Reading in Philippine History
Reading in Philippine History
Reading in Philippine History
the Filipino
People
Teodoro A. Agoncillo
Part I
Pre-Colonial Philippines
1. The Setting:
Volcanoes and Earthquakes- The Philippines lies within Pacific seismic belt and
has consequently experienced severe earthquakes, though these have been as
destructive as those that had rocked Japan.
Coastline- Aside from the ruggedness of the land mass, the Philippine has an
irregular coastline that extends to about 10,850 statute miles, twice as long as
that of continental United States.
- Manila, Bay, which has an area of a little more than 700 square miles
and a circumference of 120 miles, is one of the finest natural harbors in
the world.
Products and Natural Resources- The Philippines in natural resources that are yet
largely undeveloped.
- The still primitive way of agriculture is one of the causes of the failure of
the Philippines to produce enough rice for export.
- However, a breakthrough in rice production was made during the first
four years of President Ferdinand Marcos administration when the so-
called “miracle rice” was developed.
- Doubtless, the Filipino at the coming of the Spaniards was brown skinned
like his Malay forebears.
- The inter-marriage between the Filipino and the foreigner, particularly the
white, led to a class known as mestizo class, also humorously called the
“mestizos.”
- Negritos- first ancestors of the Filipinos
- Calao Cave- found the 1st remain of human.
- Mestizo- Spanish-Filipino
- American Mestizo- Filipino-American
- Chinese Mestizo- Filipino-Chinese
- Indian Mestizo- Filipino-Indian
- Mestizo- by virtue of his social and financial status, looked down upon the
“native” as a bore. E.g., pretentious, boastful, arrogant, etc.
- In the mind of the “native”, the mestizos were insolent.
- Hospitable
- Respect for the elders- “po and opo” is a sign of good breeding.
- Filipino is naturally fatalistic.
- Fatalism is best symbolized in the phrase “Bahala na”
- Loyalty to a friend or to a benefactor is one trait that is very strong in the
Filipino.
- Lack of Initiative is a trait explained by a natural fear of competition.
- Helpful and cooperative, respectful, and generous even to a fault, the
Filipino is nevertheless individualistic.
- Jealousy is another trait of the Filipino.
- Regionalist
- May pakikisama
- Early 1970s, it had been assumed that Philippines was a part of mainland
China.
- In February 1976, however, his theory of the “land bridges” to Asia as
disputed by Dr. Fritjof Voss, a German scientist who studied the geology of
the Philippines.
Introduction of Islam-
- Between 900 and 1200 A.D., another group of immigrants came to the
Philippines from southern Annam.
- Also known as “men from Champa,” they established trading posts in Sulu.
- The fame of Sulu reached as far as northern Borneo and soon Banjarmasin
and Brunei.
Relations with China-
- It has been alleged that about 1433 the third chief of Panay, Datu
Kalantiaw, probably a descendant of Datu Sumakwel, issued orders for the
guidance of his people.
Article I
- Ye shall not kill, neither shall ye steal nor shall ye hurt the aged, lest ye incur the danger of
death. All those who this order shall infringe shall be tied to a stone and drowned in a river or in
boiling water.
Article II
- Ye shall punctually meet your debt with your headman. He who fulfills not, for the first time
shall be lashed a hundredfold, and If the obligation is great, his hand shall be dipped threefold in
boiling water. On conviction, he shall be flogged to death.
Article III
- Obey ye: no one shall have wives that are too young, nor shall they be more than what he can
take care of, nor spend much luxury. He who fulfils not, obeys not, shall be condemned to swim
three hours and, for the second time, shall be scourged with spines to death.
Article IV
- Observe and obey ye: Let not the peace of the graves be disturbed; due respect must have
accorded them on passing by caves and trees where they are. He who observes not shall die by
bites of ants or shall be flogged with spines till death.
Article V
- Obey ye: Exchange in food must be carried out faithfully. He who complies not shall be lashed
for an hour. He who repeats the act shall, for a day be exposed to the ants.
Article VI
- Ye shall revere respectable places, trees of known value, and other sites. He shall pay a month's
work, in gold or money, whoever fails to do this; and if twice committed, he shall be declared a
slave.
Article VII
- They shall die who kill trees of venerable aspect; who at night shoot with arrows the aged men
and the women; he who enters the house of the headman without permission; he who kills a
fish or shark or striped crocodile.
Article VIII
- They shall be slaves for a given time who steal away the women of the headmen; he who
possesses dogs that bite the headmen; he who burns another man's sown field.
Article IX
- They shall be slaves for a given time, who sing in their night errands, kill manual birds, tear
documents belonging to the headmen; who are evil-minded liars; who play with the dead.
Article X
- It shall be the obligation of every mother to show her daughter secretly the things that are
lascivious, and prepare them for womanhood; men shall not be cruel to their wives, nor should
they punish them when they catch them in the act of adultery. He who disobeys shall be torn to
pieces and thrown to the caymans.
Article XI
- They shall be burned, who by force or cunning have mocked at and eluded punishment, or who
have killed two young boys, or shall try to steal the women of the old men (agurangs).
Article XII
- They shall be drowned, all slaves who assault their superiors or their lords and masters; all those
who abuse their luxury; those who kill their anitos by breaking them or throwing them away.
Article XIII
- They shall be exposed to the ants for half a day, who kill a black cat during the new moon or
steal things belonging to the headmen.
Article XIV
- They shall be slaves for life, who having beautiful daughters shall deny them to the sons of the
headman or shall hide them in bad faith.
Article XV
- Concerning their beliefs and superstitions: they shall be scourged, who eat bad meat of
respected insects or herbs that are supposed to be good, who hurt or kill the young manual bird
and the white monkey.
Article XVI
- Their fingers shall be cut off, who break wooden or clay idols in their olangangs and places of
oblation; he who breaks Tagalan's daggers for hog killing, or breaks drinking vases.
Article XVII
- They shall be killed, who profane places where sacred objects of their diwatas or headmen are
buried. He who gives way to the call of nature at such places shall be burned.
Article XVIII
- Those who do not cause these rules to be observed, if they are headmen, shall be stoned and
crushed to death, and if they are old men, shall be placed in rivers to be eaten by sharks and
crocodiles.
Chinese Influences-
- The long contacts of the Filipinos with the Chinese, beginning with the
tenth century of the Christian era.
1. Bimpo: It is read as bin-po. Bin as in face, Po as in fabric.
2. Hikaw: Hee means ear and kaw means hook.
3. Susi: It is supposed to be pronounced as So-see, which means lock-key.
4. Bihon: It literally translates to rice flour, because it is noodle made of Bi as in rice, Hoon as in flour.
5. Pansit: It is originally read as Pien-sit. Literally translates to Pien meaning convenient and Sit meaning
food. I guess because noodles are so easy to cook, it has turned into what it means now.
Indian Influences-
Ornaments-
- The early Filipinos had a weakness for personal adornment, for women, as
well as men, burned themselves with such trappings an armlet called
kalumbiga, pendants, bracelets, gold rings, earrings, and even leglets.
Houses-
- Built to suit the tropical climate, the ancient house was made of wood,
bamboo, and nipa palm.
Social Classes-
- Philippine society was divided into three classes: the nobles, the freemen,
and the dependents.
Marriage-
Government-
Laws-
Judicial Process-
- Disputes are inevitable in any society, and Filipino society before the arrival
of the Spaniards was not an exception.
Trial by Ordeal-
- The medieval European had no monopoly of the trial by ordeal, for the
ancient Filipinos practiced it under certain circumstances to determine the
guilt of a person.
Religious Beliefs-
- The ancient Filipinos believed in the immortality of the soul and in life after
death.
- Bathalang Maykapal- equivalent of Dios in Spanish
- Idiyanale- God of Agriculture
- Sidapa- God of Death
- Balangaw- God of Rainbow
- Mandarangan- God of War
- Agni- God of Fire
- Anito in Filipino
- Diwata in Visayan
Burial-
- Belief in life after death and in the relation between the dead and the living
made the ancient Filipinos respectful of the dead.
- The ancient Filipinos, like their contemporaries in many lands, put very
much stock in divination, auguries, and magic charms.
Economic Life-
- Economic life during pre-colonial days was not much different from that
found today in many remote barrios.
4. Pre-Colonial Culture- The ancient Filipinos had a culture that was
basically Malayan in structure and form.
Languages-
- There are more than a hundred languages and dialects in the Philippines,
eight of which may be considered major languages. They are Filipino, Iloko,
Pangasinense, Kapampangan, Sugbuhanon, Hiligaynon, Samarnon and
Mangidanao.
System of Writing-
- The Filipinos before the arrival of Spaniards had a syllabary which was
probably of Sanskrit or Arabic provenance.
- Baybayin- it consists of 17 symbols, or which three were vowels standing
for the present five vowels, and 14 consonants.
Literature-
- The Filipinos are born musicians, for they easily learn tunes by ear.
- Many Filipinos who play two or more musical instruments have never been
in music academies, nor have they knowledge of the music notations
except what they know by ear.
Art-
- The first glimpse of the artistic sense of the primitive inhabitants of the
Philippines can be had in the remains of their tools and weapons.
Part II- The Spanish Period
- Making the food more palatable to the most discriminating medieval tastes
trigged the search for the spices.
- Portuguese pursed the dream of reaching the East using a direct all-water
route.
- Two of their explorers reached the Southernmost end of Africa, and later,
to India, thus winning the race to the wealth and spices of the East.
- Spain, however, had earlier dispatched the first truly momentous
exploration in modern times.
- Inspired by the Florentine mapmaker Paolo Toscanelli to discover westward
sea route to India.
- Christopher Columbus instead made a landfall in Guanahani, 2 weeks later,
on the coast of Cuba. It generated a misapprehension and disputes
between Spain and Portugal.
