31 DECEMBER

1943 - Future Filipino revolutionary, labor leader and writer Hermenegildo Cruz is born  to a poor family in Binondo, Manila during the Spanish colonial times; he would serve as second lieutenant to Gen. Antonio Luna during the Philippine Revolution, and later as pressman at the general's printing  shop that would publish the fledgling Philippine Republic's official organ, the "La Independencia"; Cruz would lose his job after organizing a labor union at Luna's printing press, but later in Manila, he would organize the Southeast Asian country's first labor union, the Union Obrera Democratica de Filipinas; Cruz  would also head a committee to draft labor bills for the colonial Philippine Assembly in 1907, midway into the protracted Filipino-American  War (1899-1914), before eventually becoming the director of the Bureau of Labor in 1924; Cruz would also be known for his authorship of  "Kartilyang Makabayan," the first biographical work on Katipunan Supremo  Andres Bonifacio, and of "Kung Sino ang Kumatha ng Florante."

Henry Otley Beyer

1966 - Henry Otley Beyer, dubbed the "Father" or "Dean" or "Pioneer" of  Philippine Anthropology," dies at the  old age of 73; born of Bavarian  ancestry, Beyer was an American holder of a  master's degree in chemistry who volunteered to teach in the then-colony of the imperialist United States, the Philippines, in 1905; owing to his interest in the field of ethnology, he eventually became an anthropologist and anthropologist who lived most of his life in the Cordilleras and ultimately marrying an Ifugao, Lingngayo na'Gambu';  professor emeritus at  the University of the Philippines, Beyer authored "Population of the Philippine Islands," "Philippine Ethnographic Series," "The Philippines before Magellan," the multi-volume "Philippine Folklore, Customs, and Beliefs" before eventually becoming synonymous with anthropology beginning the mid-1920s when he co-authored "A History of the Orient" (1926), "Philippine Customary Law" (1930) and the "Chinese, Siamese and other Oriental Ceramic Ware in the Philippine Islands" (1930).


Photo credit: http://books.google.com/books?id=KXmIq_BGr8wC&dq=Henry+Otley+Beyer&source=gbs_navlinks_s

30 DECEMBER

Execution of Jose Rizal y Mercado

1896 - Filipino patriot and polymath  Jose Protacio Mercado Rizal is executed in Bagumbayan, Manila by Spanish-officered, native manned squad before thousands of spectators colonial authorities for supposed rebellion, sedition, and conspiracy in connection with the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution of 1896; Rizal had aroused patriotic sentiments through his propaganda work and his books Noli Me Tangere and El  Filibusterismo that depicted the pathetic situation of the Filipinos under the colonizers; the Noli Me Tangere particularly earned the ire of the abusive friars who called it heretic, impious, injurious to the colonial government, and scandalous to the Catholic Church; Rizal was implicated in the Revolution owing to his association with members of the secret-society-turned-revolutionary-government Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan but he actually subsequently disowned the revolutionary movement based on how he chose to serve the colonial Mother Country as a volunteer medic in Cuba and on his manifesto condemning the 1896 revolution and the unauthorized use of his name. 
 
1896 - Josephine MacBride Bracken reunites with her lover, Filipino patriot and polymath Jose  Rizal just before the latter's execution by the Spanish colonial authorities; Bracken would hand over to Andres Bonifacio, the Supremo of the Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan, a copy of Rizal's "Mi Ultimo Adios" poem when she enters the rebels' territory in Cavite accompanied by Rizal's siblings, Paciano and  Trinidad; earlier, Bracken and Rizal could not get married because Rizal was a mason but two hours before Rizal's execution, the couple is married  under Catholic rites by Fr. Victor  Balaguer.

President Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay

1953 - Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay, the  seventh officially recognized  President of the Philippines, takes  his oath of office in the grandstand  by Manila Bay; the former Defense  Secretary of his predecessor,  President Elpidio Quirino, Magsaysay's  candidacy would later be revealed to  have been backed up by the Central  Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the  imperialist United States of America,  with CIA operative David Sternberg  fronting as foreign correspondent but  assisting another operative, Gabriel  Kaplan, in managing Magsaysay's  presidential campaign; Magsaysay would  be endeared to the Filipino masses  mainly through his approachability,  including policy of opening the doors of Malacanang to the people, and  his simplicity.

