AMERICAN INTERVENTION

AND FILIPINO INDEPENDENCE

Summarized by : GROUP 7
Members:
 KANAPIA, AL MULHEM E.
 UTTO, ZUHARI A.
 MONAL, HAZMAR K.
 TATING, WAFFA P.
 NAZMA, SARIP A.

Project submitted to:

INSTR. MIKE ISMAEL
  While Aguinaldo and his group went into voluntary exile in Hong Kong, Cuba was
also in the state of revolution.
 Cuba was also under the Spanish colonial regime.
 To protect the huge investments of American businessmen in the sugar industry in
Cuba, the US government was dragged into a war with Spain.
 This development was closely monitored by the Filipino revolutionaries in exile.
This chapter is focused on the events that led to American intervention in the internal affairs
of the Philippines and the subsequent liberation of the country from Spanish tutelage.

The Spanish-American War of 1898

 Cuba, a Spanish colony in the West Indies, revolted against Spain sometime in
February 1895.
 Philippines, on the other hand, staged revolution in August 1896.
 Many American businessmen had huge investments in the sugar industry in Cube.
 Fearing that Americans were endangered by the on-going struggle between the
Cubans and Spanish authorities, US Pres William McKinley sent the US battleship
Maine to Cuba for the purpose of evacuating the Americans in case the revolution
worsened.
 Meanwhile, on February 09, 1895, a letter from Enrique Dupuy de Lome, a Spanish
minister to the United States, which had been stolen from a post office in Havana
was published in the New York Journal.
 This letter pictured US Pres. McKinley as a “would-be politician” and a weak
president.
 It aroused the ire of the American people considering that the person insulted was
the symbol of the American nation.
 The battleship docked at Havana harbor was blown up, allegedly by the Spaniards on
February 15, 1898, which resulted in the loss of about 260 crewmen.
 This incident aroused public indignation in the US.
 According to Randolf Hearst, the father of Yellow journalism, the battleship was
actually blown up and sank not by the Spaniards but by the American spies stationed
in Cuba to provoke the war.
 Because of the preceding events, Pres. McKinley recommended direct American
intervention in Cuba to the US Congress on April 11, 1898.
 The US Congress accepted McKinley’s recommendation and voted for war against
Spain.
 On April 24, 1898, Spain declared war against the US.
 On April 25, 1898, the Spanish-American War Began.
 On April 25, 1898, Commodore George Dewey, upon the orders of Pres. McKinley,
proceeded immediately to the Philippines, with the squadron of:
1. Four armored cruisers
2. Two gunboats
3. Revenue cutter
4. Flagship Olympia
  In the early morning of May 1, 1898, they entered Manila Bay, and engaged the
Spanish fleet of 12 ships, headed by Admiral Patricio Montojo (the battle lasted only
for a few hours)

Implications of the Battle of the Manila Bay:

1. For the Americans, it showed the US as a world power;

2. For the Fillipinos, it signaled the end of more than 300 years of Spanish
colonial rule;
3. Likewise, marked the beginning of American colonial rule in the Philippines.

 After defeating the Spanish fleet, Dewey blockaded Manila while waiting
reinforcements from the US, because he had no land forces to back them up in
besieging the city.
 Meanwhile, Governor-General Basilio Agustin, the successor of Primo de Rivera was
very much demoralized due to the following reasons:
1. The defection of the Filipinos from the Spanish army to Aguinaldo’s side;
2. Dewey’s victory over the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay.
 The Governor-General appealed to the Filipino people to assist Spain to resist
American aggression.
 To convince the Filipinos to cooperate with the Spaniards, Agustin issued two decrees
creating the following:
1. Filipino Volunteer Militia
2. Consultative Assembly (headed by Pedro Paterno)

 But these bodies achieved nothing because all those appointed militia sided with
Aguinaldo

