Mandirigma – Uniforms of The Filipino Fighting Man 1935-1945

Staff: (to which Apolinario Querubin’s Guerilla 4 belonged) seated L to R: Captain Yldefonso Villareal, Brig. Gen. Benito Natividad, Brig. Gen. Manuel Tinio, Lt. Col. Joaquin Alejandrino and Maj. Joaquin Buencamino(son of Felipe Buencamino, a minister in the Aguinaldo cabinet); Standing L to R: 2lt. Francisco Natividad and two unidentified officers; Seated: the 15 year-old officer 2Lt. Pastor Alejandrino.

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Tinio

Manuel Tinio y Bundoc (June 17, 1877 – February 22, 1924) was the youngest General^[2] of the Philippine Revolutionary Army, and was elected Governor^[3] of the Province of Nueva Ecija, Republic of the Philippines in 1907. He is one of the three Fathers of the Cry of Nueva Ecija along with Pantaleon Valmonte and Mariano Llanera.

Manuel Tinio, then 18 years old, joined the Katipunan in April 1896. By August he had organized a company composed of friends, relatives and tenants. Personally leading his group of teenaged guerillas, he conducted raids and depredations against Spanish detachments and patrols in Nueva Ecija. Occasionally, he joined up with similar forces under other youthful leaders.

An Early flag of the Katipunan.

On September 2, 1896, Manuel Tinio and his men joined the combined forces of Mariano Llanera and Pantaleon Belmonte, capitanes municipales or mayors of Cabiao and Gapan, respectively, in the attack on San Isidro. Of 3,000 who volunteered, 500 determined men were chosen for the attack. Led by a bamboo orchestra or musikong bumbong of Cabiao, the force came in two separate columns from Cabiao and Gapan City and converged in Sitio Pulu, 5 km. from San Isidro. Despite the fact that they had only 100 rifles, they furiously fought the Spaniards holed up in the Casa Tribunal, the arsenal, other government buildings and in the houses of Spanish residents. Capt. Joaquin Machorro, commander of the Guardias Civiles, was killed on the first day of battle. According to Julio Tinio, Manuel’s cousin and a participant in the battle, Manuel had a conference in the arsenal with Antonio Luna and Eduardo Llanera, the general’s son, immediately after the battle.

The Spanish authorities hastily organized a company of 200 civilian Spaniards and mercenaries the following day and attacked the overconfident insurgents, driving the besiegers away from the government center. The next day more Spanish reinforcements arrived from Peñaranda, forcing the poorly armed rebels to retreat, leaving behind 60 dead. The Spaniards went in hot pursuit of the insurgents, forcing those from Cabiao to flee to Candaba, Pampanga, and those from Gapan to hide in San Miguel de Mayumo in Bulacan. The insurgents from San Isidro fled across the river to hide in Jaen. The relatives of those who were recognized were driven away from their homes by the colonial authorities. Manuel Tinio and his troop stayed to protect the mass of people from Calaba, San Isidro, who were all his kinfolk, hastening across the river to Jaen, Nueva Ecija.

The Spaniards’ relentless pursuit of the rebels forced them to disband and go into hiding until January 1897. Tinio was a special target. At 5 feet 7 inches (170 cm) tall, he literally stood out among the attackers, whose average height was below 5 feet (150 cm). He fled to Licab. A platoon of cazadores (footsoldiers) was sent to arrest him, forcing Hilario Tinio Yango, his first cousin and the Capitan Municipal of the town, to lead them to him. Warned of the approaching soldiers, Manuel again escaped and fled on foot back to San Isidro, where, in the barrios of Calaba, Alua and Sto. Cristo, he hid with relatives in their various farms beside the Rio Gapan (now known as the Peñaranda River). Fear of arrest compelled him to be forever on the move. He never slept in the same place. Later on, he would attribute his ill health in his middle age to the privations he endured during those months of living exposed to the elements.

The passionate rebels reorganized their forces the moment Spanish pursuit died down. Tinio and his men marched with Gen. Llanera in his sorties against the Spaniards. Llanera eventually made Tinio a Captain.

The aggressive exploits of the teen-aged Manuel Tinio reached the ears of General Emilio Aguinaldo, whose forces were being driven out of Cavite and Laguna, Philippines. He evacuated to Mount Puray in Montalban, Rizal and called for an assembly of patriots in June 1897. In that assembly, Aguinaldo appointed Mamerto Natividad, Jr. as commanding general of the revolutionary army and Mariano Llanera as vice-commander with the rank of Lt.-General. Manuel Tinio was commissioned a Colonel and served under Gen. Natividad.

The constant pressure from the army of Gov. Gen. Primo de Rivera drove Aguinaldo to Central Luzon. In August, Gen. Aguinaldo decided to move his force of 500 men to the caves of Biac-na-Bato in San Miguel, Bulacan because the area was easier to defend. There, his forces joined up with those of Gen. Llanera. With the help of Pedro Paterno, a prominent Philippines lawyer, Aguinaldo began negotiating a truce with the Spanish government in exchange for reforms, an indemnity, and safe conduct.

On August 27, 1897, Gen. Mamerto Natividad and Col. Manuel Tinio conducted raids in Carmen, Zaragoza and Peñaranda, Nueva Ecija. Three days later, on the 30th, they stormed and captured Santor (now Bongabon) with the help of the townspeople. They stayed in that town till September 3.

On September 4, with the principal objective of acquiring provisions lacking in Biac-na-Bato, Gen. Natividad and Col. Manuel Tinio united their forces with those of Col. Casimiro Tinio, Gen. Pío del Pilar, Col. Jose Paua and Eduardo Llanera for a dawn attack on Aliaga. (Casimiro Tinio, popularly known as ‘Capitan Berong’, was an elder brother of Manuel through his father’s first marriage.)

Thus began the Battle of Aliaga, considered one of the most glorious battles of the rebellion. The rebel forces took the church and convent, the Casa Tribunal and other government buildings. The commander of the Spanish detachment died in the first moments of fighting, while those who survived were locked up in the thick-walled jail. The rebels then proceeded to entrench themselves and fortify several houses. The following day, Sunday the 5th, the church and convent as well as a group of houses were put to the torch due to exigencies of defense.

Spanish Governor General Primo de Rivera fielded 8,000 Spanish troops under the commands of Gen. Ricardo Monet and Gen. Nuñez in an effort to recapture the town. A column of reinforcements under the latter’s command arrived in the afternoon of September 6. They were met with such a tremendous hail of bullets that the general, two captains and many soldiers were wounded, forcing the Spaniards to retreat a kilometer away from the town to await the arrival of Gen. Monet and his men. Even with the reinforcements, the Spaniards were overly cautious in attacking the insurgents. When they did so the next day, they found the town already abandoned by the rebels who had gone back to Biac-na-Bato. Filipino casualties numbered 8 dead and 10 wounded.

Gen. Natividad and Col. Manuel Tinio shifted to guerrilla warfare. The following October with full force they attacked San Rafael, Bulacan to get much-needed provisions for Biac-na-Bato. The battle lasted several days and, after getting what they came for, they left a detachment in Bo. Kaingin to hold back the Spanish reinforcements from Baliwag, Bulacan. To divert Spanish forces from Nueva Ecija, Natividad and Tinio attacked Tayug, Pangasinan on Oct. 4, 1897, occupying the church in the heart of the poblacion.

Meanwhile, peace negotiations continued and in October Aguinaldo gathered together his generals to convene a constitutional assembly. On Nov. 1, 1897 the Constitution was unanimously approved and on that day the Biac-na-Bato Republic was established.

However, Gen. Natividad, who believed in the revolution, opposed the peace negotiations and continued to fight indefatigably from Biac-na-Bato. On Nov. 9, while leading a force of 200 men with Gen. Pío del Pilar and Col. Ignacio Paua, Natividad was killed in action in Entablado, Cabiao. Col. Manuel Tinio brought the corpse back to the general’s grieving wife in Biac-na-Bato. (Incidentally, Gen. Natividad’s widow, Trinidad, was the daughter of Casimiro Tinio–”Capitan Berong”.) With the death of the army’s commanding general, Col. Manuel Tinio was commissioned Brigadier General and designated as commanding general of operations on Nov. 20, 1897. Gen. Tinio, all of 20 years, became the youngest general of the Philippine Revolutionary Army. (Gregorio del Pilar, already 22, was only a Lt. Colonel at that time.)

On Dec. 20, 1897, the Pact of the Biac-na-Bato was ratified by the Assembly of Representatives. In accordance with the terms of the peace pact, Aguinaldo went to Sual, Pangasinan, where he and 26 members of the revolutionary government boarded a steamer to go into voluntary exile in Hongkong. The Novo-Ecijanos in the group were Manuel Tinio, Mariano and Eduardo Llanera, Benito and Joaquin Natividad, all signatories of the Constitution.

In Hongkong, the exiles agreed among themselves to live as a community and spend only the interest of the initial P400,000 the Spanish Government had paid in accordance with the Pact of the Biac-na-Bato. The principal was to be used for the purchase of arms for the continuation of the revolution at a future time. The Artacho faction, however, wanted to divide the funds of the Revolution among themselves. The Novo-Ecijanos did not vote with the opportunist Artacho ‘faction’, and, being relatively well off, thanks to a relative who provided them with funds (Trinidad Tinio vda. de Natividad), “they got a house where they lived like a republic”, as they said.

Would history have been different if the Spanish authorities had not reneged on the terms of the Pact and withheld the amount of P900,000 which was supposed to have been divided among non-combatants who had suffered in the fighting? Thus shortchanged, considering themselves no longer honor bound to lay down arms, the revolutionists rose again. Once again fighting broke out all over Luzon. In Nueva Ecija, the rebels captured the towns again one by one.

But American intervention was on the way. As early as February 1898 an American naval squadron had steamed into Manila Bay. On May 1, less than a week after the declaration of the Spanish–American War, the American naval squadron completely destroyed the Spanish fleet. Admiral Dewey of the United States of America immediately dispatched the revenue cutter “McCulloch” to Hongkong to fetch Aguinaldo, who returned to the Philippines on May 19. On May 21 Aguinaldo issued a proclamation asking the nation to rally behind him in a second attempt to obtain independence. Revolutionary leaders promptly stepped up their raids and ambuscades on Spanish garrisons in Central Luzon, capturing more than 5,000 prisoners. By the end of May, the whole of central and southern Luzon, except Manila, was practically in Filipino hands. Aguinaldo promptly established a Dictatorial Government on May 24, with himself as Supremo (supreme commander) and proclaimed Philippine Independence on June 12, 1898. Apolinario Mabini, however, prevailed upon Aguinaldo to decree the establishment of a Revolutionary Government on June 23.

Manuel Tinio and the rest of the revolutionists in Hongkong sailed for Cavite on June 6 on board the 60-ton contraband boat “Kwan Hoi” to join their Filipino leader. Upon his arrival in Cavite, Tinio was instructed to organize an expeditionary force to wrest the Ilocano provinces from Spanish hands. Thus would start the thrust into the North and its conquest by Novo-Ecijano General Manuel Tinio. First, he retrieved from Hagonoy, Bulacan 300 Mauser and Remington rifles that had been captured from the Spaniards and stored in that town. He then took the steamer to San Isidro, Nueva Ecija. Upon his arrival on June 13 he immediately set up 3 companies of 108 men each under the commands of Captains Joaquin Alejandrino, Jose Tombo and 1st Lt. Joaquin Natividad who was given overall command. All the officers were Novo-Ecijanos, except for Celerino Mangahas who hailed from Paombong, Bulacan.

On July 7, 1898 Aguinaldo reorganized the provincial government of Nueva Ecija and appointed Felino Cajucom as governor. The province was divided into four military zones:

• Zone 1 under Gen. Mariano Llanera with Gen. Tinio as deputy covered the towns of San Isidro, San Antonio, Jaén, Gapan and Peñaranda;
• Zone 2 under Pablo Padilla and Angelo San Pedro covered the towns of Cabanatuan, San Leonardo, Sta. Rosa, Sto. Domingo and Talavera;
• Zone 3 under Delfin Esquivel and Ambrosio Esteban covered the towns of Aliaga, Licab, Zaragoza, San Jose, San Juan de Guimba and Cuyapo;
• Zone 4 under Manuel Natividad and Francisco Nuñez covered the towns of Rosales, Nampicuan, Umingan, Balungao and San Quintin.

On June 19, Gen. Tinio and his men proceeded to Pangasinan to assist Gen. Makabulos in the siege of Dagupan which was the most important of the three Spanish strongholds in the North at that time, the others being Tarlac, Tarlac and San Fernando, La Union. Dagupan was held by the Spaniards under the command of Col. Federico J. Ceballos. In Dagupan, Gen. Tinio met the force of Lt. Col. Casimiro Tinio, composed of Captains Feliciano Ramoso and Pascual Tinio, Lt. Severo Ortega, several other officers, and 300 Novo-Ecijano soldiers. Gen. Makabulos, who had taken over the Central Luzon Command the previous April, was optimistic that he had the situation well in hand and allowed Gen. Tinio and the combined Novo-Ecijano troops at Dagupan to proceed northward to liberate Ilocos from the Spaniards. This Ilocos Expeditionary Force would become the nucleus of the future Tinio Brigade.

The Novo-Ecijano troops, now over 600 strong, reached San Fernando, on July 22, the day that Dagupan surrendered to Gen. Makabulos. They found the capital of La Union already besieged by revolutionists under the command of Gen. Mauro Ortiz. The Spaniards, under the command of Col. Jose Garcia Herrero, were entrenched in the convent, the Casa Tribunal and the provincial jail and were waiting for succour. Gen. Tinio wanted a ceasefire and sent for Col. Ceballos in Dagupan to mediate a peaceful capitulation of the San Fernando garrison. But despite news that the Spaniards had already surrendered Central Luzon to the Revolutionists and the pleadings of Col. Ceballos, the besieged Spaniards refused to capitulate. On the morning of the eighth day, July 31, Gen. Tinio ordered the assault of the convent from the adjoining church. At a cost of 5 lives and 3 wounded, Capt. Alejandrino’s company occupied the kitchen and cut the water supply in the aljibe or cistern under the azotea, the terrace beside the kitchen. At 4 p.m. a 4″-cannon taken from the gunboat “Callao” moored in the harbor was fired against the left side of the convent. The deafening blast frightened the Spaniards who immediately called for a ceasefire and flew the white flag. Alejandrino received the saber of Lt. Col. Herrero as a token of surrender. 400 men, 8 officers, 377 rifles, 3 cannons and P 12,000 in government silver were turned over. Upon seeing his captors, the Spanish commander wept in rage and humiliation, for many of the Filipino officers and men were but mere youths. Gen. Tinio himself had just turned 21 the previous month!

From San Fernando the Tinio Brigade and its prisoners marched on to Balaoan, where they met stubborn resistance from the enemy who were again entrenched in the convent. The siege lasted for five days, and, despite the support of the populace, resulted in the deaths of more than 70 Filipinos, mostly townspeople. Camilo Osías, a witness to the event, wrote in his memoirs that after the siege, the Balaoan katipuneros were inducted en masse into the ranks of the Tinio Brigade. Meanwhile, the company of Capt. Alejandrino, dispatched earlier by Gen. Tinio to reconnoiter and clear the neighboring commandancia or military district of Benguet, had met no opposition for the small force of cazadores in La Trinidad had fled to Bontoc upon learning of their approach. Alejandrino immediately turned back and rejoined Gen. Tinio.

From Balaoan, the rebels marched on to Bangar, the northernmost town of La Union, where they laid siege to the Spaniards holed up, again, in the convent. They won a victory on Aug. 7 after four days of fighting at a cost of 2 casualties. 87 Spaniards surrendered in Bangar.

The Tinio Brigade then crossed the mighty Amburayan River that divides the province of La Union from Ilocos Sur. The colonial force occupying the strategic heights on the opposite bank was the last obstacle to Tinio’s advance to Vigan. Tinio stormed their positions, causing the enemy to withdraw to Tagudin,^[5]:250 the first town of Ilocos Sur. There, the Spaniards consolidated all the available forces they could muster (1,500 men according to one source)^[5]:250 and prepared to make a stand in the convent and surrounding buildings. However, their spirited defense the first three days turned into a rout, when the native volunteers in the Spanish army deserted their units to fight with the rebels. The Brigade suffered no casualties in that siege. The Spaniards fled north, but were intercepted in Sta. Lucia, Ilocos Sur by Ilocano and Abra revolutionists under Gen. Isabelo Abaya.

The Tinio Brigade, now over 2,000 strong, marched northward and encountered the Ilocano patriots in Sabuanan, Sta. Lucia. The latter escorted them to Candon, whose inhabitants jubilantly received the conquerors.

There, Isabelo Abaya, a native of the place and the initiator of the revolution in Ilocos, was given a regular rank of Captain of Infantry in the Tinio Brigade.

On August 13, 1898, the same day that the Spaniards surrendered Intramuros to the Americans, Gen. Tinio entered Vigan, the capital of Ilocos Sur and the citadel of Spanish power in the North.^[5]:251 He found the capital already in rebel hands. Gov. Enrique Polo de Lara, newly appointed Spanish governor of both Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur, had fled to Laoag, the capital of Ilocos Norte, with all the resident Spaniards of Vigan. There he spent five days at the beach of Diriqui, loading the civilians and friars, including Bishop Campomanes, on boats which would hazard the rough weather for the journey to Aparri. He then ordered the troops under Col. Mariano Arques, district commander of the Civil Guards and Jefe de Linea in Ilocos, to take the coastal road to Aparri, Cagayan.

Upon his arrival in Vigan, Gen. Tinio had immediately launched a two-pronged movement to capture the Spaniards fleeing northward and those escaping into the interior.^[5]:251 He dispatched his brother, Casimiro, with a light cavalry column of 600 men to Ilocos Norte to pursue the fleeing enemy. Without encountering any opposition along the way, the Filipino column reached Laoag on August 17. They overtook some of the fleeing Spaniards at Bacarra, the next town, where, after exchanging a few token shots, more than 300 Spaniards surrendered. The Spaniards had heard of the humane treatment Gen. Tinio afforded prisoners and did not put up much of a fight.

Two companies were then dispatched to Bangui, the northernmost town of Ilocos Norte, and to Claveria, the first town in Cagayan. Capt. Vicente Salazar’s company pressed the northward pursuit with more tenacity, overtaking the enemy on the road to the Patapat Pass leading to Cagayan province. Right there and then, on August 22, Col. Arques and some 200 Spanish regulars, all tired and frustrated, surrendered almost willingly. In Patapat itself, the crack Regiment No. 70, composed of Ilocano and Visayan volunteers, stationed there to guard the pass, deserted their officers and joined the revolutionaries. The enemy was on the run, and even Aparri at the very end of Luzon was secured too by the detachment under the command of Col. Daniel Tirona.

Relentlessly, from Vigan, Capt. Alejandrino and 500 men, with Capt. Isabelo Abaya as guide, went to Bangued, Abra to track and capture the enemy who were retreating towards the rugged and mountainous interior towns of Cervantes, Lepanto and Bontoc. The Filipinos easily achieved their goal with only 3 casualties, the whole Ilocos and the Cordillera commandancias were now in Philippine hands.

Gen. Tinio is credited with capturing the most number of Spanish prisoners during the revolution, over 1.000 of them. The prisoners were brought to Vigan, their number later augmented by other prisoners sent over from the Cagayan Valley and Central Luzon during the last quarter of 1898. Gen. Tinio exercised both firmness and compassion in dealing with the prisoners. Fray Ulpiano Herrero y Sampedro, a Dominican who had been captured and sent over from Cavite, kept a journal of his 18-month imprisonment together with over a hundred other friars. He wrote that when they were imprisoned in Vigan, “Gen. Tinio wanted to improve the living conditions of the friar prisoners … sent us food, clothing, books, paper and writing implements.”

There was another group of prisoners. The revolucionarios’ anger against the friars extended even to their native mistresses, and these women were imprisoned in the girls’ school beside the Bishop’s Palace. Their properties were confiscated. One of the incarcerated women, a native of Sinait, had a 15-year-old daughter, Laureana Quijano, who pleaded with Gen. Tinio for her mother’s release and the restoration of their properties. The general, attracted to her beauty, forthwith acceded to her request, and then began to court her. Later, Laur, as she was called, also pleaded for the release of another prisoner, her mother’s first cousin, and introduced the daughter, Amelia Imperial Dancel. Again, the general gave in and released Amelia’s mother. Subsequently, Gen. Tinio also fell in love with Amelia.

Gen. Tinio set up his Command Headquarters in the Bishop’s Palace in Vigan. There he lived with 18 of his officers, all very young, mostly 16–20 years of age, the oldest being the 29-year-old Captain Pauil.

In accordance with Aguinaldo’s Dictatorial Decree of June 18, 1898 which set the guidelines for setting up a civil government in those towns liberated from the Spaniards, Gen. Tinio conducted elections for the whole region. First to be elected were the officials of each town. Under the revolutionary government, the mayor, instead of being called the capitan municipal, was now addressed as the presidente municipal. These mayors then elected the Provincial Governor and Board.

With the civil government in place, Gen. Tinio then reorganized the Tinio Brigade. The successful military exploits of the Brigada Tinio were heralded all over Luzon and attracted hundreds of volunteers. The Brigade swelled to over 3,400 men, with scores of officers and more than 1,000 non-commissioned officers and soldiers coming from Nueva Ecija. The rest consisted mostly of Ilocanos, Abreños, Igorots and Itnegs, with a few Bulakeños, Bicolanos and Visayans. There were also some Spaniards in the group.

The Brigade garrisoned the entire western portion of Northern Luzon which included the four genuine Ilocano provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Abra and La Union, and also the comandancias of Amburayan, Lepanto-Bontoc and Benguet. Gen. Tinio divided this territory into 3 zones, each under a military commander who commanded a regiment, as follows:

Zone 1 under Lt. Col. Casimiro Tinio covered La Union, Benguet and Amburayan;

Zone 2 under Lt. Col. Blas Villamor covered Southern Ilocos Sur from Tagudin to Bantay, Abra and Lepanto-Bontoc;

Zone 3 under Lt. Col. Irineo de Guzman covered Northern Ilocos Sur from Sto. Domingo to Sinait and Ilocos Norte.

Captains Vicente Salazar, Jose Tombo and Juan Villamor were the deputy commanders.

The establishment of the civil and military government in the Ilocos brought 15 months of peace in the region. The young general and his officers became social denizens sought after and regally entertained by the people. Being young, they caught the eyes of pretty señoritas of the best families in the region. The dashing Manuel Tinio, rich, handsome and a bachelor to boot, seized the moment with the many belles of Ilocandia. He was unforgettably charming and popular. In the 1950s, women reminiscing about their youth, and the Tinios, would look up and sigh, “how handsome they were.” A grandmother from Ilocos Norte living in Baguio City could still passionately say in the 1960s, “all the ladies in the province were in love with the general.” An old maid in Vigan proudly recalled in her twilight years of the 1970s the dashing general’s visits every Friday afternoon when she was 14.

With the Ilocos in stable condition, Gen. Tinio then went to Malolos to report to Gen. Aguinaldo and upon the request of Felipe Buencamino, Minister of Finance, turned over P120,000 that had been contributed by the citizens of Vigan. During his visit, everyone, particularly his fellow generals, admired and congratulated Gen. Tinio for having the largest and best-equipped army in the country!

In October 1898 Gen. Tinio received his appointment as Military Governor of the Ilocos provinces and Commanding General of all Filipino forces in Northern Luzon. His army was formally integrated as an armed unit of the Republic. Thus he became one of only four regional commanders in the Republican Army!

Upon his return to Vigan, Gen. Tinio marshalled his troops, all well equipped and completely in uniform. He assembled them in the town’s main Plaza and made them swear to defend the new Republic with their lives. The next month, on Nov. 11, 1898 Manuel Tinio was appointed Brigadier General of Infantry.

Group showing General Manuel Tinio (seated, center), General Benito Natividad (seated, 2nd from right), Lt. Col. Jose Alejandrino (seated, 2nd from left), and their aides-de-camp.

A shot fired at a Filipino in Sociego Street, Sta. Mesa District in the suburbs of Manila on February 4, 1899 triggered the Philippine–American War. (Contrary to popular belief that prevailed for over a century, the first shot of the Philippine–American War was not fired on San Juan bridge but on Sociego Street in Santa Mesa district, Manila. The Philippines’ National Historical Institute (NHI) recognized this fact through Board Resolution 7 Series of 2003. On Feb. 4, 2004 the marker on the bridge was removed and transferred to a site at the corner of Sociego and Silencio streets.) Soon after, when war with the Americans seemed imminent, Col. Casimiro Tinio and most of the Tagalog troops in the Tinio Brigade were sent back to Nueva Ecija. When the conflict became critical in Central Luzon, all the soldiers in the Brigade who had seen service in the Spanish army were ordered to report to the Luna Division.

The inactivity of the Tinio Brigade during the period of peace in the Ilocos region spawned problems. Boredom led to in-fighting among the soldiers and the perpetration of some abuses. Gen. Tinio adhered to his principles of discipline among his troops, even imprisoning Col. Estanislao de los Reyes, his personal aide-de-camp, who had slapped a fellow officer in an effort to rectify the situation, Tinio asked Gen. Aguinaldo for the assignment of his forces to the frontlines of the new battle at hand, but Aguinaldo paid no heed to Tinio’s request.

Ever keen in foresight and strategy, anticipating an invasion by the American aggressors, Gen. Tinio ordered the construction of 636 trenches, well designed and strategically placed for cross fire, to protect the principal roads and ports and to guard the entire coastline from Rosario, La Union to Cape Bojeador in Ilocos Norte.

At the start of the Philippine–American War, Gen. Tinio’s forces were 1,904 strong, with 68 officers, 200 sandatahanes or bolomen, 284 armorers, 37 medics, 22 telegraphers, 80 cavalrymen, 105 artillerymen and 2 Spanish engineers. (By April 1899, this would be reduced to 1,789 officers and men.)

On May 18, 1899, six months before his forces began battling the American invaders, he married Laureana Quijano.

On June 5, 1899 members of the Kawit Battalion assassinated Gen. Antonio Luna, the commanding general of the republican army. His death in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija created a lot of antipathy against the Tagalogs, particularly in Ilocos Norte, where Luna hailed from. The Luna assassination, however, did not diminish the love and admiration of the Ilocanos for Gen. Tinio, who referred to the former as ‘my Ilocanos’. Luna’s death resulted in a cooling off in Tinio’s attitude towards Aguinaldo. Tinio, however, never failed to obey the orders of his superior and never made a comment on the deaths of Bonifacio or Luna. Whenever he was asked, he would shrug his shoulders and say, “answering the question would mean a betrayal of my superior.”

Less than two weeks later, on the occasion of his 22nd birthday, delegations from the entire region congregated in the capital to give him an asalto or dawn serenade in the main plaza of Vigan. One of the highlights of the day-long festivities, which included a royal feast and a grand ball, was the dedication of a birthday hymn specially written for him, set to music and sung by the populace.

Towards the end of June, Aguinaldo recalled Gen. Tinio by telegram and ordered him to help in the reorganization of the forces in Nueva Ecija. In his place, Brigadier Gen. Benito Natividad, recently promoted (at age 24) and on leave because of wounds sustained in the Battle of Calumpit, Bulacan, took over as temporary commander of the Ilocos provinces.

Gen. Tinio, seeing the handwriting on the wall, began taking private English lessons from David Arnold, an American captive who had come over to the Filipino side. In anticipation of the coming of the Americans, he began the construction of a formidable bank of defenses in Tangadan Pass between Narvacan, Ilocos Sur and Bangued, Abra.

Late in September, Gen. Tinio and his northern army were finally called to the front line to guard the beaches of Pangasinan and La Union. The Brigade was diminished in size when Gen. Tinio marched with his general staff and several battalions to Bayambang, Pangasinan to cover President Aguinaldo’s retreat while the others were sent to Zambales under Col. Alejandrino.

Gen. Benito Natividad stayed behind as post commander in Vigan with some officers and 50 riflemen, 20 others in Bangued and a few others scattered in neighboring towns. They were the only armed forces that guarded the whole Ilocos region! At that time, there were 4,000 Spanish prisoners of war (including 1 general) and 26 Americans being held in Vigan, Bangued and Laoag, where the military hospitals were located. More than half of the prisoners had been sent from Central Luzon at the height of the hostilities. Despite their great number, the prisoners did not rise up against their guards, because, on instructions of Gen. Tinio, they were well fed and nicely treated. As early as June, American prisoners had begun arriving from the battlefields of Central Luzon. Among them were Navy Lt. Gillmore and the war correspondent Albert Sonnichsen.^{[5]:382–383} Gen. Tinio’s humane treatment of prisoners was legendary. Sonnichsen wrote:

“. . while in Vigan, Tinio learned that the captive friars were living well on money sent from Manila, while the poor Cazadores were obliged to subsist on their meager rations (as prisoners of war). Before they could hide it, the young Tagalog had their money seized and, having all the soldier prisoners assembled in the plaza, he divided the pesos of the friars equally among them, the Cazadores cheering the Tagalog General lustily.”^[5]:252

Having abandoned his last capital in Tarlac, Tarlac, Pres. Aguinaldo decided to retreat to the north and went to Bayambang, Pangasinan. Unknown to him, the Americans had planned a pincer-like movement in the overall battle plan to cut off his northward escape route and capture him.

On November 7, the Americans bombarded San Fabian, Pangasinan and the 33rd Infantry landed, including a battalion commanded by Col. Luther R. Hare, an old cavalryman who had served 25 years before under Gen. Custer.^[6]:138 But on Nov. 11, on their way to San Jacinto, the next town, the invaders came across the entrenched forces of Gen. Tinio. Maj. John Alexander Logan, Jr and 8 American soldiers died in the fierce 3.5-hour battle that ensued, but the Americans, armed with a Gatling gun, claimed the lives of 134 Filipino soldiers, wounding 160 more.^{[6]:144–146}

On November 13 a national council of war held in Bayambang resolved to disband the Philippine Army and ordered the generals and their men to return to their own provinces and organize the people for general resistance by means of guerrilla warfare.^[6]:146 Gen. Aguinaldo divided the country into zones, each under a general. Gen. Tinio was designated regional commander of the Ilocos provinces. The following evening, Gen. Aguinaldo, accompanied by his family, the cabinet, their aides and the Kawit Battalion, left Bayambang by special train for Calasiao, only 15 kilometers away from American Headquarters!

On November 14, early in the morning, the presidential party struggled through the knee-deep mud of backwoods trails towards Sta. Barbara, where they met with the Mixto Battalion under Lt. Jose Joven and the Del Pilar Brigade. The column, now with 1,200 armed men, managed to reach the forests of Manaoag and proceeded to Pozorrubio, where the party was greeted by Gen. Tinio. The evening before, Maj. Samuel M. Swiggert’s pursuing squadron had caught up with part of the Tinio Brigade in Manaoag, but on the morning of the 14th, failed to pursue Aguinaldo at Pozorrubio.^[6]:147

Aguinaldo spent the night in Pozorrubio and was unaware of the proximity of the enemy. He only came to know about it when Gen. Tinio informed him that the Americans were in pursuit. The presidential party hurriedly left for Rosario, La Union, and then for Bauang. Fortunately, the encounters with the Tinio Brigade had delayed the American pincer movements and, by the time these closed, Aguinaldo was already far in the north.

On Nov. 18, 1899 Gen. Samuel B. M. Young with 80 men of the 3rd Cavalry plus 300 native scouts, made a forced march north through Pangasinan in pursuit of Aguinaldo.^[6]:151 Ahead of them was Gen. Tinio, who caught up with Gen. Aguinaldo in Bauang, La Union on the 19th. The following day Gen. Tinio, upon Aguinaldo’s orders, accompanied Col. Simeon Villa to San Fernando, La Union, where most of Tinio’s troops were helping the townspeople with the rice harvest. Young’s troops made a surprise raid on the town at 3 in the morning, and, recognizing Tinio and Villa, pursued them. Luckily the two were able to flee into the mountains on foot and to make their way to San Juan, the next town. Gen. Tinio reassembled his men in San Juan and, in an orderly manner, marched with their wounded to Narvacan, only a day or two ahead of the pursuing Gen. Young. Tinio then set up his command headquarters in San Quintin, Abra and sent the wounded further ahead to the military hospital in Bangued.

On Nov. 26, 1899, Vigan became the hottest spot as the American battleship ‘Oregon’ and the former Spanish gunboats ‘Callao’ and ‘Samar’ anchored off it and started shelling Caoayan, Ilocos Sur.^[6]:131 Vigan was immediately evacuated on orders of post commander Gen. Benito Natividad. The prisoners, both Spanish and American, together with his meager troops moved on to Abra and Bangued as early as Sept.^[6]:120 When the Americans landed the following day, led by Commander McCracken and Lt. Col. James Parker, there were no Filipino soldiers in Vigan.^[5]:358 A few days later, 225 American troops, mostly Texas volunteers forming a battalion of the 33rd Infantry under Major Peyton C. March,^[6]:153 arrived from San Fabian, took up residence in the Archbishop’s Palace and stored their ammunition and supplies in the adjoining girls’ school.

On Nov. 27, the day the Americans occupied Vigan, Gen. Tinio sent orders for all active soldiers of the Brigade to concentrate along the shores of the Abra River towns of San Quintin, Piddigan and Bangued, beyond the Tangadan Pass. Gen. Young, who was chasing them relentlessly; had reached Candon on the 28th and, from seized documents, discovered that he was no longer trailing the enemy, but was right in their midst! He also learned that Aguinaldo was at Angaki, 25 km. away to the southeast, while Tinio was up north some 40 km. away.^[6]:153 Young realized immediately that Gen. Tinio’s purpose in taking his forces to the north was, as he phrased it, “to lead us away from following Aguinaldo.” Unsure whether he should pursue Aguinaldo or go after Tinio, the decision was made for him when a battalion of the 34th Volunteer Infantry arrived under Lt. Col. Robert Howze. They had been sent by Gen. Arthur MacArthur to reinforce Gen. Young’s northern column.^[6]:154 Forthwith, March’s battalion was sent in pursuit of Aguinaldo through Tirad Pass, while the bigger part of Young’s army, with Howze’s battalion, marched towards Tangadan Pass in an attempt to destroy the Tinio Battalion, the last remaining army of the Republic.^[6]:156

From San Quentin, General Tinio ordered 400 riflemen and bolomen, led by Capt. Alejandrino, went down the Mestizo River in bancas and spread out on both sides of the plaza of Vigan.^[6]:163 Just before 4 AM on 4 Dec., some of the attackers in the dark streets were challenged by an American patrol who then gave the alarm to the 250 Americans in the city.^[6]:163 Although Filipino snipers were already in position in the buildings around the plaza, in the ensuing 4-hour battle at close range they were no match for the legendary Texas marksmanship and the inexhaustible supply of American ammunition. The rebels were routed, leaving over 40 dead and 32 captured, while 8 Americans were killed.^[6]:165 The survivors fled to Tangadan.

By 3 Dec. 1899, Gen. Young and Lt. Col. Howze were at Tangadan Pass with his 260 men.^[6]:165 The pass was defended by 1,060 men under Lt. Col. Blas Villamor, Tinio’s chielf of staff, in trench works constructed over the last year with the assistance of Spanish engineers.^[6]:162 The Americans successfully scaled the steep, 200-foot cliffs flanking the entrenchments to gain a vantage position.^{[6]:168–169} The final assault came in the evening of Dec. 4, added by the arrival of Col. Luther Hare’s 270 men from the 33rd Infantry.^{[6]:168–169} Outflanked and outnumbered, Lt. Col. Villamor decided to save his men from carnage, and retreated, abandoning rifles and ammunition, and after losing 35 killed and 80 wounded to the American loss of 2 killed and 13 wounded.^[6]:170Thus ended the Battle of Tangadan Pass.