29 DECEMBER

Torture of Bicol Martyrs

1896 - Around 17 Filipinos from Bicol province face a Spanish colonial  military court in Manila on charges of rebellion and sedition four months  after the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution; Domingo Abella, Manuel Abella, Camilo Jacob, Cornelio Mercado, Florencio Lerma, Mariano Melgarejo, P. Gabriel Prieto, Tomas Prieto, Macario Valentin, Leon Hernandez at Mariano Ordenanza, Ramon Abella and Mariano Arana  and priests Severo Estrada, Manuel  Subarbano, Severino Diaz, and Inocencio Herrera, were mostly arrested based on confessions  extracted by Spanish soldiers through the torture of Vicente Lukban, future  general of the revolution and the subsequent Philippine-American War (1899-1914); before being shipped to Manila, the suspected Bicolano rebels were tortured through beatings, starvation and hanging by the thumbs and insulted, with eleven of them being adjudged guilty sentenced to die by firing squad in Bagumbayan (Domingo Abella, Manuel Abella, Fr. Diaz, Fr. Herrera, Jacob, Mercado, Lerma, Melgarejo, Fr. Prieto, Tomas Prieto, and Valentin); Hernandez at Ordenanza will die in prison, as Ramon Abella and Arana will deported to Fernando Po island off Africa while Fr. Subarno and Fr. Estrada will be cleared and will live to tell the story.

1896 - Rival Magdiwang and Magdalo chapters-turned-factions of the secret-society-turned revolutionary  government  Kagalanggalangang Katipunan  nang  manga Anak nang  Bayan (KKK) meet to try to settle differences and possibly merge to further the aims of the Philippine Revolution, including in their discussion the framing of a constitution despite already having one earlier adopted by the Katipunan councils and chapters; while the differences remain unsettled, a plan is discussed to snatch Jose Rizal from the colonial Spaniards who were set to execute the patriot the following day although Rizal's brother, Paciano Rizal, would douse the plan when he points out that his brother would agree to his escape if only one person's life would be jeopardized. 

1899 - Bubonic plague starts to appear in the Southeast Asian archipelago, the Philippines, nearly 11 months after the outbreak of the Philippine-American War (1899-1914); the detestable rat-borne communicable disease would be continuously present to some degree until Summer 1906 and again erupting in 1913 until 1914; the horrific invasion of the Philippines by the imperialist United States of America will bring some 200,000 direct deaths (by conservative estimates) and about a million total direct and indirect deaths on the part of the Filipinos owing to the indiscriminate killings, use of concentration camps, "water cure" torture and other brutal war tactics by the Bald Eagle nation.


Photo credit: http://www.bicolmail.com/issue/2009/july30/1896.html

28 DECEMBER

1838 - Spanish colonial friar Pedro P. Pelaez ridiculously calls attention to the supposed ignorance and the ancient barbaric, "idolatry" practices of the Filipino natives during a bold sermon delivered  before Gov. Andres Camba made in honor of Nuestra Sra. De la Guia; admonishing the Spaniards for  supposedly not doing anything to help the people, Pelaez describes the  natives' old "idolatry" practices as "pitiable," mocking them for lacking  the concept of a supreme being and for giving reverence to "trees, rocks,  reefs and headlands" or their ancestors; the Spanish colonizers who began settling in the Philippines in the 16th century, had destroyed much of the culture and historical records of the Philippines, destroying most traditions of the natives and their system of writing which the Spaniards call as "works of the devil."

Sketch of Leonor Rivera

1881 - Leonor Rivera, the girlfriend  of  Jose Rizal, Filipino patriot and  polymath during the Spanish colonial  period, chides the latter in a letter  for failing to write her earlier;  signed "Taimis" (the name by which  Rizal calls her), Rivera expresses  disgust over Rizal's failure to write  her even as he wrote to her father,  describing him as "like a newly opened  rose, very flushed and fragrant at the  beginning, but afterwards it begins to  wither."

Teodora Alonzo de Rizal with young Leonora Rivera

1896 - Teodora Alonzo de Rizal, the  mother of Jose Rizal y Mercado,  Filipino patriot and polymath  sentenced to die by execution, writes  a letter of appeal imploring the  Spanish colonial authorities to grant  pardon to her son; Alonzo de Rizal, who herself had been persecuted by the Spanish authorities and suffered imprisonment for 2 1/2 years,  writes that the crime of rebellion  attributed to her son "has not been  proven in a conclusive manner" and that  he is in fact "innocent" of the "most  infamous of crimes" against the Mother  Country; Rizal, who wrote books  castigating Spanish friars' abuses  against Filipinos, had earlier been  convicted by the colonial Council of  War of the crimes of rebellion,  sedition, and conspiracy because of  his association with members of the  secret-society-turned-revolutionary- government Kagalanggalangang Katipunan  nang manga Anak nang Bayan following  the outbreak of the Philippine  Revolution against Spain in August  1896; Rizal had indicted a manifesto calling the Katipunan Himagsikan as "highly absurd."


Photo credits:

http://joserizal.info/Biography/man_and_martyr/chapter18.htm
http://triciacampos2007.wordpress.com/2007/11/29/the-9-women-of-rizal/

27 DECEMBER

1735 - A big tidal wave or 'tromba  marina' wipes out the town of Baler in  the future Quezon province in the  Philippine archipelago during the  American colonial period, with only 14  families surviving--the Angaras,  Bijasas, Bitongs, Lumasacs,  Carrasocos, and Pobletes; the early  inhabitants of Baler were the Ilongot  and Dumagat natives and during the  Spanish colonial period, was formed  into a municipality by the Franciscan  friars led by Fr. Francisco de San  Antonio in 1611.
 

