June 30 marks Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day. Thanks to a bill filed by Senator Ed Angara, on this day we remember the siege of Baler (now in pop culture courtesy of Anne Curtis and Jericho Rosales), where Spanish soldiers held out in the church for 11 months and El Ejercito Filipino wasn’t able to make them surrender.
In the end when the Spanish soldiers got news that Spain had lost the War to the Americans, the soldiers surrendered not to the interloping Yanqui but to Ejercito Filipino. El caudillo Aguinaldo glorified their stand as worthy of El Cid and Pelayo and granted the soldiers safe passage as friends.
Thus ended Spain in the Philippines. In a sense Spain was never defeated totally, departed honorably and that is the redeeming factor in our post-colonial relationship with Madre España. In contrast we still can’t find the reedeming factor in American colonization of the islands. Everything the Americans tried to impose on us, we find the angst. The Americans crossed into our history with duplicity, recognized our “independence” and duped us once again with demands for parity and military bases. The duplicity with complicity from our own government continues to the present.
It is unfashionable for Filipinos to be anti-Spain today. When King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia drop by for a visit, no one demonstrates against Spanish colonization and the Monarchs are received cordially and warmly. The King paid tribute to Filipinas when he visited the country in its centennial year. Criticisms against Spanish “colonialism” today is aimed at Filipinos who can’t decide what citizenship to hold and dupe los Indios Bravos still. Frankie Sionil-Jose skewers the Ayalas this way in his essays.
We look for the day when an American president comes for a visit and all Pinoys receive him cordially and warmly and all the lessons of our shared history have been learned as we had with Spain. Is Obama up to the challenge?
Popularity: 1% [?]
Banana republic Honduras and Pinas share one thing — Spain. Okay, two things.
Three things. Hondurans would prefer to immigrate to USA, not to Spain.
oye. para limpiar las cases y las basuras de norteamericanos. Estan los precios de platanos.
Conozco, el presidente de venezuela Hugo Chavez no considerare para immigrar a EEU o Madre España. Los Filipinos mas leal a Madre España tan como los Hispanoamericanos.
En la lengua tagalo-filipino escribio
May utang na loob tayo sa mga Kastila Buti nga di natin binabastos ng Hari ng Espanya tulad ng ng ginawa ni Chavez
when your done practicing Spanish, could you throw out the trash please. and while you are at – get my slippers, too.
good job :lol:
Ah a collective Stockholm syndrome, subjecs whose ancestors were raped and pillaged in every unimaginable way, lick hispanic b*tt – Rajah Soliman, Rajah Lakan Dula are turning in their graves. shame shame black shame
Well these Rajahs were not Pueblo Filipino and held some of their subjects in servitude. We should not romanticize the pre-Filipino Rajahnates however PC it may be to do so.
Pueblo Filipino es una infanta de Madre España.
yeah.. romanicize Spain.. not the Rajahs… Caliban invades UP :lol:
Lapu lapu should have slain a local bloodline first after lopping off Magellan’s head.
Jose Rizal, someone needs to read Jose Rizal’s works!!!
The Americans did not dupe us. Our Filipino leaders sold us to the
Americans. Remember the Laurel-Langley Agreement?
It is the same situation now. Our leaders (Congress People) sold us
to Gloria Arroyo and her cahoots. For CON CON and CON ASS. We had
never learned. We go round and round again. Never progressing from
our position. Never advancing from our political process.
You may correctly, historically, lay duplicity charge on the US. As Hyden Toro says, you also need to lay the “failure to accept responsibility” charge on the Philippines.
Mr. Obama is not going to come over and stand, smiling, side by side with the leader of one of the most corrupt nations on the planet. He just won’t do it.
If Mr. Obama came here and called it like he saw it: “that the Philippines has some work to do with regard to corruption and human rights violations”, most Filipinos would be outraged. Because, in place of responsibility is this odd pride that fires bullets at truths. So better if he does not visit, if he has to become deceitful to be well received.
Also, notice the changed tenor of the Obama voice, from Bush, regarding Honduras. Even Iran. The US is backing away from it’s demagoguery. This same stance, not dictating to other countries, while defending democracy and freedom, will emerge in the Middle East and Europe and Asia. You won’t be met with arrogance or duplicity with Obama, I think. Duplicity, after all, has its roots in saying what people want to hear, rather than what they need to hear. Both he and Secretary of State Clinton are more diplomatic than the Bush people, yet forthright.
I say, don’t challenge Mr. Obama. Challenge Ms. Arroyo, or her successors. Mr. Obama has plenty on his plate to keep him busy. So while he is otherwise engaged, make some progress on corruption and on human rights, so that when he DOES visit, he can truthfully commend the Philippine government and its people on the progress they are making.
You accept that responsibility, he won’t have to be duplicitous.
Joe
“Criticisms against Spanish “colonialism” today is aimed at Filipinos who can’t decide what citizenship to hold and dupe los Indios Bravos still. Frankie Sionil-Jose skewers the Ayalas this way in his essays.”
