Filipino nationalism

The Aguinaldo Shrine built in 1845 is where the

Philippine Declaration of Independence from Spain
was declared on June 12, 1898.

Flag of the Philippines

Filipino nationalism began with an
upsurge of patriotic sentiments and
nationalistic ideals in the 1800s
Philippines that came as a consequence
of more than three centuries of Spanish
rule. This served as the backbone of the
first nationalist revolution in Asia, the
Philippine Revolution of 1896,[1] and
continues up to this day. These
nationalistic sentiments have led to a
wide-ranging campaign for political,
social, and economic freedom in the
Philippines.

Background
In the years before the 11th century, the
Philippines was divided into numerous
principalities known as barangays, a
name derived from Malayan boats called
balangays. These small political units
were ruled by datus, rajahs or sultans.[2]
In 1565, European colonization began in
earnest when Spanish explorer Miguel
López de Legazpi arrived from Mexico
and formed the first European
settlements in Cebu. Beginning with just
five ships and five hundred men
accompanied by Augustinian monks, and
further strengthened in 1567 by two
hundred soldiers, he was able to repel
competing Portuguese colonizers and to
create the foundations for the Spanish
colonization of the Archipelago. In 1571,
the Spanish occupied the kingdoms of
Maynila and Tondo and established
Manila as the capital of the Spanish East
Indies.[3][4] This Spanish colonization
united the Philippine archipelago into a
single political entity.[1]

The start of Filipino

nationalism (1760s–1820s)
The term "Filipino" originally referred to
the Spanish criollos of the Philippines.
During their 333-year rule of the
Philippines, the Spanish rulers referred
the natives as indios.[5]
Also during the colonial era, the
Spaniards born in the Philippines, who
were more known as insulares, criollos, or
Creoles, were also called "Filipinos."
Spanish-born Spaniards or mainland
Spaniards residing in the Philippines
were referred to as Peninsulares. Those
of mixed ancestry were referred to as
Mestizos. The Creoles, despite being
regarded by the Peninsulares as inferior
to them, had enjoyed various government
and church positions, and composed the
majority of the government
bureaucracy.[6] The sense of national
consciousness came from the Creoles,
who now regard themselves as "Filipino".
It was brought to its advent by three
major factors: 1) economy, 2) education
and 3) secularization of parishes. These
factors contributed to the birth of the
Filipino Nationalism. The opening of the
Philippines to the international or world
trade, the rise of the middle class, and
the influx of Liberal ideas from Europe
were only a few examples of how the
Philippines developed into a stable
country. "The first manifestation of
Philippine nationalism followed in the
decades of the 1880s and the 1890s,
with a reform or propaganda movement,
conducted both in Spain and in the
Philippines, for the purpose of
“propagandizing” Philippine conditions in
the hopes that desired changes in the
social, political and economic life of the
Filipinos would come about through
peaceful means." [7]

Economy

The Manila-Acapulco trade route started in 1568 and

Spanish treasure fleets (white) and its eastwards
rivals, the Portuguese India Armadas routes of
1498–1640 (blue)

The decline of Galleon trade between

Manila and Acapulco was caused by the
arrival of the ship Buen Consejo in 1765.
The Buen Consejo took the shorter
route[1] via Cape of Good Hope, a rocky
headland on the Atlantic coast controlled
by Portugal. The journey through the
Cape of Good Hope takes three months
from Spain to the Philippines, whereas
the journey of the galleon trade takes five
months. The event proved that Portugal
was already past its prime in controlling
the route via the Cape of Good Hope,
which was already under Dutch control
as early as 1652. Shorter journeys to and
from Spain brought faster trade and
quicker spread of ideas from Europe.[1]
Also, the growing sense of economic
insecurity in the later years of the 18th
century led the Creoles to turn their
attention to agricultural production. The
Creoles gradually changed from a very
government-dependent class into capital-
driven entrepreneurs. Their turning of
attention towards guilded soil caused the
rise of the large private haciendas.
Various government and church
positions were transferred to the roles of
the Peninsulares who were characterized
mostly in the 19th century Philippine
history as corrupt bureaucrats.
Jose Basco, the 44th governor-general of the
Philippines under Spanish colonial rule

During the 1780s, two institutions were

established in order to enhance the
economic capacity of the Philippines.
These were the Economic Societies of
Friends of the Country and the Royal
Company of the Philippines. The former,
introduced by Governor-General Jose
Basco in 1780, was composed of leading
men in business, industry and profession,
the society was tasked to explore and
exploit the natural resources of the
archipelago. It offered local and foreign
scholarships, besides training grants in
agriculture and established an academy
of design. It was also credited to the
carabao ban of 1782, the formation of
the silversmiths and gold beaters guild
and the construction of the first papermill
in the Philippines in 1825. The latter,
created by Carlos III on March 10, 1785,
was granted exclusive monopoly of
bringing to Manila; Chinese and Indian
goods and shipping them directly to
Spain via the Cape of Good Hope. It was
stiffly objected by the Dutch and English
who saw it as a direct attack on their
trade of Asian goods. It was also
vehemently opposed by the traders of the
Galleon trade who saw it as
competition.[8]