Tinio, however, earned the admiration of Col. Howze who wrote glowingly on the Vauban-type Tangadan defenses:

“The trenches captured are the best field trenches that have ever come under my observation. They terrace the mountainside, cover the valley below in all directions, and thoroughly control the road for a distance of 3 miles. They are permanent in nature, with perfect approaches, bomb-proofs, living sheds, etc., with shapes and revetments sodded and supported by timbers. The complete terrace of trenches number 10 in all, well connected for support, defense and retreat.”

Gen. Young reported on the bravery of General Tinio and his men, that at the Battle of Tangadan,

“Some of their officers exposed themselves very gallantly on the parapets during heavy firing.”

The day after the Battle of Tangadan, December 5, the pursuing Americans invaded Tinio’s headquarters in San Quintin, five kilometers away from the pass.^[6]:171 They continued upstream on the Abra River to Pidigan and Bangued, liberating 1,500 starving Spaniards, on 6 Dec.^{[6]:171, 173} The American prisoners and the Spanish general had been sent ahead to Ilocos Norte by Gen. Tinio for strategic reasons, with orders for them to be shot rather than be rescued by the Americans.^[6]:172 But the capture of Bangued was a major setback for the Filipinos, because the Brigade arsenal was located there. Three tons of sheet brass, two tons of lead, as well as supplies of powder, saltpeter and sulphur were found by the Americans. General Benito Natvidad joined General Tinio at Tayum.^[6]:193

The onslaught had started! Having captured Bangued, Gen. Young re-armed at Vigan and within a week made unopposed landings in Ilocos Norte at Pasuquin, Laoag and Bangui. He sent cavalry north from Vigan, destroying trenches and defense works around Magsingal, Sinait, Cabugao and Badoc.

Meanwhile, the rescue of the American prisoners from Bangued became the task of Col. Hare’s 220 men of the 33rd Infantry and Col. Howze’s 130 men of the 34th Infantry.^[6]:172

In Abra, Gen. Tub had been roaming the farms disguised as a rich planter on a white horse. In this way he made regular daily visits to the various American outposts to chat with the enemy soldiers. He even went so far as to invite them to his house in Bangued for dinner. After gathering all the information that he could, Tinio went back to the hills each day to instruct his men on what to do that night. Unfortunately, one day his photograph was circulated among the Americans and the daring general had no choice but to take to the hills with Col. Hare and a picked group trailing him!

Howze caught up with the Brigade’s baggage train in Danglas on 8 Dec.^[6]:182 and 750 more Spanish prisoners on 10 Dec. at Dingras^[6]:188 This last group included General Leopoldo Garcia Pena, former commander of Cavite province.^[6]:188 Hare’s column joined Howze at Maananteng, where they sent the freed Spanish and Chinese prisoners on to Laoag, and the remaining force of 151 men continued the pursuit into the Cordilleras on 13 Dec.^{[6]:189–192}

When Gen. Tinio realized that the Americans were exerting all efforts to surround him, he had the American prisoners conducted to Cabugaoan in Apayao country as a diversion, spreading false rumors that he was with the group. (He had, in fact, on Dec. 12, though surrounded by the Americans in Solsona, Ilocos Norte, near the boundary of Apayao, managed to elude them dressed as a peasant woman.)^[6]:189

After days of marching in the wild Cordillera Mountains, the Americans finally caught up with the abandoned prisoners on Dec.18 at the headwaters of the Apayao-Abulug River, having been abandoned by their Filipino guards in Isneg territory.^{[6]:207–208} On crudely constructed rafts, the Americans eventually reached the coast in Abulug, Cagayan, on 2 Jan. 1900, where the footsore and weary soldiers found the USS Princeton and USS Venus waiting to take them back to Vigan and Manila.^[6]:217

Gen. Tinio spent the next couple of months in the mountains of Solsona, where he began fortifying the peak of Mt. Bimmauya, east of Lapog. It was also in the remote headwaters of the Bical River above Lapog that an arsenal had been set up to replace that captured at Bangued. This operated for a year. Rifles were repaired, cartridges refilled, gunpowder and homemade hand guns (paltik) manufactured with real feats of mechanical ingenuity. Twenty to thirty silversmiths and laborers could fashion 30-50 cartridges a day by hand!

The defenses constructed by Gen. Tinio were similar to those that he had put up in Tangadan the year before, but, having learned his lesson, he situated the defenses on a peak that Lt. J. C. Castner described as follows:

“one of the principal peaks (is) on the coast range of northwestern Luzon. Its altitude is between 2,500 and 3,000 feet above the Rio Cabugao that washes its western shore. By reason of standing more to the westward than its immediate neighbors and being bare of timber, it affords a view of the entire coastal plain from Vigan on the South to Laoag on the north. The lower part of Monte Bimmauya is wooded, but the upper three-fourths is bare of trees and bush, and, in certain places, even the grass has been burned off by the insurgents. Consequently, there is no cover for attacking troops ascending the western spur of the mountain. The slopes of the upper portion make angles of from 45-60 degrees with the horizon. The only trail in existence or even possible on this western spur… is so narrow that it is what is known among geographers as a ‘knife-edge’, hence the only formation admissible was a column of files, two men not being able to march abreast. The ascent is so steep and the footing so insecure that one has to watch continually where he plants his feet to avoid precipitation down the precipice-like slopes on either side.”

New Year’s Day 1900 signaled the outburst of guerilla warfare throughout the Ilocos region. On that day, Gen. Tinio engaged in a skirmish with American forces at Malabita, San Fernando, La Union. The disconcerted Gen. Young ordered daily patrols by all his units “to settle this insurgent business with the least possible delay.” The following day, he requested another battalion of veterans with which he promised “to drive these outlaws out or kill them and settle the savages before letting up.” The day after that he repeated the request:

“My belief is that by keeping up a constant hunt after these murderers, thieves and robbers, the country can be cleared of them within two months.” Needless to say, he did not receive any reinforcements, because he already had 3,500 men, more than thrice the number of Tinio’s troops!

On January 13 the Americans intercepted an order from Gen. Tinio to execute all Filipinos who surrender to the enemy.

The following day, January 14. the only artillery duel of the Fil-American War was fought in Bimmuaya between the Republicans and the combined forces of Maj. Steever and Lt. Col. Howze. The barrage lasted from noon until sundown. Despite holding the ‘strongest position in Luzon’, as Steever believed the Bimmuaya stronghold to be, the Filipinos, with their paltry stock of rifles and ammunition, succumbed in less than 24 hours to the mighty American forces. Steever’s two Maxim guns dominated the show. Although the Americans halted their fire at sunset, the Filipinos kept up desultory fire until midnight. The next day the Americans discovered that it was just to cover the withdrawal of Gen. Tinio and his men!

After the Battle of Bimmuaya, Gen. Tinio’s guerrilla forces continuously fought and harassed the American garrisons in the different towns of Ilocos for almost 1½ years. His command was probably the first to initiate guerrilla activities in Luzon in accordance with the Aguinaldo’s official proclamation at Bayambang on Nov. 12, 1899. Once again, he reorganized the Tinio Brigade, now greatly reduced by the casualties sustained in San Jacinto, Manaoag and other places. Discarding its inter-provincial designation of units, he reformed his forces as a guerrilla organization with overlapping territories and troops, Ilocos Sur being shared by other Ilocano provinces. The military commands came to be known as:

· Ilocos Norte-Vigan Line covering the province of Ilocos Norte south to northern Ilocos Sur down to Vigan, · Abra-Candon Line under Lt.-Col. Juan Villamor which covered the Province of Abra and Ilocos Sur south of Vigan down to Candon · La Union-Sta. Cruz Line covering the province of La Union north to southern Ilocos Sur as far as Sta. Cruz.

The battalion commanders came to be known as Jefes de Linea, while the company commanders were now called Jefes de Guerrilla. Companies of riflemen became numbered units of guerrillas, each ranging from 50-100 soldiers, depending on the number of fighters a unit could arm and equip. These troops were then divided further into destacamentos or detachments of 20 men, more or less, under a subaltern officer. These bands were virtually independent of each other in their operations. But they could function occasionally as a unit on rare instances of mass assaults, as in the raids on Laoag on April, Bangued in June and Candon in February 1901.

Col. Bias Villamor, now 2nd in command as a result of his good showing in the Pangasinan campaigns, gave the full count of the Tinio Brigade in January 1900 at 1,062 men, 64 of them officers. The high proportion of officers to men was due to the nature of guerrilla warfare with its small separate units and flying columns of 20-30 men that strike at their chosen times and places. The majority of the officers were Novo-Ecijanos and veterans of earlier campaigns, some even from the Revolution of 1896!

The use of guerrilla tactics by the Filipinos resulted in more American losses than they had previous to Nov. 14, 1899. The never-ending guerrilla raids forced Gen. Young to start garrisoning the towns, setting up 15 of them in January, 4 in March and a total of 36 by April. Detachments varied in size from 50 in San Quintin, 200 in Sinait to 1,000 in Cabugao and Candon. These garrison troops were under fire in one place or another for the next 18 months. Cabugao alone was attacked every Sunday for 7 consecutive weeks! Ambuscades of American patrols became almost a daily occurrence and resulted in so many casualties for the invaders, that by March 1900, no patrols were sent out unless they were 40-50 strong! Gen. Arthur MacArthur, in an official report, stated that:

“The extensive distribution of troops has strained the soldiers of the army to the full limit of endurance. Each little command has had to provide its own service of security and information by never ceasing patrols, explorations, escorts, outposts and regular guards. . . In all things requiring endurance, fortitude and patient diligence, the guerilla period has been pre-eminent.”

The “secret weapon” of these attacks was the Ilocano people. The whole population was an espionage network and developed a warning system to apprise the revolutionists of approaching invaders. Even priests would tap church bells as a warning of approaching American patrols. Pvt. James Lyons, a prisoner in Tinio’s camp, reported that “runners came in every few minutes” with information. It seemed that the whole Ilocos was now engaged in war, with trade and agriculture virtually at a standstill!

Gen. Tinio’s raids were so sporadic and simultaneous that many, including the Americans, believed that Tinio had the power of bilocation, appearing in several places at the same time! His personal movements indicated an energetic contact with his forces – organizing, inspecting, consulting, encouraging or commanding in action, and constantly eluding his would-be captors. He was everywhere.

On 31 January, Gen. Tinio and his men had a skirmish on the Candon-Salcedo road with American troops. Fortunately they did not suffer any casualties.

The next day, February 1, Tinio, visited Sto. Domingo, unescorted and dressed as a farmer.

On February 9, he ambushed a troop of 7 cavalry in Sabang, Bacnotan, but withdrew when American reinforcements arrived.

On 16 February, from Bacnotan, he ordered Capt. Galicano Calvo to apprehend certain American spies.

On February 19, he ambushed an enemy patrol in Kaguman and captured the equipment.

On February 26, he ambushed an American convoy between San Juan and Bacnotan, together with their supplies of food, medicine, shoes, mules, etc.

On March 5 the next month, he surprised and routed an American camp in San Francisco, Balaoan, capturing all the equipment. He then went north to Magsingal, but left the next day on an inspection trip.

On the 8th, a surprise search for him in Sto. Domingo and San Ildefonso was frustrated by warnings of church bells.

On the 10th, he issued a warning to the Mayor of Candon, prompting the American command there to request for a picture of Gen. Tinio.

On the 14th, while holding a meeting in Bacnotan, he was surprised by an American patrol. Fortunately, a troop of Filipino cavalry arrived, and, with the support of two guns in the house, the Filipinos were able to repulse the attackers and enable Tinio to escape.

Two days after, on the 16th, Tinio met with Mayor Almeida in Bacsayan, Bacnotan.

On March 29, Gen. Tinio and his escort had a skirmish with an American patrol and routed them. An escaping American was drowned in the river between San Esteban and Sta. Maria.

In April, Tinio reported to Aguinaldo in Lubuagan, Kalinga and in May conferred with Aglipay in Badoc and fought a battle in Quiom, Batac, Ilocos Norte. He then moved on to Piddig, Ilocos Norte and, in June he set up a camp at a remote peak called Paguined on the Badoc River east of Sinait. The last was near his arsenal in Barbar.

All this incessant movement did not detract from his love life. Although he was already married, he continued his various liaisons, even going to the extent of bringing Amelia Dancel into the mountains of Ilocos Norte with him in July. American military reports even mention Amelia as his wife! In disguise, he once visited a maiden in enemy-occupied Vigan. The Americans, hearing that he was in town, began to make a house-to-house search, but were unable to find him, even when they searched his ladyfriend’s house. The woman had hidden him under the voluminous layers of her Maria Clara skirt! That was probably the narrowest escape he ever made! The incident became the talk of the town and was always cited whenever the name of Gen. Tinio came up. (The quick-thinking “heroine” lived until the 1970s.)

By November 1900, the number of American forces in the Ilocos had increased to 5,700 men—plus 300 mercenaries. The number of garrisons also rose to 59, spread thinly over 250 kilometers from Aringay, La Union to Cape Bojeador, Ilocos Norte. Earlier, mercenaries had been brought in from Macabebe, Pampanga and were stationed in Vigan, Sta. Maria, and San Esteban. These mercenaries started recruiting fellow Filipinos and by April numbered over 200, half of them Ilocanos and a quarter of them Tagalogs. Attached to regular occupation troops, these mercenaries caused significant damage to the nationalists by leading the enemy to hidden food supplies and inducing many defections. Because of this, Gen. Tinio issued a proclamation on March 20, 1900 as follows:

First and last article. The following shall be tried by summary court martial and sentenced to death:

• All local presidents and other civil authorities, both of towns and of the barrios, rancherias (settlements of Christianized tribesmen) and sitios or hamlets, of their respective jurisdictions, who do not give immediate notice of any plan, direction, movement or number of the enemy as soon as they learn of it.
• Those who, regardless of age or sex, reveal the location of the camp, stopping places, movements or direction of the revolutionaries to the enemy.
• Those who voluntarily offer to serve the enemy as guides, unless it be for the purpose of misleading them from the right road, and
• Those who, whether of their own free will or not, capture revolutionary soldiers who are alone, or persuade them to surrender to the enemy.

The insidious guerrilla war saw such rules and warnings proclaimed from both parties. The American commands in Ilocos Norte were ordered to warn barrio officials that those who did not report ‘insurgents’ immediately (meaning, within an hour for every 5 km. from the nearest American troops) would be considered insurgents themselves, and their barrios ‘absolutely destroyed’. Theft of telegraph wires or ambuscades of American patrols resulted in the nearest villages being burned and the inhabitants killed. When 200 m. of telegraph wire was destroyed in Piddigan, Abra, the Bangued command reported the next day that, “There is not a single building standing out of Piddigan.”

Gen. Tinio, on the other hand, ordered all the towns to aid the revolutionaries. Pasuquin, a town in Ilocos Norte, refused to cooperate with Filipino forces, so Tinio threatened to burn the town “at his leisure” and did so on Nov. 3, 1900.

On Dec. 21, Gen. Tinio issued a proclamation against crimes by military forces. On Christmas Day, Tinio, with Maj. Reyes and ten officers celebrated the holiday in Lemerig near Asilang, Lapog. On Holy Innocents’ Day, Dec. 28, the Americans made a surprise raid on Lemerig. Fortunately, the general and his officers managed to escape.

The first month of 1901 began inauspiciously with the capture of Gen. Tinio’s arsenal at Barbar on January 29, 1901.

The following month, on February 19, 1901, Brigadier Gen. James Franklin Bell came into the picture. Gen. Young turned over the command of the First District, Department of Northern Luzon to him. It is this General Bell who would later gain notoriety for his ‘re-concentration’ methods in the southern Tagalog provinces right after his stint in the North.

Determined to continue the same policy of repression, Gen. Bell, with an additional 1,000 men, ordered his forces to pursue, kill and wipe out the insurrectos. Food supplies were destroyed to prevent them from reaching the guerrillas. Inasmuch as the barrios were supplying rice from the recent harvests to the guerrillas, whole populations were evacuated to town centers within 10 days of notification. Noncompliance resulted in the burning of the whole barrio. Even some interior towns were completely evacuated, while others, like Magsingal and Lapog were surrounded by stockades to prevent the revolutionaries from infesting them.

On February 26, Gen. Tinio attacked the Americans fortified in the convent of Sta. Maria. It was his last attack against American forces.

The whole Ilocos was being laid waste and was in danger of starvation due to Gen. Bell’s iron fisted policies. The lack of supplies eventually forced hundreds of patriots to lay down their arms and return to their homes. By March the Brigade only had a few hundred soldiers left.

On March 25, 1901, the top brass of the Tinio Brigade met in a council of war at Sagap, Bangued. In this meeting, Generals Tinio and Natividad, the two Villamors and Lt. Colonels Alejandrino, Gutierrez and Salazar resolved that “the final action of the Tinio Brigade should depend upon the decision of the Honorable President.”

Unknown to them, Aguinaldo had been captured in Palanan, Isabela on March 23, 1901. When word of Aguinaldo’s surrender reached Gen. Tinio on April 3, he only had two command-rank subordinates remaining, his former classmates Joaquin Alejandrino and Vicente Salazar.

On April 19, 1901 Aguinaldo proclaimed an end to hostilities and urged his generals to surrender and lay down their arms. In compliance with Gen. Aguinaldo’s proclamation, Gen. Tinio sent Col. Salazar to Sinait under a flag of truce to discuss terms of surrender. The following day, Salazar was sent back with the peace terms. On April 29, 1901, Gen. Manuel Tinio, whom the American military historian, William T. Sexton, called “the soul of the insurrection in the Ilocos provinces of Northern Luzon” and “a general of a different stamp from the majority of the insurgent leaders”, surrendered. The following day, April 30, he signed the Oath of Allegiance. When Tinio handed his revolver to Gen. Bell as a token of surrender, the latter immediately returned it to him – a token of great respect. Gen. Tinio was only 23 years old!

The Americans suspended all hostilities on May 1 and printed Tinio’s appeal for peace on the Regimental press on the 5th. On May 9 he surrendered his arms together with Gen. Benito Natividad, thirty-six of his officers and 350 riflemen.

While the Americans boasted that they eliminated 5 insurrecto generals within a month, it took them 11/2 years and 7,000 men to ‘civilize’ Manuel Tinio y Bundoc, the Tagalog boy-general of the Ilocanos!

The significance attached to Gen. Tinio’s surrender by the Americans was felt throughout the country. Gen. MacArthur said that the little war in the Ilocos was the “most troublesome and perplexing military problem in all Luzon.” On May 5, as Military Governor of the Philippines, MacArthur issued General Order No. 89 releasing 1,000 Filipino prisoners of war “to specially signalize the recent surrender of Gen. Manuel Tinio and other prominent military leaders in the provinces of Abra and Ilocos Norte.” La Fraternidad, a Manila newspaper, happily reported, “The 1st of May is now for 2 reasons an important date in contemporary Philippine history – 1898, the destruction of the Spanish squadron in Cavite; 1901, the surrender of Generals Tinio and Natividad and the complete pacification of Northern Luzon.

Manuel Tinio, surprisingly, never suffered any injury during his entire military career even as he was known to stand up and face a barrage of artillery fire! He attributed this to an amulet, anting-anting, that he always wore and which he kept in a safe after the cessation of hostilities.

Upon his release, Manuel Tinio went back to Nueva Ecija to rehabilitate his neglected farms in present-day Licab, Sto. Domingo and Talavera. He lived in a camarin or barn together with all the farming paraphernalia and livestock. A typical hacendero, he was very paternalistic and caring, extending his protection, not only on his family, but also to his friends and supporters. His men even compared him to a ‘hen’.

As a family man, he was very protective of his daughters. Being family-oriented, he took in all the children of his deceased sisters and half sisters (from his father’s previous marriages) when their widowers eventually remarried or played around. He treated all his nephews and nieces as if they were his children, giving them the same education and privileges. This resulted in the extremely close family ties of the Tinio Family. He was very loving and fatherly and would entertain his children with stories of his campaigns. Perhaps because he never finished high school, he believed in a good education and, in 1920, sent his two eldest sons to the United States to study in Cornell University.

Manuel Tinio treated everyone equally, rich and poor alike, so everyone looked up to him and respected him. In fact, he paid more attention to the poor than to the rich, because, according to him, the poor had nothing but their pride and were, for that reason, more sensitive. When rich relatives came to visit, his children had but to kiss their hand in greeting, but when a poor relation came, they had to greet their kin in the same manner, but on bended knees – the highest form of respect in those days!.

All his tenants idolized Manuel Tinio, who was not an absentee landlord, but lived with them in the farm with hardly any amenities. However, he always kept a good table and had flocks of sheep and dovecotes in every property he owned, so that he could have his favorite caldereta and pastel de pichon anytime he wanted. He also enjoyed his brandy, finishing off daily a bottle of Tres Cepes by Domecq. Wherever he lived, he received a constant stream of visitors, relatives and friends. Many veterans of the Tinio Brigade, often coming from the Ilocos, invariably came to reminisce and ask for his assistance. Later, as Governor, he would help them settle in Nueva Ecija.

Although he was but a civilian, the prominence he earned as a revolutionary general and his immense network of social and familial alliances eventually became the nucleus of a political machine that he controlled until his death. An ardent nationalist, he fought against the federalists who wanted the Philippines to become an American state. He did not run for any position, but any candidate he endorsed was sure to win the position. Dr. Benedicto Adorable, one of the richest and most prominent men in Gapan, was so fanatically loyal that he often said, “I would vote for a dog if Gen. Tinio asked me to.” Of course, he was fanatically loyal because Gen. Tinio had saved him from a Spanish firing squad in 1896!

When Gov. Gen. Henry C. Ide lifted the ban on independence parties in 1906, the political parties with similar ideology merged into the present Nacionalista Party. Manuel Tinio always supported Sergio Osmeña, the leader of the party, throughout his political career. Even during the split between Osmeña and Quezon in 1922, Tinio remained loyal to the former. As the founder and leader of the Nacionalista Party in Nueva Ecija, Tinio stressed the significance of a unified party, emphasizing in every local party convention that the winner will be supported wholly by each party member. Any party member who won an election could serve only one term in office to give the other party members a chance. Should the incumbent seek re-election, Tinio advised his colleagues to support the choice of the convention. As a party leader, he did not want warring factions within the party, and exerted every effort to make rival groups come to terms. Thus, during his lifetime, the Nacionalista Party in Nueva Ecija was unified.

On July 15, 1907 Gov. Gen. James F. Smith appointed Manuel Tinio as Governor of the Province of Nueva Ecija, to serve the remainder of the 3-year term of Gov. Isauro Gabaldon, who had resigned to run as a candidate for the 1st National Assembly. Incidentally, one of the first major bills Assemblyman Gabaldon proposed was the establishment of a school in every town in the archipelago. The Gabaldon-type schoolhouses and Gabaldon town in Nueva Ecija are named after him. Gabaldon’s wife, Bernarda, was the eldest daughter of Casimiro Tinio.

Manuel Tinio’s first term as governor was marked by the return of peace and order to the province. William Cameron Forbes, Commissioner of Commerce and Police under both Gov.-Generals Wright and Smith, wrote of Tinio:

“…we picked up the new Governor of Nueva Ecija at San Isidro, the capital, General Tinio. He used to be a celebrated insurecto General and Governor Smith has just made him Governor.. . We have more robbery and murders here than almost anywhere, one leading band being continually on the move. General Tinio informed me that he had most of the band in jail already, his guns captured, and the robberies stopped, and the principal outstanding ladron (the only one that I know by name in the whole of Luzon) driven from his borders and over to Pangasinan. I talked busily on road building and maintenance to him for a couple of hours while we sped up to Cabanatuan and went up to call on the local officials..

An anecdote on Gov. Tinio’s bravery has him negotiating with a dreaded tulisan or bandit who held a family hostage for days, threatening to kill them if the constables, policemen, tried to rush him. Unarmed, Tinio went into the house, talked to the bandit and went out after 30 minutes with the bandit peacefully in tow.

Gov. Tinio also brought about agricultural expansion. His Governor’s report for the fiscal year 1907–1908 stated that the area of cultivated land increased by 15%. The following year, this was augmented by an additional 40%. These lands, which were settled by over 5,000 homesteaders, mostly Ilocanos, were in the towns of Bongabon (then including Rizal), Talavera, Sto. Domingo, Guimba (which still included Muñoz) and San Jose. The influx of settlers from the north explains why many people speak Ilocano in those towns today.

It was also during his term as Governor that his wife, Laureana, died. The Provincial Board then passed a resolution naming the town Laur, after her. Soon after, he married Maura Quijano, the younger sister of Laureana, who had accompanied her from Ilocos after Gen. Tinio’s surrender to the Americans.

Gen. Tinio ran for reelection under the Nacionalista Party in 1908 and won. But there were other things in store for him. His executive ability and decisiveness had not gone unnoticed by the Americans, especially by Forbes who had become Acting Gov. Gen. on May 8, 1909. Months before Forbes assumed the office,

“Manila was being troubled by a series of strikes generally fomented by the shamelessly corrupt labor leader Dominador Gomez, who was taking a cut out of sums levied as blackmail against major American firms. Gomez had been arrested for threats, and some of the other unions collapsed when Gov.-Gen. Smith had questioned the legality of the unions’ use of their funds.”

To help settle labor problems, Forbes set up the Bureau of Labor and asked Manuel Tinio to head it. Forthwith, Tinio resigned as Governor of Nueva Ecija and became the first Director of Labor on July 1, 1909, thereby becoming the first Filipino Bureau Director! He quickly solved the strikes. Three weeks later, Forbes welcomed Director Tinio to his staff meeting and wrote in his diary:

“He’s a good man, and Col. Bandholtz says he’s got Gomez scared to death… Gomez had tried Tinio to employ him, but Tinio refused: “Why pay you to do the work the Government is paying me to do?”

“In a short time the condition of labor and industry in the region about Manila was vastly improved. In general, it may be said that, as a result of Gen. Tinio’s management of the bureau, strikes ceased, laborers went their way contented, employees readily corrected abuses brought to their attention, and the (union) leaders fell back into their proper role of caring for and representing the laborers.”

Manuel Tinio eventually became a close friend of the aristocratic Forbes, whom he invited to hunting parties in Pantabangan. The latter liked Tinio’s company, even offering to give him a hectare of land along Session Road in Baguio, (newly developed by Forbes) so that Tinio could build a house there and keep him company whenever he went up to the cool mountain resort. Tinio did not accept the offer. Gov.-Gen. Forbes also wrote in his journal:

“Tinio later became a great friend of mine. I made him Director of Labor and I rated him as one of the best Filipinos in the Islands. In fact, from the point of view of staunchness of character, and good judgement, and other good qualities, I liked Tinio best of all and wanted to make him Commissioner [member of the Philippine Commission].”

Gov.-Gen. Francis Burton Harrison succeeded Gov. Forbes. His term was characterized by increased Filipinization of the insular bureaucracy, and he appointed Tinio as the first Filipino Director of Lands on October 17, 1913. It was while he was Director of the Bureau of Lands that cadastral surveys for each municipality began to be made, and the area now covered by the towns of Rizal, Llanera, Gen. Natividad, Laur, Lupao and Muñoz were subdivided into homesteads. In the largest wave of migration ever experienced by the province, thousands of landless Tagalogs and Ilocanos came and settled in Nueva Ecija. But Tinio suffered intrigues sown by the American Assistant Director, who wanted to be appointed to the position. The intrigues came to the point that Tinio was even accused of manipulating the sale of the 6,000 hectare Sabani Estate that was subsequently rescinded. In disgust and for delicadeza, he resigned on September 13, 1914 and returned to Nueva Ecija to manage his landholdings. A subsequent investigation cleared him of all charges, but, disillusioned with the government system, he refused to go back to government service, preferring to live the quiet life of a landowner instead. The Sabani Estate, in present-day Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija and Dingalan, Aurora, never found another buyer and still belongs to the government and is administered by the National Development Corporation.

It was during his term as Director of Lands that his wife, Maura, died. He then married Basilia Pilares Huerta, a Bulakeña from Meycauayan.

After his resignation from the Bureau of Lands, Manuel Tinio went back to Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, and built his house on Burgos St. It was the largest house in town. He entertained and kept open house, which meant that anyone present at lunchtime was automatically invited to dine. Everyday was like an Election Day – with people coming to ask for assistance, financial or otherwise. A very generous man, he was not averse to using his personal financial resources to help those in need.

Manuel Tinio dedicated the remainder of his life to politics. The hold that Manuel Tinio had on the province was awesome. Even if he did not have any position, he maintained absolute control over the local government with the unchallenged power to make or unmake provincial leaders. In order to maintain and gain his political power, Manuel Tinio made it a practice to visit every voter during an election year, reserving for last those who were known to be against his party. A few days before the election, Tinio would visit them. He would sit where everyone who passed by the house could see him. After chatting with his host for an hour or two, without even discussing politics, the whole barrio would conclude that the fellow had been won over by Tinio! His credibility with his partymates shattered, the poor fellow had no choice but to move over eventually to the Nationalista Party!

Lewis Gleeck wrote of Manuel Tinio as “the supreme example of caciquism in the Philippines” and cited the case of one of Tinio’s most prominent political leaders who had shot and killed a man in front of many witnesses. The Americans, wanting to show that there was equality under American law, tried to make a big case out of it. However, they could not find a single lawyer in the whole province willing to act for the prosecution. After sending an American lawyer from Manila, the case had to be dismissed, because no witness came up to testify! J. Ralston Hayden, a high American official, said:

“Tinio controlled the entire government: the Courts of First Instance, the Justices of the Peace, the chiefs of police and police forces, the mayors and the councilors. These, together with a tremendous money power, were in his hands. No one dared to stand up against him.”

Manuel Tinio was also a very good friend of Manuel Quezon and Sergio Osmeña, the Speaker of the National Assembly and the most powerful Filipino in the political scene at that time. It was not surprising, therefore, that Manuel Tinio was included in the Independence Mission that went to Washington D. C. in 1921.

Mandirigma.org Note:

Philippine Army fighting for Independence were referred to as “Insurgents” by the United States to justify their betrayal and invasion.

Site is still riddled with period U.S. propaganda.

https://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/chronphil.html

Chronology for the Philippine Islands and Guam in the Spanish-American War

1887

March
Publication in Berlin, Germany, of Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) by José Rizal, the Philippines’ most illustrious son, awakened Filipino national consciousness.

1890

U.S. foreign policy is influenced by Alfred T. Mahan who wrote The Influence of Sea Power upon history, 1600-1783, which advocated the taking of the Caribbean Islands, Hawaii, and the Philippine Islands for bases to protect U.S. commerce, the building of a canal to enable fleet movement from ocean to ocean and the building of the Great White fleet of steam-driven armor plated battleships.

1892

July 3
La Liga Filipina, a political action group that sought reforms in the Spanish administration of the Philippines by peaceful means, was launched formally at a Tondo meeting by José Rizal upon his return to the Philippines from Europe and Hong Kong in June 1892. Rizal’s arrest three days later for possessing anti-friar bills and eventual banishment to Dapitan directly led to the demise of the Liga a year or so later.

July 7
Andrés Bonifacio formed the Katipunan, a secret, nationalistic fraternal brotherhood founded to bring about Filipino independence through armed revolution, at Manila. Bonifacio, an illiterate warehouse worker, believed that the Ligawas ineffective and too slow in bringing about the desired changes in government, and decided that only through force could the Philippines problem be resolved. The Katipunan replaced the peaceful civic association that Rizal had founded.

1895

January
Andrés Bonifacio elected supremo of the Katipunan, the secret revolutionary society.

March
Emilio Aguinaldo y Farmy joined Katipunan. He adopted the pseudonym Magdalo, after Mary Magdalene.

June 12
U.S. President Grover Cleveland proclaimed U.S. neutrality in the Cuban Insurrection.

1896

February 16
Spain implemented reconcentration (reconcentrado) policy in Cuba, a policy which required the population to move to central locations under Spanish military jurisdiction and the entire island was placed under martial law.

February 28
The U.S. Senate recognized Cuban belligerency with overwhelming passage of the joint John T. Morgan/Donald Cameron resolution calling for recognition of Cuban belligerency and Cuban independence. This resolution signaled to President Cleveland and Secretary of State Richard Olney that the Cuban crisis needed attention.

March 2
The U.S. House of Representatives passed decisively its own version of the Morgan-Cameron Resolution which called for the recognition of Cuban belligerency.

August 9
Great Britain foiled Spain’s attempt to gather European support of Spanish policies in Cuba.

August 26
Immediately following the Spanish discovery of the existence of the Katipunan, Andrés Bonifacio uttered the Grito de Balintawak, first cry of the Philippine Revolution. He called for the Philippine populace to revolt and to begin military operations against the Spanish colonial government.

December 7
U.S. President Grover Cleveland declared that the U.S. may take action in Cuba if Spain failed to resolve the Cuban crisis.

December 30
José Rizal was executed for sedition by a Spanish-backed Filipino firing squad on the Luneta, in Manila.

1896

William Warren Kimball, U.S. Naval Academy graduate and intelligence officer, completed a strategic study of the implications of war with Spain. His plan called for an operation to free Cuba through naval action, which included blockade, attacks on Manila, and attacks on the Spanish Mediterranean coast.

1897

March 4
Inauguration of U.S. President William McKinley.

March
Theodore Roosevelt was appointed assistant U.S. Secretary of the Navy. Emilio Aguinaldo was elected president of the new republic of the Philippines; Andrés Bonifacio was demoted to the director of the interior.

April 25
General Fernando Primo de Rivera y Sobremonte became governor-general of the Philippines, replacing General Camilo García de Polavieja; his adjutant was Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, his nephew.

May 10
Andrés Bonifacio, founder of the Katipunan revolutionary organization, was convicted of treason to the new republic and executed by order of fellow revolutionary Emilio Aguinaldo.

August 8
Spanish Prime Minister Antonio Cánovas del Castillo was assassinated by the anarchist Miguel Angiolillo at Santa Agueda, Spain. Práxides Mateo Sagasta was made Spanish Prime Minister.

November 1
Emilio Aguinaldo succeeded in creating a Philippine revolutionary constitution and on the same date the Biak-na-Bato Republic was formed under the constitution as an effort at independence while the revolution gather momentum.

December 14-15
Spain reacted quickly to the Biak-na-Bato Republic and sought negotiations to end the war. With Pedro Paterno, a noted Filipino intellectual and lawyer, mediating, Aguinaldo representing the revolutionists and Governor-General Fernando Primo de Rivera representing the Spanish colonial government, the Pact of Biak-na-Bato was concluded. The Pact paid indemnities to the revolutionists the sum of 800,000 pesos, provided amnesty, and allowed for Aguinaldo and his entourage voluntary exile to Hong Kong.

December 31
Emilio Aguinaldo arrived in Hong Kong in exile under the terms of the Pact of Biak-na-Bato.

1898

February 8
Spain’s ambassador to the U.S., Enrique Dupuy de Lôme, resigned.

February 9
New York Journal published the confidential letter of Ambassador Enrique Dupuy de Lôme critical of President McKinley. The revelation of the letter helped push Spain and the United States toward war.

February 14
Luís Polo de Bernabé named Minister of Spain in Washington.

February 15
Explosion sank the battleship U.S.S. Maine in Havana harbor.

March 3
Governor-General of the Philippine Islands Fernando Primo de Rivera informed Spanish minister for the colonies Segismundo Moret y Prendergast that Commodore George Dewey had received orders to move on Manila.

March 9
U.S. Congress approved a credit of $50,000,000 for national defense.

March 17
Senator Redfield Proctor (Vermont) swayed Congress and the U.S. business community toward war with Spain. He had traveled at his own expense in February 1898 to Cuba to investigate the impact of the Spanish reconcentration (reconcentrado) policy on the island and returned to report to the Senate.

March 28
U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry published its findings that the battleship U.S.S. Maine was destroyed by mine.

March 29
The United States Government issued an ultimatum to the Spanish Government to terminate its presence in Cuba. Spain did not accept the ultimatum in its reply of April 1, 1898.

