4^th of July is not a Filipino Independence Day

By Renato Perdon
Sydney, Australia
July 1, 2015



For sixteen years, Filipinos celebrated their independence day on a wrong date – 4 July.

To Filipino-Australians who are aware of their original country’s history, it was an error that was perpetuated by Filipino leadership schooled under American tutelage. As a consequence, Filipinos were denied the opportunity to commemorate a significant event in their lives – the assertion of their freedom from colonial domination.

One 12 June 1898, General Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed Philippine independence from Spain. It was followed by the inauguration of the First Philippine Republic early the following year. The next couple of years were difficult periods for the fledgling republic, the first democratic republic organised in Asia. Many Filipinos fought the new colonial masters and died defending their freedom. This was the Filipino-American War. It ended in 1901 when General Aguinaldo swas capatured and followed by the surrender of General Miguel Malvar, the last revolutionary leader, in the following year.

On 4 July 1902, US President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed the end of the war in the Philippines and the ‘peace’ returned to the country. The period that followed was characterised by suppression of nationalist feelings of the Filipinos. The campaign to regain the independence proclaimed in 1898 was hard and slow. However, the independence campaign received nationwide support and finally a semi-independent Philippine Commonwealth was established.

The Americanisation of the Filipinos was so effective, even today, that the character of the ‘little brown Americans’ of Asia lingers on.  People get used to commemorating the birth of their freedom on a wrong date. The feeling of Filipino nationhood was therefore not realised for every year, on 4 July, the celebration of Philippine independence day coincided with the Americans’ declaration of independence.

It was overwhelmingly overshadowed in all respects by the American independence day anniversary. Many observers considered the Filipino celebration of 4 July as a manifestation of their subservience to the United States. Consequently, the significance of the 1898 Independence Proclamation by General Aguinaldo was relegated to the background while the whole country commemorates their independence day on the fourth of July.

However, early in 1960, the Philippine Historical Association (PHA) petitioned the President and the Congress of the Philippines to adopt and declare 12 June every year as the true independence day of the country. Arguments became heated and nasty. The issue approximate the republican issue of contemporary Australia. The American colonial bond was strong.  American educated Senator Camilo Osias was one of those who opposed the change but at the end found the light and strongly supporte the PHA position.

According to Historian Esteban A. de Ocampo, the 12 June proclamation was desirable for it was an act undertaken by Filipinos themselves in the exercise of their ‘voluntary, spontaneous, deliberate, solemn and sovereign will’. Commenting on the same subject, then Senator Ambrosia Padilla stated during the debate that the Truman Proclamation was  ‘a notorious document in international law for proclaiming the independence of the Philippines when by tradition and by history the only ones that can proclaim the independence of a country are the people of that country.’

More Filipinos became enlightened and beleivede that it was appropriate to rectify the practice of observing and celebrating their independence day on 4 July of every year. The PHA, however, did not dismiss the importance of 4 July in Philippine history. The learned body recommended that the date be commemorated instead as a thanksgiving day for the restoration and recognition of Philippine independence by the Americans.

It was a national issue that found support from the then President Diosdado Macapagal, who in 1962, issued a proclamation declaring 12 June, instead of 4 July, as Philippine Independence Day. In issuing the presidential directive, President Macapagal stated that the heroic and inspiring event was a legitimate assertion by the Filipinos of their natural and inalienable claim to freedom and independence.

He added that the date should be observed with fitting ceremonies that will inspire Filipinos to greater dedication for the country. Macapagal’s proclamation was confirmed in 1964 by the Congress of the Philippines when it enacted a legislation changing the date of Philippine Independence Day from 4 July to 12 June, and declaring 4 July as Philippine Republic day.