Education

During the administration of Governor-

General Jose Raon, a royal order from
Spain, which stated that every village or
barrio must have a school and a teacher,
was implemented. The implementation
of the order expanded the reach of basic
education during the Spanish era. Also,
during the 18th century, modern
agricultural tools made many people
leave farming for pursuing academic and
intellectual courses. After the arrival of
Buen Consejo, the Philippines had more
direct contact to Europe and the ideas
circulating. Thus, the Philippines was
influenced by the principles during the
Age of Enlightenment and radical
changes during the French Revolution.[1]

Secularization of parishes

Portrait of Charles III of Spain, 1761

By royal decree on February 27, 1767,
King Carlos III ordered the Jesuits to be
expelled from Spain, and from all her
colonies. The decree reached the
Philippines in early 1768, wherein
Governor-General Raon tried to do the
Jesuits a favor by delaying the
implementation of the royal order in
exchange of bribes. This gave the Jesuit
friars to hide all of their possessions and
destroy documents that could be held
against them, which were supposed to be
confiscated. The first batch of Jesuits,
numbered 64, left Manila only by May 17,
1768.[9] This event caused Raon to face
prosecution from the next Governor-
General, as ordered by the King of Spain.
Raon died before the judgment for him
was laid.[1]

The expulsion of Jesuit friars from the

country resulted to a shortage of priests
in the parishes. This prompted the
current Manila archbishop, Basilio
Sancho de Santa Justa, to launch his
favorite project: secularization of
Philippine parishes. Sancho reasoned out
that friars were only sent to facilitate
missions to areas that are not yet much
Christianized. Native priests must be
ordained to facilitate the parishes since
the Philippines was already a Christian
country. Sancho recruited every Indio he
got to become priests. There was even a
joke at the time that there were no one to
man the galleons anymore, since Sancho
had made them all priests. The
secularization partly failed because
many members of the newly formed
native clergy soiled the parishes with
their ignorance, sloth, and the like. One
achievement of Sancho's secularization
project was the establishment of a
school for native boys who aspire to
become priests.

Effect of the progress during

the period (1760s–1820s)

The earliest signs of the effect to Filipino

Nationalism by the developments
mentioned could be seen in the writings
of Luis Rodríguez Varela, a Creole
educated in liberal France and highly
exposed to the Age of Enlightenment.
Knighted under the Order of Carlos III,
Varela was perhaps the only Philippine
Creole who was actually part of
European nobility. The court gazette in
Madrid announced that he was to
become a Conde and from that point on
proudly called himself El Conde Filipino.[1]
He championed the rights of Filipinos in
the islands and slowly made the term
applicable to anyone born in the
Philippines.

Further progress of Filipino

Nationalism (1820s-1860)
At this stage, the Creoles slowly
introduced their own reforms. Parishes
began to have native priests at the time
of Archbishop Sancho. The Philippines
was given representation in the Spanish
Cortes three times (last time was from
1836–1837).[10] However, on June 1,
1823, a Creole revolt broke out in Manila
led by the Mexican-blood Creole captain
Andres Novales.[11] The revolt, caused by
an order from Spain that declared
military officers commissioned in the
Peninsula (Spain) should outrank all
those appointed in the Colonies, saw
Manila cheering with Novales's cry of
"Viva la Independencia" (English: Long
Live Independence). The revolt prompted
the government to deport Varela together
with other Creoles [allegedly known as
Los Hijos del País (English: The Children
of the Country)], after being associated
with the Creole reformists. The Novales
Revolt would soon be followed by
another Creole plot of secession known
as the Palmero Conspiracy, which was
caused by the replacement of Creole
public officials, especially provincial
governors, with Peninsulars.
Painting of a Spanish galleon during Manila-
Acapulco Trade

Economic developments also did a part

in making up the shape of Filipino
Nationalism. Before the opening of
Manila to foreign trade, the Spanish
authorities discouraged foreign
merchants from residing in the colony
and engaging in business.[12] In 1823,
Governor-General Mariano Ricafort
promulgated an edict prohibiting foreign
merchants from engaging in retail trade
and visiting the provinces for purposes of
trade. However, by the royal decree of
September 6, 1834, the privileges of the
Company were abolished and the port of
Manila was opened to trade.[13]

Shortly after opening Manila to world

trade, the Spanish merchants began to
lose their commercial supremacy in the
Philippines. In 1834, restrictions against
foreign traders were relaxed when Manila
became an open port. By the end of
1859, there were 15 foreign firms in
Manila: seven of which were British, three
American, two French, two Swiss and
one German.[13] In response to Sinibaldo
de Mas' recommendations, more ports
were opened by Spain to world trade. The
ports of Sual, Pangasinan, Iloilo and
Zamboanga were opened in 1855. Cebu
was opened in 1860, Legazpi and
Tacloban in 1873.[14] Like Japan that
rushed into modernization and national
transformation during the Meiji
Restoration, the Philippines and its
people saw that the Spanish and its
government is not as invincible as it was
two centuries before. The Indios and the
Creoles became more influenced by
foreign ideas of liberalism as the
Philippines became more open to
foreigners. Foreigners who visited the
Philippines had noticed the speed of the
circulation of the ideas of Voltaire and
Thomas Paine. Songs about liberty and
equality were also being sung at the
time. Some Spanish who foresaw a "fast
verging" Indio takeover of the archipelago
began to send money out of the
Philippines.[1]

