Dear Diary, 17th November 1898

I have witnessed how we Filipinos, heroically

stood up to the Spanish colonizers. All the while
we thought that we have already gained
independence from them. However, our total
victory was impeded by the collaboration between
Spain and the United States, where Spain
handed over the Philippines to the US for 20M
dollars.
• The Cuban revolution against the
Spaniards broke out in 1895. The
United States supported the
Cubans because the latter‟s
liberation from Spain would
benefit their trading interests.

• On February 15, 1898, the

warship Maine of the Americans
was blown up in the Port of
Havana.

• On May 1, 1898, the fleet of

Commodore George Dewey
destroyed the Spanish fleet led
by Admiral Montojo.
 • On May 17, 1898, Emilio
Aguinaldo left Hong Kong
aboard the US ship McCulloch.

• Although he was assured by Dewey that the US had no

plans to colonize the Philippines, unknown to him, US
forged an agreement with General Fermin Jaudines
where:
– A mock battle between the Spaniards and the Americans
would be conducted.
– The Spaniards would surrender to the American troops.
– The Filipinos would not be allowed to participate in the
Spaniards‟ surrender.
Mock Battle in Manila
• It began on August 13,
1898 at around 9:30 am by
the bombing of Olympia in
Fort San Antonio Abad.

• After an hour, General

Greene‟s forces attacked
from Malate. General
Arthur MacArthur troops
advanced from Singalong.

• By 11:20AM, the Spaniards

waved their flag of
surrender.
TREATY OF PARIS
The Peace Commission is composed of:

5 Spaniards:
• Eugenio Montero Ríos
• Buenaventura de Abarzuza
• José de Garnica
• Wenceslao Ramírez de Villa
• Urrutia Rafael Cerero

5 Americans:
• William R. Day
• William P. Frye
• Cushman Kellogg Davis
• George Gray
• Whitelaw Reid
• On December 10, 1898, the Treaty of Paris was
signed. It stated that Spain would turn over the
Philippines to the United States in exchange of
$20,000,000.

• US would recognize the rights of Spaniards to sell

their goods in the Philippines in the next ten years.

• This anti-Filipino treaty proved that US imperialists

had never recognized the Republic of the
Philippines.
THE PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE
• On June 12, 1898, Philippine independence was declared in
Kawit, Cavite.

• It was the first time, the Philippine flag made in Hongkong

by Mrs. Marcela Agoncillo was unfurled, while the “Marcha
Nacional Filipina”, a composition of Juan Felipe, was
playing.

• The Declaration of Independence was written and read by

Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista.

• Aguinaldo established a republic that was not sovereign,

but a mere “protectorate”, under the protection of United
States.
Revolutionary Government
• On June 23, 1898, Aguinaldo issued a decree establishing the
Revolutionary Government.

• The decree created four agencies of the government:

- Department of Foreign Relations, Navy and Commerce
- Department of War and Public Works
- Department of Police, Internal Order, Justice,
Education and Cleanliness
- Department of Finance, Agriculture and
Industry and Manufacturing

• It also created the Congress which was tasked to look after the
people‟s interests, implement the revolutionary laws, uphold
agreements and debts, study and affirm the reports of the Secretary
of Finance and new taxes.
McKinley’s “Benevolent Assimilation
• On December 21, 1898,
President McKinley made
his benevolent assimilation
proclamation.

• He announced that the US

would enforce its
sovereignty over the
Filipinos.

• He also ordered his military

chief in the Philippines to
extend US rule in the country
through the use of force.
• On January 4, 1899, General Elwell Otis attempted
to hide the real contents of the “Benevolent
Assimilation” by publishing a watered down
version of the proclamation.

• But General Miller, another American Official,

published the proclamation‟s original version.

• When the revolutionary government had taken hold

of the proclamation, they immediately condemned
it.
• Antonio Luna, editor of La Independencia, led in
assailing the proclamation.

• He called it “a plot to temporarily silence the people

before launching and unleashing all the hateful
characteristics of governance as employed by the
Spaniards in the Philippines.”

• On January 5, 1899, Aguinaldo replied to the

proclamation.
• Aguinaldo protested against the “harsh US invasion over a
part of the territory of the Philippines.”

• In a revised proclamation on the same day, Aguinaldo

opposed “the US intervention on the sovereignty of the
islands.”

• He warned that the Filipino Government was prepared to

fight should the US troops attempt to colonize the islands in
the Visayas.

