Military Government of the Philippine Islands

During military rule (1898–1902), the U.S. military commander governed the Philippines under the authority of the U.S. president as Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces. After the appointment of a civil Governor-General upon the suppression of the First Philippine Republic, the procedure developed that as parts of the country were firmly put under American control, responsibility for the area would be passed to an American-installed civil government.

General Merritt was succeeded by General Elwell S. Otis as military governor, who in turn was succeeded by General Arthur MacArthur. Major General Adna Chaffee was the final military governor. The position of military governor was abolished in July 1902, after which the civilian office Governor-General became the sole executive authority in the Philippines.

The military government, initially with soldiers as teachers, reopened civil and criminal courts and established its own, including a supreme court; and local governments were established as towns and provinces were occupied. The first American-sponsored election was conducted by General Harold W. Lawton on May 7, 1899, in Baliuag, Bulacan.

Capture of Manila

By June, U.S. and Filipino forces had taken control of most of the islands, except for the walled city of Intramuros. Admiral Dewey and General Merritt were able to work out a bloodless solution with acting Governor-General Fermín Jáudenes. The negotiating parties made a secret agreement to stage a mock battle in which the Spanish forces would be defeated by the American forces, but the Filipino forces would not be allowed to enter the city. This plan minimized the risk of unnecessary casualties on all sides, while the Spanish would also avoid the shame of possibly having to surrender Intramuros to the Filipino forces. On the eve of the mock battle, General Anderson telegraphed General Emilio Aguinaldo, leader of the revolutionary forces, "Do not let your troops enter Manila without the permission of the American commander. On this side of the Pasig River you will be under fire."

On August 13, with American commanders unaware that a ceasefire had already been signed between Spain and the U.S. on the previous day, American forces captured the city of Manila from the Spanish in the Battle of Manila. The battle started when Dewey's ships bombarded Fort San Antonio Abad, a decrepit structure on the southern outskirts of Manila, and the virtually impregnable walls of Intramuros. In accordance with the plan, the Spanish forces withdrew while U.S. forces advanced. Once a sufficient show of battle had been made, Dewey hoisted the signal "D.W.H.B." (meaning "Do you surrender?), whereupon the Spanish hoisted a white flag and Manila was formally surrendered to U.S. forces.

This battle marked the end of Filipino-American collaboration, as the American action of preventing Filipino forces from entering the captured city of Manila was deeply resented by the Filipinos. Despite the loss of Manila to the Americans, the Filipinos continued liberating the archipelago, freeing most of the provinces by the end of 1898. Tensions simmered between the Filipino and American powers, and the United States provoked the Philippine–American War (1899–1902), which would prove to be more deadly and costly than the preceding Spanish–American War.

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Spanish–American War ends

Article V of the peace protocol signed on August 12 had mandated negotiations to conclude a treaty of peace to begin in Paris not later than October 1, 1898. President McKinley sent a five-man commission, initially instructed to demand no more than Luzon, Guam, and Puerto Rico; which would have provided a limited U.S. empire of pinpoint colonies to support a global fleet and provide communication links. In Paris, the commission was besieged with advice, particularly from American generals and European diplomats, to demand the entire Philippine archipelago. The unanimous recommendation was that "it would certainly be cheaper and more humane to take the entire Philippines than to keep only part of it." On October 28, 1898, McKinley wired the commission that "cessation of Luzon alone, leaving the rest of the islands subject to Spanish rule, or to be the subject of future contention, cannot be justified on political, commercial, or humanitarian grounds. The cessation must be the whole archipelago or none. The latter is wholly inadmissible, and the former must therefore be required." The Spanish negotiators were furious over the "immodest demands of a conqueror", but their wounded pride was assuaged by an offer of twenty million dollars for "Spanish improvements" to the islands. The Revolutionary Government of the Philippines, which governed revolutionary-held provinces in the country, sent Felipe Agoncillo to represent the inhabitants of both the liberated and yet-to-be liberated areas of the country, but he was refused participation in the deliberations. The Spaniards capitulated and on December 10, 1898, the U.S. and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris, formally ending the Spanish–American War. In Article III, Spain ceded its control over the Philippine archipelago to the United States, with the following terms: "Spain cedes to the United States the archipelago known as the Philippine Islands, and comprehending the islands lying within the following line: [... geographic description elided ...]. The United States will pay to Spain the sum of twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) within three months after the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty."

