5 JANUARY

1898 - Don Francisco Mercado, the  father of Filipino patriot and  polymath Jose Rizal, dies during the  Spanish colonial times; Don  Francisco's death comes a little more than a year after the execution of  their seventh child, Jose, in the grandstand of Bagumbayan, Manila, on charges of sedition, conspiracy, and rebellion against the Spanish  authorities based on his supposed connection with members of the Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan that launched the Philippine Revolution of 1896; Don Jose's family was affluent but they suffered oppression  from the Spaniards because of Rizal's propaganda activities that included  his authorship of Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, two novels that  depict the oppression of the Filipinos under the colonizers. 


1899 - Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy, leader of the fledgling Philippine  Republic, issues a counter-proclamation expressing how his government is "disposed to open hostilities if the American troops attempt to take forcible possession of the Visayan islands" in response to the imperialistic "Benevolent Assimilation" proclamation made by William McKinley, President of the  Bald Eagle nation; Aguinaldo had earlier stupidly allowed the free entry of G.I.s into the Southeast Asian archipelago after being conned by American officials into believing that the U.S. would respect Philippine independence and was an ally against colonizers, thus allowing the enemy Americans to  position themselves for the eventual invasion; a day before,  Aguinaldo discovered that the original proclamation issued by McKinley as  quoted by Gen. Otis deleted important phrases that shows the vile colonial  design of the imperialist United  States and should have read as:

...the future control, disposition, and government of the Philippine Islands are ceded to the United States...the actual occupation and administration of the entire group of the Philippine Islands becomes immediately necessary, and the military government heretofore maintained by the United States in the city, harbor, and bay of Manila is to be extended with all possible dispatch to the whole of the ceded territory.

Photo credit: http://joserizal.info/images/buhay_at_mga_gawa_rizal/francisco_mercado.jpg

4 JANUARY

1897 - The 11 martyrs of Bicol are executed by Spanish colonial authorities in Bagumbayan some four months after the outbreak of the Philippine Himagsikan during five days after polymath, patriot, and foremost propagandist Jose Mercado Rizal met the same fate by firing squad; the execution followed the arrest, imprisonment, and torture of the martyrs in Bicol, along with some other suspects, before being shipped to Manila for trial on October 19, 1896; Domingo Abella, Manuel Abella, Fr. Severino Diaz, Fr. Inocencio Herrera, Camilo Jacob, Cornelio Mercado, Florencio Lerma, Mariano Melgarejo, Fr. Tomas Prieto, Gabriel Prieto, and Macario Valentin were all adjudged guilty of rebellion and sentenced to die by firing squad, with Leon Hernandez, Mariano Ordenanza, Ramon Abella and Ramon Arana either dying in prison or dying in exile  in Fernando Po island off Africa, and Fr. Manuel Subarno and Fr. Severo Estrada having been cleared of charges; the names of the suspects were extracted by the hated Spaniards through the arrest and torture/interrogation of Masonic lodge member and future general of the revolution, Vicente Lukban, as well as trickery during the interrogation of Malinao Albay parish priest Tomas Prieto; the first batch of revolutionaries executed in Bagumbayan took place in August 31, 1896 after the secret-society-turned-revolutionary government  the first batch of revolutionaries executed in Bagumbayan were some 57 Katipuneros, taking place in August 31, 1896 after the secret-society-turned revolutionary government Kataastaasang, Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan launched the general uprising two days earlier, with the colonial Spaniards reacting with terror-level response to quell the revolution that has begun in eight Luzon provinces but soon spread like wildfire to other parts of the archipelago.


