Philippine History With Politics and Governance

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Chapter 12 The Struggle Continues (1897-1898) The new Spanish Prime minister insisted on replacing Governor-General Primo de Rivera with General Basilio Augustin, despite of his success in pacifying the chaos through his good intentions and plans for the future. Tension is already building up between the United States and Spain that upon the explosion of USS Maine, where lots of American sailors and officers died, the US blamed the Spaniards and formally declared a war against Spain. Upon the declaration of war, Commodore George Dewey, Theodore Roosevelt’s appointed commander of the American Asiatic Squadron for fast departure to the Philippines from a base in Hongkong, sailed to Manila, succeeded and destroyed Admiral Patricio Montojo’s fleet, and made them surrender. Aguinaldo, who refused Isabelo Artacho’s demands of his share in the indemnity and its division among the rebels, fled to Singapore. Rounseville Wildman (whom he entrusted for the purchasing of the weapons) told him Dewey’s instructions, then met and told the Junta about the situation of the Philippines, and returned to Manila where Dewey assured him that the US would recognize the Philippine’s Independence but later denied having any promise to him. With the news of Aguinaldo’s return spreading, the struggle continued that with his proclamation to raise arms, almost whole Luzon was captured by the Filipino rebels and Aguinaldo then signed the Proclamation of Philippine Independence in Kawit, Cavite. The Spaniards tried to persuade the Filipinos to return to them but they failed, thus, the Filipino rebels besieged Manila where Aguinaldo demanded them to surrender but Gov. Agustin refused. Jaudenes, Merritt, and Dewey made a secret agreement of staging a mock battle that would lead to Spanish surrender for Jaudanes believed that Spanish position was very weak.

HIST 223: Philippine History with Politics and Governance • The mock battle began and ended upon the surrender of Spain and due to the Filipino involvement during the battle, Gen. Greene, ordered by Merrit, warned Aguinaldo to stop his soldiers. • The surrender document was signed by the Spanish governor-general and the protocol of peace was signed by the representatives of Spain and US, each having certain terms within it. • Pres. McKinley issued the proclamation to stop the war and the American forces had taken over the Philippines.

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Chapter 13 Freedom and Independence (1898-1899) Aguinaldo formally established the Dictatorial Government which will address to the problems regarding the condition in the Philippines, nullifying all the decrees issued in the name of the Biak-na-Bato but made it clear that this form of government was temporary and may be modified in the future Apolinario Mabini was brought before Aguinaldo, who was doubtful at first in seeing him with his condition but later was convinced to seek his assistance. Despite Mabini’s objection, Aguinaldo proclaimed the independence on June 12 where the Philippine flag was officially hoisted for the first time to the accompaniment of Julian Felipe’s “Marcha Filipina” and The Act of the Declaration of the Independence was prepared and read in Spanish by Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista. Mabini prepared the decree of June 18 (which provided the government’s reorganization in provinces already taken form the Spaniards and the right to vote by men of high moral character and good standing in his community) and the decree of June 20 (which provided for the administration of justice in areas under the Filipino government).

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RPTL • Aguinaldo changed the form of government from dictatorial to revolutionary, thus, changing the title form Dictator to President, creating the four departments to help the President, and providing the creation for the Congress which was an advisory body. • The proclamation of independence was ratified and many delegates were elected and appointed during the meeting held in Malolos, Bulacan by the Congress and Aguinaldo. • After many revisions, Aguinaldo promulgated Felipe G. Calderon’s version of the constitution, with Cayetano Arellano’s advice, which provided the national and individual rights of both Filipinos and foreigners, and divided the government into the executive, judiciary, and legislative (which is the superior among the branches). • The Malolos constitution was read article by article to the people during the inauguration of the Republic where Aguinaldo took oath as President of the Republic. • Aguinaldo prepared a budget for the education’s reestablishment and improvement, and many nationalistic newspapers circulated that fought and defended human integrity, honor, and freedom. • Many diplomatic agents were sent abroad for other countries to recognize the Philippine independence, and the Treaty of Paris was not approved for the Anti-Imperialist League won in propagating the falsehood of Filipinos starting the war against America. Chapter 14 The Philippine-American War (1899-1902) • Pres. McKinley (pressured by American businessmen, religious, military and naval groups) announced the American policy regarding the Philippines that made the country a US colony, Filipinos reacted and caused the tension between the Philippines and America despite the attempts to relax this tension. • Private Wilson’s shooting of a Filipino soldier caused the Filipinos to shoot back and started the

