THE PHILIPPINE-AMERICAN WAR (1899-1902)

(Excerpted from The Filipino Americans (From 1763 to the Present) Their History, Culture, and Traditions by Veltisezar Bautista.)

On July 1, 1898, American forces engaged in a fierce battle with the Spaniards at El Caney and San Juan Hill in Cuba. After the skirmishes, they occupied the high ground overlooking Santiago. On July 3, Admiral Pascual Cervera y Topete ordered his squadron to leave the harbor. The Spaniards attempted to escape toward the west along the coast. Then a running battle took place. All the Spanish ships either burned or sank. >From there, American troops invaded and captured Puerto Rico, another Spanish possession.

As a result of these defeats, Spain sued for peace. On August 12, 1898, the day before the fall of Manila, Spain and the United States signed a peace agreement. Spain agreed to evacuate all her troops from and give up control over Cuba, cede Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States, which was also allowed to occupy Manila. The last condition was temporary while what was to be done with the Philippines was being determined.

In October 1898, representatives of Spain and the United States met in Paris to draft a peace treaty. One of the vital issues to be discussed was the status of the Philippines. Spain wanted the United States to return the Philippines to Spain because Manila had been occupied by the Americans only after the armistice had been signed on August 12, 1898, but to no avail. The United States insisted on obtaining the Philippines.

Treaty of Paris. On December 10. 1898, the Treaty of Paris, was signed in Paris, France, by both Spain and the United States. It formally ended the war between them. Under this treaty, Spain recognized the independence of Cuba; ceded Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines to the United States; and received a $20 million payment from the United States for giving up the Philippines.

The treaty had to be ratified by the U.S. Senate before it could take effect. It, however, met opposition, mainly against the annexation of the Philippines. An Anti-Imperialist League was formed to rally American public opinion against the annexation. Some prominent Americans, such as former President Grover Cleveland, Andrew Carnegie, and Mark Twain, also opposed the ratification.

One of the reasons why the United States should not acquire the Philippines was that the Filipinos themselves were fighting the Americans in the Philippines. Such an act, they said, showed that the Filipinos did not want to be under American rule. They also reasoned that it was inconsistent for the United States to disclaim—through the so-called Teller Amendment—any intention of annexing Cuba and then annex the other Spanish colonies, such as the Philippines.

Annexation Fever. There were also many in the United States who saw the advantages of taking over the Philippines. Many missionaries, for instance, favored annexation. So did people who feared that Germany might get the Philippines if the United States did not. Some favored annexation to give America a “foothold” in the populous markets of Asia.

On February 6, 1899, the U.S. Senate, by a vote of 57 to 27, ratified the Treaty of Paris. The American people, in effect, also endorsed the treaty when they reelected President McKinley in the 1900 U.S. presidential elections. Thus, the Philippines formally came under the rule of the United States.

I. THE PHILIPPINE-AMERICAN WAR

The Filipinos had become suspicious of the true motives of the United States in going to the Philippines. In fact, they were prevented by the Americans from entering Manila after its fall. Their suspicions were confirmed by the Treaty of Paris under which Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States. Neither Spain nor the United States gave Felipe Agoncillo, Aguinaldo’s special envoy, a chance to present the wishes of the Filipinos in the Paris peace talks. Suspicion turned to hostility, and war between the two sides became inevitable. The Filipinos were outraged when they learned that Spain, which no longer controlled the Philippines, had ceded the country to the United States.

Benevolent Assimilation Proclamation. On December 21, 1898, President William Mckinley announced his decision to keep the Philippines as an American colonial possession.

Entitled “Benevolent Assimilation Proclamation,” the McKinley proclamation was announced in the Philippines on January 4, 1899. It stated clearly the intention of the United States to stay permanently in the Philippines. The mission of the United States was described by McKinley as one of “benevolent assimilation.” In the same proclamation, General Elwell Otis was named the commander of American ground forces in the Philippines, which was to “extend by force American sovereignty over this country.”

On January 5, 1899, Aguinaldo issued a counter-proclamation. He warned that his government was prepared to fight any American attempt to forcibly take over the country. This sounded like a declaration of war to the American military although Aguinaldo had no wish to get into a war with the United States. He knew that war would only cause untold suffering to the Filipino people. He was still hopeful that the situation could be saved by peaceful negotiations between him and the American military leaders in the Philippines. Aguinaldo wrote General Elwell S. Otis calling for peaceful negotiations.