In the U.S., there was a movement for Philippine independence; some said that the U.S. had no right to a land where many of the people wanted self-government. In 1898 Andrew Carnegie, an industrialist and steel magnate, offered to buy the Philippines for $20 million and give it to the Filipinos so that they could be free of United States government.

On November 7, 1900, Spain and the U.S. signed the Treaty of Washington, clarifying that the territories relinquished by Spain to the United States included any and all islands belonging to the Philippine Archipelago, but lying outside the lines described in the Treaty of Paris. That treaty explicitly named the islands of Cagayan Sulu and Sibutu and their dependencies as among the relinquished territories.

Philippine–American War (1899–1902)

Escalation of tensions

The Spanish had yielded Iloilo to the Filipinos in 1898 to trouble the Americans. On January 1, 1899, news had come to Washington, D.C., from Manila that American forces, which had been sent to Iloilo under the command of General Marcus Miller, had been confronted by 6,000 armed Filipinos, who refused them permission to land. President Lopez of the Federal Government of the Visayas" informed General Miller that "foreign troops" would not land "without express orders from the central government of Luzon." Previously, on December 21, 1898, McKinley issued a proclamation of intent to occupy the Philippines. General Otis delayed its publication until January 4, 1899, and published a version that had been edited to avoid conveying the meanings of the terms "sovereignty," "protection," and "right of cessation," which occurred in the unedited version. Unknown to Otis, the US Department of War had also sent an enciphered copy of the proclamation to General Miller in Iloilo for informational purposes. Miller assumed that it was for distribution and, unaware that a politically-expired version, published in both Spanish and Tagalog translations, eventually made their way to Aguinaldo, president of the Revolutionary Government. Even before Aguinaldo received the unaltered version and observed the changes in the copy that he had received from Otis, Aguinaldo was already upset that Otis was referred to as "Military Governor of the Philippines" in the unaltered version, which he had received from Otis (the unaltered version said "in the Philippines."). Aguinaldo did not miss the significance of the alteration, which Otis had made without authorization from Washington.

On January 5, Aguinaldo issued a counterproclamation that summarized what he saw as American violations of the ethics of friendship, particularly regarding the events in Iloilo. The proclamation concluded, "Such procedures, so foreign to the dictates of culture and the usages observed by civilized nations, gave me the right to act without observing the usual rules of intercourse. Nevertheless, in order to be correct to the end, I sent to General Otis commissioners charged to solicit him to desist from his rash enterprise, but they were not listened to. My government can not remain indifferent in view of such a violent and aggressive seizure of a portion of its territory by a nation which arrogated to itself the title champion of oppressed nations. Thus it is that my government is disposed to open hostilities if the American troops attempt to take forcible possession of the Visayan Islands. I denounce these acts before the world, in order that the conscience of mankind may pronounce its infallable verdict as to who are the true oppressors of nations and the tormentors of human kind."

After some copies of that proclamation had been distributed, Aguinaldo ordered the recall of undistributed copies and issued another proclamation, which was published the same day in El Heraldo de la Revolucion, the official newspaper of the Philippine government: "As in General Otis's proclamation he alluded to some instructions edited by His Excellency the President of the United States, referring to the administration of the matters in the Philippine Islands, I in the name of God, the root and fountain of all justice, and that of all the right which has been visibly granted to me to direct my dear brothers in the difficult work of our regeneration, protest most solemnly against this intrusion of the United States Government on the sovereignty of these islands.

I equally protest in the name of the Filipino people against the said intrusion, because as they have granted their vote of confidence appointing me president of the nation, although I don't consider that I deserve such, therefore I consider it my duty to defend to death its liberty and independence."

Otis, taking both proclamations as a call to arms, strengthened American observation posts and alerted his troops. In the tense atmosphere, some 40,000 Filipinos fled Manila within a period of 15 days.