April
Governor-General of the Philippine Islands Fernando Primo de Rivera, in a surprise move, was replaced by Governor-General Basilo Augustín Dávila in early April. Upon his departure from the Philippines, the insurgent movement renewed revolutionary activity due mainly to the Spanish government’s failure to abide by the terms of the Pact of Biak-na-Bato.

April 4
The New York Journal issued a million copy press run dedicated to the war in Cuba. The newspaper called for the immediate U.S. entry into war with Spain.

April 11
The U.S. President William McKinley requested authorization from the U.S. Congress to intervene in Cuba, with the object of putting an end to the war between Cuban revolutionaries and Spain.

April 13
The U.S. Congress agreed to President McKinley’s request for intervention in Cuba, but without recognition of the Cuban Government.

The Spanish government declared that the sovereignity of Spain was jeopardized by U.S. policy and prepared a special budget for war expenses.

April 19
The U.S. Congress by vote of 311 to 6 in the House and 42 to 35 in the Senate adopted the Joint Resolution for war with Spain. Included in the Resolution was the Teller Amendment, named after Senator Henry Moore Teller (Colorado) which disclaimed any intention by the U.S. to exercise jurisdiction or control over Cuba except in a pacification role and promised to leave the island as soon as the war was over.

April 20
U.S. President William McKinley signed the Joint Resolution for war with Spain and the ultimatum was forwarded to Spain.

Spanish Minister to the United States Luís Polo de Bernabé demanded his passport and, along with the personnel of the Legation, left Washington for Canada.

April 21
The Spanish Government considered the U.S. Joint Resolution of April 20 a declaration of war. U.S. Minister in Madrid General Steward L. Woodford received his passport before presenting the ultimatum by the United States.

A state of war existed between Spain and the United States and all diplomatic relations were suspended. U.S. President William McKinley ordered a blockade of Cuba.

April 23
President McKinley called for 125,000 volunteers.

April 25
War was formally declared between Spain and the United States.

April 26
Willaim R. Day became U.S. Secretary of State.

April 29
The Portuguese government declared itself neutral in the conflict between Spain and the United States.

May 1
Opening with the famous quote “You may fire when your are ready, Gridley” U.S. Commodore George Dewey in six hours defeated the Spanish squadron, under Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón, in Manila Bay, the Philippines Islands. Dewey led the Asiatic Squadron of the U.S. Navy, which had been based in Hong Kong, in the attack. With the cruisers U.S.S. Olympia, Raleigh, Boston, and Baltimore, the gunboats Concord and Petrel and the revenue cutter McCulloch and reinforcements from cruiser U.S.S. Charleston and the monitors U.S.S. Monadnock and Monterey the U.S. Asiatic Squadron forced the capitulation of Manila. In the battle the entire Spanish squadron was sunk, including the cruisers María Cristina and Castilla, gunboats Don Antonio de Ulloa, Don Juan de Austria, Isla de Luzón, Isla de Cuba, Velasco, and Argos.

May 2
The U.S. Congress voted a war emergency credit increase of $34,625,725.

May 4 
A joint resolution was introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives, with the support of President William McKinley, calling for the annexation of Hawaii.

May 10
Secretary of the Navy John D. Long issued orders to Captain Henry Glass, commander of the cruiser U.S.S. Charleston to capture Guam on the way to Manila.

May 11
Charles H. Allen succeeded Theodore Roosevelt as assistant secretary of the navy.

President William McKinley and his cabinet approve a State Department memorandum calling for Spanish cession of a suitable “coaling station”, presumably Manila. The Philippine Islands were to remain Spanish possessions.

May 18
Prime Minister Sagasta formed the new Spanish cabinet. U.S. President McKinley ordered a military expedition, headed by Major General Wesley Merritt, to complete the elimination of Spanish forces in the Philippines, to occupy the islands, and to provide security and order to the inhabitants.

May 19
Emilio Aguinaldo returned to Manila, the Philippine Islands, from exile in Hong Kong. The United States had invited him back from exile, hoping that Aguinaldo would rally the Filipinos against the Spanish colonial government.

May 24
With himself as the dictator, Emilio Aguinaldo established a dictatorial government, replacing the revolutionary government, due to the chaotic conditions he found in the Philippines upon his return.

May 25
First U.S. troops were sent from San Francisco to the Philippine Islands. Thomas McArthur Anderson commanded the vanguard of the Philippine Expeditionary Force (Eighth Army Corps), which arrived at Cavite, Philippine Islands on June 1.

June-October
U.S. business and government circles united around a policy of retaining all or part of the Philippines.

June 3
President McKinley broadened U.S. position to include an island in the Marianas, as a strategic link in the route from the United States to the Pacific Coast of Asia.

June 11
McKinley administration reactivated debate in Congress on Hawaiian annexation, using the argument that “we must have Hawaii to help us get our share of China.”

June 12
Emilio Aguinaldo declared Philippine Island independence from Spain. German squadron under Admiral Dieterichs arrived at Manila.

June 14
McKinley administration decided not to return the Philippine Islands to Spain.

June 15
Congress passed the Hawaii annexation resolution, 209-91. On July 6, the U.S. Senate affirmed the measure.

American Anti-imperialist League was organized in opposition to the annexation of the Philippine Islands. Among its members were Andrew Carnegie, Mark Twain, William James, David Starr Jordan, and Samuel Gompers. George S. Boutwell, former secretary of the treasury and Massachusetts senator, served as president of the League.

Admiral Dewey’s defeat of the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay on May 1, 1898 ignited impassioned nationalistic feelings in Spain. Spanish Admiral Manuel de la Cámara y Libermoore’s squadron received orders to relieve the Spanish garrison in the Philippine Islands. His fleet consisted of the battleship Pelayo, the armored cruiser Carlos V, the cruisers Rápido and Patriota, the torpedo boats Audaz, Osado, and Proserpina, and the transports Isla de Panay, San Francisco, Cristóbal Colón, Covadonga, and Buenos Aires.

June 16
Admiral Cámara y Libermoore’s fleet set sail from Spain. Efforts were made by United States’ representatives to impede the progress of the fleet, by protesting the coaling of the fleet in neutral ports. The Spanish fleet was denied coaling at Port Said, at the entrance to the Suez Canal.

June 18
U.S. Secretary of the Navy John D. Long ordered Commodore William T. Sampson to create a new squadron, the Eastern Squadron, for possible raiding and bombardment missions along the coasts of Spain.

June 20
Spanish authorities surrendered Guam to Captain Henry Glass and his forces on the cruiser U.S.S. Charleston.

June 23
A revolutionary governent with Emilio Aguinaldo as its president again was established, the second such government in Philippine history, replacing the dictatorial government created by Aguinaldo a month earlier.

July 1
Philippine revolutionists began the siege of the Spanish garrison at Baler, Luzon, Philippine Islands.

July 7
Spanish Admiral Cámara y Libermoore’s fleet was ordered back to Spain.

U.S. President McKinley signed the Hawaii annexation resolution, following its passage in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.

July 18
The Spanish government, through the French Ambassador to the United States, Jules Cambon, initiated a message to President McKinley to suspend the hostilities and to start the negotiations to end the war. Duque de Almodóvar del Río (Juan Manuel Sánchez y Gutiérrez de Castro), Spanish Minister of State, directed a telegram to the Spanish Ambassador in Paris charging him to solicit the good offices of the French Government to negotiate a suspension of hostilities as a preliminary to final negotiations.

July 25
General Wesley Merritt, commander of Eighth Corps, U.S. Expeditionary Force, arrived in the Philippine Islands.

July 26
French Government contacted the United States Government regarding the call for suspension of hostilities at the request of the Spanish Government.

July 30
U.S. President McKinley and his Cabinet submitted to Ambassador Cambon a counter-proposal to the Spanish request for ceasefire.

August 2
Spain accepted the U.S. proposals for peace, with certain reservations regarding the Philippine Islands. McKinley called for a preliminary protocol from Spain before suspension of hostilities. That document was used as the basis for discussion between Spain and the United States at the Treaty of Peace in Paris.

August 7
Emilio Aguinaldo instructed Felipe Agoncillo, the Philippine revolutionaries’ special emissary to President McKinley, to publish the “Act of Proclamation” and the “Manifesto to Foreign Governments” in the Hong Kong papers.

August 12
Peace protocol that ended all hostilities between Spain and the United States in the war fronts of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines was signed in Washington, D.C.

August 13
The United States troops “took” Manila, a day after the Armistice was signed in Washington, D.C. In upholding Spain’s honor, Governor-General Fermín Jáudenes y Álvarez, realizing that the Spanish forces were no match for the invading Americans, negotiated a secret agreement with Americans General Merritt and Admiral Dewey, with Belgian consul Edouard Andre mediating. The secret agreement, unknown to the Filipinos at the time, involved the staging of a mock battle between Spanish and American forces intentionally to keep Filipino insurgents out of the picture. Once the pre-agreed attack began, the Spaniards, on cue, hoisted a white flag of capitulation and American troops filed into the city orderly and quietly with very little bloodshed. The Spaniards were only too eager to hand over the Philippines to the Americans. Admiral Dewey, for his part, never intended to hand the Philipines over to the “undisciplined insurgents”. Thus, the Philippines became a possession of the United States and the seeds of Philippine insurrection were sown.

August 14 
Capitulation was signed at Manila and U.S. General Wesley Merritt established a military government in the city, with himself serving as first military governor.

August 15
U.S. General Arthur MacArthur appointed military commandant of Manila and its suburbs.

September 13
The Spanish Cortes (legislature) ratified the Protocol of Peace.

September 15
The inaugural session of the Congress of the First Philippine Republic, also known as the Malolos Congress, was held at Barasoain Church in Malolos, province of Bulacan, for the purpose of drafting the constitution of the new republic.

September 16
The Spanish and U.S. Commissioners for the Peace Treaty were appointed. U.S. Commissioners were William R. Day (U.S. Secretary of State), William P. Frye (President pro tempore of Senate, Republican-Maine), Whitelaw Reid, George Gray (Senator, Democrat- Delaware), and Cushman K. Davis (Chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Republican-Minnesota). The Spanish Commissioners were Eugenio Montero Ríos (President, Spanish Senate), Buenaventura Abarzuza (Senator), José de Garnica y Diaz (Associate Justice of the Supreme Court), Wenceslao Ramírez de Villa Urrutia (Envoy Extraordinary), and Rafael Cerero y Saenz (General of the Army).

William R. Day resigned as U.S. Secretary of State and was succeeded by John Hay.

October 1
The Spanish and United States Commissioners convened their first meeting in Paris to reach a final Treaty of Peace.

Felipe Agoncillo, representative of President Emilio Aguinaldo, presented his case in Washington for the Philippine Independence movement and its representation on the Peace Commission. His request was rejected by President McKinley because the First Philippine Republic was not recognized by foreign governments.

October 25
McKinley instructed the U.S. peace delegation to insist on the annexation of the Philippines in the peace talks.

November 17
The Revolutionary Government of the Visayas, Philippine Islands, was proclaimed; a United States force stood poised to capture the city.

November 28
The Spanish Commission for Peace accepted the United States’ demands in the Peace Treaty.

November 29
The Philippine revolutionary congress approved a constitution for the new Philippine Republic.

December 1
The Philippine revolutionists declared their fight for the independence of their islands.

December 10
Representatitves of Spain and the United States signed the Treaty of Peace in Paris. Spain renounced all rights to Cuba and allowed an independent Cuba, ceded Puerto Rico and the island of Guam to the United States, gave up its possessions in the West Indies, and sold the Philippine Islands, receiving in exchange $20,000,000.

December 21
President McKinley issued his Benevolent Assimilation Proclamation, ceding the Philippines to the United States, and instructing the American occupying army to use force, as necessary, to impose American sovereignity over the Philippines even before he obtained Senate ratification of the peace treaty with Spain.

1899

January 1
Emilio Aguinaldo was declared president of the new Philippine Republic, following the meeting of a constitutional convention. United States authorities refused to recognize the new government.

January 4
President McKinley’s proclamation of December 21, 1898, declaring U.S. policy in the Philippine Islands as one of “benevolent assimilation” in which “mild sway of justice and right” would be substituted for “arbitrary rule,” was published in the Philippine Islands. Aguinaldo issued his own proclamation that condemned “violent and aggressive seizure” by the United States and threatened war.

January 17
U.S. annexed Wake Island for use as cable link to the Philippine Islands. U.S. Commander Edward Taussig, U.S.S. Bennington, landed on the island and claimed it for the United States.

January 20
President William McKinley appointed the First Philippine Commission (the Schurman Commission), a five person group that included Jacob Schurman (President of Cornell University), Admiral Dewey and General Ewell S. Otis, to investigate conditions in the islands and to make recommendations as conditions worsened in Filipino-American relations.

January 21
The constitution of the Philippine Republic, the Malolos Constitution, was promulgated by the followers of Emilio Aguinaldo.

January 23
Inauguration of the First Philippine Republic at Barasoain Church, Malolos, in the province of Bulacan.

February 4
The Philippine Insurrection began as the Philippine Republic declared war on the United States forces in the Philippine Islands, following the killing of three Filipino soldiers by U.S. forces in a suburb of Manila.

February 6
U.S. Senate ratified the Treaty of Paris by a vote of 52 to 27.

March 19
The Queen regent of Spain, María Cristina, signed the Treaty of Paris, breaking the deadlock in the Spanish Cortes.

March 31
U.S. forces captured the Philippine revolutionary capital of Malolos.

April 11
The Treaty of Paris was proclaimed.

June 2
Spanish forces at Baler, Philippine Islands, under the command of Lieutenant Saturnino Martín Cerezo finally surrendered to the Philippine Revolutionary forces, following a siege that began on July 1.

June 12
First anniversay of Philippine independence as proclaimed by Aguinaldo in Kawit the year before.

August 20
U.S. General John C. Bates and the sultan of Sulu, Jamal-ul Kirim II, signed an agreement in which the U.S. pledged non-interference in Sulu.

November 12
Alarmed by mounting American military successes on the battlefields, Emilio Aguinaldo dissolved the regular revolutionary army and ordered the establishment of decentralized guerrilla commands in several military zones in the Philippine Islands.

December 2
General Gregorio del Pilar was killed in the battle of Tirad Pass by Americans pursuing the fleeing Aguinaldo.

1900

March 16
President William McKinley appointed the Second Philippine Commission (the Taft Commission) headed by William Howard Taft. Between September 1900 and August 1902, it issued 499 laws, a judicial system was established (including a Supreme Court), a legal code was written, and a civil service was organized.

1901

March 23
Led by General Frederick Funston, U.S. forces captured Emilio Aguinaldo on Palanan, Isabela Province. Later, he declared allegiance to the United States.

1902

July 1
The first organic act, known as the Philippine Bill of 1902, was passed by the U.S. Congress. It called for the management of Phillipine affairs, upon restoration of peace, by establishing the first elective Philippine Assembly and the Taft Commission comprising the lower and upper house, respectively, of the Philippine Legislature. The passage of the Act may be attributed in part to José Rizal and his stirring last farewell to his beloved country immortalized in his poem, Mi Ultimo Adios, that he wrote in his cell at Fort Santiago on the eve of his execution by the Spaniards on December 30, 1896. At first, there was strong opposition to the passage of the bill from misinformed members of the House, some of whom referred to the Filipinos as “barbarians” incapable of self government. Thereupon, Congressman Henry A. Cooper of Wisconsin took the floor and recited Rizal’s last farewell before a skeptical House. Silence soon pervaded the floor as Cooper, eyes moist with tears and voice deep with emotion, recited the poem stanza by stanza. Soon after his recitation, Cooper thunderously asked his colleagues might there be a future for such a barbaric, uncivilized people who had given the world a noble man as Rizal. The vote was taken on the bill, and passed the House.

July
War ended in the Philippines, with more than 4,200 U.S. soldiers, 20,000 Filipino soldiers, and 200,000 Filipino civilians dead.

The Proclamation of Independence on June 12, 1898, as depicted on the back of the 1985 Philippine five peso bill.

Declaration of Independence Document written by Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista.

The day of celebration of war and love varied throughout the nation’s history. The earliest recorded was when Andres Bonifacio, along with Emilio Jacinto, Restituto Javier, Guillermo Masangkay, Aurelio Tolentino, Faustino Manalak, Pedro Zabala and few other Katipuneros went to Pamitinan Cave in Montalban, Rizal to initiate new members of the Katipunan. Bonifacio wrote Viva la independencia Filipina! or Long Live Philippine independence on walls of the cave to express the goal of their secret society. Bonifacio also led the Cry of Pugad Lawin, which signals the beginning of Philippine Revolution. Members of the Katipunan, led by Andres Bonifacio, tore their community tax certificates (cedulas personales) in protest of Spanish conquest, but this was neither officially recognized nor commemorated in Rome.

The Philippine Revolution began in 1896. The Pact of Biak-na-Bato, signed on December 14, 1897, established a truce between the Spanish colonial government and the Filipino revolutionaries. Under its terms, Emilio Aguinaldo and other revolutionary leaders went into exile in Hong Kong.^[2]

At the outbreak of the Spanish–American War, Commodore George Dewey sailed from Hong Kong to Manila Bay leading the U.S. Navy Asiatic Squadron. On May 1, 1898, Dewey defeated the Spanish in the Battle of Manila Bay, which effectively put the U.S. in control of the Spanish colonial government. Later that month, the U.S. Navy transported Aguinaldo back to the Philippines.^[3] Aguinaldo arrived on May 19, 1898 in Cavite. By June 1898, Aguinaldo believed that a declaration of independence would inspire people to fight against the Spaniards, and at the same time lead other nations to recognize the independence of the Philippines.

On June 5, 1898, Aguinaldo issued a decree at Aguinaldo house located in what was then known as Cavite El Viejo proclaiming June 12, 1898 as the day of independence. The Acta de la Proclamacion de la Independencia del Pueblo Filipino was solemnly read by its author, Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista, Aguinaldo’s war counselor and special delegate. The 21-page declaration was signed by 98 Filipinos, appointed by Aguinaldo, and one retired American artillery officer, Colonel L.M. Johnson. The Philippine flag was officially unfurled for the first time at 4:20 p.m, as the Marcha Nacional Filipina was played by the band of San Francisco de Malabon.

The proclamation was initially ratified by 190 municipal presidents from the 16 provinces controlled by the revolutionary army August 1, 1898, and was again ratified on September 29, 1898 by the Malolos Congress.^[4]

The Philippines failed to win international recognition of its independence, specifically including the United States of America and Spain. The Spanish government later ceded the Philippine archipelago to the United States in the 1898 Treaty of Paris. The Philippines Revolutionary Government did not recognize the treaty and the two sides subsequently fought what was known as the Philippine–American War.^[5][6]

The United States of America granted independence to the Philippines on July 4, 1946 through the Treaty of Manila.^[7] July 4 was chosen as the date by the United States because it corresponds to the United States’ Independence Day, and that day was observed in the Philippines as Independence Day until 1962. On May 12, 1962, President Diosdado Macapagal issued Presidential Proclamation No. 28, which declared June 12 a special public holiday throughout the Philippines, “… in commemoration of our people’s declaration of their inherent and inalienable right to freedom and independence.^[8]” On August 4, 1964, Republic Act No. 4166 renamed July 4 holiday as “Philippine Republic Day”, proclaimed June 12 as “Philippine Independence Day”, and enjoined all citizens of the Philippines to observe the latter with befitting rites.^[9]

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_(Philippines)

Leland Smith: American POW in 1899 During the Philippine Insurrection

“CHARGE!” PHILIPPINE SCOUTS AND THE LAST HORSE CAVALRY CHARGE: By: Dwight Jon Zimmerman

Courtesy of: 1st Filipino Regiment, U.S. Army, 1942-1946 Facebook Group. A place for the children of the men of the Regiments to gather to honor and share memories of their Fathers with each other. The only way we will be able to keep the Regiments’ legacy alive is to be able to pass on the stories of the men who served to the children who will follow us.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/laginguna1942/about/

“CHARGE!” PHILIPPINE SCOUTS AND THE LAST HORSE CAVALRY CHARGE: By: Dwight Jon Zimmerman On January 3rd, 1942, Lt. Gen. Masaharu Homma’s 14th Japanese Army captured the Philippine capital of Manila and was threatening to cut off the strategic retreat of Lt. Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s American and Philippine troops to the Bataan peninsula. To prevent this disastrous possibility, the elite Philippine Scouts were given the dangerous task of fighting a delaying action.

Organized in 1901 and commanded and trained by U.S. Army officers, the Philippine Scouts originally fought rebellious Moros who lived in the southern Philippine islands. By the time of the Japanese invasion, the 12,000-strong Philippine Scouts had a reputation of being a crack unit. Twenty-four (24) year old Lt. Edwin Price Ramsey was one of the American officers attached to the Philippine Scouts, serving as the commanding officer of a platoon in the 26th Cavalry Regiment (Philippine Scouts). Born in Illinois, raised in Kansas, Ramsey had graduated from the Oklahoma Military Academy, where he developed a love for polo. In June 1941, he volunteered for service with the 26th Cavalry because he had heard they “had an excellent polo club.”

Shortly after the Japanese landed in December 1941, Ramsey’s platoon was ordered north, where it conducted vital reconnaissance and assisted in rear guard skirmishes. On January 15th, 1942, Ramsey and his troops were looking forward to some rest and relaxation following a demanding reconnaissance mission. But a counterattack was being planned, and because he was intimately familiar with the region, he volunteered to assist in the assault. Then things took a different turn.

Maj. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright, commander of II Corps, wanted to make the Japanese-held village of Moron (now Morong), strategically located on the west coast of the Bataan Peninsula, the anchor for a defensive line stretching inland to the rugged Mount Natib. On the morning of January 16th, Wainwright ordered Ramsey to take an advance guard into Morong. Ramsey assembled a 27-man force composed of mounted platoons from the 26th Cavalry and headed north along the main road leading to Morong.

Upon reaching the Batalan River that formed part of Morong’s eastern border, Ramsey’s unit swung west and cautiously approached the seemingly deserted village, composed of grass huts suspended on stilts, with the livestock living beneath the structures. The only stone building was the Catholic Church, located in the middle of the village. At the village outskirts, Ramsey reorganized his force into squads and ordered a four-man point unit to lead them in.

As the point unit approached the village center, it came under fire from a Japanese advance guard that had just crossed the bridge spanning the river. Ramsey saw in the distance lead elements of the main force beginning to ford the river. If the Japanese troops managed to reach the village in force, Ramsey knew that his outnumbered troops would be overwhelmed. Ramsey then decided to do something the U.S. Army hadn’t attempted in more than fifty (50) years – launch a horse cavalry charge against an enemy in war.

Ramsey quickly signaled his men to deploy into forager formation. Then he raised his pistol and shouted, “Charge!” With troops firing their pistols, the galloping cavalry horses smashed into the surprised enemy soldiers, routing them.

Ramsey quickly signaled his men to deploy into forager formation. Then he raised his pistol and shouted, “Charge!” With troops firing their pistols, the galloping cavalry horses smashed into the surprised enemy soldiers, routing them.

At a cost of only three (3) men wounded, Ramsey and his men then held off the Japanese until reinforcements arrived. Ramsey received the Silver Star for his action at Morong. He later fought in the Philippines as a guerrilla, and received numerous decorations. He was discharged in 1946 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Sadly the horses in Ramsey’s unit did not survive long. In early March 1942, with troop rations running low and animal fodder almost gone, Wainwright ordered all horses and mules slaughtered for food. Among the horses was Wainwright’s prize jumper, Joseph Conrad. After issuing the order, adding that Joseph Conrad be the first killed, Wainwright turned away and strode back to his command trailer, his eyes filling with tears. *** The historic last horse cavalry charge by the U.S. Army was later recreated in the painting, “THE LAST CHARGE” by John Solie.

Philippine-American War, 1899-1902

by Arnaldo Dumindin

http://www.filipinoamericanwar.com/

Background: The Philippine Revolution and the Spanish-American War

How Filipino WWII Soldiers Were Written Out of History

American and Filipino officers in the USAFFE in World War II (U.S. Army)

From 1941-1944, hundreds of thousands of Filipino soldiers fought and died under the command of American generals against the Japanese in the Philippines. This struggle included one of the worst military defeats in U.S. history, and a grisly period of imprisonment and occupation.

In exchange for their service in the United States Armed Forces of the Far East (USAFFE), Filipino soldiers were promised American citizenship and full veterans benefits. But Congress and President Truman reneged this offer in 1946. Only four thousand Filipino war veterans, out of an estimated 200,000 who survived the war, were able to get citizenship before the retraction was signed into law.

You didn’t sleep through this section of US History. It was never taught. The role of Filipino soldiers in WWII has largely been erased from the history books.

Building a Philippine Army

In 1941, the United States suspected war with Japan was imminent. Whether they ‘knew’ Japan would strike Pearl Harbor is a matter of debate, but Japan had expanded its assaults to American allies. The Imperial Japanese objective was domination of all of Asia, and, having conquered Korea, parts of Russia, China and Taiwan, many of the countries that remained were colonial holdings of Western nations. According to an article in Salon:

“[Roosevelt’s] administration had adopted the objective of defeating all the Axis powers and had begun the military and the economic planning to achieve it. He had shared that objective publicly with the American people, a large majority of whom now accepted war as inevitable.”

The Philippines was a large American holding in the South Pacific. And what’s more, it was vulnerable.

The Philippine army circa 1936 (Wikipedia)

At the start of 1941, the Philippines had a meager army. It was a commonwealth of the United States from 1935 to 1946, and the US government was stewarding the archipelago’s transition from a territory of the United States into an independent nation. Part of that transition should have involved amassing a Filipino military — to replace the U.S. forces that had guarded the Philippines when it was a territory. But development of such a force was slow. Had the Japanese attacked the Philippines in January 1941, eleven months before Pearl Harbor, they would have encountered a few thousand American troops and a few thousand Filipinos.

Which is why, in the summer of 1941, following the 1940 Japanese capture of French Indochina, the U.S. started recruiting a Philippine defense force like crazy.

For the first few decades of the 20th century, because the U.S. “owned” the Philippines, Filipinos were considered U.S. “nationals.” U.S. nationals can work and reside in the U.S. without restriction, carry a U.S. passport, and apply for citizenship under the same rules as other resident foreigners. As a result, in 1940, there were about 45,000 Filipinos in the United States, most of them service-aged, male farm and factory laborers.

Military service was then, as it is now, one of the shorter and more reliable paths for an alien to achieve citizenship. From 1941 to the end of the war, the government streamlined the hell out of that path. Filipino men were recruited into the U.S. military and given citizenship in mass naturalization ceremonies. Nearly one third of draft-age Filipinos in the continental U.S. volunteered for the Army.

“When I reported to Los Angeles,” one Filipino-American WWII veteran is quoted in the book Filipino American Lives, “they swore me in as a U.S. citizen. I did not even have to file an application.”

But the U.S. also recruited different branches of Philippine defenders from within the Philippines. Many of these individuals, and the Filipino immigrants who enlisted in the continental U.S., were motivated by a desire to protect the Philippines, their home, from an attack by the Imperial Japanese.

Filipino soldiers in basic training (US Army)

But the United States government sweetened the deal: President Roosevelt promised U.S. citizenship and full veterans benefits to Filipinos who took up arms against the Japanese.

By late November, the United States Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) was formed as the merger of the Philippine Commonwealth army and the US Armed Forces stationed in the Philippines. General Douglas MacArthur was made commander of the USAFFE. Ultimately, the allied forces in the Philippine campaign from 1941-1942 consisted of 120,000 Filipino troops and 30,000 American troops, some of whom were Filipino Americans.

8 Hours After Pearl Harbor

The USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor (National Archives)

When Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941, the Japanese forces surprised the defenders by attacking the Philippines a mere 8 hours later. Caught unaware and underprepared, the assault went very poorly for the allied side.

The standing Filipino defense forces hadn’t had time to adequately train. “Many units went into battle without ever having fired their weapons,” Louis Morton writes in The Fall of the Philippines.

Not only were they poorly trained, but they were under equipped. “There was a serious shortage in almost all types of equipment,” Morton says. This extended to blankets, medicine, helmets, and gas masks. Most troops carried either Enfield 17 rifles and Springfield 03s — which dated from 1917 and 1903, respectively. They had only about 20% of their artillery requirements. Their uniforms were worn-out and second-hand, the soles of their shoes quickly wore thin. This poverty even extended to food:

“Zambales Province, where the 31st Division was located, did not produce enough food for its own needs, and as additional units joined the division the procurement of food became a difficult problem. The division railhead scheduled to open on 1 December did not begin operations until a week later, after the war had started, because of the inexperience of Filipino supply officers.” 

The Japanese first attacked from the North, but over the next several days, they landed on the northernmost major island, Luzon, at many different beaches on many different sides of the island.

Map of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines (US Army)

General MacArthur’s plan had been to defend the whole Philippines by heading the assaults off at the beaches. With poorly trained and poorly equipped troops facing a highly-trained force of Japanese, this plan quickly failed. The command fell back to the older plan in “Rainbow Plan V.” Rainbow involved retreating to the Bataan peninsula in the south of Luzon, effectively surrendering most of the country, and using Bataan to strategically defend Manila Bay for as long as possible before defeat:

“Based on the assumption that the United States would be at war with more than one nation and would be allied with Great Britain, RAINBOW accepted implicitly the loss of the Philippines, Wake, and Guam. [...] [T]he defense was to be conducted entirely by Army and Navy forces already in the Philippines, augmented by such local forces as were available. No reinforcements could be expected.”

No reinforcements came, though they were sorely needed. This meant that the Bataan troops were left to fight the highly trained imperial army without provisions or reinforcements. But the dwindling forces were tenacious.

The Bataan Death March (Zuanzuanfuwa)

After fighting for six months, five of those on half rations, the defenders at Bataan surrendered to the Japanese forces in May 1942.

The ordeal that followed became known as the Bataan Death March. The Japanese elected to march the surrendered forces 62 miles from Mariveles, Bataan, to San Fernando, Pamgpanga. Once on the march, the men — many of whom were already malarial, starving, and exhausted — were not given any food or water. Those who flagged were physically abused by their captors. Those who were not able to continue were executed, often in gratuitously painful or humiliating ways.

When they reached San Fernando, they were placed on a train and taken to Capas, Talac, where they were marched another six miles to POW Camp O’Donnell. Tens of thousands of allied soldiers made the march, and thousands of them died. Over the next several years, many more of them would die in captivity. Some were moved into other camps, or forced into slave labor.

A period of brutal Japanese occupation reigned over the Philippines for two and a half years. In that time, escaped POWs and civilians joined the growing ranks of Filipino guerillas. Many of these men ended up establishing liaisons with the exiled U.S. Army Command of the Southwest Pacific Area and placing themselves under MacArthur. In 1944, Commonwealth President Sergio Osmeña inducted ‘recognized guerrilla units’ — consisting of tens of thousands of individuals — into the Commonwealth Army.

Propaganda poster recruiting guerrillas (US military)

Allied forces began their liberation of the Philippines in October of 1944. The liberation ended, in allied victory, in the summer of 1945.

The Filipino immigrants who were living in the U.S. and had served with the U.S. military during the war returned to civilian life as American citizens. But the Filipinos who enlisted from within the Philippines were not so fortunate. In 1946, President Truman signed the Rescission Act, which retroactively annulled the offer of citizenship and any veterans benefits promised to Filipino troops under measures like the G.I. Bill. Only four thousand Filipino World War II veterans obtained citizenship before the rescission.

This was probably motivated by financial concerns — there were an estimated 200,000 Filipino veterans who survived the war. But of 66 countries allied with the United States in World War II, only Filipinos were denied benefits.

Cecilia’s Crusade

Cecilia Gaerlan at a Memorial Ceremony (Don Downey)

Cecilia Gaerlan, founder and executive director of the Bataan Legacy Historical Society, sits in her mother’s home in the Lake Merced neighborhood of San Francisco. Guests remove their shoes to keep the wall-to-wall carpet soft and blonde. As we conduct our interview, Gaerlan’s mother is in the dining room, watching soap operas in Tagalog with her caretakers.

Gaerlan sits in the living room, surrounded by bookshelves stacked with framed photos of loved-ones. A photo of her father lies before her on a coffee table, alongside a record of his military service and a copy of the oath they made him take in Camp O’Donnell.

“My father was a great storyteller, and when we were growing up as kids, he used to tell us stories about the war,” Gaerlan says. “But the way he presented them was so funny. The way he told it was like a cowboy story. Even when he was talking about the death march it was funny. It had sound effects.”

“TATTATATATTATA!” she says, miming a machine gun.

These days, Gaerlan makes several trips a month to Sacramento, helping and hounding the California Board of Education to implement the state law AB 199. The law “encourages the inclusion of the role of the Filipinos during World War II in the social sciences curriculum for grades 7-12.” It was passed in 2011, but is yet to be implemented.

If Gaerlan succeeds, it will be a first for United States education.

Filipino Bataan veterans in 2012, in Jacksonville, FL (Annie Chambers)

When it comes to material recognition, Filipino veterans have been lobbying the government for decades to undo the Rescission Act. In 1990, as part of the Immigration Act, George H. W. Bush passed a measure that extended an offer of citizenship to Filipino veterans. Even though it was 45 years after the fact, this resulted in a wave of immigration of tens of thousands of elderly Filipinos to the United States. Unfortunately, the act did not also extend veterans benefits to them — including old age pensions and veterans hospital medical care — and many of these new immigrants ended up on social security.

As part of the 2009 stimulus bill, Obama payed out a lump sum to surviving Filipino veterans. Filipino American citizens who served in the war were given $15,000, Filipinos who served in the war were given $9,000.

Reception was mixed. Only those on an official registry received the benefits, which was itself a gamble, given the state of wartime and postwar record keeping in the Philippines. As 91-year-old Celestino Almeda told CNN, “For a poor man like me, $15,000 is a lot of money. [But] after what we have suffered, what we have contributed for the sake of democracy, it’s peanuts. It’s a drop in the bucket.”

But for many other veterans, the bigger insult is not the lost benefits. Most of the remaining survivors are in their 90s, now, and regretfully live in a world where their sacrifice is not appreciated or even known about. “The Bataan Death March has never, ever,” Gaerlan says, “been part of the history curriculum in American schools.” She also says it’s neglected in education in the Philippines.

This is often explained as stemming from shame around the surrender of Bataan. But Gaerlan and her colleagues say there may be a geopolitical dimension to the blindness around Bataan, too. Japan is infamous for whitewashing its own history, especially in textbooks, and the Philippines is still economically dependent on both Japan and the United States. And the United States is still Japan’s close ally.

“After the War, Japan and the US formed an alliance to ensure their mutual economic prosperity and to ensure their mutual security,” Fred Baldassare wrote for the Battling Bastards of Bataan, a veteran organization. “It became an unwritten policy to play down Japanese War Crimes, satisfied with the meager results produced by the Tokyo and Manila War Crimes trials.”

Cover of a U.S. history textbook (Amazon)

There’s also the added shame around the Rescission Act, and the fact that so many veterans have lived and died without reward for their sacrifice.

When Gaerlan first heard about AB 199, a law to include the role of Filipinos in WWII in the public school curriculum, in 2012, she immediately started asking around: “Is anybody implementing this?”

“I found out that it had never been implemented, and then I started asking more questions and found out that the curriculum for History and Social Sciences was under revision!”

“And I said,” she pitches her voice higher, and contorts her face in optimism, “Oh yeah?”

“I thought it was going to be an easy thing,” she said. “I didn’t realize this was going to be a multi-year process.” The California Board of Education only revises its curriculum guidelines about once a decade, so Gaerlan has seized this opportunity to get Bataan finally written into history. She started petitioning assembly members to strengthen the bill, she started a campaign on Change.org, she networked relentlessly. And it paid off.

Gaerlan’s father Luis Gaerlan, when he enlisted in 1941

“Eventually I met people, who I guess talked to the Department of Education, blah blah blah,” she says. “Basically I’m just in the right place at the right time.”

