16 FEBRUARY

Gat Andres Bonifacio monument

1921 - The day November 30, the birthday of Andres Bonifacio y de  Castro, the "Father of Philippine Revolution" is declared legal holiday under Act No. 2946 during the American colonial period; the declaration comes some 24 1/2 years  after Gat Andres, Generalissimo of the secret-turned-society-turned-revolutionary-government Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang  manga Anak nang  Bayan (KKK) was ousted from revolutionary leadership through the  controversial Tejeros Convention and then executed by the same mutineer camp of Gen. Emilio F. Aguinaldo; Act No. 2946 effectively makes Bonifacio a national hero, although in an unofficial sense, in contrast to the imperialist American government's official declaration of Jose P. Rizal as national hero in the early 1900s; the law making every November 30th of each year Araw ni Bonifacio [Bonifacio Day] began as a bill sponsored by Senator Lope K. Santos.

World War II comes to the Philippines

1945 - United States troops land on the Bataan Peninsula, Philippines in the bid to recapture the former American colony during World War II; the  Southeast Asian country, colonized by America at the turn of the 19th century, was invaded by Japan in 1941.


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

Photo art (Bonifacio monument):
Jesusa Bernardo

15 FEBRUARY

1872 - The "GOMBURZA" Filipino priest-martyrs are tried by the colonial Spanish military tribunal at the Fort Santiago on trumped-up charges of instigating the Cavite Mutiny during the Spanish colonial period; Fathers Mariano G. Gomez, Jose Apolonio G. Burgos, and Jacinto R. Zamora, who have advocated the secularization of the clergy in the Philippines, will be found guilty and sentenced to death by garrote practically without defense; Future first Philippine Prime Minister Apolinario M. Mabini would describe the impact of the Gomburza execution on the development of the revolutionary spirit as having made Filipinos "realize their condition for the first time. Conscious of pain, and thus conscious of life, they asked themselves what kind of a life they lived."

1904 - Miguel  Logarta y Ceniza, first Filipino lawyer and judge in Cebu province, suddenly dies at the young age of 41 during the colonial American period, five years into the protracted and bloody Philippine-American War (1899-1914); Logarta became  a member of a committee created by Governor-General Diego de los Rios designed to form a government of an organized Visayas and Mindanao islands to disengage from Luzon and resist the imperialist Americans even after the departure of the Spaniards following the Mock Battle of Manila in accordance with the Peace Protocol  forged between the colonial powers;  Logarta also became Justice Secretary of the fledgling Philippine Republic before collaborating with the enemy United States invaders in the aim to restore "peace"; a law graduate from the University of Santo Tomas, Logarta became a fiscal of Tarlac and then of Samar and later founded the Colegio Logarta that counted as students future Philippine President Sergio Osmena; he became Cebu's Provincial Fiscal and Court of First Instance of Cebu judge in which capacity he was said to have exhibited moral stature as pillar of both justice and order in the province.


Photo credit:  http://shambolicamalgam.wordpress.com/2010/02/

14 FEBRUARY

Fil-Am War freedom-fighter Simeon A. Ola

1952 - Simeon Ola y Arboleda, revolutionary leader from Albay and the last First Philippine Republic General to surrender to the enemy imperialists during the Filipino-American War (1899-1914), dies at a ripe old age of 86; Ola figured in the battle of Camalig in the Bicol Region during the Philippine Revolution against Spain, leading to his promotion as Captain; during the Fil-Am War, he was promoted as Major after successfully effecting the ambush and capture of three enemy Bald Eagle soldiers; he battled the imperialist forces in Arimbay, Legaspi and proved to be a fervent freedom-fighter who persisted in defending Philippine Independence despite the superior firepower and combat training of the forces of the invading United States--thus inspiring more patriots to join his army during the Phil-Am War for a few years even after President Emilio F. Aguinaldo and most of his officials and military officers have already sworn allegiance to the enemy American flag; the Bicolano patriot surrendered only on September 25, 1903 after the vile Americans employed the horrible reconcentration system to stop his resistance activities, for which he would be charged and sentenced by the colonial court with "sedition"; he was subsequently pardoned, allowing him to run as town mayor of Guinobatan for two terms until 1919.