Meanwhile, Felipe Agoncillo, who had been commissioned by the Philippine Revolutionary Government as Minister Plenipotentiary to negotiate treaties with foreign governments and was refused a seat at the negotiations between the US and Spain in Paris, was now in Washington. On January 6, he filed a request for an interview with the President to discuss affairs in the Philippines. The next day, the government officials were surprised to learn that messages to Otis to deal mildly with the Filipinos and not to force a conflict had become known to Agoncillo and had been cabled by him to Aguinaldo. At the same time, Aguinaldo's protest against General Otis signing himself "Military Governor of the Philippines" arrived. On January 8, Agoncillo stated, "In my opinion the Filipino people, whom I represent, will never consent to become a colony dependency of the United States. The soldiers of the Filipino army have pledged their lives that they will not lay down their arms until General Aguinaldo tells them to do so, and they will keep that pledge, I feel confident."

The Filipino committees in London, Paris, and Madrid around that time telegraphed to President McKinley: "We protest against the disembarkation of American troops at Iloilo. The treaty of peace still unratified, the American claim to sovereignty is premature. Pray reconsider the resolution regarding Iloilo. Filipinos wish for the friendship of America and abhor militarism and deceit."

On January 8, Aguinaldo received the following message from Teodoro Sandiko to the President of the Revolutionary Government, Malolos, from Sandico, Manila. January 8, 1899, 9.40 p.m., "In consequence of the order of General Rios to his officers, as soon as the Filipino attack begins the Americans should be driven into the Intramuros district and the walled city should be set on fire. Pipi."

The New York Times reported on January 8 that two Americans who had been guarding a waterboat in Iloilo had been attacked, one fatally, and that Filipinos were threatening to destroy the business section of the city by fire and that on January 10, a peaceful solution to the Iloilo issues may result but that Aguinaldo had issued a proclamation threatening to drive the Americans from the islands.

By January 10, the Filipinos were ready for conflict but would not act unless the Americans fired the first shot. The pensive attitude toward the Americans caused them to push their lines further. Their attitude was well illustrated by this extract from a telegram sent by Colonel Cailles to Aguinaldo on January 10, 1899: "Most urgent. An American interpreter has come to tell me to withdraw our forces in Maytubig fifty paces. I shall not draw back a step, and in place of withdrawing, I shall advance a little farther. He brings a letter from his general, in which he speaks to me as a friend. I said that from the day I knew that Maquinley (McKinley) opposed our independence I did not want any dealings with any American. War, war, is what we want. The Americans after this speech went off pale."

The pensiveness had reached the presidency of the revolutionary government, as demonstrated by Aguinaldo's handwritten reply to Cailles: "I approve and applaud what you have done with the Americans, and zeal and valour always, also my beloved officers and soldiers there. I believe that they are playing us until the arrival of their reinforcements, but I shall send an ultimatum and remain always on the alert.--E. A. Jan. 10, 1899."

The Revolutionary Government was replaced by a provisional democratic republic on January 23, 1899, in the face of simmering tensions.

On January 31, 1899, the Minister of Interior of the Philippine Republic, Teodoro Sandiko, signed a decree stating that President Aguinaldo had directed that all idle lands be planted to provide food for the people in view of impending war with the Americans.

Outbreak of general hostilities

Hostilities between the Filipinos and Americans broke out on February 4, 1899, at the provocation of Private William Grayson, who gave the following account:

War

On February 4, Aguinaldo declared, "That peace and friendly relations with the Americans be broken and that the latter be treated as enemies, within the limits prescribed by the laws of war." On June 2, 1899, the National Assembly enacted and ratified a declaration of war on the United States, which was publicly proclaimed on that same day by Pedro A. Paterno, the President of the Assembly.

Unlike in the preceding war with Spain, the Filipinos did not do well in the field. Aguinaldo and his government fled Malolos before its capture on March 31, 1899, and they were driven into northern Luzon. Peace feelers from members of Aguinaldo's cabinet failed in May when the American commander, General Ewell Otis, demanded an unconditional surrender. In 1901, Aguinaldo was captured and swore allegiance to the United States, dissolving the Philippine Republic, but not preventing its holdouts from further engaging the United States.