The Magellan (Magalhaes) Expedition (1518-1521)-
- King Charles V ceded his alleged rights to Maluku to John III of Portugal for
350,000 ducats, not knowing that they rightfully belonged to the
Portuguese as for Treaty of Tordesillas.
- Ruy Lopez de Villalobos, six ships and some 370 men, departed from Juan
Gallego, Mexico, in November 1542.
- By early 1543 they arrived in the eastern coast of Mindanao.
- Greatest contribution was naming Leyte in 1543 as Las Phelipinas in honor
of the crown prince Philip II.
- 22 years since Villalobos set sail from the same port of Juan Gallego, four
vessels of about 350 men sailed for the Philippines in 1564.
- By February 1565, Legazpi reached Cebu and contracted blood
- compacts with Si Katunaw and Si Gala at Bohol.
- In April of the same year, Villa de San Miguel, later changed to Ciudad del
- Santistmo Nombre de Jesús
- Santo Nino of Cebu, "the first Spanish town established in the Archipelago
and the pioneer permanent settlement in the Philippines.
- It was very easy, indeed, for Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, who was granted by
King Philip II, the peerless and single title of Adelantado de Filipinas to
accomplish an almost "bloodless" conquest of the Philippines considering
its physical and human geography.
Political institutions-
- It was in the exercise of political and economic powers of the Spanish clergy
that we can perceive very clearly the disunity between the Church and
State.
6. Institutional Impact of Spanish Rule- When the Spaniards settled
permanently in the Philippines in 1565, they found the Filipinos living in
either lineal or nucleated barangay settlements scattered along water
routes and riverbanks and mountain ridges.
I. ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS:
A. "Taxation Without Representation"
- Running the only regular fleet service in the huge stretch of the Pacific
Ocean for two hundred fifty years was the Acapulco galleon (known as
galleón de Manila or nao de China).
- Two vessels making the journey yearly one outgoing, the other incoming
between Manila and Acapulco de Juárez, reaching as far as Callao in Peru.
- The trip lasted approximately two hundred days, the return voyage alone
taking seventy days.
- Through the Manila galleons, the Amerasian worlds were linked by untold
- luxuries and wealth: spices and silk for the Americans and the Mexican and
Peruvian dos mundos (pillar dollars or "pieces of eight") for the Asians.
- On March 10, 1785, Charles III created the Royal Philippine Company with
20-year charter for the main purpose of uniting American and Asian
commerce.
- It was granted exclusive monopoly of bringing to Manila, not only
Philippine but also Chinese and Indian goods, and shipping them directly to
Spain via the Cape of Good Hope.
A. "La Letra Con Sangre Entra" ("Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child")-
- The earliest schools in the Philippines were following Charles V's decree of
July 17, 1550, which provided that Indios in all the Spanish dominions were
to be as part of conversion, the taught the conqueror's language.
2. Girl's Schools-
- The first boarding schools for Spanish girls in the Philippines were the
Colegios (secondary schools) of Santa Potenciana (1591-1864) and Santa
Isabel (1632), now considered the oldest school for girls in the archipelago.
- They were originally founded for the benefit of orphan Spanish girls.
- Besides these, exclusive colegios for the daughters of upper-class Spaniards
were called beaterios, established for young girls called beatas who led a
secluded life. These beaterios included the Beaterio de la Compañia de
Jesus (now the Religious of the Virgin Mary) founded in 1684; Santa
Catalina de Sena (1696)
- San Sebastian de Calumpang (now Sta. Rita College, (1719)
- Santa Rita de Pasig (1740); and Santa Rosa (1750).
- Two of these beaterios were established to teach Spanish culture and
values to young Filipinas and were founded by Filipino women:
- The Religious of the Virgin Mary (RVM Sisters) and the Beaterio de San
Sebastián de Caiumpang of the Orden Terciarias de Recoletos.
- The nineteenth century saw the establishment of other colegios for
women: the Colegio de la Inmaculada Concepción Concordia, now
Concordia College (1868); Looban (1885),
- Assumption (1892), which supervised the Escuela Normal Superior de
Maestras to prepare Filipino women teachers for the primary schools.
- A primary school set up in 1864 by the ayuntamiento of Manila the
Municipal Girls' School was transformed into a normal school for women
teachers in girls' schools four years later, under the Sisters of Charity.
III-Social Transformation-
- Probably one of the indelible marks left by the Spanish conquest on the
Filipinos was the adoption of Hispanic names, as decreed by Governor
Narciso Claveria in 1849.
- Based on compiled names of saints, indigenous and Chinese patronymics,
flora and fauna, geographical names, and the arts, Filipinos were obligated
to adopt surnames like Rizal, Del Pilar or Luna, although some indigenous
surnames like Mabini, Malantic, Dandan and Panganiban, were retained.
- However, the Catálogo alfabético de apellidos contained some derogatory
names like "Utut," "Ung-goy," and even "Casillas." Not only were Filipinos
given family names as bases for census and statistics, but the surnames also
guaranteed exact tax collection, regular performance of polos y servicios
personales, and control of population movement, thereby avoiding
unauthorized migration, tax evasion, and other abuses in the eyes of the
Spaniards.
- Although strictly imposed in Bikolandia, some parts of Ilocandia and Panay,
the change of family names was almost completely ignored in some areas
of Laguna and Pampanga.
B. Religious Motives-
- The continuous Hispanization of the Filipinos through religion was in line
with Spain's policy of Gospel, Gold and Glory."
- Various attempts were made to proselytize the various cultural
communities by employing a newly Christianized chieftain or his children
and family as shining models for the other barangay members to follow, or
by using a Christianized member of a converted ethnic community to
evangelize other neighboring unconverted groups.
- Some of the uncompromising or apostates among them, however, reverted
to their old beliefs instead of embracing the new religion.
- Among them were Miguel Lanab and Alababan (1625-27), Tapar (1663),
Francisco Rivera (1718), Ermano Apolinario de la Cruz (1840-41), and, of
course, the Muslims in the Southern Philippines, and the Igorots in the
Cordilleras.
C. Resistance to Spanish-
D. Peasant Unrest-
- In April 1745, the Tagalog regions were marked by peasant unrest which
started in the hacienda town or Silang in Cavite, spreading blood to the
rice-growing provinces nearby.
- The maginoos of Silang disputed fraudulent land surveys which usurped a
large portion of the communal lands in Latag (now Carmona) and Lantic
which were unjustly awarded to the Chinese and mestizo tenants of the
Dominican-owned friar estate of Biñan (Laguna).
E. The Moro Resistance-
- The active resistance against the Spaniards heightened from 1718 to 1762,
and from 1850s to 1878, during the so-called "Moro Wars".
- Starting with the reestablishment of Fort Pilar in Zamboanga in 1718, the
Spaniards failed miserably to subjugate the Moros in the 1750s.
- This was the time that the Iranuns and the Maranaos of Lanao commenced
their relentless ravaging pillages in the Visayas which caused economic
stagnation in many parts of the islands under the sway of the Spanish rule.
- All the earlier resistance which occurred almost in cyclical pattern were
failures.
- Because of the insular makeup of the Philippines, the early Filipinos were
conditioned to live and feel apart from each other for almost 333 years.
- There was no sense of national unity.
- Manila proper and the suburban areas developed by leaps and bounds with
the official and permanent opening of the port to international trade in
1834, resulting in tremendous socio-economic changes for the Filipino.
- We cannot discount that not only men, but also ideas filtered to the
Philippines with the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.
- Thus, the travel between Spain and the islands was made shorter, safer.
and speedier.
- It not only "dispelled to some extent the atmosphere of the middle ages" in
which the Filipinos "were wrapped, according to Pardo de Tavera, but
"modern ideas of liberty began to penetrate the minds of the natives.
D. Racial Discrimination-
E. Regular-Secular Conflicts-
- The Cavite Mutiny broke out during the tenure of Rafael de Izquierdo who
had dramatically, said upon his arrival, “I shall govern with a cross on one
hand a sword in the other.”
- Galvanized by discontent against the Spaniards, some 200 Filipino soldiers,
joined in by some workers in the arsenal of the artillery corps led by Sgt. La
Madrid, guard at Fort San Felipe, mutinied in the night of January 1872.
Part III Reform and Revolution
- The dissatisfaction of the Filipino men of wealth and intellect was centered
around the abuses of the Spanish authorities, civil as well as clerical.
- Men with a social conscience and at least some of them with ulterior
motives, the middle class denounced Spanish abuses and asked Spain to
make the Philippines a province of Spain.
Jose Rizal
La Solidaridad
- Works of Lopez Jaena, Rizal, del pilar, Eduardo de Lete, Pedro Govantes and
other.
- February 15, 1889, the first number of La Solidaridad came out in
Barcelona.
- Lopez Jaena was the first editor and later passed it on del Pilar.
- Rizal as Dimas Alang, Laong Laan
- Mariano Ponce as Tikbalang, Nanig, Kalipulako
- Antonio Luna as Taga-Ilog
- Marcelo H. del Pilar as Plaridel
- Jose Ma. Panganiban as Jomapa
La Liga Filipina-
- The intensive campaign of La Solidaridad for reforms did not yield any
tangible result in the form of changes in the administration of the
Philippines. It is true that it brought to the attention of the peninsular
- Spaniards the so-called Philippine problem, but the Mother Country
- was too preoccupied with its own internal problems to give a
- moment's thought to the colonial problem.
9. Bonifacio and the Katipunan
- The news of Rizal's deportation shocked and surprised the people, for Rizal
to them was the symbol of freedom.
- That night of July 7, 1892, Andres Bonifacio, Valentin Diaz, Teodoro Plata,
Ladislao Diwa, Deodato Arellano, and a few others, met secretly at a house
on Azcárraga (now Claro M. Recto Avenue), near Elcano Street, Tondo, and
- decided to form an association called.
