15 JUNE

Hen. Vito L. Belarmino

1857 - Vito Belarmino y Loyola, one of the most brilliant Filipino military leaders during the Philippine Revolution against Spain and  during the bloody and protracted  Filipino-American War (1899-1914), is born in Silang, Cavite; Belarmino would join the underground-society-turned-revolutionary-government Kataastaasang Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan and engage the Spaniards in various skirmishes, including the 1896 attack he and Vicente Giron  will launch against colonial Spanish guards and a convent in Silang;  later, during the Phil-Am War, Belarmino would be given command of Albay province to establish a [local[ republican government; he and controversial Gen. Jose Paua (Pawa) will put up a valiant fight to defend Legaspi,  Albay against the Bald Eagle forces led by Gen. William Kobe;  following the fall of Tabaco and Naga tragically in February 1900 to the invading imperialist United States forces, Paua--who played an important role in the power grab from, and elimination of, revolutionary President Andres Bonifacio when he carried out Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo's "dead or alive" order to abduct the Supremo--will soon surrender to the enemy Americans but Gen. Belarmino will for a time persist in his patriotic duty and will defiantly organize a" guerrilla outfit [to] repeatedly [harass] American installations in the Bicol region;" due to lack of ammunition, however, Belarmino decided to surrender to the enemy U.S. forces on July 4, 1901. 

14 JUNE

U.S.-sponsored Philippine President Manuel L. Quezon

1941 - President Manuel L. Quezon y Molina   signs the maternity-leave bill giving  women in government service 60 days maternity leave with full pay on top of the usual sick and vacation leaves during the period of imperialist American Occupation and several months before the Japanese occupies the Philippines in World War II; Quezon's advisers had recommended against the bill on economic grounds but the President, perceived to be a  champion of the underdog,  remarked "I’ll sign that bill if it bankrupts the treasury,” before promptly reaching for a pen; Quezon's American-sponsored "Commonwealth period" presidency had exhibited progressiveness in terms of women's rights and welfare as he earlier supported the women's suffragist movement declaring about a decade earlier: "I have always been and always will be in favor of woman suffrage."


Photo credit: http://bentley.umich.edu/research/guides/philippines/philipp_search.php?id=79

13 JUNE

Battle of Zapote Bridge (River)
American invaders captured Filipino cannons, 13 June 1899

1899 - The (second)  Battle of Zapote Bridge (River), one of the fiercest battles and actually the largest single battle next to the earlier Battle of Manila during the bloody and protracted Philippine-American War (1899-1914) involving 5,000 Filipinos and 3,000 enemy American forces, is won by the imperialist forces under Gen. Henry Ware Lawton of the invading United States;  the crucial battle began with some 1,000 valiant Filipinos in prepared position stoutly defending the bridge against the invading Companies F and I of the 21st Infantry under Major Boylebut; fighting with much less inferior firepower, the Filipinos under Gen. Artemio Ricarte and Mariano Noriel ultimately yielded to the vile American invaders; the battle lasted for hours until the much better armed Bald Eagle  soldiers drove the Filipino freedom fighters out of their lines forcing them to withdraw inland as a rear guard held off the imperialists for a time; Lawton, who would later be killed by the men of Gen. Licerio Geronimo later that year, will remark  on the uncanny bravery of the Filipinos shown int he battle as the New York Times will report that the Filipino army is "the largest and best organized body of men which had yet met American troops"; the battle would help make fledgling Philippine President Emilio F. Aguinaldo decide to reform the regular Army into guerrilla style units to better engage the enemy Americans and capitalize on the Filipinos' endemic knowledge of the Southeast Asian archipelago's landscape.


Raw photo credit: http://philippineamericanwar.webs.com/southofmanilacampaign.htm