First Philippine Commission

McKinley had appointed a five-person group, headed by Dr. Jacob Gould Schurman, president of Cornell University, on January 20, 1899, to investigate conditions in the islands and to make recommendations. The three civilian members of the Philippine Commission arrived in Manila on March 4, 1899, a month after the Battle of Manila. The commission published a proclamation containing assurances that the US was "anxious to establish in the Philippine Islands an enlightened system of government under which the Philippine people may enjoy the largest measure of home rule and the amplest liberty."

After meetings in April with Philippine representatives, the commission requested authorization from McKinley to offer a specific plan. He authorized an offer of a government, consisting of "a Governor-General appointed by the President; cabinet appointed by the Governor-General; [and] a general advisory council elected by the people." In the final report, which they issued to the president the next year, the commissioners acknowledged Filipino aspirations for independence but claimed that the Philippines was not ready for it, unilaterally declaring that "The Filipinos are wholly unprepared for independence... there being no Philippine nation, but only a collection of different peoples."

On November 2, 1899, the commission issued a preliminary report that said:

Specific recommendations included the establishment of civilian government as rapidly as possible (the American chief executive in the islands was then the military governor), including establishment of a bicameral legislature, autonomous governments on the provincial and municipal levels, and a system of free public elementary schools, all of which had already been established under the auspices of the Philippine Republic.

Second Philippine Commission

The Second Philippine Commission (the Taft Commission), appointed by McKinley on March 16, 1900, and headed by William Howard Taft, was granted legislative and limited executive powers. On September 1, the Taft Commission began to exercise legislative functions. Between September 1900 and August 1902, it issued 499 laws; established a judicial system, including a supreme court; drew up a legal code; and organized a civil service. The 1901 municipal code provided for popularly elected presidents, vice presidents, and councilors to serve on municipal boards. Members of the municipal boards were responsible for collecting taxes, maintaining municipal properties, undertaking necessary construction projects, and electing provincial governors.

Establishment of civil government

On March 3, 1901, the U.S. Congress passed the Army Appropriation Act containing (along with the Platt Amendment on Cuba) the Spooner Amendment, which provided the President with the legislative authority to establish an American civil government in the Philippines. Until then, the President had been administering the Philippines by virtue of his war powers. On July 1, 1901, civil government was inaugurated, with Taft as the Civil Governor. On February 3, 1903, the US Congress changed the title of Civil Governor to Governor-General.

A highly-centralized public school system was installed in 1901, using English as the medium of instruction. Since that created a heavy shortage of teachers, the Philippine Commission authorized the Secretary of Public Instruction to bring to the Philippines 600 teachers from the U.S., the so-called Thomasites. Free primary instruction to train the people for the duties of citizenship and avocation was enforced by the Taft Commission, according to instructions by McKinley. Also, the Catholic Church was disestablished, and a considerable amount of church land was purchased and redistributed.

Official end to war

The Philippine Organic Act of July 1902 approved, ratified, and confirmed McKinley's executive order establishing the Philippine Commission and stipulated that a bicameral Philippine Legislature would be established, composed of an elected lower house, the Philippine Assembly, and an appointed upper house, the Philippine Commission. The act also provided for extending the United States Bill of Rights to the Philippines.

On July 2, 1902, the Secretary of War telegraphed that the war had come to an end, with American provincial civil governments established, and so the office of Military Governor was terminated. On July 4, Theodore Roosevelt, who had succeeded to the presidency after the assassination of McKinley on September 5, 1901, proclaimed a full and complete pardon and amnesty to all persons in the Philippines who had participated in the conflict. On April 9, 2002, Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo would proclaim a new ending date, April 16, 1902, for the Philippine–American War. The date saw the surrender of General Miguel Malvar, and she declared the centennial anniversary of that date as a national working holiday and as a special non-working holiday in the Province of Batangas and in the Cities of Batangas, Lipa and Tanaun.

Later hostilities

The war unofficially continued for nearly a decade since bands of guerrillas, quasi-religious armed groups, and other resistance groups continued to roam the countryside and to clash with U.S. Army or Philippine Constabulary patrols. The U.S. Army and the Philippine Constabulary continued hostilities against those resistance groups until 1913. Some historians consider these unofficial extensions to be part of the war.