Believing and trusting the United States:
That they were an ally and friend in the fight against Spain, their common
enemy;
That they would recognize and support the independence aspirations of the
Filipino people;
That they had no territorial intentions in the Philippines as it was in
violation to their own Constitution;
That the Monroe Doctrine would extend and apply only within the North and
South American continents.
Confident that the right moment has arrived,
General Emilio Aguinaldo, who just recently revived the second phase
of the Philippine Revolution after his return from Hong Kong and Singapore
exile, declared the Philippine independence on June 12, 1898, unilaterally
freeing the Philippines from centuries of Spanish colonial rule, without
the blessings of the United States or any foreign powers.
Commodore George Dewey's historic naval victory at the Battle of Manila
Bay on May 1, 1898 stunned the whole
world. Even the U.S. itself was caught
unprepared what to do
with
the Philippines --whether to give its blessings to the recently self-declared
Philippine independence, to give up the "spoil of war" to England, to sell
it to other friendly superpowers such as Japan, or to keep it as a model
colony, but not to Germany, accompeting superpower that was also interested
in acquiring territorial positions in the Pacific.
While the whole world watched as America ponders on the Philippine question,
Dewey's naval victory had unexpectedly brought a sudden revival in the
United States of the spirit of Manifest Destiny,
the silent driving force behind its long history of territorial expansionism.
Thus, America was carried by the tide of imperialism thereupon casting
aside its fundamental Constitutional principle of "government by
the consent of the governed," disregarded the sanctity of the Monroe Doctrine,
and annexed the Philippines for the purpose of Christianizing and civilizing
its inhabitants.
The land Battle of Manila on August 13, 1898 would have delivered a
complete victory to the Americans over the Spaniards in the Spanish-American
War had it not for a minor hitch caused by the untimely delivery of
the copy of the Peace Protocol which
was signed in Washington the day previous to the land battle. On
technical and legal grounds, the existence of the Peace Protocol prior
to the war had nullified the U.S. victory in the Battle of Manila, thus
reverting Spain and the U.S. back to a state of war. But financially and
morally exhausted, Spain wanted no more war. As a last desperate
act, Spain opted instead to demand for an "indemnity" blaming the U.S.
for the damage suffered by the Spanish combatants causing their inability
to quell the Filipino rebellion, for having to defend simultaneously from
two enemies -the Americans and the Filipino nationalist army, prior to
the Battle of Manila, and a reimbursement for the infrastructure improvements
made in the Philippines, among others.
As far as Filipinos are concerned, they consider the Treaty
of Paris of December 10, 1898 was a "$20 Million Superpower Real Estate
Deal" described in the following manner:
-
A sellout by Spain of their sovereignty claim over the Philippine Archipelago.
-
A purchase by the United States of their victory over the Spaniards in
the 'sham' Land Battle of Manila.
-
Transfer of the "Insurrecto Status" of the 8 million Filipinos from Spain
to the U.S., including their land.
With the Spaniards in Manila defeated and while the peace commissions were
negotiating in Paris, the continuous buildup of Americans troops alarmed
many Filipino nationalists, like Apolinario Mabini, on the real intentions
of the Americans. Their fears and apprehensions about the imperialistic
motives of America was confirmed few months later when President McKinley
issued a proclamation on December 21, 1898 stating that the policy behind
the annexation of the Philippines was one of the benevolent
assimilation. A stronger confirmation from the Schurman (First)
Philippine Commission came on March 4, 1899 when it issued its first proclamation
addressed to the Filipino people which began with these ominous words:
"The supremacy
of the United States must and will be enforced throughout every part of
the
Archipelago and
those who resist it can accomplish no end other than their own ruin."
There was a thorn in the Philippine annexation, however, for the United
States took for granted the existence of the independence movement
of the Filipinos who were tired of centuries of colonization. Barely
thirteen days old after its formal inauguration the young Philippine Republic,
a representative form of government that had evolved from previous revolts,
had to be pitted against the military might of the United States in a bloody
confrontation that broke on February 4, 1899 and to last for many years.