If all goes well, the guidelines will get a final stamp of approval in April or May 2016. “But of course,” Gaerlan adds, “I will not believe it until I see it.”

Gaerlan’s background is in the arts. She started campaigning for more public awareness of this chapter of history after a particularly reading of her novel, which is set in the Philippines during World War II. She asked who in the audience had heard of the Bataan Death March. “Nobody had heard of it!” she exclaims.

She turned her novel into a play, and gave speeches on the historical background, between the scenes. The writing, research, and performance of these pieces eventually led her to found a historical society. Now, twice a year, she holds major events on the subject, bringing in the veterans themselves, and former prisoners of war, to talk about their experience.

Concurrent to these events and her lobbying efforts, she is trying to fund a film. She wants to make a documentary for use as an educational tool. Not wanting to get involved in the lengthy process of petitioning textbook companies, she hopes that if she creates an accurate, classroom-friendly movie about Bataan, instructors will use it to meet the new curricular requirement.

Gaerlan says she never should have been in charge of all this. “It only happened because nobody else wanted to do it!” she exclaims.

“But it needs to be done,” she says. She looks down at the photo of her father at 21, who passed in August 2014 at age 94. “Otherwise the history is going to die.”

On Bataan, a 26th Cavalry Troop, consisting mostly of Filipino Troopers and led by Lt. Edwin Ramsey performed the last U.S. Cavalry horse mounted charge to engage an enemy in warfare. This charge occurred at the town of Morong, Bataan on January 16, 1942.

26th Cavalry Regiment (PS)

Link to original site: http://www.philippine-scouts.org/the-scouts/regiments-units-bases/26th-cavalry-regiment-ps.html

History

The 26th Cavalry was formed in 1922, at Fort Stotsenburg, Pampanga Philippines from elements of the 25th Field Artillery Regiment and the 43d Infantry Regiment (PS). The regiment was based there, with the exception of Troop F (which was based at Nichols Field). In addition to horse mounted troops, the regiment had an HQ Troop, a Machine Gun Troop, a platoon of six Indiana White M1 Scout Cars and trucks for transporting service elements.

On November 30th 1941, the Regiment had 787 Filipino Enlisted Men and 55 American Officers. For the rosters of the 26th Cavalry Regt., please click here.

After the Japanese invasion on December 8, 1941, the 26th participated in the Allied withdrawal to the Bataan Peninsula. In doing so, the unit conducted a classic delaying action that allowed other, less mobile, units to safely withdraw to the peninsula. During the delaying action the 26th provided the “stoutest and only” serious opposition of the withdrawal. In the initial landings of the Japanese Imperial Army invasion, the Regiment alone delayed the advance of four enemy infantry regiments for six hours at Damortis, a town in the Lingayen Gulf, and on December 24 repulsed a tank assault at the town of Binalonan, Pangasinan. However, the resistance was not without cost, as by the end of that day, the Regiment had been reduced down to 450 men.

Following these events, the Regiment was pulled off the line and brought back up to a strength of 657 men, who in January 1942 held open the roadways to the Bataan Peninsula allowing other units to prepare for their stand there.

On Bataan, a 26th Cavalry Troop, consisting mostly of Filipino Troopers and led by Lt. Edwin Ramsey performed the last U.S. Cavalry horse mounted charge to engage an enemy in warfare. This charge occurred at the town of Morong, Bataan on January 16, 1942.

Col. Edwin Ramsey recounts how the Last Cavalry Charge came about.

Following this, due to a shortage of food, their mounts were butchered and the regiment was converted into two squadrons, one a motorized rifle squadron, the other a mechanized squadron utilizing the remaining scout cars and Bren carriers. Other actions of the 26th Cavalry are; Following the delaying action down the central Luzon plain, 26th Cavalry Troop C was cut off from the rest of the Regiment, having been ordered into Northern Luzon in an attempt to defend Baguio by Major General Wainwright in late December 1941. In January 1942, the unit, with assistance from 71st Infantry and elements of the 11th Infantry raided Tuguegarao Airfield, destroying several planes and causing enemy casualties.

Eventually the unit was supplemented by other soldiers and guerrillas, and remained an effective fighting force well into 1943. The remnants of Troop C would later be integrated into the United States Army Forces in the Philippines-Northern Luzon. Other guerrilla organizations were led by Officers of the regiment like Lt. Edwin Ramsey who ignored the surrender orders (and other Filipino enlisted men) who escaped from Bataan to form a substantial guerrilla resistance force against the Japanese Imperial Army.

Rudy Cabigas, a retired San Jose Fire Department Captain,
representing a Filipino trooper of the legendary 26th Cavalry,
Philippine Scouts. His father and uncle served with the 26th.

Courtesy of: http://malacanang.gov.ph/75085-briefer-memorare-manila-1945-monument/

The Memorare – Manila 1945 Monument commemorates the lives lost during the battle for the liberation of Manila, waged by Filipino and American forces against Imperial Japanese troops from February 3, 1945, to March 3, 1945.

The monument was unveiled on February 18, 1995. It stands at the center of Intramuros, in Plaza de Sta. Isabel at the corner of General Luna and Anda Streets. It was constructed mainly through the efforts of the Memorare – Manila 1945 Foundation Inc., a private, non-profit organization founded by the civilian survivors of the Battle of Manila and their descendants.

Sculpted by Peter de Guzman, the monument’s main feature is the figure of a hooded woman slumped on the ground in great despair for the lifeless child she cradles in her arms. Six suffering figures surround her, a glimpse of the great despair brought about by the gruesome massacres that were perpetrated all over the city inflicted by Imperial Japanese soldiers on civilians during the liberation of the city.

The inscription on the base was penned by Nick Joaquin, National Artist for Literature:

This memorial is dedicated to all those innocent victims of war, many of whom went nameless and unknown to a common grave, or never even knew a grave at all, their bodies having been consumed by fire or crushed to dust beneath the rubble of ruins.

Let this monument be a gravestone for each and every one of the over 100,000 men, women, children and infants killed in Manila during its battle of liberation, Feb. 3 to March 3, 1945. We have never forgotten them. Nor shall we ever forget.

May they rest in peace as part now of the sacred ground of this city: The Manila of our affection. February 18, 1995.”

from: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1899-1913/war

After its defeat in the Spanish-American War of 1898, Spain ceded its longstanding colony of the Philippines to the United States in the Treaty of Paris. On February 4, 1899, just two days before the U.S. Senate ratified the treaty, fighting broke out between American forces and Filipino nationalists led by Emilio Aguinaldo who sought independence rather than a change in colonial rulers. The ensuing Philippine-American War lasted three years and resulted in the death of over 4,200 American and over 20,000 Filipino combatants. As many as 200,000 Filipino civilians died from violence, famine, and disease.

“Battle of Manila Bay”

The decision by U.S. policymakers to annex the Philippines was not without domestic controversy. Americans who advocated annexation evinced a variety of motivations: desire for commercial opportunities in Asia, concern that the Filipinos were incapable of self-rule, and fear that if the United States did not take control of the islands, another power (such as Germany or Japan) might do so. Meanwhile, American opposition to U.S. colonial rule of the Philippines came in many forms, ranging from those who thought it morally wrong for the United States to be engaged in colonialism, to those who feared that annexation might eventually permit the non-white Filipinos to have a role in American national government. Others were wholly unconcerned about the moral or racial implications of imperialism and sought only to oppose the policies of PresidentWilliam McKinley’s administration.

After the Spanish-American War, while the American public and politicians debated the annexation question, Filipino revolutionaries under Aguinaldo seized control of most of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon and proclaimed the establishment of the independent Philippine Republic. When it became clear that U.S. forces were intent on imposing American colonial control over the islands, the early clashes between the two sides in 1899 swelled into an all-out war. Americans tended to refer to the ensuing conflict as an “insurrection” rather than acknowledge the Filipinos’ contention that they were fighting to ward off a foreign invader.

Emilio Aguinaldo

There were two phases to the Philippine-American War. The first phase, from February to November of 1899, was dominated by Aguinaldo’s ill-fated attempts to fight a conventional war against the better-trained and equipped American troops. The second phase was marked by the Filipinos’ shift to guerrilla-style warfare. It began in November of 1899, lasted through the capture of Aguinaldo in 1901 and into the spring of 1902, by which time most organized Filipino resistance had dissipated. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed a general amnesty and declared the conflict over on July 4, 1902, although minor uprisings and insurrections against American rule periodically occurred in the years that followed.

The United States entered the conflict with undeniable military advantages that included a trained fighting force, a steady supply of military equipment, and control of the archipelago’s waterways. Meanwhile, the Filipino forces were hampered by their inability to gain any kind of outside support for their cause, chronic shortages of weapons and ammunition, and complications produced by the Philippines’ geographic complexity. Under these conditions, Aguinaldo’s attempt to fight a conventional war in the first few months of the conflict proved to be a fatal mistake; the Filipino Army suffered severe losses in men and material before switching to the guerrilla tactics that might have been more effective if employed from the beginning of the conflict.

President Theodore Roosevelt

The war was brutal on both sides. U.S. forces at times burned villages, implemented civilian reconcentration policies, and employed torture on suspected guerrillas, while Filipino fighters also tortured captured soldiers and terrorized civilians who cooperated with American forces. Many civilians died during the conflict as a result of the fighting, cholera and malaria epidemics, and food shortages caused by several agricultural catastrophes.

Even as the fighting went on, the colonial government that the United States established in the Philippines in 1900 under future President William Howard Taft launched a pacification campaign that became known as the “policy of attraction.” Designed to win over key elites and other Filipinos who did not embrace Aguinaldo’s plans for the Philippines, this policy permitted a significant degree of self-government, introduced social reforms, and implemented plans for economic development. Over time, this program gained important Filipino adherents and undermined the revolutionaries’ popular appeal, which significantly aided the United States’ military effort to win the war.

In 1907, the Philippines convened its first elected assembly, and in 1916, the Jones Act promised the nation eventual independence. The archipelago became an autonomous commonwealth in 1935, and the U.S. granted independence in 1946.

USAFFE by Poweleit, Alvin C., M.D., Major, U.S. Army Medical Corps (Ret.) (Author)

http://www.morolandhistory.com/Books_page/Book_Page.htm

Released January 15, 2012

    The Battle of Bud Dajo took place over three days, March 5-8, 1906. It pitted the U.S. Army. U.S. Navy, and the Philippine Constabulary against 800-1,000 dissident Muslims who had fortified the top of a rugged, 2,175 feet high dormant volcano on the island of Jolo in the southern Philippine Islands. Although beginning as a genuine military contest, it ended as a tragic and terrible, one-sided massacre, with no more than a small and pitiful handful of the Muslims left alive. 

    Although lesser known. It ranks beside such infamous names as “Sand Creek” (1864), “Wounded Knee”(1890), and “My Lai” (1968) as one of the darkest, bloodiest, and most controversial episodes in America’s long and troubled history of deadly encounters with indigenous peoples.

    More than just a straightforward account of an epic fight on a spectacular mountain, it is also the story of a second and equally vicious donnybrook within the nations’ press and on the floor of Congress to comprehend what had actually occurred on that remote field of battle and why. At stake were the careers of one the most well known soldiers of the early 20th Century, General Leonard Wood, former commanding officer of the famed Spanish-American War cavalry regiment, the Rough Riders. Also risk was a future President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, William Howard Taft, as well as the reputation of one of the country’s most popular Presidents, Theodore Roosevelt.

    But there is also a mystery here. The real story of what happened would remain buried for more than another century. Why? Was there a deliberate, and successful, cover up? If the real facts had come to light sooner, would it have mattered? Could it have impacted the course of American history? Is there a lesson to take away here, or at least a warning?

    HONOR FOR THE FLAG is based on path finding research into the original files, which was first published in 2007 my book MOROLAND; but it is much broader in scope and not only narrates a reliable account of the battle itself but how it rapidly evolved into a contentious and divisive debate over the moral basis of American intervention in foreign lands.

    200 pages, including 72 photographs and illustrations.

To see reviews and purchase, click on the web links below:

Moroland is the lost history of the once-famed struggle between the United States Army and the “wild” Moros, the Muslims of the southern Philippine islands. Lasting over two decades, it was this country’s first sustained encounter with a volatile mixture of nation building, insurgency, counterinsurgency, and militant Islamism.

    An unanticipated byproduct of the Spanish-American War, the task of subduing and then “civilizing” the “Land of the Moros” was delegated to the U.S. Army. Working through the traditional ruling hierarchy and respecting an ancient system of laws based on the Qur’an, Moro Province became an autonomous, military-governed Islamic colony within a much larger, overwhelmingly Christian territory, the Philippine Islands.

    An initially successful occupation, it transitioned to a grand experiment: an audacious plan to transform and remake Moro society, values, and culture in an American image; placing the Moros on an uncertain and ill-defined path towards inclusion in an eventual Western-style democracy. But the Moros reacted with obstinate and unyielding resistance to what they perceived as a deliberate attack on the religion of Islam and a way of life ordained by God. This ignited a constant stream of battles and expeditions known in U.S. Army history as the Moro Campaigns and lasting more than a decade. In violence and ferocity they may have equaled, if not surpassed, the more famous late-19th Century Indian Wars of the Great Plains. It also led to the creation of the fabled Moro Constabulary, small contingents of native troops led by American, European, and Filipino officers.

    The backdrop is a bustling, raucous, newly-prosperous nation finding its way as a world and imperial power. But with this new-found status came a near-religious belief that the active spread of America’s institutions, values, and form of government, even when achieved through coercion or force, would create a better world. A subtext is a deep and bitter rivalry between two of its most prominent players, Captain John J. Pershing and General Leonard Wood, born only one month apart, each championing markedly opposed military philosophies. Eventually they would compete to lead one-million American “doughboys” into the cauldron of the world’s first Great War.

    Few Americans are aware that a century later the U.S. military has quietly returned to Moroland, to battle “radical Islamist terrorism”; using Army Green Berets, Navy Seals, and other elite forces. It is the smallest of the active fronts of the “global war on terror” and the least-covered or critically examined. It leads the reader to an obvious question: are we avoiding or are we repeating our own past?

    524 pages. Originally published 2007, revised in 2009 to add six new chapters.

To see reviews and purchase, click on the web links below:

For iPad or Sony Reader users:

Neither book is currently available from iTunes Books or the Sony ePub format. However you can download Free Readers by clicking on one of the links below and then purchasing either the Kindle or Nook eBook:

Notice: For persons who own the earlier, 2007 edition, Moroland 1899-1906: America’s First Attempt to Transform an Islamic Society, you can obtain a PDF file of the eight chapters added to the new 2009 edition without charge by sending your mailing address to  mail101@morolandhistory.com.

By HECHO AYER: https://hechoayer.wordpress.com/2010/07/29/liberation-that-destroyed-the-end-of-manila-queen-of-the-pacific/

By Ricardo C. Morales

Courtesy of: http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/82850-americans-destroyed-manila-1945

If the carnage of Manila in 1945 did not happen, we would have had a very different Philippines today. Our momentum ran out and the other nations in Asia eventually surpassed it.

DESTROYED. Photo shows the destruction at Intramuros after the Battle of Manila. Photo from the US Army/Wikimedia Commons

MANILA, Philippines – It was mainly the United States’ casualty-avoidance policy that resulted in unrestrained and indiscriminate application of overwhelming firepower by forces under MacArthur, which caused the utter devastation of Manila and the loss of 100,000 Filipino lives in 1945.

The Japanese forces, certainly capable of unequalled brutality and barbarism themselves, also contributed to the outcome, but could not have inflicted the same level of deaths and destruction. This cataclysmic event was a turning point in the development of Filipino society and its effects are more evident today, 70 years after.

The figure of 100,000 civilian deaths is a conservative estimate. Some sources cite as high as 240,000. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki onlykilled 70,000 and 40,000, respectively. The firebombing of Dresden killed 25,000. Only the the rape of Nanking in 1937, where Japanese troops murdered 300,000 civilians, eclipses the destruction of Manila which some historians call one of the tragedies of WW2.

The immediate U S objectives in Luzon in early 1945 was to rescue the POWs in Cabanatuan and the internees at the University of Santo Tomas.

Once these were achieved, the Americans turned their attention to Manila and this time, it appeared, avoiding civilian casualties was no longer a concern. In the liberation of the internees, the Japanese custodial force of 150 were allowed to leave under a flag of truce. That was the only time the Americans attempted to negotiate with the enemy.

Not that it would have been easy. The city of one million inhabitants was defended by a fanatical, death-seeking naval officer who had his previous command torpedoed under him in the Guadalcanal campaign. He was, quite literally, dying for payback.

WEAPON. The US Army 240mm howitzer was used in action during the battle of Manila. Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Armando Ang, in The Brutal Holocaust writes: “According to reliable evidence gathered from prisoners of war, military personnel, Philippine officials and civilians, and Japanese documents, the rape of Manila was not a random act of melee, mayhem and wanton destruction but an act of coldly planned atrocities by the Japanese high command from Tokyo.”

Even if this were true, it would have been physically impossible to carry out. The Japanese forces in Manila numbered 17,000. Approaching the city from north and south were 35,000 US troops supported by a few thousand Filipino guerillas. Knowing the impending battle they faced, the Japanese would have been intent on saving precious ammunition.

Relentless attack

Manual methods of execution like beheading, bayonetting and mass incineration were slow and inefficient. The battle took a month – from February 3 to March 3, 1945. Unlike in Nanking (which took place over 6 weeks) where the 50,000 Japanese troops had complete control of the city, in Manila they were under relentless attack by U S troops and Filipino guerillas.

Parsons (2008) writes that “The Yanks were using portable howitzers, whereas the Japanese were using bigger guns from all land-based compass points around the city.” This is not accurate. The Americans had bigger guns and more of it. Portable, yes, but also much bigger. They trundled up their behemoth 240 mm howitzers, “the most powerful weapon deployed by US field artillery units during World War II,” versus the heaviest Japanese field piece ever deployed, the 150 mm Type 38, a 1905 design manufactured under license from Krupp. The latter were used in 1942 in the Bataan campaign but there is no record of their use in Manila.

Furthermore, to deploy artillery pieces from “all points around the city” pointing inwards would render these guns vulnerable to piece-meal attacks by guerillas or US forces and such an artillery deployment would have been difficult to direct and control.

One statistic that blunts the argument of Japanese responsibility is the low number of US deaths.

In the Battle of Manila, “.. which culminated in a terrible bloodbath and total devastation of the city… was the scene of the worst urban fighting in the Pacific theater,” the Americans suffered their lowest casualty ratio ever – 1,010 killed out of a total force of 35,000, or less than 3%. Parsons argues further that the high casualty figures could have been part of a deliberate pre-negotiation ploy by the Japanese to discourage an American invasion of Japan, “that the invasion of Japan could only be accomplished at the price of the greatest bloodbath of American manhood the world had ever known.”

There is a flaw in this logic. The bloodbath was paid for in Filipino civilian lives. The bloodbath of American manhood did not happen. It was the Japanese garrison that was wiped out. If this convoluted logic were to be followed, to deter an American invasion of Japan, were the Japanese prepared to murder millions of their own people? There is therefore a disconnect between what the Japanese wanted to do against what actually happened.

For the Americans, they were willing to negotiate and compromise with the enemy if American lives were at stake. This policy did not apply to Filipino lives.

US casualties in major battles in the Pacific (Source: Wikipedia)

Date	Battle	US forces	Japanese forces	US killed/wounded	% US killed/strength
Aug. 7, 1942 – Feb. 9, 1943	Guadalcanal	60,000	36,200	7,100	11.8%
Nov. 20-23, 1943	Tarawa	35,000	5,000	1,696 / 2,101	4.8%
Jun. 15 – Jul. 9, 1944	Saipan	71,000	31,000	3,426 / 10,364	4.8%
Feb. 3 – Mar. 3, 1945	Manila	35,000	17,000	1,010 / 5,565	2.8%
Feb. 19 – Mar. 25, 1945	Iwo Jima	70,000	22,060	6,821 / 19,217	9.7%

Filipinos: Too trusting?

No one can blame the Americans or any commander for seeking low casualties. High casualties are not good for troop morale and are a waste of precious resources. Low casualties had always been one MacArthur’s strong points and was a major consideration in the US’ leap-frogging strategy in the Pacific.

But where were the Filipino leaders in all these?

Were we not supposed to be allies of the US? History does not record their voice before or during the battle. If anyone is still interested, this would be an interesting subject for more research.

Neither Osmeña nor Romulo, so prominent during MacArthur’s wading ashore in Leyte, appear on record as having raised a concern in the face of the catastrophe about to befall their beloved capital city. Perhaps less could have been expected from the Laurel puppet government set up by the Japanese who would have gleefully lined them up and shot them as an example at the slightest provocation.

Perhaps the Filipinos were too naïve or too trusting. “Despite the devastation, the Filipinos,” writes one historian, “were only too glad to be liberated from the hated Japanese.” In fact, Parsons claims to have unearthed a document containing a recommendation from a guerilla leader Bartolome Cabangbang to MacArthur to bomb the Escolta by US aircraft because the Japanese had stored war materiel there! So much for patriotic sympathy!

“Filipinos lost an irreplaceable cultural and historical treasure in the resulting carnage and devastation of Manila, remembered today as a national tragedy. Countless government buildings, universities and colleges, convents, monasteries and churches, and their accompanying treasures dating to the founding of the city, were ruined. The cultural patrimony (including art, literature, and especially architecture) of the Orient’s first truly international melting pot – the confluence of Spanish, American and Asian cultures – was eviscerated. Manila, once touted as the “Pearl of the Orient” and famed as a living monument to the meeting of Asian and European cultures, was virtually wiped out.”

Writes Joaquin de Jesus: “After the War, many old-timers would claim that everyone had turned into animals…The destruction of the city’s physical edifices also caused the destruction of the country’s Catholic values, Hispanic culture, and even basic good manners. To this day, we are suffering the effects of the destruction of Manila. From the lack of interest and sense of connection to the city, to the despicable urban plans or lack of for the city of Manila to the seeming banality of life in Manila (i.e. the domination of the consumerist “mall culture”), we continue to lose our pride of place.” (De Jesus, 2013)

In the carnage of Manila in 1945, the Filipinos lost more than lives and buildings. The very routine and fabric that made the city the envy of the region and the world was gone forever. And with it were the moorings and foundations of a core that could have gravitated Filipino society towards a path of steady, equitable growth and development.

The country plodded on for about two decades propelled perhaps by the dim memory of its past. But in time this momentum ran out and the other nations in Asia caught up with and, eventually, surpassed it.

If the carnage of Manila in 1945 did not happen, we would have had a very different Philippines today. – Rappler.com

 

 

 

 

A graduate of the Philippine Military Academy, Ricardo “Dick” Morales is a retired general of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Courtesy of: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/99054/february-1945-the-rape-of-manila

DEAD bodies could not be buried as relatives fled the carnage. Photo courtesy of Albert Montilla

To this day, much is heard of the Rape of Nanking when the rampaging Japanese Imperial Army killed 300,000 from 1937 to 1938, and raped 20,000 women in that Chinese capital.

Pitifully few, though, in the Philippines and even fewer elsewhere, know that in Manila, in February 1945, World War II at its agonizing climax brought forth 100,000 burned, bayoneted, bombed, shelled and shrapneled dead in the span of 28 days.  Unborn babies ripped from their mothers’ wombs provided sport: thrown up in the air and caught, impaled on bayonet tips.

With rape on the streets and everywhere else, the Bayview Hotel became Manila’s rape center.  After the dirty deed was done, nipples were sliced off, and bodies bayoneted open from the neck down.

William Manchester in his book “American Caesar,” wrote that “Once Rear Adm. Sanji Iwabuchi had decided to defend Manila, the atrocities began, and the longer the battle raged,  the more the Japanese command structure deteriorated, until the uniforms of Nipponese sailors and marines were saturated with Filipino blood.

“The devastation of Manila was one of the great tragedies of World War II.  Seventy percent of the utilities, 72 percent of the factories, 80 percent of the southern residential district, and 100 percent of the business district were razed…Hospitals were set afire after their patients had been strapped to their beds.  The corpses of males were mutilated, females of all ages were raped before they were slain, and babies’ eyeballs gouged out and smeared on walls like jelly.”

From ‘Pearl’ to rubble

The envy of other Far Eastern cities before the war, lovely Manila, a melting pot of four cultures and the acknowledged Pearl of the Orient, turned completely to rubble and smoldering ash, wrack and ruin in the 28 days it gasped its last.  Its face changed forever, national as well as city administrators since then have barely seen to its proper post-war urban planning and reconstruction, with the exception of a few government buildings rebuilt to their original states. (Zoning laws? What’s that?)

In dramatic foreshadowing, the Irish Columban priests at Malate Church got a taste of what was to come.  An unknown volunteer worker at the Remedios Hospital wrote that on Dec. 22, 1944, “most beloved” Father Patrick Kelly and Father John Lalor, were taken away by enemy soldiers.

On Christmas, Dec. 25, 1944, the priests offered dinner for 200 poor folks.  “We had to put up a brave front with smiles on our faces and lead in our heart.”  The missing priests returned to Malate on Dec. 29 to great rejoicing, but they never talked about what strife they had undergone.

A timeline of bloody events as they unfolded helps to remind us that war is hell, through which Manila agonized.

Feb. 1, 1945: “Roll out the barrel, Santa Clause is coming,” is the note wrapped in goggles dropped by a plane to starving Allied countries’ civilians interned at the University of Santo Tomas (UST).

Feb. 3: American troops arriving from Lingayen liberate the 3,700 interns at UST. Japanese troops commence burning buildings and homes north of Pasig River.

Feb. 4: Japanese marines commanded by Rear Adm. Sanji Iwabuchi retreat to Intramuros, blowing up all the bridges across the Pasig.

Feb. 9: Ermita and Malate are put to the torch.  Nicanor Reyes’ living room is piled high with furniture and drapes; gasoline is poured over them.  The founder of Far Eastern University and some members of the family burn there after being bayoneted, but young daughter Lourdes who has hidden in a closet, and her wounded mother and aunt, flee to Leveriza to join her grandmother.  Against a wall, the four set up a makeshift shelter with burned GI sheets.  In the shelling, Lourdes’ mother who is shielding her, and her aunt, and grandmother, are killed.

Sen. Elpidio Quirino’s wife and two daughters, fleeing to his mother-in-law’s home, are felled by Japanese machine guns.

THE BATTLE of Manila left the city in total devastation and killed 100,000 Filipino civilians. Photo courtesy of Albert Montilla

Jesus Cabarrus Jr. has shrapnel embedded in his skull to constantly remind him of the terror-filled days in Ermita.  Ordered by enemy troops to converge at nearby Plaza Ferguson, the men are separated from the women and children, and brought to Manila Hotel (where Jesus Sr. and other men become water boys, and where he saw Walter Loving, the Constabulary Band chief, stabbed to death).

Hotel turns into hell

Wives and children are ordered to Bayview Hotel where the only water is out of toilet water tanks, and females are wantonly raped.  Amid screaming when the building begins to burn, the Cabarruses flee, stepping over bloodied bodies dead and dying.  They run to Judge Felix’s house on Arquiza, where 150 refugees have taken cover.  His grandmother and baby sister lie on a bed, with the rest on the floor.  Shelling, explosions and finally, a cannon shell, flames, screams and smoke.  Older sister Maria Ines and he wait in the garden, their mother dashes into the flames for her baby, emerging with the infant whose legs are severed, and head bloodied.  She soon expires.  An aunt’s head has been blown off, while his grandmother burns to death.

Fleeing into Celso Lobregat’s home, in their new shelter, his mother sustains multiple shrapnel to her head, face, arms and chest, while his sister suffers a deep leg wound.  He is unconscious with many pieces of shrapnel in his head.  His mother, an American citizen, is brought in a US Army ambulance to the UST Military Hospital, but she lies in a coma for six months.  Jesusito also survives after a craniotomy at the US Military Hospital in Muntinlupa.

Feb. 10: Massacre of scores at the Philippine National Red Cross in Ermita.  At the German Club, five Germans and 400 refugees including the family of former Ambassador to Spain Juan Rocha, the Beech y Rochas numbering 11. One of them, a 15-year-old, is raped and gutted. At the Malate Church, Fathers Kelly, John Henaghan, Peter Fallon and Joseph Monaghan, together with a group of parishioners, are marched from the convent to nearby Syquia Apartments, never to be seen again.

Feb. 11: Under artillery fire by Americans, the German sisters at Saint Scholastica’s College, seeing a spotter-Piper Cub in the air, lie on the ground to form the letters SOS and are saved.

Feb. 12: Hundreds are slaughtered at Saint Paul’s College. Doctor Rafael Moreta’s residence, other homes in Paco, the Mandaluyong Mental Hospital, and in Binondo and New Manila, suffer the same fate.

Across the street from where the Century Park Hotel now stands on Vito Cruz, the Carlos Perez-Rubio home, like the Reyes’, is set to the torch.  Escaping from their home, Carlos is instantly shot, and his son Javier, 23, bayoneted to death.  The matriarch, Milagros Alvarez de Perez-Rubio, and other members of the family and house help, together with refugees, are all killed wherever they hide.  Their son Miguel, 19, future presidential Protocol Officer, escapes the massacre because he is being held prisoner by the Japanese in Baguio. He says his sister Lupe, 17, who tried to escape, was killed, but may also have been raped.  His brother, Carlos II, was beheaded at the Masonic Temple together with his fiancée Helen McMicking and her family, some of whom were bayoneted.

La Salle Brothers

Still talked about until today are the brutal killings of 40 Christian Brothers and refugees at De La Salle College on Taft Avenue—some shot and others bayoneted.  Among the dead refugees are members of the Carlos, Aquino, Uychuico and Vasquez-Prada families, their helpers and three college employees. Fernando Vasquez-Prada, 5, watches his family die. Traumatized, he is unable to speak for two years.

Doña Lorenza Bibby Baltazar is hit by shrapnel as she runs out of her home on Taft.  The mother-in-law of Cinema King Ernesto Rufino is rushed by her children, Victoria and Paco, to her doctor, who amputates her leg; she expires some hours later, but all her children can do before fleeing is to tie a handkerchief with her name on it around her other leg, to reclaim her body another day.

Feb. 13: Refugees at the Remedios Hospital numbering over 400, as well as doctor Tony Lahorra and Father John Lalor, are all killed by friendly fire.

In the same episode, tens of thousands of Malate residents lose their lives, including Josephine Perez Rocha, 33, mother of Ambassador Rocha, who in the lull, runs from a neighbor’s house to her home and is felled by an American shell.

At Philippine General Hospital (PGH), 7,000 patients and refugees cower in fear.  Edgar Krohn Jr., 16 at the time, hides under a walkway with his parents. He says American troops were firing at the University of the Philippines and the Bureau of Science next door, but PGH was never in danger of receiving American fire.

Desperate for water

The problem at PGH is water. It gets so bad that “at one point, my 1-year-old brother, Xavier, and I had to drink our own urine,” Carlos Z. Ortoll, 3 at the time, says.

Feb. 17: PGH is liberated, but many women have by then been raped and others bayoneted.  At San Agustin Church in Intramuros, Jose Maria Zabaleta Sr. reports that “my father was killed by the Japanese, together with over a hundred Spaniards. They were marched from the church to be shot and bombarded with grenades. The next day, the Americans liberated the church and saved what was left of my family.”

Both Japanese and Americans destroyed six of seven grand old churches in Intramuros.  Only San Augustin still stands.

In Malate, a baby had to be smothered with Araceli Limcaco’s pillow, lest her entire family, their neighbor and his maid and infant who cried a lot, be discovered in the foxhole in which they hid.

Prisoners at Fort Santiago were simply disposed of by burning them alive in their packed dungeons, after gasoline was poured over them.

In the end, seeing the futility of their cause, Iwabuchi and his men killed themselves on Feb. 26.  But not before the Manileños had been brought to near-despair and abject grief.

As for the city itself, erstwhile cochero Enrique Zobel who had harnessed his polo ponies to calesas (four-passenger two-wheeled affairs), earning fares to support his mother while his father Jacobo fought with the US Army Forces with the Far East in Bataan, arrived in Manila from Calatagan, shocked by what he beheld.  Not only was their “Most Beautiful Home of 1929” a burnt ruin. “I could see all the way across from Dewey Boulevard to Taft Avenue, and from Malate to Intramuros.”  The city was gone.

Annually in February, a day is set aside to remember at the Memorare monument in Intramuros. Composed of members whose families were war victims, Memorare-Manila 1945 Foundation has Ambassador Rocha as president and Lourdes Reyes-Montinola as vice president. At this year’s rites held Saturday, the guest speaker was Brother Armin Luistro, education secretary and former president of De La Salle University, where 40 were massacred.

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Never Subdued Paperback by W. Franklin Hook (Author)

A true story about the Philippine-American War 1898-1902 and how it led to the Moro Campaigns against radical Islam 1902-1913 “[Never Subdued is] a tale of what it was like for a large number of young American men when they “went soljering” more than a century ago, in the steamy tropics of the Philippine Islands during the opening years of the 20th Century. What may surprise you is how uncannily alike “soljering” was then to that of their spiritual military heirs (perhaps including a few of their great and even great-great grandsons or granddaughters) in the cold mountain fastnesses of Afghanistan in the early 21st Century.” “[The narrative conveys] the image of a bunch of ordinary young men who got caught up in the historical moment of America’s first wars of the 20th Century, enlisted almost on a whim, and took part in an extraordinary adventure. It is as much a human story as a history lesson . . . It relates entirely to the present day.” -Robert A. Fulton is the author of Moroland: The History of Uncle Sam and the Moros 1899-1920

Editorial Review From Kirkus Reviews

A history of a century-old war with frightening relevance to today’s counterinsurgency campaigns.Islamic extremists, guerilla warfare, mountain firefights–Americans are painfully familiar with these things from the recent conflict in Afghanistan. But as Hook notes, the U.S. military faced similar challenges in the Philippines following the Spanish-American War. A retired doctor and reserve Army colonel, Hook spent a decade researching the Philippine-American War and the Moro Campaigns. After Spain ceded the islands to the U.S., American soldiers found themselves battling native Filipinos who previously were glad to see them. Emilio Aguinaldo and his revolutionaries wanted independence from foreign rule, but U.S. policymakers had other ideas. Drawing on soldier diaries, newspaper accounts and other sources, Hook presents a boots-on-the-ground narrative of the bloody insurgency that followed. American soldiers fought the elusive Filipinos while suffering under intense heat, relentless mosquitoes and rampant disease. Careful to note discrepancies and biases in his sources, Hook constructs a timeline that captures the tension as events teeter out of control. He also tries to explain the thinking on both sides, showing how policy blunders, duplicity and prejudice may have exacerbated the hostilities. A peace proclamation in 1902 officially ended the insurgency, but the U.S. still faced the problem of controlling the southern islands, which were predominantly Muslim. Combat with Moro fundamentalists featured brutalities similar to those seen in today’s asymmetrical conflicts–hit-and-run attacks, personal jihad and heavy collateral damage on the civilian population. Throughout the book, a cast of colorful characters emerges as politics, war and personal ambition become intertwined. General Leonard Wood’s hard-line approach to the Moros seems counterproductive, while John Pershing’s more sensitive tactics would not look out of place in a modern Army counterinsurgency manual. Though the book lacks literary flair, it’s a balanced look into the fog of war, where allies can become adversaries and the question “What did we accomplish?” is still open for debate.An often-forgotten conflict comes to life in this authentic account of heroism and atrocity, where the difference between rebel and patriot is which side of the line you stand on.

The Ordeal of Samar. Schott, Joseph L. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1964. Hardcover, 302 pages, b&w photographs, index. A chronicle of the Philippine insurrection against American troops immediately after the Spanish American War, and of the sensational court martial that changed history.

