until now, the Philippine-American war is a misunderstood entity: some history books recorded the conflict as a sustained insurrection
between an emerging international power and a fractured group of people who seek independence. There is, however, a larger picture
that needs to be examined and that is to attempt to determine the causes of the breakdown that occurred between the Filipinos and the
Americans. Following the Treaty of Paris which ended the Spanish American war in December of 1898, the United States took control of
the former colonies of Spain, namely Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. On February 4, 1899, just two days before the American
senate ratified the treaty, fighting broke out between American forces and Filipino nationalists led by
Emilio Aguinaldo who sought in-
dependence rather than a change in colonial rulers. The ensuing Philippine-American war lasted three years and resulted in the death of
over 4 200 American and over 20 000 Filipino combatants. As many as 200 000 Filipino civilians died from violence, famine, and
disease. This act of United States, just like everything else, has its pros
positive side of the war: the greatest contribution that
the improvement of technology initiated
and cons. Let us go to the
one can think of is
by the Ameri-
cans like the reforms that
they have
done in the educational system, the
infrastructures, and necessary equipments used in transferring information
through long distances; they were the
i
n the end, who won
the battle?
ones who initiated the construction of
bridges and buildings which some are
The United States was
still being used up to this day. In addi-
able to pacify the archi-
tion to that, they also reopened
pelago after 1902 when
schools wherein the American soldiers
Emilio Aguinaldo and his
were the first teachers.
generals were captured or
o
n the nega-
tive side, it is almost inevitable not to
surrendered but there were still
have casualties in a war. The Philip-
insurgents up until 1907. Regardless of
pines had around 200,000 casualties,
the said victory and the defeat of the revolutionary govern-
both from the military force and the
ment of Aguinaldo, there were millions of money lost on
civilians, while the deaths and injuries
the side of the United
of the Americans were only a few thou-
sands of soldiers which are mostly young and volunteers
sands. The number of deaths from the
from the mainland. This being said, it shows that the
Philippine area were mostly because
United States, though not as tremendous as what the Phil-
of the scorched earth policy and can
ippines has experienced, also suffered loss. Thus, it proves
be considered as one of the most ruth-
that there is no real winner when it comes to war.
less and savaged. It was dubbed as
the “first Vietnam” (Karnow, 1989).
s
tates. Also, they have lost thou-
By:
Daniel
Bayhonan