On January 9, 1899, Otis appointed three American officers to meet with three Filipino military officials appointed by Aguinaldo. However, they didn’t accomplish anything.

“Halt!” Then Bang! Bang! Bang! The tension between the Americans and the Filipinos was so great that it was easy to precipitate a war. On the night of February 4, 1899, as described in Aguinaldo: A Narrative of Filipino Ambitions, (E. Wildman 1901, Norwood Press, Norwood, MA) an American sentry, Private William W. Grayson, with another soldier, encountered three armed Filipinos on a bridge in San Juan del Monte near Manila.

Recalling the incident, Grayson said:

The Filipino troops fired back at the American lines and before the night was over, fighting had broken out between Filipino and American forces. Most of the Filipino commanders at that time were attending a dance in Malolos, Bulacan Province. When told of the outbreak of hostilities, they rushed back to their units, which were already shooting it out with American troops.

When war finally came, Aguinaldo still tried to stop it by sending an emissary to General Otis to appeal for an end to the fighting. But Otis responded, “fighting, having begun, must go on to the grim end.”

II. IN THE UNITED STATES

The American people, however, received a different version of how the war started. Newspaper reports made it appear that the Filipinos had started the fighting. This was the time when the Treaty of Paris was pending ratification in the U.S. Senate. Previously, because of strong public opinion against the U.S. annexation of the Philippines, ratification of the treaty was uncertain. But the distorted news that reached the United States, specifically that the Filipinos were the ones who started hostilities, changed the minds of several U.S. senators to vote for ratification. On February 6, 1899, the U.S. Senate ratified the Treaty of Paris.

Philippine Insurrection? Ouuuccccch. The Americans viewed the fighting as an insurrection, not a war. Hence, Americans refer to this episode as the Philippine Insurrection, not the Philippine-American War. The Spanish-American conflict that lasted only three months, is referred to as the Spanish-American War. But the Philippine-American conflict officially lasted three years and is known only as the Philippine Insurrection by America. Actually the fighting between American and the remaining armed groups of Filipinos, whom Americans branded as “bandits,” lasted 16 years (1899-1914).

James Loewen, a Washington, D.C.,-based scholar and author of a forthcoming book titled Lies Across the Landscape: What Our Historical Markers and Monuments Get Wrong, said, “What we call the Philippine Insurrection should be called the Philippine War. We had never conquered the Philippines, so you can’t call it a revolt.”

Loewen’s comment was mentioned in an article published in the Star Tribune in Minnesota, in its issue of November 15, 1997.

III. THE WAR GOES ON

After the refusal of General Otis to end hostilities following the San Juan bridge incident, General Arthur MacArthur ordered the advance of American troops toward Filipino positions in Manila and the suburbs. Regiments from Kansas and California captured Santa Ana and Makati. Troops from Nebraska and Utah occupied the San Juan Bridge. On the other hand, volunteers from Idaho and Washington massacred hundreds of Filipinos who were then trying to cross the Pasig River. The coastlines were pounded continuously by Admiral Dewey’s naval guns.

Capturing Manila and the Suburbs. Several American soldiers who took part in the battles in Manila and the suburbs wrote letters telling about those battles to their relatives in the United States. These letters were published in local and national press in the United States by the Anti-Imperialist League in 1899 in the United States.

Source: Soldiers’ Letters: Being Materials for the History of a War of Criminal Aggression. (N. p.: Anti-Imperialist League, 1899). In Jim Zwick, ed., Anti-Imperialism in the United States, 1898-1935. (December 12, 1996.)

From Manila, wrote Private Fred B. Hinchman, Company A, United States Engineers:

Narrating his exploits in Santa Ana, Manila, Captain Albert Otis, wrote:

On to Marikina. The Americans pushed towards the suburbs, including Marikina.

Thinking of the impending Marikina fight, James A. Reid, a Colorado volunteer, had this to say:

La Loma Fight. Major Jose Torres Bugallon, one of the bravest Filipino officers, was killed in the battle of La Loma, near the Chinese cemetery. After capturing La Loma, General MacArthur pushed toward Caloocan. General Antonio Luna and his brave troops were there to fight the Americans.

Caloocan Battle. Describing the Caloocan battle, Charles Bremer, of Minneapolis, Kansas, wrote:

Due to the Americans’ superiority in arms, Caloocan fell. But General Luna didn’t give up.

