Vestiges of the Philippine-American War

The Philippine-American War was an armed conflict between an independent Philippine republic and the United States of America that lasted for almost a decade. It is also one of the least written about period in our history and its heroes, like Malvar and Sakay, among the least appreciated.

Vestiges of War: The Philippine American War and the Aftermath of an Imperial Dream (1899-1999), edited by Angel Velasco Shaw and Luis Francia is a collection of 45 literary, artistic and historical works that the publishers say “...will force readers to reshape their views on what has been a deliberately obscure but significant phase in the histories of both countries, one which continue to haunt the present.”

The essays are very relevant today because it reveals the origins of many characteristic of present Filipino society. The essay An American Colonial State: Authority and Structure in Southern Mindanao, relates how the American colonizers established a Moro Province in Southern Mindanao instead of trying to integrate the Moro and Christian provinces into one society.

The essay The Hills are Still There by Resil Mojares includes a portion that talks about the Cebu elite on the eve of the war. The names are still familiar in present-day Cebu. English is Your Mother Tongue by Eric Gamalinda reflects about the historical evolution that resulted in English replacing Spanish and the Filipino languages as the mother language of the Filipino.

An American colonial state: Authority and structure in Southern Mindanao

“[American] Army administrators, sincerely or otherwise imagined themselves not only as guardians and guides of non-Christian groups but more importantly as their protectors  from potential and actual exploitation by lowland Christian Filipinos.”

On June 1, 1903, a Moro Province was established consisting of four districts – Davao, Cotabato, Lanao and Zamboanga, each one with a governor and district board. There were 14 municipalities with Christian majorities, governed like the rest of the nation; and, 51 tribal wards with Muslim majorities that had tribal courts under Army control.

The Moro Province had a population of 40,000 Christians and 275,000 Muslims. Large portions were empty and unsurveyed. “It was run with an administration that would open up this unknown territory, thus creating conditions that eventually allowed people to come in an exploit its resources.” In time, this caused the influx of Christian settlers but it also left a legacy among the Muslim that became “ specifically anti-Manila and anti-Christian...the reverberations of which would continue well into this post-colonial period.

The hills are still there

“On the eve of the (Philippine-American) War, the Cebuano elite was no longer a homogenous group. Principalia status came from a mix of factors; wealth, public landowners, shopkeepers, doctors, lawyers, pharmacists, as well as artisans. Tanners, carpenters, bakers and seamstresses.

The most powerful Cebu families were almost wholly of mestizo stock (Spanish or Chinese), or foreigners who resided in the city (or headquartered in it), controlled sizeable landholdings, capital  and a network of clients in the hinterland. They had direct links with the foreign merchant houses, e.g. Smith Bell & Company, Russell & Sturgis, for which they usually served as agents or compradores.

In the 1890s, these included the Velosos, Llorentes, Climacos, Osmenas, and Mejias. These families built up their wealth throughout the 19th century, profiting from a symbiotic relationship with both the Spanish administration and the foreign merchant houses. They were almost wholly mestizo in ethnic character – Spanish and Chinese – easily straddling local and global wealth...

On the other hand there were elements of the elite, more particularly of the lower orders who participated only indirectly in the new prosperity, transcended class based interests and were moved by racial pride and ideas of iberte. The most active members of resistance came from this group: socially displaced political agents (Pantaleon del Rosario, Mario Luga), young students (Andres Jayme, Tomas Alonso) municipal landowners (Jacinto Pacana, Arcadia Maxilom) and urban bourgeosie (Alejo Minoza, Enrique Lorega). They fought a war that in a sense was doomed from the very beginning – not only because of the superior martial powers of the United States but because given the society, the Filipinos could not have acted as one.”

This is one of the most controversial, relatively untold story of the Philippine-American War – that the Philippine elite, largely mestizo, actually collaborated with the American invaders.

English is your mother tongue

According to Gamalinda, the American government had to justify the invasion of an independent Philippine Republic by convincing the American public and the Filipino elite that the Filipinos were inept at self-government. The United States had to create an image that it was a redeemer and the Filipinos a people in need of redemption. The redemption came in the form of public education and education was to be conducted in English.

The imposition of English involved a “calculated program to discredit Spanish and the existing native languages, to convince the Filipinos of their inferiority, and therefore their need for upliftment and to glorify the material and intellectual progress the English language promised.”

One alleged proof was that the Filipinos had no national literature. This was not true since many epics had already been written in native languages and translated into Spanish. Among these were the Ilokano epic Lam-ang, the Bikolano epic Ibalon, the Bagobo Tuwaang,the Panay epic Hinilawad and many more.

English became a mark of social standing. The more proficient one was in it, the more education one was presumed to have had. This perception was important in controlling the islands. But even today, the issue of language and national identity continues to be debated in the Philippines.

Independence Day

Today, as we celebrate Independence Day, it is important to look back at the many stories and historical events that have shaped our identity as a people.

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