Name:Ranao ,Rihainie B.

GEC106-Hh3

The History of the Philippines

Synapes
Introduction
The present-day Philippines is an archipelago nation of more than 7,100 islands,
with a coastline that stretches 10,850 miles, which is twice the length of the
coastline of California. The archipelago lies off the southeast coast of the Asian
mainland between Borneo and Taiwan. It is surrounded in the west by the South
China Sea, in the east by the Pacific Ocean, in the south by the Sulu and Celebes
seas, and in the north by the Bashi Channel. These tropical and mountainous islands
have a land area of 115,831 square miles.1 The country is composed of three major
regions: Luzon, the largest island in the north; the Visayas, an island group in the
center; and Mindanao, the largest island in the south. These regions have distinct
political, social, and cultural differences. The capital is Manila in Luzon. Other
important cities are Cebu, in the Visayas; Davao, Cotobato, and Zamboanga, in
Mindanao; and Jolo, in the Sulu archipelago of Mindanao. The climate is always
tropical and warm because of the Philippines’ location, 5 to 20 degrees north of the
equator. There are two main seasons: the dry season lasts from March to June, and
the monsoon season from July to October. The intervening months of November to
February are wonderfully warm with a soothing sea breeze. The archipelago lays on
the edge of the so-called Ring of Fire, a chain of active volcanoes marking the
intersection of two tectonic plates, which makes the possibility of an earthquake or
volcanic eruption an ever-present danger. The worst recorded calamity occurred in
June 1991, when Mount Pinatubo, in central Luzon, blew up, causing widespread
devastation. Typhoons, annually lash out at the islands, especially those closest to
the Pacific. Because of deforestation, even a mild typhoon can now cause flash
flooding and tragic loss of human life and property, such as happened when
typhoon Uring hit Ormoc, Leyte, on November 5, 1991.2 The land of the Philippines
is characterized by irregular coasts, alluvial plains, narrow valleys, and rolling hills
and mountains running north to south. It used to have a lush and tropical forest
cover with a diverse ecosystem. However, deforestation reduced the forests to only
19.4 percent by the end of the twentieth century.3 Deforestation occurs when
lumber companies cut down all of the forests in a given area without replanting
trees, although, currently, they are required to do so, by law. Another problem is
that some corrupt timber magnates and Filipino politicians conspire in the illegal
export of timber. Deforestation continues to be one of the major sources of
ecological damage in the country, threatening all animal and plant species. Also,
resource-rich marine mangroves and coral reefs are rapidly disappearing as a result
of big commercial trawling, aquaculture, pollution, and illegal fishing practices that
include the use of cyanides and dynamite to increase the catch. The Philippine
nation is part of Southeast Asia, encompassing Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and
Indonesia. It has a strategic location and is open to different and diverse cultural
influences coming from around Asia and beyond. Filipinos are mostly Malay people.
The most significant ethnic minority is Chinese, and because of intermarriage, many
Filipinos have Chinese ancestry. Also, the colonization of the islands by the Spanish
(1565–1898) and Americans (1898–1946) has influenced the development of
Philippine society and culture. There are some 78 different spoken languages and
500 dialects across the archipelago, all belonging to the Malayo-Polynesian linguistic
family. While the majority of Filipinos can speak the national language—Tagalog, or
Pilipino—and they share the same national identity, each different group tends to
identify with the primary language group to which it belongs. The two principal
languages are Tagalog, spoken in the provinces around Manila, and Cebuano,
spoken throughout the Visayas and Mindanao. Other major languages are Ilocano,
Hiligaynon, Bicol, Waray, Pampango, and Pangasinan. English is widely spoken
throughout the islands and is the language of education and trade. There are almost
fifty other indigenous tribal groups in the Philippines, comprising about 20 percent
of the population. They are historically and culturally different from the mainstream
group of Filipinos and have long struggled to keep their land and cultural identity
intact. The Philippines is the only Christian nation in Asia. More than 60 percent of
Asia’s Christian population lives in the Philippines, and their numbers are increasing.
In 1986 there were over 50 million Christians in the Philippines, and by the 1990s,
this figure had reached over 65 million. There are approximately 11 million non-
Catholic Christians practicing in over 350 organizations, most of which operate
under the umbrella organization of the National Council of Churches in the
Philippines. The largest denomination includes the gospelstyle Philippines for Jesus
movement and the Protestant Iglesia ni Cristo. The largest religious minority group
is the Muslim population, with Islam being a much older presence than Christianity.
Estimates of the Muslim population range between 3.9 million and 7 million, or 5 to
9 percent of the population. About 94 percent of these Filipino Muslims are
concentrated in the western and southern part of the island of Mindanao, the Sulu
archipelago, and in the southern tip of Palawan.4 Before the colonization of the
Philippines by Spain and the United States, Filipinos were tolerant of other religions
and did not discriminate among them. There was a significant amount of
interreligious dialogue and exchange between the peoples of Asia in early times.
The islanders were variously influenced by the spread of Hinduism, Buddhism,
Daoism, Confucianism, and Islam throughout the region. However, the Spanish
changed this dynamic as they brought with them the Roman Catholic Church, which
was instrumental in setting up colonial rule over the islands. The close working
relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and state, however, was
dismantled by the U.S. colonial regime, which introduced a new religion, Protestant
Christianity, and a new government mandate, the separation of church and state.
Today, religious freedom is guaranteed by the constitution. The contemporary
disagreement between Muslim peoples of the southern islands and the federal
government is not so much about religion as about political goals. However, the
separation of church and state rule has never really been implemented in the
Philippines. The Catholic Church still has a strong influence in some state legislation
in the Philippines. The Catholic Church lobbied against the divorce law, which was
not approved by the Congress and Senate. The Catholic and Protestant churches,
too, have been influential in terms of democratization movements. They have
organized people at the local levels for resistance, especially against Ferdinand
Marcos’s martial law dictatorship (1972–1986) and even now are speaking up for
human rights.
The Philippine Revolution
 was established by Andre Bonifacio on July 7, 1892. In his book Bonifacio’s
Unfinished Revolution, Alejo Villanueva Jr. suggests that the name Katipunan
represented an invitation to the people to unite for a common purpose. It spoke to
the sons and daughters of the country who in their hearts and souls felt filial
affection for the motherland and were patriots. Initially, it was a secret society, but
soon the triangle system of recruitment wherein one member of each cell would
know only one member in the next cell, was replaced by enlistment and
organization on the basis of the Liga Filipina. The Katipunan began in the Tagalog
region and was composed of the dispossessed lower urban class who could never
hope to gain a higher education, advance economically, or enter the ruling classes,
other than through revolution. It is estimated to have reached, at some point,
between 100,000 to 400,000 members. The society promoted the idea that the
Philippines had a long and glorious history before the onslaught of the colonization
process. It had an organized state at the time when the Spanish first arrived,
conducted international trade, had its own religion and alphabet, and had
independence and liberty. They charged that the friars had not really civilized the
Filipinos but had taught them a mystified and formulaic version of Christianity. They
strove to create a nationalist ideology and independent state by means of
revolution.
[1]