Photo credit: http://fil.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Simeon_Ola

13 FEBRUARY

1897 - Filipino journalist, patriot, labor activist, and churchman Isabelo de los Reyes known for his stirring and pungent articles critical of the Spanish colonial friars, is jailed at the Bilibid Prison for supposed complicity in the Philippine Revolution that broke out in 1896; while in prison, he will write his Sensecional Memoria addressed to the Governor and wherein he points out that the friars are the ones responsible for sowing the seeds of discontent and revolution in the Philippines; during the Filipino-American War (1899-1914), de los Reyes will condemn the imperialist United States for invading the fledgling Philippine Republic in his book Independencia y Revolucion; in 1902, he will found the Philippine Independent Church nearly and will nominate former Catholic priest Gregorio Aglipay y Labayan as Supreme Bishop; de los Reyes would be imprisoned in 1902 by the colonial American authorities for organizing a union that supposedly forces wage increase and upon his release, will leave for China and Japan in early 1903, giving him the chance to meet exiled Philippine Republic Gen. Artemio Ricarte y Garcia and apprise him of the situation back home; he would be elected senator of  Ilocos from 1922-1928, after which he will devote his time to his church and to writing, including most of Aglipayan literature and the landmark historical novel and classic love story rolled in one, "Ang Singsing ng Dalagang Marmol," the story of love born and thwarted during the Phil-Am War. 



Photo credit: http://bcl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladawan:Isabelo_de_los_Reyes,_Sr..jpg

12 FEBRUARY

1901 -  Former Filipino Prime Minister Apolinario Mabini y Maranan, Gen. Artemio Ricarte and other defiant revolutionary leaders who have been deported from the Philippines begin their exile in Guam; refusing to swear fealty to imperialist America, they form part of the handful of proud survivors of the Philippine Revolution and the Filipino-American War (1899-1914) who stand out against the many who have given up the cause of independence for their native country.




Photo credits:

http://www.letranalumni.org/index.php?option=com_awiki&view=mediawiki&article=Artemio_Ricarte?qsrc=3044

http://komiklopedia.wordpress.com/2007/10/13/filipino-heroes-series/apolinariomabini/

11 FEBRUARY

1860 - Vicente R. Lukban, future Filipino revolutionary leader and patriot, is born in Labo, Camarines Norte during the Spanish colonial period; Lukban will join the underground society aiming to topple Spanish rule, Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang  manga Anak nang  Bayan (KKK) , and will be arrested and tortured by the Spaniards, in the process squealing his other associates, a number of whom will be executed as part  of the so-called "Bicol Martyrs"; he will become the military governor of Samar during the Revolution against Spain and the Philippine-American War (1899-1914), and be responsible for organizing the natives and effectively using guerilla warfare, turning Samar into "one of the few centers of the Republic's success" against the invading imperialist American forces; he will report about an important Fil-Am War occurrence under his Samar-Leyte jurisdiction, the Balangiga Incident wherein the townspeople of Balanginga, Samar will kill many of the enemy imperialist American soldiers headquartered inside a church; for a time, he will continue to fight the imperialist invaders even after President Emilio Aguinaldo swears loyalty to the United States flag, with Lukban even issuing a proclamation exhorting Filipinos to continue fighting because "we are worthy of independence and of universal respect, because we know our rights and how to die in their defense."

1899 - The seaport and city of Iloilo are captured by the imperialist United States forces one week into the bloody and protracted Philippine-American War (1899-1914); enemy American Gen. Marcus Miller, with reinforcements from the warships of the squadron of Admiral George Dewey, has led the attack on Iloilo, with Gen. Aniano Diokno and "henerala" Teresa Magbanua leading the battle against the enemy forces; earlier on December 25, 1898, three days after the Filipinos drove out the Spanish colonial forces, the Bald Eagle forces occupied the nearby Panay island even before the Fil-Am War began.