First Propaganda Movement

(1860-1872)

Padre José Apolonio Burgos

Varela would then retire from politics but
his nationalism was carried on by
another Creole, one Pedro Peláez, who
campaigned for the rights of Filipino
priests (Creoles, Mestizos and Indios)
and pressed for secularization of
Philippine parishes.[1] He reasoned out
the same point Sancho had, friars are for
missions on areas that are still pagan.
The Latin American revolutions and
decline of friar influence in Spain resulted
in the increase of the regular clergy
(Peninsular friars) in the Philippines.
Filipino priests (Creoles, Mestizos and
Indios) were being replaced by Spanish
friars (Peninsulares) and Peláez
demanded explanation as to the legality
of replacing a secular with regulars—
which is in contradiction to the Exponi
nobis. Peláez brought the case to the
Vatican and almost succeeded if not for
an earthquake that cut his career short.
The earthquake struck on June 3, 1863,
during the feast of Corpus Christi. The
ideology would be carried by his more
militant disciple, José Burgos.

Demonstrations became a norm in

Manila during the 1860s. One of the first
of a series of demonstrations was during
the transfer of the remains of former
Governor-General Simón de Anda y
Salazar from the Manila Cathedral after
the 1863 earthquake. Anda was a hero
for the natives because he fought friar
power during his term, and he
established a separate government in
Bacolor during the British occupation of
Manila. On the day of the transfer, a
young Indio priest approached the coffin
and laid a laurel wreath dedicated by
"The Secular Clergy of the Philippines" to
Don Simón de Anda. Then, a young Indio
student went to the coffin and offered a
crown of flowers. Lastly, a number of
gobernadorcillos went to do their own
salutations for Don Simón de Anda.
Since none of those acts were in the
program, the Spanish saw that it was a
secretly planned demonstration. Though
no one told who the mastermind was,
there were rumors that it was Padre
Burgos.[1] The demonstrations got more
frequent and more influential during the
liberal regime of Governor-General Carlos
María de la Torre (1869–1871). Only two
weeks after the arrival of de la Torre as
Governor-General, Burgos and Joaquin
Pardo de Tavera led a demonstration at
the Plaza de Santa Potenciana. Among
the demonstrators were Jose Icaza,
Jaime Baldovino Gorospe, Jacobo Zobel,
Ignacio Rocha, Manuel Genato and
Maximo Paterno. The demo cry was
"Viva Filipinas para los Filipinos!". In
November 1870, a student movement,
denounced as a riot or motin, at the
University of Santo Tomas formed a
committee to demand reforms on the
school and its curricula. It later
announced support of Philippine
autonomy and recognition of the
Philippines as a province of Spain. The
committee was headed by Felipe
Buencamino.[15]

Carlos María de la Torre y Nava Cerrada, the 91st

Governor-General of the Philippines
During this period, a secret society of
reformists met in a cistern under a well
at the house of Father Mariano Gómez.
The society, headed by Jose Maria Basa,
worked mainly on a Madrid journal called
the Eco de Filipinas (not to be confused
with the El Eco de Filipinas that was
published much later, in September
1890). The journal exposed problems in
the Philippines and pressed on reforms
that they seek for the country. Among the
members were Burgos, Maximo Paterno,
Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista, and Father
Agustin Mendoza. It served as a
precursor to La Solidaridad. However,
Burgos died after the infamous Cavite
Mutiny, which was pinned on Burgos as
his attempt to start a Creole Revolution
and make himself president of the
Philippines or Rey Indio.[16] The death of
José Burgos, and the other alleged
conspirators, Mariano Gómez and
Jacinto Zamora on February 17, 1872,
seemingly ended the entire Creole
movement. Governor-General Rafael de
Izquierdo y Gutiérrez unleashed his reign
of terror in order to prevent the spread of
the Creole ideology—Filipino nationalism.

Another event in history created an

impact on Filipino nationalism during this
period. Before 1869, the route through
the Cape of Good Hope proved to be a
shortest available journey to Europe by
Indios and Creoles alike. The journey
takes 3 months travel by sea. On
November 17, 1869, the Suez Canal
opened after 10 years of construction
work. At its advent, the journey from the
Philippines to Spain was further reduced
to one month. This allowed a much
faster spread of European ideology and
an increase of Filipino presence in
Europe itself. The Propaganda
Movement would later benefit from the
Suez Canal for the shorter route it
provided.

Second Propaganda
Movement (1872–1892)
Filipino expatriates in Europe formed the
Propaganda Movement. Photographed in Madrid,
Spain in 1890.