1875 - Juan Sumulong y Marquez, future  revolutionary and political Opposition  stalwart, is born in Antipolo, Rizal  during the Spanish colonial times; he would join the  Philippine Revolution against Spain while a law student at the University of  Santo Tomas, specifically joining with the revolutionaries based in Morong Province (today's Rizal); Sumulong, however, would early on collaborate with the new colonial American government by serving as private secretary to the civil governor of Morong even as the  Philippine-American War (1899-1914) rages on; he would become president of the Partido Nacional Progresista that would aim for gradual Philippine Independence and, later, of Democrata Party (merger party with Teodoro Sandiko's Artido Democrata Nacional); Sumulong, who would be described by nationalist solon Claro M. Recto as having "a high reputation for intellectual capacity and integrity," would be noted for being the "Brains of the Opposition" during the ascendancy of Manuel L. Quezon during the American colonial period.  
 


Photo credit: http://www.friendster.com/photos/15590350/1/579262994#pic=01579262994

26 DECEMBER

Composer Antonio J. Molina

1894 - Antonio J. Molina, future Filipino national artist for music, is born to  a wealthy and influential government official, Juan Molina, in Quiapo,  Manila during the Spanish colonial times; Molina will earn his teacher's  diploma in violoncello from the Conservatory of music at the University of the Philippines and will emerge as an eminent violoncellist, composer, music administrator, conductor and teacher; he will perform in Vietnam from 1923-1924 where he will prominently figure, playing at  the Exclusive Societe Philharmonique de Hanoi, will teach at the University of the Philippines, become the first Filipino composer to be invited to perform his own works in Malacanang, and will conduct the very first concert aired in Philippine television; Molina will write over 500 musical compositions in his lifetime, receiving various citations and awards, including the 1973 National Artist Award and the Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1965 and 1972.

1898 - The first and official raising of the Philippine flag in Mindanao island occurs in Surigao six months after the Declaration of Philippine Independence but more than three months after the infamous Mock Battle of Manila falsely made it appear that the Spanish colonizers in the Southeast Asian archipelago were defeated not by the Filipinos but by the imperialist Americans; while it will not become clear whether the flag-raising is sanctioned or not by the central government of Gen. Emilio F. Aguinaldo, what will be ascertained is that a provisional junta government headed by Alejandro Gomez is established in clear identification with the aims and struggles of the Philippine Revolution as news of Aguinaldo's establishment of a dictatorial government reached Filipino sympathizers to the revolution against Spain and as news of the defeat of the Spanish armada by the United States forced Spanish officials and friars to abandon their posts in Surigao.

25 DECEMBER

1898 - The fledgling Philippine Republic government of Gen. Emilio F. Aguinaldo decrees December 30 as "a national day of mourning" and the anniversary of the death of patriot and polymath Jose Mercado Rizal; on December 30, 1896, Rizal was executed by the Spanish colonial government for supposed rebellion, sedition, and conspiracy as he was implicated in the secret-society-turned-revolutionary-government Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan despite the fact that he issued a manifesto disowning the Philippine Revolution of 1896; the decree comes some two weeks after the anomalous Treaty of Paris wherein imperialist United States supposedly bought the Philippines for $20 million dollars and some five weeks before the bloody and protracted Filipino-American War (1899-1914). 

1898 - Tomas S. Fonacier, future  outstanding Filipino historian and  educator who would be responsible for  founding the University of the  Philippines Iloilo College, is born in  Laoag, Ilocos Norter; as historian,  Fonacier would be noted for "The  Filipino Racial Memory" (1958), "The  Chinese in the Philippines During the  American Regime (1933); "Gregorio Aglipay y Labayan" (short biography  published in 1954); and "The Ilocano  Movement" (1953).

1918 - Felix Manalo y Ysagun, Filipino founder of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), is honored as an outstanding evengelist by the ministers of the Christian mission, some four years after founding his own church, the INC; Manalo went through a razzle-dazzle period of soul-searching--joining the Philippine Independent Church, then Colorum, the Methodist Episcopalian Church, and then the Seventh Day Adventist--before eventually finding his spiritual truth in his church; in 1922 during the  period wherein he would be accused of  immorality (for supposedly  raping/molesting 30 or so women  members of INC), Manalo would  introduce in his church the important  Sugo doctrine claiming that he is the  messenger of God, the fifth angle of  Revelation.

Sen. Mamintal Tamano

1928 - Future Filipino senator and advocate of Muslim political autonomy, Mamintal Tamano, is born in Tampacan, Lanao; a member of the Maranao tribe, Tamano would envision the process of national integration, including Muslim integration, as a way to achieve unity in diversity in the Philippine archipelago; Tamano, who would be noted for being a Muslim senator with the longest time in office, would become a member of the Upper House before and after Martial Law--from 1969-1972 and 1987-1992--and would principally author Republic Act 6848 providing for the Al-Amanah Islamic Investment Bank's charter, as well as RA 6969 that bans the importation, transportation, disposal, and sale of toxic and nuclear wastes.