Photo credit: http://www.bicolmail.com/issue/2010/aug12/pictures/bicol01.gif

 

3 JANUARY

1890 - Filipino polymath, propagandist, and patriot Jose Mercado Rizal writes fellow reformist Mariano Ponce, informing him that he had already sent nine copies of the Morga book to Fernando Canon; the Morga work is Rizal's republication of Antonio de Morga's Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (Events in the Philippine Islands) that discusses the ancient history of the Philippine archipelago before the colonization schemes of Spain; Ponce will later praise Rizal for his work on Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas involving the writing of the excellent introduction and of annotations showing that the natives of the islands had an advanced civilization before the Spanish colonizers came; while the Morga work is valuable in its record of the early Filipino culture, including ethics, skills, and social patterns that have either been destroyed or comprised during the Spanish colonization,  Rizal's 1890 republication is apparently an attempt to neutralize the obvious bias of Morga in the Spaniard's rather disjointed writing of the history of wars, intrigues, diplomacy and evangelization of the archipelago, even including inventions of  'facts', in the bid to defend the bloody conquest of the natives; Rizal, Ponce, Graciano Lopez Jaena, and Marcelo H. del Pilar form the more prominent members of the Propaganda Movement aiming to foster heightened awareness of the "mother" country Spain as to the needs and plight of its colony, the Philippines and to make for a closer and more equal association of the indios/Filipinos and Spaniards.

Photo credit:

http://www.kabayancentral.com/book/nhi/9715380174.jpg

2 JANUARY

1749 - Muhammad Alimuddin I, the first future Christian sultan in the Philippines, lands in Cavite after fleeing with his family from Jolo where he faced an unsuccessful assassination attempt from his own brother, Bantillan, who led a rebellion over the sultan's granting of permission to Jesuit friars for missionary work; from Cavite, Alimuddin proceeded to Manila where he was publicly received with a royal reception befitting his stature as a high ranking prince; he would eventually be baptized a Christian, as Don Fernando de Alimuddin I,  a development that would be cheered by the Spaniards but met in Sulu with an all-out war; a year later, the Spaniards would try to restore Alimuddin by forcibly making his brother, the new sultan, accept him but would end up imprisoning Alimuddin and his family for supposed duplicity; Alimuddin, who later would send his daughter Fatimah to Mindanao, would be instrumental in restoring peace not only in Jolo but also between the colonial Spaniards and Bantullan who earlier conducted raids on church property and kidnapped Christian prisoners.

1884 - Filipino patriot and polymath Jose Rizal presents his proposal to  write a novel about the Philippines before members of Circulo-Hispano  Filipino during the Spanish colonial period; Rizal's concept is approved  but the project will not take off  because not one of his supposed group  members will end up writing anything; eventually, Rizal will write his own novel  on his country--what would be the controversial novel Noli Me Tangere  that depicts the abuses of the friars and the general suffering and  oppression suffered by the Filipinos  under the Spaniards; the book, which will be banned in certain parts of the Philippines because of its portrayal of corruption in the Catholic Church and the colonial government, would be instrumental in forging a sense of Filipino national identity and consciousness.




Photo credit: http://dbijoux26.wordpress.com/about/noli-me-tangere-touch-me-not/

1 JANUARY

Pres. Manuel A. Roxas

1892 - Manuel Acuna Roxas, the future fifth officially recognized President  of the Philippines, is born during the Spanish colonial period; Roxas would  completely be a product of colonial American education until his law  school at the University of the Philippines where he graduated at the top of his class before topping the bar examinations in 1914; Roxas will win the 1946 presidential elections over President Sergio Osmena who earlier refused to campaign on the belief that the Filipinos should know his four decades of record of honest and faithful service; Roxas' administration will be controversial for pushing for the ratification of the "parity amendment" to the 1935 Constitution which grants American citizens the right to exploit the natural resources of the Philippines.

First Lady Pacencia H. Laurel

1963 - Pacencia Hidalgo-Laurel y Valencia, former First Lady of Jose P.  Laurel, the third officially  recognized President of the Philippines, dies after a lingering illness; Hidalgo-Laurel was a thrifty, hardworking woman with a keen sense of business and became responsible for helping build the Laurel's fortune;  she took charge of supporting their family when her husband was imprisoned by the colonial American authorities on charges of collaboration with the Japanese during World War II; following Jose P. Laurel's retirement  from politics in the 1950s, she helped build her husband's dream of putting  up a school--what would be the Lyceum the Philippines.