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Philippine-American War, where Aguinaldo found out that the Americans were already preparing for such attack after investigating the incident. American troops captured many towns, and Filipinos such as Gen. Luna and Del Pilar move to the north while preparing for the Americans who came after them, resulting to the battles of La Loma, Pulo, San Mateo and Bagbag, and causing the defeat and lives of some American and Filipino military officers. Mabini sent his resignation of the entire Cabinet he was heading when Aguinaldo, persuaded by Paterno, Bautista, Buencamino and others who opposed Mabini’s desire for full Philippine Independence, informed him that Paterno is forming a new Cabinet. Gen. Luna, being short-tempered in instilling discipline in the army by slapping soldiers who failed to meet his standards that earned him many enemies, was killed by his men. The American forces made their way to Visayas and had a hard time invading Iloilo and Cebu due to its brave patriots while Negros on the other hand, didn’t resort to any fight and collaborated with the Americans, earning them the Visayan Military District and Negros Constitution which Pres. McKinley didn’t take seriously. Gen. Bates and Datu Kiram made a treaty that provided the independence of Sulu, respect for the Sultan and datus’ rights and dignities and for religion matters as well. While Aguinaldo went from town to town after ordering guerilla warfare, and Gen. Del Pilar to intercept the Americans following them which led to the Battle of Pasong Tirad, where Del Pilar was unfortunately killed when the Americans found them. The Americans used different tortures and killings that made many Filipinos surrender and the guerilla warfare ended upon Aguinaldo’s capture and oath of allegiance to US government, despite the refusal of some Filipinos to surrender. Though the war has officially ended, studies show that politico-religious groups continued fighting

HIST 223: Philippine History with Politics and Governance like the samahans, confradias, Pulajanes and Dios-Dios, and the non-Christian Filipinos were pacified through the creation of Moro and Mountain Province.

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Chapter 15 Results of the Philippine-American War There were a lot of Filipino casualties and losses caused by the war, epidemics, reconcentration camps, and on the economic side as well, though there were no exact record of it. To the peasants who tilled and fought for the lands, the struggle of owning these lands became more difficult even after the confiscation of the friar lands at the end of the Spanish colonization, especially when the Americans bought these lands that later would be sold to the Filipino elite and American businessmen as a reward for cooperating and supporting the newly established US colonial regime. Father Gregorio Aglipay, a Filipino secular priest sent but failed to persuade the revolutionary leaders to side with the Spaniards against the Americans, later joined the revolutionary movement after realizing the significance of Aguinaldo’s siege of Manila. Mabini recognized the civil marriage’s validity due to the Church and the state’s separation under the Revolutionary Government; refused the archbishop’s authority in the intention of persuading Filipino priests to join the revolution; and urged Filipino priests to establish a National Church cooperating with the Revolutionary Government under the Filipino priests’ control and supervision. Aglipay was appointed as Military Vicar General; urged the Filipino priests to unite and rally to the revolutionary cause; and was later excommunicated by Nozeda after siding with the Revolutionary Government while still having a position in the Catholic Church. A provisional constitution of the proposed Filipino church was prepared after Aglipay’s meeting with the Filipino priests about the Catholic Church’s

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Filipinization but its establishment was prevented due to the condition at that time including the opposition to it. Isabelo de los Reyes, taking advantage of the widespread anti-friar feeling, held a meeting with his labor union and suggested the establishment of a Filipino church called Philippine Independent Church which completed the separation from Rome. The masses showed their sympathy with the new Church who soon joined in, and some Filipino priests affiliated with the new church. Aglipay was persuaded to return to the Roman Catholic Church but refused to do so and thus he accepted the position of Supreme Bishop of the Philippine Independent Church. The founding of the Philippine Independent Church has many importances and it represented the aspiration for Filipinism, the struggle of Filipino people for independence.

