“THE PARTY is in control of all information and revises history, even yesterday’s history, to reflect their current version of events. Winston is very much aware of this because it is his job in the paradoxically named Ministry of Truth to change the records of history. He cannot ignore what he remembers: Oceania was at war with Eurasia and allied with Eastasia yesterday, and not vice versa. If anyone else remembers differently, they certainly will not say so.” (Encyclopedia Encarta review of George Orwell’s classic novel “1984”)
The world is used to seeing so-called “Independence Days” (some nations have equivalent terms) as the commemoration of some significant event.
Below are samples:
* Independence Day of the United States America/ the Fourth of July – legal declaration by the American Founding Fathers and US Congress in the setting of military victory over the British.
* Russia Day (12 June) – a legal act by the legislature of the Russian Republic (then part of the Soviet Union and known as the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic) in the setting of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the de facto independence of its components republics / states. The rest of the states of the Soviet Union have similar days in the same setting.
* German Unity Day (3 October) – day when the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) officially joined the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)
One can run through such “independence days”, or equivalent terms. Most are similar to the above. They commemorate some significant actual concrete event.
There are outliers of course. An example would be the National Foundation Day of Japan on February 11 and is the accession date of the legendary first Emperor of Japan, Emperor Jimmu at Kashihara-gū Honshu on February 11, 660 BC. The day is so ancient that it is the stuff of legends, so we not know for certain if it is accurate.
Yet it still commemorates something significant, the day on which the first Japanese emperor took power, in effect founding the empire of Japan.
So what significant event happened on the so-called Philippine Independence Day, June 12?
Think about it for a minute.
Think, think, think, think.
And the answer is …
Don’t worry if you weren’t able to answer.
Why?
Because nothing significant happened.
There will be die-hards that will insist that Emilio Aguinaldo climbing up his balcony and proclaiming independence is significant. You or I or anyone can do exactly the same. Climb up a balcony, get some functionaries to accompany us, bring in a crowd of people below, and just name a different day, say June 13.
If the Department of Education were then to teach in all Philippine schools that this is the new Independence Day and the government proclaims it is a work-free holiday, in a couple of years every schoolchild will believe June 13 is independence day. In a generation, everyone would think it has always been so without question.
Since the above may be a shock to many people, (thanks to decades of DepEd indoctrination) let me pose the issue in a different manner. Are there days that better deserve to be called Independence Day?
Yes.
One is November 5 (known as “Cinco de Noviembre” in Negros, and it coincides with the famous Guy Fawkes’ day).
On November 5, 1898, after a series of military victories in Negros by revolutionaries led by Generals Juan Araneta and Aniceto Lacson, the last Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines, Diego de los Ríos, who was also a military Lieutenant General, surrendered to the Independent Cantonal Federal Republic of Negros. (Yes they did advocate Federalism.)
Mind you, all ideologically motivated sources that shoehorn everything into the centralism of Manila disparage this victory, implying it’s fake (including well-known centralist authors over whose textbooks and words sheepish readers and naïve students fawn over without an iota of critical thought). It’s not.
Thousands of patriots died in this war in the Visayas. They achieved something that Aguinaldo was never able to achieve, make the Spanish authority surrender, and actually gaining real factual independence. They formed a government for a united Negros and ran it successfully for months, before surrendering to the newly arrived American colonizers on March 4, 1899, after seeing how the American Navy bombarded independent Iloilo City to submission on February 13, 1899.
As one of their conditions, they made a deal with the Americans to run Negros independently from the central Manila government. However, the new Negros polity was still annexed by force to the rest of the Philippines by American authorities, but only after two years, on April 1901.
We mentioned “independent Iloilo” above, which was bombarded and conquered by the Americans. That’s because the Panayanons also achieved victory after a long series of bloody battles and thousands of KIAs against the Spanish. They furiously fought the Spanish from Aklan/Capiz, to Antique, to iloilo provinces.
On December 25, 1898 (coincides with Christmas), General Diego de los Ríos surrendered to the Federal Republic of the Visayas led by General Martin Delgado.
Again, all ideological centralistic sources that shoehorn everything into the centralism of Manila disparage this victory, implying it’s fake. It’s not. Thousands of patriots died in this war in the Visayas.
The Federal Republic of the Visayas lasted until February 1899. It surrendered to the Americans when the American Navy bombarded Iloilo City to rubble.
Although they were essentially conquered by the American arrivals, these two movements did achieve real factual victory over the Spanish. For a while, they governed actual independent states.