The events of 1872 however invited the

other colored section of the Ilustrados
(Intellectually Enlightened Class), the
growing middle-class natives, to at least
do something to preserve the Creole
ideals. Seeing the impossibility of a
revolution against Izquierdo and the
Governor-General's brutal reign
convinced the Ilustrados to get out of the
Philippines and continue propaganda in
Europe. This massive propaganda
upheaval from 1872 to 1892 is now
known as the Second Propaganda
Movement.[17] Through their writings and
orations, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Graciano
López Jaena and José Rizal sounded the
trumpets of Filipino nationalism and
brought it to the level of the masses. The
propagandists mainly aimed for
representation of the Philippines in the
Cortes Generales, secularization of the
clergy, legalization of Spanish and
Filipino equality, among others. Their
main work was the newspaper called La
Solidaridad (Solidarity), which was first
published at Barcelona on December 13,
1888.[18] Rizal, the foremost figure of the
propagandists, created the Noli Me
Tángere (published 1887) and El
filibusterismo (published 1891). It rode
the increasing anti-Spanish (anti-
Peninsulares) sentiments in the islands
and pushed the people towards
revolution, rather than discourage them
that a revolution was not the solution for
independence.

Post-propaganda era
By July 1892, Rizal returned to the
Philippines and established a progressive
organization he called the La Liga Filipina
(The Philippine League).[19] However, the
organization collapsed after Rizal's arrest
and deportation to Dapitan on July 7. At
the same day, a Philippine revolutionary
society was founded by Ilustrados led by
Andrés Bonifacio, Deodato Arellano,
Ladislao Diwa, Teodoro Plata and
Valentín Díaz.[20] The main aim of the
organization, named Katipunan, was to
win Philippine independence through a
revolution and establish a republic
thereafter.[21] The rise of the Katipunan
signaled the end of peaceful propaganda
for reforms.

Philippine Revolution
Original flag of the Philippines, as conceived by
Emilio Aguinaldo.

The Katipunan reached an overwhelming

membership and attracted almost the
lowly of the Filipino class. In June 1896,
Bonifacio sent an emissary to Dapitan to
reach Rizal's support, but the latter
refused for an armed revolution. On
August 19, 1896, Katipunan was
discovered by a Spanish friar which
started the Philippine Revolution.

The revolution flared up initially into the

eight provinces of Central Luzon. General
Emilio Aguinaldo, a member of the
Katipunan, spread an armed resistance
through Southern Tagalog region where
he liberated Cavite towns little by little.
Leadership conflicts between Bonifacio
and Aguinaldo culminated in the Imus
Assembly in December 1896 and Tejeros
Convention in March 1897. Aguinaldo
was elected in absentia as President of
an insurgent revolutionary government by
the Tejeros convention. Bonifacio, acting
as Supremo of the Katipunan, declared
the convention proceedings void and
attempted to reassert leadership of the
revolution. In late April Aguinaldo fully
assumed presidential office after
consolidating his position with
revolutionary leaders. Aguinaldo's
government then ordered the arrest of
Bonifacio, who stood trial on charges of
sedition and treason against Aguinaldo's
government and conspiracy to murder
Aguinaldo, resulting in his conviction and
execution

In December 1897, Aguinaldo agreed to

the Pact of Biak-na-Bato with the Spanish
colonial government. Aguinaldo and his
revolutionary leadership were exiled to
Hong Kong. However, not all of the
revolutionary generals complied with the
agreement. One, General Francisco
Makabulos, established a Central
Executive Committee to serve as the
interim government until a more suitable
one was created.
Independence declaration and
the Philippine-American War

Revolutionaries gather during the Malolos congress

of the First Philippine Republic.

In 1898, as conflicts continued in the

Philippines, the USS Maine, having been
sent to Cuba because of U.S. concerns
for the safety of its citizens during an
ongoing Cuban revolution, exploded and
sank in Havana harbor. This event
precipitated the Spanish–American
War.[22] After Commodore George Dewey
defeated the Spanish squadron at
Manila, a German squadron, led by Vice
Admiral Otto von Diederichs, arrived in
Manila and engaged in maneuvers which
Dewey, seeing this as obstruction of his
blockade, offered war—after which the
Germans backed down.[23]

The U.S. invited Aguinaldo to return to

the Philippines in the hope he would rally
Filipinos against the Spanish colonial
government. Aguinaldo arrived on May
19, 1898, via transport provided by
Dewey. By the time U.S. land forces had
arrived, the Filipinos had taken control of
the entire island of Luzon, except for the
walled city of Intramuros. On June 12,
1898, Aguinaldo declared the
independence of the Philippines in Kawit,
Cavite, establishing the First Philippine
Republic under Asia's first democratic
constitution, the Malolos Constitution, an
insurgency against Spanish rule.[24]

Spain and the United States sent

commissioners to Paris to draw up the
terms of the Treaty of Paris which ended
the Spanish–American War. In the treaty,
Spain ceded the Philippines, along with
Guam and Puerto Rico, to the United
States. Cession of the Philippines
involved payment by the U.S. of
US$20,000,000.00.[25] U.S. President
McKinley described the acquisition of the
Philippines as "... a gift from the gods",
saying that since "they were unfit for self-
government, ... there was nothing left for
us to do but to take them all, and to
educate the Filipinos, and uplift and
civilize and Christianize them",[26][27] in
spite of the Philippines having been
already Christianized by the Spanish over
the course of several centuries.