So are the Ayalas Pinoy citizens or not? I had always taken it for granted that they are. Or are they Spanish subjects still? Tsk, tsk, tsk. And lol, we tend to look at them as aristocrats, and they don’t even think that they are one of us, in an unreserved manner. Hay nakuuuu, that’s why the Philippine state is a joke. The society’s topmost echelon’s loyalty to the country is suspect. And the attitude just goes down the social ladder.
Oye, GMA is laying it on thick with the Pinoy-Spanish community by supposedly promoting the revival of the use of the Spanish language and she received an award for it recently (?). On the other hand, it is a waste that more than 300 years of shared history would result in an almost non-existence of Spanish-written literature apart from those written during the 19th century propaganda movement and of so few Filipinos speaking the language.
Sionil-Jose knows better. They have EU passports daw!
spain has evolved to become a socialist state, trashing the power of its monarchy which took on a symbolic role instead of being the ruler.
The Philippines, in contrast, remains a feudal state pretending to be a democracy with an ego-maniacal ruler who intends to become queen forever.
At least Spain has evolved
If Filipinos only re-read Rizal/”Indolence” and undo the Spain legacy that brought indolence, oh, life will be good!!!!
Here’s my two cents: More Filipinos were killed under the 40 years of American rule than over 300 years of Spanish rule.
ancianoz,
It’s not worth two centavos unless you give us the point of this statistical analysis.
That population was greater when America was boss? Filipinos were murderous under America? Americans are killers? Spain never kills people? What . . .?
Joe
The Philippine-American war reduced Filipino population by almost half.
J,
Soon I will rename myself BongJ:
From Wikipedia:
In the official war years, there were 4,196 American soldiers dead, 1,020 of which were from actual combat; the remainder died of disease, and 2,930 were wounded.[5] There were also 2,000 casualties that the Philippine Constabulary suffered during the war, over one thousand of which were fatalities. It should be noted that total Filipino casualties was at the time and still is a highly-debated, argued, and politicized number. It is estimated that some 34,000 Filipino soldiers lost their lives and as many as 200,000 civilians may have died directly or indirectly as a result of the war, most due to a major cholera epidemic that broke out near its end.[67][68] Philippine military deaths are estimated at 20,000 with 16,000 actually counted, while civilian deaths numbered between 250,000 and 1,000,000 Filipinos. These numbers take into account those killed by war, malnutrition, and a cholera epidemic that raged during the war.[69] The Philippine-American War Centennial Initiative gives an estimate of 510,000 civilian deaths, and 20,000 military deaths, excluding 100,000 deaths from the Moro Rebellion.
——
Mark Twain famously opposed the war by using his influence in the press. He felt it betrayed the ideals of American democracy by not allowing the Filipino people to choose their own destiny.
“There is the case of the Philippines. I have tried hard, and yet I cannot for the life of me comprehend how we got into that mess. Perhaps we could not have avoided it — perhaps it was inevitable that we should come to be fighting the natives of those islands — but I cannot understand it, and have never been able to get at the bottom of the origin of our antagonism to the natives. I thought we should act as their protector — not try to get them under our heel. We were to relieve them from Spanish tyranny to enable them to set up a government of their own, and we were to stand by and see that it got a fair trial. It was not to be a government according to our ideas, but a government that represented the feeling of the majority of the Filipinos, a government according to Filipino ideas. That would have been a worthy mission for the United States. But now — why, we have got into a mess, a quagmire from which each fresh step renders the difficulty of extrication immensely greater. I’m sure I wish I could see what we were getting out of it, and all it means to us as a nation.”[65]
——–
So what is the point? The point, the point, the point. For the love of Chuck, please make a point that we can learn from or debate. That Filipinos should have surrendered sooner? That cholera kills? That you can distort facts as well as the next guy? That Americans were ruthless killers, and by logical extension, still are today, so cancel the VFA?
The more you write, the more I think you feel a victim to all of history, a helpless, hopeless victim of those Bad Americans. It is a detachment from reality, you know. It can be cured.
Joe
Joe,
Take it easy. I’m not an enemy of America, lol.
J,
Then what is the point of the misleading statement? To show your love and joy?
Joe
It was not misleading.
Don’t be such a crybaby.
The Americans were notorious in that war.
The bad thing is, until now you guys have not returned Balangiga. And you still call the conflict an insurrection instead of a war.
J,
Americans were indeed notorious in that war; many call it genocide. Cholera wasn’t any too kind, either. One hundred seven years ago, the US was brutally racist and slaughtered people for no apparent reason. The President was a racist; the military did what they are paid to do. Win.
What is your next agenda, to castigate the Pope for the slaughter that took place during the crusades?
To be perfectly frank, “I” don’t have Balangiga, so “I” can’t return him. “I” call it a slaughter; “I” don’t call it an insurrection.
“You” are not the Philippines. “I” am not America.
I hold to my view that you are trapped within the past and detached from reality. In your case, it may not be curable.
Joe
I said the Americans WERE notorious in that war. Did I say the Americans are murderers in nature? Heck, in a previous thread I even say the Americans value fairness.
Maybe you meet many anti-American idoeolgues often so now you think everyone who cirticize America are of the same kind?
