17 MARCH

Malolos Church, Presidential Residence, Philippine Republic

1899 -  A member of a prominent Manila family visits Malolos, capital of the fledgling Philippine Republic, to try to convince President Emilio Aguinaldo on the futility of further resistance against imperialist American forces some six weeks into the bloody and protracted Filipino-American War (1899-1914);  after hearing the arguments of the prominent Manileno, Aguinaldo orders his immediate execution, although two years later, the latter would himself swear allegiance to the enemy American flag within only a few days of his treacherous capture by the Bald Eagle forces; the imperialist United States military forces fired the first shots of the Phil-Am War on February 4, 1899 at Sta. Ana, Manila as a deliberate provocation secretly planned by the William McKinley administration in the vile scheme to blame it on the Filipinos and influence the U.S. Senate into ratifying the Treaty of Paris and, thus, fund the military operations to invade the Philippines.

1900 - Gen. Emilio F. Aguinaldo, President of the fledgling Philippine Republic under siege from imperialist American invaders, reads aloud an account of  Lt. Col. Juan Villamor's military success in capturing 200 Americans with their rifles in the Pial settlement of Abra Province; the proud account of Aguinaldo read this morning at Libuagan camp in Kalinga comes a year and a month into the Filipino-American War (1899-1914).


Photo credits:

http://philippineamericanwar.webs.com/