• General Otis considered Aguinaldo‟s proclamations as

challenges to war. The Americans silently prepared for a
war aggression.
THE MALOLOS CONSTITUTION
• On January 21, 1899,
Aguinaldo proclaimed the
Malolos Constitution. It was
drafted by the Constitutional
committee created by the
Congress.

• It created a state with the

government divided into three
branches: executive,
legislative and judicial. The
legislative, which was
composed of the Assembly of
Representatives, was the most
powerful.
The Constitution was also firm on the following
important provisions:
- Separation of the church and state
- Recognition of each other‟s situation
-Free public education at the primary level
- Protection of lives, homes and properties
- Collection of taxes as mandated by law

• On January 23, 1899, Aguinaldo founded the

Republic of the Philippines. He was also the first
President of the Republic of the Philippines.
 The Outbreak of the
Filipino-American War
• The flames of war were ignited
on the eve of February 4, 1899.
• Private Willie Grayson‟s group
patrolled at San Juan.
• Grayson fired at a Filipino
soldier, prompting an exchange
of fires between two groups.
• Gen. MacArthur ordered to or
assault the Filipino troops.
• Aguinaldo to Otis: “I had not
ordered the Filipino soldiers to
fire” and “Armed fighting must
be stopped.”
• Otis: “Fighting had begun, so
we shall see it to the end.”
The Hunt for and the Capture of
Aguinaldo
• When the anticipated reinforcement of the US
troops arrived, the aggressors intensified the
hunt for Aguinaldo.

• When General Luna died, a good part of

Filipino troops lost heart.

• When Aguinaldo found this out, he escaped,

hid and chose difficult area to assault.
• In order to capture not just Aguinaldo, but the whole land, the
Americans made an extra effort to use wealthy Filipino traitors.

• Finally, Aguinaldo fell into the hands of Americans, but the other
generals continued the struggles.

• US imperialism only managed to colonize the Philippines after

thorough and merciless wars.

• 130,000 US troops ( seven thousand were killed and wounded) vs

7 M Filipinos (more than 50,000 were killed).

• They used several methods of cruelty: massacre, rape, zoning,

torture and concentration camps.
UNITED STATES’ OBJECTIVE IN
COLONIZING THE PHILIPPINES
• The Americans needed new market for their products.

• They were also on the lookout for new sources of cheap

raw materials.

• The US hoped to use the Philippines as its base in its

drive to control the entire Pacific Ocean and other
countries.

• However, President McKinley and President Wilson made

the Filipino believe that the Americans intention was to
teach the latter about democracy and governance.
ECONOMIC POLICIES
• The American colonial government expanded and speeded
up the production of raw materials like sugar, coconut, wood
products etc.

• Philippine exports to the U.S. increased in 1913, after free

trade was implemented.

• It was a set-up that made the entry of goods into Philippines

duty-free and tax-free.

• Although it boosted production, free trade made our

economy focused on exporting raw materials while importing
expensive manufactured goods.
• With the Americans‟ direct control of the country, they
invested directly in:
1) Increasing raw materials production
2) Trading in light manufactures
3) Infrastructure development

• To facilitate transportation and communication, which were

necessary in trading, the colonial government and the
American firms built and profited from infrastructure projects.

• They utilized loans from foreign banks which resulted to

Philippines incurring huge deficits since the cost of import
products was more than that of the country‟s earnings from
exports.
• American government pushed
landless peasants for the cultivation
of more farmlands to further boost
productions.

• To quell the peasants‟ uprising

in 1903, they brought lands from
friars and implemented the
Homestead Act so the people could
avail of titles for the lands they
started to farm.

• Landlords continued to exact rents

or levy duties from their „tenant‟
farmers. In other farmers, capitalist
farming arose in which farmers
became farm workers.
POLITICAL
POLICIES
The Military Government
• The American troops went to a war towards establishing the
military government in August 1898 in the Philippines.

• The power of every Governor-General who served under

this government came directly from the President of the
United States, as the military‟s Commander-in-Chief.

• They organized the civilian courts, including the Supreme

Court Justice. They also appointed the first Filipino Supreme
Court Justice.