- Kataastaasan Kagalang-galang na Katipunan nang manga Anak nang
Bayan, or Katipunan for short.
- The men gathered around a flickering table lamp, performed the ancient
blood compact, and signed their membership papers with their own blood.
Kinds of Membership-
- The hood had a triangle of white ribbon inside of which were the letters Z,
Ll, B. A. ng B meaning Anak ng Bayan.
- Second grade-kawal-green hood with white lines
- The password is Gom-Bur-Za, take from the names of the three-martyr
priest.
- The third grade-Bayani-red mask and sash with green borders, symbolizing
courage, and hope.
- The password is Rizal.
Andres Bonifacio-
- the founder and organizer of the Katipunan, was born in Tondo, then a part
of the Province of Manila, on November 30, 1863.
- His parents were Santiago Bonifacio and Catalina de Castro.
- Andres grew up in the slums and never knew the benefits of a prosperous
life.
- He had three brothers and two sisters: Ciriaco, Procopio, Espiridiona,
Troadio, and Max ima. Andres studied the alphabet in a school conducted
by a certain Guillermo Osmeña of Cebu.
- The death of his parents forced Andres to give up schooling to shoulder the
burden of his family.
Emilio Jacinto-
- Called the "Brains of the Katipunan, Emilo Jacinto was born in Tondo on
December 15, 1875, the son of Mariano Jacinto and Josefa Dizon.
- As a boy he spent most of the day in the streets and so came to learn a kind
of Spanish which may be described as bamboo or pidgin Spanish.
- Being poor did not detain his parents from sending him to school to pursue
a career.
- He enrolled at San Juan de Letran College and later at the University of
Santo Tomas, where he developed a taste for reading.
Teachings of the Katipunan (Kartilya ng Katipunan)-
1. A life that is not dedicated to a noble cause is like a tree without a shade or a poisonous weed.
2. A deed lacks nobility if it is motivated by self-interest and not by a sincere desire to help.
3. True piety consists of being charitable, loving one’s fellow men, and being judicious in behavior,
speech, and deed.
4. All persons are equal, regardless of the color of their skin. While one could have more schooling,
wealth, or beauty than another, all that does not make one more human than anybody else.
5. A person with a noble character values honor above self-interest, while a person with a base
character values self-interest above honor.
6. To a person of honor, his/her word is a pledge.
7. Do not waste time; lost wealth can be retrieved, but time lost is lost forever.
8. Defend the oppressed and fight the oppressor.
9. The wise person is careful in all he/she has to say and is discreet about things that need to be kept
secret./ An intelligent man is he who is cautious in speech and knows how to keep the secrets that must
be guarded.
10. In the thorny path of life, the man leads the way and his wife and children follow. If the leader goes
the way to perdition, so do the followers.
11. Never regard a woman as an object for you to trifle with; rather you should consider her as a partner
and helpmate. Consider a woman’s frailty and never forget that your own mother, who brought you
forth and nurtured you from infancy, is herself such a person.
12. Do not due to the wife, children, brothers, and sisters of others what you do not want done to your
wife, children, brothers, and sisters.
13. A man’s worth is not measured by his station in life, neither by the height of his nose nor the fairness
of skin, and certainly not by whether he is a priest claiming to be God’s deputy. Even if he a tribesman
from the hills and speaks only his tongue, a man has fine perceptions and is loyal to his native land.
When these teachings shall have been propagated and the glorious sun of freedom begins to shine on
these poor Islands to enlighten a united race and people, then all the lives lost, all the struggle and the
sacrifices will not have been in vain.
- Another step taken by the Katipunan to propagate its teachings and to win
more adherents to its side was the establishment of a printing press.
- One difficulty encountered was the lack of sufficient funds with which to
purchase even a small printing press adequate to meet the simple needs of
the society.
- Bonifacio, who had known Rizal during the Liga: days but whom Rizal did
not know personally, wanted Rizal's opinion on the necessity of rising in
ams against the Spaniards.
- He, therefore, commissioned Dr. Pio Valenzuela to go to Dapitan in June
1896 to confer with Rizal.
- With Valenzuela on the S.S. Venus were Rizal's sister Narcisa and his niece
Angelica Rizal Lopez.
- Father Mariano Gil disgusted over the governor's attitude, next ran to the
military governor of Manila, General Echaluce, and revealed what he knew
about the Katipunan.
- But Echaluce was not in a mood to humor the friar. Instead, he took
precautions to make Manila safe from disturbances of any kind.
- The news of the discovery of the Katipunan spread throughout Manila and
the suburbs.
- Bonifacio, informed of the discovery, secretly instructed his runners to
summon all the leaders of the society to a general assembly to be held on
August 24.
- They were to meet at Balintawak to discuss the steps to be taken to meet
the crisis.
- That same night of August 19, Bonifacio, accompanied by his brother
Procopio, Emilio Jacinto, Teodoro Plata, and Aguedo del Rosario, slipped
through the cordon of Spanish sentries and reached Balintawak before
midnight.
- "That being the case, Bonifacio said, "bring out your cédulas and tear them
to pieces to symbolize our determination to take up arms! The men
obediently tore up their cédulas, shouting: "Long live the Philippines!" This
event marked the "Cry of Balintawak," which happened in Pugadlawin.
First Skirmishes-
- During this dramatic scene, so Katipuneros who had just arrived from
Manila and Kalookan shouted: Dong Andres! The civil guards are almost
benina us and will reconnoiter the mountains."
- Bonifacio at once ordered his men to get ready for the expected attack of
the Spaniards.
- The flames that now engulfed many provinces worried the Spanish
authorities no end.
- To frighten the population into submission, the authorities resorted to a
reign of terror.
- Only by this means could they hope to prevent the revolutionary
movement from becoming national in Scope.
- The Spanish volunteers and Corps of Vigilantes promptly invaded the
homes of Filipinos to secure evidence against those who were directly or
indirectly involved in the uprising.
- In Trozo, Captain Carlos March of the Spanish Volunteers found
incriminating evidence against Katipuneros.
- Even before the outbreak of the revolution, the Katipunan in Cavite was
already divided into two factions representing two provincial councils.
- The factions were known as the Magdaló and the Magdiwang.
- The former was led by Baldomero Aguinaldo, with headquarters at Cavite el
Viejo (now Kawit), and the latter by Mariano Alvarez, with headquarters at
Noveleta.
- The Katipuneros of Cavite were very active, having raised the standard of
revolt on August 31, 1896 when they attacked the tribunál (municipal
building) of San Francisco de Malabon.
- The Magdiwang, on the other hand attacked the Spaniards in Noveleta,
Panahon na! Mabuhay ang Kalayaan!" (The time has come! Long live
Liberty!) At Cavite el Viejo, the Magdalő, led by Candido Tirona, took the
offensive against the enemy garrison which was captured.
Bonifacio in Cavite-
- The rivalry that existed between the Magdalo and the Magdiwang factions
of the Katipunan in Cavite led to a series of reverses early in January 1897.
- In a mass m movement such as that of the revolution, unity was
indispensable.
- To patch up matters, the Magdiwang faction invited Andres Bonifacio to
intervene in the conflict.
- From Naik, Boniacio, his wife, and two brothers, with a handful of loyal
followers, transferred to the bario of Limbon, Indang. The Naik Military
Agreement came to the knowledge of Aguinaldo and, realizing the
significance of Bonifacio's intentions, he ordered the arrest of the Bonifacio
brothers.
- A group of soldiers under Andres and Procopio Bonifacio were found guilty
of treason and sedition although the evidence was not sufficient to prove
their alleged guilt.
- Bonifacio was returned to jail pending the reading of the sentence.
- Early on the morning of May 10, General Noriel ordered Major Lazaro
Makapagal to bring out the two brothers from jail.
- Makapagal was handed a sealed letter with orders to read its contents after
reaching Mount Tala.
- Makapagál chose four soldiers to accompany him in his mission.
- Having reached the vicinity of the mountain, Makapagál, upon the request
of Bonifacio, opened the sealed letter.
- It contained an order to execute Andres and Procopio Bonifacio.
- Emilio Aguinaldo-President
- Mariano Trias- Vice-President
- Antonio Montenegro- Secretary of Foreign Affairs
- Isabelo Artacho- Secretary of the Interior
- Emiliano Riego de Dios- Secretary of War
- Baldomero Aguinaldo-Secretary of the Treasury
(1) that Aguinaldo and his companions would go into voluntary exile abroad
(2) that Primo de Rivera would pay the sum of P800,000 to the rebels in three
installments: (a) P400,000 to Aguinaldo upon his departure from Biyak-na-bato,
(b) P200,000 when the arms surrendered by the revolutionists exceeded 700, and
the remaining P200,000 when the Te Deum was sung and general amnesty
proclaimed by the governor,
(3) that Primo de Rivera would pay the additional sum of P900,000 to the families
of the non-combatant Filipinos who suffered during the armed conflict.
- January 1898 was a month of The Spaniards, happy that their lives had
been spared during the hectic battles, began a series of fiestas so lavish
that thousands of pesos were spent to make the occasion, that is, the end
of the hostilities, a memorable one.
- There were boat and horse races, fireworks in the evenings, a magnificent
ball at the Ayuntamiento or City Hall, and dramas at the Zorilla Theater.
- On January 23, the Te Deum was sung at the Manila Cathedral and on the
24th (Madrid time) at the colorful festivities in Manila.
- Whatever good intentions Primo de Rivera had about the solution of the
Philippine problem were frustrated when the Conservative Party of Spain
was succeeded by one to which the governor-general does not belong.
- The succeeding Liberal Party sent General Basilio Augustin to the
Philippines as Primo de Rivera's successor.
- This was unfortunate, for the new governor-general was ignorant of the
actual conditions in the Philippines.