“The Balangiga massacre was an incident in 1901 in the town of the same name during the Philippine–American War. It initially referred to the killing of about 48 members of the US 9th Infantry by the townspeople allegedly augmented by guerrillas in the town of Balangiga on Samar Island during an attack on September 28 of that year. In the 1960s Filipino nationalists applied it to the retaliatory measures taken on the island. This incident was described as the United States Army’s worst defeat since the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. Filipinos regard the attack as one of their bravest acts in the war.” – Wikipedia

Original article at : http://gugma.samarnews.net/articles/article8.htm

HANG THE DOGS: THE TRUE TRAGIC HISTORY OF THE BALANGIGA MASSACRE

BOB COUTTIE
New Day Publishers
Quezon City, Philippines

California Distributor:
Philippine Expressions
Mail Order Bookshop
$24.95 (paper, 462 pages)

Hang The Dogs: The True Tragic History of the Balangiga Massacre is quite an intriguing title of a serious book. If the book, or any book for that matter on related title, were set in or were about the British Isles, where the author is originally from, it may outright invite distaste on sight from animal lovers of which Britons mostly are.

Hang the dogs — that’s quite a harsh “edict”, coming as it does from a third party (the author) if addressed to a particular party or group alone involved.

However, Bob Couttie’s edict, if we call the title of his book on the Balangiga Incident as such, is an aphorism directed to the party that did something wrong, the party that should make amend. And in the Balangiga Incident both parties — the Americans and the Filipinos, to varying degrees — do need to make amend.

In war the two sides, combatants if you will, try to outwit or beat one another. Hence, one side tries to “hang” the other in order to prevail. Whichever side has the upper hand takes the other side as a bunch of dogs to be hung — “massacred” — as did (according to historical accounts) the natives of Balangiga on 28 September 1901, if that is the most possible way to achieve what one or the party involved had set out to accomplish. Even scorch and turn a big island into a howling wilderness, as did the Americans to the island of Samar, in the Philippines, in revenge after the Balangiga Incident.

The Balangiga Incident took place over a century ago. Therefore, the author’s imperative is now merely a gesture to catch a prospective reader’s attention on a commodity in print — a book.

But “hang”, which apparently is the author’s metaphor for what amounts to kill, destroy, rid, or devour a century ago in war, is all the same throughout the ages. It still is — to varying degrees. If Bob Couttie were to write a book on the war in Iraq, one could fairly anticipate his title, Strip the Dogs Naked: The True Tragic Story Behind Misled Intelligence. Something of the sort. The facts then emerge. He will portray, with unassailable proof, as he did on Balangiga, that those stripping the dogs naked, whether in a prison or elsewhere in high places of government are themselves dogs, and more.

In Hang The Dogs the author actually turns out to be the one hanging the “canines”. He exposes, with unimpeachable evidence, the cravings of the Americans and the Filipinos to devour each other — the Americans in their lust to create an empire, the Filipinos to resist and prevent being shamed. The “awod” (a local term for shame) factor was overriding among the Filipinos in Balangiga. Bob Couttie does not fail to point this out.

So much about the title.

Written largely in lean prose, the book is cool. Easy to read. It is the product of a ten-year assiduous research — possibly the most exhaustive work on the Balangiga Incident thus far, and will remain so for sometime if ever surpassed. Yet still, ironically, at some point the author hedges for want of more facts that he stipulates must be somewhere in some repositories.

The book provides a reasonably adequate background of the Philippine Revolution against Spain, as it does of the history of the island of Samar itself where the town of Balangiga, the epicenter of the book, is located. Here and beyond, the author discusses the ferment that led a people to rise in rebellion. Adequately given this background, the author takes the reader quickly to the Philippine-American War.

Of the Philippine Revolution against Spain, of interest is the account — for some reason largely unknown even to many in the Philippines who claim to have good college education — about the death of Andres Bonifacio, the founder of the secret organization Katipunan that advocated armed struggle against Spain. The author leaves little doubt that Philippine history books — which Philippine students studied (under ill-prepared so-called professors) in some allegedly reputable schools, particularly in the decades of the ‘60s through the mid ‘80s — had the truth swept under the rug. That is of course the period largely of the Marcosian era. And whoever may dispute Bob Couttie’s facts only exposes her/his inadequacy or ignorance.

The author candidly discusses the sad event leading to the execution of the Katipunan’s “Supremo”, the title that the founder of the secret organization had chosen for himself. The next scenario becomes predictable, the emergence of Emilio Aguinaldo, Bonifacio’s rival who displayed considerable talent early in his military career, as an undisputed military and civilian leader of a people who for over three centuries had yearned for freedom. The unfurling of a full-blown revolution inevitably arrived with Aguinaldo on the center stage.

Hang The Dogs meticulously examines the events and motives behind the truce, better known as the Pact of Biak-ana-Bato, in the revolution against Spain. It was a truce neither side fully intended to honor. Each side was merely buying time in order to resume hostilities at an opportune, hopefully not-so-distant, future time. When the Spanish authorities in Manila reneged full payment of the sum promised, the revolutionaries, who agreed to go on exile to Hongkong under Aguinaldo, started buying arms with the partial amount they received while at the same time unsuspectingly courting help from America through her functionaries in the Far East. Being at war then with Spain and who had a grandiose design for a ward in the Orient, America was inauspiciously eager go help.

The book narrates the alleged deals entered into between the Americans and the revolutionaries that found Aguinaldo back in the Philippines resuming the revolution against Spain. Such deals, in the American perspective, weakened Spain’s ability to wage war against a neighbor, Cuba, who herself was fighting the Spaniards also to win independence. However, in the perspective of the Filipinos, America was helping Aguinaldo win independence from Spain. This was not the case, Hang The Dogs delineates.

The false promises given — perfidies, if you will — by the Americans to the revolutionaries set the stage for confrontation. The author makes it clear the Filipinos were dealing with the wrong American representatives who deceptively made it appear they were the right authorities. The intransigence of both sides, upon discovery of what many would now call deceptions on the side of the Americans, was feverish. The Americans, already assured by Spain secretly of a real estate in the Orient called Filipinas, were more steadfast. The Filipinos, although recognizing their inferior arms and absence of foreign support, set their feet dug-in nevertheless on the ground. The whole episode exploded on the first week of February 1899 into what is called the Philippine-American War. The road to Balangiga (to Catubig, Quinapundan, and elsewhere) in Samar was laid, the trap for disaster set.

Along with other factors, the Filipinos could not win that war against the superiority of men and material of the Americans in those days, the author makes it clear. Predictably that war ended upon Aguinaldo’s capture in a ruse at Palanan, Isabela, on March 23, 1901. However, hostilities, to the credit of the Samarnon fighters under General Lukban via Balangiga, etc., did not formally end until only 10 days short — September 18, 1902 — of the first anniversary of the Balangiga Incident. On that date General Lukban gave up, becoming the last general of the Philippine-American War to surrender.

On Aguinaldo and the collapse of the Filipino struggle against the Americans, Bob Couttie also writes:

“Indeed, while Aguinaldo’s capture can be laid at the door of a single Filipino collaborator, the failure of the Filipinos to win their independence against a more modern force, as happened in Vietnam many years later, should be placed at the door of those who made colonialization [sic] by America a more attractive proposition than tyranny of their own people.”

In the foregoing analogy, the author, while in part correct, has his rare lapse of logic. He neglects to qualify his assertion that in the case of Vietnam, China and the then mighty U.S.S.R., all foreign powers, supplied the guerilla fighters with their fighting “implements”, including some components of their booby traps. Whereas the Filipinos, borne out by an industrial base that did not exist, merely availed themselves with the arms they could provide through crude, inadequate, local manufacture and whatever meager quantity they could procure from elicit foreign sources, in addition to those they captured from the enemy in the battlefield. They sought aid from Japan, then already a powerful neighbor, but in vain. Apart from but coincidental with France, Russia, and Germany, she had her own design.

On the other hand, the author does not overlook the fact that Aguinaldo (but only out of extreme necessity and too late in the Philippine-American War) introduced a first in any military struggle, his “flying column” tactic which is nothing but the guerilla warfare.

In the guerilla warfare that the author alluded to with the less modern arms of the Vietnamese, the Filipinos were in the cutting edge of the military strategy as already seen, heretofore then unproven against a powerful foreign military, in the same manner that they were in the cutting edge in establishing the first democratic republic in Asia. Whereas, the Vietnamese employed it — i.e., the guerilla warfare — after Aguinaldo and Lukban prototyped it and refashioned to perfection in the 1930s through the early 1940s by Mao Zedong in his struggle against the Chiang Kai- shek’s Kuomintang.

Bob Couttie appropriately depicts the cultural aspect that served as the underpinning of the resentment on the side of the community at Balangiga against the Americans. Under Lukban, a leader gifted with military talent of some measure, the Balagiganons rose to the challenge of the occasion. They did not turn away from the bloodshed that they knew could not be avoided.

Many commentators early on, especially American pundits, had called the incident at Balangiga a massacre, with a strong connotation of being immoral because of the sneak attack. Some still do. The fact is that it was not a massacre in the immoral sense like if the victims were sleeping. And even if they were, the American soldiers primarily responsible for the collapse of security could only have been court-martialed for negligence considering they were at war. The assault took place in broad daylight with the sentries of the Americans in place. If what happened was a massacre, then all acts of war involving surprise — commando raids, for example — are immoral, including Col. Funston’s disguised capture of General Aguinaldo.

Of course in the case of the Balangiga Incident there were no more soldiers to court-martial. Virtually all were wiped out.

But “surprise” per se is a vital factor to a successful military operation which a commander would readily resort to whenever possible. The late Fleet Admiral Nimitz, one of the greatest naval commanders the U.S. had produced in WWII, had a nine-point formula for a successful military operation. Number five of them is “surprise”. To him the Balangiga Incident was not a massacre; it was a “rout” (unwritten portion, interview with this reviewer, August 22, 1964).

That the author of Hang The Dogs pays attention with reasonable details to the preparation of the local populace and assiduously portrays the awry of the fighting should settle the question many had posed on whether the Americans were justified in their unmeasured revenge, the wanton killing and the razing of Samar that followed.

The taking of the Balangiga bells is an interesting aftermath of the incident. Filipinos are passionately longing to get them back. They would even settle just for one. Hang The Dogs discusses the legal let alone the ethical bases of the Filipinos’ right to get the bells back and the Americans’ lack of it to keep what they claim to be war booty.

Negotiation for the return of the bells had been tried for so long but to no avail thus far. This purports to show also that even through diplomacy, which the Filipinos have resorted to even with bended knees, might still dictates the terms. Hang The Dogs clearly implies America is too powerful as to arrogate by ignoring the helpless Filipinos.

Congratulations to the author for a good book and a job well done. # # #

________________

Note: In the copy this reviewer got most of the entries in the index cannot be referenced to the indicated pages.

The battle for the liberation of Manila—waged from February 3 to March 3, 1945, between Philippine and American forces, and the Imperial Japanese forces—is widely considered to be one of the greatest tragedies of the Second World War. One hundred thousand men, women, and children perished. Architectural heritage was reduced to rubble—the City of Manila was the second most devastated Allied capital of World War II.

“The destruction of Manila was one of the greatest tragedies of World War II. Of Allied capitals in those war years, only Warsaw suffered more. Seventy percent of the utilities, 75 percent of the factories, 80 percent of the southern residential district, and 100 percent of the business district was razed.”
— William Manchester, author and historian, in American Caesar

“We remember them, nor shall we ever forget.”
— National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin, on the lives taken during the Battle of Manila, in the inscription of the Memorare Manila 1945 Monument in Intramuros

Continue reading at: http://www.gov.ph/featured/battle-of-manila/

 

 

 

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=2671 0 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2799 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2799#respond Fri, 02 Jan 2015 09:07:03 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=2799

(Photo courtesy of the Philippine Scouts Heritage Society)

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=2799 0 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2438 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2438#respond Tue, 01 Jul 2014 20:30:53 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=2438

 

A month after the 1st Cavalry Division arrived in the Philippines, the battle for Manila’s liberation finally met its conclusion. The wrath of war resulted to the deaths of 100,000 Filipino civilians and the destruction of stunning landmarks that once made Manila the Pearl of the Orient.

 

In 1995, a monument called the “Memorare-Manila 1945” was placed at Plazuela de Sta. Isabel in Intramuros to remember this dark chapter in country’s history. The inscription, which was penned by National Artist Nick Joaquin, says that “This memorial is dedicated to all those innocent victims of war, many of whom went nameless and unknown to a common grave, or never even knew a grave at all, their bodies having been consumed by fire or crushed to dust beneath the rubble of ruins.”

 

From: http://www.filipiknow.net/rare-historical-videos-philippines/

 

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=2438 0 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2435 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2435#respond Tue, 01 Jul 2014 20:21:33 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=2435

 

Battle of Manila (1945)

The month-long  Battle of Manila in 1945 was one of the bloodiest moments of WWII, killing at least 100, 000 Filipino civilians who were either bombed or bayoneted–some were even burned alive.

 

It all started when the American forces led by Field Marshal Douglas MacArthur arrived in Manila in January 1945. Their initial goals were to liberate Allied civilians interned at UST as well as seize the Malacañan Palace, which they were able to achieve.

Threatened by the advancing American forces, the group under General Tomoyuki Yamashita withdrew to Baguio City. All hell broke loose when Rear Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi refused to surrender and chose to defend the city until death.

Historical buildings and bridges were destroyed, Bayview Hotel served as a rape center, and entire row of houses were burned together with their occupants. Thousands of innocent Filipino civilians were killed using the most atrocious of methods–they were massacred with the help of machine guns, katanas, and bayonets.

In his book “American Caesar,”  author William Manchester wrote that the “devastation of Manila was one of the great tragedies of World War II. Seventy percent of the utilities, 72 percent of the factories, 80 percent of the southern residential district, and 100 percent of the business district were razed…

Hospitals were set afire after their patients had been strapped to their beds. The corpses of males were mutilated, females of all ages were raped before they were slain, andbabies’ eyeballs gouged out and smeared on walls like jelly.”

 

From: http://www.filipiknow.net/rare-historical-videos-philippines/

 

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=2435 0 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2384 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2384#respond Thu, 22 May 2014 11:32:09 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=2384  

The PBS Film: Crucible of Empire – The Spanish American War

 

One hundred years ago, United States celebrated victory in the Spanish-American War. Popular songs and headlines popularized Commodore Dewey’s victories at sea and Theodore Roosevelt’s ride up Kettle Hill. Although the Spanish-American War sparked unprecedented levels of patriotism and confidence, the defeat of the Spanish also raised new questions about the nation’s role as a world power.

CRUCIBLE OF EMPIRE: THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR, narrated by award-winning actor Edward James Olmos, examines the colorful characters and historic events surrounding this 100-year-old war and its relevance to the twentieth century. When a declining Spain, beset by rebellion abroad, fell to American expansionism, the United States inherited her colonies and suddenly emerged as a world power. The experience and questions that the Spanish-American War raised about foreign intervention echo throughout the 20^th century—as recent events in Kosovo show. Even in its own time, the war with Spain was understood as a turning point in American history.

As the twentieth century ends, it is instructive to note the complexities and significance of this very brief war that began this century. In the words of noted historian Walter LaFeber, “The 1898 war literally as well as chronologically ushered in the United States as a major shaper, soon the major shaper, of twentieth-century world politics and commerce.” In the process, it also unified a nation still embittered by Civil War divisions; debuted the media in its role as catalyst of U.S. intervention; built up the navy and inspired a re-evaluation of the army; and vastly broadened the powers of the president in wartime and foreign affairs. Clearly, the Spanish-American War was more than the war that ended the nineteenth century; it was also the war that launched the American century.

Using original footage and period photographs, newspaper headlines, more than a dozen popular songs from the 1890s, and interviews with some of America’s most prominent historians, CRUCIBLE OF EMPIRE tells how issues of race, economy, technology, yellow journalism, and public opinion propelled America into this war. Four 1990s Senators bring to life the 1899 Senate debate on imperialism: Patrick Leahy (VT), Frank Lautenberg (NJ), Paul Simon (IL), and Alan Simpson (WY). The film also features Larry Linville (Major Frank “Ferret Face” Burns of “M*A*S*H”) as the voice of Rough Rider Theodore Roosevelt, Laurence Luckinbill as President William McKinley, and Lou Diamond Phillips as Philippine revolutionary Emilio Aguinaldo.

Continue reading at: http://www.pbs.org/crucible/film.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g8NpQsmxj4

http://youtu.be/8g8NpQsmxj4

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=2384 0 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2095 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2095#respond Sun, 03 Nov 2013 12:14:25 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=2095 Some of the Combat, Massacres, Rebellions, Disputes And Calamities of the Philippine Islands.

according to the Book_

 

The Inhabitants of the Philippines

By

Frederic H. Sawyer

Memb. Inst. C.E., Memb. Inst. N.A.

London

Sampson Low, Marston and Company Limited

St. Dunstan’s House

Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.C.

1900

 

 

Some of the Combat, Massacres, Rebellions, Disputes And Calamities of the Philippine Islands.

 

