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 y Famy 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 several 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); the emerging world power, the United States, decided to "annex" [translation: invade] the fledgling Philippine Republic that declared itself liberated from Spain in June 1898, with the administration of Bald Eagle President William McKinley secretly ordering regimental commanders to bring about conflict in the bid to trick the U.S. Senate into approving  the controversial Treaty of Paris and effect funding for military operations to pursue the imperialist policy for America's overseas expansion; some two years earlier during the Philippine Revolution against Spain, American military and diplomatic officials led by Admiral George Dewey conned then revolutionary leader Aguinaldo into an 'alliance'  with the U.S. forces in fighting Spain during the intersecting Spanish-American War by making verbal promises that the Bald Eagle nation would honor Filipino independence.

Photo credits:

http://philippineamericanwar.webs.com/