Southeast Asian Prehistory and the Philippines

Early Philippine history has to be viewed within the broader sweep of the history of
Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia, of course, is a modern delineation and this region
was contiguous with China in prehistoric times. However, Southeast Asia as defined
here refers to the geographical area that includes the modern nation states of
Vietnam, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the
Philippines. There are many unanswered questions when it comes to the study of
precolonial settlements in the Philippines. Much of the early evidence of the coastal
communities that probably existed and could have been used by modern
archaeologists to learn more about these settlements was washed away when the
seas rose, due to global warming, at the end of the last ice age, some 17,000 years
ago. The warm and humid climate in the tropical zone has a disintegrating effect on
bamboo and other plant-like materials that were used by the early inhabitants to
build their homes, to make tools, and, later, for writing. Also, the many different
ethnolinguistic and cultural groups have been unevenly studied by ethnographers.
American archaeologists of the colonial era (1898–1946) tended to interpret their
findings in terms of a continuous spread and overlay of human settlements that
reached into th distant past. In the south, the Sunda Shelf connected the Philippines
with the islands of Borneo, Java, and Sumatra, and with the entire peninsula of
Malaysia and Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. Northern Luzon was linked to
Taiwan and formed the entry way to a broad land corridor leading into China. We
now know that there were people in Java and China around the mid-Pleistocene, or
during the ice age, some 300,000 years ago, as their remains along with stone
implements and the bones of extinct animals have been found. Similar sites of
stone tools and fossil remains, of large prehistoric animals, have been found in the
Cagayan Valley of northern Luzon.
Trade and the Rise of Local Rulers
The warm and tropical monsoon winds, blowing from the northeast in northern
winter, and the southeast during the northern summer, contributed to the
development of a prosperous and growing regional trade economy. Since these
winds regularly reversed direction every season, the early Southeast Asians learned
to plan their seafaring journeys in accordance with the changing winds. They could
sail with relative ease across a big expanse of ocean to visit trading partners and
relatives and then, after resting a while, ride home with the wind. The relative ease
and safety with which people could travel encouraged increases in material and
cultural exchanges. Also, the tropically rich vegetative cover and, usually, congenial
topography of the islands made it relatively comfortable to walk on foot or sail.
There are so many islands around the archipelago interconnected by landfills and
waterways with well-sheltered bays and protected harbors. Trade over land and sea
brought new people in contact with one another, ranging from upland hunters and
gatherers and horticulturalists to the complex chiefdoms and states of south and
Southeast Asia and northeast Asia.
Indic and Chinese Influences
Some of the earliest known influences came from Hindu and Buddhist traders and
monks who exchanged textiles and other sacred gifts for local and Chinese wares.
They introduced new religious rituals and political forms of behavior. However, this
should not be mistaken to mean that the inhabitants of the Philippine islands blindly
accepted the Hindu belief system and way of life. Rather, they selectively integrated
what they perceived to be useful Hindu notions into their already existing animistic
beliefs and practices. Early local rulers adopted Hindu titles, like rajah, and
accompanying accouterments to enhance their spiritual and political power. The
term Visaya (Vijaya), which refers to the central group of islands in the Philippines,
is suggestive of her place in the Hindu tributary system. There are few known Hindu
artifacts, such as the 1,790 gram, 21 karat gold Hindu goddess of Agusan, which is
on display in the Chicago Natural History Museum.6 One probable explanation for
the scarcity of ancient Hindu, Buddhist, or shamanistic scripts and material remains
is due to the Spanish colonizers having destroyed pagan icons and books in their
wake. Unlike in Bali, Indonesia, Hindu temple complexes were never built in stone in
the ancient Philippines. However, there is substantial archaeological and historical
evidence pointing to the existence of many small trading centers that specialized in
the production of prestige goods (e.g., potteries, textiles, medicinal plants, and
decorative plumes) for trade and exchange as tribute.
THE COMING OF ISLAM
Islam was transmitted to Sumatra and Java by Arab and Persian traders and
missionaries in the thirteenth century, although earlier Muslim trading sites existed
in the region. As Islam began to spread rapidly after the death of the Prophet
Muhammad in 632, Arabia emerged as one of the important centers of commerce
and culture. Arab and other Muslim traders and sailors were the intermediaries
between Asian merchants and European traders.9 As these Muslims converted local
rulers and their retainers, their trade networks also expanded. One of the earliest
rulers to convert to Islam was the banished prince of Palembang origin,
Parameswara, who ran away from the Javanese court to settle in a small fishing
village on the island of Malacca. In 1405, he swore his allegiance to the Chinese
emperor, for which he was rewarded a seal of investiture recognizing Malacca as an
independent kingdom. Parameswara’s maneuver infuriated the Javanese and
Siamese; the latter royal courts claimed the island was their territory, but they felt
helpless to do anything about it for fear of antagonizing the powerful Chinese.
Ancient Asian Slavery Systems
Diverse religious and philosophical traditions exerted some influence over the
formation of different slavery systems pertaining to Southeast Asia. While the
institutionalization of slavery may have nothing to do with Buddhism and
Confucianism as envisioned by the founders, Buddha and Confucius, Confucianism
and Buddhism still advocated a specific social order of hierarchy, namely, that of
serving the king. While Buddhism diverged from Hinduism, it continued to be
informed by Hindu cultural ideas and practices.
THAI BUDDHIST SLAVERY
Thai history has long been informed by Buddhist and Hindu social teachings. Unlike
in India or China, where genealogical links are largely traced through the male lines,
in Thailand, genealogies are traced bilaterally through both the male and female
side of the family. It is Thai daughters, not sons, who are expected to take care of
their parents when they get old. This horizontal status accorded to both sexes is
offset in so far as Thai females always were considered property either of their
father’s household or husband’s household. Female slaves were definitively valued
for their contribution to sexual reproduction and as second wives and concubines,
although a father or husband who sold his daughter or wife into bondage in times of
starvation or financial hardship in former times could keep her at home as long as
he paid the interest on the loan. Moreover, a free person, formerly, had to
substantially demonstrate that he was over his head in debt and desperately poor
before he could legally sell any member of his household, or himself, into slavery, or
he would be severely punished according to law. Buddhism, as well, mitigated some
of the harsher effects of slavery, as it was viewed as meritorious, and slaves had
some rights against owners who transgressed the boundaries of their sexual rights.
Slaves, also, could possess private property, and some of them were entrusted in
positions of authority over other slaves and free clients.
EARLY CCHINES SLAVERY
China has been long influenced by Confucian social teachings. Unlike in Thailand,
where the family tree is traced bilaterally through the male and female lines, in
China, genealogical links are recorded over the generations through male ties.
Chinese females are perceived to be outsiders. They are never named in ancestral
rites, and their primary role is to bear male heirs. A female could enter into
domestic household service as a maid or child servant, and, in that case, she might
be adopted as a younger sister and become part of the family. Alternatively, she
would be arranged into an exogamous marriage, sometimes as a child bride. While
the bride-price for the first wife was high, it was transformed into a dowry, and the
marriage rite itself marked the transference of certain rights and privileges to her. In
contrast, the primary role of second wives was to produce sons, while concubinage
was for pleasure. Matchmakers arranged the sale of maids, brides, concubines, and
prostitutes, privately, out of the public view.
Ancient Philippines slavery
The Philippines experienced a mélange of religious and philosophical influences
prior to the colonial period. Underlying Hindu, Buddhist, and Islamic faiths were
widespread and intermingled with indigenous beliefs and practice that were
informed by animistic nature “worship.” The economy was engage in a maritime
trade economy that extended far beyond Southeast Asia. Local communities were
dispersed along estuaries of rivers and coastal shores, each settlement scattered to
protect the residents from the possibility of offshore slave raiders. Each
community’s individual history was made up of a complex of local histories wherein
leaders were legitimated by their followers, in relation to even wider concentric
networks, or mandalas, of power. Chiefdoms existed, in that the office of chief was
ordinarily inherited and there was a redistributive system wherein slavery was a key
component. However, as a check on their authority, the office of chief (rajah or
datu) was also achieved, and the center of redistribution shifted as new leaders
emerged.