On February 22, Luna marched towards Manila to try to capture it. He even ordered the burning of houses in the suburbs to create confusion to the American troops. Afterwards he fought the enemy on Azcarraga. General Luna and his troops suffered heavy losses so he then retreated to Polo, Bulacan.

Malabon, Here we Come! The Americans advanced towards Malabon (near Caloocan), as if saying, “Here we come!”

Describing their adventures in Malabon, Anthony Michea of the Third Artillery wrote:

Cavite Fight. Burr Ellis, of Frazier, Valley, California, narrated what he did in Cavite. He wrote:

Help! Help! Help! Reinforcements from the U.S. American reinforces arrived from the United States in late February and early March 1899. Then Americans advanced towards Polo, Bulacan, capturing other towns along the Manila-Dagupan Railway.

Battles in the Visayas. The Americans then decided to invade the Visayan provinces. In particular, General Otis directed General Miller to invade and capture Iloilo Province. The Filipinos, headed by General Martin Delgado, did not surrender as demanded by Miller. Instead, he decided to fight the Americans. The Filipino soldiers burned Iloilo City to prevent the Americans from making it as the enemy’s base of operations.

Describing their invasion of Iloilo City, D.M. Mickle, of the Tennessee Regiment, wrote:

On February 14, 1899, the town of Santa Barbara was captured by the Americans. Next they captured Oton, Mandurriao, and Jaro, Iloilo. On February 22, Cebu was surrendered to the Americans by the Filipinos.

On to Malolos. In central Luzon, by March 30, the Americans were already near Malolos, Bulacan, where the Philippine government was headquartered. General Aguinaldo evacuated Malolos and moved his headquarters to San Isidro, Nueva Ecija.

At that time, General Otis ordered General MacArthur not to pursue Aguinaldo, but to temporarily stay in Malolos. Meanwhile, the Americans immediately captured Bacoor, Zapote, and Dasmarinas, all in Cavite; Paranaque and Las Pinas, in Morong, and Paete, Santa Cruz, and other towns in Laguna.

On April 23, the same year, General Gregorio del Pilar, known as the “boy general,” defeated the American cavalry under Major Bell in a stiff battle in Quinqua (now Plaridel), Bulacan. The enemy suffered heavy losses, including Colonel Stotsenberg who was killed in action. On the other hand, General Licerio Geronimo overpowered the Americans under General Lawton in San Mateo, Morong, in which battle Lawton was killed.

General MacArthur moved towards Kalumpit, Bulacan, where General Luna was waiting for him. According to Teodoro Agoncillo (History of the Filipino People,) when the Americans were about to attack, Luna, together with his foot soldiers, cavalry, and artillery left Kalumpit to punish General Tomas Mascardo for his insubordination. Mascardo was then in Pampanga Province. General del Pilar was left to fight and repulse the enemy, which the “boy general” was not able to do. It was too late when Luna and his soldiers came back at nightfall. The Americans had already broken through the Filipino defensive lines. Thus they lost the fight, The Filipinos sustained other battle losses.

IV. THE WRITINGS OF MARK TWAIN

The Anti-Imperialist League was formed in the United States against the annexation of the Philippines. Among the writers of that time was Mark Twain, vice president of the League from 1901 until his death in 1910.

Mark Twain wrote an essay entitled To the Person Sitting in Darkness. published by the North American Review in February 1901. This essay sparked a nationwide controversy and Mark Twain as one newspaper said “has suddenly become the most influential anti-imperialist and the most dreaded critic of the sacrosanct person in the White House….”

Source: Twain, Mark. To the Person Sitting in Darkness. North American Review 172 (Feb 1901). In Jim Zwick, ed., Anti-Imperialism in the United States, 1898-1935. (December 12, 1996).

Here’s an excerpt from Twain’s essay, To the Person Sitting in Darkness:


V. OTHER HAPPENINGS

As early as March 6, 1899, Apolinario Mabini, in his capacity as premier and minister of foreign affairs, met with the Schurman Commission. The commission had offered the Filipinos some form of autonomous government. Mabini’s request for time to consult the people on the offer and a ceasefire in the meantime was refused. Mabini made another attempt, which turned to be futile, to seek an armistice on April 28. He later issued a manifesto criticizing the Americans, whom he described as a free people trying to rob others of their liberty. He then rallied the Filipino people to go on with the fight against the Americans.

