July 4 is celebrated in the Philippines as Philippine-American Friendship Day. If I am not mistaken, it is also a national holiday. It is meant to celebrate the “special relation” between the two countries.
But how did this friendship or special relation start?
Ironically, this friendship started with a war of conquest waged by the Americans against the Filipinos in 1898. In this war, which many historians have agreed was waged to secure the Philippines as a market and source of raw materials for the U.S. industry, close to one million Filipinos died prompting one anonymous U.S. Congressman to say, “They (Filipinos) never rebel in Luzon anymore because there isn’t anybody left to rebel.”
But, in writing about this so-called friendship, I will not dwell on the violence and the barbarity committed that led to this friendship. Instead, I’ll focus on what can we, Filipinos, learn from it.
After usurping our hard-won independence from Spain that ended in a mock battle in Manila Bay – Spain surrendered to the U.S. after a few shots were exchanged – the U.S. began a program of colonization that up to now has significantly left an imprint in the political, cultural and economic life of the Filipinos.
In a brilliant move typical of any colonizer, the U.S. introduced a system of education, using English as a medium of instruction. The effect was the formation of a national consciousness that was more pro-American than pro-Filipino.
With the educated Filipinos becoming more and more brown Americans, it was easy to sway future Filipino leaders to the side of the Americans. As the late Filipino historian Renato Constantino put it, “There was no longer any need for American overseers in this field because a captive generation had already come of age, thinking and acting like Americans.”
Fred Atkinson, the first American General Superintendent of Education in the Philippines, put it more bluntly, “The Filipino people, taken as a body, are children and childlike, do not know what is best for them…In the ideal spirit of preparing them for the work of governing themselves finally, their American guardianship has begun…by the very fact of our superiority of civilization and our greater capacity for industrial activity we are bound to exercise over them a profound influence.”
Through the years this influence has been strengthened by the succession of Filipino presidents supportive of the U.S. policies in many ways. As a result, the “special relation” has been turned into a lucrative relationship that benefits mainly the powerful and rich Filipinos and the U.S. government. One can understand why the Obama administration works feverishly with the Noynoy Aquino administration to maintain its influence through joint military exercises and supply of firepower.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not anti-American. I am against the American government policy in the Philippines, which many of my American friends also oppose.
How did it lead to this?
From Manila columnist Conrado de Quiros we get this answer, “From the start of their rule, the Americans sought to produce a crop of local leaders who would find common cause with them. This was the precondition for the Filipinos’ participation in their governance and the Americans’ progressive disengagement from it. How well they succeeded in their enterprise would have exceeded even their expectations. Long after independence, Filipino leaders continue to show canine devotion to their old masters.”
For me, making July 4 a day to celebrate Filipino-American Friendship Day perpetuates a historical myth. Behind this celebration is the reality that friendship between the two countries is not based on solid and equal ground. It’s a case of: “I need you. Therefore, I want you to be my friend.” This kind of friendship has numbing effects on many Filipinos. It’s addictive. Like a drug addict, whatever the dealer gives is perceived as something good and useful. Thus, everything America stands for is good.
When will we ever learn?
Featured image: American soldiers capture Malolos in 1899 (credit: Memories of Old Manila and beyond)
About the author
GREG S. CASTILLA, one of the co-founders of Dateline Ibalon, is a graduate of Ateneo de Manila University. He was a recipient of the U.S. Department of Education Bilingual Fellowship Program at the University of Washington, where he earned a Ph.D. in multicultural education. He taught multicultural studies in several colleges and universities in Seattle as an adjunct faculty and authored eight books, the last of which is Magis: Things That Matter Most in Life (2021). He is a doting grandfather to his five grandchildren, and thanks his wife and children for what he has become.