[2]
Spanish Colonization
(1521-1896)

The Spanish colonization of the Philippines was a significant historical event in the
sixteenth century. However, colonization was never so central a phenomenon as to
outweigh in importance local historical developments that were already long in
place. Some strong Muslim states were well established in the archipelago toward
the end of the fifteenth century in Sulu and Magindanao in southern Mindanao and
Manila on northern Luzon. In the region, China, Korea, and Japan held economic and
political sway. Colonization and Christianization forcibly changed the course of
development of Philippine history. However, Spain was never able to suppress long-
established cultural patterns. This chapter examines the historical processes that
underpinned the Spanish colonization of the Philippines. It brings into consideration
local viewpoints and ways of life that existed in contradistinction to the European
framework. It is by looking at this complex interplay between these two different
and opposing systems that we can begin to see some of the factors that helped to
shape the modern Philippine nation-state.
THE PILIPPINES IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
At the coming of the Spaniards, there were an estimated 500,000 people living in
the Philippines.1 They comprised a large number of distinctly different cultural and
linguistic groups of which most were lineal descendants of Malay immigrants who
came to the Philippines from south and Southeast Asia. They lived on the coasts and
along inland bays and rivers. Much of the information that we now have about
sixteenth-century Philippine society comes from early chronicles recorded by
Spanish clerics. These texts have been closely examined by William Henry Scott
(1921–1993), the distinguished American historian who made his home, after World
War II, in the Philippines. He wrote many books about the different societies and
cultures of the Philippines at the time of the Spanish arrival. During the sixteenth
century, some of the colonial friars learned to speak the local languages in order to
better convert and control the Filipinos. They compiled dictionaries filled with details
of everyday life, especially in the Cebuano- and Tagalog-speaking regions. However,
their versions of history need to be reread carefully with critical discernment
because they were written from an ethnocentric perspective. Also, these entries
were spread out over chronological time and geographical space, so they contain
conflicting information that is fragmented because of the slowness of Spanish
colonization. However, we can still find in these well-illustrated texts a window onto
the ancient past.
Sixteenth-Century Europe and Asia
The Philippines at the time when the Spanish arrived was part of an ancient Asian
civilization with a long and glorious history. Asians traded in silk and cotton textiles
when medieval Europeans were still exchanging animal skins or coarsely spun
materials. Asians had already achieved far greater advances in seamanship,
science, medicine, civil administration, and foreign diplomacy than had medieval
Western Europeans.8 Asian societies and cultures were prospering, and their people
enjoyed a much higher standard of living than did Europeans. By the sixteenth
century, when the Spaniards first came to the Philippine islands, the local people
were trading not only with each other but with neighboring countries like China,
Japan, Korea, India, Arabia, Siam, Cambodia, Java, Brunei, Malacca, Borneo, Celebes,
and the Moluccas. Foreigners brought silks, precious porcelains, iron implements
and tools, and other products to the Philippines, in exchange for gold, pearls, resins,
medicinal herbs, beeswax, rattans, exotic flowers, various kinds of woods and other
rich forest and sea products, and textiles and other handicrafts.
THE QONQUISTADORS
portugal and Spain were the first European countries to search for an alternate
route of trade to India, China, Japan, and island Southeast Asia. The discovery of the
New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492, which paved the way for the discovery
of the Philippines by Ferdinand de Magellan in 1521, largely occurred as a result of
the high European demand for spices and other goods coming from Asia. Most
overland routes were under the control of Muslim powers that charged excessive
taxes on goods coming from Asia, which made the price of Asian goods too
expensive for Western Europeans. Thus, they felt a need to look for a new all-water
route to the East. In 1488, the Portuguese, led by Bartolomeu Dias, reached the
southernmost horn of Africa. This was a great achievement for the Europeans
because all of the other routes of trade from the east African coastline to the Indian
coastal communities had already been navigated by others. In 1497, the
Portuguese, under Vasco da Gama, reached the west coast of India, largely through
the navigational skills and guidance of two Gujerat traders whom da Gama brought
aboard when sailing along the east African coastline. When da Gama returned
home, he received a hero’s welcome by the Portuguese people, who quickly
assembled a fleet of well-armed ships to exploit this region of the world. In 1493,
Pope Alexander VI issued the Treaty of Tordesillas to keep the relationship between
the Portuguese and Spanish harmonious and to prevent them from fighting over
new territorial discoveries.
IMPACT OF COLONIAL CHRISTIANITY
The Spanish conquistadors, administrators, and missionaries came to the Philippine
islands with preconceptions of paganism, conquest, and mission based on
unrealistic Augustinian and Greco-Roman definitions of Barbarians. While the
Filipinos had long traded with peaceful merchants and aggressive marauders
offering protection in return for tribute, they were never really prepared for the
abrupt and arbitrary appearance of the conquistadors. Although Muslims had
penetrated the islands to such a degree that the Tagalogs in the far north had been
won for that faith, and as much as Islam like Christianity was an intolerant religion,
it did not predispose the Filipinos for the arrival of Christianity. The Muslims were not
able to exercise the same type of center-toperiphery control that Spain could at
least attempt. That is, the Roman Catholic Church was hierarchically organized and
emanated out from Rome, under the rule of the Pope. By contrast, the Muslim world
system of the day was much more loose and multicentered. The Europeans only
imagined that the Ottomans exercised any influence in Asia. The spread of Islam
depended on the formation of many local states, not a single “world empire” that
Spain was becoming. The Spaniards negotiated their terms of settlement
predominantly through the agency of male leaders, while female leaders, who held
positions of high esteem and authority in the bilateral contexts of the precolonial
Philippines, were displaced. The lord-to-vassal relationship in Southeast Asia differed
substantially from that of Spain. Differences in gender roles were simply differences
in work patterns that complemented each other to form an undifferentiated whole.
Some scholars stress that the early Filipino ideology of gender differences was
complementary.30 The opposite sexes complimented each other rather than
competed against each other. In Southeast Asia, a follower system (still) is the
realization that a relation of authority of high over low exists and, likewise, the
understanding that teachers and students, masters and disciples, need each other
in striving for ascendancy.31 This relation is based on cooperation, not competition.
On the other hand, the relation between equal groups such as in the United States
or contemporary capitalist-led global politics is best described as opposition.
Spanish colonial policy attempted to solidify local leadership and, in effect,
transform local leaders into permanent lowerlevel authority figures solidified in
power by the Crown, so long as the indigenous elite cooperated. Researchers say
that “the extension of Spanish colonial rule into local communities generated a new
division between natives who paid tribute and natives who collected it.”32 The
indigenous elite now sanctioned by outside military force could opportunistically
shift between colonial overlords and their subjects. They could take surplus from a
community and keep part of it for themselves in the form of goods or indentured
servitude. Although the local leaders were accorded land and freed from tribute and
corvée labor by the Spaniards, their prior wealth and power derived less from the
land than from tribute and services rendered by their followers. The Spanish
government undermined the indigenous economic system by exacting head taxes
on all commoners. They accomplished this through warfare and Catholic
indoctrination and conversion. Subjects fled from both tax collectors and former
rulers or, when prevented from doing so, rebelled.