12 JUNE

1898 - Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy, leader of the so-called second phase of the Philippine Revolution against Spain, proclaims the Independence of the Philippines "under the protection of the Powerful and Humanitarian Nation," that is the United States of America and thereby ceasing "to have any allegiance to the Crown of Spain" and unfurling a blue, red and yellow flag that could have been partly inspired by the Stars-and Stripes banner of the imperialist United States; ironically, within eight months, the Bald Eagle nation will show the pathetically deceived Aguinaldo its true color as it invades the fledgling Southeast Asian republic by instigating the hostilities with the Filipino troops under a vile pre-arranged plan on February 4, 1899, with the resulting savage Filipino-American War (1899-1914) lasting for over ten bloody ten years; more than a year earlier, during the second phase of the Himagsikan that intersected with the Spanish-American War, Dewey and other American military and diplomatic officials began to con Aguinaldo into stupidly agreeing to an "alliance" to fight Spain, making verbal assurances that the U.S. was supposedly an 'ally' that would honor Philippine Independence;  with Aguinaldo allowing the free entry of the future enemy American soldiers, the U.S. managed to position themselves for the infamous Mock Battle of Manila that falsely made it look like that the Americans--instead of the Filipino revolutionaries--defeated the Spaniards in the archipelago, and then eventually for the invasion of the Philippines that led to the Fil-Am War, America's first war of colonial expansion.


Photo credit: http://www.beda7882.com/Photos/Phil_History/Philippine-Independence-Declaration-1898.jpg

11 JUNE

Pangulong Carlos Garcia y Polistico

1971 - Former Philippine President Carlos Garcia y Polistico is elected president of the 1971 Constitutional Convention that was assembled to revise the 1935 Philippine Charter during the second term of President Ferdinand Marcos y Edralin; Garcia, who served as the head of state of the Philippine Republic from 1957-1961, will die from heart attack within only three days from election as Con-Con head, permitting the constitutional body's vice-president, former Philippine President Diosdado Macapagal y Pangan, to take charge of the writing of the country's new charter; a poet, lawyer, former law professor, congressman and three-time governor of Bohol, Garcia was elected Senator for three terms before running successfully for Vice-President and then for President in 1957; born to middle-class parents Ambrosia Polistico and Policronio Garcia on November 4, 1896, the year when the Himagsikan erupted, he was known as the "Bard from Bohol" and the "Prince of Visayan Poets| before entering politics; a topnotcher during the 1923 bar examinations, Garcia will be remembered for his administration's near iconic legacy  of "Filipino First" policy which put the interests of the Filipino people above those of foreigners and of the ruling party.


Photo credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Carlos_P_Garcia.jpg

10 JUNE

Gen. Emilio F. Aguinaldo - Admiral George Dewey

1898 - During the Philippine Revolution against Spain, United States Consul-General in Singapore E. Spencer Pratt, congratulates Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo for his "recent military achievements" and claims that his arrangement for the latter's meeting with US Admiral Spencer Dewey is right; however, diplomatic and military officials of the Bald Eagle government--Pratt, US Consul in Hongkong Rounsenville Wildman, and Dewey, who weeks back forged an alliance with Aguinaldo in fighting Spain--have actually been conning Aguinaldo into stupidly believing that America is an ally that will honor Filipino independence; earlier on April 22, 1898, Pratt conferred with Aguinaldo to discuss strategy against Spain, promising Philippine independence under the U.S. protection as Dewey thereafter deceptively promised the same tune, categorically telling Aguinaldo that the America will recognize Philippine Independence supposedly because "America is exceedingly well off as regards territory, revenue, and resources and therefore needs no colonies;" the true imperialistically wicked color of America will later be shown in the Mock Battle of Manila when Americans will make it falsely appear that the U.S. troops and not the Filipino revolutionaries are the ones who overcome the colonial Spaniards and most clearly, in the Bald Eagle's deliberate instigation of the Philippine-American War (1899-1914) on February 4 1899 as part of the US President William McKinley's vile prearranged plan to trick the US Senate into approving the invasion of the fledgling Southeast Asian nation; the New York Times will later report about an intimate of Pratt being privy to conferences between Aguinaldo and the Consul-General in Singapore, with Pratt promptly engaging in telegraphic communication with Dewey and wherein the American side has "accepted" the Filipinos' help against Spain amidst the revolutionary general's "policy... of the independence of the Philippines" [with] American protection [being] desirable temporarily" similar to that extended in Cuba; the New York Times report that will come out two weeks after the outbreak of the Fil-Am War will point to the sinister intent of the American government to deceive the Filipinos:

"It was with the assistance of Aguinaldo as a guide that Dewey entered the bay, and subsequent events proved that Aguinaldo has kept all his promises but the interesting feature of this incident is that no official announcements or publications of the facts have emanated from the Government at Washington."