When I speak well of America, sometimes I get almost similar reaction from anti-Americans. When I speak of something not-so-good about America I get reactions such as yours. But I am neither pro nor anti America.
There is no agenda, Joe. Calm down, take a deep breathe, relax. I was just saying a simple fact. I didn’t say “Death to America” “Scrap the VFA” or something.
I just said the Americans were terrible during the RP-US War. And it is true. You even agreed. But why say I’m trapped in the past and detached with reality?
It’s like a Catholic saying the anti-Popes were responsible for deaths in the Inquisition being called detached from faith by a Catholic zealot.
And, you see, when Kim Jong-il developed nukes, people say the NORTH KOREANS are developing nukes, even though some North Koreans don’t even know what a nuke is. I thought it is okay in English to say “you” when you refer to a people collectively. (The Germans invaded Poland. We filipinos almost invaded Sabah, etc) But English is not my native tongue. It is yours. So maybe I’m wrong in using pronouns. But it was not my intention to imply that you are America and I am the Philippines.
You don’t have Balangiga bells, you don’t call the insurrection a war. But your government does. The United Staes of America does. Why don’t you and like-minded Americans move to change those things?
J,
There is a difference between a gun and cholera. Only someone with an agenda would lump them together the way you did.
In WWII, the Japanese bombed Hawaii and a couple of years later, the US dropped atomic bombs on Japan. Today, the US and Japan are strong strategic and commercial allies. Their peoples are friends. Current reality adjusts.
In WWII, the Germans trucked six million Jews to the gas chambers; millions of soldiers and civilians died in the surrounding war. Today, Europe is united as a commercial/economic bloc, Russia is normalizing, and the US is a friend to all. No one holds Germany today responsible for the foul deeds of Hitler. Current reality adjusts.
Yet you, and others of your psyche, cannot see the past for what it was, a set of circumstances, unique to the time, that no longer exists. The US defeated Spain in a war a century ago, and ancillary to that, gained control over the Philippines. Filipinos revolted, one man’s righteous revolution being another man’s treasonous revolt. It was a slaughter made devastating by cholera.
The fighting apparently started when a drunken Filipino taunted an American and got shot for it. Once it started, mutual hate took over.
It seems to me you are still fighting this war, 107 years later.
America is no longer the racist nation it was. Those of us who are old enough to have lived the progression, those of us who marched the marches and tossed aside the bigoted teachings of our parents, know the strength it took to change. When you misrepresent the US, you demean the efforts of a good people who changed the character of a nation.
When the Philippines does the same tough job – getting rid of corruption and thuggery, which is just as disgusting and hurtful as racism – by all means come back and let’s chat. I will then respect that you know what it takes to extract evil from the soul of a nation. Until then, keep clinging to the bodiless ghosts of history, for there is nothing of substance for you to stand on.
Joe
Joe America,
One conclusion you can walk away from this statistic is that: American military might is more lethal than Spanish military might.
Again, Joe, I don’t see where you come from. I never said that the Americans of 1902 are as murderous as the Americans of today. Me fighting that war? What the hell?
And, by the way, it wasn’t a Filipino drunkard who started the war. It was a Filipino trying to cross San Juan bridge, who was stopped by an American officer who said “Halt” but didn’t halt since he couldn’t understand what halt means. Taunted? Now look who’s trying to revise history.
By the way, in Japan, there are significant number of people who think that some American leaders hsould have been prosecuted for war crimes for dropping A-bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Assuming but not concedidn that there was cholera (I have to admit this is the first time I heard about it), the killings that were done to the civillians was still horrible, my dear Joe.
I’m quite disappointed that you judged my “psyche” based on a single comment. But as far as I know, even based on all my other postings on this blog and on mine, I have never been one of those who “keep clinging to the bodiless ghosts of history.”
I have many American friends. I admire many things about America. I never argued against close ties with the US. What I only always point out is for the Philippines to get more benefits out of the crucial RP-US ties. So just because I say that many died in the RP-US War (and, indeed, many did), that doesn’t mean I see the US as a monstrous nation, for crying out loud.
I’m objective enough to see the good things of other countries, as well as to know the ills of my own country(ies). I hope your love of your country won’t make you judge a person who point out the bad things about your country or its past.
Just because a band of honorable Castillian soldiers in Tayabas surrendered to Filipinos and were given safe passage doesn’t mean Spain left the Philippines honorably.
Heck, instead of acknowledging the Filipino’s right to self-determination, which have been EARNED, they chose to do a mock battle instead so they could surrender to the great North American republic and not to the forces of Katagalugan.
the spaniards did rape the pinays ..
my spanish lolo ( looks like martin sheen ) raped by
pinay chinita lola ( looks like kris aquino )
and had 11 kids ..
The Americans came, conquered and occupied the Philippine archipelago depicting the Filipinos as primitive and uncivilized, child-like and uncleansed.
The Americans did not know that Malacanang Palace is older than the White House. University of Santo Tomas is older than Harvard.
American rule can be described for the most part as arrogant and racist, grounded exclusively on the notion of empire-building. This is definitely not so benevolent a characterization as the Americans would like you believe in their history books.
ancianoz,
But of course it is not entirely benevolent. What are you expecting?