When we objected - with rifles, because we'd just spent years learning how - America called it an "insurrection." History calls it the Philippine-American War. Somewhere between 200,000 and a million Filipinos died, mostly civilians.
July 4.
THEIR birthday. They gave us our freedom back as a party favor at their own celebration.
And for sixteen years we went along with it - lighting fireworks for our independence on the one day of the year guaranteed to be about somebody else.
July 4 still exists here, by the way. It's now called "Philippine-American Friendship Day." I'm sure the irony is lost on absolutely no one.
So today, June 12 - the date we chose, the date we took back.
Mabuhay ang Pilipinas.
There are talks of Visa free visits to Guam for Filipinos.
So to all my lovers in the United States:
Let's swim with Guam's sharks soon
There was an actual order in Samar to kill everyone over the age of ten.
The general who gave it got a court-martial and a comfortable retirement. We got a footnote in their textbooks.
But here's my favorite part. When America finally "granted" us independence in 1946, guess what date they picked?
It took until 1962 for Macapagal to say what everyone was thinking: we declared independence on June 12, 1898. That's the date.
That was always the date. America didn't give us our freedom - they just held it for 48 years and charged emotional interest.