COLLABORATIONS OF FILIPINOS AND AMERICANS

   The partnership of the Filipinos and Americans all started with the desire of Aguinaldo to win back the Philippines against the Spaniards. After the Filipinos surrendered all their weapons to the Spaniards they exiled to Hong Kong as agreed, and the Spaniards gave them 400,000 in exchange. This money that has to be divided equally among the Katipuneros were all taken by Aguinaldo. General Emilio Aguinaldo didn't agree with Artacho to divide the money because he has another plan. And his plan was to give the money to the Americans so that they could purchased much weapons for them and they could also join forces. After his refusal to Artacho, Artacho then filed a a lawsuit against him; but just to get away from this litigation Aguinaldo flew to Singapore. During the stay of Aguinaldo to Singapore he met Howard Bray on April 23, 1898 where they were able to talk to each other. The Englishman who was a long-time residence of the Philippines told him the desire of E. Spencer Pratt's to meet him who was the U.S. consul in Singapore. While Pratt and Aguinaldo were having a conversation, Pratt convinced Aguinaldo to built a partnership with the Americans to defeat the Spaniards and promised him that after they have defeated them the Philippine independence will be recognized by the Americans which did not at all happened. But since his words were all convincing, Aguinaldo fell for it and he decided to lend the to Rounseville Wildman, the consul in Hong Kong.  After these event, Aguinaldo then wasted no time. He returned to the Philippines using the US ship McCullough on May 17, 1898 with the Americans on their side. The group of Aguinaldo with the Americans together fought the battle against the Spaniards. Without the Katipuneros knowing what happened to the money that is meant for them. The Katipuneros supported Aguinaldo and followed him as a leader, while on the other side the Filipinos in Hong KongJunta assembles and held a meeting under the leadership of Felipe Agoncillio on May 4; 1898.

     At the end, the Americans together with the Filipinos won the battle against the Spaniards and if your curious about the money that was given to them......well the 50,000 pesos and 67,000 pesos entrusted to Wildman was used to purchased weapons as said earlier. And the first amount was used but the second one never arrived....so what happened to it? Well lets just say that it is gone in the wind or the Americans tricked us. And regarding about the agreed independence of the country after the war, well it is not granted either so this just proved us that the Americans during this time doesn't have one word and that they are just like the Spaniards. And for the Filipinos...once again we were tricked by them!! 

     So i guess this is a lesson for us that we must trust no one specially those who doesn't have one word and always have a record about the agreement that serves as a proof, and it must be signed by the dealers. So that just in case he forgot about the deal you could show that person about it. 

TRIAL AND DEATH OF ANDRES BONIFACIO

  What was the real intention of Aguinaldo; why did he ordered to kill BONIFACIO?
During the Spanish colonization many Katipuneros revolted. And these Katipuneros are headed under one leader until March 2, 1897' where the Katiuneros chose Emilio Aguinaldo as their president and not Bonifacio. With this incident the Katipunan was divided into two groups which ended up fighting with each other instead of collaborating and having unity to fight against the Spaniards. Through this division it resulted in the Battle of Limbon, since Aguinaldo wanted Bonifacio to be arrested because of the refusal under his leadership. Afterwards, Andres and Procopio(his brother) were found guilty of rebellion. Since they doesn't want to be under the leadership of Aguinaldo they were sentenced to death, but Aguinaldo replaced this punishment with life imprisonment but because of the advice he received from his military advisers it was not replaced and the Bonifacio brothers were still given a death sentenced. The reasons why the military advisers hinder the decision of Aguinaldo because they thought that if Andres if still live the division between two groups will still continue, and the confusion about which is the real leader and which one is to follow will result to a disunity that's why they doesn't want Bonifacio to live because they knew he has many followers and he has the power to win against Aguinaldo. So the death of Bonifacio brothers happened at Mt. Buntis 'March 10, 1897, after the reading the letter telling the order of Aguinaldo for their death; they were shot and buried in a shallow grave, with nothing but a wooden branches planted on the ground to mark the spot. No one even bother to visit them and give respect for their death. 
   For me the death of Bonifacio brothers doesn't show any justice at all. It is not fair because to kill someone just because of you desire to be a leader. It doesn't show any leadership, and listening to the advise of others without thinking what's really the best is not an excuse. If Aguinaldo just gave chance to Bonifacio, it could havebeen much better and fair for everyone. If he didn't just think of himself it could have been a peaceful revolution with unity in them. And they could have gain back the country easier and fought with harmony. 
     These part of our history is one of the most interesting event, because of the different happanings, the division of Katipuneros, death of Bonifacio and of course it also shows how Aguinaldo handles some situations and his selfishness. 