1521.	Magellan and several of his followers killed in action by the natives of Mactan, near Cebú; Juan Serrano and many other Spaniards treacherously killed by Hamabar, King of Cebú.
1525.	Salazar fights the Portuguese off Mindanao, and suffers great losses in ships and men.
1568.	Legaspi’s expedition attacked in Cebú by a Portuguese fleet, which was repulsed.
1570.	Legaspi founds the city of Cebú, with the assistance of the Augustinians.
1571.	Legaspi founds the city of Manila, with the assistance of the Augustinians.
1572.	Juan Salcedo fights the Datto of Zambales, and delivers his subjects from oppression.
1574.	Siege of Manila by the Chinese pirate Li-ma-hon with 95 small vessels and 2000 men. The Spaniards and natives repulse the attack. The pirates retire to Pangasinan, and are attacked and destroyed by Juan Salcedo.
1577.	War against Mindanao and Joló, parts of which are occupied. Disputes between the missionaries and the military officers who desire to enrich themselves by enslaving the natives, which the former stoutly oppose, desiring to convert them, and grant them exemption from taxes according to the “Leyes de Indias.” They considered the cupidity of the soldiers as the chief obstacle to the conversion of the heathen. The Crown decided in favour of the natives, but they did not derive all the benefits they were entitled to, as the humane laws were not respected by the governors.
	The Franciscans arrived in Manila.
1580.	Expedition sent by Gonzalo Ronquillo to Borneo to assist King Sirela.
1581.	Expedition sent by the same to Cagayan to expel a Japanese corsair who had established himself there. The expedition succeeded, but with heavy loss.
	Expedition against the Igorrotes to get possession of the gold-mines, but without success.
	The Jesuits arrive in Manila.
1582.	Expedition against the Molucas, under Sebastian Ronquillo.[390]An epidemic destroyed two-thirds of the expedition, which returned without accomplishing anything.
	Great disputes between the encomenderos and the friars in consequence of the ill-treatment of the natives by the former. Dissensions between the Bishop of Manila and the friars who refused to submit to his diocesan visit.
	Manila burnt down.
1584.	Second expedition against the Molucas, with no better luck than the first.
	Rebellion of the Pampangos and Manila men, assisted by some Mahometans from Borneo. Combat between the English pirate, Thomas Schadesh, and Spanish vessels.
	Combat between the English adventurer Thomas Cavendish (afterwards Sir Thomas), and Spanish vessels.
1587.	The Dominicans arrive in Manila.
1589.	Rebellion in Cagayan and other provinces.
1593.	Third expedition against the Molucas under Gomez Perez Dasmariñias. He had with him in his galley 80 Spaniards and 250 Chinese galley-slaves. In consequence of contrary winds, his vessel put into a port near Batangas for shelter. In the silence of the night, when the Spaniards were asleep, the galley-slaves arose and killed them all except a Franciscan friar and a secretary. Dasmariñias built the castle of Santiago, and fortified Manila with stone walls, cast a large number of guns, and established the college of Sta. Potenciana.
1596.	The galleon which left Manila for Acapulco with rich merchandise, was obliged to enter a Japanese port by stress of weather, and was seized by the Japanese authorities. The crew were barbarously put to death.
1597.	Expedition of Luis Perez Dasmariñias against Cambodia, which gained no advantage.
1598.	The Audiencia re-established in Manila, and the bishopric raised to an archbishopric.
	Expedition against Mindanao and Joló, the people from which were committing great devastations in Visayas, taking hundreds of captives.
	Much fighting, and many killed on both sides, without any definite result.
1599.	Destructive earthquake in Manila and neighbourhood.
1600.	Great sea combat between four Spanish ships, commanded by Judge Morga, and two Dutch pirates. One of the Dutchmen was taken, but the other escaped.
	Another destructive earthquake on January 7th, and one less violent, but long, in November.
1603.	Conspiracy of Eng-Cang and the Chinese against the Spaniards. The Chinese entrench themselves near Manila; Luis Perez Dasmariñias marches against them with 130 Spaniards. They were all killed and decapitated by the Chinese, who then besieged Manila, and attempted to take it by assault. Being repulsed by the Spaniards, all of whom, including the friars, took up arms, they retired to their entrenchments. They were ultimately defeated, and 23,000 of them were massacred. Only 100 were left alive, and these were sent to the galleys as slaves.[391]
1606.	The Recollets arrive in Manila.
	Fourth expedition against the Molucas. Pedro de Acuña, having received a reinforcement of 800 men—Mexicans and Peruvians—attacked and took Ternate, Tidore, Marotoy and Herrao, with all their artillery and provisions. He left 700 men in garrison there, and returned to Manila, dying a few days after his arrival. The Augustinians furnished a galleon for this expedition. It was commanded by the Rev. Father Antonio Flores.
1607.	Revolt of the Japanese living in and near Manila, and heavy losses on both sides.
1609.	Arrival of Juan de Silva with five companies of Mexican and Peruvian infantry. Attack on Manila by a Dutch squadron of five vessels. They were beaten off with the loss of three of their ships.
1610.	Unsuccessful expedition against Java. This was to have been a combined attack on the Dutch by Portuguese and Spaniards, but the Spanish squadron did not arrive in time to join their allies, who were beaten by the Dutch fleet in the Straits of Malacca.
	Terrific earthquake in Manila and the eastern provinces.
1616.	Violent eruption of the Mayon volcano.
1622.	Revolt of the natives in Bohol, Leyte and Cagayan, which were easily suppressed.
1624.	The Dutch landed on Corregidor Island, but were beaten off.
1627. August.	Great earthquake.
1628.	Destructive earthquake in Camarines.
1638.	Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera makes an attack on the Moros of Mindanao, and conquers the Sultanate of Buhayen and island of Basilan. He also defeats the Joloans.
1639.	Insurrection of Chinese in the province of Laguna and in Manila. Out of 30,000, 7000 ultimately surrendered. All the rest were massacred by the Tagals.
1640.	The Dutch attacked the Spanish garrisons in Mindanao and Joló. The governor-general, fearing they might attack Manila, withdrew the garrisons from the above places to strengthen his own defences, thus leaving the Moros masters of both islands.
1641.	Eruption of the Taal volcano. Violent earthquake in Ilocos.
1645.	The Dutch attacked Cavite and other ports, but were repulsed.
	Rebellion of the Moros in Joló, and of the natives of Cebú and other provinces, who were oppressed by forced labour in building vessels, and other services.
	In these years there were great disputes between the Spaniards of the capital and the friars.
	Great earthquake in Manila, 30th November, called St. Andrew’s earthquake.
1646.	Long series of strong earthquakes, which began in March with violent shocks, and lasted for sixty days.
1648.	Great earthquakes in Manila.
1653.	Great devastations by the Moros of Mindanao, which were severely punished.
	Rebellion in Pampanga and Pangasinan against being forced to cut timber gratuitously for the navy. Suppressed after a serious resistance.[392]
1658.	Destructive earthquake in Manila and Cavite.
1662.	The Chinese pirate, Cong-seng, demands tribute from the Governor of the Philippines. A decree is issued ordering all Chinamen to leave the Philippines. The Chinese entrench themselves in the Parian, and resist. Thousands were killed, and 2000 who marched into Pampanga were all massacred by the natives.
	Great troubles occurred between the governor, Diego de Salcedo, and the archbishop.
1665. 19th June,	violent and destructive earthquake in Manila.
1669.	During the government of Manuel de Leon, further troubles occurred between the archbishop and the Audiencia. The archbishop was banished, and sent by force to Pangasinan. But a new governor, Gabriel de Cruzalegui, arrived, and restored the archbishop, who excommunicated the dean and chapter.
1675.	Destructive earthquake in South Luzon and Mindoro.
1683.	Great earthquake in Manila.
1689.	Archbishop Pardo having died, was succeeded by P. Camacho, and now great disorders arose from his insisting on making the diocesan visit, which the friars refused to receive, and would only be visited by their own Provincial. Again Judge Sierra required the Augustinians and Dominicans to present the titles of the estates they possessed in virtue of a special commission he had brought from Madrid, which they refused to obey, and the end of the dispute was that Sierra was sent back to Mexico, and another commissioner, a friend of the friars, was appointed, to whom they unofficially exhibited the titles.
1716.	Destructive eruption of the Taal volcano, and violent earthquake in Manila.
1717.	Fernando Bustillo Bustamente became governor, and re-established garrisons in Zamboanga and Paragua. He caused various persons who had embezzled the funds of the colony to restore them, imprisoning a corrupt judge. He was assassinated by the criminals he had punished, and nothing came of the inquiry into his death.
1735.	Earthquake in Baler, and tidal wave.
	At this time, the audacity of the Moro pirates was incredible. They ravaged the Visayas and southern Luzon, and carried away the inhabitants by thousands for slaves. The natives began to desert the coast, and take to the interior. Pedro Manuel de Arandia, obeying repeated orders, decreed the expulsion of the Chinese.
1744.	Another rising in Bohol, due to the tyranny of a Jesuit priest named Morales. The chief of this rising was a native named Dagohoy, who put the Jesuit to death, and maintained the independence of Bohol, paying no tribute for thirty-five years. When the Jesuits were expelled from the Philippines, Recollets were sent to Bohol, and the natives submitted on receiving a free pardon.
1749.	Eruption of the Taal volcano, and earthquake in Manila. The eruption lasted for twenty days.
1754.	Violent eruption of the Taal volcano, which began on 15th May,[393]and lasted till the end of November. This was accompanied by earthquakes, an inundation, terrifying electrical discharges, and destructive storms. The ashes darkened the country for miles round, even as far as Manila. When the eruption ceased, the stench was dreadful, and the sea and lake threw up quantities of dead fish and alligators. A malignant fever burst out, which carried off vast numbers of the population round about the volcano.
1762.	A British squadron, with troops from India, arrived in the bay 22nd September, and landed the forces near the powder-magazine of S. Antonio Abad. On the 24th, the city was bombarded. The Spaniards sent out 2000 Pampangos to attack the British, but they were repulsed with great slaughter, and ran away to their own country.
	The civil population of Manila were decidedly in favour of resisting to the last drop of the soldiers’ blood; but the soldiers were not at all anxious for this. Confusion arose in the city, and whilst recriminations were in progress, the British took the city by assault, meeting only a half-hearted resistance.
	The natives immediately began plundering, and were turned out of the city by General Draper. The Chinese also joined in the robbery, and a few were hanged in consequence. The city was pillaged. The British regiments are said to have behaved well, but the sepoys ravished the women, and killed many natives.
	Cavite was about to be surrendered, but as soon as the native troops there knew what was going on, they began at once to plunder the town and arsenal.
1763.	A British expedition sailing in small craft took possession of Malolos on January 19th, 1763. The Augustin and Franciscan friars took arms to defend Bulacan, where two of them were killed in action.
	It was said that the Chinese were conspiring to exterminate the Spaniards. Simon de Anda, the chief of the war-party amongst the Spaniards, issued an order that all the Chinese in the Philippines should be hanged, and this order was in a great measure carried out. This was the fourth time the Spaniards and natives exterminated the Chinese in the Philippines.
	Peace having been made in Europe, the British evacuated Manila in March, 1774.
	In order to satisfy their vanity, and account for the easy victory of the British, the Spaniards made various accusations of treachery against a brave Frenchman named Falles, and a Mexican, Santiago de Orendain. Both those men gallantly led columns of Pampangos against the British lines in the sortie before mentioned. Although the Pampangos, full of presumption, boldly advanced against the British and sepoys, they were no match for disciplined troops led by British officers, and were hurled back at the point of the bayonet. The inevitable defeat and rout was made a pretext for the infamous charges against their leaders. It may be asked, Was there no Spaniard brave enough to lead the[394]sorties, that a Frenchman and a Mexican were obliged to take command?
	The Spaniards in this campaign showed themselves more at home in making proclamations, accusations, and intriguing against each other, than in fighting. However, the friars are exempt from this reproach, for Augustinians, Dominicans and Franciscans, fought and died, and shamed the soldiers.
	No less than ten Augustinians fell on the field of battle, nineteen were made prisoners, and twelve were banished. The British are said by the Augustinians to have sacked and destroyed fifteen of their conventos, or priests’ houses, six houses of their haciendas, and to have sold everything belonging to them in Manila. The Augustinians gave their church bells to be cast into cannon for the defence of the islands.
	Spaniards and natives, however, showed great unanimity and enthusiasm in massacring or hanging the unwarlike Chinamen, and in pillaging their goods. Nearly all the Chinese in the islands, except those in the parts held by the British, were killed.
	During the Anglo-Spanish war there were revolts of the natives in Pangasinan and in Ilocos, then a very large province (it is now divided into four), but both these risings were suppressed. The same happened with a revolt in Cagayan. Disturbances also occurred in many other provinces.
	Simon de Anda became Governor-General, and carried out the expulsion of the Jesuits from the Philippines. Great troubles again occurred between the Archbishop and the friars over the diocesan visit.
1766. 20th July,	violent eruption of the Mayon volcano.
23rd October,	terrible typhoon in Albay, causing enormous destruction of life and property.
1777.	José Basco y Vargas, a naval officer, came out as Governor-General, and found the country overrun with banditti. He made a war of extermination against them, and then initiated a vigorous campaign against the Moros. He repaired the forts, built numbers of war vessels, and cut up the pirates in many encounters. Basco governed for nearly eleven years.
1784.	During the government of Felix Marquina, a naval officer, the Compañia de Filipinas was founded to commence a trade between Spain and the Philippines. Marquina was succeeded by Rafael Maria de Aguilar, an army officer, who organized the land and naval forces, and made fierce war on the Moros. He governed the islands for fourteen years.
1787.	Violent and destructive earthquake in Panay.
1796.	Disastrous earthquake in Manila.
1800.	Destructive eruption of the Mayon volcano.
1807.	Rebellion in Ilocos.
	When the parish priest of Betal, an Augustinian, was preaching to his flock, exhorting them to obedience to their sovereign, a woman stood up in the church and spoke against him, saying that they should not believe him, that his remarks[395]were all humbug, that with the pretence of God, the Gospel, and the King, the priest merely deceived them, so that the Spaniards might skin them and suck their blood, for the priests were Spaniards like the rest. However, the townsmen declared for the King, and took the field under the leadership of the priest.
1809.	The first English commercial house established in Manila.
1811.	Rebellion in Ilocos to change the religion, nominating a new god called Lungao. The leaders of this rebellion entered into negotiations with the Igorrotes and other wild tribes to exterminate the Spaniards, but the conspiracy was discovered and frustrated.
1814.	Rebellion in Ilocos and other provinces.
	Prisoners released in some towns in Ilocos. This rebellion was in consequence of General Gandarás proclaiming the equality of races, which the Indians interpreted by refusing to pay taxes.
1st February,	violent earthquake in south Luzon and destructive eruption of the Mayon volcano. Astonishing electrical discharges.
	A discharge of ashes caused five hours’ absolute darkness, through which fell showers of red hot stones which completely burnt the towns of Camalig, Cagsana, and Budiao with half of the towns of Albay and Guinchatau, and part of Bulusan.
	The darkness caused by the black ashes reached over the whole of Luzon, and even to the coast of China. So loud was the thunder that it was heard in distant parts of the Archipelago.
	Great epidemic of cholera in Manila.
1820.	Massacre of French, English, and Americans in Manila by the natives who plundered their dwellings, after which they proceeded with the fifth massacre of the Chinese. They asserted that the Europeans had poisoned the wells and produced the cholera. The massacre was due to the villainous behaviour of a Philippine Spaniard named Varela, who was Alcalde of Tondo, equivalent to Governor of Manila, and to the criminal weakness and cowardice of Folgueras the acting governor-general, who abstained from interference until the foreigners had been killed, and only sent out troops when forced by the remonstrances of the friars and other Spaniards.
	The archbishop and the friars behaved nobly, for they marched out in procession to the streets of Binondo, and did their best to stop the massacre, whilst Folgueras, only attentive to his own safety, remained with the fortifications.
1822.	Juan Antonio Martinez took over the government in October. Folgueras having reported unfavourably of the officers of the Philippine army, Martinez brought with him a number of officers of the Peninsular army to replace those who were inefficient.
	This caused a mutiny of the Spanish officers of the native army, and they murdered Folgueras in his bed. He thus expiated his cowardice in 1820. The mutiny was, however,[396]suppressed, and Novales and twenty sergeants were shot. Novales’ followers had proclaimed him Emperor of the Philippines. The constitution was abolished by Martinez, without causing any rising.
1824.	Destructive earthquake in Manila.
	Alonzo Morgado appointed by Martinez to be captain of the Marina Sutil, commenced an unrelenting persecution of the piratical Moros, causing them enormous losses.
1828.	Another military insurrection, headed by two brothers, officers in the Philippine army.
	From this date Peninsular troops were permanently maintained in Manila, which had never been done before.
1829.	Father Bernardo Lago, an indefatigable missionary of the Augustinian Order, with his assistants baptised in the provinces of Abra and Benguet more than 5300 heathen Tinguianes and Igorrotes, and settled them in towns.
1834.	Foreign vessels allowed to enter Manila by paying double dues.
1836–7.	Great disturbances amongst the natives in consequence of the ex-claustration of the friars in Spain. The natives divided into two parties. One wished to turn out the friars and all Spaniards, the others to turn out all Spaniards except the friars, who were to remain and take charge of the government.
	The disturbances were ultimately smoothed over.
1841.	Marcelino de Oráa being Governor-General, a sanguinary insurrection burst out in Tayabas, under the leadership of a native, Apolinario de la Cruz. He murdered the Alcalde of the province, and persuaded his fanatical adherents that he would make the earth open and swallow up the Spanish forces when they attacked.
	His following was composed of 3000 men, women, and children. They were attacked by four hundred soldiers and as many cuadrilleros and coast-guards, and suffered a crushing defeat, and a third of them were slain.
	Apolinario de la Cruz was apprehended, and immediately put to death.
	Apolinario called himself the “King of the Tagals,” and told his followers that a Tagal virgin would come down from Heaven to wed him, that with a handful of rice he could maintain all who followed him, and that the Spanish bullets could not hurt them, and many other absurd things. His followers declared that he had signified his intention, in case of being victorious, to tie all the friars and other Spaniards to trees, and to have them shot by the women with arrows.
	There lay in garrison at Manila at this time a regiment composed of Tagals of Tayabas, and they also mutinied, and were shot down by the other troops.
1844.	Royal order prohibiting the admission of foreigners to the interior of the country.
	Narciso de Claveria became Governor-General, and organised a police force called the Public Safety for Manila, and similar corps for the provinces. Up to this time the Alcaldes Mayores of provinces had been allowed to trade, and, in fact, were almost the only traders in their provinces,[397]buying up the whole crop. This forced trade is quite a Malay custom, and is practised in Borneo and the Malay States under the name of Serra-dagang.
	The Alcaldes Mayores used to pay the crown one third, or half, or all their salary for this privilege, and took in return all they could squeeze out of their provinces without causing an insurrection, or without causing the friars to complain of them to the Government, for the parish priests were ever the protectors of the natives against the civil authority. This privilege of trading was now abolished as being unworthy of the position of governor of a province.
1851.	Expedition by the Governor-General Antonio de Urbiztondo against Joló. The force consisted of four regiments, with artillery, and a battalion of the inhabitants of Cebú, under the command of a Recollet friar, Father Ibañez. These latter behaved in the bravest manner, in fact they had to; for their wives, at the instance of the priest, had sworn never to receive them again if they turned their backs on the enemy.
	The undaunted Father Ibañez led them to the assault, and lost his life in the moment of victory. Eight cottas (forts), with their artillery and ammunition, were captured by this expedition, and a great number of Moros were killed.
	After this the Joló pirates abated their insolent attacks. Claveria made an expedition against the piratical Moros and seized their island of Balanguingin, killing 400 Moros, and taking 300 prisoners, also rescuing 200 captives. He also captured 120 guns and lantacas, and 150 piratical vessels. This exemplary chastisement tranquillised the Moros for some time.
1853. 13th June.	Loud subterranean noises in Albay and eruption of the Mayon volcano. Fall of ashes and red-hot stones which rolled down the mountain and killed thirty-three people.
1854.	Insurrection in Nueva Ecija under Cuesta, a Spanish mestizo educated in Spain, where Queen Isabela had taken notice of him.
	He arrived in Manila with the appointment of Commandant of Carabineros in Nueva Ecija, and immediately began to plot. The Augustine friars harangued his followers and persuaded them to disperse, and Cuesta was captured and executed, with several other conspirators; others were banished to distant islands.
	In this year Manuel Crespo became Governor-General, and a military officer, named Zapatero, endeavoured to strangle him in his own office.
1855.	Strong shocks of earthquake in all Luzon. Eruption of the Mayon volcano.
1856.	In the latter part of this year a submarine volcanic explosion took place at the Didica shoal, eight miles north-east of the island of Camiguin in the Babuyanes, to the north of Luzon. It remains an active volcano, and has raised a cone nearly to the height of the volcano of Camiguin, which is 2414 feet high.[398]
1857.	The old decrees against foreigners renewed.
	Fernando de Norzagaray became governor-general, and found the country over-run by bandits, against whom he employed severe measures. He greatly improved Manila.
	The French in Cochin-China, finding more resistance than they expected, appealed to Norzagaray for help. He lent them money, ships, and about a thousand native troops, who behaved with great bravery during the campaign.
1860.	Ramon Maria Solano succeeded to the Government.
	In this year two steam sloops and nine steam gunboats were added to the naval forces, and now the Moros could only put to sea running great risks of destruction.
	These nine gunboats were the greatest blessings the Philippines had received for many years.
1861.	José de Lemery y Ibarrola, Governor-General. Mendez-Nuñez, with the steam sloops and gunboats, inflicted terrible chastisement on the piratical Moros.
1862.	Rafael de Echague y Bermingham became Governor-General.
	Second visitation of cholera in the islands, but not so severe as in 1820.
1863.	Terrible earthquake in Manila and the surrounding country, causing thousands of victims, destroying the cathedral, the palace of the governor-general, the custom houses, the principal churches (except St. Augustine), the public and private buildings, in fact, reducing the city to a ruin.
	At this time the steam gunboats continually hostilised the Moros of Joló, and caused them great losses.
1865.	Juan de Lara y Irigoyen became Governor-General, and took measures to subdue the bandits, who were committing great depredations and murders. Hostilities continued in Joló, as the Moros had recommenced their piratical cruises.
1866.	Frequent earthquakes in Manila and Benguet.
	At this time the Treasury was in the greatest difficulty, and could not meet the current payments. A large quantity of tobacco was sold to meet the difficulty.
1867.	José de la Gandara y Navarro became Governor-General. To him is due the credit of creating that excellent institution the Guardia Civil, which has extirpated the banditti who infested the islands for so many years.
	An expedition was sent against the Igorrotes, but without effecting anything of consequence.
1868. June 4th.	Intense earthquake in the island of Leyte.
1869.	Carlos Maria de la Torre became Governor-General, and was not ashamed to publish a proclamation offering the bandits a free pardon if they presented themselves within three months. Hundreds and thousands of men now joined the bandits for three months murder and pillage, with a free pardon at the end of it. This idiotic and cowardly proclamation was most prejudicial to the interests of the country. Finally a special corps, called La Torre’s Guides, was organised to pursue the bandits.
1871.	Rafael Izquierdo y Guttierez became Governor-General, and raised the excellent corps called La Veterana to act as the police of the capital.[399]
December 8th,	eruption of the Mayon volcano, and discharge of ashes and lava. Two persons smothered, and one burnt.
16th February.	Commencement of the series of earthquakes which preceded the frightful volcanic eruption in the island of Camiguin on 30th April. Full details of this terrible event are preserved. A volcanic outburst took place on the above date at 344 metres from the town of Cabarman, and near the sea. Great volumes of inflammable gases were ejected from deep cracks in the neighbouring hills, which presently took fire, and soared in flames of incredible height, setting fire to the forests. The wretched inhabitants who had remained in their houses found themselves surrounded by smoke, steam, water, ashes, and red hot stones, whilst their island seemed on fire, and they had sent away all their seaworthy craft with the women and children.
	At first the volcanic vent was only two metres high, but it continually increased.
	After the eruption, the earthquakes decreased, and on 7th May entirely ceased.
	The volcano gradually raised itself by the material thrown out to a height of 418 metres.
1872.	Military revolt in Cavite, in which the native clergy were mixed up. A secret society had been working at this plot for several years, and was very widely extended. It inundated the towns of the Archipelago with calumnious and libellous leaflets in the native languages. The conspiracy coincided with the return of the Jesuits in accordance with a Royal Order, and their substitution for the Recollets missionaries in many parishes in Mindanao. In turn, the Recollets, removed from Mindanao, were given benefices in Luzon which, for one hundred years, had been in the hands of the native clergy, who were, in consequence, very dissatisfied, and great hatred was aroused against the Recollets. The mutiny was suppressed by the Spaniards and the Visayas troops, who bayoneted the Tagals without mercy, even when they had laid down their arms.
	Besides many who were shot for complicity in this revolt, three native priests—D. Mariano Gomez, D. Jacinto Zamora, and D. José Burgos—were garrotted in Bagumbayan on the 28th February. Much discussion arose about the guilt or innocence of these men, and it is a matter on which friars and native clergy are never likely to agree.
	Later on, a rising took place in Zamboanga penal establishment, but this was put down by the warlike inhabitants of that town, who are always ready to take up arms in their own defence, and are very loyal to Spain.
	Loud subterranean noises in Albay. Eruption of the Mayon volcano, which lasted for four days.
1873.	Juan de Alaminos y Vivar became governor-general.
	The ports of Legaspi, Tacloban and Leyte, were opened to foreign commerce.
November 14, 1873,	violent earthquake in Manila. Eruption of the Mayon volcano, from 15th June to 23rd July.[400]
1874.	Manuel Blanco Valderrama, being acting governor-general, fighting took place in Balábac, where the Spanish garrison was surprised by the Moros. José Malcampo y Monge, a rear-admiral, took over the government of the islands, and, during his administration, the news of the proclamation of Alfonso XII, as King of Spain was received, and gave great satisfaction in Manila, which had never taken to the Republican Government in Spain.
	Malcampo led a strong expedition, consisting of 9000 men, against the Moros, and took Joló by assault, after bombarding the Cottas by the ships’ guns. At the end of his time, the regiment of Peninsular Artillery had become demoralised, and its discipline very lax. Finally, the soldiers refused to obey their officers, and broke out of barracks.
	Two of them were shot dead by the officer of the guard at the barrack-gate, Captain Brull, but the affair was hushed up, and no one was punished. Discipline was quite lost.
1877.	Great devastation by locusts in province of Batangas. Domingo Moriones y Murillo arrived, and took over the government on 28th February. His first act was to shoot a number of the Spanish mutineers, put others in prison, and send back fifty to Spain in the same vessel with Malcampo. This incident is related in greater detail in Chapter III. The Treasury was in the greatest poverty, and the poor natives of Cagayan obliged to cultivate tobacco and deliver it to the government officials, had not been paid for it for two or three years, and were actually starving. Moriones did what he could for them, and strongly insisted on the abolition of the “estanco.”
	To this worthy governor, Manila and the Philippines owe much. He insisted on the legacy of Carriedo being employed for the object it was left for, instead of remaining in the hands of corrupt officials.
	He also made good regulations against rogues and vagabonds.
1879. Nov. 8th.	Violent typhoon passed over Manila, doing much damage.
July 1st.	Commencement of earthquakes in Surigao (Mindanao), which lasted over two months.
1880.	Fernando Primo de Rivera became Governor-General, 15th April.
On July 14th,	a violent earthquake took place, doing enormous damage in the city of Manila and the central provinces of Luzon. The seismic disturbance lasted till the 25th July. The inhabitants of Manila were panic-stricken, and took refuge in the native nipa houses.
	General Primo de Rivera made an expedition against the Igorrotes, and the vile treatment the soldiers meted out to the Igorrote women has delayed for years the conversion of those tribes.
1881.	Eruption of the Mayon volcano, which began on July 6th, and lasted till the middle of 1882.
	At times there were loud subterranean noises, after which the flow of lava usually increased.
1882.	Dreadful epidemic of cholera which, in less than three months,[401]carried off 30,000 victims in the city and province of Manila. In the height of the epidemic the deaths reached a thousand a day. The victims were mostly natives, but many Spaniards died of the disease. Only one Englishman died, and this was from his own imprudence. A typhoon passed over Manila on October 20th, and caused great damage on shore and afloat. Twelve large ships and a steamer were driven on shore, or very seriously damaged.
On November 5th,	another typhoon, not quite so violent as the first, took place. After this, the cholera almost entirely stopped. On December 31st, another typhoon occurred.
1883.	Joaquin Jovellar y Soler, captain-general in the army, and the pacificator of Cuba, assumed the government 7th April, and was received with great show of satisfaction by the Spaniards.
	The old tribute of the natives was replaced by the tax on the Cédulas-personales.
	During his time there were threats of insurrection, and additional Peninsular troops were sent out. He resigned from ill-health 1st April, 1885.
October 28th.	Typhoon passed over Manila.
1885.	Emilio Terrero y Perinat assumed the government of the islands on April 4th.
	He conducted successful expeditions against the Moros of Mindanao and Joló.
	In the month of May, during the great heat, the River Pasig was covered with green scum from the lake. The water was charged with gas, the fish and cray-fish died, and the stench was overpowering, even at a couple of miles distance from the river.
	A huge waterspout was formed in the bay, and passed inland.
November.	Death of King Alfonso XII., and mourning ceremonies in all the islands.
October 2nd.	Eruption of the Taal volcano.
1886. 5th March.	Separation of the executive and judicial powers. Appointment of eighteen civil governors instead of alcaldes—mayores of provinces. Very great inconvenience occurred through the delay in sending out the Judges of First Instance, and the duties were, in some cases, temporarily performed by ignorant persons devoid of any legal training.
11 P.M., 2nd April,	an enormous flaming meteor traversed the sky, travelling from E. to W., and when about the zenith it split into two with a loud explosion, the pieces diverging at an angle of perhaps 45°; they fell, apparently, at a great distance, producing a violent concussion like a sharp shock of earthquake.
24th April.	Attack by bandits on the village of Montalban. Two of them were killed by the Guardia Civil.
8th July.	Eruption of the Mayon volcano in Albay. It continued to discharge ashes and lava, bursting out into greater violence at times till the middle of March, 1887.
March 19th.	Don German Gamazo, Minister for the[402]Colonies, lays before the Queen-Regent, for her approbation, the project of the General Exhibition of the Philippines, to be held in Madrid in 1887. In it he says:—
	“By this we shall bring about that the great sums of money which are sent from the metropolis to purchase in foreign countries cotton, sugar, cacao, tobacco, and other products, will go to our possessions in Oceania, where foreign merchants buy them up, with evident damage to the material interests of the country.”
	When it is considered that the freight from Manila to Barcelona in the subsidised Spanish Royal Mail steamers was considerably higher than that charged in the same steamers to Liverpool, that enormous duties were charged in Spain on sugar and hemp, which enter British ports duty free, and that British capital was advanced to the cultivators to raise these very crops, the idiotic absurdity and contemptible hypocrisy of such a statement may be faintly realised by the reader.
	In May the mud of the Pasig became permeated with bubbles of gas, and floated to the surface. On May 23rd, the writer witnessed several violent explosions of fetid gas smelling like sulphuretted hydrogen from the mud of the Pasig at Santa Ana.
June 7th.	Triple murder committed at Cañacao by a Tagal from jealousy.
20th May.	Three days’ holiday and public rejoicings ordered in honour of the birth of the King of Spain (Alfonso XIII.).
1887. January 3rd.	Troops embarked in Manila for the expedition against the Moros of Mindanao under General Terrero.
March 5th.	The United States warship Brooklyn arrived in Manila.
July 14th.	The Penal Code put in force in the Philippines.
December 3rd.	The Civil Code put in force in the Philippines.
1888. March 1st.	A petition is presented to the Acting Civil Governor of Manila by the Gobernadorcillo and Principales of Santa Cruz, praying for the expulsion of the religious orders and of the Archbishop, the secularization of all benefices, and the confiscation of the estates of the Augustinians and Dominicans. See Chapter VI.
December 15th.	Violent eruption of Mayon volcano with subterranean noises, storms, thunder and lightning. Don Valeriano Weyler, Marques de Tenerife, became governor-general.
1890.	Agrarian disturbances occurred at Calamba and Santa Rosa between the tenants on the Dominicans’ estates and the lay brother in charge. During this year there was a great increase of secret societies. A woman admitted as a mason. A woman’s lodge established. See Chapter IX.
February 21st.	Violent eruption of the Mayon.
February 24th.	Several explosions occurred at the summit, discharging showers of white-hot bombs. About 100 metres of the top toppled over. Many of the inhabitants of the neighbouring towns fled to a distance.[403]
1891.	Don Emilio Despujols, Conde de Caspe, became governor-general. See Chapter III.
1893.	Doroteo Cortes banished to the Province of La Union, other malcontents banished to different localities.
October 3rd.	Eruption of the Mayon and explosion of volcanic bombs. Loud subterranean noises and deafening thunder.
	A vast column of smoke ascended to the sky, from which proceeded violet-coloured lightning.
	The eruption lasted till the end of October.
1894. May.	The Datto Julcainim, with seventy armed Moros from Sulu, landed in Basilan Island to recover tribute from the natives, but was sent back by a Spanish gunboat.
1896. August 30th.	Tagal insurrection broke out near Manila and in Cavite Province. See Chapter X.
1897. June 25th.	Violent and disastrous eruptions of the Mayon. Complete destruction of the villages San Antonio, San Isidro, Santo Niño, San Roque, Santa Misericordia, and great damage to other places by the incandescent lava. A dreadful tempest destroyed houses and plantations in places where the lava did not reach. About 300 people were either killed outright or died of their wounds. Fifty wounded persons recovered.
1898. March 24th.	Revolt of the famous Visayas or 74th Regiment at Cavite.
March 25th.	Massacre of the Calle Camba.
April 24th.	Meeting at Singapore between Aguinaldo and the United States’ Consul, Mr. Spencer Pratt.
April 26th.	Aguinaldo proceeds to Hong Kong.
May 1st.	Naval battle of Cavite. Destruction of the Spanish squadron and capture of Cavite Arsenal by the Americans.
May 19th.	Aguinaldo and seventeen followers land at Cavite from the United States’ vessel Hugh McCullough, and are furnished with arms by Admiral Dewey.
May 24th.	Aguinaldo proclaims a Dictatorial Government.
June 23rd.	He issues a manifesto claiming for the Philippines a place, if a modest one, amongst the nations.
August 6th.	He sends a message to foreign powers claiming recognition.
August 13th.	The American troops enter Manila, the Spaniards making only a show of resistance.
August 14th.	The capitulation signed. General Merritt issues his proclamation establishing a military government.
August 15th.	General McArthur appointed military commandant of the Walled City and Provost-Marshal-General of the city and suburbs.
September 29th.	General Aguinaldo makes a speech at Malolos to the Philippine Congress, the keynote of which was independence: “The Philippines for the Filipinos.”
October 2nd.	The Peace Commission holds its preliminary meeting in Paris.
November 13th.	The insurgents invest Ilo-ilo. Fighting[404]proceeding in other parts of Visayas between Spaniards and natives.
December 10th.	The Peace Commission signs the Treaty. Don Felipe Agoncillo, representative of the Philippine Government, hands in a formal protest, of which no notice is taken.
December 24th.	The Spaniards evacuate Ilo-ilo.
December 26th.	The insurgents occupy the city. The Spaniards evacuate all the southern island stations except Zamboanga. The Philippine Congress at Malolos adjourns.
December 29th.	New Philippine cabinet formed; all the members pledged to independence.
	President of Congress and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Señor Mabini; Secretary for War, Señor Luna; Interior, Señor Araneta; Agriculture and Commerce, Señor Buencamino; Public Works, Señor Canon.
1899. January 5th.	The Washington officials announce that they “expect a peaceful adjustment.” [Blessed are they who expect nothing.]
	President McKinley instructs General Otis to extend military government with all dispatch to the whole ceded territory.
January 8th.	Protest of Aguinaldo against the Americans.
January 12th.	General Otis telegraphs to the War Department that conditions are apparently improving.
	Other dispatches represent the situation as daily growing more acute.
January 16th.	A telegram was received at Washington from General Otis, of so reassuring a character regarding the position at Manila and Ilo-ilo, that the government officials accept without question the correctness of his statement, that the critical stage of the trouble there is now past and that he controls the situation.
	A commission nominated by President McKinley, consisting of Dr. Schurman, President of Cornell University; Professor Worcester of Michigan University, and Mr. Denby.
January 21st.	The Philippine constitution is proclaimed at Malolos.
February 4th.	Fighting between Filipinos and Americans began at Santa Mesa 8.45 P.M., and continued through the night.
February 5th.	Fighting continued all day and ended in the repulse of the Filipinos with heavy loss.
	General Otis wires: “The situation is most satisfactory, and apprehension need not be felt.”
February 6th.	The U.S. Senate ratifies the Peace Treaty with Spain by 57 to 27.
	Senator Gorman in the course of the debate expressed his belief that the battle at Manila was only the beginning. If the treaty was ratified war would follow, lasting for years, and costing many lives, and millions upon millions of money.
	[Senator Gorman makes a better prophet than General Merritt or Mr. Foreman.]
February 8th.	General Otis wires: “The situation is[405]rapidly improving. The insurgent army is disintegrating, Aguinaldo’s influence has been destroyed.”
February 10th.	The Americans attack and capture Calocan. President McKinley signs the Treaty.
February 11th.	Ilo-ilo captured by General Miller without loss, but a considerable part of the town was burned.
February 18th.	The American flag hoisted at Bacolod in Negros Island, opposite Ilo-ilo.
February 22nd.	Tagals attempt to burn Manila, setting fire simultaneously to the Santa Cruz, San Nicolas, and Tondo. Sharp fighting at Tondo. Many natives were burned while penned in by the cordon of guards.
February 23rd.	The Americans burned all that remained of Tondo. General Otis issued an order requiring the inhabitants to remain in their homes after 7 P.M.
March 13.	Oscar F. Williams does not expect to live to see the end of the war. This is the man who on July 2nd, 1898, “hoped for an influx that year of 10,000 ambitious Americans,” who he said could all live well and become enriched. See Chapter XVIII.
	Since the American occupation three hundred drinking saloons have been opened in Manila.
March 19th.	Urgent instructions sent from Washington to Generals Otis and Lawton to hasten the end.
March 24th.	Engagement at Marilao—the Filipinos are defeated.
	New York Times says the situation is both surprising and painful to the American people.
March 31st.	The Americans occupy Malolos which the Filipinos had set on fire, after some skirmishing.
April 1st.	Troops resting at Malolos.
	The ironclad Monadnock was fired on by Filipinos artillery at Parañaque (three miles from Manila), and replied silencing the guns on shore.
April 20th.	A column of General Lawton’s force, 140 strong, surrounded and captured by the Filipinos near Binangonan.
April 23rd.	Fighting at Quingua. Col. Stotsenburg killed. This was a severe engagement.
April 26th.	Americans capture Calumpit. Washington “profoundly relieved.”
April 27th.	Fighting near Apalit.
April 30th.	General Otis believes that the Filipinos are tired of the war.
May 1st.	Anniversary of the Battle of Cavite.
May 2nd.	Conference between Filipino envoys and General Otis with the American Civil Commissioners.
	General Lawton captures Baliuag.
May 12th.	The Nebraska Regiment petitions General McArthur to relieve them from duty, being exhausted by the campaign. Since February 4th, the regiment has lost 225 killed and wounded, and 59 since the fight at Malolos.
May 18th.	Filipino peace delegates enter General Lawton’s lines at San Isidro.[406]
May 20th.	Admiral Dewey leaves Manila in the Olympia.
May 22nd.	The U.S. Civil Commission received Aguinaldo’s Peace Commissioners, and explained to them President McKinley’s scheme of Government.
May 29th.	Aguinaldo reported dead.
May 30th.	The authorities at Washington admit that more troops are needed for Manila.
June 1st.	Mr. Spencer Pratt obtains an interim injunction in the Supreme Court, Singapore, against the sale of Mr. Foreman’s book, “The Philippine Islands.”
June 5th.	Skirmishing in the Laguna district. An attempt by the Americans to surround Pio del Pilar fails.
June 13th.	A Filipino battery at Las Piñas, between Manila and Cavite, consisting of an old smooth bore gun and two one-pounders open fire on the American lines. A battery of the 1st Artillery, the ironclad Monadnock, and the gunboat Helena directed their fire upon this antiquated battery, and kept it up all the morning.
	A correspondent remarks, “This was the first real artillery duel of the war.”
	This developed into one of the hardest fights in the war, the Filipinos made a determined stand at the Zapote bridge.
	Reports arrive that General Antonio Luna had been killed by some of General Aguinaldo’s guards.
June 16th.	The Filipinos attack the Americans at San Fernando and are repulsed with heavy loss.
	Mr. Whitelaw Reid, addressing the Miami University of Ohio, denounces the President’s policy, or want of policy, in the Philippines.
June 19th.	American troops under General Wheaton march through Cavite Province.
June 21st.	General Miles describes the situation at Manila as “very serious.”
June 26th.	Twelve per cent. of the American forces sick. Little can now be attempted as the rainy season is now on.
June 27th.	General Otis reports that the Filipinos have no civil government.
June 28th.	It is stated that General Otis will have 40,000 men available for active operations after the rainy season.
July 12th.	General Otis asks for 2500 horses for the organisation of a brigade of cavalry after the rainy season.
	The entire staff of correspondents of the American newspapers protest against the methods of General Otis in exercising too strict a censorship over telegrams and letters. They say, “We believe that, owing to the official despatches sent from Manilla and published in Washington, the people of the United States have received a false impression of the situation in the Philippines, and that these despatches present an ultra-optimistic view which is not shared by general officers in the field.”
July 20th.	The rainfall at Manila since 1st June has been 41 inches and the country is flooded.
July 23rd.	Mr. Elihu Root nominated to succeed Mr. Alger as Secretary for War.[407]
July 27th.	General Hall’s division captures Calamba on the lake.
August 1st.	Mr. Root sworn in as Secretary for War. He contemplates increasing General Otis’ available force to 40,000 men.
August 15th.	General McArthur’s force captures Angeles.
August 17th.	Orders issued at Washington to form ten additional regiments to serve in the Philippines. General Otis to have 62,000 men under his command.
August 23rd.	General Otis applies the Chinese Exclusion law to the Philippines.
August 24th.	The Moros sign an agreement acknowledging the sovereignty of the United States over the entire Philippine Islands.
	The Moros of Western Mindanao are asking for permission to drive out the insurgents.
August 28th.	President McKinley makes a speech to the 10th Pennsylvanian Regiment lately arrived from Manila. See Chapter XII.
September 1st.	Fighting in Negros, American successes.
September 14th.	U.S. cruiser Charleston engages a gun mounted by the Filipinos at Olongapó, Subic Bay, and fired sixty-nine shells from her 8-inch guns without silencing the gun, notwithstanding that the Filipinos used black powder.
September 18th.	Some of the U.S. Civil Commission had already started to return; remainder leave.
September 23rd.	A U.S. squadron, consisting of the Monterey, Charleston, Concord and Zafiro, bombarded the one-gun battery of the Filipinos at Olongapó for six hours, and then landed 250 men who captured and destroyed the gun which was 16-centimetre calibre.
	General Otis, in an interview, is reported to have stated that “Things are going very satisfactorily.”
September 28th.	General McArthur captures Porac.
September 30th.	General Aguinaldo releases fourteen American prisoners. They looked well and hearty, and it was evident that they had been well treated.
October 8th.	General Schwan advanced against Noveleta and encountered a heavy resistance, but ultimately took the town and next day occupied Rosario.
October 18th.	War now said to be beginning in its most serious phase. The American troops, men and officers, said to be thoroughly discouraged by the futility of the operations ordered by General Otis. They feel that their lives are being sacrificed without anything being accomplished.
October 28th.	17,000 sick and tired soldiers have been sent home and replaced by 27,000 fresh men. 34,000 are on the way or under orders. Total will be 65,000 men and forty ships of war.
October 31st.	General Otis reports to the War Department that the continuance of the rainy season still harasses the prosecution of the campaign.
	Count Almenas, speaking in the Spanish Senate, said that through the ignorance of the Peace Commission the Batanes[408]Islands, Cagayan Sulu, and Sibutu were not included in the scope of the treaty.
November 7th.	General Wheaton, with an American force lands at San Fabian [Pangasinan] and marches towards Dagupan, driving the Filipinos before him.
November 13th.	Tarlac captured by the Americans under Colonel Bell. Telegrams from Manila state, “A careful review of the situation made on the spot justifies the prediction that all organised hostile operations on a definite plan are at an end.”
November 14th.	The U.S. cruiser Charleston lost on the Guinapak rocks to the north of Luzon, and the crew land on Camiguin Island.
November 28th.	The province of Zamboanga [Mindanao] said to have surrendered unconditionally to the commander of the gunboat Castine.
December 20th.	General Lawton shot by the insurgents at San Mateo whilst personally directing the crossing of the river by two battalions of the 29th U.S. infantry.
1900. January 20th.	The Filipinos capture a pack train of twenty ponies in the Laguna Province. American losses, two killed, five wounded, nine missing.
February 15th.	American newspapers report many cases of insanity amongst the U.S. soldiers.
February 20th.	General Otis signifies to the War Department his desire for leave of absence from Manila to recruit his health.
March 30th.	The bubonic plague, extending in Luzon, and appears in other islands of the Archipelago. Cases suspected to be leprosy reported amongst the U.S. troops.
	Independent reports represent the situation in the Philippines as most unsatisfactory. The islands are practically in a state of anarchy.
April 6th.	The War Department issues an order recalling General Otis, because his work has been accomplished, and appoints General McArthur in his place.
May 1st.	Judge Canty, of Minnesota, makes a report upon the condition of the Philippines.
	He says: “All the native tribes, except a small band of Macabebes and the Sulu Mahometans, are against us, and hate the Americans worse than the Spaniards…. The American soldiers are undergoing terrible hardships, and are a prey to deadly tropical diseases.”
June 2nd.	General McArthur asks for more troops, and at least three regiments are to be sent.
June 14th.	Rear-Admiral Raney cables for another battalion of marines.
June 15th.	Macaboulos, a Filipino chieftain, surrenders at Tarlac with 8 officers and 120 riflemen.
June 17th.	A regiment of infantry and a battery of artillery embark at Manila for China.
June 19th.	It is reported that, in all, 5000 men are to be sent from Manila to China.
June 20th.	But to-day, the idea prevails in Washington[409]that, under present conditions, every soldier in the Philippines is needed there.
July 27.	Negotiations are being carried on between Spain and the United States for the cession by the former to the latter of the Sibutu and Cagayan Islands on payment of a sum of $100,000.
August 4th.	The Filipinos kill or capture a lieutenant of Engineers and fifteen soldiers.
August 8th.	Miss Margaret Astor Chanler, who was engaged in Red Cross work in Manila, declares that the hospitals are inadequate. This is confirmed by the Washington correspondent of the World. He says 3700 men are now in hospital, and large numbers are unable to find accommodation. Thousands who are down with fever and other diseases are without doctors or medical supplies. Eight per cent. of the entire force is incapacitated.
August 15th.	The Filipinos reported to be gaining ground.
	The cost of the war said to be nearly £40,000,000, 2394 deaths, 3073 wounded. There are said to be still 70,000 American troops in the Philippines. The “goodwill” of the war cost £4,000,000.
August 19th.	Censored news despatches from Manila show that the Filipinos are increasing their activity, and scorn the offers of amnesty.
September 1st.	The Civil Commission in the Philippines, presided over by Judge Taft, assumes the direction of the Government. Judge Taft reports that the insurrection is virtually ended, and that a modus vivendi is established with the ecclesiastical authorities!
September 3rd.	General McArthur cables that an outbreak has occurred in Bohol, and that in an engagement near Carmen the Americans lost 1 killed and 6 wounded, and the Filipinos 120 killed.
September 6th.	The estimated cost of the Philippines to America is estimated at three-quarters of a million dollars per day.
September 12th.	The first public legislative session of the Civil Commission was held. Two million dollars (Mexican) were voted for the construction of roads and bridges, $5000 for the expenses of a preliminary survey of a railroad between Dagupan and Benguet, and $5400 towards the expenses of the educational system.
September 17th.	General McArthur cables that Captain McQuiston, who had become temporarily insane, shot a number of men of his company. The others, in self-defence, shot and killed the captain.
September 20th.	The Civil Commission reports that large numbers of the people in the Philippines are longing for peace, and are willing to accept the government of the United States.
	General McArthur cables reports of fighting in the Ilocos Provinces, from whence General Young telegraphs for reinforcements, also in Bulacan, and in Tayabas.[410]
	A desperate engagement is fought in the Laguna Province, where the Americans made an attack upon the Filipino positions, and were repulsed with heavy loss, including Captain Mitchell and Lieutenant Cooper.
	The Filipinos are constantly harassing and attacking the American outposts and garrisons around Manila, and have caused fourteen casualties amongst the troops.

 

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=2095 0 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2090 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2090#respond Sun, 03 Nov 2013 12:00:40 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=2090

True Version of the Philippine Revolution

By
Don Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy
President of the Philippine Republic.

Tarlak (Philippine Islands),

23rd September, 1899

To All Civilized Nations and Especially to the Great North American Republic

I dedicate to you this modest work with a view to informing you respecting the international events which have occurred during the past three years and are still going on in the Philippines, in order that you may be fully acquainted with the facts and be thereby placed in a position to pronounce judgment upon the issue and be satisfied and assured of the Justice which forms the basis and is in fact the foundation of our Cause. I place the simple truth respectfully before and dedicate it to you as an act of homage and as testimony of my admiration for and recognition of the wide knowledge, the brilliant achievements and the great power of other nations, whom I salute, in the name the Philippine nation, with every effusion of my soul.

The Author.

Page 1

The Revolution of 1896

Spain maintained control of the Philippine Islands for more than three centuries and a half, during which period the tyranny, misconduct and abuses of the Friars and the Civil and Military Administration exhausted the patience of the natives and caused them to make a desperate effort to shake off the unbearable galling yoke on the 26th and 31st August, 1896, then commencing the revolution in the provinces of Manila and Cavite.

On these memorable days the people of Balintawak, Santa Mesa, Kalookan, Kawit, Noveleta and San Francisco de Malabon rose against the Spaniards and proclaimed the Independence of the Philippines, and in the course of the next five days these uprisings were followed by the inhabitants of the other towns in Cavite province joining in the revolt against the Spanish Government although there was no previous arrangement looking to a general revolt. The latter were undoubtedly moved to action by the noble example of the former.Page 2

With regard to the rising in the province of Cavite it should be stated that although a call to arms bearing the signatures of Don Augustin Rieta, Don Candido Firona and myself, who were Lieutenants of the Revolutionary Forces, was circulated there was no certainty about the orders being obeyed, or even received by the people, for it happened that one copy of the orders fell into the hands of a Spaniard named Don Fernando Parga, Military Governor of the province, who at that time was exercising the functions of Civil Governor, who promptly reported its contents to the Captain-General of the Philippines, Don Ramon Blanco y Erenas. The latter at once issued orders for the Spanish troops to attack the revolutionary forces.

It would appear beyond doubt that One whom eye of man hath not seen in his wisdom and mercy ordained that the emancipation of the oppressed people of the Philippines should be undertaken at this time, for otherwise it is inexplicable how men armed only with sticks andgulok1 wholly unorganized and undisciplined, could defeat the Spanish Regulars in severe engagements at Bakoor, Imus and Noveleta and, in addition to making many of them prisoners, captured a large quantity of arms and ammunition. It was owing to this astonishing success of the revolutionary troops that General Blanco quickly concluded to endeavour, to maintain Spanish control by the adoption of a Page 3conciliatory policy under the pretext that thereby he could quel the rebellion, his first act being a declaration to the effect that it was not the purpose of his Government to oppress the people and he had no desire “to slaughter the Filipinos.”.

The Government of Madrid disapproved of General Blanco’s new policy and speedily appointed Lieutenant-General Don Camilo Polavieja to supersede him, and despatched forthwith a large number of Regulars to the Philippines.

General Polavieja advanced against the revolutionary forces with 16,000 men armed with Mausers, and one field battery. He had scarcely reconquered half of Cavite province when he resigned, owing to bad health. That was in April, 1897.

Polavieja was succeeded by the veteran General Don Fernando Primo de Rivera, who had seen much active service. As soon as Rivera had taken over command of the Forces he personally led his army in the assault upon and pursuit of the revolutionary forces, and so firmly, as well as humanely, was the campaign conducted that he soon reconquered the whole of Cavite province and drove the insurgents into the mountains.

Then I established my headquarters in the wild and unexplored mountain fastness of Biak-na-bató, where I formed the Republican Government of the Philippines at the end of May, 1897.Page 4

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1 A kind of sword—Translator.

The Treaty of Biak-na-bató

Don Pedro Alejandro Paterno (who was appointed by the Spanish Governor-General sole mediator in the discussion of the terms of peace) visited Biak-na-bató several times to negotiate terms of the Treaty, which, after negotiations extending over five months, and careful consideration had been given to each clause, was finally completed and signed on the 14th December, 1897, the following being the principal conditions:—

(1) That I would, and any of my associates who desired to go with me, be free to live in any foreign country. Having fixed upon Hongkong as my place of residence, it was agreed that payment of the indemnity of $800,000 (Mexican) should be made in three installments, namely, $400,000 when all the arms in Biak-na-bató were delivered to the Spanish authorities; $200,000 when the arms surrendered amounted to eight hundred stand; the final payment to be made when one thousand stand of arms shall have been handed over to the authorities and the Te Deumsung in the Cathedral in Manila as thanksgiving for the restoration of peace. The latter part of February was fixed as the limit of time wherein the surrender of arms should be completed.

(2) The whole of the money was to be paid to me personally, leaving the disposal of the money to my discretion and knowledge of thePage 5understanding with my associates and other insurgents.

(3) Prior to evacuating Biak-na-bató the remainder of the insurgent forces under Captain-General Primo de Rivera should send to Biak-na-bató two General of the Spanish Army to be held as hostages by my associates who remained there until I and a few of my compatriots arrived in Hongkong and the first installment of the money payment (namely, four hundred thousand dollars) was paid to me.

(4) It was also agreed that the religious corporations in the Philippines be expelled and an autonomous system of government, political and administrative, be established, though by special request of General Primo de Rivera these conditions were not insisted on in the drawing up of the Treaty, the General contending that such concessions would subject the Spanish Government to severe criticism and even ridicule.

General Primo de Rivera paid the first installment of $400,000 while the two Generals were hold as hostages in Biak-na-bató.

