Today, February 4, 2009, is the 111th anniversary of the opening of hostilities between American troops and the Filipino army of the first Filipino republic, with Emilio Aguinaldo as president.
Filipino students are still being taught the wrong version of the incident - that a Filipino lieutenant and three soldiers tried to cross the American sentry at the San Juan bridge in Sta. Mesa, Manila, and the American guard, Grayson, shot the Filipino lieutenant dead for refusing to halt.
More recent historical research shows that there is no such San Juan bridge incident. What actually happened was an American patrol was under orders to cross into Filipino lines and the Filipino guards opposed it. The American intrusion was part of a grand design to provoke the Filipinos into a fight in order to justify the advance of the American troops from the city of Manila and conquer Filipino-held territories. The grand design, of course, was the establishment of American sovereignty over the whole archipelago mandated by U.S. President McKinley to fulfill his dream of putting the Philippines on the map of the United States.
Recommended reading, click here.
Filipino students are still being taught the wrong version of the incident - that a Filipino lieutenant and three soldiers tried to cross the American sentry at the San Juan bridge in Sta. Mesa, Manila, and the American guard, Grayson, shot the Filipino lieutenant dead for refusing to halt.
More recent historical research shows that there is no such San Juan bridge incident. What actually happened was an American patrol was under orders to cross into Filipino lines and the Filipino guards opposed it. The American intrusion was part of a grand design to provoke the Filipinos into a fight in order to justify the advance of the American troops from the city of Manila and conquer Filipino-held territories. The grand design, of course, was the establishment of American sovereignty over the whole archipelago mandated by U.S. President McKinley to fulfill his dream of putting the Philippines on the map of the United States.
Recommended reading, click here.
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