Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Year 1902

January 1, 1902
U.S. Brigadier General Franklin Bell implements his pacification campaign of Batangas, Laguna and part of Tayabas (now Quezon province). (Ramsey, 8-9)
[The campaign weighed heavily on the infamous reconcentrado in the contiguous provinces of Batangas and Laguna where Filipino General Miguel Malvar is very active. This system operated like a very large concentration camp, that was extensively used by the Spaniards in Cuba and also in the Philippine Islands during the initial phase of the Philippine revolution, and denounced by the United States as inhuman. The same scheme was not only adopted by the U.S. military in its effort to force Filipinos accept American sovereignty, but also legalized by the American controlled Philippine Commission during the incumbency of Governor General William Howard Taft. This scheme works in this manner: a designated town or zone is established under control and protection of the American military and all civilians living outside this zone are required to move into the zone, together with all their possessions - animals, harvests, tools and implements. After lapse of a specified deadline any able-bodied persons found outside the zone are captured or killed, and all crops, animals and food that cannot be brought into the zone are destroyed. The objective is to prevent the guerrillas from obtaining aid from the civilians and deny the guerrillas access to food and supplies. The system of reconcentrado brought untold sufferings to both the civilian population and the guerrillas because no one attended to the farms and food had become very scarce. Similar zoning were done by the Americans in the Bicol provinces and in the Visayas, particularly Cebu, Samar and Bohol, which were accompanied by large scale defoliations and devastation.]

January 3, 1902
U.S. Major Myer captures quite an extensive arsenal and plant for the making of cartridges, on the north-west coast of Leyte, also another powder factory, large quantities of ammunition, four cannon, and several rifles. (PIS-Review, 170)

January ??, 1902
Filipino General Luciano San Miguel takes over command of all troops in the field in the vicinity of Manila which numbered around 150 armed men. A great many of the arms had been taken from municipal police forces of the surrounding country. Two Constabulary detachments of about 40 men each, the first. under the command of Capt. W. W. Warren and the other under the command of Lieut. Twilley while scouting near the boundary of Bulacan and Rizal are attacked and whipped. (Khaki[1], 16,20)

January 13, 1902
Colonel Marisigan and all his forces surrenders in Taal, Batangas.

January 15, 1902
A captured communication from the Filipino junta at Hong Kong to General Lukban, the Filipino guerrilla leader on Samar Island, authorizes him to surrender if he wishes to do so, but does not advocate this action. If he surrenders, the letter says, he need not deliver a single Filipino soldier or officer to the Americans, nor must he nor any other officer be forced to accept civil appointment. They may emigrate if allowed to do so; but no Filipino must be obliged to take the oath of allegiance to the United States. Under these terms the Hong Kong junta has no objection to Lukban's surrendering. (PIS-Review, 171)

January 17, 1902
Three hundred and sixty-five Filipino guerrillas surrender in the island of Bohol. (PIS-Review, 171)

January 20, 1902
General Agueda Kahabagan, the only woman general of the Philippine Revolutionary Army is captured by men of the Eight Infantry in Laguna province. (PIS-Review, 171)

February 22, 1902
Lieutenant Stribler of the Philippine Scouts captures Filipino General Vicente Lukban in Samar. (PIS-Review, 240)

February 24, 1902
A force of native constabulary captures Cortez, second in command to General Malvar, on information furnished by a friendly native to constabulary inspector Sorensen. (PIS-Review, 240)

March 17, 1902
Filipino guerrilla leader, Guevara, issues a proclamation in Samar declaring he has succeeded General Lukban. (PIS-Review, 241)

March 25, 1902
The guerrilla leader in Laguna, Caballos, surrenders to Lieutenant Colonel Dougherty of the Seventh Infantry and orders his followers to cease hostitilities. (PIS-Review, 241)

Filipino General Arcadio Maxilom and his brother make a desperate attempt to escape while being conveyed in a launch to the town of Cebu, stabs the master of the launch, is overpowered and his brother is killed. (PIS-Review, 241)

March 27, 1902
Filipino General Mariano Noriel, the other guerrilla general other than Malvar still remaining in the field, is captured by Lieutenant Bramford of the the Twentieth Infantry. (PIS-Review, 241)

March 28, 1902
General Smith confers with Filipino guerrilla leader Guevara and several of his officers in Manila who are arranging for the surrender of entire insurgent force in Samar by April 15th. (PIS-Review, 241)

April 7, 1902
General Smith arrives in Manila to testify in the case of Major Waller in a court martial. General Smith says he considers Guevarra, the guerrilla leader in Samar who is to surrender the 15th, to be a man of energy and intelligence, and that the armistice in Samar had been faithfully kept. (PIS-Review, 242)

April 9, 1902
Major Waller testifies today that General Jacob M. Smith, in command of the American troops at Samar, instructed him to kill and burn; says that the more he killed and burned, the better pleased he would be; that it was no time to take prisoners, and that he was to make Samar a howling wilderness. Asked to define the age limit for killing, General Smith had answered, " Everyone over ten." (PIS-Review, 242)

April 13, 1902
Major Waller is declared not guilty, the court standing eleven to two for acquittal. (PIS-Review, 242)

April 17, 1902
General Malvar and three thousand two hundred and thirty-six of his men surrender to General Bell. Malvar says the support of people, primarily food and supplies, has dwindled resulting from the effective implementation of the reconcentrado.
[Malvar finally settled in his hometown of Sto. Tomas, Batangas with his wife and seven children and concentrated in farming. He was stricken by liver illness and died on October 13, 1911.]

