12 MAY

1962 - Philippine Independence Day is moved from July 4 to June 12 by President Diosdado Macapagal through Republic Act No. 4166  in a rare show of nationalism by Filipinos who have long observed the American-dictated post-World War II July 4 (1946) as Independence Day; the Philippines declared itself independent from Spanish rule on June 12, 1898 and established the Philippine Republic on January 23, 1899 before the American imperialists under President William McKinley began its colonization of the Southeast Asian archipelago a month later, triggering the bloody and savage Philippine-American War that raged for about a decade.