The Forgotten Filipino Genocide

It is time to share with you a little bit of Philippine-American history. I am particularly posting this article to all second and third generation Filipino-Americans who have little knowledge of Philippine history.

The Philippine–American War(1899–1902) was an armed conflict between the United States and Filipino revolutionaries. The conflict arose from the struggle of the First Philippine Republic to secure independence from the United States following the latter's acquisition of the Philippines from Spain following the Spanish–American War. The war was a continuation of the Philippine struggle for independence that began in 1896 with the Philippine Revolution.

Fighting erupted between United States and Filipino revolutionary forces on February 4, 1899, and quickly escalated into the 1899 Second Battle of Manila. On June 2, 1899, the First Philippine Republic officially declared war against the United States. The war officially ended on July 4, 1902. However, some groups led by veterans of the Katipunan continued to battle the American forces. Among those leaders was General Macario Sacay, a veteran Katipunan member who assumed the presidency of the proclaimed "Tagalog Republic", formed in 1902 after the capture of President Emilio Aguinaldo. Other groups, including the Moro people and Pulahanes people, continued hostilities in remote areas and islands until their final defeat a decade later at the Battle of Bud Bagsak on June 15, 1913.

Opposition in the U.S. to the war inspired the founding of the American Anti-Imperialist League on June 15, 1898, and made the expansion of the U.S. overseas (with the occupation of several other territories received from Spain as a result of the previous Spanish-American War of 1898, such as Cuba (later given independence in 1902) and Puerto Rico, as a major issue in the presidential election of 1900 when the Republican Party and President McKinley was reelected, just as it had also been in the 1986 election, as overseas tension rose and international entanglements grew.

The war and occupation by the U.S. would change the cultural landscape of the islands, as the people dealt with an estimated 34,000 to even possibly 1,000,000 Filipino casualties, disestablishment of the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines, (as a "state Church - as previously in Spain), and the introduction of the English language in the islands as the primary language of government, education, business, industrial and increasingly in future decades among families and educated individuals.

Under the 1902 "Philippine Organic Act", passed by the United States Congress, Filipinos were initially given very limited self-government, including the right to vote for some elected officials such as an elected Philippine Assembly, but it was not until 14 years later with the 1916 Philippine Autonomy Act, (or "Jones Act") passed by the United States Congress, now under Democratic 28th President, Woodrow Wilson, that the U.S. officially promised eventual independence, along with more Filipino control in the meantime over the Philippines. The 1934 Philippine Independence Act created in the following year, 1935, the Commonwealth of the Philippines, a limited form of independence, and established a process ending in Philippine independence (originally scheduled for 1944, but interrupted and delayed by World War II. Finally in 1946, following World War II and the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines, the United States granted independence through the Treaty of Manila concluded between the two governments and nations.