We, the revolutionaries, discharged our obligation to surrender our arms, which were over 1,000 stand, as everybody knows, it having been published in the Manila newspapers. But the Captain General Primo de Rivera failed to fulfill the agreement as faithfully as we did. The other installments were never paid; the Friars were neither restricted in their acts of tyranny and Page 6oppression nor were any steps taken to expel them or secularize the religious Orders; the reforms demanded were not inaugurated, though the Te Deum was sung. This failure of the Spanish authorities to abide by the terms of the Treaty caused me and my companions much unhappiness, which quickly changed to exasperation when I received a letter from Lieutenant-Colonel Don Miguel Primo de Rivera (nephew and private Secretary of the above-named General) informing me that I and my companions could never return to Manila.

Was the procedure of this special representative of Spain just?

Negotiations

But I and my companions were not to be kept long in our distress, grieving over the bad faith of the Spaniards, for in the month of March of the year referred to (1898) some people came to me and in the name of the Commander of the U.S.S. Petrel asked for a conference in compliance with the wishes of Admiral Dewey.

I had some interviews with the above-mentioned Commander, i.e., during the evening of the 16th March and 6th April, during which the Commander urged me to return to the Philippines to renew hostilities against the Spaniards with the object of gaining our independence, and he assured me of the assistance of the United States in the event of war between the United States and Spain.Page 7

I then asked the Commander of the Petrel what the United States could concede to the Filipinos. In reply he said: “The United States is a great and rich nation and needs no colonies.”

In view of this reply I suggested to the Commander the advisability of stating in writing what would be agreed to by the United States, and be replied that he would refer the matter to Admiral Dewey.

In the midst of my negotiations with the Commander of the Petrel I was interrupted by letters from Isabelo Artacho and his solicitors, on the 5th April, claiming $200,000 of the money received from the Spanish authorities, and asserting that he (Artacho) should receive this sum as salary due to him while acting as Secretary of the Interior, he having been, it was alleged, a member of the Filipino Government established in Biak-na-bató. These letters contained the threat that failure to comply with the demand of Artacho would result in him bringing me before the Courts of Law in Hongkong. It may make the matter clearer if I mention at this point that Isabelo Artacho arrived at Biak-na-bató and made himself known to and mixed with the officers in the revolutionary camp on the 21st day of September, 1897, and was appointed Secretary of the Interior in the early part of November of that year, when the Treaty of Peace proposed and negotiated by Don Pedro Alejandro Paterno was almost concluded, as is proved by the fact that the document was signed on the 14th of December of that year.Page 8

In the light of these facts the unjust and unreasonable nature of the claim of Artacho is easily discernable, for it is monstrous to claim $200,000 for services rendered to the Revolutionary Government during such a brief period.

Moreover, it is a fact that it was agreed between ourselves (the leaders of the Revolution assembled in Biak-na-bató) that in the event of the Spaniards failing to comply with each and every one of the terms and conditions of the Agreement the money obtained from the Spanish Government should not be divided, but must be employed in the purchase of arms and ammunition to renew the war of independence.

It is therefore evident that Artacho, in making this preposterous demand, was acting as a spy for the enemy, as an agent of General Primo de Rivera, for he wanted to extinguish the rebellion by depriving its organizers and leaders of the most indispensable element, the “sinews of war,” which is money. This was the view, too, of the whole of my colleagues, and it was resolved by us that I should leave Hongkong immediately and thereby avoid the litigation which Artacho seemed bent upon and thereby afford my companions time and opportunity to remove this new and wholly unexpected barrier to the realization of our cherished plans for the emancipation of our beloved fatherland. I am profoundly pleased to say that they succeeded, Artacho withdrawing the suit through a transaction.Page 9

In accordance with the decision of the meeting above referred to, I left Hongkong quietly on the 7th April, 1898, on board the steamshipTaisany, and after calling at Saigon I reached Singapore as a passenger by the s.s. Eridan, landing there as secretly as possible on the 21st April. I at once proceeded to the residence of one of my countrymen.

Thus is explained the cause of the interruption of the vitally important negotiations with Admiral Dewey, initiated by the Commander of thePetrel.

But “Man proposes and God disposes” is a proverb which was verified in its fullest sense on this occasion, for, notwithstanding the precautions taken in my journey to avoid identification yet at 4 o’clock in the afternoon of the day I arrived at Singapore an Englishman came to the house in which I was residing and in a cautious manner stated that the United States Consul at that port, Mr. Spencer Pratt, wished to have an interview with Don Emilio Aguinaldo. The visitor was told that in that house they did not know Aguinaldo; this being the prearranged answer for any callers.

But the Englishman returned to the house several times and persisted in saying that it was no use trying to conceal the fact of Aguinaldo’s arrival for Consul Pratt had received notice from Admiral Dewey of General Aguinaldo’s journey to Singapore.Page 10

In reply, the Consul said he would telegraph about this matter to Admiral Dewey, who was, he said, Commander-in-Chief of the squadron which would invade the Philippines, and who had, he also stated, full powers conferred on him by President McKinley.

Between 10 or 12 in the forenoon of the next day the conference was renewed and Mr. Pratt then informed me that the Admiral had sent him a telegram in reply to the wish I had expressed for an agreement in writing. He said the Admiral’s reply was—That the United States would at least recognize the Independence of the Philippines under the protection of the United States Navy. The Consul added that there was no necessity for entering into a formal written agreement because the word of the Admiral and of the United States Consul were in fact equivalent to the most solemn pledge that their verbal promises and assurance would be fulfilled to the letter and were not to be classed with Spanish promises or Spanish ideas of a man’s word of honour. In conclusion the Consul said, “The Government of North America, is a very honest, just, and powerful government.”

Being informed of what had been said by the visitor I consented to meet Consul Pratt, and had a strictly private interview with him between 9 and 12 p.m. on 22nd April, 1898, in one of the suburbs of Singapore. As soon as Mr. Pratt met me he said that war had been formally declared by the United States against Spain the day before, i.e., on the 21st April.Page 11

In the course of the interview alluded to, Consul Pratt told me that as the Spaniards had not fulfilled the promises made in the Biak-na-bató Agreement, the Filipinos had the right to continue the revolution which had been checked by the Biak-na-bató arrangement, and after urging me to resume hostilities against the Spaniards he assured me that the United States would grant much greater liberty and more material benefits to the Filipinos than the Spaniards ever promised.

I then asked the Consul what benefits the United States would confer on the Philippines, pointing out at the same time the advisability of making an agreement and setting out all the terms and conditions in black and white.

Being as anxious to be in the Philippines as Admiral Dewey and the North American Consul—to renew the struggle for our Independence—I took the opportunity afforded me by these representatives of the United States, and, placing the fullest confidence in their word of honour, I said to Mr. Pratt (in response to his persistent professions of solicitude for the welfare of my countrymen) that he could count upon me when I returned to the Philippines to raise the people as one man against the Spaniards, with the one grand object in view as above mentioned, if I could take firearms with me to distribute amongst my countrymen. I assured him that I would put forth my utmost endeavours to crush and extinguish the power of Spain in the islands and I added that if in possession of one Page 12battery of a dozen field-guns I would make the Spaniards surrender Manila in about two weeks.

The Consul said he would help me to get over to the Philippines the consignment of arms in respect of which I had made the preliminary arrangements in Hongkong, and he added that he would at once telegraph to Admiral Dewey informing him of this promise in order that the Admiral might give what assistance laid in his power to make the expedition in question a success.

On the 25th April the last conference was held in the United States Consulate at Singapore. I was invited by the Consul to meet him on this occasion and as soon as we met he said he had received a telegram from the Admiral requesting him to ask me to proceed to Hongkong by first steamer to join the Admiral who was then with his squadron in Mir’s Bay; a Chinese harbour close to Hongkong. I replied to this proposal in the affirmative, and gave directions to my aide-de-camp to at once procure passages for myself and companions, care being taken that the tickets should bear the assumed names we had adopted on the occasion of our journey from Hongkong to Singapore, it being advisable that we should continue to travel incognito.

On the 26th April I called on Consul Pratt to bid him adieu on the eve of my departure from Singapore by the steamship Malacca. The Consul, after telling me that when I got near the port of Hongkong I would be met by the Admiral’s launch Page 13and taken from the Malacca to the American squadron (a precaution against news of my movements becoming public property, of which I highly approved), then asked me to appoint him Representative of the Philippines in the United States, there to zealously advocate official recognition of our Independence. My answer was, that I would propose him for the position of Representative of the Philippines in the United States when the Philippine Government was properly organized, though I thought it an insignificant reward for his assistance, for, in the event of our Independence becoming un fait accompli I intended to offer him a high position in the Customs Department, besides granting certain commercial advantages and contributing towards the cost of the war whatever sum he might consider due to his Government; because the Filipinos had already decided such a policy was the natural outcome of the exigencies of the situation and could be construed only as a right and proper token of the nation’s gratitude.

But to continue the statement of facts respecting my return to Hongkong from Singapore: I left Singapore with my A.D. Cs., Sres Pilar and Leyba, bound for Hongkong by the s.s. Malacca, arriving at Hongkong at 2 a.m. on the 1st May, without seeing or hearing anything of the launch which I had been led by Consul Pratt to expect to meet me near the entrance of Hongkong harbour. In response to an invitation from Mr. Rounsevelle Wildman, United States Consul at Hongkong, I wended my way to the United States Consulate and between 9 and 11 p.m. Page 14of the same day I had an interview with him. Mr. Wildman told me that Admiral Dewey left for Manila hurriedly in accordance with imperative orders from his Government directing him to attack the Spanish Fleet. He was therefore unable to await my arrival before weighing anchor and going forth to give battle to the Spaniards. Mr. Wildman added that Admiral Dewey left word with him that he would send a gunboat to take me across to the Philippines. In the course of this interview with Mr. Wildman I spoke to him about the shipment of arms to the islands which I had previously planned with him, and it was then agreed among ourselves that he (Mr. Rounsevelle Wildman) and the Filipino Mr. Teodoro Sandico should complete the arrangements for the despatch of the expedition, and I there and then handed to and deposited with them the sum of $50,000.

A steam launch was quickly purchased for $15,000, while a contract was made and entered into for the purchase of 2,000 rifles at $7 each and 200,000 rounds of ammunition at $33 and 56/100 per 1000.

A week later (7th May) the American despatch-boat McCulloch arrived from Manila bringing news of Admiral Dewey’s victory over the Spanish fleet, but did not bring orders to convey me to Manila. At 9 o’clock that night I had another interview with Consul Wildman, at his request.

On the 15th of the same month the McCulloch again arrived at Hongkong from Manila, this time Page 15bringing orders to convey me and my companions to Manila. I was promptly notified of this by Consul Wildman who requested that we go on board the McCulloch at 10 o’clock at night on 16th May. Accompanied by Consul Wildman, the Captain of the McCulloch, and Mr. John Barrett (who then usually styled himself “ex-Secretary of the United States Legation in Siam”) we boarded an American steam launch and proceeded to Chinese Kowloon Bay, where the McCulloch was anchored. While bidding us adieu Mr. Barrett said he would call on me in the Philippines, which he did later on in Cavite and Malolos.

Mr. Wildman strongly advised me to establish a Dictatorship as soon as I arrived in the Philippines, and he assured me that he would use his best endeavours to have the arms already contracted for delivered to me in the Philippines, which he in fact did. [It is to be observed, though, that the first expedition having been conducted satisfactorily, the arms reaching me in due course, I was naturally grateful and had confidence in the sincerity and good faith of Consul Wildman, and there was nothing surprising therefore in the fact that I asked him to fit out another expedition and caused the sum of $67,000 to be deposited with him for that purpose. I regret to state, however, that Mr. Wildman has failed to comply with my request and I am informed that he refuses to refund the money.]

The McCulloch left Hongkong at 11 a.m. on the 17th May and arrived off Cavite (Manila Bay) Page 16between noon and 1 p.m. on the 19th idem. No sooner had the McCulloch dropped anchor than the Admiral’s launch, carrying his Adjutant and Private Secretary, came alongside to convey me the flagship Olympia, where I was received with my Adjutant (Sr. Leyba) with the honours due to a General.

The Admiral ushered me into his private quarters, and after the exchange of the usual greetings I asked whether it was true that he had sent all the telegrams to the Consul at Singapore, Mr. Pratt, which that gentleman had told me he received in regard to myself. The Admiral replied in the affirmative, adding that the United States had come to the Philippines to protect the natives and free them from the yoke of Spain. He said, moreover, that America is exceedingly well off as regards territory, revenue, and resources and therefore needs no colonies, assuring me finally that there was no occasion for me to entertain any doubts whatever about the recognition of the Independence of the Philippines by the United States. Then Admiral Dewey asked me if I could induce the people to rise against the Spaniards and make a short, sharp, and decisive campaign of it.

I said in reply that events would speak for themselves, but while a certain arms expedition (respecting which Consul Wildman was duly informed that it would be despatched from a Chinese port) was delayed in China we could do nothing, because without arms every victory would assuredly cost us the lives of many brave and dashing Page 17Filipino warriors. The Admiral thereupon offered to despatch a steamer to hurry up the expedition. (This, be it borne in mind, in addition to the General orders he had given the Consul to assist us to procure arms and ammunition.) Then he at once placed at my disposal all the guns seized onboard the Spanish warships as well as 62 Mausers and a good many rounds of ammunition which had been brought up from Corregidor Island by the U.S.S. Petrel.

I then availed myself of an early opportunity to express to the Admiral my deep gratitude for the assistance rendered to the people of the Philippines by the United States, as well as my unbounded admiration of the grandeur and beneficence of the American people. I also candidly informed the Admiral that before I left Hongkong the Filipinos residing in that colony hold a meeting at which the following question was fully discussed, namely, the possibility that after the Spaniards were defeated, and their power and prestige in the islands destroyed, the Filipinos might have to wage war against the United States owing to the American Government declining to recognize our independence. In that event the Americans, it was generally agreed, would be sure to defeat us for they would find us worn out and short of ammunition owing to our struggle with the Spaniards. I concluded by asking the gallant Admiral to excuse me for an amount of frankness that night appear to border on impudence, and assured him of the fact that I was actuated only by a desire to have a perfectly clear understanding in the interest of both parties.Page 18

The Admiral said he was very glad to have this evidence of our earnestness and straightforwardness and he thought the Filipinos and Americans should act towards one another as friends and allies, and therefore it was right and proper that all doubts should be expressed frankly in order that explanations be made, difficulties avoided, and distrust removed; adding that, as he had already indicated, the United States would unquestionably recognize the Independence of the people of the Philippines, guaranteed as it was by the word of honour of Americans, which, he said, is more positive, more irrevocable than any written agreement, which might not be regarded as binding when there is an intention or desire to repudiate it, as was the case in respect of the compact made with the Spaniards at Biak-na-bató. Then the Admiral advised me to at once have made a Filipino National Flag, which he said he would recognize and protect in the presence of the other nations represented by the various squadrons anchored in Manila Bay, adding, however, that he thought it advisable that we should destroy the power of Spain before hoisting our national flag, in order that the act would appear more important and creditable in the eyes of the world and of the United States in particular. Then when the Filipino vessels passed to and fro with the national flag fluttering in the breeze they would attract more attention and be more likely to induce respect for the national colours.

I again thanked the Admiral for his good advice and generous offers, giving him to understand clearly that I was willing to sacrifice my Page 19own life if he would be thereby more exalted in the estimation of the United States, more honoured by his fellow-countrymen.

I added that under the present conditions of hearty co-operation, good fellowship and a clear understanding the whole nation would respond to the call to arms to shake off the yoke of Spain and obtain their freedom by destroying the power of Spain in all parts of the archipelago. If, however, all did not at once join in the movement that should not cause surprise, for there would be many unable to assist owing to lack of arms and ammunition, while others, again, might be reluctant to take an active part in the campaign on account of the loss and inconvenience to themselves and families that would result, from open hostility to the Spaniards.

Thus ended my first interview with Admiral Dewey, to whom I signified my intention to reside for a while at the headquarters of the Naval Commandant of Cavite Arsenal.

The Revolution of 1898

I returned to the McCulloch to give directions for the landing of the luggage and war materials which I brought over with me from Hongkong. On my way to the McCulloch I met several of my old associates in the 1896 revolution who had come over from Bataan province. To these friends I gave two letters directing the people of that Page 20province and Zambales to rise against the Spaniards and vigorously attack them.

Before returning to the Arsenal and when near the landing place I came across several bancas [large open boats] loaded with revolutionists of Kawit (my birth-place) who told me they had been looking out for me for about two weeks, the Americans having announced that I would soon return to the islands. The feeling of joy which I experienced on the occasion of this reunion with my own kith and kin—people who had stood shoulder to shoulder with me in the desperate struggles of the 1896–97 revolution—is simply indescribable. Words fail to express my feelings—joy mingled with sadness and strong determination to accomplish the salvation, the emancipation, of my beloved countrymen. Hardly had I set foot in the Naval Headquarters at Cavite, at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, than I availed myself of the opportunity to give these faithful adherents orders similar to those despatched to Bataan and Zambales.

I was engaged the whole of that night with my companions drawing up orders and circulars for the above mentioned purpose.

We were also kept very busy replying to letters which were pouring in from all sides asking for news respecting the reported return of myself to the islands and requesting definite instructions regarding a renewal of hostilities against the Spaniards.Page 21

That the invisible, albeit irresistible, hand of Providence was guiding every movement and beneficently favouring all efforts to rid the country of the detestable foreign yoke is fairly evidenced by the rapid sequence of events above recorded, for in no other way can one account for the wonderful celebrity with which news of my projected return spread far and wide.

Sixty-two Volunteers, organized and armed by the Spaniards with Mausers and Remingtons, from San Roque and Caridad, placed themselves under my orders. At first the Americans apprehended some danger from the presence of this armed force, which was promptly placed on guard at the entrance to the Arsenal. When I heard of this I went down and gave them orders to occupy Dalajican, thereby preventing the Spaniards from carrying out their intention to approach Cavite by that route.

When the Americans were informed of what I had done they were reassured, and orders were given to the Captain of the Petrel to hand over to me the 62 rifles and ammunition which Admiral Dewey had kindly promised. About 10 a.m. the Petrel’s launch landed the arms and ammunition in question at the Arsenal and no time was lost in distributing the arms among the men who were by this time coming in ever increasing numbers to offer their services to me and expressing their willingness to be armed and assigned for duty at the outposts and on the firing line.Page 22

During the evening of the 20th May the old Revolutionary officer Sr. Luciano San Miguel (now a General in command of a Brigade) came to me and asked for orders, which were given to him to effect the uprising of the provinces of Manila, Laguna, Batangas, Tayabas, Bulakan, Morong, Pampanga, Tarlak, Newva Ecija and other northern provinces. He left the same night to execute the orders.

During the 21st, 22nd and 23rd and subsequent days of that month my headquarters were simply besieged by my countrymen, who poured into Cavite from all sides to offer their services in the impending struggle with the Spaniards. To such an extent, indeed, were my quarters in the Arsenal invaded that I soon found it necessary to repair to another house in the town, leaving the place entirely at the disposal of the U.S. Marines, who were then in charge of and guarding Cavite Arsenal.

The Dictatorial Government

On the 24th May a Dictatorial Government was established, my first proclamation being issued that day announcing the system of government then adopted and stating that I had assumed the duties and responsibilities of head of such government. Several copies of this proclamation were delivered to Admiral Dewey and through the favour of his good offices forwarded to the representatives of the Foreign Powers then residing in Manila, notwithstanding our lack of intercourse with Manila.Page 23

A few days later the Dictatorial Government was removed to the house formerly occupied by the Spanish Civil Governor of Cavite, because, owing to the great number of visitors from the provinces and the rapid increase of work the accommodation in the private house was wholly inadequate and too cramped. It was while quartered in the first mentioned house that glad tidings reached me of the arrival at Cavite of the long-expected arms expedition. The whole cargo, consisting of 1,999 rifles and 200,000 rounds of ammunition, besides other special munitions of war, was landed at the very same dock of the Arsenal, and was witnessed by the U.S.S. “Petrel.”

I immediately despatched a Commission to convey to the Admiral my thanks for the trouble he had taken in sending to hurry up the expedition. I also caused my Commissioners to inform the Admiral that I had fixed the 31st May as the day when the Revolutionary Forces should make a General attack upon the Spaniards. The Admiral returned the compliment by sending his Secretary to congratulate me and my Government upon the activity and enthusiasm displayed in preparing for the campaign, but he suggested that it was advisable to postpone the opening of the campaign to a later date in order that the insurgent troops might be better organized and better drilled. I replied to the Admiral through his Secretary that there was no cause for any anxiety for everything would be in perfect readiness by the 31st and, moreover, that the Filipinos were very anxious to Page 24free themselves from the galling Spanish yoke, that they would therefore fight and my troops would make up for any deficiency in discipline by a display of fearlessness and determination to defeat the common enemy which would go far to ensure success, I was, I added, nevertheless profoundly grateful to the Admiral for his friendly advice.

I promptly gave orders for the distribution of the arms which had just arrived, sending some to various provinces and reserving the remainder for the revolutionaries of Kawit, the latter being smuggled into the district of Alapang during the night of 27th May.

The First Triumphs

The next day (8th May, 1898), just when we were distributing arms to the revolutionists of Kawit, in the above mentioned district a column, composed of over 270 Spanish Naval Infantry, appeared in sight. They were sent out by the Spanish General, Sr. Peña, for the purpose of seizing the said consignment of arms.

Then it was that the first engagement of the Revolution of 1898 (which may be rightly styled a continuation of the campaign of 1896–97) took place. The battle raged from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., when the Spaniards ran out of ammunition and surrendered, with all their arms, to the Filipino Revolutionists, who took their prisoners to Cavite. Page 25In commemoration of this glorious achievement I hoisted our national flag in presence of a great crowd, who greeted it with tremendous applause and loud, spontaneous and prolonged cheers for “Independent Philippines” and for “the generous nation”—the United States of America. Several officers and Marines from the American fleet who witnessed the ceremony evinced sympathy with the Filipino cause by joining in the natural and popular rejoicings of the people.

This glorious triumph was merely the prelude to a succession of brilliant victories, and when the 31st May came—the date fixed for general uprising of the whole of the Philippines—the people rose as one man to crush the power of Spain.

The second triumph was effected in Binakayan, at a place known as Polvorin, where the Spanish garrison consisting of about 250 men was attacked by our raw levvies and surrendered in a few hours, their stock of ammunition being completely exhausted.

I again availed myself of the opportunity to hoist our national flag and did so from an upper story of the Polvorin facing the sea, with the object of causing the sacred insignia of our Liberty and Independence to be seen fluttering in the breeze by the warships, representing all the great and civilized nations of the world, which were congregated in the harbour observing the providential evolution going on in the Philippines after upwards of three hundred years of Spanish domination.Page 26

Scarcely had another hour elapsed before another flag was seen flying over the steeple of the Church at Bakoor—which is also in full view of vessels in the harbour—being the signal of another triumph of our troops over the Spanish forces which held that town. The garrison consisted of about 300 men, who surrendered to the Revolutionary Army when their ammunition was exhausted.

And so the Revolution progressed, triumph following triumph in quick succession, evidencing the power, resolution and ability of the inhabitants of the Philippines to rid themselves of any foreign yoke and exist as an independent State, as I affirmed to Admiral Dewey and in respect of which he and several American Commanders and officers warmly congratulated me, specially mentioning the undeniable triumphs of the Philippine Army as demonstrated and proved by the great number of prisoners we brought into Cavite from all parts of Luzon.

The Philippine Flag

In conformity with my orders issued on the 1st of September, all Philippine vessels hoisted the national flag, the Marines of the Filipino flotilla being the first to execute that order. Our little flotilla consisted of some eight Spanish steam launches (which had been captured) and five vessels of greater dimensions, namely, the Taaleño, Baldyan, Taal, Bulucan, and Purisima Concepcion. Page 27These vessels were presented to the Philippine Government by their native owners and were converted by us, at our Arsenal, into gunboats, 8 and 9 centimetre guns, taken from the sunken Spanish warships, being mounted on board.

Ah! what a beautiful, inspiring joyous sight that flag was fluttering in the breeze from the topmasts of our vessels, side by side, as it were, with the ensigns of other and greater nations, among whose mighty warships our little cruisers passed to and fro dipping their colours, the ensign of Liberty and Independence! With what reverence and adoration it was viewed as it suddenly rose in its stately loneliness crowning our victories, and, as it were, smiling approvingly upon the undisciplined Philippine Army in the moment of its triumphs over the regular forces of the Spanish Government! One’s heart swells and throbs again with the emotions of extreme delight; the soul is filled with pride, and the goal of patriotism seems well-nigh reached in the midst of such a magnificent spectacle!

At the end of June I called on Admiral Dewey, who, after complimenting me on the rapid triumphs of the Philippine Revolution, told me he had been asked by the German and French Admirals why he allowed the Filipinos to display on their vessels a flag that was not recognized. Admiral Dewey said his reply to the French and German Admirals was—with his knowledge and consent the Filipinos used that flag, and, apart from this, Page 28he was of opinion that in view of the courage and steadfastness of purpose displayed in the war against the Spaniards the Filipinos deserved the right to use their flag.

I thereupon expressed to the Admiral my unbounded gratitude for such unequivocal protection, and on returning to the shore immediately ordered the Philippine flotilla to convey troops to the other provinces of Luzon and to the Southern islands, to wage war against the Spaniards who garrisoned them.

Expedition to Bisayas

The expedition to Bisayas was a complete success as far as the conveyance of our troops to the chief strategic points was concerned, our steamers returning safely to Cavite after landing the soldiers. The steamer Bulusan, however, which sailed for Masbate with Colonel Sr. Mariano Riego de Dios’ column destined for duty in Samar was sighted by the Spanish gunboats Elcano and Uranus, which gave chase, and the former proving the faster overtook and attacked the Bulusan doing so much damage to her that she foundered after a hot engagement in which considerable damage was done to the Spaniard. Happily the crew and troops on board of the Bulusan saved their lives by swimming ashore.

The Steamer “Compania de Filipinas”

In a few days the Spanish steamer Compania de Filipinas was brought to Cavite by my countrymen, Page 29who captured her in the harbour of Aparri. Cannon were at once mounted on board this vessel and she was loaded with troops and despatched for Olongapo, but she had not gone far before I sent another gunboat to recall her because Admiral Dewey requested me to do so in order that a question raised by the French Consul might be duly settled. The Admiral having been informed that when captured the Compania de Filipinas was flying the Spanish flag abstained from interfering in the matter and handed the French Consul’s protest over to me, affirming at the same time that he and his forces were in no way concerned in the matter.

This incident, which was soon settled, clearly demonstrates the recognition of and protection extended to the Philippine Revolution by Admiral Dewey.

The Filipinas (as this steamer has since been styled) was again despatched to Olongapo and on her way back landed troops in the provinces of Cagayan and the Batanes islands for the purpose of wresting the government of those districts from Spain. This steamer, whose name has more recently been changed to Luzon, is at present ashore in the Rio Grande, in Cagayan, where she was beached owing to some damage to her machinery.

When our steamers were leaving the harbour with troops for the provinces they dipped their ensigns in passing Admiral Dewey’s flagshipOlympia, performing this act in conformity with the rules of international courtesy, a demonstration Page 30of friendship that was invariably promptly responded to in the usual way.

The Proclamation of Independence

The Dictatorial Government decided that the proclamation of Independence should take place on the 12th June, the ceremony in connection therewith to be held in the town of Kawit. With this object in view I sent a Commission to inform the Admiral of the arrangement and invite him to be present on the occasion of the formal proclamation of Independence, a ceremony which was solemnly and impressively conducted. The Admiral sent his Secretary to excuse him from taking part in the proceedings, stating the day fixed for the ceremony was mail day.

About the end of that month (June) the Spanish gunboat Leyte escaped from the Macabebe river and reached Manila Bay, where she was seized by General Torres’ troops. She had on board part of the troops and volunteers which were under the command of the Filipino Colonel Sr. Eugenio Blanco, but on being sighted by an American gunboat she voluntarily surrendered. Admiral Dewey delivered to me all the prisoners and arms on board the vessel, which latter, however, he took possession of; but after the fall of Manila he demanded that I should give back the prisoners to him.

On the 4th July the first United States military expedition arrived, under command of General Page 31Anderson, and it was quartered in Cavite Arsenal. This distinguished General called on me in the Filipino Government House at Cavite, an honour and courtesy which I promptly returned, as was right and proper, seeing that we were friends, of equal rank, and allies. In the course of official intercourse General Anderson solemnly and completely endorsed the promises made by Admiral Dewey to me, asserting on his word of honour that America had not come to the Philippines to wage war against the natives nor to conquer and retain territory, but only to liberate the people from the oppression of the Spanish Government.

A few days before the arrival of this military expedition, and others that followed under command of General Merritt, Admiral Dewey sent his Secretary to my Government to ask me to grant permission for the stationing of American troops in Tambo and Maytubig, Paranaque and Pasay. In view of the important promises of Admiral Dewey, above mentioned, the Dictatorial Government consented to the movement of troops as proposed.

During that month (July) Admiral Dewey accompanied by General Anderson visited Cavite, and after the usual exchange of courtesies he said—“You have had ocular demonstration and confirmation of all I have told you and promised you. How pretty your flag is! It has a triangle, and is something like the Cubans’. Will you give me one as a memento when I go back home?”Page 32

I replied that I was fully satisfied with his word of honour and of the needlessness of having our agreement in documentary form. As to the flag he wanted, he could have one whenever he wished.

The Admiral continued: Documents are useless when there is no sense of honour on one side, as was the case in respect of the compact with the Spaniards, who failed to act up to what had been written and signed. Have faith in my word, and I assure you that the United States will recognize the independence of the country. But I recommend you to keep a good deal of what we have said and agreed secret at present. I further request you to have patience if any of our soldiers insult any Filipinos, for being Volunteers they are as yet undisciplined.

I replied that I would bear in mind all his advice regarding cautiousness, and that with respect to the misconduct of the soldiers orders had already been issued enjoining forbearance, and I passed the same remarks to the Admiral about unpleasantness possibly arising through lack of discipline of our own forces.

The Spanish Commission

At this juncture the Admiral suddenly changed the topic of conversation and asked—“Why don’t the people in Manila rise against the Spaniards as their countrymen in the provinces have done? Is it true that they accept the autonomy offered by General Augustin with a representativePage 33Assembly? Is the report which has reached me true, that a Filipino Commission has been sent from Manila to propose to you the acceptance of that autonomy coupled with a recognition of your rank of General, as well as recognition of the rank held by your companions?”

“The people of Manila,” I answered, “are quiet because they have no arms and because as merchants and landlords they fear that their valuable properties and money in the banks will be confiscated by the Spaniards if they rise up and begin burning and destroying the property of others. On this account they had ostensibly accepted autonomy, not because that was what they wanted but more as a means of deceiving the Spaniards and being allowed to live in peace; but I am confident that all the Filipinos in Manila are for independence, as will be proved the very day our troops capture Manila. At that time I fully expect the people of Manila will join with us in raising loud cheers for the Independence of the Philippines, making fresh demonstrations of loyalty to our Government.”

I also told him it was true that a Mixed Commission had arrived and in the name of General Augustin and Archbishop Nozaleda made certain proposals; but they made known to us their intention to adhere to our Cause. The members of the Commission said the Spaniards instructed them to say they came motu propio1 without being formally Page 34appointed or ‘coached’ by the Spanish authorities in what they should say, representing, on the contrary, that they were faithful interpreters of the sentiment of the people of Manila and that they had good reason for believing that if I was willing to accept autonomy General Augustin and Archbishop Nozaleda would recognize my rank of General, and that of my companions, would give me the $1,000,000 indemnity agreed upon at Biak-na-bató and still unpaid, as well as liberal rewards for and salaries to the members of a popular Assembly promises which the Commissioners did not put any faith in, though some of them held the opinion that the money should be accepted because it would reduce the funds of the Spanish Government and also because the money had been wrung from Filipinos. The Commissioners, I added, left after assuring me that the people in Manila would rise against the Spaniards if supplied with arms, and that the best thing I could do was to make an attack on Manila at the places they pointed out as being the weakest parts of the Spanish defense and consequently the easiest to overcome.

I thanked the Commission for their loyalty and straightforwardness, told them they would be given an escort to take them safely back to the Spanish lines, and that when they got back they should inform those who had sent them that they were not received because they were not duly accredited and that even if they had brought credentials according to what they had seen and heard from the Revolutionists Don Emilio Aguinaldo would certainly Page 35not consider, much less accept, their proposals respecting autonomy because the Filipino people had sufficient experience to govern themselves, that they are tired of being victimised and subjected to gross abuses by a foreign nation under whose domination they have no wish to continue to live, but rather wish for their independence. Therefore the Spaniards might prepare to defend their sovereignty, for the Filipino Army would vigorously assault the city and with unflagging zeal prosecute the siege until Manila was captured.

I also told the Commissioners to tell Archbishop Nozaleda that he was abusing the privileges and authority of his exalted position; that such conduct was at variance with the precepts of His Holiness the Pope, and if he failed to rectify matters I would throw light on the subject in a way which would bring shame and disgrace upon him. I added that I knew he and General Augustin had commissioned four Germans and five Frenchmen to disguise themselves and assassinate me in the vain hope that once I am disposed of the people of the Philippines would calmly submit to the sovereignty of Spain, which was a great mistake, for were I assassinated, the inhabitants of the Philippines would assuredly continue the struggle with greater vigor than ever. Other men would come forward to avenge my death. Lastly I recommended the Commissioners to tell the people in Manila to go on with their trades and industries and be perfectly at ease about our Government, whose actions were guided in the paths of rectitude and justice, and Page 36that since there were no more Friars to corrupt the civic virtues, the Filipino Government was now endeavouring to demonstrate its honesty of purpose before the whole world. There was therefore no reason why they should not go on with their business as usual and should not think of leaving Manila and coming into the Camp, where the resources were limited, where already more were employed than was necessary to meet the requirements of the Government and the Army, and where, too, the lack of arms was sorely felt.

The Commissioners asked me what conditions the United States would impose and what benefits they would confer on the Filipinos, to which I replied that is was difficult to answer that question in view of the secret I was in honour bound to keep in respect of the terms of the Agreement, contenting myself by saying that they could learn a good deal by carefully observing the acts, equivalent to the exercise of sovereign rights, of the Dictatorial Government, and especially the occular demonstrations of such rights on the waters of the harbour.

These statements, which were translated by my interpreter, Sr. Leyba, made such an impression on the Admiral that he interrupted, asking—“Why did you reveal our secret?” Do you mean that you do not intend to keep inviolate our well understood silence and watchword?

I said in reply that I had revealed nothing of the secret connected with him and the Consul.Page 37

The Admiral then thanked me for my cautiousness, bid we good-by and left with General Anderson, after requesting me to refrain from assaulting Manila because, he said, they were studying a plan to take the Walled City with their troops, leaving the suburbs for the Filipino forces.

He advised me, nevertheless, to study other plans of taking the city in conjunction with their forces, which I agreed to do.

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1 Of their own free will and accord—Translator.

More American Troops

A few days later American troops arrived, and with them came General Merritt. The Admiral’s Secretary and two officers came to the Dictatoriat Government and asked that we allow them to occupy our trenches at Maytubig; from the harbour side of that place right up to the main road, where they would form a continuation of our lines at Pasay and Singalong. This I also agreed to on account of the solemn promises of the Admiral and the trust naturally placed in them owing to the assistance rendered and recognition of our independence.

Ten days after the Americans occupied the trenches at Maytubig (this move being well known by the Spaniards who were entrenched at the Magazine in San Antonio Abad) their outposts, composed of a few men only, were surprised by the Spaniards, who made a night attack on them. They had barely time to get out of their beds and fall back on the centre, abandoning their rifles and six field-guns in their precipitate retreat.Page 38

The firing being distinctly heard, our troops immediately rushed to the assistance of our friends and allies, repulsing the Spaniards and recapturing the rifles and field-guns, which I ordered to be returned to the Americans as a token of our good-will and friendship.

