Rocky road to independence mb.com.ph - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mb.com.ph Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Gemma Cruz Araneta
Since 1962, we Filipinos have been celebrating Independence Day on June 12. Before that, it used to be on July 4, a historical aberration corrected by President Diosdado Macapagal who said Filipinos, “… called the whole world to witness their powerful resolve to consider themselves absolved of allegiance to the Spanish crown… The revolution which culminated on June 12, 1898 was the first successful national revolution in Asia since the coming of the west, and the republic to which it gave birth was the first democratic republic outside of the western hemisphere.”
Our road to independence was a rocky one, strewn with treachery, deceit and other obstacles, the most devastating of which was the Philippine-American war. Yet, there were advocates who lent their moral support like the Anti-Imperialist League (AI), established on June 2, 1898 and lasted until November, 1920.The members profile of the AI allowed it to wield its influence rather audaciously.