- In the face of the Philippine and Cuban revolutions, Spain could not
antagonize the United States.
- She therefore tried to heal the rift in order not to draw her into a fatal war
with a rising powerful nation.
- Unfortunately, however, Spain's Ambassador to the United States, Dupuy
de Lome, wrote a friend in Havana, Cuba, in January 1898, stating that
President William McKinley was a weakling and a low politician.
- This letter was stolen and published in a New York periodical.
- The result of its publication was that the Americans, who had been roused
to anger by stories of alleged Spanish brutalities and mistreatment of
American citizens in Cuba, demanded war against Spain.
Aguinaldo in Singapore-
- As early as the middle of April 1898, rumor filtered through Manila and the
provinces that the Spanish-American war was a matter of days or perhaps a
few weeks away. Many of the rebel leaders stopped their revolutionary
activities pending the determination of the truth of the rumor.
- Meanwhile, in Hongkong, Aguinaldo and his companions were following
the trend of events on the other side of to them it was an opportunity to
oust the Spaniards from the Philippines.
- But there was a division in the ranks of the exiles, for Isabelo Artacho
wanted the P400,000 given to Aguinaldo to be divided among them.
Aguinaldo refused the Pacific.
- Aguinaldo was naturally disappointed upon finding that Dewey had already
sailed for Manila.
- Nevertheless, the American consul at Hongkong, Rounseville Wildman,
promptly met him and informed him that Dewey had left instructions for
him to decide for the return of Aguinaldo to the Philippines.
- In the succeeding conferences
- In the wake of Dewey's victory, the Filipinos who composed the Hongkong
Junta met on May 4 to discuss the steps to be taken in the face of the new
developments.
- Present during the deliberations were Felipe Agoncillo, temporary
President; Doroteo Lopez, temporary Secretary; Teodoro Sandico,
Anastacio Francisco, Mariano Llanera, Miguel Malvar, Andres Garchitorena,
Severo Buenaventura, Maximo Kabigting, Faustino Lichauco, and Antonio
Montenegro, Agoncillo informed the Committee of the arrival
Aguinaldo Returns-
- As soon as Aguinaldo had landed the war materials, he had brought from
Hongkong, rebels from Bataan came to see him.
- Aguinaldo handed them copies of his proclamations urging the people to
rally once more to the Filipino flag in the struggle against the Spaniards.
- The news of his return spread throughout Central Luzon.
- Several Filipino volunteers in the Spanish army defected to the Filipino
forces.
- Aguinaldo ordered them to occupy Dalahikan, the Cavite shipyard, to
prevent the enemy from occupying it.
- Arms were secured from the captain of the American warship Petrel and
distributed among the large number of Filipinos coming in to offer their
loyalty and services to Aguinaldo.
- What was then known as the City of Manila was the Walled City or
Intramuros.
- The districts outside the City were called arrabales or suburbs. Soon after
the destruction of the Spanish navy, Dewey blockaded Manila to prevent
Spanish ships from entering or leaving the bay.
- The first American reinforcements Dewey had been waiting for arrived on
June 30, 1898, under the command of General Thomas Anderson.
- On July 17, the second reinforcements, headed by General Francis V.
Greene, arrived were confident that they could easily dislodge the
Spaniards from the city.
- Hope of an easy victory filled their hearts when the third reinforcements,
headed by General Arthur Mac-Arthur, arrived on July 31. Preparation were
immediately made for the battle that would determine the fate of Manila.
- For several nights, some Spanish soldiers outside the city skirmished with
the Americans, resulting in a few casualties.
- At the time that Dewey was waiting for reinforcements, Aguinaldo and his
forces were laying siege to Manila.
- This situation was favorable to the Americans, for they did not have to be
on the lookout for any hostile Spanish maneuver since the job of watchdog
was being done by their Filipino allies.
- It was Dewey's policy not to provoke an armed conflict with the Spaniards
until after the arrival of the reinforcements.
Terms of Capitulation-
- General Greene, upon seeing the white flag, rushed into the open
Bagumbayan Field, followed by a handful of soldiers.
- Traversing what is now the City Hall, Greene, accompanied by his chief of
staff, Captain Bates, took a carriage and entered the city at the Puerto Real.
- He was on his way to the Ayuntamiento to confer with General Jaudenes.
- Before the mock assault on Manila, Spain and the United States were
negotiating for the cessation of hostilities.
- On August 10, Secretary of State Day submitted to the representative of
Spain, Jules Cambon, the French ambassador to Washington, a draft of the
protocol with provided for the appointment of not more than five
commissioners on each side to discuss the peace treaty.
- The peace commissioners were to meet in Paris not later than October 1.
12. THE MALOLOS REPUBLIC-
- In the wake of his military victories, Aguinaldo decided that it was time to
establish a Filipino government.
- He had with him when he arrived from Hong-Kong a draft of a plan
prepared by Mariano Ponce for the establishment of a revolutionary
government: Consul Wildman, however, had advised Aguinaldo earlier to
establish a dictatorial government which later on could be the nucleus of a
republican government similar to that of the United States.
Treatment of Enemy-
- In general, the Filipinos treated the Spanish prisoners with justice. But
there were times when, because of hatred of the former masters, the
Filipinos exceeded their enthusiasm and maltreated some Spaniards.
- Aguinaldo, wishing his people tb follow the paths of righteousness and
justice, appealed to them to treat the Spanish prisoners humanely.
- One of Aguinaldo's first acts as Dictator was to issue a circular, dated May
29, 1898, urging the people to stop the disgraceful treatment of the
Spanish prisoners.
Declaration of Independence-
- On June 12, between four and five in the afternoon, Aguinaldo, in the
presence of a huge crowd, proclaimed the independence of the Philippines
at Cavite el Viejo (Kawit).
- For the first time, the Philippine National Flag, made in Hongkong by Mrs.
Marcela Agoncillo, assisted by Lorenza Agoncillo and Delfina Herboza, was
officially hoisted and the Philippine National March played in public.
- The Act of the Declaration of Independence was prepared by Ambrosio
Rianzares Bautista, who also read it
Apolinario Mabini-
Administration of Justice-
- The Dictatorial Government lasted for only a month, from May 24 to June
23, 1898.
- At the instance of Mabini, Aguinaldo delivered on June 23 a message,
penned by Mabini, giving his reasons for changing the form of government
to a revolutionary one.
- On the same day, Aguinaldo issued a decree setting up the Revolutionary
Government.
- It changed the title of the chief of state from Dictator to President and
defined the object of the government as the "struggle for the
independence of the Philippines until all nations, including the Spanish,
shall expressly recognize it, and to prepare the country so that the true
republic may be established.
- In preparing the decree on June 18, and that of June 23, Mabini envisioned
the congress to be an advisory body of the President.
- He believed that in such period as the country was passing through it was
necessary to have a strong executive.
- But his idea was contradicted by Congress when it proposed to draft a
constitution.
- Congress advanced the opinion that a modern constitution answering to
the needs of the times was imperative to secure the recognition of
Philippine independence by foreign powers.
The Constitution-
- Is unique for three reasons first, because of the provisions making the
Assembly or the legislative branch superior to either the executive or the
judicial branch
- Second, because it provided for a Permanent Commission to sit is a
legislative body when the Assembly was not in session, and
- third, because it established a unicameral legislature.
- Calderon's argument for the omnipotence of the legislature was that he
learned the predominance of the ignorant military elements which were
solidly behind Aguinaldo.
Revolutionary Periodicals-
- As a struggling nation, the Philippines had to make its ideals and aspirations
known to all the its independence.
- There was need for propaganda media to revolutionary Government
founded its official organ El Heraldo de la Revolución whose first number
came out on September
- 29, 1898. Its name was subsequently changed to El Heraldo Filipino
Education-
Diplomatic Activities. –
- In accordance with the Protocol of Peace signed on August 12, 1898, five
American and five Spanish commissioners were appointed to meet in Paris
to discuss the final peace terms between Spain and the United States.
- The American commissioners were Cushman Davis, William P. Frye,
Whitelaw Reid, George Gray, and William R. Day, who resigned as Secretary
of State to become Chairman of the American Peace Commission.
- The Spanish commissioners were Eugenio Montero Ríos, Chairman, and
Buenaventura Abarzuza, Jose de Garnica, Wenceslao Ramirez de Villa-
Urrutia, and General Rafael Cerero, members.
Filipino Reaction.-
- That same night, Captain Fernando Grey wired Malolos saying at the
Americas had started the hostilities.
- Aguinaldo could not do anything now, but the next day he sent an emissary
to Otis to convey to the American commander that "the firing on our side
the night before had been against my order. Furtnermore, he expressed his
wish to stop further hostilities.
American Victories.-
- With swift strokes, the American army knifed through Pasig and other
towns south of Manila.
- In the north, General MacArthur pushed ahead with his columns,
bombarding the Filipino positions with accuracy.
- In the battle of La Loma, near the Chinese cemetery, Major Jose Torres
Bugallon, one of the bravest officers, fell mortally wounded.
- With La Loma secure in his hands, MacArthur proceeded towards Kalookan,
where General Antonio Luna was waiting for him.
- In the fierce battle that followed, American superiority in arms once more
proved victorious.
- Mabini, as President of the Cabinet was the most powerful man behind
Aguinaldo.
- When the United States, through the Schurman Commission, announced
the policy of the American Government of extending its sovereignty over
the Philippines, Mabini urged the Filipinos to continue the bitter struggle
for independence.
- Pedro A. Paterno-President of the Cabinet
- Felipe Buencamino-Secretary of Foreign Affairs
- Severino de las Alas-Secretary of Interior
- Mariano Trias-Secretary of War and Navy
- Hugo llagan-Secretary of the Treasure
- Agucdo Velarde-Secretary of Public Instruction
- Maximo Molo-Secretary of Communication and Public Works
- Leon Ma. Guerrero-Seceretary of Industry, Agriculture and Commerce
Assassination of Luna.-
- Of all the Filipino soldiers of the period, Antonio Luna was the best
prepared to fight the American enemy.