Chapter 16 American Colonial Rule: Policy and Governance (1899-1907) • The military governor still did their duties despite having their judicial, legislative, and executive powers slowly transferred to the judiciary, Philippine Commission, and civil governor respectively • Pres. McKinley created the Schurman Commission (that issued recommendations a month after its arrival and left after finishing its work) and the Taft Commission (that stayed to organize the civil government and suggested the free primary education and use of English language as medium of instruction). • William Howard Taft was inaugurated civil governor and later met the country’s problems where laws like the Reconcentration Act, martial law, Sedition Law, and Brigandage Act were passed which suppressed the Guerilla warfare, but his

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methods of combined peace and war doesn’t work. Some Filipino leaders and patriots were exiled to Guam. The passing of the Philippine Act of 1902 (Cooper Law) approved all the acts of the US President relative to the Philippines, and provided for a bill of rights that guaranteed Filipinos’ rights, and establishment of a Philippine Assembly run by Filipinos as soon as peace and order is proclaimed, where a census was made before elections for the Philippine Assembly could take place. The Filipinos began forming different political parties like the Federal (Progresista), Nacionalista, Liberal, and Democrata Party, each having their own platforms of either immediate or eventual independence, and was given the right to vote, where the Nacionalista Party’s platform of immediate independence won. With the inauguration of the Philippine Assembly (Lower House) and the Philippine Commission (Upper House), the assembly elected Osmeña as Speaker and Quezon as majority Floor Leader, and it outlined its activities based on some goals and had many achievements. The Philippine Assembly elected two resident commissioners to the US Congress that will work for the laws beneficial to the Philippines and fight for the rejection of bills detrimental to Filipinos. The Department of Public Instruction, together with many schools, was established as the Americans introduce the public school system, and the pensionado program gave birth to many Filipino scholars for higher education that later became professionals. Women were granted right to vote and run for public office, giving them chance to contribute expertise and knowledge for their families and countrymen’s benefit, which changed their social status. Chapter 17 Training for Self-Government (1907-1921)

HIST 223: Philippine History with Politics and Governance • The Philippine Commission passed the Municipal Code Act (to be administered by the municipal president, vice president, and council) and the Provincial Code Act (to be administered by a governor, a treasurer, and a supervisor), whose officials are to be elected. • According to the Civil Service Act, the Bureau of Civil Service will be under the supervision and control of the governor-general; administer the control of all government employees; and give competitive examinations to those who are interested to join government service. • There was an increase in Filipino employment in the Philippine Commission and the Filipinos were also represented and appointed in the Supreme Court, which eventually led them to run the government on their own. • Francis Burton Harrison was appointed by Pres. Woodrow Wilson as governor-general of the Philippines, after sending Henry Ford Jones to investigate the condition of the country and the capacity of Filipinos to govern themselves, to show his good faith in favoring the independence for the Filipinos. • Harrison immediately worked for the Filipinization of the national government and appointed Filipinos instead of Americans to occupy high administrative positions. • Representative William Atkinson Jones introduced two bills in the American Congress for the Philippine Independence, but only one was approved, the Jones Act of 1916, which stated that the Independence would be granted when a stable government could be established therein. • The Jones Law also provided a government patterned after the US, having three branches: the executive (headed by the governor-general), the legislative (composing of the Senate and House of Representatives), and the judicial (exercised by the Supreme Court and the lower courts of justice). • The Bill of Rights is perhaps the most important provision of Jones law which enumerated the civil

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RPTL rights of the Filipino people, rights that were not enjoyed by the Filipinos under the Spanish rule. • The Philippine Senate (Upper House) and House of Representatives replaced the Philippine Commission and Philippine Assembly respectively. • Gov. Gen. Harrison created the Council of State with a duty of advising the governor-general on matters of public importance and sharing with it the power to initiate legislation.

Chapter 18 The Campaign for Independence (1922-1935) • New US president Warren G. Harding sent a mission headed by William Cameron Forbes and General Leonard Wood to investigate and determine the preparedness of the Philippines for the independence, whose results favored the Republican policy of not granting it. • Reluctant at first to be Governor, General Wood was later persuaded to take it and reversed Harrison’s Filipinization policy by exercising the governor-general’s powers according to the Jones Law, and antagonized Manuel L. Quezon and Sergio Osmeña. • A conflict existed between Osmeña and Quezon for the leadership of the Filipino people, resulting to the formation of the group colectivista (Quezon) and unipersonalistas (Osmeña), that later merged against the Democrata party where Osmeña let Quezon succeed him for the sake of party leadership. • Quezon’s quarrel with Gov. Wood about the Conley case, together with the veto power and board of control case, where he and other political leaders took advantage of by attacking Wood, branding him as anti-Filipino, resulted to the mass resignation of the Cabinet and the Council of the State (Cabinet crisis). • Since the passage of the Jones Law, the campaign for independence was peacefully carried out, that despite the failures of the Philippine Independence missions that were sent to the Unit-

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ed States, a resolution for the early grant of Philippine independence was passed in an Independence Congress met in Manila. The Os-Rox Mission was sent, where it is favored by a number of American groups like American farm group, labor leaders, and the isolationalists, which helped the campaign for independence. The US Congress passed Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act as a result of OS-Rox mission’s intensive campaign that provided the Commonwealth (10-year) period before granting the independence. Pres. Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Tyding-McDuffie Act, with one revision, as a result of Quezon’s objection in the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act. The Tyding-McDuffie Act provided for the framing of a constitution for the Commonwealth government - which was then approved by Pres. Roosevelt and the Filipino people – where Quezon won as president and Osmeña as vice president. Due to the establishment of different women’s organizations and schools whose aims are for the women’s general welfare, Pres. Quezon finally signed the women suffrage law after years of struggle.