Photo credits:

Wikipedia.
http://www.pinoyvote.net/manuel-roxas/

31 DECEMBER

1943 - Future Filipino revolutionary, labor leader and writer Hermenegildo Cruz is born  to a poor family in Binondo, Manila during the Spanish colonial times; he would serve as second lieutenant to Gen. Antonio Luna during the Philippine Revolution, and later as pressman at the general's printing  shop that would publish the fledgling Philippine Republic's official organ, the "La Independencia"; Cruz would lose his job after organizing a labor union at Luna's printing press, but later in Manila, he would organize the Southeast Asian country's first labor union, the Union Obrera Democratica de Filipinas; Cruz  would also head a committee to draft labor bills for the colonial Philippine Assembly in 1907, midway into the protracted Filipino-American  War (1899-1914), before eventually becoming the director of the Bureau of Labor in 1924; Cruz would also be known for his authorship of  "Kartilyang Makabayan," the first biographical work on Katipunan Supremo  Andres Bonifacio, and of "Kung Sino ang Kumatha ng Florante."

Henry Otley Beyer

1966 - Henry Otley Beyer, dubbed the "Father" or "Dean" or "Pioneer" of  Philippine Anthropology," dies at the  old age of 73; born of Bavarian  ancestry, Beyer was an American holder of a  master's degree in chemistry who volunteered to teach in the then-colony of the imperialist United States, the Philippines, in 1905; owing to his interest in the field of ethnology, he eventually became an anthropologist and anthropologist who lived most of his life in the Cordilleras and ultimately marrying an Ifugao, Lingngayo na'Gambu';  professor emeritus at  the University of the Philippines, Beyer authored "Population of the Philippine Islands," "Philippine Ethnographic Series," "The Philippines before Magellan," the multi-volume "Philippine Folklore, Customs, and Beliefs" before eventually becoming synonymous with anthropology beginning the mid-1920s when he co-authored "A History of the Orient" (1926), "Philippine Customary Law" (1930) and the "Chinese, Siamese and other Oriental Ceramic Ware in the Philippine Islands" (1930).


Photo credit: http://books.google.com/books?id=KXmIq_BGr8wC&dq=Henry+Otley+Beyer&source=gbs_navlinks_s

30 DECEMBER

Execution of Jose Rizal y Mercado

1896 - Filipino patriot and polymath  Jose Protacio Mercado Rizal is executed in Bagumbayan, Manila by Spanish-officered, native manned squad before thousands of spectators colonial authorities for supposed rebellion, sedition, and conspiracy in connection with the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution of 1896; Rizal had aroused patriotic sentiments through his propaganda work and his books Noli Me Tangere and El  Filibusterismo that depicted the pathetic situation of the Filipinos under the colonizers; the Noli Me Tangere particularly earned the ire of the abusive friars who called it heretic, impious, injurious to the colonial government, and scandalous to the Catholic Church; Rizal was implicated in the Revolution owing to his association with members of the secret-society-turned-revolutionary-government Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan but he actually subsequently disowned the revolutionary movement based on how he chose to serve the colonial Mother Country as a volunteer medic in Cuba and on his manifesto condemning the 1896 revolution and the unauthorized use of his name. 
 
1896 - Josephine MacBride Bracken reunites with her lover, Filipino patriot and polymath Jose  Rizal just before the latter's execution by the Spanish colonial authorities; Bracken would hand over to Andres Bonifacio, the Supremo of the Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan, a copy of Rizal's "Mi Ultimo Adios" poem when she enters the rebels' territory in Cavite accompanied by Rizal's siblings, Paciano and  Trinidad; earlier, Bracken and Rizal could not get married because Rizal was a mason but two hours before Rizal's execution, the couple is married  under Catholic rites by Fr. Victor  Balaguer.

President Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay

1953 - Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay, the  seventh officially recognized  President of the Philippines, takes  his oath of office in the grandstand  by Manila Bay; the former Defense  Secretary of his predecessor,  President Elpidio Quirino, Magsaysay's  candidacy would later be revealed to  have been backed up by the Central  Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the  imperialist United States of America,  with CIA operative David Sternberg  fronting as foreign correspondent but  assisting another operative, Gabriel  Kaplan, in managing Magsaysay's  presidential campaign; Magsaysay would  be endeared to the Filipino masses  mainly through his approachability,  including policy of opening the doors of Malacanang to the people, and  his simplicity.

29 DECEMBER

Torture of Bicol Martyrs

1896 - Around 17 Filipinos from Bicol province face a Spanish colonial  military court in Manila on charges of rebellion and sedition four months  after the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution; Domingo Abella, Manuel Abella, Camilo Jacob, Cornelio Mercado, Florencio Lerma, Mariano Melgarejo, P. Gabriel Prieto, Tomas Prieto, Macario Valentin, Leon Hernandez at Mariano Ordenanza, Ramon Abella and Mariano Arana  and priests Severo Estrada, Manuel  Subarbano, Severino Diaz, and Inocencio Herrera, were mostly arrested based on confessions  extracted by Spanish soldiers through the torture of Vicente Lukban, future  general of the revolution and the subsequent Philippine-American War (1899-1914); before being shipped to Manila, the suspected Bicolano rebels were tortured through beatings, starvation and hanging by the thumbs and insulted, with eleven of them being adjudged guilty sentenced to die by firing squad in Bagumbayan (Domingo Abella, Manuel Abella, Fr. Diaz, Fr. Herrera, Jacob, Mercado, Lerma, Melgarejo, Fr. Prieto, Tomas Prieto, and Valentin); Hernandez at Ordenanza will die in prison, as Ramon Abella and Arana will deported to Fernando Po island off Africa while Fr. Subarno and Fr. Estrada will be cleared and will live to tell the story.

1896 - Rival Magdiwang and Magdalo chapters-turned-factions of the secret-society-turned revolutionary  government  Kagalanggalangang Katipunan  nang  manga Anak nang  Bayan (KKK) meet to try to settle differences and possibly merge to further the aims of the Philippine Revolution, including in their discussion the framing of a constitution despite already having one earlier adopted by the Katipunan councils and chapters; while the differences remain unsettled, a plan is discussed to snatch Jose Rizal from the colonial Spaniards who were set to execute the patriot the following day although Rizal's brother, Paciano Rizal, would douse the plan when he points out that his brother would agree to his escape if only one person's life would be jeopardized. 

1899 - Bubonic plague starts to appear in the Southeast Asian archipelago, the Philippines, nearly 11 months after the outbreak of the Philippine-American War (1899-1914); the detestable rat-borne communicable disease would be continuously present to some degree until Summer 1906 and again erupting in 1913 until 1914; the horrific invasion of the Philippines by the imperialist United States of America will bring some 200,000 direct deaths (by conservative estimates) and about a million total direct and indirect deaths on the part of the Filipinos owing to the indiscriminate killings, use of concentration camps, "water cure" torture and other brutal war tactics by the Bald Eagle nation.


Photo credit: http://www.bicolmail.com/issue/2009/july30/1896.html

28 DECEMBER

1838 - Spanish colonial friar Pedro P. Pelaez ridiculously calls attention to the supposed ignorance and the ancient barbaric, "idolatry" practices of the Filipino natives during a bold sermon delivered  before Gov. Andres Camba made in honor of Nuestra Sra. De la Guia; admonishing the Spaniards for  supposedly not doing anything to help the people, Pelaez describes the  natives' old "idolatry" practices as "pitiable," mocking them for lacking  the concept of a supreme being and for giving reverence to "trees, rocks,  reefs and headlands" or their ancestors; the Spanish colonizers who began settling in the Philippines in the 16th century, had destroyed much of the culture and historical records of the Philippines, destroying most traditions of the natives and their system of writing which the Spaniards call as "works of the devil."