- He was educated in Europe and studied a little of military science and
tactics.
- But Nature endowed him with an unruly temper that made men fear and
hate him.
- When the Filipino-American armed clash broke out, he saw the necessity
of instilling discipline into the minds of the men, most of whom were
peasants or men of no training at all.
- The Americans were very diplomatic and cheerful in dealing with the
Muslims.
- To win them over, the Americans appointed General John C. Bates to
negotiate a treaty with the Sultan by which the Muslims and the Americans
could co-exist peacefully.
- There was, therefore, no attempt on the part of the Americans to conquer
the Muslims, for they knew that they would have a big fight on their hands
if they made such an attempt.
- With the Philippine army bereft of its leader and symbol, many Filipino
soldiers, and officers the same time, the Americans conducted an intensive
campaign of propaganda to win over the Filipinos to their side.
- They used the members of the Filipino middle and upper classes Cayetano
Arellano, Pedro A. Paterno, Felipe Buencamino, Trinidad H. Pardo de
Tavera, Benito Legarda, Gregorio Araneta, and others to campaign for
peaceful existence under the Americans.
Barbarous Acts.-
- War has always been uncivilized, and although its weapons have vastly
improved with the advance of science, its techniques have not changed
radically from those of less civilized ages.
- In almost all cases, brutality as an instrument to weaken an enemy's
resistance is practiced on both sides of the fence.
- The Filipino-American war was not an exception, particularly because the
combatants belonged to two different races and civilizations.
14. THE RELIGIOUS SCHISM- The only living and tangible result of the
Revolution was the Filipino Church, popularly known as the Aglipayan
or Philippine Independent Church. When at the start of the second
phase of the Revolution the Spanish archbishop enlisted Father
Gregorio Aglipay's help in bringing back the Filipinos to the Spanish
side, Aguinaldo persuaded Aglipay to divert his energies to the cause of
the people. Mabini, riding on the crest of the popular nationalistic
movement, suggested the founding of a Filipino National Church.
Gregorio Aglipay on the Scene.-
- Mabini's call for a Filipino Church and the favorable attitude of the Republic
toward the Filipino clergy heartened the latter who believed that the time
was ripe for the assertion of their rights not only to occupy the parishes,
but also to direct Philippine Catholicism at the top.
- Consequently, Aglipay, acting in his capacity as Military Vicar General,
called the Filipino clergy to an ecclesiastical assembly at Paniqui, Tarlac, on
October 23, 1899.
First Converts.-
- A man of passion and vision, Isabelo de los Reyes was nevertheless over-
enthusiastic and precipitate.
- In his desire to give dignity to the movement, he placed in the list of the
Executive Committee of the new Church such big names as Trinidad H.
Pardo de Tavera, Fernando Ma. Guerrero, Martin Ocampo, Manuel Artigas
and other eminent lay leaders, and such priests as Adriano Garces, J. Barlin,
Manuel Roxas, Toribio Dominguez, and others, without consulting them.
- Aglipay was mildly irked at the inclusion of his name as the Supreme Bishop
of the new Church, or he was at the time in conference with the Jesuits in a
last attempt to prevent a schism.
- Knowing that Aglipay was influential with the Filipino clergy, the Jesuits,
through Dr. Leba Ma. Guerrero and Joaquiñ Luna, invited Aglipay to an
interview at the Jesuit House in Sta. Ana, Manila.
- The Jesuits chose Father Francisco Foradada, a Spaniard and author of a
book on the Philippines, to work on the Filipino priest.
Significance.-
In fact, despite the Aguinaldo capture, the remaining leaders of the Aguinaldo
Army, particularly General Miguel Malvar in Batangas, General Vicente Lukban in
Samar, and other army officers, continued the war in their respective areas.
1. In Luzon, 1905
2. In Bicol, 1902
- In the Bicol Peninsula and the Visayas, the pattern of resistance showed a
radical shift from the elite to the masses.
- One of the movements that worried the Americans was the one led by
Simeon Ola and about 1,500 "insumrectos" in Albay.
- As a charismatic local leader, Ola started his activities after the fall of
Aguinaldo.
- No less than Col. Harry H. Bandholtz noted the significant role of Ola in the
anti-colonial resistance in Bicol, although he regarded Ola as nothing but a
notorious ladron.
4. In Mindanao, 1903
- Even before the fall of Aguinaldo, sporadic clashes between Muslims and
American troops started in Moroland.
- It was part of American colonial policy not to provoke the Muslims to
violent reaction while the American war against Aguinaldo's armed forces
was going on.
- The signing of the Bates Treaty on August 20, 1899 was part of this colonial
strategy to neutralize the Sulu Muslims who were spoiling for battle against
the Americans.
- By 1902, the Americans had reduced the Filipino resistance to small
guerrilla-type attacks on American stations.
- This allowed American attention to be focused on the "Moro Problem
- After the cession of the Philippines by Spain to the United States in 1898,
the Sulu Muslims, like the rest of the Filipinos had remained unreconciled
to colonial rule.
- The serious conflict between Sulu and Spain in late 19th century had not
resulted in the weakening of Muslim will to remain free.
- But the United States was determined to enforce its so-called sovereignty
over all Moroland. The problem was how to contain for a while.
- In 1906, shortly after the suppression of the Pala Uprising, another trouble
was brewing as hundreds of Muslims trekked towards the crater of an
extinct volcano, Bud Dajo, located strategically in the northern series of
mountain ranges which had figured prominently in past encounters.
- The uneasiness was caused by a rumor that American intention was to wipe
out the Jolo Muslims.
4. Jikiri, 1907
- Unlike in Sulu and Lanao, there were only two significant events that
marked Maguindanao's resistance to American rule.
- One was in 1903 when Datu Ali, successor to Datu Utu's mantle and son-in-
law of Datu Piang, began to defy American offer of peace and to persuade
the Maranaos to join the anti-colonial movement.
- The military governor of Cotabato, Capt. Carl Riechman, sent troops to the
Rio Grande to prevent the spread of the uprising from Cotabato.
- However, Ali's death did not end Maguindanao's defiance of American rule.
- In 1912 Datu Alamada and 300 followers rose in rebellion, supported by
thousands of sympathizers who vowed not to accept American sovereignty.
- His movements were concentrated in Buldon and Upper Cotabato. Late in
1912 local collaborators, led by Datu Inuk, offered two plans to assist in the
apprehension or killing of Alamada.
- The first plan was to infiltrate Alamada's group and kill him. The second
option was to surrender and then, liquidate Almada’s band.
- In the late 19th century, the tribal groups had, to a certain extent joined the
revolutionary movement against colonialism.
- Although they were not integrated into the Aguinaldo government and
armed forces, they nevertheless opposed the Spanish elements quite often
because of what they perceived to be a definite Spanish effort to subdue
them.
- The only violent disturbance reported in Mindanao was in1909 among the
Subanons.
- The Constabulary report from the Fifth District to the headquarters in
Zamboanga referred to a "fight" on November 28 at the sitio of Bobhoran
between government forces under Capt. H.H. Elarth and about eight to
nine hundred Subanuns and Moros.
F. Literature of Resistance
- While the elite was coopted by colonialism thus giving to the masses the
mantle of revolution and armed resistance, there were those among the
ilustrados who contributed intellectually to the revolutionary cause despite
the passage of the Sedition.
- Act of 1902 which punished any form of agitation or sedition, including
through the printed page or the theatre.
- Tagalog writers expressed resistance through the zarzuela which was a
popular form of dramas were also entertainment during the Spanish
period.
COMPROMISE WITH COLONIALISM
- The question that often recurs is why the Americans easily coopted the
elite for colonial purposes and why the elite had no difficulty in shifting
loyalty from Filipino to American rule.
- There were two basic reasons for the elite's readiness to accept
colonialism.
- First was the natural fear of losing the security of their interests because of
the growing demand of the masses for the redistribution of economic
benefits and resources.
a. In Mindanao
- It was a part of the American strategy to make use of the local datus and
leaders to promote the need for social services.
- The building of schools was undertaken with American supervision of
native workers using existing local materials.
- This was, for instance, illustrated by Datu Santiago of Cotabato and his
men.
- The same was true of the campaign against insanitary living conditions and
diseases especially those that frequently led to epidemics like cholera,
dysentery, smallpox, and malaria.
b. In the Cordillera
c. Treaty Traps
- The effect of the persisting American belief in the Sultan's involvement led
to the further emasculation of the sultanate through the Kiram-Carpenter
Agreement of March 22, 1915,.
- The agreement divested the Sultan of all his political power and
prerogative.
- He was only allowed to exercise the rights and duties of a spiritual leader.
- Since under Islam there is no separation of power, the agreement created
problems for the sultan.
2. Effects on Colony
C. Limits to Filipinization
1. Restraints of Elitism
- While Filipinization gained momentum under the Harrison administration,
there was a fundamental limitation to the extent of its enjoyment in
Filipino society.
- It was obvious that from the list of those who represented the Filipinos in
the various levels of the bureaucracy, Filipinization involved only the upper
crust of Filipino society, those who belonged to the national and local elite.
2. Economic Limitation
- The dilemma of Filipino leadership was best seen in the economic relations
with the United States during the Harrison era (1913-1920).
- Before this period, the economic policy of the United States was anchored
entirely on the ambiguities of the Paris Treaty of 1898 and later, on the
"free trade" provisions of the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act of 1909
- But before the end of Harrison's term, the American colonial administration
would notice that only the form of democracy was in evidence.
- The essence of democracy had yet to be developed.
