(An article by Maria Concepcion Panlilio published by Asian-American Times in 1998)
(Mount Pinatubo's cataclysmic eruption in 1991 proved to be the strongest in 80 years--so powerful, in fact, that it managed to destroy all U.S. military bases in the country beyond repair. The end of the Cold War also ended the strategic need of military presence in the Philippines; therefore, the United States decided not to renew its leases, to the exultation of a small sector of the Philippine population. This marks the historical cessation of U.S./Philippines military partnership that had lasted for centuries.)
To some Filipinos, it was a dream-come-true to finally achieve complete autonomy of their country without any foreign military presence. And they owe it all to an unsuspecting emancipator: Mount Pinatubo.
(Mount Pinatubo's cataclysmic eruption in 1991 proved to be the strongest in 80 years--so powerful, in fact, that it managed to destroy all U.S. military bases in the country beyond repair. The end of the Cold War also ended the strategic need of military presence in the Philippines; therefore, the United States decided not to renew its leases, to the exultation of a small sector of the Philippine population. This marks the historical cessation of U.S./Philippines military partnership that had lasted for centuries.)
To some Filipinos, it was a dream-come-true to finally achieve complete autonomy of their country without any foreign military presence. And they owe it all to an unsuspecting emancipator: Mount Pinatubo.
Until 1991, when Mount Pinatubo erupted and drove the Americans away from the country, the Philippines had been under foreign control since Magellan discovered the islands in 1521. The Spaniards ruled the country for almost 400 years, then the Americans, then the Japanese, then the Americans again. Liberty remained elusive for the self-rule starved Filipinos. The Americans granted independence to the Philippines in 1898, but many Filipinos never truly felt complete freedom because of the ubiquitous U.S. military bases around the country. The U.S. Naval Base in Subic Bay was the largest in the world outside Pearl Harbor, and the U.S. Clark Air Force Base in Angeles City was – during the Vietnam War. For centuries, underground rebels fought to force the Americans out of the country. Then Mount Pinatubo decided to intervene. It woke up one day and in a few seconds accomplished what the Filipino nationalists failed to achieve in hundreds of years. The Americans went packing and never looked back.
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Luneta. December 30, 1896. Behind a bugler and a drummer, a condemned man arrived at the scene where a great crowd awaited his execution. He resembled not the portrait of a traitor and criminal, but of a man of courage and greatness. He was Dr. Jose P. Rizal—35, a poet, doctor, linguist, and patriot, whose writings had inspired the Filipino revolt against the Spaniards. He was slim, dignified, poised and impeccably dressed in his black European suit.
Dr. Rizal refused to kneel, nor to be blindfolded. The commander of the eight-man firing squad gave his order to fire. “Consummatum Est,” were the last words of the man who would be called our National Hero. The Filipino mercenaries fired their Remingtons. He had requested to be shot in the front, which had been denied, but in the end, with one last convulsive effort, Rizal twisted and turned his body to face his executioners as he fell to his death.
Thoughts of freedom from foreign sovereignty conjure up images of Dr. Rizal’s execution and martyrdom. Once described by a Spanish philosopher as the “Tagalog Christ,” Rizal was the Spaniards’ most feared man, but his death would only mark the beginning of an end to four centuries of Spanish rule in the country.
Entered the Americans in -----. Their mission was to retaliate against the destruction of the U.S. battleship Maine in Havana harbor and destroy the entire Spanish fleet in Cuba and in the Philippines. With promises of independence for the Filipinos, Aguinaldo partnered with the Americans against the Spaniards. Historians chronicle a hidden agenda on the part of the Americans, which had nothing to do with the independence of the Filipino people.
On June 12, 1898, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo stood in the balcony of his house in Kawit, Cavite, proudly waving the Philippine flag and declaring the independence of the Philippines from foreign rule. A thunderous applause and shouts of Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! erupted from the crowd, many of them barefoot soldiers donned with straw hats and sharp bolos hanging from their waist.
The band played Marcha Filipina—an unrecognized tune that would become the Philippine National Anthem. Aguinaldo and his officers stood in attention and saluted the flag; the crowd spontaneously followed. Aguinaldo became the President of the First Philippine Republic.
Freedom was at hand. And so it seemed. Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States for $20 million as per the Treaty of Paris. A year later, hostilities erupted between the Filipinos and the Americans. Ironically, it would be Aguinaldo who led the war for the Philippines. Due to conflicts in leadership between Gen. Aguinaldo and Andres Bonifacio (The founder of the Katipunan), Aguinaldo ordered his men to catch and kill Bonifacio. Another great man was executed and died for the love of his country and the principle of freedom for his countrymen.
The war lasted for two years, claiming thousands of Filipino lives. Another Filipino revolt failed.
On July 4, 1901, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt declared the end of the Philippine-American war. In the next 50 years (interrupted by three years of Japanese occupation marked with barbaric atrocities that had stirred international outrage) the Philippines would be under the colonial rule of the United States. Finally, on July 4, 1946, US President Harry Truman announced that the Americans recognized the independence of the Filipino people.
Were the Filipinos free at last?
For 16 years, the Philippine Independence Day was celebrated on July 4th, coinciding with the American Declaration of Independence from England in 1776. In 1962, then incumbent President Macapagal pronounced June 12th to be the original and official Independence Day of the Philippines.
For 16 years, the Philippine Independence Day was celebrated on July 4th, coinciding with the American Declaration of Independence from England in 1776. In 1962, then incumbent President Macapagal pronounced June 12th to be the original and official Independence Day of the Philippines.
But the continued American presence in the Philippines convinced many die-hard nationalists that the country had never truly gained her independence from Uncle Sam. These anti-Americans scorned and denounced Filipinos friendly to the Imperialist Americans of neo-colonial mentality. Subversive groups proliferated, demanding the closure of all U.S. Military installations in the country.
On June 12, 1991, dignitaries, Filipino soldiers and spectators gathered at the front gate of Clark to celebrate the 93rd year anniversary of the declaration of Philippine Independence. With their right hands pressed at their chest, they watched the Philippine flag hoisted as the band played, and the crowd sang the national anthem, “Bayang magiliw, perlas nang silanganan--”
Three days later, Mount Pinatubo erupted—a massive explosion that would prove to be the worst in almost a hundred years. Clark Air Force Base and Subic Naval Base were damaged beyond repair. This settled the escalating conflict between the Philippines and the United States over the renewal of US base leases in the Philippines. The Americans evacuated the land, never to return. Pinatubo accomplished in a few minutes what the die-hard Filipino nationalists had unsuccessfully tried to do for nearly a century.
For the first time, the Philippines is finally on her own – completely. Will she make it?