Photo credits:

Wikipedia
http://kalisnglawin.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html
 http://www.upvanguard.org/about/up-vanguard-hall-of-fame

24 DECEMBER

1859 - Future Filipino revolutionary  leader Juan Faller Climaco is born in  Cebu City; Climaco, who will be orphaned in his adolescence and will inherit his parents' riches and  businesses, will join the Philippine Revolution against Spain following the arrival of the followers of the underground-society-turned-revolutionary-government Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang  manga Anak nang  Bayan (KKK) Supremo Andres Bonifacio (Gil Domingo  and Hermogenes Plata) in Cebu on a mission to enlist the Cebuanos' support for continued Filipino resistance against Spain; Climaco, who will take up the cudgels of revolutionary leadership in Cebu along  with Arcadio Maxilom following the traitorous death of Pantaleon  Villegas, will be noted for the letter  he will pen in behalf of Cebuano revolutionaries during the subsequent  Filipino-American War (1899-1914) and defiantly addressed to the imperialist  United States Congress which will conclude: "We further express to you that we gladly accept the temporary protection of your country, but as to its sovereignty, never."

1941 - The Japanese attacks Jolo, Sulu island in the southern part of the  American colony in Southeast Asia, the Philippines, during the Second World  War; the entire province of Sulu, which is important as staging area for the Japanese invasion of North Borneo, succumbed to the forces of Asia's giant; owing to the corollary brutality of the Japanese who will initially  execute Chinese residents of Jolo in  retaliation for their support for Chinese resistance against the Japanese invasion in China, a number of fragmented secret armed groups will be organized until a Tausug, Abdulrahim Imao, founds a guerrilla outfit that will form the nucleus of effective guerilla resistance against the Japanese.


Photo credit: http://hubpages.com/hub/World-War-II-The-Invasion

23 DECEMBER

1900 - Early traitors ("Amboys") to  the cause of Philippine independence  form the Partido Federal (Federal Party) in No. 37 Villalobos Street in Quiapo, Manila only 10 months into the bloody and protracted Filipino-American War (1899-1914); elites that include T. H. Pardo de Tavera, Estanislao Legaspi, Mariano Abella, Tomas del  Rosario, Hipolito B. Magsalin, Felipe  S. Buencamino, Agustin de la Rosa, Simplicio S. Del Rosario, many of whom were members of the former La Liga Filipina, the Malolos Congress and/or cabinet members of Gen. Emilio  Aguinaldo's government, issue a manifesto expressing their primary aim of bringing about the conclusion of the Filipino-American War (1899-1914) and restoring peace in the whole country by accepting colonial status before the imperialist United States of  America; the Partido Federal will actively pursue the surrender of freedom-fighting guerrilla leaders before the Bald Eagle colonial government through discussions and appeals beginning February of the following year.


Photo credit: http://philippineamericanwar.webs.com/ilustradoscollaborate.htm

22 DECEMBER

Gen. Flaviano Yengko y Abad

1874 - Future Filipino revolutionary  general Flaviano Yengko y Abad is  born in Tondo, Manila during the  Spanish colonial times; as a  university student--taking up bachelor  of arts at the Colegio de San Juan de  Letran and law in the University of  Santo Tomas--Yengko will become known  for his charitable ways and  versatility as well for his eloquence  in oratory and debate; as the  Philippine Revolution breaks out in  August 1896, Yengko will courageously  take up the challenge to fight for his  country by joining the underground-society-turned-revolutionary-government Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang  manga Anak nang  Bayan (KKK) and  leaving law school; Yengko will first  see action at the Battle of Binakayan  in November 9, thereafter becoming a  captain in Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo's  general staff before rising in rank up  to brigadier general; the young  revolutionary general will die on  March 3, 1897 in a military hospital  in Imus after being shot in the  abdomen during the Spanish assault in  Salitran as part of the  intensive Spanish military offensive in Cavite.

1888 - Tomas B. Mapua, Filipino  outstanding architect and educator,  founder of the prestigious Mapua  Institute of Technology, dies at the  ripe old age of 77; Mapua earned his  high school and bachelor of  architecture degree in the United  States after which he worked for the  Bureau of Public Works, pursued  private practice, and was later  appointed supervising architect under  which capacity he took charge of great  government construction projects such  as the Philippine General Hospital and  the National Mental Hospital; the  first ever licensed Filipino  architect, Mapua won recognition for  several of his private projects,  including his design of the La Salle  College Building that led him to best  his competitor architects (three  Spaniards, two Americans, one Filipino  and one German).


