The Philippine Revolution
The Philippine revolution can be said to have been expressly by the Katipunan in Manila on 23rd of August, 1896, when, in the famous assembly at Pugadlawin, Caloocan, the Katiponeros, led by Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, and Valenzuela among others in the Supreme Council tore their cedulas in an act to defiance against continued Spanish rule and decided to take up arms against the colonial power.
The Katipunan in Manila experienced a rather uncertain start winning and then subsequently losing battles in San Juan, Morong and San Mateo. However, the first skirmishes lit the fuse and at the end of the month, the Katipunan in Cavite had risen up with more success. By September, the confragration had spread to Bulacan and by the end of the year, the eight provinces of the Tagalog and Pampango regions were waving the banners of revolution against the Spain. These would later on be eshrined in the flag of the emergent nation as the eigth rays of the Philippine sun.
The arrival of the Christian General, camilo de Plaviaja and reinforncements from Spain, however, stalled the territorial advance of the revolution. Also, in December of 1896, internal dispute had weakened the movement. These major factors led the revolution to a rout in the first quarter of 1897 and it was late in the day when Magdalo and Magdiwang settled their differences in Tejeros. That March, Polavieja had penetrated Cavite and by July of the same year, the revolutionary government had been flushed out of the province and had taken refuge in Biak-na-Bato in Bulacan.
In August, 1897, Aguinaldo started negotiating with Governor General Primo de Rivera for surrender of the Revolution. The result was the Pact of Biak na Bato which was signed by both parties at the end of the year. Aguinaldo and his cabinet as per the provisions of the Pact left for Hongkong on voluntary exile on December 27, 1897 and thus, would end what Agoncillo refers to as the first phase of the revolution.
Revolutionary fervor, however, suffered only a momentary ebb and was scarely dissipated by the Pact. While the socalled Hongkong Junta was abroad, tension between the Filipinos and Spaniards increased to explosive heights when each side began accusing the other of not complying with terms and conditions agreed upon. By March of 1898, clashes were reported between the forces and by following month, the Pact had all but disintegrated. The newly arrived Governor General Basilio Agustin tried a Consultative Assembly. He had no choice. Either ha had to do that or face two fronts in the increasing probability of a war against the United States.
That North American country declared war on Spain on April 25, 1898, and Aguinaldo took this opportunity to make plans on returning to the Philippines. The plan was based on a somewhat dubious agreement with the Americans for their alliance against Spain. Aguinaldo returned to the country on May 19,1898 and thereafter took leadership again of the revolution.
This second phase ( Agoncillo seems to base his division of the revolution into two stages on the presence of a pivotal character leading the struggle ) was decidedly more popular than the first. By June, the revolution had extended to the Visayan islands of Aguinaldo and the revolutionaries. Incredibly, however, the emperialist designs of the Americans were not seemingly considered in the aftermath of the struggle. By the following year, Aguinaldo found himself loacked in a bitter struggle against the United States in whom he had placed a great deal of trust and confidence as friends and allies.
This succeeding stage of the revolution was more a war for the preservation of a dearly bought victory against a colonial power than a revolution. The Filipinos had a legitimate government established in Malolos, Bulacan and this was the government which bitterly contested ground as it retreated from towan to town northwards from Caloocan in the face of overwhelming technical superiority of the American armies. In December 1899, General Gregorio Del Pilar fell in the defense of Tirad and for nearly a year afterwards Aguinaldo and his men criss-crossed the Cordilleras in an attempt to evade his American pursuers.
“ In 1997, I join a medical mission in Lubo,Lubuagan, Kalinga. During our medical mission, I happen to took to the natives of Bangad, Lubo, and Dakalan. The natives reiterated that General Gregorio Del Pilar declared Lubuagan as the Capital of the Philippines. They said that General Gregorio Del Pilar suffered malaria and his horse died at Dakalan before proceeding to Palanan” Lauren Kipaan.
They entered Palanan, Isabela in the moth of September and there had a surcease of war. Aguinaldo’s plan fortifying the province and turning it into a bastion of the revolution as Cavite was in 1896, however, fell when he was captured by the Americans in March the following year. In April, Aguinaldo took his oath of allegiance to the United States and issued the call for the end of the revolution.