.CRY OF PUGAD LAWIN

   "LONG LIVE THE PHILIPPINES!" these were the words shouted by the Katipuneros after the Spaniards arrested hundreds of their members. They had an assembly at the house of Juan Ramos on August 23, 1896; where they made up their minds and end up to fight against the Spaniards because they became so tired of the how the Spaniards govern the country. They had enough of the way the Spaniards treated them and since the propaganda movement didn't work it is now their turn of doing a move, which is to have a revolt through armed battles. They had this meeting so that everyone will be aware that the revolution starts now, that their quiet and obedient response to the Spaniards is over and that from that day forward, from that very point they are no longer under the Spaniards. The Spaniards doesn't have the rights over them, they are now against all the works of the government and they obey no more. The Katipuneros tore their cedulas or their citizenship certificate as a sign of a fight for liberty to death. Their minds are now set they will do everything just to win back their country even though they have to risk their own lives. Its now a matter of now or never because if they won't start now, who would. Who would think of risking their own life for the country, loosing their blood just to gain back what's taken away from them. And if they won't start yet, the Spaniards will take everything from them and treat them as a dog- meaning they'll take the opportunity of the Filipinos being under them. The Katipuneros thought that through fighting they could win back the country and since this is the only way that they could do. 
   That event marked as the begging of the Phillipine Revolution of 1896 against the Spain. The Katipuneros tore their cedulas and shouted "MABUHAY ANG PILIPINAS! MABUHAY ANG KALAYAAN!"

The Teachings of the Katipunan

    The Kartilla of the Katipunan was written by EMILIO JACINTO, this word is derived from a Spanish word meaning- "primer for elementary students". IT consist of 13 rules which helped the Katipuneros to be much disciplined, to keep their words and promises, to always go for the right and never go for the wrong, and to obtain a pure heart that serves the country and always wants the best for its people. It serves as their guide as they go through the challenges they're facing, as they fought with the Spaniards and as they work hard to regain what was taken away from them 'our country and people's authority'. This Kartilla taught the Filipinos how to fight fair- without any cheat, to respect everyone- even those who were lower than them, to treat everyone equally and not doubting to help if anyone's in need and for the most, it teaches them how to be humble and act without any pretensions. 

   The 13 rules of the Katipunans are 1) living life without any worthy cause is meaningless, it is much better to devote yourself or even life for something that your going to be proud of someday, it is much better than living your life in a dull and uninteresting way of living. 2) when your going to do something, it must come from the heart or it must be true to you because doing things that will just say you have done something is a big shame to do. 3) our thoughts, words and actions shows great impact on our behavior 4) we must treat everyone in a fair manner 5) a wise man values much his good manner than his pleasure 6) a person with shame always keeps his promises 7) time is so important to be wasted, we could do lots of worthy things in a moment 8) we must always be on the right side 9) wise man is sensitive in his words 10) be a good model to others 11) we must respect the women 12) never do things that you know will hurt other people's feelings because maybe someday you'll experience the same thing 13) our name our status in life is not important but our attitude and the way we deal with our lives and the people around us is much important.

The result of the Propaganda Movement

The propaganda Movement ended without accomplishing their major goals.
* The out come of their operation helped in many ways. They helped removing the tobacco monopoly in the country, in the replacement of the tribute with cedula tax and reduction of labor. But their real aim like creating a public school, their freedom of speech, representing the Philippines in the Cortes Generales were all not granted. They did not succeed of convincing the Spaniards to carry out these major reforms. And even some of their writings were confiscated by the Spaniards especially the ones done by Rizal. But we can't blame the Spaniards for not granting their request for reforms because the Spain has its own internal problems as well, that's why maybe they didn't focus much on the needs of Filipino people and didn't have that time to listen to our requests.
* The friars are one of reasons too why the propaganda movement didn't succeed much, because their against this movement and since their so influential they used their powers to hinder the operation, but all of these were not caused of the Spaniard and the friars alone. Filipinos too made a mistake, they lack of budget or funds for the operation and they also had problems with in the movement like disunity, different arguments and envy, so as a result of all these they lack of interest to the operation. 
* For my opinion, if ever that we're going to create an operation or program like this we must first obtain a unity. We must have one goal, one mind and voice. And we must always consider any possible things to happen and have a backup plan for it. 

CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE SPANISH MISSIONARIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

     THE SPANISH MISSIONARIES DIDN'T JUST HELPED THE ARMY OF SPAIN IN COLONIZING OUR COUNTRY, THEY ALSO HELPED IN SPREADING CATHOLICISM. THEY WERE THE ONES WHO TAUGHT THE FILIPINOS THE GOSPEL, AND HOW TO TREAT GOD AS THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING. WITH THEIR HELP THE CONQUEST IN THE COUNTRY BECAME MUCH EASIER, WITH THE USE OF THE CROSS AND SHARING/TEACHING THE FILIPINOS THE NEW RELIGION WHICH IS THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.
   THE SPANISH MISSIONARIES WERE GOOD FRIENDS OF THE EARLY FILIPINOS. THESE PEOPLE ARE THE ONES WHO TAUGHT US MANY THINGS, JUST LIKE IN THE FIELD OF ENGINEERING, WRITING,SOCIAL WORKS, AND EVEN IN PRINTING. THE MISSIONARIES WERE GOOD AT MANY WAYS. THEY BROUGHT US THE NEW EUROPEAN ARTS, MUSIC, ARCHITECTURES, EDUCATION, AND LITERATURE. THEY BUILT THE FIRST TOWNS, CITIES, CHURCH, UNIVERSITIES, SCHOOLS, COLLEGES AS WELL AS THE PRINTING PRESSES, HOSPITALS,HOUSE FOR THE ORPHANS AND OTHER LIBRARIES. THEY ALSO INTRODUCED TO US THE NEW TECHNIQUES OR MUCH BETTER WAY OF FISHING, FARMING AND TAUGHT US THE METHOD OF WEAVING, MINING AND METAL WORKS. THEY WERE GOOD INDUSTRIALISTS, SHARED THE FILIPINOS THEIR TALENTS AND SHOWED US THE RIGHT WAY OF HAVING A BUSINESS. THEY WERE ALSO TRAINED IN WRITING POETS, HISTORY, BOOKS, MAPS, DICTIONARY, GRAMMAR BOOKS AND WERE ALWAYS NOTED AS GOOD GRAMMARIANS, PLAYWRIGHTS, POETS, CHRONICLERS AND MANY MORE. THE SPANISH MISSIONARIES WERE ALSO THE ONE WHO CONSTRUCTED THE FIRST ROADS, BRIDGES, AND OTHER PUBLIC WORKS. THESE ARE SOME OF THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE SPANISH MISSIONARIES IN THE COUNTRY.

THE COLONIAL ECONOMIC POLICIES OF SPAIN

    The Spain influenced the Philippines with many things through economic, culture, and it affects our history as well. The economic changes that were introduce by Spain are still applicable today. Just like the forced labor or the POLO Y SERVICIO, many Filipino and Chinese males before suffered because of this requirement. All males from 16 to 60 years old were forced to work for the government. They are required to work for 40 days each year, and this males were called polista for they were forced to perform polo. And to compare it to our government today, polo is still happening. Just like the street children who doesn't have a place to go were forced to work by the syndicate, and instead of helping them they are given a task which are not yet right for their age. The street children are forced to beg money to people but at the end this money were given to the syndicate who ordered them to beg, their hardship of doing service to this people are not even helping them in their lives but instead their making the syndicate much powerful because they're the only one who benefits in this kind of service. 
     But not all Filipinos before are forced to do a service for the government, there are some who are exempted. These were the members of principalia or what we called the aristocrats. They are the elite people of the government. But in exchange for not performing the polo they're required to pay the falla, which is one and a half of they're money. 
       These services really affects the way of living of the Filipinos because instead of being with their families and having their lives in the way they want it, they are forced to work for the Spaniards.