Photo credit:

http://fil.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Flaviano_Yengko

21 DECEMBER

Fr. Gregorio Aglipay y Labayan

1889 - Filipino and future revolutionary  Gregorio Aglipay y Labayan is ordained  priest of the Catholic Church during the Spanish colonial times; Aglipay will take part in the Philippine Revolution against Spain by urging his fellow priests to organize themselves into one cohesive body and will be the only priest-signatory of the Malolos Congress, the body that  will draft the Constitution of what will be the fledgling Philippine Republic under Gen. Emilio F. Aguinaldo; Aglipay will later advocate the Filipinization of the Catholic clergy in the Philippines from the archbishops down to the parish priests but, upon rejection by Vatican, will subsequently form the  Philippine Independent Church (Aglipayan Church); during the Philippine-American War (1899-1914), Aglipay will take up arms and become a guerrilla leader of the Filipino freedom-fighters but would surrender as Gen. Aguinaldo will quickly swear loyalty to the enemy American flag after the imperialists capture him in Palanan, Isabela.

Imperialist U.S. President William McKinley

1898 - Imperialist United States President William McKinley declares  his propaganda-style vile invasion designs on the Philippines with his declaration of the "Policy of Benevolent Assimilation" some four months after the notorious Mock Battle of Manila and 11 days after the signing of the Treaty of Paris; the wicked doublespeak of McKinley is seen in how he expressed his supposed intention to to win the Filipinos' "confidence, respect and affection" by coming "not as invaders and conquerors but as friends" while instructing the American military leaders to claim sovereignty over the whole  Philippines; Filipino leader Gen. Emilio F. Aguinaldo had earlier stupidly allowed the free entry of Bald Eagle  G.I.s into the Southeast Asian archipelago after  being conned by American officials into thinking that the U.S. was an ally against the Spanish colonizers, thus allowing the enemy Americans to  position themselves for the eventual invasion.

1892 - Future outstanding Filipino  historian, Rizalist, and educator Nicolas Zafra y Alviar is born in San  Fernando, La Union during the Spanish  colonial times; Zafra will earn two  bachelor degrees and a masters degree,  major in history, from the University of the Philippines and will soon  become a Fullbright research grantee  before leading the committee that will be tasked to  review the biography of hero Jose  Rizal, "The First Filipino," before  submission to the Rizal Centennial Committee; Zafra will considerably contribute to the propagation of Philippine history, with works that will include  Historicity of Rizal's Retraction (Bookmark, 1961); A Short History of the Philippines (1966); Philippine History Through Selected  Sources (1967); and Oriental History (co-authorship with Ganzon).

20 DECEMBER

1879 - Delfina Herbosa y Rizal, future Filipina revolutionary and niece of patriot and polymath Jose Rizal, is born during the Spanish colonial times; Herbosa's family will suffer persecution from the colonial authorities because of her uncle's writings, primarily the Noli Me Tangere that will expose the abuses of the Spanish friars; she will join the women's chapter of the underground-society-turned-revolutionary-government Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang  manga Anak nang  Bayan (KKK) where she will meet her future husband, Jose Salvador Natividad, both of whom will be involved together in various battles against the Spaniards; following the Pact of Biak-na-Bato truce, she and her husband will join the resulting  self-exile of revolutionary leaders in Hong Kong where Herbosa-Natividad will help Marcella Agoncillo sew the Philippine flag that will be unfurled on June 12, 1898 in Kawit, Cavite.

1896 - Filipino composer Jose Libornio y Sabas is appointed "Director General de las Bandas de Musicos del Ejercito" by the Supreme Government of Peru; disguising himself as a native of Cartagena, Spain, Libornio will become a hero in Peru after producing many different musical compositions that included the South American country's National Army March and a march dedicated to the Peruvian general; born to a teacher and embroideress in Sta. Ana, Manila during the Spanish colonial times, Libornio was given to and raised in a hospicio where he learned the flute after his father died; Libornio would later join the Colegio de Piples of the Manila Cathedral, study piano and violin, become a band member of the Spanish Infantry Regiment No. 7, and be a Charini Circus musician before sailing for Honolulu, the United States, Mexico, and finally in Peru in 1895.

19 DECEMBER

Imperialist Gen. Henry W. Lawton shot

1899 - A Filipino freedom-fighting sniper under the command of Gen. Licerio I. Geronimo fatally shoots Gen. Henry Ware Lawton of the invading imperialist United States forces during the Philippine-American War (1899-1914); the minor success of the Filipinos is carried out by the Tiradores de la Muerte (Marksmen of Death) led by Geronimo, Division General of the Filipino forces in Rizal province during the historic Battle of San Mateo wherein the Filipinos route the brigade of the enemy Americans consisting of battalions from the 29th Infantry, 27th Infantry, and a cavalry and foot squadron from the 11th Cavalry; Lawton would be the highest ranking Bald Eaglel official killed during the bloody and protracted Filipino-American War. 