[3]
The Philipine Revolution
(1896-1902)
The Spaniards had three primary objectives in colonizing the Philippines. One was to
gain a share of the profitable spice trade dominated by the Portuguese in south and
Southeast Asia. The second was to establish a stopover in the galleon trade
between Mexico and China, with the intention of setting up a home base for the
evangelization of China and Japan. The third was to Christianize the people of the
Philippines. After establishing the capital in Manila, Spanish officials had little
interest in developing the countryside and largely confined their activities to the
galleon trade coming out of the capital city, while the friars established themselves
on agricultural lands. Aside from the big landed estates, most of the communities in
the countryside were based on a subsistence economy. These communities
consisted of self-provisioning households that also met the material needs of the
small nonproducing colonial population. The Spaniards divided the land into
encomiendas, or settlement communities, by bringing together several villages
around a church center, initially under the control of a conquistador and, soon after,
the religious orders. In exchange for their participation in governance, the friars and
other administrators who helped to run the colony, were granted the right to levy
tribute and require labor. Much of life in the However, economic and political
changes in Europe beginning in the eighteenth century affected the Philippines. The
Industrial Revolution begun in England extended and transformed Europe into highly
productive and resourceconsuming nations competing for new sources of raw
materials and market for their surplus products. This cued Spain to restructure the
Philippine economy by promoting logging, mining, and mono-cropping for export,
which hastened the integration of the local economy into the European market
system. This restructuring process, combined with increasing land grabbing by the
friars and colonial elites, fueled the grounds for revolution, as did the inflow of
liberal ideas and enlightened attitudes, especially after the Spanish Revolution of
1869. The increased speed and easement of transportation after the completion of
the Suez Canal in 1868 opened new opportunities for an ambitious and newly
emerging landed class of Filipinos to further their education at home and abroad.
Internationalized intellectuals and progressive Filipino priests called for
governmental reform and the secularization of the church. The harsh reprisals made
by the Spanish government against these reformists, especially the martyrdom of
Fathers Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora in 1872 and of the nationalist writer, Jose Rizal
in 1896, inspired Philippine nationalism and the revolts of the nineteenth
centurycountryside carried on as usual in accordance to local customs and
traditions for the first 200 years of Spanish rule. The Philippines, except Manila, was
largely closed from the outside world.
BACKGROUND
One of the most striking features of the Spanish colonial system was the union of
church and state, the Spanish Crown having been vested by the Holy See with the
charge of operating the missions in the new colonies. The state provided the
military protection and political organization, and the church took care of the
spiritual consolidation of the people to keep them under control. Once Spain
established her base of operations in Manila in 1571, she developed it into a major
naval station in the Pacific. Her goal was to gain a foothold in the spice trade that
was dominated by the Portuguese, and later, the Dutch, by making Manila the
transshipment port in the galleon trade between Mexico and China. For the first 200
years, Spain had little interest in developing agriculture or other resources in the
archipelago. She monopolized trade by dictating that all galleons coming out of the
country had to pass first through Manila. This trade was Spain’s major source of
income and economic activity. So, the communities in the countryside were
delegated to the religious orders to organize and implement a new governing
apparatus.
THE REVOLUTION AGAINTS SPAIN(1896-1898)
Spain’s intentions from the beginning were to replace the friars with secular parish
priests whenever any mission assumed the character of a parish. But thefriars, not
wanting to loose their power and possessions, fought secularization, and it was
never carried out entirely. The friars became the storm center of the gradually
increasing Filipino demand for change; the revolution of 1896 was principally
directed against them. During the first half of the nineteenth century, there were
only 2,000 to 5,000 Spaniards in the country. Spanish was spoken only by a few of
the people, principally in Manila and a few other important centers, but the friars
made little effort to educate the populous. There were many different ethnic and
cultural groups that spoke different languages. Partly because of these conditions,
the Filipinos had little representation in the Spanish courts and had to have a friar to
represent them. But, by the nineteenth century, everything changed as Christianity
united Filipinos and the Catholic schools and seminaries had produced a significant
number of educated Filipino lay and religious leaders, especially males, who as
principalia and diocesan priests shared certain advantages with the friars in the
rural communities. Children of Filipino-Spanish marriages gradually accumulated
large tracts of land and began to develop sugar plantations and so forth. Mestizos of
the early conquistadors inherited large estates and sent their children to schools in
Spain and Europe, and developed a social and cultural orientation patterned after
that of Spain.
THE REVOLUTION AGAINTS THE UNITED STATES(1899-1902)
On April 25, 1898, war broke out between Spain and the United States after the
destruction of the Maine in Havana Harbor, and the Americans accused Spain of
sabotage. The American fleet under Commodore George Dewey, then at Hong Kong,
received an order from the secretary of navy, John Long, to attack the Spanish at
Manila. This offensive strategy had been planned several months before.16 Dewey
immediately cabled Aguinaldo with a pledge of America’s support for the Filipino
fight for independence, which inspired more Filipinos, especially in the provinces, to
join the revolution.17 Before Aguinaldo could reach Hong Kong from Singapore,
however, Dewey had already left for Manila. After destroying the Spanish fleet at
Cavite, he sent a ship to bring Aguinaldo and his companions to the Philippines.
They arrived on May 19 and began gathering their forces against Spain.
 [4]
American Colonization
(1899-1946)
The new colonizers continued to expand upon the traditional authority structure by
working through wealthy landed elites to consolidate their colonial rule. In this way,
they perpetuated and solidified the inequitable class system that was put in place
by the Spanish and that continues to shape and characterize the Philippines in the
twenty-first century, as we shall see in subsequent chapters.
THE COLONIZATION PROCESS
One month after the outbreak of the war, U.S. President William McKinley appointed
Cornell University’s President Jacob Gould Schurman to lead a mission to gather
information about the Philippines and determine the nation’s readiness for
independence. They reported back to the president that the Filipinos were
interested in gaining independence for their country. Still, the U.S. government
proceeded to annex the Philippines at the signing of the Paris Peace Treaty in
December 1898, and, then, it immediately dispatched reinforcements to pacify the
islands.1 McKinley ordered the American military government to take over the
whole territory, using force if necessary. As a palliative to induce a quicker
surrender, he emphasized that the United States had come “not as invaders or
conquerors but as friends” to “civilize” and “Christianizethe Filipinos who had
suffered long enough under the repressive Spanish.2 What he didn’t mention,
however, was that the United States wanted to possess the Philippines to reach the
markets and natural resources of Asia. A few months later, on April 2, 1900,
President McKinley dispatched a second Taft Commission with the instructions “to
bear in mind that the government which they are establishing is designed not for
our satisfaction nor for the expression of our theoretical views, but for the
happiness, peace, and prosperity of the people of the Philippine islands, and the
measures adopted should be made to conform with their customs, their habits and
even their prejudices, to the fullest extent consistent with the accomplishment of
the indispensable requisite of just and effective government.”3 While there was no
explicit clause of independence in the instructions, the commissioners made such
an allusion. They tried to convince the Filipinos that the U.S. government aimed to
prepare them for eventual autonomy and self-rule. However, to use a Chinese
proverb, “When the map unrolled, there was dagger,” the commissioners
emphasized that, given the superior might of the U.S. military, it would be foolish
for them to oppose the new colonial order by setting up a republic of their own.
COLONIAL REPRESSION OF THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT.
Even after Aguinaldo was captured in March of 1901, the nationalist revolutionaries
did not waiver in their resistance, as the eye of the storm of war moved southward
from the capital to the Visayas and Mindanao, which were engulfed in flames for at
least another year. Even after General Miguel Malvar surrendered in April 1902,
which marked the official end of the war, fighting persisted and continued to erupt
sporadically, and small acts of resistance occurred, routinely. For example,
Apolinario Mabini,8 among others, went into exile in Guam rather than take the oath
of allegiance to the United States. Small peasants already frustrated and disabused
by unfair landlord practices gave safe harbor to their revolutionary countrymen and
countrywomen. The U.S. military brutally retaliated against those who resisted, and,
indeed, the Filipinos were forced to surrender because they rejected and resisted
the American colonial project.
In late September, in the town of Balangiga, Samar, American troops had for some
time been abusing the townspeople by packing them into open wooden pens at
night where they were forced to sleep standing in the rain. Several score of guerilla
General Vincent Lukban’s bolomen infiltrated the town and on the morning of
September 28, while the Americans were eating their breakfast, Lukban’s men
suddenly fell upon them. Heads dropped into breakfast dishes. Fifty-four Americans
were boloed to death, and few of the eighteen survivors escaped serious injury.
The Colonial Rule
In the years following the Philippine-American War, the U.S. government
consolidated its political control and governance over the colony. It expanded upon
the Spanish legal system by adding some new laws such as the Civil Marriage Code
and Philippine Bill of 1902, which included provisions for (1) the extension of the Bill
of Rights to the Filipino people, except the right to a jury trial; (2) appointment of
two Filipino resident commissioners in Washington, D.C.; (3) establishment of an
elective Philippine assembly, after the proclamation of complete peace and two
years after the published census; (4) the retention of the Philippine Commission as
the upper house of the legislature, with the Philippine assembly acting as the lower
house; and (5) the conservation of the natural resources of the Philippines for the
Filipinos.
JAPANESE OCCUPATION
On December 8, 1941, the Japanese launched an air raid and bombed the joint U.S.–
Philippine military installations in the islands, within hours of its attack on Pearl
Harbor. The poorly equipped Filipino and American forces were no match for the
superior forces of the Japanese, although they put up a brave resistance, until they
had to withdraw in accordance with a prearranged plan to the Bataan peninsula.
General Douglas MacArthur was ordered by President Roosevelt to retreat to
Australia, although he vowed to return to liberate the Philippines. President Quezon,
Vice President Osmena and a few others were evacuated by the Americans and the
Philippine government was established in exile in the United States. It is interesting
to note that General Brigadier Manuel Roxas (who became the last president of the
Philippine commonwealth and, then, first president of the republic) refused to leave
with Quezon; he thought that he could do more good if he stayed behind with his
people and troops.22 The remaining U.S.–Philippine forces knew that no more
reinforcements or supplies would come from the United States, and that all
available material was being sent to Europe. On April 9, 1942, General Edward P.
King had no other choice than to surrender “to stop the killing of more helpless
defenders,”23 who were already doomed and ravaged with diseases and hunger at
Bataan. It is noted that “more than 76,000 United States Armed Forces of the Far
East (USAFFE) forces, including 66,000 Filipinos laid down their arms. Aside from
these prisoners of war., there were an estimated 26,000 civilian refugees who were
trapped behind the USAFFE lines in Bataan.”24 The last contingent fought valiantly
against the onslaught of thousands of Japanese infantrymen and under constant
shelling from sea and air, from deep within the tunnels of Corregidor. On May 6,
1942, the surrender at Corregidor of General Wainwright marked the end of the
military’s resistance, although some forces escaped and guerilla units continued to
resist the Japanese from the outskirts. Even though the war was declared to be over
for the American forces in the Philippines, the Filipinos continued to organize
themselves into guerilla units and resistance movements against the Japanese
throughout the duration of World War II.
PEASANT RESISTANT MOVEMENT
The Japanese occupation lasted from January 2, 1942, to February 1945. During this
time, many landowners and provincial governing officials moved to the cities,
especially Manila, and collaborated with the Japanese to protect their own assets.
Meanwhile, tenant farmers and peasants who had already been opposing unfair
landlord practices, took back the land, joined guerilla units, and prevented the
Japanese from entering their territories. One of the largest of these resistance
movements was the Hukbong Bayan laban sa Hapon or Hukbalahap (People’s Army
Against the Japanese), which was the most highly effective underground unit in
central Luzon, during the Japanese occupation. Between 1943 and 1944, this unit
had an estimated 70,000 guerillas and hundreds of thousands of supporters
throughout the country.26 It cooperated closely with the U.S. Army in the liberation
campaign but, after the war, the HUK became an “object” of repression as it was
branded a “Communist” front. However, the so-called Communists joined forces
with the anti-Fascist alliance against Japan during World War II. When the war was
over, they took up the cause of the peasants, while the Filipino landed elites wanted
to reinstate the traditional power structure by restoring the old landlord-to-tenant
system.
LIBERATION OF THE ISLAND
Late 1944, the tides of war turned as General Douglas MacArthur’s islandhopping
strategy gained new strategic victories for the Japan. From August to October 1944,
the United States was winning the war in the Pacific as American planes began
bombing targets in the Philippines.35 On October 20, 1944, General MacArthur with
his amphibious forces of some 174,000 troops landed on Leyte in the central
Philippines. He was accompanied by President Osmena,36 General Carlos Romulo,
and General Basilio Valdez, who reinstated the commonwealth government.
General MacArthur’s forces met with fierce almost fanatical resistance, as
Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita ordered reinforcements to Leyte by sea and
air. The Americans equipped with new smaller more powerful rifles, flame-throwers,
amphibian tanks, and faster fighter planes attacked the Japanese on all sides. The
Japanese reacted with desperation as suicide bombers known as kamikazes crashed
into American planes and warships in Leyte Gulf. Meanwhile, three columns of
Japanese navy fleets were racing towards Leyte. Japan’s central fleet was coming in
from Singapore, the southern fleet was approaching upward from Borneo, and the
northern column was descending down from Formosa (Taiwan). These three columns
were intercepted by the American navy under Rear Admiral J. B. Oldendorf, Admiral
William Halsey, and Rear Admiral Thomas Sprague, which annihilated them. This
critical defeat of the Japanese navy paved the way for the liberation of the
Philippines. By December 1944, the Japanese evacuated President Laurel and his
cabinet to Baguio, as their forces began to retreat to a battle line running northward
from Anitpolo to Appari. In their retreat, they pillaged Filipino homes, tortured and
massacred innocent civilians, and burned towns and villages.37 Meanwhile, on
February 5, 1945, MacArthur’s forces set a course for the capital region to entrap
the Japanese troops based in southern Manila. Reacting in crazed desperation, the
Japanese plunged Ermita Malate and Intramuros into a bloodied den of horror. They
pillaged, raped, and murdered innocent civilians and religious clergy.