- The Filipino values, rooted in ancient traditions, continued to manifest their
influence in the actual operation of the new democracy.
- Even the elite, who had already been coopted by colonialism, had not
abandoned their traditional values which had kept their ties with Filipino
society unaffected.
- The veto power of Governor Wood, in the eyes of the Filipino leaders, was
being excessively exercised, "on the most flimsy motives." Governor
Wood's veto record showed the following:
- From October 1923 to February 1924, the Sixth Philippine Legislature
passed 217 bills and concurrent resolutions, out of which 46 were vetoed,
the bills not having been presented until after the adjournment of the
Legislature so that, Wood commented, conference with a view to
modification or correction of errors was possible.
- The First Parliamentary Mission was sent to the United States in 1919, the
only one during the Democratic Administration of Woodrow Wilson.
- This was a huge delegation, led by Senate President Quezon and Senator
Rafael Palma, and consisted of some forty leading Filipinos representing
both the Democrata and Nacionalista parties and the various elements of
agricultural, commercial, and professional life in the Philippines.
- In December 1931, Osmeña and Roxas left for the United States as the
OsRox Mission to secure what in their judgment would be the best out of
any situation that might arise in Con gress concerning the Philippine issue.
- After some thirty-odd years of independence agitation, the OsRox Mission,
which stayed the longest in the United States [until 1933], succeeded in
securing the passage of an independence bill-the controversial.
- Social justice was also linked to the need to improve the skills, productivity,
and development of the human resources of the nation.
- This could be achieved through the development of a system of education
that would be available to the largest number of Filipinos.
Economic Development
- Since the United States was not inclined to tinker with the political status of
the Philippines, Quezon decided to test the waters.
- In early 1937, Quezon stated that he wanted the date of Philippine
independence advanced to late 1938 or early 1939.
- In declaring this, Quezon was admitting that independence was impractical
and was looking for dominion status, perhaps thinking that that was the
answer to the problems of economic adjustment.
Partyless Democracy
- The economic development of the Philippines under the United States may
be attributed to the free trade relations that the Americans imposed upon
the country.
- As early as 1902, a reduction of 25% was allowed on goods coming from
the Philippines.
- Nevertheless, the American Congress consistently refused to admit
Philippine productsinto the United States free of duty. It was not until 1909,
when
- Progress in health and welfare and in trade, commerce and industry was
paralleled by similar progress in transportation and communication.
- Economic development would be meaningless if the means of
transportation and communication were primitive, for commercial and
industrial products.
- Thus the development need to be transported efficiently to various places
for marketing purposes.
Individual Freedoms.-
- Partisan politics was one of those institutions which the Americans brought
to the Philippines.
- The municipal elections that followed the implantation of American
sovereignty gave the Filipinos the first taste of politics, American-brand.
- To be sure, there was at the beginning no furor, no color to campaigns, for
the Filipinos were yet too politically naive to understand the intricacies of
modern politics.
Negative Results.
- The American occupation has its seamy side.
- In the intimate contact of two peoples the good and the bad sides of the
occupying power are inevitably adopted and adapted by the colony.
- As a people the Filipinos are apt pupils and need not be whipped into line
to perform foreign "tricks."
- They are naturally imitative and can out Spanish or out American a
Spaniards or an American.
- One of the factors that led the Americans to acquire the Philippines was the
belief that the colony would be of strategic importance to the United
States.
- It was then thought that with the Philippines under the United States, no
foreign Power would dare antagonize her.
- President Theodore Roosevelt expressed this view in January 1906 when, in
a letter to Major-General Leonard Wood, he declared that Japan had no
immediate intention of moving against the United States.
- The general offensive plan of the Japanese was to strike immediately at the
rich Dutch and British possessions in Southeast Asia, specially Malaya and
the Dutch Bast Indies (now Indonesia).
- To do this, the Japanese naval and air forces had to destroy the American
Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor in order to neutralize it, and then to attack the
Philippines in order to cut America's lines of communication in the Pacific.
- The Japanese preparation for the war, particularly the attack on the
Philippines, was planned carefully.
- Even before their planes could take off to attack targets in the Philippines,
three task forces were already on their way to the Philippines: two were to
land in northern Luzon and one in Bataan Island.
- At dawn of December 8, the Japanese landed at Bataan without any
opposition.
Quezon in Corregidor.-
- Manuel L. Quezon, President of the Commonwealth, was a very sick man
when the war broke out.
- The sufferings of the people increased his worries which, to a large extent,
contributed to his physical breakdown.
- Thousands were killed because of indiscriminate bombings of the enemy
and thousands more were hospitalized for wounds received from enemy
bombs and bullets.
Educational Re-Orientation.-
The Republic.
Economic Conditions.-
- Hours before the Japanese entered Manila, the restive masses, including
some of the supposedly educated, suddenly and brutally attacked all
grocery and sari-sari stores, carrying away all they could lay their hands on,
including such inedible things as beds, pillows, chairs, and even wooden
benches.
Social Conditions.-
- Life under the enemy occupation was most trying and dangerous.
- The men of the cities and plains had five mortal enemies: the Japanese
military, diseases, the guerrillas, hunger, and the Japanese-paid Filipino
spies.
- Escape in the circumstances was difficult, for the war hysteria made men
unreasonable. Those who escaped unscathed could only be thankful and
pray, after the liberation, that the Almighty had been merciful to them.
Cultural Aspects.-
what was then believed as the short stay of enemy in the Philippines.
When Bataan and Corregidor fell, quite several Filipino and American
officers and soldiers succeeded in escaping to the mountains and there
directed the underground movement. Sabotage on large and small
scale, aimed at the paralyzing the Japanese war efforts, was conducted.
Guerrilla Warfare.
Guerrilla Newspapers.
- Truthful news report about the war was impossible under the enemy, for
the press and the radio were controlled.
- It was natural that the Japanese should resort to propaganda lies to achieve
their purpose of demoralizing the Filipinos and of making them believe in
the invincibility of Japan.
The Government-in-Exile.—
- When Quezon and his party left Corregidor in February 1942, they did not
proceed directly to Australia.
- They visited several islands in the Visayas, which were still free, and
boosted the morale of the people.
- From Negros the Quezon party proceeded to Oroquieta, Misamis, and here
waited for the airplane that would take them to Australia.
- Practical and farsighted that he had always been, Quezon, thinking of
death, issued an Executive Order naming Colonel Manuel A. Roxas
President of the Commonwealth upon his and Osmeña's death.
- After the battle of the Philippine Sea, the American naval and marine forces
concentrated their wrath on Saipan, which was captured on July 9.
- Guam and Rota Islands were heavily bombarded at the same time, and on
July 21 the American marines landed on Guam, which fell, after heavy
fighting, on August 10.
- The "skip-and-jump" operations netted the Americans Tinian Island, which
fell on August 8, the coast of New Guinea, Wake Island, which fell on May
19, Biak island, and the Western Carolines.
- The Japanese Southern Force, coming from Singapore, entered the narrow
Surigao Strait in the darkest hours of October 25.
- The American task force, headed by Rear Admiral J. B. Oldendorf, waited
for the enemy in complete silence.
- The Japanese commander, not suspecting that his approach had been
discovered, continued steaming down the strait with self-confidence.
- The presence of powerful fleets in the vicinity of Leyte Gulf Admiral Halsey
commander of the Third Fleet, to suspect that another unite the Japanese
navy must be lurking around.
- He sent his planes in search of this fleet.
- In the afternoon of October 24, the planes found the Northern Force
coming from Japan.
- Admiral Ozawa's intention was to draw Admiral Halsey 's fleet from the
vicinity of Leyte Gulf in order to allow the Central Force and the Southern
Force to sneak into the gulf and destroy Admiral Sprague's weak force.
Halsey took the bait and pursued Ozawa,
The Landings at Lingayen Gulf.-
- Once MacArthur's forces had set foot on Lingayen they relentlessly moved
down south.
- It was imperative that Manila be captured without delay, for the city
offered excellent harbor facilities.
- Consequently, amphibious operations were carried out in Batangas;
another assault force succeeded in putting ashore an army corps at the San
Narciso area in Zambales.
- The heavy rains did not deter the American troops from pursuing the
enemy in Leyte.
- When it was finally determined that a large part of the island was in
American hands, MacArthur ordered the organization of civil municipal
government.
- The temporary seat of the Commonwealth Government was established in
Tacloban, Leyte, on October 23, 1944. On November 15, 1944, on the ninth
- The ravages of war had left their imprint on the economy of the country.
- The incomes of the people dipped radically and means of livelihood were
reduced tremendously.
- Poverty, resulting from widespread destruction of property, including work
animals, was rampant throughout the country
- As the raging fires of Manila and the provinces subsided in the wake of the
Japanese defeat in the field, President Osmeña reorganized the
government to make it responsive to the imperative needs of the nation.
- On March 7, 1945, he signed an Executive Order providing tor the
restoration of the executive departments of the government as they
existed before the war.
- Most of the important affairs of the government should have been handled
by the Filipino officials, but MacArthur, a man of action and of a military
made the important decisions for President Osmeña.
- The latter, unassuming and cool under fire, did not convoke Congress on
the ground that it might fall into the hands of collaborators, whom the
American Government suspect treason.
- The general economic situation arising from the ravages of the war led the
American Government to survey the actual damage inflicted by the enemy
on the Philippines
- Consequently, Senator Millard Tydings, coauthor of the Tydings-McDuffie
Independence Act, was sent to the Philippines to make the survey.
- Elected amidst ruins and hunger, Roxas, in his inaugural address as the last
President of the Commonwealth, laid down the bases of his policy: the
rebuilding of the "economy that was broken and destroyed by war," the
industrialization of the country, the encouragement of Flipinos "to
participate in all the operations of our new economy at all its levels",
devotion "to the ideals of an indivisible world," close cooperation with the
United States, and the restoration of the "role of law and government as
the arbiter of right among the people."
