The Philippines

Narrated by Harry Reasoner

Hear a sample from
The Golden Triangle

Strategically located, The Philippine Islands have been one of the keys to American policy in the Pacific. But this loose island chain has a better history, vacillating between oppression and rebellion. America's military installations here ensure that she will be caught in any Filipino conflict.

• 4000 BC-Islands settled by natives from Malay peninsula.
• 1400s--Islamic religion sweeps islands in 15th century .
• 1521-- Ferdinand Magellan arrives after sailing around South America.
• ca 1550--Islands names "Las Felipinas" to honor Spain's crown Prince Don Felipe.
• 1586--Estimated 50% of native population has converted to Catholicism.
• 1619--King Philip the Second considers but declines to abandon islands on economic grounds.
• 1762--Spain allies with France in Europe's Seven Years War; Britain besieges Manila, opening new trade and ideas before Spanish authority returns (1764).
• 18th-19th centuries--Revolts throughout Spanish colonies, including several in Philippines.
• 1869--Liberal revolution sweeps Spain; monarchy restored 1870.
• 1872--Mutiny in Cavite province; Propaganda Movement begins.
• 1892 --Jose Rizal, author of Noli Me Tangere (Don't Touch Me) is exiled; executed 1896.
• 1896--Revolutionary War erupts. Pact of Biacnabato (Dec. 1897) requires rebel leader Emilio Aguinaldo to go into exile; he goes to Hong Kong & plots a junta.
• 1898 --Spanish-American War erupts over incident in Cuba. Spain cedes Philippines to U.S. for $20 million in Treaty of Paris (Dec.10).
• 1899-1901--Philippine-American War (also known as Philippine Insurrection).
• 1902-- Philippine Government Act (U.S.) passes, serves as Philippine Constitution.
• 1909-- Payne-Aldrich Tariff establishes free trade with U.S.
• 1916-- Jones Act (U.S.) promises independence.
• 1933-- Hawes-Cutting bill provides 12-year transition to Philippine Independence; rejected by Philippines. Revised bill (Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1934) is accepted. Philippine Independence Act passes.
• 1935-- Philippine Constitution adopted; full independence scheduled for 1945.
• 1941 -- Japan bombs U.S. military bases at Clark AirField (Philippines) and Pearl Harbor (Hawaii) on Dec 7. Japan invades Philippines.
• 1942-- Japan seizes Corregidor & Bataan; Bataan Death March.
• 1944-1945 -- U.S. retakes Philippines from Japan. July 4,
• 1946 -- The Republic of the Philippines is officially declared. Agreements provide for military assistance from U.S. and 99-year leases on key U.S. military bases.
• 1951 -- U.S.- Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty.
• 1965-1986 -- Ferdinand Marcos is President of the Philippines. Declares martial law (1972) and becomes dictator. Opposition leader Benigno Aquino murdered (1983); Marcos flees to U.S. in 1986.

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