19 NOVEMBER

1595 - King Philip II declares through a royal cedula  that Manila is the capital of the Philippine  archipelago, several decades after colonial Spanish  settlements began to be built in the Southeast  Asian islands; the Philippine islands were first  "discovered" by Spain through the 1521 expedition  of explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who would be killed  by Lapu-Lapu, early Filipino patriot and Mactan island chieftain; Philip II ordered other expeditions--in  1542 under Ruly Lopez de Villalobos and in 1559 as  the  king became convinced that the Philippine Islands are part of the Spanish zone and not of  Portugal under the Treaty of Tordesillas'  demarcation.

1859 - Future Filipino revolutionary and lawyer Isabelo Artacho is  born in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, northern Philippines;  Artacho would take part in the Philippine Revolution  against Spain and would help draft the Constitution  of the Biak-na-Bato, made for the retreating  government of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo; on October  1, 1899 in Hong Kong, Artacho would later pen the "Declaration Letter and Proclamation" wherein he  attacks the crimes and abuses allowed, or  perpetrated, by Aguinaldo's government, including  the rape of  "girls and faithful wives, murders, and  robberies.