Photo credits:

http://alumni.imsa.edu/~bruce/projects/images/occupation/aguinal.jpghttp://opmanong.ssc.hawaii.edu/filipino/graphics/dewey.gif

9 JUNE

1945 - Manuel Roxas y Acuna is elected President of the Senate during a special session of Congress called by President Sergio Osmena y Suico following the defeat of the Japanese and the end of World War II but with the Philippines still a colony of the United States; this early, Roxas already has set his on the sights on the Philippine presidency, with American Gen. Douglas MacArthur and High Commissioner Paul V. McNutt supporting him, and in the elections of 1946,  will win amidst Osmena's refusal to campaign; following the granting of Philippine "independence" in 1946, Roxas would be responsible for the neocolonial arrangement of the Philippines and  the imperialist Bald Eagle nation, with the lopsided and inimical-to-Filipino-interests RP-US Military Bases Agreement (MBA) and so-called Parity Rights to be successfully pushed by his administration; the MBA will grant  American access to 22 military, naval, and air bases in the  Southeast Asian nation, with Roxas lobbying for its passage in the Philippine Congress despite the MBA despite being a mere international executive agreement on the American side, not having been ratified by the U.S. legislature; on the other hand, the  Parity Rights amendment to the 1935 Constitution will ridiculously give American citizens the same equal rights as Filipinos to exploit the natural resources of the country.



Photo credit: http://www.philippine-history.org/images/Manuel-A-Roxas.jpg

8 JUNE

1900 - Gen. Pio del Pilar, a controversial officer of the First Philippine Republic, is taken prisoner  at Guadalupe, Rizal by imperialist United States forces during the bloody and protracted Filipino-American War (1899-1914);  born in  Makati, Rizal in 1865 to Isaac Isidro y del Pilar and Antonia Castaneda, Pio del Pilar will infamously go down in history for betraying two iconic Katipunan figures--Supreme President Andres Bonifacio y de Castro and Gen. Artemio Ricarte y Garcia; during the Philippine Revolution against Spain, Pio del Pilar was a signatory to the 1897 Naik Military Agreement that declared several Filipino revolutionaries (referring to but not naming the camp of Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy) as having committed treason against the nation and the revolution by trying to forge a peace pact with the enemy Spanish colonial forces; he will soon switched to Aguinaldo's side, even advising that revolutionary President Bonifacio be executed following the Supremo's kangaroo court martial; the general will later also betray Gen. Ricarte's attempt to reunite Filipino military generals and rekindle the fire of the Philippine Revolution, this time against the Bald Eagle invaders;  he will initially refuse to swear allegiance to the enemy American flag and will be exiled along with Ricarte, Apolinario Mabini and other leaders of the Aguinaldo's Philippine Republic in 1901 but will relent and ultimately swear allegiance to the enemy imperialist American flag, renouncing all forms of revolution in the country; Pio del Pilar will also be involved in the sudden disappearance of his custodial responsibility,  Feliciano Jocson, a  Katipunan organizer who disapproved of Aguinaldo's Biak-na-Bato truce with the Spaniards and plotted to attack Manila before being arrested and turned over to del Pilar but soon disappearing [read: salvaged].


Photo credit:

http://www.freewebs.com/philippineamericanwar/combatinmanilasuburbs.htm

7 JUNE

Gen. Artemio Ricarte y Garcia, a.k.a "Vibora"

1904 - Gen. Artemio Ricarte y Garcia, the Filipino military official of the so-called First Philippine Republic who never swore allegiance to the imperialist United States of America, is confined at Bilibid Prison in Manila following his treacherous arrest while trying to drum up renewed support against the American invaders during the bloody and protracted Philippine-American War (1899-1914); also known as "Vibora" (viper), his Katipunan codename, Ricarte was earlier exiled to Guam, along with  Apolinario Mabini and other Filipino leaders, and later still, after adamantly refusing to swear allegiance to the Bald Eagle flag, to Hong Kong, but secretly returned to the the country to reunite with former members of the Philippine Army to try to rekindle the Philippine Revolution, this time against the invading enemy Bald Eagle forces; a reluctant officer of Emilio F. Aguinaldo's "Philippine Republic" who spoke of the fraudulent conduct of the Tejeros Convention that 'elected' Aguinaldo "President" and deposed revolutionary President Andres Bonifacio y de Castro, Ricarte will be thought of in history as the only Himagsikan general who never compromised the spirit of the 1896 Revolution; while in Japan, Ricarte will 'lead' from a distance the popular and radical "Ricartista movement" in Luzon and Visayas; while the promised arms from Japan will never come such that the new independentist uprising will not take off, the Ricarte movement will be a considerable potential force such that by 1914, it will be believed to count over 50,000 members, 60 percent of whom will be actively taking part in patriotic societies and undergoing military training in Manila. 