Photo credit: http://www.lukban.org/vicente-lukban.php

10 FEBRUARY

1945 - Manuel C. Colayco, Filipino "liberation hero" dies after an enemy hand grenade explodes in front of the University of Santo Tomas' main gate where he was pointing out to his fellow guerrilla soldiers the strategic spots and important buildings in the campus; Colayco's group was leading the rescue operations to free Filipino and Americans being held captive by the Japanese in UST during World War II; a lawyer, faculty member and editor, Colayco enlisted in the Philippine Army during the American colonial era and volunteered to serve in the first line of defense of Bataan when the Japanese occupied the Philippines when Pacific theater of WW II broke out; he survived the brutal Death March and was later released by the Japanese in Capaz enabling him to reestablish and head the 7th Manila Unit of  the Allied Intelligence Bureau in October 1942, and to publish the guerrilla newspaper "Freedom"; the guerrilla operation that caused him his life involved leading forces to Manila and through the gate of UST, with the prisoners in the University eventually liberated.


Photo credit:  http://nemoto2009.blog73.fc2.com/blog-date-20100308.html

9 FEBRUARY

1926 - Teodoro M. Kalaw, nationalist Filipino scholar, legislator, and historian, composes his report on the Philippine Independence campaign in the United States during the American colonial rule; Kalaw will present the report to the Commission on Independence, a body created by the colonial Philippine Legislature in November 1918 aimed at working for "independence, for its external guarantees, and for the internal organization" in the U.S.; the report of Kalaw who was part of the staff of Senator Sergio Osmeña selected to be the country’s special envoy to the US, came 27 years after the Bald Eagle nation invaded and triggered the bloody and protracted Philippine-American War (1899-1914) following imperialist American President William McKinley's declaration of "Benevolent Assimilation" [translation: invasion] policy towards the Philippines; earlier in 1904, Kalaw wrote in the nationalist newspsper El Renacimiento about his paper's campaign against the abuses of the Constabulary, corruption, banditry, illiteray of the people, and "the slow disappearance of the 'Filipino Soul' under the seductive wiles of Anglo-Saxonism." 



Photo credit: http://vincemd.blogspot.com/2010/04/teodoro-kalaw-on-stamps.html

8 FEBRUARY

1890 - Claro M. Recto, future Filipino nationalist statesman and president of the 1934 Constitutional Convention is born; Recto will be one of the most stern critics of American colonial rule, advocating Philippine autonomy and removal of the US military bases, and the controversial parity rights that gives Americans the right to exploit Philippine natural resources; he will ran for president against then Vice-President Carlos P. Garcia but will lose, with his candidacy suffering from the dirty tricks department of the United States' Central Intelligence Agency that will distribute holed condoms that were labeled  "Courtesy of Claro M. Recto--the People's Friend"; dubbed one of the 'finest minds of his generation,' Recto, who had no known heart disease, will officially die from heart attack in October 1960 but suspicions on his death are cast on the CIA because prior to his death, he met with two mysterious "Caucasians" in business suits before he died, US government documents later showing CIA Chief of Station Ralph Lovett and US Ambassador to the Philippines Admiral Raymond Spruance having earlier discussed plan to murder Recto with a vial of poison.


Photo credit: http://lipatourism.wordpress.com/culture/lipas-famous-families/

7 FEBRUARY

1986 - Philippine snap elections for the presidency and vice-presidency are held after two years of  apparent instability and months of unrest following the assassination of former Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. in 1983 and reports of poor health of strongman Ferdinand E. Marcos; incumbent President Marcos, who declared Martial Law in September 1972, will officially win the snap polls but the opposition will claim massive cheating and the EDSA I "People Power" revolution will install Aquino's widow, Corazon Cojuanco Aquino, as President two weeks later.


Photo credits:

http://www.beda7882.com/Philippine_History.htm

http://ninoyaquino.50webs.com/

6 FEBRUARY

1899 - The Congress of the imperialist United States ratifies the Treaty of Paris two days after the administration of William McKinley successfully managed to provoke  hostilities of what would be the protracted and bloody Philippine-American War (1899-1914); the ratification came following false reports in the American press that the Filipinos were responsible for the February 4 hostilities, which were in fact triggered by U.S. Pvt. William Grayson who fired on a Filipino patrol in the 'neutral zone' of Sta. Mesa, Manila following the secret orders given by a number of regimental commanders to bring about conflict;  as would later be discovered by historians, the U.S. military itself vilely orchestrated the initial Fil-Am War conflict, with McKinley manipulating news about it to deceive the U.S. Senate and win support for American invasion/annexation of the Philippines through the ratification (as occurred, by a margin of one vote) of the December 10 1898 Paris Treaty wherein Spain "cedes" its former colony, the Philippines, to the Bald Eagle nation.