The outbreak of the war two days before the ratification of the Treaty
of Paris in the U.S. Senate certainly hastened its ratification.
At the very height of the Independence War, the U.S. high command sent
Gen. John Gates to Jolo, in order to negotiate a treaty with Sultan
of Jolo, Hadji Mohammed Jamalol Kiram II. The Bates-Sultan
Treaty was singed on August 20, 1899 providing for the Sultantate's
recognition of the U.S. sovereignty in exchange for U.S. protection and
payoff to the Sultan and his datus. When the Independence War was over,
the U.S. turned its
subjugation efforts against the Moros and the treaty unilaterally
abrogated at the protest of the Sultan. Many would consider such move as
a "divide and conquer" strategy of the U.S. in order for them to avoid
having to fight two fronts at the same time. Not only did the U.S. turned
against the Moros -they systematically dismantled the once-powerful Sultanate
of Sulu and reduced the Sultan to a mere religious symbol of his people,
through the Sultan-Carpenter Treaty signed
on March 22, 1915, the date formally ending the Moro resistance wars..
The Philippine annexation and the ensuing Independence War and Moro
Resistance Wars is a tragic consequence of irreconcilable forces of colonialism
and nationalism clashing each other, compounded by misleading information
furnished to Washington on the actual Philippine political situation and
the sentiments of the Filipino people by battle seasoned American commanders,
many of them war veterans who saw action first in the Civil War, matured
in the Indian Wars and Spanish-American War, who were more motivated
to pursue their eagerness for "action and glory" in the "new frontier,"
that made war with the gugus inevitable.
The Philippine annexation was never an inexpensive one, for it left
a staggering number of war casualties from both sides which was high under
the standard in those days. In the absence of modern weapons of mass
destruction and annihilation, it is mind boggling to think how could hundreds
of thousands of civilians perish. This leaves no doubt about the use of
a combination of barbaric methods, such as: the Cuban-style reconcentrados,
bending of established military rules, lowering the standards of civilized
warfare, and application of injun warfare.
The war against the Christian Filipinos was thought by many U.S.
military commanders to be a short one but it lasted ten times longer than
the short-lived Spanish-American War, hailed as the "First War For Humanities,"
the precipitant of the Philippine conflict. Suffering from lack of
weapons and ammunitions, and with practically no foreign support, the Filipinos
fought valiantly by utilizing ingenuity and improvisation. But the
military might of the U.S. was just too overwhelming that the Filipinos
have to use an unorthodox methods of warfare. Thus, the guerilla
warfare was born to become an accepted tactic in the military science.
Although the Philippine Insurrection
was officially closed by President Theodore Roosevelt on July 4, 1902,
the war did not really end there. In fact, the proclamation formally recognized
and activated the "second front" of the war --the Moro resistance in Mindanao,
a bloody conflict that would last for many years. This is where General
John "Black Jack" Pershing made his name in his military career as a MoroPacifier
before he came back to the U.S. to led a fruitless punitive expedition
in Mexico against Pancho Villa in 1916, and subsequently as commander of
the U.S. expeditionary forces in France during World War I.. The
Morolandia also became the perfecting ground of the newly-invented
automatic
.45 Colt pistol which made a legend as an effective juramentado
stopper, thereupon becoming the standard U.S. military sidearm.
This wss a needless war, if not an embarrassing war for the U.S. which
was forgotten and buried by the honorable and civilized future wars.
Had the war been remembered and lessons learned, it certainly would have
changed America's whole conduct of the Vietnam War!
Finally, if an epitaph of the war were to be written, the following
is appropriate:
PHILIPPINE-AMERICAN WARS (1899-1915)
A "BAPTISM OF FIRE" FOR THE UNITED STATES ---AS IT
EMERGED AS A NEW SUPERPOWER OF THE 20TH CENTURY
GIVEN BY THE "RAGTAG ARMY" AND THE "MOROS,"
AT THE EXPENSE OF THEIR INDEPENDENCE.
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