Philippine Revolution - Summary

Summary

The main stream of influx over revolutionary ideas came at the start of the 19th century when the country was opened for world trade. In 1809, first English firms were established in Manila followed by a royal decree in 1834 opening the city officially to world trade. The Philippines had been governed from Mexico from 1565, with colonial administrative costs sustained by subsidies from the galleon trade. Increased competition with foreign traders brought the galleon trade to an end in 1815. After its recognition of Mexican independence in 1821, Spain was forced to govern the Philippines directly from Madrid and to find new sources of revenue to pay for the colonial administration. At this point, post-French Revolution ideas entered the country through literature, which caused the rise of enlightened Ilustrado class in the society.

The 1868 Spanish Revolution brought to an end of the autocratic rule of Queen Isabella II and was replaced by a liberal government led by General Francisco Serrano. Serrano dispatched Carlos María de la Torre as the 91st governor-general in 1869. The leadership of de la Torre brought the idea of liberalism in the Philippines.

That same year, in 1869, the Suez Canal was opened to the world after almost ten years of construction.

The election of Amadeo of Savoy to the throne of Spain led to replacement of de la Torre in gubernatorial power in 1871. In 1872 the government of the succeeding governor-general Rafael de Izquierdo experienced the uprising of Filipino soldiers at the Fort San Felipe arsenal in Cavite el Viejo. Seven days after the mutiny, many people were arrested and tried. Three of these were secular priests: José Burgos, Mariano Gómez and friar Jacinto Zamora who were executed by hanging by Spanish authorities in Bagumbayan. Their execution had a profound effect on many Filipinos; José Rizal, the national hero, would dedicate his novel El filibusterismo to their memory.

Many Filipinos who were arrested for possible rebellion were deported to Spanish penal colonies. Some of them, however, managed to escape to Hong Kong, Yokohama, Singapore, Paris, London, Berlin, and some parts of Spain. These people met fellow Filipino students and other exiles who had escaped from penal colonies. Thrown together by common fate, they established a common organization known as the Propaganda Movement. These émigrés used their writings mainly to condemn Spanish abuses and seek reforms to the colonial government.

José Rizal's novels, Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not, 1887) and El Filibusterismo (The Filibuster, 1891), exposed Spanish abuses in socio-political and religious aspects. The publication of his first novel brought the infamous agrarian conflict in his hometown Calamba, Laguna in 1888 when Dominican haciendas fell into trouble of submitting government taxes. In 1892, Rizal, after his return from the Americas, established the La Liga Filipina (The Filipino League), a Filipino association organized to seek reforms from the colonial government. When the Spaniards learned that their haunted writer was in the Philippines, they arrested and deported Rizal a few days after the Liga was established.

The deportation of the Liga marked the dissolution of the organization. It was peaceful struggle to reform ended and was replaced by more aggressive one. On the night upon hearing the news that Rizal was deported to Dapitan, Liga member Andrés Bonifacio and his fellows established a secret organization named Katipunan in a house in Tondo, Manila. The Katipunan reached an overwhelming membership and attracted almost the lowly of the Filipino class. In June 1896, Bonifacio sent an emissary to Dapitan to reach Rizal's support, but the latter refused for an armed revolution. On August 19, 1896, Katipunan was discovered by a Spanish friar, which started the Philippine Revolution.

The revolution flared up initially in the eight provinces of Central Luzon. General Emilio Aguinaldo, a member of the Katipunan, spread armed resistance through Southern Tagalog region, where he liberated Cavite towns little by little. In 1896 and 1897, successive conventions at Imus and Tejeros decided the new republic's fate. By November, the republic was transferred in Biak-na-Bato, where a new constitution was ratified.

On May 1, 1898, the Battle of Manila Bay took place as part of the Spanish-American War. On May 24, Aguinaldo, who had returned from voluntary exile on May 19, announced in Cavite, "... I return to assume command of all the forces for the attainment of our lofty aspirations, establishing a dictatorial government which will set forth decrees under my sole responsibility, ..." On 12 June, Aguinaldo proclaimed Philippine independence On 18 June, Aguinaldo issued a decree proclaiming a Dictatorial Government headed by himself. On June 23, another decree signed by Aguinaldo was issued, replacing the Dictatorial Government with a Revolutionary Government. Elections were held by the Revolutionary Government between June and September 10, resulting in Emilio Aguinaldo being seated as President in the seating of a legislature known as the Malolos Congress. On February 2, 1899, general hostilities broke out between U.S. and Filipino forces, A session between September 15, 1898 and November 13, 1899 adopted the Malolos Constitution—creating the First Philippine Republic, with Aguinaldo as President. This, on June 12, 1899, promulgated a declaration of war on the U.S., beginning the Philippine-American War. U.S. forces captured Aguinaldo on March 23, 1901, and he swore allegiance to the U.S. on April 1. On July 4, 1902, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed a full and complete pardon and amnesty to all people in the Philippine archipelago who had participated in the conflict, effectively ending the war.