When Mabini resigned from his post on May 7, 1899, President Aguinaldo named Pedro A. Paterno to head a new cabinet. It was Biak-na-Bato all over again. Notified of his replacement by Paterno, Mabini scoffed at the negotiations of the new cabinet on the basis of autonomy, calling it a desire for “independence without any struggle.” As expected, nothing came out of the Paterno peace efforts because the U.S. insisted that the Filipinos lay down their arms first.

Disunity Among the Filipinos. Among the military and political leaders, disunity again caused divisions. Although they were in a war against a common enemy, many of their leaders in the government and in the army sadly still found time to engage in personal, and often bitter quarrels, with disastrous and tragic consequences to the First Philippine Republic. The power struggle served to weaken Filipino unity at a time of great peril to the nation.

Apolinario Mabini was considered an obstacle who was put out of the way with his resignation on May 7, 1899, by those who were later named to the Paterno cabinet. But a more formidable obstacle was General Antonio Luna, who was recognized as the ablest general of the revolution. Earlier, he was one of those who had revealed the existence of the Katipunan to the Spaniards.

A well-off ilustrado, Luna had joined Aguinaldo in 1898 and proved his worth as an officer. As a result, he was appointed commander-in-chief for central Luzon when the Filipino-American hostilities erupted.

However, he had a volatile temper and sharp tongue. He was very vocal against entering into any deal with the Americans; he opposed autonomy and strongly advocated a fight for independence. He even arrested members of the Paterno cabinet after he learned that they were planning to negotiate with the Americans, calling them traitors. Turned over to Aguinaldo, the Cabinet members were turned loose as soon as Luna left. These men then poisoned the mind of Aguinaldo against Luna, saying the hot-headed general was eyeing the presidency. In reality, Luna was only trying to get popular support for his arrest of the Paterno cabinet and to drum up opposition to autonomy.

Here’s how Luna was killed as narrated in the book History of the Filipino People by Teodoro Agoncillo and Milagros C. Guerrero:

Upon Aguinaldo’s invitation, General Luna on June 5, 1899, went to a convent in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, which served as Aguinaldo’s headquarters. When he arrived, Aguinaldo had already left for San Isidro, Nueva Ecija. Luna slapped the sentry at the convent as he went upstairs. There, he saw Felipe Buencamino, whom he despised, and they exchanged heated words. A rifle shot was heard from downstairs. He rushed downstairs, and there, members of the Kawit Company, one of whom he had recommended for punishment, mobbed him. Several stabbed him with daggers; others shot at him. He was able to run to the street. He fired his pistol, but he didn’t hit anybody. Colonel Francisco Roman, his aide-de-camp, came to his defense, but he was shot to death. As he fell on the convent yard, all Luna could say was, “Cow….ards! As…sas…sins!” The next day, he was buried with military honors. However, no soldiers were investigated for the killing.

The killing of Luna was a big blow to the cause of the Filipinos. It was, as Constantino puts it, “Bonifacio’s fate repeated.” His death deprived the nation of an able militarist. After Luna’s death, Aguinaldo ordered all chiefs of brigades under Luna arrested. He also ordered the disarming of two companies suspected of being pro-Luna. Such acts, especially the slaying of Luna, led to the demoralization of the army, as he had had a wide following.

VI. BACK TO THE BATTLEFIELDS

The Filipino army gradually broke up with one defeat after another on the battlefields. By the closing months of 1899, the army of the Philippine Republic was no longer a regular fighting force, and on November 12, 1899, the army was dissolved by Aguinaldo. It was formed into guerrilla units that would carry on the war.

One by one, towns and provinces throughout the archipelago fell to the U.S. forces. Many of his civilian and military officials surrendered to or were captured by the Americans. Many of them, including Mabini, who was captured in December 1899, were deported to Guam in January 1901.

The Capture of Aguinaldo. The capture of Aguinaldo was placed by the Americans as one of their priorities. He was able to avoid capture for quite sometime, though. That was due to the loyalty of many townspeople in the different provinces, who warned his party whenever American troops were closing in.

He was also able to win some more time because of the heroic sacrifice of General Gregorio del Pilar, the “boy general” in the famous Battle of Tirad Pass on December 2, 1900, in Mountain Province. In this narrow 2,800-meter-high pass, General del Pilar, with a handpicked force of only 60 men, held off for more than five hours a battalion of Texans of the U.S. 33rd Volunteers led by Major Peyton C. March. They had been pursuing Aguinaldo and his party. Of the 60, 52 were killed and wounded; one of the last to be killed was General del Pilar.

