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BY DR. JOSE MA. EDUARDO P. DACUDAO
THIS BEGS the question. How did it happen that Aguinaldo’s army never was able to force the Spanish to surrender?
The most probable main reason is that there occurred a severe internal factionalism among the Tagalogs. The facts may not sound pleasant and do not seem to fit the prevailing nationalist narrative, but Aguinaldo essentially had Bonifacio arrested and executed under sealed orders.
Aguinaldo also tried to arrest General Luna and, in the process, Luna was slain. (It must also be added that Aguinaldo also issued a warrant of arrest for General Lacson when the latter refused to subordinate the Negrosanon revolutionaries to what Lacson referred to as the “Tagalog Dictator”, Aguinaldo. Aguinaldo had declared that his aim was to establish a Dictatorial Government of the Philippines.)
Moreover, it is probable that Spanish Governor General Diego del Rios had no trouble recruiting among the local Tagalogs in and around Manila for his army. He did not seem to lack for manpower in Manila. Aguinaldo’s army was also Tagalog, but mostly consisted of southern Tagalogs – Caviteños and Batangueños.]
Until today, these formal surrenders by Governor General Diego de los Rios to these two cantonal governments leads to a fascinating view of the treaty of Paris, wherein Spain ceded the entirety of the Philippine Islands to the USA for $20-million.
The treaty of Paris was officially ratified by the US Congress and the Kingdom of Spain on 11 April 1899. This was after the surrender of the Spanish to our two Visayan Governments. Since you cannot sell what is not yours, and the Visayas-Mindanao area had already been passed by Spain to the jurisdiction of these Governments, then one implication is that only Luzon had been ceded to the USA by Spain. It must be noted that this can prove to be an extremely prickly topic of discussion.
Another question begging to be asked: What does the educational curriculum from Manila enforced in all Philippine schools mention of our efforts to achieve our freedom?
As of now, nothing.
To recap, we Visayans had established two Independent cantonal states by 1898 against the might of a European colonial power, a first in the history of archipelagic Asia. Should not we be standing proud?
Instead our general populace at present knows nothing of these. It is not our people’s fault because our educational curriculum is totally controlled by Manila-based institutions, which enforce their own version of history. Perhaps, our main fault is that we take the Unitarian system imposing such slanted history on us standing down.
We could still change this erasure of our own history. In Federalism, which the Visayan patriots mentioned above envisioned and openly advocated, the local state controls its educational curriculum.
Under the present Unitarian system, Manila has total control over what is being taught to our children. Our patriotic forebears fought for Federalism and sacrificed their blood for it. Forget not how Visayan patriots won our freedom.
(Main source: Facts from History of Panay Copyright 1973 by Felix Regalado and Quintin Franco. Interpretation by Dr. Jose Palu-ay Dacudao.) /PN