Guerilla Amnesty.-
- Not only the collaboration issue but also the guerrilla problem rocked the
country immediately after liberation.
- The so-called guerrilla problem consisted in the abuses allegedly committed
by many guerrillas during the enemy occupation.
- When the courts of justice had been re-established, many criminal
complaints were filed against the guerrillas who were charged with murder,
rape, kidnapping, and robbery during the three years of Japanese
occupation.
Quirino's Administration.
- Quirino was suffering from high blood pressure and was taking it easy in a
boat cruising the Visayan waters when he received the news of Roxas’
unexpected death.
- Upon assuming office, Quirino, who inherited the problems of the State,
announced that his program of government would consist in restoring the
faith and confidence of the people in the government and in the
restoration of peace and order.
- The factors that helped shape the “filibustero" mentality of the second half
of the nineteenth century arose out of the conditions brought about by the
economic structure of the Spanish colonial system.
- Of these factors, the most important was economic: the cruelties, thievery,
and injustices of the Spanish officials and friars were perpetrated to amass
wealth and, with it, power.
- Any movement that has its roots in the social and economic inequalities,
particularly in oppression and fraudulent practices on the part or those in
power, always finds a leader or misleader.
- The freedoms that the United States brought to the Philippines led to a
political consciousness which seeped through the minds of the peasants
- The American landing in Lingayen in January 1945 was opportune, for the
guerrillas had already cleared out the Japanese obstacles.
- The Huks, as the most potent guerrilla outfit, had the straggling Japanese in
flight.
- In mid-January they liberated much of Tarlac, and on the 20th they
assaulted and captured the capital of the province.
- The mass arrest or the Huks reached its peak on Febuary 22, 1945, when
the CIC arrested the members of the Huk General Headquarters and jailed
them in Fernando, Pampanga.
- One of those arrested was Luis Taruc.
- There was, naturally, bitterness among the peasants, for no formal charges
were preferred against the Huk leaders.
- On March 8 the Americans released Taruc and another leader;
- When it became evident that Manuel Roxas, whom the Huks accused of
having been a collaborator, would run for the presidency the Huks and the
Democratic Alliance, a new party composed of intellectuals, workers, and
peasants, studied the situation and its implications and decided to throw
their support behind President Osmeña.
The Pacification Campaign.-
- Taruc and other peasant leaders, in their desire to make the countryside
safe, cooperated with President Roxas in the campaign of pacification.
- Taruc, Juan Feleo, and Mateo del Castillo went from barrio to barrio to
explain to their followers the importance of peace and order in national
rehabilitation and reconstruction.
- The sharp and constant fighting between the Huks on one hand, and the
MP's and civilian guards, on the other, wrought havoc on the agricultural
economy of Central Luzon.
- The people, placed in the cross-fire of two contending forces, lived in fear
and hunger.
- Seasonal harvests decreased tremendously, resulting in the spiraling of the
prices of commodities.
- Roxas, whom the Huks labeled as the willing tool of American and Filipino
vested interests died at Clark Field, an American territory, in April 1948.
- The first task of Elpidio Quirino as successor or Roxas was, as he stated, the
establishment of peace and order so that his administration could proceed
with economic mobilization and the restoration of the people's faith and
confidence of the government.
- Taruc entered Manila somewhat like Julius Caesar entering Rome after the
Gallic wars.
- He was mobbed by admirers and congressmen and senators who happily
posed with him in pictures taken by news photographers.
- He resumed his seat in the Lower House and collected his three years back
salaries.
- Peace and order again deteriorated soon after Taruc joined his peasants in
Central Luzon.
- Frequent and sharp clashes between the MP's and the Huk occurred
throughout the Central Plains.
- This condition reached its climax when, on April 28, 1949, Mrs. Aurora
Aragon Quezon, the late President Quezon's wife, her daughter, Baby, and
ten others, were waylaid past Bongabon, Nueva Ecija, and shot mercilessly
to death.
- General Rafael Jalandoni, who was with the Quezon party, accused the
Huks of having perpetrated the dastardly crime, but General Alberto
Ramos, Chief of the Constabulary, contended that bandits, not the Huks,
were responsible for the death of Mrs. Quezon and others in the party.
- The unified and widespread Huk movement posed a real danger to the
govermment.
- Rumors circulated in Manila that the Huks could take the city any time they
wanted and that it would not be long before the Manila populace would
wake up one morning to find Malakanyang in the hands of the Huks.
- Strict security measures were then taken by the government to forestall
any such Huk movement, searches were made in domiciles of suspected
Huks and liberal intellectuals.
- With the election of Ramon Magsaysay to the presidency in 1953, the Huk
movement lost its glamour.
- President Magsaysay, an avowed lover of the "little people," toured the
barrios, kissed children, and old women, and heartily pumped the hands of
the peasants.
- He continued his policy of attraction, at the same time resorting to the
mailed first policy to break completely the Huk movement.
- True to his promise Magsaysay worked hard to make the tao a man in his
community.
- He geared his administration to the urgent demands of rural uplift.
- "To be really secure," he said, "a country must assure for its citizens the
social and economic conditions that would enable them to live in decency,
free from ignorance, disease, and want."
- Young, enthusiastic, and fired with a Messianic fervor, Magsaysay enlisted
the help not only of the governmental agencies, but also of the civic
organizations in the vast undertaking of "bringing freedom and progress to
our barrios."
- Thus he approached the rural problem along three lines: (1) the
improvement of the land tenure system, with land resettlement thrown in
for good measure; (2) easy-term credit to the peasants, the building of
roads and other facilities for the benefit of the rural folk, and giving
technical advice to the farmers on how to improve fam operations; and (3)
an intensive community development with self-help as the basic factor.
- Magsaysay was profuse and dramatic in his love for the tao.
- He showed this feeling in countless ways.
- He walked with them in his wooden clogs, ate with them with his hands,
slept in their homes in the lowly papag or bamboo bed, and posed with
them in the garb of a yokel for the benefit of the press photographers.
- He personally heard their complaints and, to make sure that their
grievances were taken seriously, he created the Presidential complaints and
Action Committee (PCAC) to help make the Government "truly a
government of the people.”
- The masses, hitherto timid and complacent in airing their grievances, now
found the courage to condemn corrupt public officials.
- Magsaysay's intentions regarding the tao were sincere, for he wanted him
to improve his lot within the framework of the laws.
- He took time out to listen personally to his grievances and took steps which
would develop the rural areas in a manner that would be satisfactory to the
tao.
- He exhibited his tantrums to show his displeasure over the way his plans
for the peasants were being bungled.
Garcia's Program.-
Macapagal's Program.-
(4) The establishment of practices that will strengthen the moral fiber of our nation and reintroduce
those values that would invigorate our democracy and
(5) The launching of a bold but well-formulated socio-economic program that shall place the country on
the road to prosperity for all our people.
- In the wake of the bitter presidential election, President Macapagal and his
men discovered to their dismay that on the eve of the turnover of
Malakanyang to him, Garcia appointed more than 200 of his and his
fellowers protege's to important positions in the government.
- One of the most important posts, that of Central Bank Governor, was given
to former Secretary of Finance Dominador Aytona by outgoing President
Garcia.
- Despite dire predictions of some critics of the land reform program, the
initial results of Macapagal's efforts are encouraging. In Plaridel, Bulakan,
which Macapagal proclaimed as the first land reform area, the leaseholders
have improved her having conditions.
- Said the Manila Times: The overwhelming bulk of Plaridel respondents in a
Robot-Gallup survey showed that land reform in their view had materially
improved local living conditions.
- The continued rise in the prices of consumer goods, the seemingly insoluble
problem of peace and order, the rampant graft and corruption, and the
continued smuggling of dutiable goods, led the people, particularly the
common man, to believe that the Macapagal administration
Marcos Program.-
- The most acrimonious controversy that arose during the first year and a
half of Marcos' administration was his decision to send a military
engineering battalion, with armed support, to the war in Vietnam in which
the United States has been deeply involved.
- Many of Marcos' sympathizers and political supporters during the
presidential election of 1965 criticized him for changing his stand.
- Late in 1964 and in 1965, Marcos, then Senate President, opposed the
Macapagal-sponsored bill providing for the sending of a military
engineering battalion to the war in Vietnam.
- The condition of peace and order which all previous administrations failed
to solve satisfactorily worsened during the first two years of the Marcos
administration.
- Daily, newspapers publish in screaming headlines cases of murder,
homicide, rape, robbery, holdup, mayhem, and smuggling
- The capture of Dr. Jesus Lava, the last "brains of the original Hukbalahap,
left the Huk movement destitute of ideological basis, for his successor as
Supremo, Pedro Taruc, Luis Taruc's nephew, did not come up to the
intellectual level of the Lava brothers and William J. Pomeroy, a former
American soldier turned Huk.
- The meeting at Malakanyang was strictly secret, but "inside stories" leaked
out.
- It was clear to the "Insiders that Johnson was the "big boss calling the
shots.
- During the deliberations, Johnson was reported to have pounded the oval
desk several times using "You folks," You boys, and "You fellows," which
were expressions of condescension.
- At one point, he pounded the oval desk and said: "If you have a better
diplomat than Dean Rusk or a better treaty writer than Harriman, and if you
can produce better proposals than we have, then, I will follow you." Said
Amando E. Doronila, one of the few Filipino newspapermen with integrity:'
The Witch-Hunt.
Domestic Trade. –
- Added to the grave economic problems resulting from the war, the
economy also suffered from alien control of the domestic trade. It was to
lessen this alien hold on domestic trade that the government passed
remedial measures.