April 21, 1902
Filipino guerrilla leader in Mindanao, General Rufino, with 26 officers and 375 soldiers, surrenders in Misamis. (PIS-Review, 243)

May 6, 1902
General Malvar issues a proclamation declaring an end to the war. (Fernandez, 175)

June 23, 1902
General Bell, having succeeded in the pacification of Batangas and Laguna, returns the provinces to the civil government. (Ramsey, 14)

July ??, 1902
Macario Sakay, a katipunero, establishes the Republika ng Katagalugan in the mountains of Southern Luzon with him as president, Francisco Carreon, vice president, Julian Montalan, overall supervisor for military operations. Cornelio Felizardo is designated in charge of nothern part of Cavite, Lucio de Vega, of the rest of Cavite, Aniceto Oruga, of the lake towns of Batangas, Leon Villafuerte, of Bulacan and Benito Natividad, of Tanauan, Batangas.

July 1, 1902
The Philippine Civil Government Bill passes the United States congress and is signed by the President, essentially providing for the establishing of a civil government headed by a Civil Governor, with the Philippine Commission acting as the legislative body. (Willis, 39)

July 4, 1902
U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt orders the termination of military government in the parts of the Islands inhabited by the Christian Filipinos and declares that the war in the Philippines is over and proclaims amnesty to all those who have taken part in the rebellion. (KalawM[1], 284)

July 7, 1902
The new Katipunan headed by Domingo Moriones, Aguedo del Rosario and four others, are captured by Inspector Licerio Greronimo on July 7, 1902, near Marikina, together with all paraphernalia, regalia and records. This same officer, Geronimo, who was a General in the Republican Army of Aguinaldo, with seven men of his company, just missed being captured in Diliman, Bulacan (now Quezon City) by Guillermo and Samson a few days later. - (Khaki[1], 20)

August 24, 1902
The political leaders exiled in Guam are told that they can go back to the Philippines provided they take the oath of allegiance to the United States without mental reservation or purpose of evasion. Mabini refuses to take the oath on the basis that he does not know the conditions existing in the Philippines Islands if the people have accepted American sovereignty. (KalawM[1], 285)

September 8, 1902
The Philippine Commission certifies to the President of the United States the fact that the insurrection in all the christian provinces had completely ceased and that a condition of general and complete peace had been established. (KalawM[1], 226)

October 1, 1902
In a meeting of the few surviving generals of the Philippine revolutionary army presided by General. Benito Sta. Ana and attended by Julian Santos, A. Samson, Francisco Rivera, Miguel Capistrano, Laureano Abelino, Carlos Gabriel, Gregorio Esteban, Severo Alcantara, Perfecto Dizon, Ismael Francisco, Anatalio Austria and Marcelino Santa Ana , the most senior among them, General Luciano San Miguel, is appointed Captain General and Chief of military operations of the islands, to head the renewed effort to resuscitate the Katipunan as the solidifying force for the continuation of the resistance against the Americans.

October ??, 1902
Believing that the time had come to organize political parties favoring independence in view of the declaration of peace and the return of the exiles from Guam, Pedro Paterno organizes the Liberal Party whose main object is "to establish in the Philippines by following the road of evolution, a responsible self-government whose object will be to form and to establish the Filipino nationality." He did not use the word "independence" in order not to invite the suspicion of General Otis that he will be pursuing the course towards independence. (KalawM[1], 285)

November 15,1902
Due to the objection of Governor Taft on the independence platform of the proposed Partido Democrata to be established by Jose Maria de la Vina, Justo Lukban, Leon Ma. Guerrero and Alberto Barretto, the organizers write Mr. Taft as follows: "Taking into consideration your unfavorable criterion in regard to the formation of our party, and the fact that, if we are looked at with suspicion by the authorities, it would be impossible to carry on our propaganda and to keep up our party with the freedom required for the exercise of our liberties, the Committee on Organization has decided, by a majority, to suspend for the present, the organization of the Democratic Party." (KalawM[1], 289)

December 5, 1902
Dr. Gomez and Mr. Poblete pay their respects to Governor Taft to obtain the necessary permit for the reformed Nacionalista party. Mr. Taft , who naturally would look at the party with disfavor because five of its original signers were jailed under the Sedition law, replies as follows: "Now if I could impart one lesson to you it would be to forget politics for two years and to take steps only to the uplifting of the agricultural prosperity of this country." (KalawM[1], 287)

December ??, 1902
Paterno changes the name of his party to Partido Independista, probably because he believes that the feeling for independence is growing. The program of the party is also changed, and this time it openly advocates the independence of the Philippines as the aspiration of the people, to be secured by political means as an act of justice from the American people. (KalawM[1], 286)

December 24, 1902
Filipino resistance leader Julian Santos sends 80 men to attack Pasig. In this attack two members of the Constabulary are killed and two are wounded. (Khaki[1], 20)

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