Raw photo credit: http://webzoom.freewebs.com/philippineamericanwar/Artemio%20Ricarte%20with%20%20sombrero.jpg

6 JUNE

Col. Francisco "Paco" Roman     -      Gen. Antonio Luna     -      Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo
(Photo art: JB)

1899 - One day after his bodyguards murdered Gen. Antonio Luna y Novicio (and aide-de-camp Col. Francisco Roman), the perceived threat to his position as revolutionary leader, Dictator President Emilio Aguinaldo wires all the military chiefs in five northern provinces  to the effect that he is taking active direction of the military operations and that  he is establishing his temporary headquarters at Bamban, Tarlak four months into the bloody and protracted Filipino-American War (1899-1914); Aguinaldo would be widely blamed for setting a trap  for the assassination because he did not meet Luna despite his signed telegram calling the former to a conference and because it will be reported that his mother, looking out the window of the convent in Cabanatuan and witnessing at least part of the assassination, uttered: "Is he still breathing?"; it would later be reported that  Gen. Venancio Concepcion, then in Angeles, received a telegram from Aguinaldo at about the time of the Luna assassination informing the former that he (Aguinaldo) had taken over the control of military operations in the Central Luzon area and that, further, he  was on his way to Bamban which he will be using as his new temporary executive and military headquarters; Aguinaldo would also carry out loyalty checks and arrest of military subordinates loyal to Luna, with some being reportedly killed , including Major Manuel Bernal who would be tortured first before being liquidated.  

1898 - Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy,  issues a decree delineating the geographic and political divisions of provinces and appointing a military chief for each zone during the so-called second phase of the Philippine Revolution against Spain; one year and three weeks earlier, Aguinaldo tightly sealed his power grab against revolutionary President Andres Bonifacio y de Castro, the Supreme President of the secret-society-turned-revolutionary-government  Kataastaasang Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan when he ordered the 'dead or alive' seizure and kangaroo court martial and eventual  execution-cum-assassination of the Bonifacio brothers; Aguinaldo has claimed leadership of the revolution on the basis of the controversial and fraudulent March 1897 Tejeros Convention, reportedly marked by the use of pre-filled ballots and by scandalous irregularities that actually prompted its nullification by Bonifacio (who served as presiding officer) through the Acta de Tejeros;  the more progressive historians would condemn the Tejeros Convention as a coup and a counterrevolution, as Apolinario Mabini, who would serve as Aguinaldo's Prime Minister, would later decry the power grab from, and "assassination," of Bonifacio as constituting Aguinaldo's insubordination against the leader of the Katipunan and as the "first victory of personal ambition over true patriotism."




Raw photo credit (Roman pix):  http://philippineamericanwar.webs.com/lunaassassination.htm

5 JUNE

Hen. Antonio Luna y Novicio

1899 - Gen. Antonio Luna y Novicio, Commanding General of the Philippine forces fighting the invading imperialist Bald Eagle forces during the Filipino-American War (1899-1914), is dastardly assassinated by bodyguards of President Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy at the stairs of the convent of Cabanatuan in the province of Nueva Ecija; the guilt for the murders (Luna's aide-de-camp has been also killed) would be widely ascribed to Aguinaldo because he summoned Luna to Cabanatuan with a signed telegram calling him to a conference and because during the murder, Aguinaldo's mother looked out the window and asked: "Is he still breathing?"; historian Teodoro Kalaw would  write that Aguinaldo also ordered  his other subordinates including Gen. Gregorio del Pilar to capture Gen. Luna 'dead or alive,' prompting the Bulakeno boy-general to leave for Bamban and Mabalacat to execute the bloody task although the President's bodyguards got to Luna first; the fiery Luna, who studied military science in Europe after being exiled on suspicion of being a Katipunero during the Philippine Revolution against Spain, is perhaps the most capable and efficient military leaders during the Fil-Am War, having been able to turn the Philippine Army into a considerably meritorious, better organized and enthusiastic force; dying at the age of 33, Luna's assassination would merit the comment of American Gen. Robert P. Hughes, saying that:  “The Filipinos had only one general, and they have killed him.”