Sen. Geronima Tomelden-Pecson

1896 - The future first Filipina Senator, Geronima Tomelden y Palisoc, is  born in Barrio Libson, Lingayen,  Pangasinan; Tomelden, who would marry Potenciano Pecson, would become a  "silent achiever" and be known as  "super-social worker" who would first  become a teacher and significantly  contribute to improving the plight of  Filipino teachers, including her push  for the 1953 Free and Compulsory  Education Act and the Vocational  Education Act; Tomelden-Pecson's election as senator would be remarkable for breaking the glass ceiling for Filipina women in the country's highest legislative body, especially considering her landing No. 3 in the total number of votes earned for senator; Geronima Tomelden-Pecson would also be the first woman to be elected to UNESCO's executive board.


Photo credits:

Filipiniana.net
http://www.unesconatcom.ph/about_milestones.html

18 DECEMBER

1856 - Future Filipino orator, patriot, and propagandist Graciano Lopez y Jaena is born in Jaro, Iloilo during the Spanish colonial times; born to poor parents Maria Jacob Jaena and Placido Lopez, Graciano would be schooled in the Colegio Provincial, an institution owned by a Filipino priest, and would later study Theology in Jaro but as he would aspire instead to be a medical doctor, sailed to Manila upon pledge of financial support from a diplomat relative; in lieu of the preparatory course to enter the University of Santo Tomas' School of Medicine, he served as an apprentice at the San Juan de Dios Hospital; owing to financial difficulties, he returned to Iloilo with only two years of apprenticeship during a period that will make him realize the miserable socioeconomic conditions of the natives; he will soon become an advocate of  equality and freedom, leading him on crusades that would enrage the colonial authorities; he will be most famous for his "Fray Butod" or Big Bellied Friar satire that exposed the Spanish friar's laziness, greed, cruelty, and lust; he would later flee to Spain to pursue Medicine and also continue his reform crusades, specifically his advocacy for liberal measures in the colony, the Philippines; in Spain, he would form the propaganda organ La Solidaridad together with Jose Rizal and Marcelo H. del Pilar in what would be known as the Propaganda triumvirate that would lead Filipino propagandists working for reforms in the "motherland."

17 DECEMBER

National Scientist Julian A. Banzon

1962 - Filipino  biophysical chemist,  professor, scholar and future national scientist Julian Arca Banzon attends the  four-day International Atomic Energy  Agency Study Group Meeting on the Utilization of Research Reactors; a  Bachelor of Science in Chemistry degree holder at the University of the  Philippines, he pursued graduate studies at the Iowa State University under the colonial "Pensionado" program during the imperialist  American Occupation of the Philippines and would later be recognized for his outstanding research work on "renewable sources of chemicals and fuels." notably coconut and sugar cane and other indigenous materials.

Patriot Wenceslao Q. Vinzons

1942 - Wenceslao Quinto Vinzons, solon, patriot, and armed resistance leader fights his first big  battle against the Japanese forces in  Tigbinan in Bicol during World War II;  Vinzons was a student leader activist  and one of the delegates elected to draft the American-colonial-era 1935 Philippine Constitution and is also noted for supporting Gen.  Emilio F. Aguinaldo's (losing) candidacy against President Manuel L.  Quezon; elected to the national assembly in 1941, the Japanese will successfully hunt him down as they learned he was an important man in their bid to enlist his support for Japan's Co-Prosperity Sphere but Vinzons will choose to die, along with his wife, two children, father and sister rather than cooperate, saying "nothing can make me happier than to die for my country."


Photo credits:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wvinzons.jpg
http://sarisaringasayments.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html

16 DECEMBER

1913 - Filipino revolutionary, patriot, and jurist Ramon Quiosay Avancena becomes Associate Justice of the colonial Supreme Court during the period of the imperialist American rule, at the close of the unsuccessful but valiant fight for freedom of the natives against the enemy United States forces during bloody and protracted Philippine American War (1899-1914); Avancena was part of the provisional revolutionary government established in Iloilo during the Philippine Revolution against Spain and would also play a part during the Japanese Occupation as vice-chairman of the Preparatory Commission for Philippine Independence; in his service as jurist, Avencena would be known for being gentle in manner but firm and independent in his decisions; in his honor, a public high school located in Quiapo, Manila would be named after him.

1958 - Outstanding Filipina educator and achiever Concepcion Andal Aguila  dies of cancer at age 52; a gifted  scholar and lawyer, she became the  dean of the graduate school of the  Centro Escolar University during the American colonial period and was later appointed first as National Council of  Education member and then as member of  the National Commission on  Educational, Scientific and Cultural  Matters before assuming important  positions in the United Nations,  including as conference chairman of  the UN Regional Conference for Non- Governmental Organizations on UN  Information in the early 1950s; in her honor, Tuberias Street near Malacanang Palace would be renamed 'Concepcion A. Aguila Street.'



Photo credits:

http://www.ireference.ca/search/Centro%20Escolar%20University/
http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=276669534717&id=263207475703

15 DECEMBER

Mural of Andres Malong Revolt

1660 - The first cry of Filipino  rebellion is raised by Andres Malong, a  native staff officer in the Spanish  forces, in Pangasinan about a century  into the Spanish colonization of the Southeast Asian archipelago and on the  very day that a volcano is discovered in  Lingayen, this province; Malong's revolt  targeted only the colonial government officials and not the friars who early on considered the natives as siblings and because Malong himself firmly believed in Christianity; the revolt of Malong that would rage until 1661, unfortunately, would be quelled with the help of  Filipino conscripts from the provinces of Pampanga, Zambales, and even from Pangasinan itself.

