTION

It was the first time since World War II when the people of the Philippines suffered
harsh jackboot oppression and wanton plunder. President Ferdinand Marcos at the end
of his term in 1972 and fearing a loss of power and influence declared nationwide
martial law and abolished the congress and vowed to continue in office. The
sovereign rights of the people under the constitution protecting their lives, liberty and
property were swept away and Marcos declared himself an absolute ruler with
legislative powers to rule by decree. Tyranny had arrived.

Thousands of opposition leaders, party members, journalists and outspoken critics of

the corruption of Marcos’s previous years in office were rounded up and executed or
jailed. Others fled abroad and many young idealists and freedom-loving youth fled to
the mountains and forests. There they formed a resistance movement called the New
People’s Army based on communist ideology. It continues as a force to this day.
Many innocent young people were summarily executed

74
75
CHAPTER 8

THE PRESENT PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT

AND ITS 1987 CONSTITUTION

The Philippine Government

Seal of the Republic of the PhilippinesThe Philippine government takes place in
an organized framework of a presidential, representative, and democratic republic
whereby the president is both the head of state and the head of government. This
system revolves around three separate and sovereign yet interdependent branches: the
legislative branch (the law-making body), the executive branch (the law-enforcing
body), and the judicial branch (the law-interpreting body). Executive power is
exercised by the government under the leadership of the president. Legislative power
is vested in both the government and the two-chamber congress—the Senate (the
upper chamber) and the House of Representatives (the lower chamber). Judicial
power is vested in the courts with the Supreme Court of the Philippines as the highest
judicial body.

Executive Branch
The executive branch is headed by the President who functions as both the head
of state and the head of government. The president is also the Commander-in-Chief of
the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The president is elected by popular vote to a
term of six years. The president, then, appoints (and may dismiss) his/her cabinet
members whom he/she presides over. The executive seat of government is
administered officially from Malacañang Palace—also the official residence of the
president—in Manila. The President may no longer run for re-election, unless he/she
becomes president through constitutional succession and has served for no more than
four years as president.

76
 The second highest official, the vice-president is first in line to succession should
the president resign, be impeached or die in office. The vice-president usually, though
not always, may be a member of the president's cabinet. If there is a vacancy in the
position of Vice President, the President will appoint any member of Congress
(usually a party member) as new Vice President. The appointment will be validated
by a three-fourths vote of Congress voting separately.

Legislative Branch
The remainder of the House seats are designated for sectoral representatives
elected at large through a complex "party list" system, hinging on the party receiving
at least 2% to 6% of the national vote total. The upper house is located in Pasay City,
while the lower house is located in Quezon City. The district and sectoral
representatives are elected with a term of three years. They can be reelected but they
are no longer eligible to run for a fourth consecutive term. The senators are elected to
a term of six years. They can be reelected but they are no longer eligible to run for a
third consecutive term. The House of Representatives may opt to pass a resolution for
a vacancy of a legislative seat that will pave way for a special election. The winner of
the special election will serve the unfinished term of the previous district
representative; this will be considered as one elective term. The same rule applies in
the Senate however it only applies if the seat is vacated before a regular legislative
election.

Judiciary Branch
The judiciary branch of the government is headed by the Supreme Court, which
has a Chief Justice as its head and 14 Associate Justices, all appointed by the
president on the recommendation of the Judicial and Bar Council. Other court types of
courts, of varying jurisdiction around the archipelago, are the:

Lower Collegiate Courts

-Court of Appeals
-Court of Tax Appeals
-Sandiganbayan

Regular Courts

77
-Regional Trial Courts
-Metropolitan Trial Courts
-Municipal Trial Courts
-Municipal Trial Courts in Cities
-Municipal Circuit Trial Courts