[5]
PHILIPPINES INDEPENDENCE
(POST-WORLD WAR II)
By the end of the war, President Quezon had already died in exile in August 1944
and was succeeded by Vice President Osmena, who assumed the office of president
of the commonwealth government. He was charged with the task of reestablishing
the constitutional government in Manila, while dealing with those who had
collaborated with the Japanese. This was a difficult position because the president
had to reconstitute the legislature, when a large proportion of those who served in
both Houses had collaborated with the Japanese. To complicate matters, General
MacArthur had already breached the American policy on collaborators, which
required their removal from public office, by granting clemency and liberating his
friends and business partners who had collaborated with the Japanese. This meant
that those who had collaborated with the Japanese were those who were charged
with the task of dealing with the problem of collaborators, which, effectively,
ensured the survival of the prewar landed elites. In this chapter, we will look at
some of the challenges and opportunities that confronted the newly independent
Republic of the Philippines under the first five postwar presidents: Manual Roxas,
Elpidio Quirino, Ramon Magsaysay, Carlos Garcia, and Diosdado Macapagal.
QUIRINO ADMINISTRATION(1948-1953)
Elpidio Quirino, having succeeded President Manuel Roxas upon the latter’s death in
April 1948, became a candidate for the presidency at the election in November
1949. He was opposed by Jose Laurel, former president of the Japanese-sponsored
republic and nominee of the Nationalist Party, which had attacked Roxas for
collaboration in 1946. His other opponent was Senator Jose Avelino, former
president of the Senate and leader of the Liberal Party, who was ousted from both
posts on charges of selling war surpluses, and led a rebel wing, while Quirino
headed the main Liberal Party. The election held on November 8 was scandalized by
violence and fraud. The outcome of the election had essentially already been
decided. The Liberal Party had more men and more money, and more than half the
votes were for Quirino.5 A short-lived rebellion broke out in Batangas, Laurel’s home
province, after the election. President Quirino’s Liberal Party won a majority in
Congress, controlling about 60 of the 100 seats in the Congress. Inauguration of the
new officials took place in December 1949.