In conclusion, the following dates are more deserving to be called “independence day”:
* November 5 / Cinco de Noviembre – The day the Spanish surrendered to the Negros Independent Cantonal Federal Republic
* December 25 – The day the Spanish surrendered to the Federal Republic of the Visayas
***
For comments and suggestions please email to mabuhibisaya2017@gmail.com/PN“THE PARTY is in control of all information and revises history, even yesterday’s history, to reflect their current version of events. Winston is very much aware of this because it is his job in the paradoxically named Ministry of Truth to change the records of history. He cannot ignore what he remembers: Oceania was at war with Eurasia and allied with Eastasia yesterday, and not vice versa. If anyone else remembers differently, they certainly will not say so.” (Encyclopedia Encarta review of George Orwell’s classic novel “1984”)
The world is used to seeing so-called “Independence Days” (some nations have equivalent terms) as the commemoration of some significant event.
Below are samples:
* Independence Day of the United States America/ the Fourth of July – legal declaration by the American Founding Fathers and US Congress in the setting of military victory over the British.
* Russia Day (12 June) – a legal act by the legislature of the Russian Republic (then part of the Soviet Union and known as the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic) in the setting of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the de facto independence of its components republics / states. The rest of the states of the Soviet Union have similar days in the same setting.
* German Unity Day (3 October) – day when the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) officially joined the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)
One can run through such “independence days”, or equivalent terms. Most are similar to the above. They commemorate some significant actual concrete event.
There are outliers of course. An example would be the National Foundation Day of Japan on February 11 and is the accession date of the legendary first Emperor of Japan, Emperor Jimmu at Kashihara-gū Honshu on February 11, 660 BC. The day is so ancient that it is the stuff of legends, so we not know for certain if it is accurate.
Yet it still commemorates something significant, the day on which the first Japanese emperor took power, in effect founding the empire of Japan.
So what significant event happened on the so-called Philippine Independence Day, June 12?
Think about it for a minute.
Think, think, think, think.
And the answer is …
Don’t worry if you weren’t able to answer.
Why?
Because nothing significant happened.
There will be die-hards that will insist that Emilio Aguinaldo climbing up his balcony and proclaiming independence is significant. You or I or anyone can do exactly the same. Climb up a balcony, get some functionaries to accompany us, bring in a crowd of people below, and just name a different day, say June 13.
If the Department of Education were then to teach in all Philippine schools that this is the new Independence Day and the government proclaims it is a work-free holiday, in a couple of years every schoolchild will believe June 13 is independence day. In a generation, everyone would think it has always been so without question.
Since the above may be a shock to many people, (thanks to decades of DepEd indoctrination) let me pose the issue in a different manner. Are there days that better deserve to be called Independence Day?
Yes.
One is November 5 (known as “Cinco de Noviembre” in Negros, and it coincides with the famous Guy Fawkes’ day).
On November 5, 1898, after a series of military victories in Negros by revolutionaries led by Generals Juan Araneta and Aniceto Lacson, the last Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines, Diego de los Ríos, who was also a military Lieutenant General, surrendered to the Independent Cantonal Federal Republic of Negros. (Yes they did advocate Federalism.)
Mind you, all ideologically motivated sources that shoehorn everything into the centralism of Manila disparage this victory, implying it’s fake (including well-known centralist authors over whose textbooks and words sheepish readers and naïve students fawn over without an iota of critical thought). It’s not.
Thousands of patriots died in this war in the Visayas. They achieved something that Aguinaldo was never able to achieve, make the Spanish authority surrender, and actually gaining real factual independence. They formed a government for a united Negros and ran it successfully for months, before surrendering to the newly arrived American colonizers on March 4, 1899, after seeing how the American Navy bombarded independent Iloilo City to submission on February 13, 1899.
As one of their conditions, they made a deal with the Americans to run Negros independently from the central Manila government. However, the new Negros polity was still annexed by force to the rest of the Philippines by American authorities, but only after two years, on April 1901.
We mentioned “independent Iloilo” above, which was bombarded and conquered by the Americans. That’s because the Panayanons also achieved victory after a long series of bloody battles and thousands of KIAs against the Spanish. They furiously fought the Spanish from Aklan/Capiz, to Antique, to iloilo provinces.
On December 25, 1898 (coincides with Christmas), General Diego de los Ríos surrendered to the Federal Republic of the Visayas led by General Martin Delgado.
Again, all ideological centralistic sources that shoehorn everything into the centralism of Manila disparage this victory, implying it’s fake. It’s not. Thousands of patriots died in this war in the Visayas.
The Federal Republic of the Visayas lasted until February 1899. It surrendered to the Americans when the American Navy bombarded Iloilo City to rubble.
Although they were essentially conquered by the American arrivals, these two movements did achieve real factual victory over the Spanish. For a while, they governed actual independent states.
In conclusion, the following dates are more deserving to be called “independence day”:
* November 5 / Cinco de Noviembre – The day the Spanish surrendered to the Negros Independent Cantonal Federal Republic
* December 25 – The day the Spanish surrendered to the Federal Republic of the Visayas
***
For comments and suggestions please email to mabuhibisaya2017@gmail.com/PN