• The American military government established a local

government in every town and province that their troops
had invaded. They called an election, but those who were
educated and well-off could vote and get elected.
The Civil Government
• Even as the American troops were still fighting the Filipino
revolutionaries, Pres. McKinley had sent two Philippine Commissions,
the Shurman (1899) and Taft (1900) Commissions tasked to establish a
civil government. The first failed to achieve anything significant, but the
second was more successful.
•

• The Philippine Commission composed mostly of American civilians

and military personnel, performed the executive and legislative
functions.
•

• Dr. T.H. Pardo Tavera, Felipe Buencamino and Dr. Pedro Paterno among
others founded the first political party in the country, the Partido Liberal,
which called for collaboration with the U.S. In 1901, the Americans
installed some of the party‟s members in the Philippine Commission.

• The Philippine Commission passed the Sedition Act, which imposed

imprisonment and the death penalty to anyone advocating freedom or
separation from the U.S. even through peaceful means.
• The Philippine Assembly was
established in 1902 and served as
the Lower Chamber. It took on the
roles of facilitating tax collection
and allocating government revenues.

• In 1916, the U. S. Congress passed

the Jones Law, also known as the
Law on Philippine Autonomy. It was
the first formal and official American
commitment to grant independence
to the Philippines, “ as soon as a
stable government can be
established herein.”

• In 1901, the U.S. colonialists formed

the Philippine Constabulary which
was headed by American officials
until 1917. It was used by U.S.
colonialists to violently crush the
peoples‟ resistance.
Cultural Policies
• In the process of molding the
Filipino market came
American movies, radio,
automobiles, literature,
dances and games.

• The Americans established the

public educational system that
used English as the medium
of instruction.

• As schools were established,

the Americans gave away
free books, supplies, candies
and chocolates to encourage
the children to attend.
• The first teachers were the
American soldiers followed by
trained teachers who arrived in
the country aboard the SS
Thomas.

• U.S. trade policies encouraged the

export of cash crops and the
importation of manufactured
goods; little industrial
development occurred.

• Meanwhile, landlessness became

a serious problem in rural areas;
peasants were often reduced to
the status of serfs.
INDEPENDENCE MISSIONS
• The first official and clear response to the call for independence was the
Jones Law of 1916 which replaced the Philippine Organic Act of 1902. It
established for the first time an elected upper house, which would
eventually become the Philippine Senate.

• The Philippine Legislature constituted the Independence commission

which recommended sending Independence Missions to the United
States.

• In 1919, Senate President Quezon led the first Independence Mission.

Unfortunately, it was not entertained by US President Woodrow Wilson.

• In all, eleven Independence Missions was sent annually. The

government shouldered the huge costs of the missions until Insular
Auditor Ben Wright disallowed the spending of public funds for such.
 HARE-HAWES-CUTTING ACT AND TYDINGS-
MCDUFFIE ACT on PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE
• The ninth Mission known as
“OSROX” (Osmeña and Roxas)
brought home the Hare-Hawes-
Cutting Act.

• After that, Quezon, in his solo

Independence Mission, asked for
another law that will grant freedom
to the Filipinos. He successfully
brought home the Tydings-McDuffie
Act in 1934.

• The Tydings- McDuffie Act allowed

for a ten-year transition under a
Philippine Commonwealth in
preparing for the granting of
freedom on July 4, 1946.
• Pursuant to the new Act, and after American Governor
General Frank Murphy set the elections for the delegates to
the convention in 1934, the Philippine Legislature called for
a convention to draft a Constitution.
• After six months, the Convention finished and agreed on the
Philippine Constitution in February 1935.
Commonwealth of the Philippines
• First election - September 1935
• Quezon and Osmeῆa joined forces against the
Nationalist Socialist Party and Republican Party =
victory
• Commonwealth Government was inaugurated in
Manila
• Sec. George Dern (Secretary of War) read the
proclamation under the Jones Law:
– Ending the US government in the Phil.
– Start of Phil. Commonwealth
Changes During the Commonwealth Period
• Filipinos oversaw the affairs
of the gov‟t but still, all major
decisions had to be approved
first by the U.S.
• Economic set-up was retained.
• Free trade was extended until
Dec. 31, 1960
• Intensification of production
and Phil. consumption from
the U.S.
• Philippine trade increased.
• Development of mining
industry
• Revision of taxation system
• Establishment of Phil. Congress
– Senate
– House of Representatives
• Quezon reorganized gov‟t bureaucracy – new
departments formed:
– Finance, Interior, Justice, Defense, Commerce,
etc.
• Court of Appeals & Court of Industrial Relations
were added.
– Increase in judges‟ salaries
• National Defense Act – first law passed by
Commonwealth