Filipino forces under Aguinaldo as

President of the insurrgent Philippine
Republic resisted the U.S. occupation,
resulting in the Philippine–American War
(1899–1913). The poorly-equipped
Filipino troops were easily overpowered
by American troops in open combat, but
they were formidable opponents in
guerrilla warfare. Malolos, the
revolutionary capital, was captured on
March 31, 1899. Aguinaldo and his
government escaped however,
establishing a new capital at San Isidro,
Nueva Ecija. On June 5, 1899, Antonio
Luna, Aguinaldo's most capable military
commander, was killed by Aguinaldo's
guards in an apparent assassination
while visiting Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija to
meet with Aguinaldo.[28] Aguinaldo
dissolved the regular army on November
13 and ordered the establishment of
decentralized guerrilla commands in
each of several military zones.[29]
Another key general, Gregorio del Pilar,
was killed on December 2, 1899 in the
Battle of Tirad Pass—a rear guard action
to delay the Americans while Aguinaldo
made good his escape through the
mountains.

Aguinaldo was captured at Palanan,

Isabela on March 23, 1901 and was
brought to Manila. Convinced of the
futility of further resistance, he swore
allegiance to the United States and
issued a proclamation calling on his
compatriots to lay down their arms,
officially bringing an end to the war.
However, sporadic insurgent resistance
to American rule continued in various
parts of the Philippines, notably
insurgencies such as the Irreconcilables
and the Moro Rebellion, until 1913.

The Insular Government

and the Commonwealth era
(1901-1941)
Insular Government

William Howard Taft addressing the audience at the

First Philippine Assembly in the Manila Grand Opera
House

The 1902 Philippine Organic Act was a

constitution for the Insular Government,
as the U.S. civil administration was
known. This was a form of territorial
government that reported to the Bureau
of Insular Affairs. The act provided for a
governor general appointed by the U.S.
president and an elected lower house. It
also disestablished the Catholic Church
as the state religion.

Two years after completion and

publication of a census, a general
election was conducted for the choice of
delegates to a popular assembly. An
elected Philippine Assembly was
convened in 1907 as the lower house of
a bicameral legislature, with the
Philippine Commission as the upper
house. Every year from 1907 the
Philippine Assembly and later the
Philippine Legislature passed resolutions
expressing the Filipino desire for
independence.

Philippine nationalists led by Manuel

Quezón and Sergio Osmeña
enthusiastically endorsed the draft Jones
Bill of 1912, which provided for Philippine
independence after eight years, but later
changed their views, opting for a bill
which focused less on time than on the
conditions of independence. The
nationalists demanded complete and
absolute independence to be guaranteed
by the United States, since they feared
that too-rapid independence from
American rule without such guarantees
might cause the Philippines to fall into
Japanese hands. The Jones bill was
rewritten and passed Congress in 1916
with a later date of independence.[30]

The law, officially the Philippine

Autonomy Act but popularly known as
the Jones Law, served as the new
organic act (or constitution) for the
Philippines. Its preamble stated that the
eventual independence of the Philippines
would be American policy, subject to the
establishment of a stable government.
The law maintained the Governor General
of the Philippines, appointed by the
President of the United States, but
established a bicameral Philippine
Legislature to replace the elected
Philippine Assembly (lower house); it
replaced the appointive Philippine
Commission (upper house) with an
elected senate.[31]

The Filipinos suspended their

independence campaign during the First
World War and supported the United
States against Germany. After the war
they resumed their independence efforts.
The Philippine legislature funded an
independence mission to the U.S. in
1919. The mission departed Manila on
February 28 and met in the U.S. with and
presented their case to Secretary of War
Newton D. Baker. U.S. President
Woodrow Wilson, in his 1921 farewell
message to Congress, certified that the
Filipino people had performed the
condition imposed on them as a
prerequisite to independence, declaring
that, this having been done, the duty of
the U.S. is to grant Philippine
independence.[32]

After the first independence mission,

public funding of such missions was
ruled illegal. Subsequent independence
missions in 1922, 1923, 1930, 1931 1932,
and two missions in 1933 were funded
by voluntary contributions. Numerous
independence bills were submitted to the
U.S. Congress, which passed the Hare–
Hawes–Cutting Bill on December 30,
1932. U.S. President Herbert Hoover
vetoed the bill on January 13, 1933.
Congress overrode the veto on January
17, and the Hare–Hawes–Cutting Act
became U.S. law. The law promised
Philippine independence after 10 years,
but reserved several military and naval
bases for the United States, as well as
imposing tariffs and quotas on Philippine
exports. The law also required the
Philippine Senate to ratify the law.
Quezon urged the Philippine Senate to
reject the bill, which it did. Quezon
himself led the twelfth independence
mission to Washington to secure a better
independence act. The result was the
Tydings–McDuffie Act of 1934 which
was very similar to the Hare–Hawes–
Cutting Act except in minor details. The
Tydings–McDuffie Act was ratified by the
Philippine Senate. The law provided for
the granting of Philippine independence
by 1946.