Filipino-American collaboration
 The Filipino exiles in Hong Kong closely monitored the developments in the
Philippines and the conflict between Spain and the United States.
 They considered seeking assistance from US government in their armed struggle
against the Spaniards.
 Meanwhile, the generals in Hong Kong met a problem regarding the disposal of the
PH 400,000 given to them by Governor-General de Rivera
 Isabelo Artacho wanted the money to be apportioned among themselves.
 He sued Aguinaldo in the Hong Kong Supreme Court because Aguinaldo
rejected Artacho’s
proposal
§ To escape the mess, Aguinaldo (as well as
Gregorio del Pilar and J. Leyba) secretly went
to Singapore and arrived there on April 23,
1898
In the afternoon, Howard Bay, an
Englishman, informed Aguinaldo that E.
Spencer Pratt, the American consul, wanted
to confer with him:
1. Pratt gave Aguinaldo the impression that the
Americans would not colonize the Philippines,
considering its distance about 10,000 miles away
from the US
2. Aguinaldo consented to return to the Philippines
with Dewey to fight the Spaniards alongside the
Americans.
However, when Aguinaldo returned to Hong
Kong, Dewey had already sailed to Philippines
§ Rounseville Wildman, American consul in Hong
Kong, gave Aguinaldo Dewey’s instruction for his
return to the Philippines
§ He suggested to Aguinaldo to establish a
dictatorial government, which was needed in the
prosecution of the war against the Spain, but had
to be replaced with a government similar to that
of the US once the war was over and peace was
restored
§ Wildman and Pratt assured Aguinaldo that the
American government sympathized with the
Filipinos’ aspirations for independence
The Hong Kong junta, met and decided that
Aguinaldo should return to the Philippines to
lead the struggle against the Spaniards
§ In preparation for his return to the
Philippines, Aguinaldo gave Wildman
PH117,000 to purchase guns and ammunition
§ The first shipment for PH50,000 arrived
promptly
§ The second delivery, however, did not happen
Wildman arranged Aguinaldo’s return to the
Philippines boarding a revenue cutter
McCulloch
§ On May 17, 1898, the ship left Hong Kong
§ Arrived in Cavite two days after
§ Aguinaldo was accorded military honors (as a
general)
Constantino identified “four major forces on
the historical stage” of Aguinaldo’s return to
the Philippines:
1. Spanish colonialism
2. American Imperialism
3. The Filipino ilustrados
4. The masses
On May 21, 1898 (2 days after), Aguinaldo in a
letter advised the people to “respect
foreigners and their properties, also enemies
who surrender…if we do not conduct
ourselves thus, the Americans will decide to
sell us or else divide up our territory as they
will hold us incapable of governing our land;
we shall not secure our liberty; rather the
contrary, our own soil will be delivered over to
other lands.”
§ When news of Aguinaldo’s arrival spread, a
number of Filipino volunteers in the Spanish
army defected to the Filipino side
§ By the end of May, with a growing number of
revolutionary supporters, 5,000 Spaniards
had been captured
§ Within a week, Imus and Bacoor Cavite, and
Paranaque and Las Pinas in Morong were
seized by the rebels
On June 2, 1898, Gen Artemio Ricarte
accepted the surrender of the Spanish
commanding general in Cavite
§ Within the month of June, almost the whole
of Luzon, except for the port of Cavite and
Manila, had fallen into the hands of the
rebels.
The Siege of Manila
§ When the Spanish navy was destroyed, many
Spaniards had taken refuge at Intramuros
§ Aguinaldo seized the opportunity to besiege
the city and cut off its food and water supply
to force the Spaniards out
§ Aguinaldo offered the option of surrender
three times, with generous terms, to Gov-
Gen Agustin but these were rejected as he
was also awaiting reinforcements from Spain
which never came
Aguinaldo’s Dictatorship
§ When Aguinaldo arrived from Hong Kong, he
brought with him a draft of constitutional plan
drawn up by Mariano Ponce
§ The plan was to establish a federal republic
§ His adviser Ambrosio Rianzares suggested a
dictatorial government to prosecute the war
against Spain
§ On May 24, 1898, Aguinaldo issued a decree:
1. Formally establishing a dictatorial government;
2. Nullify the orders issued under the Biak-na-Bato
Republic
Having a government in operation, Aguinaldo
deemed it necessary to declare
INDEPENDENCE of the Philippines
§ Apolinario Mabini (unofficial adviser of
Aguinaldo) objected the plan, for the reason
that there was a still a need to reorganize the
government for political stability
§ Aguinaldo, however, rejected the suggestion
of Mabini
Proclamation of Independence
§ Proclaimed on June 12, 1898, in the presence of a
huge crowd at the ancestral house of Gen Emilio
Aguinaldo between 4 and 5 in the afternoon
§ In Kawit, Cavite
§ Highlights of the events:
1. The unfurling of the Philippine national flag sewed in
Hong Kong by Marcela Agoncillo, LorenzaAgoncillo
and Delfina Herbosa
2. Playing of the Marcha Filipina Magdalo by the Francisco

de Malabon marching band as the country’s national

anthem
3. The reading of the Declaration of Philippine
Independence (written by Ambrosio Rianzares
Bautista)
The Declaration of Independence was
translated into English by SulpicioGuevarra
§ The proclamation of June 12, however, was
later modified by another proclamation done
at Malolos, Bulacan, upon the insistence of
Apolinario Mabini
§ Mabini objected the original proclamation as
it basically placed the Philippines under the
protection of the United States

To Revolutionary Government
§ On June 18, Aguinaldo issued a decree
reorganizing local governments in areas
liberated from Spain
§ Apolinario Mabini became Aguinaldo’s liberal
adviser
§ By virtue of the Decree of June 23, they
announced that:
1. Dictatorship was changed to a Revolutionary
government
2. Orders of the Biak-na-Bato Republic were revoked
by Mabini to join the government in Malolos
§ By the end of June the rebels controlled all of Luzon
except Manila, which was besieged.
§ On July 15, Aguinaldo chose his cabinet:
1. His brother Baldomero – Secretary of War and Public
Works
2. Cayetano Arellano – offered the post of Secretary of
Foreign
Affairs
§ Aguinaldo was proclaimed the Chief General on July
23
§ Immediately he deployed 14,000 Filipino soldiers
between the Spaniards and the Americans outside
the Intramuros
At the same time, the American forces were
arriving:
1. Gen Thomas Anderson with 2,500 troops (June
30)
2. Gen Francis Greene with 3,500 troops (July 17)
3. Gen Arthur MacArthur 4,800 troops (July 31)
§ Gen Wesley E. Merritt had a total 10,964
men and 740 officers
For the fourth time, Aguinaldo negotiated a
surrender of the Spaniards
§ But Spanish officials refused stressing that if
there is a need to surrender, they would
surrender to the Americans, not to Filipinos
§ Gen Merritt, overall commander, decided to
conduct the offensive from the side of the Manila
Bay
§ Gen Francis Greene –the commander of the
second reinforcement – instructed Aguinaldo
and his troops to cooperate with the Americans
by leaving the area free for the foreigners to
occupy
§ Gen Anderson –commander of the first
reinforcements –telegraphed Aguinaldo not to
let his troops enter Manila without permission
from the American troops or else they would be
shot
§ Gen Arthur MacArthur –commander of third
Reinforcement
In rainy morning of August 13, 1898, the
Americans started their mock attack together
with the Filipino forces
§ At about 11:20 am, the Spaniards raised the
flag of surrender
§ By 5 pm, surrender negotiations were
completed
§ On August 14, the document stating the
terms of surrender was formally signed by
representatives of both parties.