Muslim Courts
-Sharia District Courts
-Sharia Circuit Courts

https://www.philembassy.no/the-philippine-government

1987 CONSTITUTION
What is constitution? A constitution is a system for government, codified asa
written document, which contains fundamental laws andprinciples. It usually
contains fundamental political principles,and establishes the structure, procedures,
powers and duties,of a government. The Constitution of the Philippines is
thesupreme law of the Philippines. The Constitution currently ineffect was
enacted in 1987, during the administrationof President Corazon C. Aquino, and is
popularly known asthe "1987 Constitution―. Philippine constitutional law
expertsrecognise three other previous constitutions as havingeffectively governed
the country — the935 Commonwealth Constitution, the 1973 Constitution,
andthe 1986 Freedom Constitution. Constitutions for thePhilippines were also
drafted and adopted during the short-lived governments of Presidents Emilio
Aguinaldo (1898)and José P. Laurel (1943). © 2012 Charie Camilo. All rights
reserved.
3. Nature and purpose of Constitution1. It serves as the supreme or
fundamental law2. It establishes basic framework and underlying principles
ofgovernment Constitutional LawBody of law derived from countrys written
constitution. It laysdown and guides the duties and powers of the government,and
the duties and rights of its citizens and residents. © 2012 Charie Camilo. All
rights reserved.
4. Kind of Constitution1. As to their origin and history a. Conventional or
enacted b. Cumulative or evolved2. As to their form a. Written b. Unwritten3. As
to manner of amending them a. Rigid or inelastic b. Flexible or elastic © 2012
Charie Camilo. All rights reserved.

78
 5. Constitution distinguished from Statute1. Constitution is a legislation
direct from the people2. Constitution merely states the general framework of the
law3. Constitution is intended not merely to meet existingconditions but to
govern the future4. Constitution is the supreme or fundamental law Statute1. Is a
legislation from the people’s representatives.2. It provides the details of the
subject of which it treats3. Is intended primarily to meet existing conditions only4.
Statute conforms to Constitution. © 2012 Charie Camilo. All rights reserved.
6. Parts of the 1987 Constitution The Constitution is divided into 18 parts,
excluding the Preamble, which are called Articles. The Articles are as
follows:Article I - National TerritoryArticle II - Declaration of Principles and
State PoliciesArticle III - Bill of RightsArticle IV - CitizenshipArticle V -
SuffrageArticle VI - Legislative DepartmentArticle VII - Executive
DepartmentArticle VIII - Judicial DepartmentArticle IX - Constitutional
CommissionArticle X - Local GovernmentArticle XI - Accountability of Public
OfficersArticle XII - National Economy and PatrimonyArticle XIII - Social
Justice and Human RightsArticle XIV - Education, Science and Technology, Arts,
Cultureand SportsArticle XV - The FamilyArticle XVI - General
ProvisionsArticle XVII - Amendments or RevisionsArticle XVIII - Transitory
Provisions © 2012 Charie Camilo. All rights reserved.
7. Preamble of the 1987 ConstitutionThe Preamble reads:“We, the sovereign
Filipino people, imploring the aid of AlmightyGod, in order to build a just and
humane society, and establish aGovernment that shall embody our ideals and
aspirations, promotethe common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and
secureto ourselves and our posterity, the blessings of independence
anddemocracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice,freedom, love,
equality, and peace, do ordain and promulgate thisConstitution.” © 2012 Charie
Camilo. All rights reserved.
8. Significant features of the 1987 Constitution The Constitution establishes
the Philippines as a"democratic and republican State", where "sovereignty
residesin the people and all government authority emanates fromthem". (Section
1, Article II) Consistent with the doctrineof separation of powers, the powers of
the nationalgovernment are exercised in main by three branches —the executive
branch headed by the President, the legislativebranch composed of Congress and
the judicial branch withthe Supreme Court occupying the highest tier of the
judiciary. Section 1. Article 2. The Philippines is a democratic and republican
State. Sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates
from them. © 2012 Charie Camilo. All rights reserved.
9. Historical Constitution• Malolos Constitution (1899)• Commonwealth and
Third Republic (1935)• Japanese Sponsored Republic (1943)• Martial Law
Constitution (1973)• Freedom Constitution (1986) > © 2012 Charie Camilo. All
rights reserved.
10. Malolos Constitution (1899) First republic The Malolos Constitution was
the first republicanconstitution in Asia. It declared that sovereignty
residesexclusively in the people, stated basic civil rights, separatedthe church and