Commonwealth era

March 23, 1935: Constitutional Convention. Seated,

left to right: George H. Dern, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt, and Manuel L. Quezon

The Tydings-McDuffie Act provided for

the drafting and guidelines of a
Constitution, for a 10-year "transitional
period" as the Commonwealth of the
Philippines before the granting of
Philippine independence. On May 5,
1934, the Philippines legislature passed
an act setting the election of convention
delegates. Governor General Frank
Murphy designated July 10 as the
election date, and the convention held its
inaugural session on July 30. The
completed draft constitution was
approved by the convention on February
8, 1935, approved by U.S. President
Franklin Roosevelt on March 23, and
ratified by popular vote on May 14.

On September 17, 1935, presidential

elections were held. Candidates included
former president Emilio Aguinaldo, the
Iglesia Filipina Independiente leader
Gregorio Aglipay, and others. Manuel L.
Quezon and Sergio Osmeña of the
Nacionalista Party were proclaimed the
winners, winning the seats of president
and vice-president, respectively. The
Commonwealth Government was
inaugurated on the morning of November
15, 1935, in ceremonies held on the steps
of the Legislative Building in Manila. The
event was attended by a crowd of around
300,000 people.[1]

Japanese occupation and the

Second Republic (1941-1945)
Japan launched a surprise attack on the
Clark Air Base in Pampanga on
December 8, 1941, just ten hours after
the attack on Pearl Harbor. Aerial
bombardment, which destroyed most of
the American aircraft in the islands, was
followed by landings of ground troops on
Luzon. The defending Philippine and
United States troops were under the
command of General Douglas
MacArthur. Under the pressure of
superior numbers, the defending forces
withdrew to the Bataan Peninsula and to
the island of Corregidor at the entrance
to Manila Bay. On January 2, 1942,
General MacArthur declared the capital
city, Manila, an open city to prevent its
destruction.[33] The Philippine defense
continued until the final surrender of
United States-Philippine forces on the
Bataan Peninsula in April 1942 and on
Corregidor in May of the same year.
José Paciano Laurel was the only president of the
Second Philippine Republic.

The Philippine Executive Commission

was established in 1942 with Jorge B.
Vargas as its first Chairman. The PEC
was created as the temporary care-taker
government of the Greater Manila area
and eventually of the whole Philippines
during the Japanese occupation of the
country during World War II. On May 6,
1943, Japanese Premier Hideki Tojo
during a visit to the Philippines pledged
to establish the Republic of the
Philippines. This pledge of Tojo
prompted the "KALIBAPI," to call for a
convention on June 19, 1943 and twenty
of its members were elected to form the
Preparatory Commission for
Independence. The commission tasked
to draft a constitution for the Philippine
Republic and elected head was José P.
Laurel. The Preparatory Commission
presented its draft Constitution on
September 4, 1943 and three days later,
the "KALIBAPI" general assembly ratified
the draft Constitution.

The Japanese-sponsored establishment

of the Republic of the Philippines was
proclaimed on October 14, 1943 with
José P. Laurel being sworn-in as
President.[34] On the same day, a "Pact of
Alliance" was signed between the new
Philippine Republic and the Japanese
government that was ratified two days
later by the National Assembly. The
Philippine Republic was immediately
recognized by Japan, and in the
succeeding days by Germany, Thailand,
Manchukuo, Burma, Croatia and Italy
while neutral Spain sent its "greetings."

In October 1944, General Douglas

MacArthur, the overall commander of
American forces in the Pacific, had
gathered enough additional troops and
supplies to begin the retaking of the
Philippines, landing with Sergio Osmeña
who had assumed the Presidency after
Quezon's death. The battles entailed long
fierce fighting; some of the Japanese
continued to fight until the official
surrender of the Empire of Japan on
September 2, 1945. The Second Republic
was dissolved earlier, on August 14. After
their landing, Filipino and American
forces also undertook measures to
suppress the Huk movement, which was
founded to fight the Japanese
Occupation.

Third Republic (1946-1972)

Play media
Proclamation of independence

“ Carlos, America buried imperialism

here today! ”
– General Douglas MacArthur to Carlos
Romulo at the recognition of the
independence of the Philippines.[35]

On July 4, 1946, representatives of the

United States of America and of the
Republic of the Philippines signed a
Treaty of General Relations between the
two governments. The treaty provided for
the recognition of the independence of
the Republic of the Philippines as of July
4, 1946, and the relinquishment of
American sovereignty over the Philippine
Islands.[36]

From 1946 to 1961, the Philippines

observed Independence Day on July 4.
However, on May 12, 1962, President
Diosdado Macapagal issued Presidential
Proclamation No. 28 proclaiming June
12, 1962 as a special public holiday
throughout the Philippines.[37][38] In 1964,
Republic Act No. 4166 changed the date
of Independence Day from July 4 to June
12 and renamed the July 4 holiday as
Philippine Republic Day.[39]
“ But in the hearts of eighteen million
Filipinos, the American flag now
flies more triumphantly than ever. ”
– President Manuel Roxas addressing
the crowd after the flag-raising ceremony
on July 4, 1946[1]

