The bombing of USS Maine on February 15, 1898, which claimed
the lives of 260 US sailors in the port of Havana, Cuba was an incident that
had far reaching effect to the Philippines being then a colony of Spain.
Although there was no evidence linking Spain to the incident, the United States
nevertheless declared war on Spain on April 11, 1898.
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| Dr. Jose Rizal |
Like Cuba, the Philippines had also revolted against Spain.
The unjust execution of Dr. Jose Rizal had more than ever raised the
nationalistic feelings and revolutionary fervor of the Filipinos. An
organization named Katipunan called
for the overthrow of the Spanish colonizer through armed struggle. Emilio
Aguinaldo established himself as the undisputed leader of it after having his
arch rival, Andres Bonifacio, executed. Aguinaldo sustained the rebellion by
having an alliance with the United States.
The Spanish-American war reached the Philippine shore when
Commodore George Dewey with his Asiatic Squadron entered Manila Bay on May 1,
1898. After short skirmishes he destroyed the Spanish Pacific Fleet which was
commanded by Admiral Patricio Montojo. The Americans suffered 8 wounded and one
dead (of heart attack). The Spaniards on the other hand suffered more than 300
casualties. On August 13, 1898, the Spanish-Governor-General Fermin Jaudenes surrendered
Manila to Commodore Dewey.
Spain suffered resounding defeats in battles, and it had to
agree to the terms of the United States to end the war. Relative to it the
Treaty of Paris of 1898 was signed by the United States and Spain on December
10, 1898. In the treaty Spain ceded Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and
Guam to the United States. The United States on its part had to compensate
Spain $20,000,000 for the possession of the Philippines.
While Spanish authority was steadily waning, Aguinaldo declared
Philippine Independence on June 12, 1898
in Kawit, Cavite and the following year he established the first Philippine
Republic. The Americans however did not recognize his government. The
Philippine-American War broke out as a result. After about three years the
American forces were able to quell the rebellion and put the country under
their control. Aguinaldo surrendered to the Americans and pledged allegiance to
the United States.
During the period of rebellion the rule and control of the
Philippines were on the hands of the military governors-general. When peace and
order was established in the Philippines, the executive authority was
transferred on July 4, 1901, to the Philippine Commission which was headed by
the American civilian governor-general who was appointed by the President of
the United States with the concurrence of the senate. From 1901 to 1935, the
Philippines was under the US Bureau of Insular Affairs which had the task to
oversee US unincorporated territories like the Philippines. Some of the notable
governors-general who served In the Philippines were Lieutenant General Arthur
MacArthur Jr., the father of General Douglas MacArthur, William Howard Taft who
became the 27th President of the United States and Theodore
Roosevelt Jr. who was a former general and the eldest son of US President
Theodore Roosevelt.
On January 17, 1933, the Hawes-Hares Cutting Act was
approved by the US Congress which would pave the way for the granting of
independence to the Philippines. However, provisions such as retention of US
military bases in the Philippines for an indefinite period, setting quota and
tariffs of Philippine export to the US caused the Philippine senate to reject
it. Amendatory bill called Tydings-Mcduffie Law was passed by US Congress on
August 24, 1934, which would give the Philippines Commonwealth status as a
prelude to giving it full independence after a transition period of ten years. The
law came into effect after it was approved by the Philippine senate.
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| Presidents Quezon and Roosevelt (second and third from left) |
A Philippine constitutional convention was held on July 30,
1934 to February 8, 1935. It was approved by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt
and was unanimously ratified by the Filipinos on May 14, 1935. A general
election followed and Manuel L. Quezon was elected president and Sergio Osmena
as vice president. The commonwealth
government was inaugurated on Nov ember 15, 1935. Some features of the
constitution included a strong executive, a bicameral legislature, and a
supreme court. In one of his moves as president, Quezon tapped the services of General
Douglas MacArthur as a military advisor with a rank of field marshal.
Meanwhile, Japan became a growing power in Asia. The
Japanese Empire which allied itself with Germany invaded and occupied China and
other neighboring Asian countries. In one of its bold and daring moves Japan
launched a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941, which
resulted to about 3,400 American casualties. Several days later, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt through the US congress declared war on Japan on December
10, 1941.
The Japanese attacked the Philippines on December 18, 1941.
They overpowered the American and the Filipino troops who surrendered on May
1942. General MacArthur fled to Australia to direct the war there. Quezon and
Osmena fled to the United States and established a government in exile in New
York. While in the United States Quezon died of tuberculosis and Osmena took
over as the President of the commonwealth of the Philippines. Meanwhile in the
Philippines, the Japanese set up a puppet government called the Second Republic
of the Philippines which was headed by Jose P. Laurel.
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| The landing of Gen. MacArthur in Leyte |
As the war progressed, the tide of battle turned against
Japan. Macarthur returned to the Philippines and landed in Leyte on 20 October
1944 for the liberation of the country from the Japanese. The refusal of some
units of the Japanese forces to leave Manila against orders from higher ups led
to a deadly battle between them and the American and Filipino forces. The
overmatched Japanese turned their ire on Manila’s civilian populace and
massacred helpless and innocent civilians. WW2 resulted to a million of
Filipinos killed with Manila, the national capital, as one of the most
devastated cities of the world during the war. The formal surrender of the Japanese
to the allied forces on August 1945 officially ended the war in the
Asia-Pacific region.
Despite the interruption of WW2, the Philippines was able to
have its independence as scheduled. That is 10 years after it was granted a
commonwealth status by the US. The first election of an independent Republic of
the Philippines was held on April 23, 1946. Manuel Roxas prevailed over incumbent
Sergio Osmena who did not campaign in the election.
Since its independence, the Philippines has still had a
friendly and cooperative relationship with the United States. Despite some
issues regarding the stay of the Americans in the Philippines, the US has left
some legacies that have some positive impacts on the Filipinos. The Americans
gave the Filipinos the English language as well as western style democracy. In
the main, the Philippines is a country that is geographically South East Asian,
ethnically Malay and culturally western oriented.
Although the Philippines officially became independent from
the United States on July 4, 1946, the Philippines celebrates its Independence
Day in July 12. It is in commemoration of the day Aguinaldo declared Philippine
independence from Spain in 1898.
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