18 JANUARY

Marker in Fort Santiago Manila, next to the departure point of  Spanish colonial Gov.-Gen. Simón de Anda.

1763 - British Capt. Jeremeigh Sleigh (Slay) leads a force of 400 British, 300 Malabar Negroes, and 2,000 Chinese allies that leave Manila and head for Bulacan where Spanish colonial resistance led by Simon de Anda y Salazar is based, more than three months after the Spaniards surrendered Manila, capital of the colony the Philippines, to the British during the Seven Years War; on October 5 the past year, Archbishop Manuel Antonio Rojo surrendered Manila to the British invaders while Gov.-Gen. de Anda fled on a banca to Bulacan and proclaimed himself Captain-General of the Real Audencia; from Bulacan, de Anda engaged in attempts to harrass the  British government (while suppressing revolts by the natives) by fielding  men that include convicts they freed, Kapampangans and other Indios and by hanging all the Chinese in town in the belief that they worked for the British; in turn, the British regularly probe into the provinces of Laguna, Cavite, and Bulacan to prevent Anda from mustering enough force to threaten Manila; Sleigh's forces will triumph in this expedition to Bulacan but will not be able to hold the town for long and will later burn the church and rectory before marching to Manila. 

1896 - The maiden issue of Kalayaan, the organ of the underground-society- turned-revolutionary-government Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang  manga Anak nang  Bayan (KKK), is dated as it is slated for  publication a few months before the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution  against Spain; KKK Supremo Andres Bonifacio, "Brains of the Katipunan"  Emilio Jacinto, and Pio valenzuela have written most of the articles in the revolutionary newspaper whose actual publication will come only in March of the same year apparently owing in part to the laborious process involved; some 1,000 - 2,000 copies of the organ will be distributed although there will be no second issue of Kalayaan despite the effort to make it appear that the newspaper is published in Yokohama, Japan because the Spanish colonial authorities will discover the Katipunan through the betrayal of a Katipunero, leading to the rather  premature launch of the Revolution in August 1896; even with only one issue published, the Kalayaan will become a strong symbol of the independentist movement.


Photo credits:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kalayaan_Katipunan_first_page.png http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AndaPostern90503.jpg