Chapter 19 The Impact of American Rule (1898-1935) • The Americans introduced the public school system where it is based on life here on earth, contrary to the Spanish education system, and they ensured the separation of the Church and the State. • The Thomasites were more successful in educating the Filipinos and more schools were established, thus increasing the literacy rate. • The public health, welfare and Filipino diet’s improvement were also achieved by establishing hospitals and the Board of public health that instructed people about the proper hygiene and sanitation, decreasing the mortality rate.

HIST 223: Philippine History with Politics and Governance • Free trade was also established and improved which led to increased exportations, and the industries were also improved by creating more factories, mills, plantations; employing more laborers; and encouraging mining in the country. • More roads, bridges, and culverts were constructed and railway line was extended, thus improving the transportation and communication. • The equality of men before the law and the right of every man to all the freedoms were recognized by the American regime, except for the introduction of democracy in the Philippines because the Filipinos already knew what democracy was as portrayed in the numerous revolts and uprisings against Spain and US occupation. • They introduced the system of elections – municipal, provincial and national – and political parties which have political platforms like the Federal Party and Nacionalista Party, increasing the knowledge of government machinery and affairs by the wealthy and educated Filipinos. • The teaching of English language and literature influenced the Philippines through the use of English as a medium of instruction in public schools, making the American culture popular and thus resulting to the adoption of English words and phrases in the major Philippine languages. • Despite the positive impacts of the American occupation, there were also negative outcomes that are still seen today like being dependent to the United States for economic prosperity, “brainwashing” of the Filipinos through the education resulting to colonial mentality, and the suffering of Nutrition and Filipino diet. • Another setback is the entering of the capitalist value into the Philippine culture, resulting to the Filipino attitude of placing material things above the spiritual things, thus the materialistic view of life.

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RPTL Chapter 20 The Commonwealth and World War II (19351945) • The Commonwealth government, headed by Pres. Quezon, faced and provided solutions for different problems like the National security (passing of National Defense Law to provide citizen army), Social sufficiency (initiation and implementation of the policy for social justice and laws for rural population’s improvement that failed due to lack of government funds to purchase landed estates and resistance of big and powerful landlords), Economic self-sufficiency (recommendation of extending the free trade for the Philippines to adjust to its economy), Language problem (creation of the national language institute that proclaimed Tagalog to be the national language’s basis), and problem with Japanese (Immigration Act’s passage for an annual immigration quota of 500). • The Commonwealth government achieved relative progress in commerce and industry (by engaging in free trade, creating the National Economic council, and establishing government companies for people’s protection against merchants or producers’ exploitation), transportation and communication (by its facilities improvement), public welfare (by strengthening certain agencies for the improvement and extension of service to people), and art and literature (through contests and competitions). • When the Pacific war broke, Japanese forces started attacking also the Philippines, that after continuous bombing, it later occupied Manila and seized Bataan and Corregidor (where Quezon took oath for his second term) where the Death March took place. • The Japanese reorganized the central government (renaming it to Central Administrative Organization composing of six executive departments, each having Japanese advisers that are actually spies or agents) and declared the Japanese educational policy. • The Commission’s prepared Constitution was approved and Jose P. Laurel was elected as the

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HIST 223: Philippine History with Politics and Governance

President of the Second Republic, where he faced the problems of increasing prices of commodities. Due to the guerilla warfare, the Japanese conquest of the Philippines became very difficult and it facilitated MacArthur’s return. Quezon and his party left Corregidor to Washington, DC where he reorganized his government but died and succeeded by Osmeña. MacArthur returned to the Philippines until he reached Manila as the Japanese military forces weakened. MacArthur reestablished the Commonwealth, turned it over to Osmeña, and declared Philippines’ liberation from the Japanese. The Pacific war ended when Japan, who first refused to, surrendered after the bombings of the Americans to their country.

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