Monday, September 12, 2011

Bataan Death March


(April 9, 1942)


Ø   Major Gen. Edward P. King, Jr. – commanding Luzon force, surrendered more than 75,000 starving and disease-ridden POWs (67,000 Filipinos, 1,000 Chinese Filipinos, 11,796 Americans)
Ø  The Death March from Bataan to San Fernando is a 60-mile (97 kms) march to death.
Ø  From San Fernando, the POWs were crammed into rail cars to captivity to Camp O’Donnell.
Ø  Approximately 54,000 of the 75,000 prisoners reach their destination. 
Ø  Around 5,000 to 10,000 Filipino and 600 – 650 American POWs died before they could reach Camp O’Donnell.
Ø  Cruelties:
o   Prisoners were beaten randomly, denied of food and water.
o   Those who fell behind were usually executed or left to die.
o   According to witnesses, those who broke rank for a drink of water were executed, some decapitated.




References:

Text and pictures from en.wikipedia.org

Sunday, September 11, 2011

The American Occupation


American Occupation

The Biak-na-Bato Republic was patterned after the Cuban Constitutuion of Jimaguayu.  It was signed on November 1, 1897.  It demands for the following:

1.     The friars should leave the country and return to Filipinos the lands they had forcibly grabbed.
2.     Representation in the Spanish Cortes.
3.     Freedom of Expression and consent to all religions.
4.     Equal regard and payment to those employed in the civil government.
5.     Abolition of the government’s power to throw people into exile.
6.     Equality in the eyes of the law.

The Pact of Biak-na-Bato

Pedro A. Paterno – negotiator, signed in behalf of the revolutionaries
Emilio Aguinaldo – President of the Philippine Revolutionary Government
Primo de Rivera – representative for the colonial government

Conditions:
1.     Voluntary exile of Aguinaldo and his followers outside the country.
2.     Payment of P800,000 by the Spanish government to the rebels in the following manner:
Ø  P400,000 to Aguinaldo upon leaving Biak-na-Bato
Ø  P200,00 if the arms turned over by the revolutionaries to the government exceeded 700
Ø  The remaining P200,000 once the Te Dem  had been sung and the governor general had proclaimed general amnesty
3.     An additional P900,000 as payment to the families of civilian Filipinos who were harmed in the armed conflict

The pact was signed on December 15, 1897, ending the uprising which Bonifacio had begun.  Aguinaldo left for Hong Kong on December 27 with the P400,000 initial payment.

The Spanish-American War

On February 15, 1898, the warship Maine was blown in Port Havana. On April 25, the US congress formally declared war against Spain.

The Battle of Manila Bay

On May 1, 1898 seven armed ships led by Commodore George Dewey entered Manila and assaulted the Spanish fleet in Sangley Point, Cavite.

Aguinaldo’s Return

May 17 – left Hong Kong
May 19 – arrived in Manila

Secret Agreement between Spain and America

Commodore Dewey and Gen. Wesley Merritt with Gen. Fermin Jaudines

Ø  Mock battle between the Americans and the Spaniards
Ø  Spaniards would surrender to the American troops
Ø  Filipinos would not be allowed to participate in the Spaniards’ surrender

The Mock Battle of Manila Bay

August 13, 9:30 am.  Olympia bombed Fort San Antonio Abad with Gen. Greene attacking from Malate, and Mac Arthur from Singalong.  By 11:20 am, the Spaniards raised the white flag.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

The Philippines under Spain


Please click here for the lecture notes for the Philippines under Spain part 1  and part 2

Monday, January 10, 2011

The Right to Vote

Important Terms

Suffrage

- the right to vote in public elections

Election

- the right of people to choose the persons to whom they entrust the power of government for a definite and fixed period.

Plebiscite

- a vote by which the people of the entire country or district express an opinion for or against a proposal especially on a choice of government or ruler. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plebiscite)

Referendum

- a general vote made by the people of a country for or against a particular government proposal or law.

Initiative

- a process that allows citizens to propose legislation by petition

Recall

- the procedure by which a public official may be removed from office by popular vote (The American Heritage Dictionary)




TRIVIAS

- Women Suffrage in the Philippines was first exercised on December 14, 1937 in a local election

- Carmen Planas, the first woman elected as city councilor of Manila in 1937

- Elisa R. Ochoa, the first woman elected to the House of Representative in 1941