SITJAR, Saira P. Prof.

Paulo Benedicto Villar

Assignment 4A March 27, 2021

Question: How did these laws suppress our nationalism and our determination to be an independent
country? Please cite the provision/part of the law you believe suppressed our nationalism. Cite at least two
laws in your discussion.

After reading Sedition Law and Brigandage Law which showed American suppression of Filipino
nationalism, I discovered that American decree opposed the nationalism and independence of Filipinos.

Section 10 of Act No. 292 of 1901 showed how Sedition Law silenced our nationalism and
independence by making it unlawful for Filipinos to campaign for our country's sovereignty. This law
made every form of continued opposition be considered as sedition; people were disturbed for they were
restricted from voicing out their sentiments toward the U.S. government. Even if they wanted to talk about
their ideas openly or secretly, they were not permitted due to anxiety of being penalized. The more
draconian part of this so-called Sedition Law was meant to encourage the implementation of acceptance to
the new administration and were to persist in effect until the United States president proclaimed the
“insurgency” to be formally ended.

Another part of the law that suppressed our nationalism is Section 2 of Act No. 518 of 1902, for
made it visible to the eyes of the people in the way that Brigandage Law stolen the right of innocent and
accused Filipinos to be free. Successive acts of revolt were formally regarded as bandolerismo or
brigandage by the Americans and their political associates among the Filipinos. Americans made no
distinction between former rebels, activists, protesters, social bandits, or brigands (criminals) who had
happened after the descent of Spanish law in the mid-1890s; they were all put in an indiscriminate mass
beneath the tag of bandolerismo, or, in popular American jargon, "ladronism." It is not fair to forbid
Filipinos from forming patriotic organizations and movements. The punishment that can be imposed on an
individual can be up to death, and this cannot be considered humane for everyone who wants to fight for
the Philippines.

The period in which Philippine nationalism and independence came to an end has truly tested the
courage and devotion of Filipinos for the country. The aggravating oppression has been further enacted by
laws to silence the people in any form of revolution against US, and this was done to reduce the
opposition to the Americans — and as they took possession of the islands the Filipinos fought back
against US sovereignty and the armed forces’ continuous oppression.
Act No. 292, November 04, 1901

AN ACT DEFINING THE CRIMES OF TREASON, INSURRECTION, SEDITION,

CONSPIRACIES TO COMMIT SUCH CRIMES, SEDITIOUS UTTERANCES, WHETHER
WRITTEN OR SPOKEN, THE FORMATION OF SECRET POLITICAL SOCIETIES, THE
ADMINISTERING OR TAKING OF OATHS TO COMMIT CRIMES, OR TO PREVENT THE
DISCOVERING OF THE SAME, AND THE VIOLATION OF OATHS OF ALLEGIANCE, AND
PRESCRIBING THE PUNISHMENT THEREFOR.

Section 10. Until it has been officially proclaimed that a state of war or insurrection against the authority
or sovereignty of the United States no longer exists in the Philippine Islands it shall be unlawful for any
person to advocate, orally or by writing or printing, or like methods, the independence of the Philippine
Islands or their separation from the United States, whether by peaceable or forcible means, or to print,
publish, or circulate any handbill, newspaper, or other publication advocating such independence or
separation.

Act No. 518, November 12, 1902

AN ACT DEFINING HIGHWAY ROBBERY OR BRIGANDAGE AND PROVIDING FOR THE

PUNISHMENT THEREFOR.

SEC. 2. To prove the crime described in the previous section, it shall not be necessary to adduce evidence
that any member of the hand has in fact committed robbery or theft, but it shall be sufficient to justify
conviction thereunder if, from the circumstances, it can be inferred beyond reasonable doubt that the
accused was a member of such an armed band as that described in said section.