 1964 - Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy, revolutionary leader and first officially recognized President of the Philippines, dies from a heart attack at an old age of 95; Aguinaldo has been a controversial figure during the Revolution against Spain and the Philippine-American War (1899-1914), being held responsible for the deaths of two revolutionary heroes,  Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang  manga Anak nang  Bayan (KKK) Supremo Andres Bonifacio y de Castro and Gen. Antonio Luna y Novicio, and for his swift allegiance of fealty to the American imperialists soon after being captured in 1901; after grabbing power from, and ordering the execution of Bonifacio in 1897, Aguinaldo dissolved the underground-society-turned-revolutionary-government Katipunan, led the battles against the Spaniards, retreated to the mountain area of San Miguel, Bulakan, and forged the Pact of Biak-na-Bato Truce before returning from exile and leading the second phase of the Revolution; by June 1898, the same month Aguinaldo made the Declaration of Philippine Independence, Filipino revolutionaries  have already seized control of most of the islands from the Spaniards; Aguinaldo, who was conned into believing the Bald Eagle nation was a ally against Spain, stupidly allowed the free entry of  U.S. forces into the islands, thus allowing the vile Americans to position themselves for the Mock Battle of Manila and eventual invasion of the Southeast Asian archipelago.


Photo credit: http://philippine-revolution.110mb.com/aguinaldo_detailed.htm

5 FEBRUARY

Feb. 5, 1899 - Filipinos dead in Sta. Ana trench

1899 - Philippine President Emilio F. Aguinaldo  sends Gen. Isidoro Torres to  Gen. Elwell S. Otis, in charge of the imperialist American troops, to try to  bring about the cessation of  hostilities that erupted the day earlier (first day of the Philippine-American War, 1899-1914) when Pvt. William Grayson killed Filipino Corp. Anastacio Felix while attempting to cross the line Sta. Mesa bridge; Otis, who earlier reported to his superiors that Aguinaldo's government was "very anxious for peaceful relations," will brutally respond that since the  fighting had begun, it had to go to its grim end; unknown at that time to the  Filipinos, on February 2, several regimental U.S. commanders secretly ordered their men to bring about a conflict if possible as part of the filthy plan of imperialist President William McKinley to push the US Senate into ratifying the Treaty of Paris that "annexes" the fledgling Southeast Asian republic to effectively approve military operations against the Filipinos; some 3,000 Filipinos will die during the first two days of the Fil-Am War and on February 6, the US Senate will approve the controversial Treaty.

Gen. Simon Tecson y Ocampo Mansion

 1861 - Future Filipino revolutionary Simon Tecson y Ocampo is born in San Miguel de Mayumo (San Miguel), Bulacan province during the Spanish colonial period; Tecson will join the Philippine Revolution when it breaks out in August 1896 and will rise to the rank of brigadier-general by June 1897 during the Mt. Puray Assembly; he will become a signatory of the so-called Biak-na-Bato Constitution framed just prior to the Truce of Biak-na-Bato following the retreat of the troops of revolutionary Emilio F. Aguinaldo to San Miguel de Mayumo; Tecson will also be a signatory to the capitulation of Spaniards to the Filipinos following the Siege of Baler;  during the Philippine-American War (1899-1914), Tecson will fight the enemy Americans but will surrender in February 1901 although he will refuse to swear allegiance to the imperialist United States flag, causing his deportation to Guam in mid-1902; in September of the same year, Tecson will finally pledge allegiance to the imperialist Bald Eagle, allowing him to return to his hometown about a year before his death.