Emilio Jacinto Seal as Punong Hukbo
of KKK forces in Manila, Morong,
Bulacan & Nueva Ecija (late 1896 - early 1897)

1875 - Future Filipino revolutionary  Emilio Jacinto y Dizon, the so-called  "Brains of the Katipunan" (secret- society-turned-revolutionary-government   Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan), is born in Tondo,  Manila; Jacinto would become secretary, fiscal, and a military leader, editor of Kalayaan, the newspaper of the  Katipunan and confidante of the Supremo Andres Bonfacio y de Castro during the  Philippine Revolution against Spain; Jacinto would join the Katipunan while still a pre-law student at the University of Santo Tomas, and would go on to occupy several posts, including being elected as fiscal or No. 2 official in the Supreme Council of the Katipunan, KKK's Secretary,  and a military leader, with being Commanding General of the Northern District of Manila as his last position following the Supremo's appointment of him on April 15, 1897; following the power grab against, and the criminal assassination-cum-execution, of Bonifacio by the camp of Gen. Emilio F. Aguinaldo, Jacinto would remain loyal to his brotherly comrade Bonifacio, turning down the latter's invitation that he serve in the new revolutionary government; Jacinto will continue to lead Katipuneros to fight the enemy Spaniards and also the imperialist Bald Eagle forces during the subsequent Filipino-American War (1899-1914)  independent from the soldiers under Aguinaldo; Punong Hukbo Jacinto will die from malaria in the hills of Magdalena, Laguna.

14 DECEMBER

1897 - The Pact of Biyak-na-Bato, the truce between Spanish colonial forces and Filipino revolutionaries led by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldoy Famy, is signed on the conditions that the generals and Aguinaldo and his cabinet receive $400,000 and go on exile to Hongkong and on the part of the Spaniards, to institute reforms including the expulsion of the friars; the truce came as Aguinaldo's forces retreated to the mountainous area of San Miguel, Bulakan amidst a series of defeats suffered by the Filipino revolutionaries following the demoralization of Katipuneros who learned of Aguinaldo's power grab from, and execution, of the Supremo of the Philippine Revolution, Andres Bonifacio y de Castro, in May 1897; earlier, Bonifacio, leader/President of the underground society-turned-revolutionary-government Kataastaasang Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan,  issued the Acta de Tejeros and the Naic Military Agreement that accused the [unnamed] camp of Aguinaldo for the treasonous act of negotiating for truce with the enemy Spaniards and also nullified the Tejeros election and newfound authority of Aguinaldo's camp on grounds of fraud in the March Tejeros Convention polls respectively.

13 DECEMBER

1920 - Filipino propagandist,  dentist and artist Bonifacio  Arevalo y Flores dies at the old  age of 70; Arevalo became the  treasurer of the reform movement  that Jose Rizal founded during the  Spanish colonial times, and later  on joined the Cuerpo de  Compromisarios, the faction of  former La Liga members that  embraced assimilation and peaceful means in contrast  to the radical, pro-independence Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang  manga Anak nang  Bayan (KKK); Arevalo was also known  for attempting (but failing) to build a number of sari-sari or small retail stores to compete with  the more established Chinese stores and for forming an organization of  hat-makers and local weavers.

1916 - Filipino jurist Manuel  Araullo y Gonzales is promoted  Associate Justice of the colonial  Supreme Court of the Philippines during the period of American  Occupation; Araullo is noted for  maintaining independence from the imperialist American authorities  when he acquitted Fernando Ma. Guerrero and Lope K. Santos in the libel case filed against the newspaper El  Renacimiento for its exposure of  the violations of the rights of  innocent civilians committed by the colonial police instrument, the Philippine Constabulary, when running after criminals; in his  honor, the Manila Evening Grammar  School was renamed Araullo High  School in 1947.


Photo credits:

Wikipedia
WiliPilipinas.

12 DECEMBER

1888 - Twenty-one young women of Malolos, Bulakan in the Spanish colony the Philippines submit a petition to Governor-General Valeriano Weyler requesting permission to set up a night school that would teach them the Spanish language with a Latin professor, Teodoro Sandiko, as teacher; two months later, upon the prodding of the "Great Propagandist" Marcelo H. del Pilar, Filipino patriot and polymath Jose Rizal would later laud the lasses for their exceptionally courageous behavior in a letter entitled "To the Young Women of Malolos"; the petitioners are Alberta S. Uitangcoy, sisters Teresa, Maria, and Basilia V. Tantoco; Rufina T. Reyes; sisters Leoncia and Olympia S. Reyes; sisters Elisea and Juana Reyes; Sister Eugenia and Aurea Tanchangco; Anastacia M. Tiongson; sisters Basialia, Paz, Aleja, Mercedes, and Agapita Tiongson; and sisters Filomena, Cecilia, and Feliciana Tiongson. 