Sketch of Leonor Rivera

1881 - Leonor Rivera, the girlfriend  of  Jose Rizal, Filipino patriot and  polymath during the Spanish colonial  period, chides the latter in a letter  for failing to write her earlier;  signed "Taimis" (the name by which  Rizal calls her), Rivera expresses  disgust over Rizal's failure to write  her even as he wrote to her father,  describing him as "like a newly opened  rose, very flushed and fragrant at the  beginning, but afterwards it begins to  wither."

Teodora Alonzo de Rizal with young Leonora Rivera

1896 - Teodora Alonzo de Rizal, the  mother of Jose Rizal y Mercado,  Filipino patriot and polymath  sentenced to die by execution, writes  a letter of appeal imploring the  Spanish colonial authorities to grant  pardon to her son; Alonzo de Rizal, who herself had been persecuted by the Spanish authorities and suffered imprisonment for 2 1/2 years,  writes that the crime of rebellion  attributed to her son "has not been  proven in a conclusive manner" and that  he is in fact "innocent" of the "most  infamous of crimes" against the Mother  Country; Rizal, who wrote books  castigating Spanish friars' abuses  against Filipinos, had earlier been  convicted by the colonial Council of  War of the crimes of rebellion,  sedition, and conspiracy because of  his association with members of the  secret-society-turned-revolutionary- government Kagalanggalangang Katipunan  nang manga Anak nang Bayan following  the outbreak of the Philippine  Revolution against Spain in August  1896; Rizal had indicted a manifesto calling the Katipunan Himagsikan as "highly absurd."


Photo credits:

http://joserizal.info/Biography/man_and_martyr/chapter18.htm
http://triciacampos2007.wordpress.com/2007/11/29/the-9-women-of-rizal/

27 DECEMBER

1735 - A big tidal wave or 'tromba  marina' wipes out the town of Baler in  the future Quezon province in the  Philippine archipelago during the  American colonial period, with only 14  families surviving--the Angaras,  Bijasas, Bitongs, Lumasacs,  Carrasocos, and Pobletes; the early  inhabitants of Baler were the Ilongot  and Dumagat natives and during the  Spanish colonial period, was formed  into a municipality by the Franciscan  friars led by Fr. Francisco de San  Antonio in 1611.
 

1875 - Juan Sumulong y Marquez, future  revolutionary and political Opposition  stalwart, is born in Antipolo, Rizal  during the Spanish colonial times; he would join the  Philippine Revolution against Spain while a law student at the University of  Santo Tomas, specifically joining with the revolutionaries based in Morong Province (today's Rizal); Sumulong, however, would early on collaborate with the new colonial American government by serving as private secretary to the civil governor of Morong even as the  Philippine-American War (1899-1914) rages on; he would become president of the Partido Nacional Progresista that would aim for gradual Philippine Independence and, later, of Democrata Party (merger party with Teodoro Sandiko's Artido Democrata Nacional); Sumulong, who would be described by nationalist solon Claro M. Recto as having "a high reputation for intellectual capacity and integrity," would be noted for being the "Brains of the Opposition" during the ascendancy of Manuel L. Quezon during the American colonial period.  
 


Photo credit: http://www.friendster.com/photos/15590350/1/579262994#pic=01579262994

26 DECEMBER

Composer Antonio J. Molina

1894 - Antonio J. Molina, future Filipino national artist for music, is born to  a wealthy and influential government official, Juan Molina, in Quiapo,  Manila during the Spanish colonial times; Molina will earn his teacher's  diploma in violoncello from the Conservatory of music at the University of the Philippines and will emerge as an eminent violoncellist, composer, music administrator, conductor and teacher; he will perform in Vietnam from 1923-1924 where he will prominently figure, playing at  the Exclusive Societe Philharmonique de Hanoi, will teach at the University of the Philippines, become the first Filipino composer to be invited to perform his own works in Malacanang, and will conduct the very first concert aired in Philippine television; Molina will write over 500 musical compositions in his lifetime, receiving various citations and awards, including the 1973 National Artist Award and the Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1965 and 1972.