Photo credits:

https://traveleronfoot.wordpress.com/tag/simon-tecson-house/
http://philippineamericanwar.webs.com/filamwarbreaksout.htm

4 FEBRUARY

First Fil-Am War Berdugo: Pvt. William Grayson (in left photo, standing on the spot where he first fired the trigger shot

1899 - The Philippine-American War (1899-1914) is begun by a United States sentry who shoots and kills a Filipino soldier making an attempt to cross the bridge in Sta. Mesa, Manila under the vile pre-arranged plan of US President William McKinley to precipitate a war in the bid to trick the Senate to approve the Treaty of Paris and thus secure funding for military operations to annex the Philippines as part of the imperialist policy for Bald Eagle's overseas expansion; the sentry tasked with the dirty job is Pvt. William Grayson, killing Filipino Corporal Anastacio Felix of the 4th Company, Morong Battalion under Captain Serapio Narvaez, with Col. Luciano S. San Miguel as battalion commander; the Treaty would be approved in the US Senate by a margin of one vote from the required two-thirds majority and the war of invasion would be officially declared over on July 4, 1902 by US President Theodore Roosevelt but the last major battle will occur in 1913, with hostilities not ceasing until the following year; the Filipino-American War will sometimes be called as America's 'first Vietnam' in reference to what would be a historical pattern of genocide against Asians/non-Westerners, what with the enemy invading Americans inflicting much dislocation, devastation, suffering, torture, massacres and pillaging on the Filipino freedom  fighters and including the civilian native population.


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

3 FEBRUARY

Anti-Imperialist Southern Senators Watson & Carmack

1902 - Sen. Edward W. Carmack of Tennessee attacks United States imperialist policies in the Philippines three years into the bloody and protracted Philippine American War (1899-1914); Carmack has held that if U.S. rule in the Philippine was not 10,000 better than carpet-bag white rule of the Negroes in the Southern states, then “may the Lord God have mercy upon the Philippine Islands”; a few senators from America's South have compared the American invasion of the Philippines with America's own struggle for independence against colonial Britain three decades earlier; another Southern senator, populist Tom Watson from Georgia, also castigated the U.S. imperialist policies, saying that '“Republics cannot go into the conquering business and remain republics. Militarism leads to military domination, military despotism.”


Photo credits:


http://watson-brown.org/the-foundation/heritage/thomas-e-watson
http://www.memphishistory.org/Politics/Newspapers/Editors/EdwardWCarmack/tabid/201/Default.aspx

2 FEBRUARY

Ruy Lopez de Villalobos

1543 - Explorer-for-the-Spanish-crown Ruy Lopez de Villalobos reaches Baganga Bay, Davao Oriental in the island of Mindanao, Philippine archipelago, and names it Cesarea Caroli in honor of King Charles I; Villalobos' expedition was the fourth Spanish colonization attempt of the Pacific region after the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan who was slain by the chieftain of the Mactan, Lapu-Lapu; Villalobos left Mexico in November the previous year, commanding a fleet of six ships and approximately 400 men with royal instructions to avoid the Spice Islands (islands in present-day Indonesia) en route to the Philippines, which was then called Islas del Poniente (the Sunset Islands); Villalobos, who would be met by hostility by the natives, would sail further south, and remain between Mindanao and Celebes for a year before famine and illness force them to seek refuge in Moluccas and surrender to the Portuguese on April 24, 1544. 

Filipino patriot, Col. Luciano S. San Miguel confers with imperialists

1899 - Imperialist United States Gen. Arthur MacArthur ridiculously protests the  presence of Filipino soldiers under Col. Luciano S. San Miguel within the  American line in Luzon, Philippines islands; the protest comes amidst the growing tension between the Filipino and Bald Eagle forces two days after the last meeting between the two sides failed to materialize and two days before the bloody and protracted Philippine-American War erupts (1899-1914) upon vile orchestration by U.S. William McKinley; earlier, Filipino revolutionary leader Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo stupidly trusted the Americans as ally against colonial Spain and allowed the Americans to freely enter the archipelago, allowing the enemy forces to position themselves for the impending invasion.


Photo credits:

http://umwblogs.org/wiki/index.php/Philippines_1850-1990
http://www.yonip.com/archives/history/Colonel%20Luciano%20San%20Miguel%20with%20Colonel%20John%20Stotsenberg%20189.jpg