Aguinaldo was finally captured on March 23, 1901, in Palanan, Isabela Province, by means of a trick planned by Brigadier General Frederick Funston. A party of pro-American Macabebe scouts marched into Palanan pretending to be the reinforcements that Aguinaldo was waiting for. With the Macabebes were two former Filipino army officers, Tal Placido and Lazaro Segovia, who had surrendered to the Americans, and five Americans, including General Funston, who pretended to be captives. Caught by surprise, Aguinaldo’s guards were easily overpowered by the Macabebes after a brief exchange of shots. Aguinaldo was seized by Tal Placido and placed under arrest by General Funston.

He was brought to Manila to be kept a prisoner at Malacañang. There he was treated by General MacArthur more as a guest than as a prisoner. On April 1, 1901, convinced of the futility of continuing the war, the ambivalent Aguinaldo swore allegiance to the United States. On April 19,1901, Aguinaldo issued a proclamation calling on the Filipino people to lay down their arms and accept American rule. His capture signalled the death of the First Philippine Republic. But the war continued.

Dragged by Galloping Horses. During the war, torture was resorted to by American troops to obtain information and confessions. The water cure was given to those merely suspected of being rebels. Some were hanged by the thumbs, others were dragged by galloping horses, or fires lit beneath others while they were hanging.

Another form of torture was tying to a tree and then shooting the suspect through the legs. If a confession was not obtained, he was again shot, the day after. This went on until he confessed or eventually died.

Villages were burned, townfolks massacred and their possessions looted. In Samar and Batangas, Brigadier General Jacob H. Smith and General Franklin Bell, respectively, ordered the mass murders in answer to the mass resistance.

On the other hand, Filipino guerrillas chopped off the noses and ears of captured Americans in violation of Aguinaldo’s orders. There were reports that some Americans were buried alive by angry Filipino guerrillas. In other words, brutalities were perpetrated by both sides.

The Balangiga, Samar, Massacre. The so-called Balangiga Massacre happened in 1901, a few weeks after a company of American soldiers arrived in Balangiga, Samar, upon the request of the town mayor to protect the inhabitants from the raids of Muslims and rebels. How the massacre took place is best described in Joseph Schott’s book, The Ordeal of Samar (The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc./Howard W. Sams & Co., Inc., Publishers, Indianapolis, Indiana, Copyright 1964). Here’s an excerpt from the book:

The night passed and morning came. At about 6:20 a.m. a sergeant was in the door of his squad hut. At that time, the unarmed Americans were going to breakfast. Some of them, of course, had finished their breakfast.

The sergeant saw Pedro Sanchez, chief of police of the town, line up prisoners for work. Then Sanchez sent all the workers to work in the plaza and in the streets. After that, Sanchez went to a hut and even talked with a corporal who knew pidgin Spanish and Visayan.

After speaking with the corporal, Sanchez walked behind Private Adolph Gamlin, the sentry on the area. All of a sudden, Sanchez grabbed the Gamlin’s rifle, and he smashed the rifle’s butt on the American soldier’s head. The Filipino fired a shot and shouted a signal. Then pandemonium broke loose.

Joseph L. Schott, describes what happened next:

Schott continues:

Members of C Company were almost all massacred during the first few minutes of attack. The main action took place around the plaza and tribunal building. There, Filipino bolomen attacked the soldiers. They boloed to death the Americans who tried to escape; other soldiers were hacked from nose to throat.

About 250 Filipinos were reported to have been killed by a number of American troops who were able to get rifles from the rack and shoot at the bolomen. (However, first-hand Filipino accounts put the dead at less than 40.) On the other hand, the Americans suffered 78 casualties: 48 killed and 22 wounded. Only 4 were not injured. (Gamlin survived the massacre. He died at age 92 in the U.S. in 1969.)

(In 1995, Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos, issued Proclamation No. 674 declaring November 15, as “Don Eugenio Daza Day” in eastern Samar. November 15, 1995, marked the 125th birthday anniversary of Daza. Daza, being the overall commander of the revolutionary forces in the east coast of Samar during the Philippine Revolution, was reported to be one of those who have masterminded the Balangiga massacre. Daza, besides being a revolutionary leader, was also a member of the First Philippine Assembly in 1907.)