Despite eventual success of Filipinos to

claim political and social independence,
a new type of colonialism rose in the
country. It is known as neocolonialism.
Neocolonialism is defined as the practice
of using economic, linguistic, and cultural
forces to control a country (usually
former European colonies in Africa or
Asia) in lieu of direct military or political
control. Since most of the country was
ravaged by the Second World War, the
Philippines depended mainly on the
United States to restore her industries
and businesses.[40] The country only
began to build local industries to reduce
economic dependence on foreign
nations during the term of President
Ferdinand Marcos.[40] Nationalism in the
real sense remained stuck up in a false
Filipinistic posture.[40] Examples of
governmental efforts to enforce
nationalistic policies began with former
President Ramon Magsaysay sworn into
office wearing the Barong Tagalog, a first
by any Philippine president. It was
fervently followed by the nationalist
program "Filipino First Policy" of Carlos P.
Garcia.[41]

Radical nationalism

After World War II, the Hukbalahap

(Filipino: Hukbong Bayan Laban sa mga
Hapon) guerillas continued the
revolutionary struggle to establish a
Communist government in the
Philippines.[40] Nationalism in the real
sense remained stuck up in a false
Filipinistic posture.[40] The radical wing of
the nationalists, led by peasant leader
Luis Taruc, renamed themselves as the
Hukbong Magpalaya ng Bayan (English:
Army to Liberate the People). At its
heyday, the Huk movement commanded
an estimated 170,000 armed troops with
a base of at least two million civilian
supporters.[42] Ramon Magsaysay, which
was then the Secretary of National
Defense during the Quirino
administration, was instrumental in
halting the Communist movement.

In 1964, Jose Maria Sison co-founded

the Kabataang Makabayan (Patriotic
Youth) with Nilo S. Tayag. This
organization rallied the Filipino youth
against the Vietnam War, against the
Marcos presidency, and corrupt
politicians. On December 26, 1968, he
formed and chaired the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of
the Philippines (CPP), an organization
within the Communist Party founded on
Marxist–Leninist-Mao Zedong Thought,
stemming from his own experiences as a
youth leader and a labor and land reform
activist. This is known as the "First Great
Rectification" movement where Sison
and other radical youths criticized the
existing Party's leadership and failure.
The reformed CPP included Maoism
within the political line as well as the
struggle for a National Democratic
Revolution in two-stages, consisting of a
protracted people's war as its first part to
be followed by a socialist revolution.
Radical nationalism in the Philippines
emphasized the Philippine Revolution
under Bonifacio as unfinished and
henceforth continued, under working
class leadership. Writers such as
Teodoro Agoncillo, Renato Constantino
advocated patriotic sentiment by means
of revisiting Filipino history in a Filipino
perspective.

Martial law and the Fourth

Republic (1972-1986)
On September 22, 1972, former Defense
Minister Juan Ponce Enrile was
reportedly ambushed by communists
while his staff car was driving in San
Juan, killing his driver but leaving him
unscathed. The assassination attempt,
along with the growing threat of the New
People's Army and citizen unrest, gave
Marcos enough reason to declare
Proclamation No. 1081, which he signed
on September 17 (postdated to
September 21), the same day.[43] Marcos,
who henceforth ruled by decree, curtailed
press freedom and other civil liberties,
abolished Congress, shut down media
establishments, and ordered the arrest of
opposition leaders and militant
activists.[44]

The first years of martial law saw an

increase in military hardware and
personnel in the Philippines,[43] giving a
precursor to reduce military dependence
on American personnel to police the
country. In 1984, American lease on
Philippines military bases were extended
only by 5 years, as compared to 25 years'
extension in 1959. Agricultural
production, especially in rice production
(which increased 42% in 8 years),[45] was
increased to decrease dependence on
food importation. Philippine culture and
arts were promoted with the
establishment of institutions such as the
National Arts Center. However, to help
finance a number of economic
development projects, the Marcos
government borrowed large amounts of
money from international lenders.[46][47]
Thus, proving that the country was not
yet fully independent economically. The
Philippines' external debt rose from $360
million (US) in 1962 to $28.3 billion in
1986, making the Philippines one of the
most indebted countries in Asia.[46]

The Fifth Republic (1986-

present)
From February 22–25, 1986, many
demonstrations against Marcos took
place on a long stretch of Epifanio de los
Santos Avenue. The event, known as the
People Power Revolution, involved many
famous figures such as Archbishop
Jaime Sin, Lt. Gen. Fidel Ramos and
Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile.
Finally, on February 25, the Marcos family
was transported by a U.S. Air Force HH-
3E Rescue helicopters to Clark Air Base
in Angeles City, Pampanga, about 83
kilometers north of Manila, before
boarding US Air Force DC-9 Medivac and
C-141B planes bound for Andersen Air
Force Base in Guam, and finally to
Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii where
Marcos arrived on February 26. Many
people around the world rejoiced and
congratulated Filipinos they knew.
Corazon Aquino succeeded as president
of the Philippines.
In 1986, Aquino adopted Original Pilipino
Music (OPM, defined as "any musical
composition created by a Filipino,
whether the lyrics be in Pilipino, English
or in any other language or dialect") by
requiring hourly broadcasts of OPM
songs on all radio programs having
musical formats in order to conserve,
promote and popularize the nation's
historical and cultural heritage and
resources, as well as artistic creations,
and to give patronage to arts and
letters.[48] Singers like Regine Velasquez,
Randy Santiago, Ogie Alcasid, Gary
Valenciano, Manilyn Reynes, Donna Cruz
and others are contributed to the
President's implementation of Filipino
music over the airwaves. Stations like
DZOO-FM, DWLS, etc., are adopted hourly
OPMs effectively after the
implementation. Aquino also encouraged
the tourism sector to boost the national
economy. Under her six-year term, the
Department of Tourism launched a
program called The Philippines: Fiesta
Islands of Asia in 1989, offers tourist
visits in the country to show their natural
wonders, to protect their indigenous
peoples, to preserve heritage sites and to
contribute historical importance. In 1987,
then President Corazon C. Aquino
penned Executive Order No. 118 creating
the Presidential Commission on Culture
and Arts. Five years later, in 1992, this
presidential directive was enacted into
law—Republic Act 7356, creating the
National Commission for Culture and the
Arts (NCCA).