MAGSAYSAY ADMINISTRATION(1953-1957)

The presidency of Ramon Magsaysay was the first postwar appearance of Filipino
populism. During his first term in office, he passed the Republic Act, which was
intended to increase the power of the executive branch and improve management
of the state budget. He initiated a five-year economic development plan to generate
1.7 million jobs. Magsaysay recruited business executives and technical experts to
implement economic projects. He persuaded the landlord-dominated Congress to
pass the Agricultural Tenancy Act (1954) and established the Agricultural Tenancy
Commission and the Land Tenure-Administration to deal with tenancy problems as
well as th Agricultural Credit and Cooperative Financing Administration. It was
during his term that the Retail Trade Nationalization Act was passed (1955), and the
first major attempt was made to revise the Military Bases Agreement to bring its
provisions more in line with Philippine interests. Magsaysay opened up channels of
communication with the common people. He spent a lot of time traveling through
the countryside to listen to the barrio people’s complaints and tried to resolve them
on the spot. He brought numerous citizens into contact with the government, many
for the first time, and demonstrated that political change was possible within the
government. Yet, his personalized approach and self-emphasis prevented the full
implementation of what he was trying to change. No matter how effective
government agencies may have been through their personal connections with
Magsaysay, their ongoing value as individual institutions with decision-making
power was hampered by their association with the president.15 Magsaysay’s use of
the army, for example, overrode the power of the local police, who worked for the
landlords and politicians who had congressional clout. Congressmen watered down
Magsaysay’s Land Reform Act (1955) by adding amendments that exempted the
large sugar estates, which made it nearly impossible for tenants to acquire land.
Magsaysay’s style was that of a traditional politician during the pre-commonwealth
era, using his popularity to make changes to strengthen the country, while also
trying to boost his status as a leader.
PRESIDENT CARLOS GARCIA (1957-1961)
The fourth president of the Republic of the Philippines, President Polestico Carlos
Garcia, was a brilliant statesman who was at ease with traditional patron-client
relationships. He was once described as “of amiable personality, with a high
intellect and sonorous eloquence, he was a lover of democracy, a good chess
player, friendly in his dealings with people, and never vindictive to his enemies. g
parties. President Garcia is best remembered for his Filipino First policy. A proponent
of nationalism and democracy, he wanted to take back the local economy for the
benefit of Filipinos. He promoted industrialization and offered special incentives to
Filipino investors. This policy was not well received by the American business
community or the Chinese and Chinese Filipino business community, because the
latter felt that its interpretation of what it meant to be a Filipino was discriminatory
against them.
PRSIDENT DIOSDADO MACAPAGAL (1961-1965)
On November 14, 1961, Diosdado Macapagal was elected president by a margin of
more than 600,000 votes. On December 30, 1961, Macapagal was inaugurated as
the fifth president of the Republic of the Philippines. In his inaugural address, he
promised to bring in a new era of prosperity.
POST -WAR POLITICS BEHAVIOR
he incumbent president Ferdinand Marcos and vice president Fernando Lopez ran
for office on the Nationalista ticket, but both were former Liberal Party members.
Their political maneuver of shifting party affiliations to run for office was not unusual
behavior in the Philippines of this time period. Manuel Roxas set the precedent
when he switched from the Nationalistas to run against Sergio Osmena on the
Liberal ticket. Ramon Magsaysay switched parties to run for president against
Elpidio Quirino.

[6]
MARCOS REGIME
(1965-1986)
In 1965, when Ferdinand Marcos was elected president, the Philippines had been
considered by its neighbors to be a showcase for democratic development. At that
time, it had a newly burgeoning and strong middle class and one of the highest
literacy rates in the region. It held regular elections and had a functioning Congress
and highly effective and legitimate Supreme Court. Over the next 20 years, Marcos
took apart this democracy and constructed an authoritarian government that lasted
until he was ousted from office by a massive People Power revolution in February
1986. Significantly, Marcos resorted to borrowing from outside and inside donors to
pay for infrastructure projects. In exchange for loans from the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund, he further opened up the economy and removed
existing trade restrictions on transnational corporations, which markedly increased
the national debt. His government continued the process, begun by former
President Macapagal, of hiring western-trained technocrats to plan development.
Also, Marcos greatly increased the size of the military and expanded its role in
governance. His economic, political, and militaristic restructuring program melded
well with U.S. foreign policy at the time, which favored export-driven and top-down
development and strengthening the military to fight against the so-called
Communist threat.
HIS PRESIDENCY
In the presidential elections in November 1965, Ferdinand Marcos changed his
affiliation from the Liberal Party to the Nationalista Party to better position himself
to run for office. President Macapagal and his running mate, Gerardo Roxas, of the
Liberal Party were defeated at the polls, and the Nationalistas regained control of
Congress. Senate President Marcos and Senator Fernando Lopez were elected
president and vice president, respectively.
MARCOS DECLARES MARTIAL LAW
Marcos leaked false information to the press that this incident was committed by
the Communists, while, in fact, it was an engineered by Marcos to create the
appearance of social unrest as an excuse to declare martial law. The following year,
in 1972, Marcos declared martial law and ruled the Philippines for a total of 20
years, until he was overthrown by a massive People’s Power revolution in February
1986.

MARCOS FALL
Of the five Philippine presidents whom Ninoy Aquino knew, only Marcos disliked him.
When Marcos was first elected president, Ninoy Aquino was elected to the Senate.
He stood up to Marcos and exposed corruption in government and, in 1968, was
voted one of the most outstanding senators in the country. After the elections of
1969, he began to prepare to run against Marcos in the next presidential election in
1973. But Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law, and 10 minutes after midnight on
September 22, 1972, Ninoy Aquino was arrested at the Manila Hilton Hotel. He was
the first of hundreds of those who criticized the government to be rounded up and
detained.

[7]
(THE PHILIPPINE AFTER MARCOS)
This chapter looks at how the various forces maneuvered and imposed themselves
on those who came to power during the post-Marcos era. They had to face the
Philippines’ most pressing problems. The biggest problems were poverty and the
collapse of the economy, since Marcos had left the country in shambles. There was
also the issue of political strife between the Left and Right and the Muslim
separatists in Mindanao. Corruption at the highest levels, gambling and syndication
in the police and armed forces, the terrorist organization of Abu Sayyaf, and the
restoration of a democratic system of governance had to be addressed if reform was
to be successful.
THE AQUINO PRESIDENCY(1986-1992)
Corazon Aquino was born the daughter of a wealthy family. Her father was Jose
Cojuangco of Tarlac, and her mother was Demetria Sumulong, daughter of
distinguished Juan Sumulong of Antipolo. She received a convent education in the
Philippines and went to the United States, where she obtained a bachelor of arts
degree in French and mathematics from the Catholic College of St. Vincent, run by
Sisters of Charity in New York. After graduation, she returned to her homeland,
where she met and married Benigno (Ninoy) Aquino Jr. on October 11, 1954. She led
the quiet life of a Catholic housewife and mother of five children, until her husband
was assassinated and she became the new leader of the People Power revolution.
Corazon Aquino was democratically elected as the new president of the republic on
February 25, 1986. She entered office on a pledge to fight corruption and poverty.
She immediately established a revolutionary government under the Freedom
Constitution, which was eventually replaced by the Constitution of 1987, drafted by
the Constitutional Commission and ratified on February 7, 1987. This served as the
basis for the restoration of democracy.
THE PRESIDENCY OF FIDEL V. RAMOS
On May 11, 1992, Ramos won the presidential election but only by 23.58 percent of
the vote, narrowly defeating populist Agrarian Reform Secretary Miriam Defensor
Santiago. His vice presidential candidate, Osmena, lost to Joseph Estrada, who like
former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, was a former senator and B-rated movie star.
Ramos also appointed Vice President Estrada as chief of his Anti-Crime Commission.
Significantly, six years later, Estrada won the presidential elections, but no sooner
was he in office than he was ousted from power by a People Power II revolution. He
was caught misusing the public trust (e.g., pocketing the national lottery earnings
that had been previously earmarked for charities, accepting bribes and taking
payoffs, etc.) and engaging in other illicit gambling and mafia activities, which had
infected many police and government networks.