79
state, and called for the creation of anAssembly of Representatives to act as the
legislative body. Italso called for a Presidential form of government with
thepresident elected for a term of four years by a majority of theAssembly. It was
titled "Constitución política", and waswritten in Spanish following the declaration
of independencefrom Spain, proclaimed on January 20, 1899, and was
enactedand ratified by the Malolos Congress, a Congress heldin Malolos,
Bulacan.< © 2012 Charie Camilo. All rights reserved.
11. Commonwealth and Third Republic (1935) 1935 Constitution The 1935
Constitution was written in 1934,approved and adopted by the Commonwealth of
thePhilippines (1935–1946) and later used by the Third Republicof the
Philippines (1946–1972). It was written with an eye tomeeting the approval of the
United States Government aswell, so as to ensure that the U.S. would live up to
itspromise to grant the Philippines independence and not havea premise to hold
onto its possession on the grounds that itwas too politically immature and hence
unready for full, realindependence.< © 2012 Charie Camilo. All rights reserved.
12. Japanese Sponsored Republic (1943) Second Philippine Republic The
1943 Constitution of the Republic of thePhilippines , composed of a preamble
and twelve articles,creates a Republican state with a powerful executive
branchand subordinate legislative and judicial branches. Theexecutive power is
vested in the President, who is to beelected by the members of the National
Assembly fromamong themselves. The President is the head of government,and
commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The powers ofthe President are: to
veto any bill of the Assembly, topromulgate regulations when the Assembly is
not in sessionand in times of war or national emergency, to declare martiallaw, to
suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus,and to appoint the members of
the Council of State andofficials of the local government. A limited legislative
poweris exercised by the unicameral National Assembly whosemembers, like the
President, are not directly elected by thepeople. © 2012 Charie Camilo. All rights
reserved.
13. Rather, the Assembly, is to be composed ofrepresentatives from each
province elected in Kalibapiconventions throughout the country with
appointedgovernors and mayors as ex-officio members. Thejudicial power is
exercised by the Supreme Courtwhose justices, together with judges of lower
courts,are to be appointed by the President.< © 2012 Charie Camilo. All rights
reserved.
14. Martial Law Constitution (1973) 1973 Constitution of the Philippines
The 1973 Constitution, promulgated afterMarcos declaration of martial law, was
supposed tointroduce a parliamentary-style government. Legislativepower was
vested in a National Assembly whose memberswere elected for six-year terms.
The President was ideallysupposed to be elected as the symbolic and
purelyceremonial head of state from the Members of the NationalAssembly for a
six-year term and could be re-elected to anunlimited number of terms.< © 2012
Charie Camilo. All rights reserved.

80
 15. Freedom Constitution (1987) 1987 Constitution of the Philippines
Following the EDSA People Power Revolution thatremoved President Ferdinand
E. Marcos from office, the newPresident, Corazon C. Aquino issued
Proclamation No. 3 as aprovisional constitution. It adopted certain provisions
fromthe 1973 constitution and granted the President broadpowers to reorganise
the government and remove officialsfrom office, and mandated that the president
would appointa commission to draft a new constitution.< © 2012 Charie Camilo.
All rights reserved.
16. Basic Principles Underlying the New Constitution1. Recognition of the
Aid of Almighty God2. Sovereignty of the People3. Renunciation of war as an
instrument of national policy4. Supremacy of civilian authority over the military5.
Separation of Church and State6. Recognition of the importance of thefamily as
basic social institution and ofthe vital role of youth in nation building7. Guarantee
of human rights8. Government through suffrage9. Separation of Power10.
Independence of Judiciary11. Guarantee of local autonomy12. High sense of
public service morality and accountability13. Nationalization of natural resources
and certain privateenterprises affected by public Interest14. Non – suability of the
state15. Rule of the majority; and16. Government of laws and not men

https://www.slideshare.net/chariecamilo/introduction-to-philippine-constituti
on-1987

81
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History

https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/why-important-study-history-explain-your-a
nswer-389341

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Philippines_(900%E2%80%931521)

http://www.mcrg.ac.in/Chair_Professor/Articles/Spanish_colonialism_in_The_Philipp
ines.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_occupation_of_the_Philippines

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