1898 - The first and official raising of the Philippine flag in Mindanao island occurs in Surigao six months after the Declaration of Philippine Independence but more than three months after the infamous Mock Battle of Manila falsely made it appear that the Spanish colonizers in the Southeast Asian archipelago were defeated not by the Filipinos but by the imperialist Americans; while it will not become clear whether the flag-raising is sanctioned or not by the central government of Gen. Emilio F. Aguinaldo, what will be ascertained is that a provisional junta government headed by Alejandro Gomez is established in clear identification with the aims and struggles of the Philippine Revolution as news of Aguinaldo's establishment of a dictatorial government reached Filipino sympathizers to the revolution against Spain and as news of the defeat of the Spanish armada by the United States forced Spanish officials and friars to abandon their posts in Surigao.

25 DECEMBER

1898 - The fledgling Philippine Republic government of Gen. Emilio F. Aguinaldo decrees December 30 as "a national day of mourning" and the anniversary of the death of patriot and polymath Jose Mercado Rizal; on December 30, 1896, Rizal was executed by the Spanish colonial government for supposed rebellion, sedition, and conspiracy as he was implicated in the secret-society-turned-revolutionary-government Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan despite the fact that he issued a manifesto disowning the Philippine Revolution of 1896; the decree comes some two weeks after the anomalous Treaty of Paris wherein imperialist United States supposedly bought the Philippines for $20 million dollars and some five weeks before the bloody and protracted Filipino-American War (1899-1914). 

1898 - Tomas S. Fonacier, future  outstanding Filipino historian and  educator who would be responsible for  founding the University of the  Philippines Iloilo College, is born in  Laoag, Ilocos Norter; as historian,  Fonacier would be noted for "The  Filipino Racial Memory" (1958), "The  Chinese in the Philippines During the  American Regime (1933); "Gregorio Aglipay y Labayan" (short biography  published in 1954); and "The Ilocano  Movement" (1953).

1918 - Felix Manalo y Ysagun, Filipino founder of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), is honored as an outstanding evengelist by the ministers of the Christian mission, some four years after founding his own church, the INC; Manalo went through a razzle-dazzle period of soul-searching--joining the Philippine Independent Church, then Colorum, the Methodist Episcopalian Church, and then the Seventh Day Adventist--before eventually finding his spiritual truth in his church; in 1922 during the  period wherein he would be accused of  immorality (for supposedly  raping/molesting 30 or so women  members of INC), Manalo would  introduce in his church the important  Sugo doctrine claiming that he is the  messenger of God, the fifth angle of  Revelation.

Sen. Mamintal Tamano

1928 - Future Filipino senator and advocate of Muslim political autonomy, Mamintal Tamano, is born in Tampacan, Lanao; a member of the Maranao tribe, Tamano would envision the process of national integration, including Muslim integration, as a way to achieve unity in diversity in the Philippine archipelago; Tamano, who would be noted for being a Muslim senator with the longest time in office, would become a member of the Upper House before and after Martial Law--from 1969-1972 and 1987-1992--and would principally author Republic Act 6848 providing for the Al-Amanah Islamic Investment Bank's charter, as well as RA 6969 that bans the importation, transportation, disposal, and sale of toxic and nuclear wastes.