General Noriel was opposed to this restitution, alleging that the arms did not belong to the Americans since the Filipino troops captured them from the Spaniards. But I paid no attention to the reasonable opposition of my General and gave imperative instructions that they be returned to the Americans, showing thereby clearly and positively the good-will of the Filipinos. The said rifles and field-guns, with a large quantity of ammunition, was therefore restored to those who were then our allies, notwithstanding the fact of General Noriel’s brigade capturing them at a cost of many lives of our compatriots.

Later on more American reinforcements arrived and again Admiral Dewey, through his Secretary, asked for more trenches for their troops, averring that those which we had given up to them before were insufficient. We at once agreed and their lines were then extended up to Pasay.

The Thirteenth of August

The 13th August arrived, on which day I noticed a general advance of the American land Page 39and sea forces towards Manila, the former being under command of General Anderson at Paranaque.

Subsequently I ordered a general assault of the Spanish lines and in the course of this movement General Pio del Pilar succeeded in advancing through Sampalok and attacked the Spanish troops who where defending the Puente Colgante,1 causing the enemy to fall back on the Bridge of Spain. The column commanded by our General, Sr. Gregorio II. del Pilar, took the suburbs of Pretil, Tendo, Divisoria and Paseo de Azcarraga, situated north of Manila city; while General Noriel’s command, near Pasay, took the suburbs of Singalong and Pako, and following the American column he out-flanked the Spaniards who were defending San Antonio Abad. The Spanish officers observing General Noriel’s move ordered their men to retreat towards the Walled City, whereupon the Americans who held the foremost trenches entered Malate and Ermita without firing a shot. At this point the Americans met General Noriel’s troops who had captured the above mentioned suburbs and were quartered in the building formerly used by the Exposicion Regional de Filipinas,2 in the Normal, and in Sr. Perez’ house in Paco.

In Santa Ana (the eastern section of Manila) General Ricarto successfully routed five companies of Spaniards, being aided in this by the manoeuvres of General Pio del Pilar’s brigade.Page 40

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1 Suspension bridge.—Translator.

2 Philippine Local Exhibition.—Translator.

First Clouds

Our troops saw the American forces landing on the sea shore near the Luneta and Paseo de Santa Lucia, calling the attention of everybody to the fact that the Spanish soldiers in the city forts were not firing on them (the Americans), a mystery that was cleared up at sunset when details of the capitulation of Manila, by General Jaudenes in accordance with terms of an agreement with General Merritt, became public property—a capitulation which the American Generals reserved for their own benefit and credit in contravention of the agreement arrived at with Admiral Dewey in the arrangement of plans for the final combined assault on and Page 41capture of Manila by the allied forces, American and Filipino.

Some light was thrown upon this apparently inexplicable conduct of the American Commanders by the telegrams which I received during that day from General Anderson, who wired me from Maitubig asking me to issue orders forbidding our troops to enter Manila, a request which I did not comply with because it was not in conformity with the agreement, and it was, moreover, diametrically opposed to the high ends of the Revolutionary Government, that after going to the trouble of besieging Manila for two months and a half, sacrificing thousands of lives and millions of material interests, it should be supposed such sacrifices were made with any other object in view than the capture of Manila and the Spanish garrison which stubbornly defended the city.

But General Merritt, persistent in his designs, begged me not only through the Admiral but also through Major Bell to withdraw my troops from the suburbs to (as it was argued) prevent the danger of conflict which is always to be looked for in the event of dual military occupation; also by so doing to avoid bringing ridicule upon the American forces; offering, at the same time, in three letters, to negotiate after his wishes were complied with. To this I agreed, though neither immediately nor at one time, but making our troops retire gradually up to the blockhouses in order that the whole of the inhabitants of Manila should witness the proceedings of our troops and amicability toward our American allies.

Up to that time, and in fact right up to the time when the Americans openly commenced hostilities against us, I entertained in my soul strong hopes that the American Commanders would make absolute with their Government the verbal agreement made and entered into with the Leader of the Philippine Revolution, notwithstanding the indications to the contrary which were noticeable in their conduct, especially in respect of the conduct of Admiral Dewey, who, without any reason or justification, one day in the month of October seized all our steamers and launches.

Being informed of this strange proceeding, and at the time when the Revolutionary Government Page 42had its headquarters in Malolos, I despatched a Commission to General Otis to discuss the matter with him. General Otis gave the Commissioners a letter of recommendation to the Admiral to whom he referred them; but the Admiral declined to receive the Commission notwithstanding General Otis’s recommendation.

Notwithstanding the procedure of the American Commanders, so contrary to the spirit of all the compacts and antecedents above mentioned, I continued to maintain a friendly attitude towards them, sending a Commission to General Merritt to bid him farewell on the eve of his departure for Paris. In his acknowledgement of his courtesy General Merritt was good enough to say that he would advocate the Filipino Cause in the United States. In the same manner I sent to Admiral Dewey a punal1 in a solid silver scabbard and a walking stick of the very best cane with gold handle engraved by the most skilful silversmiths as a souvenir and mark of our friendship. This the Admiral accepted, thereby in some measure relieving my feelings and the anxiety of my compatriots constituting the Revolutionary Government, whose hearts were again filled with pleasant hopes of a complete understanding with Admiral Dewey.

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1 Short sword—Translator.

Vain Hopes

Vain indeed became these hope when news arrived that Admiral Dewey had acted and was Page 43continuing to act against the Revolutionary Government by order of His Excellency Mr. McKinley, who, prompted by the “Imperialist” party, had decided to annex the Philippines, granting, in all probability, concessions to adventurers to exploit the immense natural wealth lying concealed under our virgin soil.

This news was received in the Revolutionary camp like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky. Some cursed the hour and the day we treated verbally with the Americans; some denounced the ceding of the suburbs, while others again were of opinion that a Commission should be sent to General Otis to draw from him clear and positive declarations on the situation, drawing up a treaty of amity and commerce if the United States recognize our independence or at once commence hostilities if the States refused.

In this crisis I advised moderation and prudence, for I still had confidence in the justice and rectitude of United States Congress, which, I believed, would not approve the designs of the Imperialist party and would give heed to the declarations of Page 44Admiral Dewey, who, in the capacity of an exalted Representative of the United States in these Islands concerted and covenanted with me and the people of the Philippines recognition of our independence.

In fact in no other way was such a serious matter to be regarded, for if America entrusted to Admiral Dewey the honour of her forces in such a distant region, surely the Filipinos might equally place their trust in the word of honour of such a polished, chivalrous gentleman and brave sailor, in the firm belief, of course, that the great and noble American people would neither reject his decision nor expose to ridicule the illustrious conqueror of the Spanish fleet.

In the same way the not less known and notorious circumstances, that the American Commanders who came soon after the echoes of the Admiral’s victory reached their native shores, namely, Generals Merritt, Anderson and Otis, proclaimed to the people of the Philippines that America did not come to conquer territories, but to liberate its inhabitants from the oppression of Spanish Sovereignty. I would therefore also expose to universal ridicule and contempt the honour of these Commanders if the United States, by repudiating their official and public acts, attempts to annex these islands by conquest.

The American Commission

With such prudent as well as well founded reflections, I succeeded in calming my companions shortly before the official news arrived reporting that the Washington Government, acting on Admiral Dewey’s suggestion, had intimated its intention to despatch a Civil Commission to Manila which would treat with the Filipinos with a view Page 45to arriving at a definite understanding respecting the government of the Islands.

Joy and satisfaction now filled the breasts of all the Revolutionists, and I thereupon set about the appointment of a Commission to meet the American Commissioners. At the same time I gave strict orders that the most friendly relations should be maintained with the Americans, enjoining toleration and overlooking of the abuses and atrocities of the soldiery because the effect on the Commissioners would not be good it they found us at loggerheads with their nation’s forces.

But the abases of the Americans were now becoming intolerable. In the market-place at Arroceros they killed a woman and a little boy under the pretext that they were surprising a gambling den, thus causing the greatest indignation of a great concourse of people in that vicinity.

My Adjutants, too, who hold passes permitting them to enter Manila with their uniform and sidearms, were molested by being repeatedly stopped by every patrol they met, it, being perfectly evident that, the intention was to irritate them by exposing them to public ridicule.

While this sort of thing was going on as against our people the American Commanders and officers who visited our camp were treated with the utmost courtesy and consideration.

In Lacoste Street an American guard shot and killed a boy seven years of age for taking a banana from a Chinaman.Page 46

The searching of houses was carried on just as it was during the Spanish regime, while the American soldiers at the outposts often invaded our lines, thus irritating our sentries. It would make this book a very large volume if I continued to state seriatim the abuses and atrocities committed by the American soldiery in those days of general anxiety.

It seemed as if the abuses were authorised or at least winked at in official quarters for the purpose of provoking an outbreak of hostilities. Excitement ran high among all classes of people, but the Filipino Government, which had assumed responsibility for the acts of the people, by the constant issue of prudent orders succeeded in calming the excited populace and maintained peace, advising all sufferers to be patient and prudent pending the arrival of the Civil Commission.

Impolitic Acts

At such a critical juncture as this, and before the anxiously-awaited Civil Commission arrived, it occurred to General Otis, Commandant of the American forces, to commit two more impolitic acts. One of them was the order to search our telegraph offices in Sagunro Street, in Tondo, where the searching party seized the apparatus and detained the officer in charge, Sr. Reyna, in the Fuerza Santiago1 under the pretext that he was conspiring against the Americans.Page 47

How and why was Sr. Reyna conspiring? Was not this sufficient for the Filipino Government to give the order to attack and rescue Reyna and thereby we (eight thousand strong) be plunged immediately into war with the United States? Was there any reason for conspiring when the power was in our own hands? And, above all, would a telegraphist, be likely to interfere in affaires de guerre when there was an army near by to attend to such matters?

It was abundantly manifest that the object was by wounding the feelings of and belittling the Filipino Government to provoke a collision, and it was clear also that this system of exasperating us was not merely the wanton act of the soldiery but was actually prompted by General Otis himself, who, imbued with imperialistic tendencies, regarded the coming of the Civil Commission with disfavour and especially would it be unsatisfactory that this Commission should find the Philippines in a state of perfect tranquility, because it was evident to the said General, as well as to the whole world, that the Filipinos would assuredly have arrived at a definite amicable agreement with the aforesaid Commission if it reached the islands while peace prevailed.

We, the Filipinos, would have received the Commission with open arms and complete accord as honourable Agents of the great American nation. The Commissioners could have visited all our provinces, seeing and taking note of the complete tranquility throughout our territory. They Page 48could have seen our cultivated lands, examined our Constitution and investigated the administration of public affairs in perfect peace and safety, and have felt and enjoyed the inimitable charm of our Oriental style,—half negligent, half solicitude, warmth and chilliness, simple confidence and suspiciousness; characteristics which cause descriptions of contact with us to be depicted by foreigners in thousands of different hues.

Ah! but neither did General Otis nor the Imperialists wish for such a landscape. It was better for their criminal designs that the American Commission should view the desolation and horrors of war in the Philippines, inhaling on the very day of their arrival the revolting odour emitted from American and Filipino corpses. It was better for their purposes that that gentleman, Mr. Schurman, President of the Commission, should return from Manila, limiting his investigation to inquiries among the few Filipinos, who, seduced with gold, were siding with the Imperialists. It were better for them that the Commission should view the Philippines problem through fire and slaughter, in the midst of whizzing bullets and the uncontrolled passion of infuriated foes, thus preventing them from forming correct judgment of the exact and natural conditions of the problem. Ah! it was, lastly, better that the Commission return to the States defeated in its mission of obtaining peace and blaming me and other Filipinos for its inability to settle matters, when, in reality, I and all the Philippine people were longing that that Page 49peace had been concluded yesterday,—long before now—but an honest and honourable peace, honourable alike for the United States and the Philippine Republic in order that it be sincere and everlasting.

The second impolitic act of General Otis was the issue of a proclamation on the 4th of January, 1899, asserting in the name of President McKinley the sovereignty of America in these islands, with threats of ruin, death and desolation to all who declined to recognize it.

I, Emilio Aguinaldo—though the humble servant of all, am, as President of the Philippine Republic, charged with the safeguarding of the rights and independence of the people who appointed me to such an exalted position of trust and responsibility—mistrusted for the first time the honour of the Americans, perceiving of course that this proclamation of General Otis completely exceeded the limits of prudence and that therefore no other course was open to me but to repel with arms such unjust and unexpected procedure on the part of the commander of friendly forces.

I protested, therefore, against such a proclamation—also threatening an immediate rupture of friendly relations,—for the whole populace was claiming that an act of treason had been committed, plausibly asserting that the announcement of the Commission applied for by Admiral Dewey was a ruse, and that what General Otis was scheming for was to keep us quiet while he brought reinforcement after reinforcement from the United Page 50States for the purpose of crashing our untrained and badly equipped Army with one blow.

But now General Otis acted for the first time like a diplomatist, and wrote me, through his Secretary, Mr. Carman, a letter inviting the Filipino Government to send a Commission to meet an American Commission for the purpose of arriving at an amicable arrangement between both parties; and although I placed no trust in the professions of friendly intentions of the said General—whose determination to prevent the Commission arriving at a peaceful solution of the difficulties was already evident—I acceded to the request, partly because I saw the order, dated 9th January, given by the above mentioned General confirmed, and on the other hand to show before the whole world my manifest wishes for the conservation of peace and friendship with the United States, solemnly compacted with Admiral Dewey.

---

1 The “Black Hole” of Manila.

The Mixed Commission

Conferences of the Mixed Commission, Americans and Filipinos, were held in Manila from the 11th to the 31st of the said month of January, the Filipino Commissioners clearly expressing the wish of our people for recognition as an independent nation.

They also frankly stated the complaints of the Filipino people about the abuses and atrocities of the American soldiery, being attentively andPage 51benevolently listened to by the American Commissioners. The latter replied that they had no authority to recognize the Filipino Government, their mission being limited to hearing what the Filipinos said, to collect data to formulate the will of our people and transmit it fully and faithfully to the Government of Washington, who alone could arrive at a definite decision on the subject. These conferences ended in perfect harmony, auguring well for happier times and definite peace when Mr. McKinley should reply to General Otis’s telegrams transmitting our wishes with his favourable recommendations, as the American Commissioners said.

Outbreak of Hostilities

While I, the Government, the Congress and the entire populace were awaiting the arrival of such a greatly desired reply, many fairly overflowing with pleasant thoughts, there came the fatal day of the 4th February, during the night of which day the American forces suddenly attacked all our lines, which were in fact at the time almost deserted, because being Saturday, the day before a regular feast day, our Generals and some of the most prominent officers had obtained leave to pass the Sabbath with their respective families.

General Pantaleon Garcia was the only one who at such a critical moment was at his post in Maypajo, north of Manila, Generals Noriel, Rizal and Ricarte and Colonels San Miguel, Cailles and others being away enjoying their leave.Page 52

General Otis, according to trustworthy information, telegraphed to Washington stating that the Filipinos had attacked the American Army. President McKinley read aloud the telegram in the Senate, where the Treaty of Paris of the 10th December, 1898, was being discussed with a view to its ratification, the question of annexation of the Philippines being the chief subject of debate, and through this criminal procedure secured the acceptation of the said Treaty in toto by a majority of only three votes,1 which were cast simultaneously with a declaration that the voters sided with the “Ayes” on account of war having broken out in these Islands.

This singular comedy could not continue for a great length of time because the Filipinos could never be the aggressors as against the American forces, with whom we had sworn eternal friendship and in whose power we expected to find the necessary protection to enable us to obtain recognition of our independence from the other Powers.

The confusion and obfuscation of the first moments was indeed great, but before long it gave place to the light of Truth which shone forth serene, bringing forth serious reflections.

When sensible people studied the acts of Mr. McKinley, sending reinforcement after reinforcement to Manila at a time after an armistice was agreed upon and even when peace with Spain Page 53prevailed; when they took into account that the despatch of the Civil Commission to settle terms of a treaty of amity with the Filipinos was being delayed; when, too, they knew of the antecedents of my alliance with Admiral Dewey, prepared and arranged by the American Consuls of Singapore and Hongkong, Mr. Pratt and Mr. Wildman; when they became acquainted with the actual state of affairs on the 4th February knowing that the Filipinos were awaiting the reply of Mr. McKinley to the telegram of General Otis in which he transmitted the peaceful wish of the Filipino people of live as an independent nation; when, lastly, they riveted their attention to the terms of the Treaty of Paris, the approval of which, in as far as it concerned the annexation of the Philippines, was greeted with manifestations of joy and satisfaction by the Imperialist party led by Mr. McKinley, then their eyes were opened to the revelations of truth, clearly perceiving the base, selfish and inhuman policy which Mr. McKinley had followed in his dealings with us the Filipinos, sacrificing remorselessly to their unbridled ambition the honour of Admiral Dewey, exposing this worthy gentleman and illustrious conqueror of the Spanish fleet to universal ridicule; for no other deduction can follow from the fact that about the middle of May of 1898, the U.S.S. McCullochbrought me with my revolutionary companions from Hongkong, by order of the above mentioned Admiral, while now actually the United States squadron is engaged in bombarding the towns and ports held by these Page 54revolutionists, whose objective is and always has been Liberty and Independence.

The facts as stated are of recent date and must still be fresh in the memory of all.

Those who in May, 1898, admired the courage of Admiral Dewey’s sailors and the humanitarianism of this illustrious Commander in granting visible aid to an oppressed people to obtain freedom and independence, surely cannot place an honest construction upon the present inhuman war when contrasting it with those lofty and worthy sentiments.

I need not dwell on the cruelty which, from the time of the commencement of hostilities, has characterized General Otis’s treatment of the Filipinos, shooting in secret many who declined to sign a petition asking for autonomy. I need not recapitulate the ruffianly abuses which the American soldiers committed on innocent and defenseless people in Manila, shooting women and children simply because they were leaning out of windows; entering houses at midnight without the occupants’ permission—forcing open trunks and wardrobes and stealing money, jewellery and all valuables they came across; breaking chairs, tables and mirrors which they could not carry away with them, because, anyhow, they are consequences of the war, though improper in the case of civilized forces. But what I would not leave unmentioned is the inhuman conduct of that General in his dealings with the Page 55Filipino Army, when, to arrange a treaty of peace with the Civil Commission, of which Mr. Schurman was President, I thrice sent emissaries asking for a cessation of hostilities.

General Otis refused the envoys’ fair and reasonable request, replying that he would not stop hostilities so long as the Philippine Army declined to lay down their arms.

But why does not this Army deserve some consideration at the hands of General Otis and the American forces? Had they already forgotten the important service the Filipino Army rendered to the Americans in the late war with Spain?

Had General Otis forgotten the favours conferred on him by the Filipino Army, giving up to him and his Army the suburbs and blockhouses which at such great sacrifice to themselves the Filipinos had occupied?

Why should General Otis make such a humiliating condition a prime factor or basis of terms of peace with an Army which stood shoulder to shoulder with the American forces, freely shedding its blood, and whose heroism and courage were extolled by Admiral Dewey and other Americans?

This unexplained conduct of General Otis, so manifestly contrary to the canons of international law and military honour, is eloquent testimony of his deliberate intention to neutralize the effects of Mr. Schurman’s pacific mission.

What peace can be concerted by the roaring of cannon and the whizzing of bullets?Page 56

What is and has been the course of procedure of General Brooke in Cuba? Are not the Cubans still armed, notwithstanding negotiations for the pacification and future government of that Island are still going on?

Are we, perchance, less deserving of liberty and independence than those revolutionists?

Oh, dear Philippines! Blame your wealth, your beauty for the stupendous disgrace that rests upon your faithful sons.

You have aroused the ambition of the Imperialists and Expansionists of North America and both have placed their sharp claws upon your entrails!

Loved mother, sweet mother, we are here to defend your liberty and independence to the death! We do not want war; on the contrary, we wish for peace; but honourable peace, which does not make you blush nor stain your forehead with shame and confusion. And we swear to you and promise that while America with all her power and wealth could possibly vanquish us; killing all of us; but enslave us, never!!!

No; this humiliation is not the compact I celebrated in Singapore with the American Consul Pratt. This was not the agreement stipulated for with Mr. Wildman, American Consul in Hongkong. Finally, it was not the subjection of my beloved country to a new alien yoke that Admiral Dewey promised me.Page 57

It is certain that these three have abandoned me, forgetting that I was sought for and taken from my exile and deportation; forgetting, also, that neither of these three solicited my services in behalf of American Sovereignty, they paying the expense of the Philippine Revolution for which, manifestly, they sought me and brought me back to your beloved bosom!

If there is, as I believe, one God, the root and fountain of all justice and only eternal judge of international disputes, it will not take long, dear mother, to save you from the hands, of your unjust enemies. So I trust in the honour of Admiral Dewey: So I trust in the rectitude of the great people of the United States of America, where, if there are ambitious Imperialists, there are defenders of the humane doctrines of the immortal Monroe, Franklin, and Washington; unless the race of noble citizens, glorious founders of the present greatness of the North American Republic, have so degenerated that their benevolent influence has become subservient to the grasping ambition of the Expansionists, in which latter unfortunate circumstance would not death be preferable to bondage?

Oh, sensible American people! Deep is the admiration of all the Philippine people and of their untrained Army of the courage displayed by your Commanders and soldiers. We are weak in comparison with such Titanic instruments of your Government’s ambitious Caesarian policy and find it difficult to effectively resist their courageous Page 58onslaught. Limited are our warlike resources, but we will continue this unjust, bloody, and unequal struggle, not for the love of war—which we abhor—but to defend our incontrovertible rights of Liberty and Independence (so dearly won in war with Spain) and our territory which is threatened by the ambitions of a party that is trying to subjugate us.

Distressing, indeed, is war! Its ravages cause us horror. Luckless Filipinos succumb in the confusion of combat, leaving behind them mothers, widows and children. America could put up with all the misfortunes she brings on us without discomfort; but what the North American people are not agreeable to is that she should continue sacrificing her sons, causing distress and anguish to mothers, widows and daughters to satisfy the whim of maintaining a war in contravention of their honourable traditions as enunciated by Washington and Jefferson.

Go back, therefore, North American people, to your old-time liberty. Put your hand on your heart and tell me: Would it be pleasant for you if, in the course of time, North America should find herself in the pitiful plight, of a weak and oppressed people and the Philippines, a free and powerful nation, then at war with your oppressors, asked for your aid promising to deliver you from such a weighty yoke, and after defeating her enemy with your aid she set about subjugating you, refusing the promised liberation?Page 59

Civilized nations! Honourable inhabitants of the United States, to whose high and estimable consideration I submit this unpretentious work, herein you have the providential facts which led to the unjust attack upon the existence of the Philippine Republic and the existence of those for whom, though unworthy, God made me the principal guardian.

The veracity of these facts rests upon my word as President of this Republic and on the honour of the whole population of eight million souls, who, for more than three hundred years have been sacrificing the lives and wealth of their brave sons to obtain due recognition of the natural rights of mankind—liberty and independence.

If you will do me the honour to receive and read this work and then pass judgment impartially solemnly declaring on which side right and justice rests, your respectful servant will be eternally grateful.

(Signed) Emilio Aguinaldo. Tarlak, 23rd September, 1899.

---

1 Many of the American papers reported that the majority was one vote only in excess of the absolutely requisite two-thirds majority.

Index

• I.—The Revolution of 1896 1
• II.—The Treaty of Peace of Biak-na-bató 4
• III.—Negotiations 6
• IV.—The Revolution of 1898 19
• V.—The Dictatorial Government 22
• VI.—The First Triumphs 24
• VII.—The Philippine Flag 26
• VIII.—Expedition to Bisayas 28
• IX.—The Steamer “Compania de Filipinas” 28
• X.—The Proclamation of Independence 30
• XI.—The Spanish Commission 32
• XII.—More American Troops 37
• XIII.—The 13th August 38
• XIV.—First Clouds 40
• XV.—Vain Hopes 42
• XVI.—The American Commission 44
• XVII.—Impolitic acts 46
• XVIII.—The Mixed Commission 50
• XIX.—Outbreak of Hostilities 51

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=2090 0 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2078 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2078#respond Tue, 01 Oct 2013 11:17:41 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=2078 Philippine American War – Advance of Kansas Volunteers at Caloocan by Thomas A. Edison; 5 June 1899

From LibraryOfCongress, Washinton D.C.

 

Comment by Mandirigma.org: At the time of this production, film was a brand new medium. This Film by Thomas Edison shows Filipino Freedom Fighters defending their country against  American Invaders. However the director portrays the Filipinos as “Rebels” and the Americans as defenders of “Freedom” and “Liberty” who overcome the “Insurgents”.

 

 

 

SUMMARY
From Edison films catalog: From the thick underbrush where the Filipinos are massed comes volley after volley. They are making one of those determined stands that marks Caloocan as the bloodiest battle of the Filipino rebellion. Suddenly, with impetuous rush, Funston’s men appear. They pause but for a moment, to fire, reload and fire. The color bearer falls, but the standard is caught up by brave Sergeant Squires and waves undaunted in the smoke and din of the receding battle. This is one of the best battle pictures ever made. The first firing is done directly toward the front of the picture, and the advance of the U.S. troops apparently through the screen is very exciting; the gradual disappearance of the fighters sustaining the interest to the end. 65 feet. $9.75.

NOTES
Copyright: Thomas A. Edison; 5June1899; 37443.

Original main title lacking.

Reenacted by the New Jersey National Guard.

Materials listed originate from the paper print chosen best copy of two for digitization; for other holdings on this title, contact M/B/RS reference staff.

Edison code name (for telegraphic orders): Unbroached.

MAVIS 47087; Advance of Kansas Volunteers at Caloocan.

Reenacted May 1899 in the Orange Mountains near West Orange, New Jersey.

Sources used: Copyright catalog, motion pictures, 1894-1912; Musser, C. Edison motion pictures 1890-1900, 1997; Niver, K.R. Early motion pictures, 1985; Edison films catalog, no. 94, March 1900, p. 4 [MI]; Edison films catalog, no. 105, July 1901, p. 30 [MI].

SUBJECTS
United States.–Army.–Kansas Volunteer Infantry Regiment, 20th.
Philippines–History–Philippine American War, 1899-1902–Battlefields.
Battles–Philippines.
Soldiers.
Revolutionaries–Philippines.
Funston, Frederick,–1865-1917–Military leadership.
Battle casualties–Philippines.
Flags–United States.
War films.
Historical reenactments (Motion pictures)
Short films.
Silent films.
Nonfiction films.

RELATED NAMES
White, James H. (James Henry), production.
New Jersey. National Guard.
Thomas A. Edison, Inc.
Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)

CALL NUMBER
FEC 2820 (ref print)
FPE 9628 (dupe neg)
FPE 9135 (masterpos)
LC 973a (paper pos)

DIGITAL ID
sawmp 0973 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mbrsmi/sawmp.0973

 

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=2078 0 https://mandirigma.org/?p=1993 https://mandirigma.org/?p=1993#respond Thu, 01 Aug 2013 22:06:27 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=1993 Emilio Aguinaldo filmed with actor Douglas Fairbanks, Philippines, 1931

In 1931 Douglas Fairbanks went on a trip to Asia, and made a comic travelogue entitled “Around the World in 80 Minutes”. The clip from the Philippines included a short speech in Spanish by Emilio Aguinaldo.

Fairbanks was a movie producer and actor in silent films. He co-founded the American film studio United Artists and hosted the first Oscars Ceremony in 1929.

La calidad del audio deja mucho que desear, pero me parece que el Sr. Aguinaldo dijo:
“Os participo de que he dado la bienvenida a nuestro gran actor (?Douglas Fairbanks) de America. Por la misma razón espero que esta visita que nos ha dignado dicho gran actor,(???), estrechará más la armonía entre americanos y filipinos”

Una traducción literal: I have given welcome to our great actor, Douglas Fairbanks, from America. For the same reason, I hope that this visit by this great actor, who has humbled himself to us, will develop greater harmony between Americans and Filipinos.

 

 

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=1993 0 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2036 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2036#respond Wed, 24 Jul 2013 04:57:19 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=2036 Sino pumatay kay Antonio Luna? – Philippine TV Show Crime Klasik – Episode #301 – June 8, 2012

 

 

Isa sa pinakamatapang at pinakamatalinong Heneral na lumaban sa mananakop si General Antonio Luna.
Pero hindi tulad ng ibang bayani, sa kamay raw ng kapwa Pilipino natapos ang kaniyang buhay.
Paano nabago nito ang ating kasaysayan?

 

Was it Aguinaldo who had Antonio Luna killed? Go back in time and know the history of Antonio Luna here in Crime Klasik.

 

More on Crime Klasik: https://www.facebook.com/CrimeKlasik

 

 

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=2036 0 https://mandirigma.org/?p=1552 https://mandirigma.org/?p=1552#respond Wed, 07 Mar 2012 08:00:45 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=1552 U.S. Army 1st & 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiments training in California during World War II.

 

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675053496_Filipino-Infantry_recreational-activities_bolo-knives_Colonel-Robert-Offley

 

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=1552 0 https://mandirigma.org/?p=1284 https://mandirigma.org/?p=1284#respond Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:31:51 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=1284

Color Photos Of America’s New Possessions by  F. Tennyson Neely (1899)

Collection of color photographs of the Spanish – American War military actions in the Philippines.

Many of these photographs are not found in any other books!

 

Read it online at The Library of Congress .

http://www.archive.org/stream/neelyscolorphoto00newy#page/n0/mode/2up

http://www.archive.org/details/neelyscolorphoto00newy

 

 

 

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=1284 0 https://mandirigma.org/?p=1274 https://mandirigma.org/?p=1274#respond Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:53:52 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=1274

Illustrated with Photogravure, Colored Plates, Engravings and Maps

Richly illustrated with 166 RARE vintage photographs and illustrations from the early 1900′s ! You will take a journey with the author G. Waldo Browne and view many historical, cultural, and incredible photographs of a time forgotten. Writing about his travels, G. Waldo Browne gave his readers detailed stories and interesting information about the local history, myths, and facts of the countries he visited so that every American could get a glimpse, first hand of the worlds beyond our shores.

 

Contents

The Philippine Islands, By Maj.-Gen. Joseph Wheeler
Japan, By Kogoro Takahira

The Philippines

The Pearls Of The Orient
The People Of The Philippines
The Animal Kingdom
Spanish Discovery And Dominion
Rivalry Of Church And State
Colonial Wars
Resources And Commerce
Most Noted Towns
Struggles For Liberty
America In The Orient

Japan

The Land Of The Gods
The Gateway Of The Orient
First Glimpses
The Imperial Roads
The Modern Capital
Customs And Costumes
City And Country

 

Full Page Engravings

Courtyard To Chinese Temple
Suspension Bridge Connecting Old And New Manila
Water Front At Manila
Native Milk Peddlers In The Suburbs Of Manila
Santa Cruz Plaza, Manila
Native Theatre, Taguig
General Otis And Staff At The Governor’s Palace, Manila
Rainy Season In The Eremita District
Hawaiian Flowers, Coloured
Principal Gateway, Old Manila
Hawaiian Flowers. Coloured
Manila Fire Department
Group Of Insurgents, Taken Prisoners
Cigar Factory, Manila
A Company Of Insurgents
Graves Of The Astor Battery
Headquarters, Pasig
Hawaiian Flowers. Coloured
Three Little Maids. Coloured
Fujiyama From Maeda Village, Tokaido
Peony Garden, Kanazawa
The Beautiful Iris
Bluff Garden, Yokohai
Chrysanthemums
Walking Costume Coloured
Tea-House Garden, Oji, Tokio
A Typical Japanese Lady
Planting Rice
Kirifuri Cascade, Nikko

 

Coloured Maps

The Philippines
Japan
Illustrations

The Philippines

Landscape On East Side Of Mindanao
Mail Station On Bay Of Ulugan
Volcano Of Apo
Volcano Of Mayon, Luzon
Looking Up Pasig River At Pretil Just Above Manila
Native Village, Island Of Negros
Bamboo Bridge, Iloilo
Construction Of A Philippino House
Bamboo Yard
Native Houses
Village On Mindanao
General View Of Iloilo
Manila Street, Rainy Season
Manila Street, Rainy Season
Types Of Malays
Negritos
Native Warrior From Interior Of Mindanao
Philippino Fruit Girl
A Wealthy Half-Caste Philippino Lady
Mestizos
Sulu Prau
Sultan Of Sulu Interviewing
European Visitors
Mohammed, Sultan Of Sulu
Igorrotes
Igorrote Pipes
Carabaos Transporting Army Stores
Village On The Island Of Guimaras
Street-Cars In Manila
Young Wild Goat
Calao Bird
Peacock
Village On Mindanao
River Scene On Mindanao
Mindanao Warrior
Merchant Vessels, Pasig River
Mouth Of River Coihulo, Palawan
Village Of Bahele, Palawan
Oldest Church In Manila
Arsenal At Puerto Princessa, Palawan
Drawbridge And Gate Of Old City
Old Cannon On Sea-Wall At Manila
River Scene Near Iloilo
Spanish Priest
Ancient Gate At Manila
A Tagalo Bungalow In Luzon
Philippino Girl
Church And Square At Malolos
Old Stone Bridge Near Manila
Manila Street, Rainy Season
Manila Street, Rainy Season
The Native Market At Manila
On The Wall Of The Old City Of Manila
Native Boats On Pasig Above Bridge Of Spain
Rita Island, Bay Of Ulugan
Cavite Arsenal And Shipyard
Bathing Place At Manila
A Tagalo Family Out For A Drive In A Caretela
Travel In Rainy Season
Volcano Of Apo
Scene In Bulacan
Plantation On Mindanao
Scene At Puerto Princessa, Palawan
Cigar Dealer
Street In Old Manila
Train On Manila And Dagupin Railway
Manila And Dagupin Railway Station
Governor’s Palace, Manila
Village In The Suburbs Of Manila
Street In Business Section Of Manila
Fountain On Promenade San Miguel, Manila
Cavite Arsenal
Social Entertainment Under Spanish Regime
Schoolhouse
Village Of Olas Pinas, On Outskirts Of Manila
Dagaupan, Rio Horno
Sulu Woman
A Native Of Malabon And His Family
Emilio Aguinaldo, Leader Of Insurrection Of 1899
Cannon Used By Insurgents In 1899
Mountain Cataract
Sentry Post On The Luneta Road
Scene In Suburbs Of Manila
Aguinaldo’s Family And Relatives
Admiral George Dewey
U. S. S. Olympia
U. S. S. Baltimore
The Battle Of Manila Bay
Major-General Wesley Merritt
Group Of Officers, Leaders Of Insurrection, 1899
General Augusti
Islets Of Calamianes Group, Between Mindoro And Palawan
General Otis
F. Agoncillo, Envoy Of Insurgents
Plaza Alfonso XII., Iloilo
Mountain Inn, Luzon
Exterior Of Insurgents Capitol At Malolos, 1899
Mushroom Islands
Waterfall And Rapids On Taygula River, Mindanao
Boar
Japan

Greeting
Scenery Among The Pine Islands
Fujiyama
A Farmer
Yokohama Harbour
A Junk
Street On Water-Front, Yokohama
Lotus Lake, Myeno
Double Bridge In Imperial Garden
Jinrikishas
Street Scene, Yokohama
Box Shop
Suburban Tea-Houses
A Vegetable Dealer
Lake Vistain Gentleman’s Garden
A Masseur
Gentleman’s Suburban Villa, Bancho
The Gateway
In An Old Garden Of Tokyo
Wistaria Bush
The “Garden Of The Lake,” Kyoto
A Trimmed Japanese Pine-Tree
Rockery And Cascade, Fukiage Garden
Examples Of Quaint Architecture
Stone Lantern Marking Approach To A Shrine
Cherry Bank, Tokyo
Water Mill, Colenba
Chrysanthemum Seller
Ladies’ Costumes
The Combat With Swords
A Hair-Dresser
Macaroni And Tea
Ladies At Dinner
Scene In Nikko
Planting Rice
Vegetable Seller
Evergreens And Water-Weeds
Autumn Foliage At Taki-No-Kwawa

 

 

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