1899 - Only 10 months into the Philippine-American War (1899-1914), Daniel Tirona, an Emilio Aguinaldo loyalist,  surrenders his troops in Cagayan Valley before the enemy Bald Eagle forces; Tirona, then secretary of war of the Katipunan chapter Magdalo,  was responsible for insulting secretsociety-turned-revolutionary-government Kagalanggalangang Katipunan  nang  manga Anak nang  Bayan (KKK) Supremo Andres Bonifacio  after being elected Interior Minister during the controversial Tejeros Convention and for earlier propagating poison letters against the latter;  the easy surrender of the Cagayan Valley forces would be ascribed to the "infamy, cowardice, and shamelessness of General Tirona," who would then subsequently infamously act as the personal servant of an American captain, bearing the insults of his former soldiers and civilians with such unmanly lack of pride, until his rapid promotion as the household's mayordomo.


Photo credit: WikiPilipinas

11 DECEMBER

1603 - The cabildo of the Cathedral informs the colonial King of Spain of the revolt of the Chinese and the subsequent conflagration in Manila in the Southeast Asian colony, the Philippines; earlier in September the same year, rumors of a Chinese uprising circulated about a week before it took place in October 3 when the Chinese in Manila gathered in Binondo and Tondo to battle the colonial Spanish soldiers in an uprising said to have been provoked by the Spaniards themselves; unfortunately, the Chinese were slaughtered by the thousands by the colonial forces that included Kapampangan and Japanese conscripts and even a company of Jesuits friars within only half a century of Spanish colonization; the 1603 slaughter of some 23,000 Chinese would be the first of a total of six massacres of Chinese under the Spanish colonial rule.

10 DECEMBER

Andres C. Bonifacio -- Jose M. Rizal

1896 - Filipino patriot -propagandist and polymath Jose Rizal y  Mercado petitions the Spanish colonial  authorities for permission to issue a manifesto  condemning the Philippine Revolution of 1896  and censuring the unauthorized use of his name  by revolutionary elements; Rizal, who had earlier been  arrested for his supposed association with Katipuneros,  members of the  secret-society-turned-revolutionary-government  Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan,  reckoned that the Katipuneros not  prepared enough for a revolution against Spain;  Rizal's major writings, the Noli Me Tangere and  El Filibusterismo, had inspired the initiator of  the Revolution, Supremo Andres Bonifacio y de Castro but  the former ultimately decided he would have nothing of the Himagsikan, even offering his medical services to serve in another Spanish colony, Cuba, and supposedly describing the latter's Revolution as "highly  absurd."

9 DECEMBER

1898 - Filipino commander Juan Cailles telegraphs a confidential report to Philippine leader Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo regarding the presence of "three thousand Americans... in front of his position in Singalong," two months before the outbreak of the Philippine-American War (1899-1914); Aguinaldo, who rather unrealistically replies that "Three thousand American soldiers are few against my colonel and his three hundred soldiers, and I believe you have more than that number"; Aguinaldo had earlier been conned by the imperialist United States into thinking that the North Americans were allies and would honor Philippine independence, and stupidly allowed the free entry of G.I.s into the Southeast Asian archipelago, thus allowing the enemy U.S. forces to position themselves for the invasion of the Philippines.

8 DECEMBER

1941 - Japanese planes attack United States  military installations in Pearl Harbor and in Baguio, Davao, and Clark Field in the American colony, the  Philippines, thus leading to the Pacific Theatre of World War II; the Japanese will later land in Pangasinan and head towards Manila, with the  colonial Commonwealth government leaders President Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina and Vice-President Sergio Osmena y Suico evacuating to Corregidor fortress in Bataan, and later be further evacuating to the Visayan Islands and then to Mindanao from which point they will be finally picked up by U.S. B-17 bombers to fly  them to Australia for later transfer to Washington.

Photo credit: http://history.howstuffworks.com/world-war-ii/axis-conquers-philippines.htm/printable

7 DECEMBER

1933 - The imperialist American colonial government led by Governor Frank Murphy signs the Woman Suffrage Bill in the United States colony, the Philippine Islands, even when Filipinas already exercised that right during the secret-society-turned-revolutionary-government Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan  revolutionary government some four decades earlier during the Himagsikan against Spanish colonial rule; later, the 1935 colonial Constitution of the Philippines will stipulate that the Filipina women be given the suffrage only if at least 300,000 women approve it and as it turned out, 447,725 women voted yes in the earlier 1937 referendum following the successful pro-suffrage campaign of the General Council of Women; the Bald Eagle nation itself, quite contrary to being a supposed bastion of democracy, gave the American women the right to vote in August 1920, some half a century after it first gave African-American men the suffrage right.

Photo credit: http://senorenrique.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.html