Photo credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Luna

4 JUNE

Hen. Gregorio del Pilar y Sempio   -   Hen. Isidoro Torres y Dayao

1898 - Gen. Gregorio Del Pilar y Sempio reports to Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy about the military operations undertaken primarily in Bulacan province during the so-called second phase of the Philippine Revolution against Spain: their success at capturing and taking the station in Bigaa, Bulacan, which was garrisoned by 24 men of the Spanish Infantry and Rural Guards; control of nine (9) Bulacan towns; engagement of the forces of Sr. Isidoro Torres y Dayao at Malolos against Macabebe volunteers and Spanish Infantry; as well as the agreement among well-learned residents of Malolos and neighboring towns for Torres to temporarily occupy the position of Dictator of the Zone; Torres, it should be noted, has refused to recognize the authority of Aguinaldo, at least during the time of the Biak-na-Bato peace pact forged by Aguinaldo a few months after the latter seized revolutionary leadership from, and eliminating via assassination-cum-execution Andres Bonifacio y de Castro, the Supreme President of the secret-society-turned-revolutionary-government  Kataastaasang Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan that launched the Himagsikan in the bid to free the Philippines from the oppressive shackles of Spanish colonial rule and form an independent nation of an Austronesian-based race in the Southeast Asian archipelago..

Photo art: JB

Original photo credits: http://philippineamericanwar.webs.com/

3 JUNE

1898 - Filipino troops take control of areas of Manila--Caloocan, Tondo, Santa Cruz, San Juan del Monte, Santolan as their counterparts in Zapote, Cavite province numbering only about 500 drive back the 3,500-strong enemy Spanish forces, while Spaniards in Calamba, Laguna surrender to Gen. Paciano Rizal following three days of fighting during the second phase of the Philippine Revolution against Spain; Gen. Emilio F. Aguinaldo-- who had earlier forged a truce with the enemy Spaniards within a few months after seizing revolutionary leadership from, and eliminating the Supremo of the underground-society-turned-revolutionary-government Kataastaasang Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga  Anak nang Bayan,  President Andres Bonifacio y de Castro--returned two weeks earlier from self-exile to resume the Himagsikan apparently after being convinced by imperialist United States Admiral George Dewey; Aguinaldo has formed an alliance with Dewey who has deceptively assured him believe that the Bald Eagle nation is a friend and ally of the Philippines and will honor its independence from Spain; in nine days' time, the Southeast Asian archipelago will declare its Independence but eight months later, the U.S. will begin its formal invasion of the fledgling Republic after instigating hostilities to trigger what would turn out to be the bloody and protracted Philippine-American War (1899-1914).


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

2 JUNE

1931 - Juan Sumulong y Marquez, dubbed the "Brains of the Opposition" during the ascendancy of Manuel L. Quezon, first President of the Philippine Senate and the Commonwealth [dependent territory] during the American Colonial period, resigns from the Democrata party due to poor health; a revolutionary during the Philippine Revolution against Spain, Sumulong became a member of the Philippine Commission [read: imperialist American-sponsored legislative body] from 1909-1913, later becoming a senator after several previous unsuccessful candidacies;  one of the political figures opposed to the Hare-Hawes Cutting Act that grants  the United States continued sovereignty over U.S. Military Reservations in the country, Sumulong would later bitterly denounce what will be the coalition of Quezon's Partido Nacionalista and the opposition party of Sergio S. Osmena, believing that political representation should instead be balanced to prevent oligarchy. 


Photo credit: Wikipedia

1 JUNE

1898 - The capitulation of Spanish colonial forces led by Major Juan Enriquez to Filipino revolutionary leader, Captain Simeon Dionisio of Bataan province during the so-called second phase of the Philippine Revolution is formalized in Pilar town in the "Acta de capitulacion, Pilar, Bataan, 1 de Junio 1898"; the Act is certified by the Secretary Albino Reyes, with signatories including Capt. Dionisio on the Filipino side and on the Spanish side, Maj. Enriquez who has supposedly witnessed the futility of further resisting the wave of Philippine revolution and has found it wiser to avert needless greater bloodshed; one year and ten months earlier, the Filipinos launched the Himagsikan under the initial leadership of revolutionary President Andres Bonifacio y de Castro, Supremo of the underground-society-turned-revolutionary-government Kataastaasang Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan, in the bid to free their land from the oppressive yoke of Spanish colonization.

Raw photo credit:  http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRpBKTN7pj_u0_BGv7-AE8UTw1QYRFdO0TI2Jz7_n1UNeoIPTqf&t=1