Filipino culture,beliefs,history and life style

July 4, 1946: True Philippine Independence Day

The Philippine government talks of the coming centennial of the Philippine independence de- clared in 1898. President Diosdado Macapagal signed an executive order in 1963 (The correct date is May 17, 1962. - Ed.) that "moved" the Philippines's independence day from 1946 to 1898. On the basis of the June 12, 1898, (alleged) declaration of independence by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo in Kawit, Cavite, he thought that it was his mandate to correct "history." He thought it would serve better the national aspirations of the Filipino people to adopt that date as the Philippines's independence day. Can President Macapagal's executive order change history?

I do not think so. It seems that a vast majority of Filipino Americans share my view.

Wars of Independence

We argue that the war that led to General Aguinaldo's proclamation of independence was but one of a series of wars for independence that the Filipino people waged.

If we were to trace the Filipino struggle for independence, we could mark April 27, 1521, as the day the Filipinos first declared their freedom. The naturalized-Spanish explorer, Fernando de Magallanes, died on the beach of Mactan, Cebu, Philippines, on that day at the hands of native freedom fighters. But do historians admit that fact? No. The Philippines, at that time, consisted of warring tribes. The archipelago was not yet a nation. In 333 and 48 years, respectively, the Spaniard and the American colonial masters nearly unified the Filipinos. They managed to unite nearly all the people of the Philippines into a semblance of a nation.

There were many wars of, and for, independence of the Filipino people. Prior to the founding of the Katipunan in July 1892, there were at least 32 instances, since 1754, of rebellions, mutinies and revolts against the Spanish government in the Philippines. If we were to count the uprisings during the British occupation of Manila from 1762-1764, the number would total 41. There were sporadic revolts in 1763 in the provinces of Laguna, Batangas, Tayabas (now called Quezon), Cavite, Camarines (Bicol region), Samar, Panay, Cebu and Zamboanga.

The total of 41 revolts from 1574 to 1888 does not even include the war for independence waged by Princess Urduja of Pangasinan. If my memory serves me right, Princess Urduja's army fought the Spaniards from 1680 to 1692.

The war for independence in 1898 actually began in 1892. The founding of the