The Pacification of Samar. Due to the public demand in the U.S. for retaliation, President Theodore Roosevelt ordered the pacification of Samar. And in six months, General “Jake” Smith transformed Balangiga into a “howling wilderness.” He ordered his men to kill anybody capable of carrying arms, including ten-year old boys.

Smith particularly ordered Major Littleton Waller to punish the people of Samar for the deaths of the American troops. His exact orders were: “I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn, the more you kill and burn, the better you will please me.”

‘The Americans Are Coming! The Americans Are Coming!’ Maybe these shouts were heard while the Americans were chasing and shooting the guerrillas and their sympathizers. And maybe, too, some U.S. troops might have uttered: “So there you are! You’ve no where to go!” And the shots were heard as burning houses lighted the night.

When the campaign was over, the U. S. army court-martialed and retired General Smith from the service. There were reports that about one third of the entire population of Samar was annihilated during the campaign.

Moreover, when members of the U.S. Army 11th Infantry Regiment left Balangiga, Samar, they took with them two church bells from the Balangiga Catholic Church. They were placed in a brick display museum in their home base Fort Russell, Wyoming, where they still remain today.

Concentration Camps. General Miguel Malvar of Batangas, who took over the leadership of the fallen Aguinaldo, continued the fight. He was the commanding general of all forces south of the Pasig River. The Americans committed barbaric acts because of the population’s support to the guerrillas.

For instance, by December 25, 1901, all men, women, and children of the towns of Batangas and Laguna, were herded into small areas within the poblacion of their respective towns. The American troops burned their houses, carts, poultry, animals, etc. The people were prisoners for months.

Those acts were considered by many as an early version of the concentration camps used by American soldiers in the Vietnam War.

The same tactics were perpetrated by the American army against non-combatants from March to October 1903 in the province of Albay and in 1905 in the provinces of Cavite and Batangas.

Enough Is Enough. Many Filipino soldiers and military officers surrendered to the Americans, but there were some who refused to give up. On February 27, 1902, General Vicente Lukban, who resorted to ambushing American troops in Samar, was captured in Samar. General Malvar surrendered to General J. Franklin Bell in Lipa, Batangas, on April 16, 1902.

“Official” End of the Philippine-American War. On July 4, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt declared that the Philippine-American War, which Americans called the Philippine Insurrection, was over. He made the declaration after the Philippine Commission reported to Roosevelt that the recent “insurrection” in the Philippines was over and a general and complete state of peace existed.

Sporadic Fighting Continues. Official history proclaims Filipino struggle against the Americans as a short one and honors those who connived with the Americans. But little importance has been given to those who stood by the original goals of the Katipunan.

However, according to author Constantino, peace in the Philippines was merely propaganda. He said, in reality, the reports of the American commanding general and several governors showed that numerous towns and villages remained in a state of constant rebellion. They themselves recognized that this could not have continued without the people’s support. Many collaborators were killed by resistance forces.

The civil government, composed of 6,000 men, was established. It was, however, led by American officers and former members of the Spanish civil guards.

Civil Guards. Initially, the highest rank a Filipino could hold was only second lieutenant. (Americans continued to head the constabulary until 1917.) The constabulary was used to quell local resistance. Constantino terms these suppressive efforts of using a native force “the original Vietnamization.” He adds that some military techniques employed against Philippine resistance groups “strikingly similar to those that have more recently shocked the world.”

The Katipunan Becomes Alive. Many resistance groups under different leaders had emerged during the war years. Luciano San Miguel, who joined the Katipunan in 1886 revived the Katipunan in his command in Zambales Province. He was a colonel when the Philippine-American War broke out. As a commander, he participated in the battles of 1899 in central and western Luzon, including Morong and Bulacan.

In 1902, he was elected national head of the revived Katipunan. He continued the guerrilla war. He died in a battle with Philippine Constabulary and Philippine Scouts in the district of Pugad-Baboy, in Morong, now Metro Manila.

Faustino Guillermo, assumed the leadership of the new Katipunan movement when San Miguel was killed. Others who took part in the guerrilla warfare were Macario Sakay, who had been with Bonifacio and Jacinto during the initial struggles of the Katipunan, and Julian Montalan and Cornelio Felizardo.

The Philippine Constabulary, Philippine Scouts, and elements of the United States Army combined to go after the guerrillas.