- These measures, known as nationalization laws, included the Market Stalls
Act (1946), which provides that citizens of the Philippines "shall have
preference in the lease of public market stalls" the Retail Trade
Nationalization Law (1954), which provides that no person, partnership,
association, or capital which is not wholly owned by Filipino citizens shall
engage in the retail trade; the Filipino Retailers' Fund Act (1955), which
provides that credit facilities be extended to Filipino retailers; the NAMARCO Act
(1955), which provides for the establishment of the National Marketing
Corporation (NAMARCO), a government corporation charged with assisting
Filipino retailers and businessmen by supplying them with goods at prices that
would enable them to compete in the open market.
Mineral Production.
- The extensive mineral wealth of the country has not been fully exploited
owing principally to the lack of sufficient Filipino capital.
- This mineral wealth can be gleaned from the report of the Bureau of Mines
in 1956:
Financial Institutions.
- The financial position of the count before 1950 was so serious that
economists and financial experts advocated the establishment of a Central
Bank to ensure the economic progress and financial stability of the nation
and to provide a firm basis for political sovereignty.
- It took sometime tor the government to appreciate the wisdom of such a
step, for it was not until 1948 that a bill providing
Economic Nationalism.
End of Parity.-
- For twenty years since its approval in 1954, the Laurel-Langley Agreement
had been the basis of the special trade relations between the Philippines
and the United States.
- According to Section 11, Article XVII of the Constitution of 1973, the rights,
and privileges granted to Americans under the parity provision of the 1935
Constitution, as amended, shall thus, at midnight automatically terminate
on July 3, 1974.
Labor Gains.
- Through united action, labor made significant gains, among the first being
the creation of the Bureau of Labor and, later, of the Department of Labor,
and the enactment of legislation providing for the prosecution of usurers,
the protection of domestic help, the payment of compensation to workers
injured in ne of duty, and the protection of women and children working in
factories.
- Probably the post significant event in the relations among some Southeast
Asian nations was the conclusion of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
(SEATOD).
- Popularly called the Manila Pact, in 1954. The signing of this treaty
proceeded from an awareness of the relentless march of communism in
Asia.
- At the conclusion of World War II, Western imperialism in Asia suffered a
setback and a wave of nationalism swept over that part of colonized Asia.
- In this post war confusion, communism stepped in and, identifying itself
with the struggling colonials, acquired large supplies of weapons.
Maphilndo.-
The Breakup.-
- The jubilation that followed the creation of Maphilindo, which Western and
some Asian observers criticized as racially inspired, was short lived,
however.
- ln preparation for the creation of the Federation of Malaysia, which would
include, besides Malaya and Singapore, Sabah (North Borneo) and Sarawak,
it was agreed, in the spirit of Maphilindo, that the peoples of the last two
territories should determine in a plebiscite whether they would join the
contemplated Federation.
1. The "sultan of Sulu acquired sovereignty over North Borneo (Sabah) from the
Sultan of Brunei in the early 17th century from the former helped in suppressing a
rebellion;
3. The fact that the disputed territory was leased by the Sultan of Sulu shows that
he exercised sovereignty over the territory;
4. In 1903, the North Borneo Company, a private company, asked the "Sultan of
Sulu to execute a confirmatory deed to confirm the contract of 1878 (the Lease
Agreement)" and "expressly recognized that the Sultan of Sulu was sovereign in
Sabah'";
5. According to British sources, the North Borneo Company did not acquire the
territory of Sabah for the British crown, for when Spain and the Netherlands
raised objections over the activities of the North Borneo Company, Lord Granville
and the Marquis of Salisbury, who were during their time Foreign Ministers of
Britain, explained to Spain and the Netherlands that *the British Government
assumed no dominion or sovereign rights in Borneo which was occupied by the
Company and that it did not purport to grant to the Company any powers of
government" over the disputed territory;
6. The annexation of North Borneo by Britain in 1946, eleven days after Philippine
independence, was illegal in the sense that the North Borneo Company, from
which the British Government took Sabah, had no right of sovereignty over Sabah;
consequently
7. Britain had no right to tum over Sabah to Malaysia in 1963 because she, Britain,
had no sovereign right over Sabah. On the other hand, the Malaysian government
anchored its claim over Sabah on the fact that:
1. Great Britain turned over Sabah to Malaysia in 1963, thereby making Malaysia
the heir of Britain to Sabah;
2. In a plebiscite conducted in 1963 under the auspices of the United Nations, the
Sabahans voted to be a part of the Federation of Malaysia; and
3. The Philippine Constitution does not include Sabah in the delineation of the
geographical limits of the Philippines.
7. Generally, to consult and cooperate with one another to achieve the aims and
purposes of the Association, as well as to contribute more effectively to the work
of existing international organizations and agencies
The ASEAN.
- The efforts of the Southeast Aslan nations to rise from the confines of their
colonial past and to meet the challenge of the social, economic, and
cultural conditions of the region led to the founding of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which was formally established in
Bangkok, Thailand, on August 8, 1967, when the Joint Declaration was
signed by the foreign ministers of five countries Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. The Joint Declaration, known as the
ASEAN Declaration, outlined the objectives and purposes as:
4. To assist one another in the form of "training and research facilities in the
educational, professional, technical and administrative spheres"; and
Higher Education.
- Appetite for higher education since the end of the last war has been
whetted.
- The result has been erased college and university enrollment.
- The University of the Philippines, because of. its rigid rules and regulations
governing scholarship and because of its limited funds, could not
accommodate the growing population of college students.
- One of the significant change in the educational field was the introduction
of the concept community schools.
- In 1948, some enterprising and resources superintendents of public schools
started experimenting the community Schools.
- The division superintendents of Bataan, Bulakan, Cebu, Cagayan, Iloilo, and
Pampanga began to apply more thoroughly than it had been attempted
before this concept of education by which the activities of the schools are
integrated into those or the community.
- The Philippines has been both fortunate and unfortunate in having been
conquered by foreign Powers.
- The almost four centuries of foreign domination have made many Filipinos
polyglots.
- Through the acquisition of Spanish and English, educated Filipinos have
come into contact with the cultural and scientific works of the most
advanced countries of the world.
- The bitter controversy that rose from the national language issue led the
authorities of the Department of Education to propose a solution by using
Pilipino, instead of Tagalog, as the national language.
- The reason is based not on any scientific explanation but on purely practical
ground, namely, to neutralize the bull-headed opposition of the
professional anti-Tagalog by not mentioning the word Tagalog.
Tagalog Literature-
- The stratification or Filipino society after the last war has become so
marked that one finds the base of the triangular structure widening, while
the apex remains practically the same as before the war.
- One significant change in the structure, however, is the growth of the
middle class.
- Many who, before the war, occupied the lower middle-class until now
belong to the middle or upper middle class.
- The thrust made by the bourgeoisie during the Japanese Occupation into
the social vacuum continues up to the present and promises to develop a
class new élite.
- The "fall of the old agrarian aristocracy has been caused partly by the
development of commerce and industry
- Aggressive and, to a certain extent, imaginative men of the lower and
middle classes have gone and are still going into commerce and industry
with a perseverance never before witnessed.
Student Power.-
Initial Measures.
- Having done away with the traditional politics Which, in the past, had
dissipated many attempts by conscience-stricken legislators to improve the
social and economic condition of the masses, President Marcos moved
swiftly to implement further his land reform program.
- In Presidential Decree No. 2, dated September 26, 1972, he proclaimed the
entire Philippines as land reform area.
The New Constitution.-
- When martial law was declared, the Constitutional Convention, which had
been meeting since the first week of June 1971 to frame a new constitution
to replace that of 1935, met on September 25, 1972 and *voted
unanimously to "continue deliberations on vital issues."
- A motion was presented in the Convention to adjourn the plenary meeting
until the lifting of martial law.
- The proposal was defeated.
- Consequently, the convention continued its sessions.
- When the new charter was finished, President Marcos referred it to the
Citizens Assemblies numbering 26,000 all over the country.
Distribution of Wealth. –
- The martial law government has given importance to the role of labor in
private and government affairs and has, according to a high labor official,
"metamorphosed [it] into a major objective of government economic
policy."
- The construction of roads, bridges, airports, and other forms of
infrastructure led to increased employment.
- In 1956, there were 10.2 million in the labor force, of whom 14.5 million or
96.2 per cent, were employed, while 577.6 thousand or 3.8 percent, were
unemployed.
- On the other hand, underemployment remained at 9.2 per cent, of the
total labor force.
The Economy: Gains and Losses.
- The recessionary tendency in 1975 all over the world affected the
Philippines.
- Even so, the country has to date (1976) withstood the ill effects of the
recessionary pressures and has maintained the growth rate of 1974.
- Therefore, the Philippines recorded an economic gain of 5.8 per cent. The
National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) estimated that the
country increased its gross national product (GNP) from P40,847 million in
1974 to P43,203 million in 1975. In gross capital formation, the country
posted.
- Three years after the land reform program under the martial law regime
was initiate, the yield per hectare planted to rice increased by 40-45
percent over that of the pre-martial law period.
- On the other hand, the gross income of farmers increased by almost one
hundred percent.
- On land transfers (from owners of lands more than seven hectares), some
365,000 hectares were transferred to 207,991 farmers as of November,
1975.
31. THE EDSA REVOLUTION- A political crisis had gripped the nation
since August 21, 1983, when Benigno Aquino, Jr. was assassinated
minutes after his return to the Philippines from exile in the United
States and while under military custody. Demonstrations against the
authoritarian" regime of Ferdinand Marcos escalated in intensity and
the "parliament of the streets" became common occurrences. To
defuse the situation and to once again "legitimize his presidency,
Marcos called for snap presidential elections in February 1986. Marcos
and his running mate, Arturo Tolentino, were proclaimed elected by the
Batasang Pambansa, using as basis official results issued by the
Commission on Elections.
People Power Revolt-
What did you learn throughout the six chapters of the book?