PRESIDENT JOSEPH ESTRADA (1998-2001)

On May 11, 1998, Joseph Estrada was elected president, largely due to a devoted
following among the poor masses, and was officially inaugurated into office by
Congress on May 29. In his inaugural address, he promised to alleviate the
conditions of poverty, fight crime, and eliminate corruption in government,
especially corrupt officials in the military, bureaucracy, and judiciary.
PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAL ARROYO (2001)
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was born on April 5, 1947, in San Juan, Manila, to Diosdado
Macapagal and Evangelina Macaraeg Macapagal. Her father was the president of
the Republic of the Philippines from 1961 to 1965, as mentioned in chapter 6. From
autumn 1964 to spring 1966, Gloria studied economics at Georgetown University in
Washington, D.C., and, after returning to the Philippines and graduating magna cum
laude from Assumption College, she went on to earn her master’s degree in
economics at Ateneo de Manila University in 1978. That same year, she married
Jose Miguel Tuason Arroyo. She earned her doctoral degree in economics at the
University of the Philippines in 1986. From 1977 to 1987, she served as an assistant
professor at Ateneo de Manila University and as a professor at the University of the
Philippines School of Economics. She was a still a university professor when
President Corazon Aquino called on her to serve as undersecretary of trade and
industry in 1986. Macapagal Arroyo won a seat in the Senate in 1992 and was
reelected in 1995. In May 1998, she ran for vice president with Jose de Venecia, the
presidential candidate of Lakas ng Tao, which was the leading party in Congress at
that time. De Venecia lost to Joseph Estrada, but Macapagal Arroyo won the
separate race for vice president. The former President Estrada appointed her to
serve concurrently as secretary of social welfare and development. On January 20,
2001, as discussed in the previous section, Estrada was deposed from office, and
Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo became the 14th president of the republic.
On May 10, 2001, when the general elections were held, Arroyo easily won the
presidency and carried a majority of the seats in the Senate and earned the loyalty
of local officials. President Arroyo had to face significant social, economic, and
political challenges, including how to win back the support of the poor, still
supporters of Estrada. In 2005, she invited her critics to bring their complaints
against her to Congress where she would submit herself to due process. That
September, President Arroyo underwent an impeachment trial in the Congress and
survived after the parliamentary body formally rejected the motion by the
opposition. Arroyo’s presidency was secured as a result of the hearings, and her
government, though still vulnerable, continues in 2007 to enjoy political stability in
face of the opposition.