In the province of Albay, General Simeon Ola launched guerrilla raids on U.S.-occupied towns until his surrender on September 25, 1903. He was the last Filipino general to surrender to the Americans.

Sakay, leader of a band of patriotic Filipinos and whom the Americans branded as a bandit, continued to fight. He even established the Tagalog “Republic.” He surrendered on July 14, 1906. Sakay and his men were tried and convicted as bandits. Sakay was hanged on September 13, 1907.

VII. FLASHBACK: THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AMERICAN RULE

The first government established by the Americans in the Philippines followed the surrender of Manila in August 1898. It was a military government. During the duration of the war, the Philippines was ruled by the president of the United States in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. In its brief existence, from 1898 to 1901, the military government established a supreme court composed of six Filipinos and three Americans. The first chief justice was Cayetano Arellano.

Towns and provincial governments were organized and elections for local officials held. Also introduced was the public school system in the Philippines, with English being taught for the first time; American soldiers acted as the first English teachers.

On March 2, 1901, the military government in the Philippines ceased to exist when the United States Congress enacted the Army Appropriations Act. This law carried the Spooner Amendment, which removed from the United States president the final authority to govern the Philippines. This power was to be exercised by the United States Congress through the president.

As a result, a civil government was established in the Philippines and inaugurated on July 4, 1901. Judge William H. Taft was the first civil governor. (In 1905, the title was changed to governor general).

Taft’s Role. History schoolbooks portray Taft as a well-loved governor who did his best to promote the welfare of the Filipinos. He adopted a “Philippines for the Filipinos” policy, thereby even earning him the ire of Americans who wanted to exploit the country for their own selfish interests. It was said to be during his administration that many of the “foundations of a stable and democratic government” were laid. One of his greatest achievements was supposedly the purchase of 410,000 acres of friar lands. He resold them to landless Filipino tenants on easy installment terms.

On the other hand, Constantino says that, if taken in the correct context, Taft’s “Philippines for the Filipinos” was “not an endorsement of Philippine independence” but “good business.” As he saw it, an improvement in the standard of living and education for the Filipinos create a taste for American products, resulting in a potential market for American products.

Philippine Bill of 1902. The next stage in the development of civil government in the Philippines was the passing of the Cooper Act on July 1, 1902, or the Philippine Bill of 1902. It was the first organic law for the Philippines enacted by the United States Congress and named after its sponsor, U.S. Representative Henry A. Cooper of Wisconsin.

Among its key provisions were

1) a bill of rights for the Filipinos;

2) the appointment of two Filipino resident commissioners to represent the Philippines in the United States Congress but without voting rights;

3) the establishment of a Philippine Assembly to be elected by the Filipinos two years after the publication of a census and only after peace had been completely restored in the country.

VIII. EPILOGUE

It took the United States more than three years to defeat the army of the first Philippine Republic. However, the outcome of the war was never in doubt, mainly because the United States enjoyed tremendous military advantages.

In numbers alone, the U.S. was superior. Although there were only 20,032 enlisted men and 819 officers in the U.S. Expeditionary Force in the Philippines as of January 31, 1899, more troops arrived in subsequent months. By April 16, 1902, more than 120,000 American soldiers had fought or served in the Philippines. Even more superior were the arms used by the Americans, who were well-equipped. U.S. warships were on the coast, ready to fire their big guns when needed.

In contrast, the Filipino arms were a motley of rifles. Some had been supplied by the Americans during the Spanish-American War, others smuggled in by Filipino patriots, seized from the Spanish army, or taken from American soldiers. Artillery was likewise limited. Most of their cannons were captured from the Spaniards. Many Filipino soldiers did not even have guns, but used spears, lances and bolos (big knives) in fighting. Filipino soldiers also lacked military training. They did manage to win some small battlefield encounters, but these only delayed the ultimate victory for the Americans. Their resistance did not arouse public opinion in America against the U.S. military campaigns in the Philippines to the same degree that American public opinion forced the United States to withdraw from the Vietnam War more than 70 years later.

Nevertheless, the United States had to pay a very high price, more than 4,000 American soldiers’ lives. One of them was Major General Henry C. Lawton, who was killed in the Battle of San Mateo on December 23, 1899. He was the highest-ranking U.S. military officer to be killed in action in the Philippine-American War. The U.S. government also spent about $600 million in all.

(Excerpted from The Filipino Americans (From 1763 to the Present) Their History, Culture, and Traditions by Veltisezar Bautista.)

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