Photo credits:

Wikipedia
http://kalisnglawin.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html
 http://www.upvanguard.org/about/up-vanguard-hall-of-fame

24 DECEMBER

1859 - Future Filipino revolutionary  leader Juan Faller Climaco is born in  Cebu City; Climaco, who will be orphaned in his adolescence and will inherit his parents' riches and  businesses, will join the Philippine Revolution against Spain following the arrival of the followers of the underground-society-turned-revolutionary-government Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang  manga Anak nang  Bayan (KKK) Supremo Andres Bonifacio (Gil Domingo  and Hermogenes Plata) in Cebu on a mission to enlist the Cebuanos' support for continued Filipino resistance against Spain; Climaco, who will take up the cudgels of revolutionary leadership in Cebu along  with Arcadio Maxilom following the traitorous death of Pantaleon  Villegas, will be noted for the letter  he will pen in behalf of Cebuano revolutionaries during the subsequent  Filipino-American War (1899-1914) and defiantly addressed to the imperialist  United States Congress which will conclude: "We further express to you that we gladly accept the temporary protection of your country, but as to its sovereignty, never."

1941 - The Japanese attacks Jolo, Sulu island in the southern part of the  American colony in Southeast Asia, the Philippines, during the Second World  War; the entire province of Sulu, which is important as staging area for the Japanese invasion of North Borneo, succumbed to the forces of Asia's giant; owing to the corollary brutality of the Japanese who will initially  execute Chinese residents of Jolo in  retaliation for their support for Chinese resistance against the Japanese invasion in China, a number of fragmented secret armed groups will be organized until a Tausug, Abdulrahim Imao, founds a guerrilla outfit that will form the nucleus of effective guerilla resistance against the Japanese.


Photo credit: http://hubpages.com/hub/World-War-II-The-Invasion

23 DECEMBER

1900 - Early traitors ("Amboys") to  the cause of Philippine independence  form the Partido Federal (Federal Party) in No. 37 Villalobos Street in Quiapo, Manila only 10 months into the bloody and protracted Filipino-American War (1899-1914); elites that include T. H. Pardo de Tavera, Estanislao Legaspi, Mariano Abella, Tomas del  Rosario, Hipolito B. Magsalin, Felipe  S. Buencamino, Agustin de la Rosa, Simplicio S. Del Rosario, many of whom were members of the former La Liga Filipina, the Malolos Congress and/or cabinet members of Gen. Emilio  Aguinaldo's government, issue a manifesto expressing their primary aim of bringing about the conclusion of the Filipino-American War (1899-1914) and restoring peace in the whole country by accepting colonial status before the imperialist United States of  America; the Partido Federal will actively pursue the surrender of freedom-fighting guerrilla leaders before the Bald Eagle colonial government through discussions and appeals beginning February of the following year.


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

22 DECEMBER

Gen. Flaviano Yengko y Abad

1874 - Future Filipino revolutionary  general Flaviano Yengko y Abad is  born in Tondo, Manila during the  Spanish colonial times; as a  university student--taking up bachelor  of arts at the Colegio de San Juan de  Letran and law in the University of  Santo Tomas--Yengko will become known  for his charitable ways and  versatility as well for his eloquence  in oratory and debate; as the  Philippine Revolution breaks out in  August 1896, Yengko will courageously  take up the challenge to fight for his  country by joining the underground-society-turned-revolutionary-government Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang  manga Anak nang  Bayan (KKK) and  leaving law school; Yengko will first  see action at the Battle of Binakayan  in November 9, thereafter becoming a  captain in Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo's  general staff before rising in rank up  to brigadier general; the young  revolutionary general will die on  March 3, 1897 in a military hospital  in Imus after being shot in the  abdomen during the Spanish assault in  Salitran as part of the  intensive Spanish military offensive in Cavite.

1888 - Tomas B. Mapua, Filipino  outstanding architect and educator,  founder of the prestigious Mapua  Institute of Technology, dies at the  ripe old age of 77; Mapua earned his  high school and bachelor of  architecture degree in the United  States after which he worked for the  Bureau of Public Works, pursued  private practice, and was later  appointed supervising architect under  which capacity he took charge of great  government construction projects such  as the Philippine General Hospital and  the National Mental Hospital; the  first ever licensed Filipino  architect, Mapua won recognition for  several of his private projects,  including his design of the La Salle  College Building that led him to best  his competitor architects (three  Spaniards, two Americans, one Filipino  and one German).


Photo credit:

http://fil.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Flaviano_Yengko