On June 12, 1998, the nation celebrated

its centennial year of independence from
Spain. The celebrations were held
simultaneously nationwide by then
President Fidel V. Ramos and Filipino
communities worldwide. A commission
was established for the said event, the
National Centennial Commission headed
by former Vice President Salvador Laurel
presided all events around the country.
One of the major projects of the
commission was the Expo Pilipino, a
grand showcase of the Philippines'
growth as a nation for the last 100 years,
in the Clark Special Economic Zone
(formerly Clark Air Base) in Angeles City,
Pampanga.

During his term, President Joseph

Estrada ordered to the National
Telecommunications Commission (NTC)
to adopt a Filipino language-based radio
format known as masa—named for his
icon term Masa (or Masses). All radio
stations adopted the masa format in
1998. Many stations continued to use the
masa format after President Estrada left
the presidency in 2001 because the masa
format resonated with listeners.[49] Some
in the radio industry decry the effects
masa formatting has had.[50]

On August 14, 2010, President Benigno

Aquino III directed the Department of
Transportation and Communications
(DOTC) and the NTC to fully implement
Executive Order No. 255 , issued on July
25, 1987 by former Philippines President
Corazon Aquino, requiring all radio
stations to broadcast a minimum of four
original Filipino musical compositions in
every clock hour of programs with a
musical format.[51]

On April 13, 2012, The Manila Times, the

oldest English language newspaper in
the Philippines, published an editorial
titled "Unpatriotic editing and reporting",
taking the Filipino journalistic community
to task for their reporting of what it
described as "confrontation between our
Philippine Navy and 'law enforcement'
ships of the People's Republic of China"
in the Spratly Islands. The editorial
opined that Philippine reports should
state that disputed territories are
Philippine territory, and characterized
those who refer to disputed territories as
"being claimed by the Philippines" as
"unpatriotic writers and editors".[52]

On February 14, 2013, National Book

Store, the Philippines' largest bookstore
chain, has withdrawn Chinese-made
globes, which reflect China's nine-dotted
line encompassing the South China Sea,
from its shelves. Department of Foreign
Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said
in a statement that, "[National Bookstore]
has taken a patriotic position to
proactively support the Philippine
government in advancing Philippine
foreign policy objectives." He said the
decision to pull out the globes came after
a dialogue with the bookstore
management, which claimed they were
unaware of the “misinformation”
contained in the educational
materials.[53][54]

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8027-1349-0.
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30. Wong Kwok Chu, "The Jones Bills
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[1921]. The Present Government of the
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35. Go, Julian (2011). Patterns of Empire:
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+America+buried+imperialism+here+toda
y!" 105 . ISBN 978-1-107-60078-2.
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BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF
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PHILIPPINES. SIGNED AT MANILA, ON 4
JULY 1946 (PDF), United Nations, archived
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38. Manuel S. Satorre Jr., President
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39. AN ACT CHANGING THE DATE OF
PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE DAY FROM
JULY FOUR TO JUNE TWELVE, AND
DECLARING JULY FOUR AS PHILIPPINE
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THE PURPOSE SECTION TWENTY-NINE
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CODE , Chanrobles Law Library, 4 August
1964, retrieved 11 November 2009
40. Samuel K. Tan (1987). A History of the
Philippines. Vera-Reyes, Inc.
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March 10, 2012.
42. "Hukbalahap" . Everything2.com.
2002-04-08. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
43. Mijares, Primitivo (1976). "A Dark Age
Begins". The Conjugal Dictatorship of
Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. Union
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44. Brands, H.W. (1992). Bound to empire:
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45. "Fifteenth SONA; July 1980" . Gov.ph.
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49. "18 Truths About Drastic Changes on
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radioonlinenow.com . 26 February 2011.
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50. "Radio nowadays is like a drug,
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51. "Aquino wants more of Filipino music
on radio" . Manila Bulletin. 2010-05-10.
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52. "Unpatriotic editing and reporting" .
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53. Rainier Allan Ronda (February 15,
2013). "Bookstore pulls out China-made
globes" . The Philippine Star. Retrieved
15 February 2013.
54. Fat Reyes (February 14, 2013).
"National Bookstore pulls out Chinese-
made globes" . Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Retrieved 15 February 2013.

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