NOTABLE PEOLE IN PRE-HISTORY

Abu Bakhr, Sultan (ca. 1450).
Sumatran religious leader who left Palembang for Sulu. He married Paramisuli
(Malay permaisuri: “queen consort”), Rajah Baginda Ali’s daughter. After his father-
in-law’s death, he established the sultanate of Sulu and became its first sultan
Aguinaldo, Emilio (1869–1964).
The president of the first Philippine republ (1899). He started as a member of the
Magdalo Chapter of the Katipunan in Cavite, was elected president of the
revolutionary government at the Tejeros Convention on March 22, 1897, and, later,
Biak-na-Bato Republic. He proclaimed Philippine independence at Kawit on June 12,
1898. His capture foreshadowed the end of large-scale armed resistance to
American rule. He ran against Quezon for the presidency of the commonwealth in
1935 but lost.
Aquino, Benigno, Jr. (Ninoy) (1932–1983).
 A senator and chief opposit leader during the martial law period (1972–1981),
under President Ferdinand Marcos. Aquino’s brutal assassination in 1983 galvanized
popular opposition to the Marcos government and brought his widow, Corazon
Aqino, into power. Aquino, Corazon Cojuangco Ninoy’s widow who became president
of the republic (1986–1992). With Salvador Laurel as running mate, she led the
opposition that overthrew the authoritarian government of President Marcos, who
went into exile after the successful People’s Power revolution of 1986. She first
established a revolutionary government under the Freedom Constitution, later
replaced by the Constitution of 1987, which served as the basis for reestablishing
democracy (1933–).
Arroyo Macapagal, Gloria (1947–).
Current president of the Philippine (2001–). She served as vice president under
President Estrada and became president when he was forced to step down for
malfeasance, through a People’s Power II revolution. President Arroyo Macapagal
has confronted some of the same obstacles as did her father, President Diosdado
Macapagal, when he tried to clean up corruption in government. Her government
continues to enjoy political legitimacy in the face of opposition.
Bonifacio, Andres (1863–1897). Supreme leader of the Katipunan, whic he founded
on July 7, 1892. He is considered the father of the revolution, for he perceived that
Spain would not grant reform and that armed engagement was the only means to
achieve national independence from Spain. He was tried and executed for sedition
by the revolutionary government under General Aguinaldo.
Burgos, Jose (1837–1872).
One of the three priests executed on February 17, 1872, for advocating the
ordination of Filipino priests and transfer of the parishes to the dioceses. In his
“Manifesto que a la Noble Nacion Espanola dirigen los leales Filipinos” (Manifesto
addressed to the loyal Filipinos of the noble Spanish nation), Burgos identified his
own people as not just natives but Chinese mestizos and Spaniards born in the
Philippines as well as Filipinos, a new usage of the term at the time.
Del Pilar, Gregorio (1875–1899).
One of the youngest Filipino generals the Philippine Revolution and Filipino-
American War. He commanded General Aguinaldo’s rear guard during his retreat to
northern Luzon and was killed in the battle of Tirad Pass (Ilocos Sur), on December
2, 1899. Dewey, George (1837–1917). A U.S. naval officer who commanded the U.S.
Asiatic Squad during the Spanish-American War.
Estrada, Joseph (1937–).
A popular former action film star, who became president of the Philippines (1998–
2001) but was arrested and stood trial at a congressional impeachment hearing on
charges of accepting bribes and corruption. While this trial was aborted when the
senators voted 11 to 10 not to open incriminating evidence against him, he was
ousted from power anyway as a peaceful People’s Power II revolution arose and
called for his resignation.
Forbes, William Cameron (1870–1959).
Known as the road-builder governorgeneral (1909–1959). In 1921, he became a
member of the Wood-Forbes Commission to investigate conditions in the
Philippines. Forbes Park in Makati, Metro Manila, was named in his honor.
Garcia, Carlos Polestico (1896–1971).
President of the Republic of the Philippines (1957–1961), remembered for his
Filipino First Policy. He was amon the founders of the Association for Southeast Asia
(1963), the precursor of the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Gomes de los Angeles, Mariano/Gomez (1799–1872).
One of the three secular priests garroted (1872) at Bagumbayan, now Rizal Park on
Luneta Boulevard.
Harrison, Francis Burton (1873–1957).
The governor-general (1913–1919 remembered for his Filipinization policy,
replacement of Americans in the Philippine civil service with qualified Filipinos,
thereby giving the latter the opportunity for self-governance. He was retained as
adviser on foreign affairs by the Philippine government after independence in 1946.
Kolumbu (ca. 1520). King of Butuan who made the first known treaty with Spain.
He was befriended by and navigated the way for Magellan to Cebu.
Kudarat, Mohammad Dipatuan (1619–1671).
A sultan of Mindanao united the people of Lanao, Cotabato, Davao, Sulu,
Zamboanga, and north Borneo and was a staunch defender of the Islamic faith
against Spanish Christian encroachments.
Lapu Lapu (ca. 1520). Warrior-king of Mactan Island (now part of Ceb Province).
He was the first to successfully resist the Spanish and was responsible for the death
of Ferdinand Magellan on April 27, 1521.
Laurel, Jose, Sr. (1891–1939).
Secretary of the interior (1923); senator (1925 1931); delegate to the Constitutional
Convention (1934); chief justice during the commonwealth. When World War II broke
out, he was instructed by Manuel Quezon to stay in Manila and deal with the
Japanese to soften the blow of enemy occupation. During the Japanese occupation,
he served in various capacities and helped draft the 1943 constitution. He became
president of the Second Republic (1943–1945). As president he defended Filipino
interests and resisted Japanese efforts to draft Filipinos into the Japanese military
service. Upon return of the American forces, Laurel was imprisoned in Japan when
MacArthur occupied that country. He was returned to the Philippines to face charges
of treason, but these were dropped when President Roxas issued an amnesty
proclamation. In the Third Republic, he was elected senator and negotiated the
Laurel-Langley Agreement.
Legazpi, Miguel Lopez de (1510–1572).
First Spanish governor and captain
Lopez Jaena, Graciano (1856–1896). A revolutionary essayist and editor o La
Solidaridad. Exiled in Spain due to his work as an orator and propagandist, he
headed the group that established La Solidaridad.
Luna, Antonio (1866–1899). Commander-in-chief of the Army of Liberatio of the
first Philippine republic and brother of Juan Luna, the famous painter. He studied
military strategy and tactics in Europe and was considered the best general of the
Philippine-American War. He was assassinated by the followers of Pedro Alejandro
Paterno (reformists for collaboration with the Americans) in Cabanatuan, Nueva
Ecija, on June 5, 1899.
Mabini, Apolinario (1864–1903). Nationalist, statesman, lawyer, philosop and
educator who became the chief adviser of Emilio Aguinaldo. He was regarded as the
most brilliant Filipino mind of the revolutionary era. He also was known as the
Sublime Paralytic because his legs were paralyzed.
Macapagal, Diosdado (1910–1997). President of the Republic of the Philippines
(1961–1965). He asked Congress to pass the Agricultural Land Refo Code, which
abolished share tenancy and installed a leasehold system in its place; it finally
passed on August 8, 1963. This was a significant step toward resolving the agrarian
problem. It was during his presidency that Independence Day was moved from July
4 to June 12, which was the date when General Aguinaldo proclaimed Philippine
independence in Cavite.
MacArthur, Douglas (1880–1964). The army chief who became the younges chief
of staff of the U.S. Army and one of a half dozen officers who earned the five-star
rank during World War II. He served as military adviser to the Philippine
commonwealth with rank of field marshal (1936–1941). He was recalled from
retirement to serve as the commanding general of the U.S. armed forces in the Far
East, formed in 1941; he became the supreme allied commander in the southwest
Pacific, 1942–1945, and supreme commander for Allied forces of occupied Japan in
1945–1951. His father was General Arthur MacArthur who commanded U.S. troops
during the Philippine-American War.
Magellan, Ferdinand (1480–1521). A Portuguese navigator who circumnavigated
the world in the name of Spain. He brought the attention of Europ to the existence
of the Philippines. He was killed by King Lapu Lapu in the battle of Mactan.
Magsaysay, Ramon (1907–1957). Served as president of the Philippines (195
1957).
Malvar, Miguel (1865–1911).
Nationalist revolutionary general and farm who is considered to be the last general
to surrender to the Americans on April 16, 1902.
Marcos, Ferdinand (1917–1989). President of the Philippines (1965–1986 who
declared martial law on September 21, 1972. After the People Power revolution in
February 1986, he was ousted from power and lived in exile in Honolulu, Hawaii,
where he died in 1989.
McKinley, William (1843–1901). President of the United States du whose term
the United States intervened in the Cuban War against Spain and ended up
purchasing the Philippines at the signing of the Paris Peace Treaty in 1898. He sent
the Schurman Commission in January 1899, followed by the Taft Commission in
1900, the latter of which was instrumental in organizing a civil government to
replace the military government, which had been in existence since 1898.
Osmena, Sergio, Sr. (1878–1961). The first Filipino national leader unde the
American regime as speaker of the Philippine assembly and the second president of
the Philippines (1944–1946).
Paterno, Pedro (1857–1911). The Filipino intellectual writer and negotiator of the
truce pact of Biak-na-Bato (1897). He was president of the Mololos Congress (1898)
and Apolinario Mabini’s successor as prime minister of the Mololos Republic (1899).
He was also a member of the reform movement that advocated for collaboration
with the Americans and author of the novel Ninay (1885).
Quezon, Elpidio (1890–1956). As vice president during Manuel Roxas term, he
was also secretary of foreign affairs and became president when Roxas died in
1948. He was elected president in his own right in 1949.
Ramos, Fidel (1928–). He was president of the Philippines from 1992 t 1997. As
head of the Constabulary, under President Marcos, he was instrumental in helping to
design and implement martial law. Together with General Ponce Enrile and the RAM,
he defected from the government in 1986 and joined forces with the People’s Power
revolution that ousted Marcos from power. His presidency is remembered for better
integrating the national economy in the global scheme.
Rizal, Jose Protacio (1861–1896). National hero of the Philippines who authored
two revolutionary novels, Noli Me Tangere (1887) and El Filibusteri (1891). Rizal
helped to inspire the Filipino Propaganda Movement and was one of the main
ideologues of Filipino nationalism. He was executed at Bagumbayan, now the Rizal
Park, on December 30, 1896.
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano (1882–1945). President of the United Stat (1933–
1945). His presidency was noted for the New Deal during the Great Depression.
Roosevelt tried to keep America out of the war in Europe and the Pacific, while
attempting to aid Great Britain against Germany, but the United States entered the
global conflict after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Roosevelt, Theodore (1858–1919). President William McKinley’s vice president,
who became president when McKinley was assassinated in 1901. H tried to regulate
big-business monopolies through the Sherman Anti-Trust Law. He served as
governor-general of the Philippines from 1932 to 1933.
Roxas, Manuel Acuna (1892–1948). He was the last president of the Philippine
commonwealth and the first president of the republic (1946–1948)
Salazar, Bishop (ca. 1580). First Roman Catholic bishop of the Philippines, who,
in 1581, called a synod to address the issue of early Spanish abuse of Filipinos.
Sin, Jamie Cardinal (1928–2005). Archbishop of Manila from 1974 to 200 He
helped to restore democracy by playing a leading role in the People’s Power
revolution that ousted the dictator Ferdinand Marcos from power through nonviolent
means.
Taft, William Howard (1857–1930). First American civil governor of t Philippines
(1901–1904); secretary of war (1904–1908); U.S. president (1909– 1913); U.S. chief
justice (1921–1930). Designed and helped to implement early U.S. policy of co-
opting the Filipino elite to join the government; they have been in power ever since.
Taruc, Luis (1913–2005). One of the founders of the Hukbalahap in 1942. was its
supremo until 1954 when he surrendered to government authorities.
Twain, Mark (1835–1910). He was one of the leaders of the Anti-Imperiali League
in the United States, who reported on the Filipino-American War on location from the
Philippines. He was also a popular humorist and fictionist who wrote under penname
of Samuel Langhorne Clemens.
Wood, Leonard (1860–1927). The American governor of Sulu known for the
massacre of Muslims in Bud Dajo in 1906. He served as the governor-general of the
Philippines from 1921 to 1927.
Yqmashita, Tomoyuki General (1885–1946). Japanese army general dur the war
in the Pacific. He was sent in December 1940 for six months to Germany to observe
front line Nazi blitzkrieg technique, which he applied in his speedy capture of
Malaya and Singapore. He was then assigned to the Philippines on September 9,
1944, arriving two weeks before General MacArthur’s first attack in his Philippine
military campaign. Yamashita was captured, tried for war crimes, and hanged.
Zamora, Jacinto (1835–1872). One of the three priests who championed th
secularization of the parishes in the nineteenth century. Together with Fathers
Mariano Gomez and Jose Burgos, he was executed by means of the garrote at
Bagumbayan field (now Rizal Park, Luneta Boulevard) on February 17, 1872.