Emilio Aguinaldo
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Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy (born March 22, 1869 in Cavite El Viejo (now Kawit ), † February 6, 1964 in Quezon City ) was a Filipino general, politician and independence leader within the Katipunan . He played a leading role in the Filipino Revolution against Spanish colonial rule, as well as in the Filipino-American War .
Aguinaldo was the president of the short-lived first Philippine republic and he is considered the country's youngest president , although his government never received foreign recognition. He is also one of the national heroes of the Philippines .
He died on February 6, 1964 at Memorial Hospital in Quezon City.
Early stage of life
The seventh of eight children of the couple Crispulo Aguinaldo and Trinidad Famy, he was born on March 22, 1869 in Cavite El Viejo (today Kawit) into a Chinese - Mestizo family. His father was the village's gobernadorcillo (village chief) and, as a member of the Sino-Mestizo minority, the family enjoyed a relative wealth and influence.
As a little boy he received a basic education from his great aunt before he was allowed to attend the local elementary school. In 1880 he entered the secondary school of the Colegio de San Juan de Letran , which he dropped out in his third year in order to support his mother with the work on the farm after the death of his father.
At the age of 17 Emilio was elected cabeza de Baranggay (head of the suburb) of Binakayan, the barrio of Cavite El Viejo. He held that position for eight years. During this time he undertook various voyages within the archipelago, which led him to the Sulu archipelago deep in the south of the Philippines .
In 1893 the Maura Law was passed, a law that created a new basis for local government. The aim of the law was to reorganize the administration of the locality in order to be able to administer the locality more autonomously and more effectively. In 1895 the name of the village leader was changed from gobernadorcillo to capitan municipal . On January 1, 1895 , Aguinaldo was elected to the board of directors of the entire town and was thus the first to be allowed to carry the title of capitan municipal of Cavite El Viejo.
family
He married his first wife, Hilaria Del Rosario (1877–1921), in 1896. With her he had five children: Miguel, Carmen, Emilio Jr., Maria and Cristina.
His second wife was named Maria Agoncillo. A descendant of Emilio Aguinaldo, Joseph Emilio Abaya, is now a Congressman for Cavite .
Filipino Revolution
In 1895 Aguinaldo joined the Brotherhood of Katipunan under the leadership of Andrés Bonifacio , a secret organization whose endeavor was the expulsion of the Spanish occupiers and the independence of the Philippines. He first served there as a lieutenant under General Baldomero Aguinaldo and within a few months he achieved the rank of general. With the Katipunan, Aguinaldo led the country in 1896 during the Philippine Revolution against Spanish rule. He won notable victories in Cavite and managed to drive the Spaniards out of the province in the meantime. However, renewed pressure from the Spanish military forced the rebels to restructure their forces on more cohesive methodologies. For it turned out that the isolated division which had been so convenient for the Katipunan and which had helped the organization to thrive in secret was now at great disadvantage in an open war that required united leadership.
On March 22, 1897 , a meeting of the Katipunan, the Tejeros Convention , was held in Tejeros, Cavite (deep in Aguinaldo's homeland) , chaired by Andrés Bonifacio. The purpose of the meeting was to elect a revolutionary government from among the members of the Katipunan Brotherhood. Far from his power base, however, Bonifacio unexpectedly lost leadership to Aguinaldo and was instead elected to the Secretariat of the Interior. As if that weren't enough, some supporters questioned Aguinaldo's Bonifacio's qualification for this position as well, describing him as uneducated and unsuitable. Offended, Bonifacio drew a pistol and declared the result of the meeting null and void. He then returned angrily to his power base in Rizal. The members of the Katipunan took this action as an opportunity to investigate Bonifacio's actions in Cavite through a military tribunal and incriminate him. In his absence, he was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death by the tribunal. Aguinaldos then ordered the arrest of Bonifacio and his brother. In a violent altercation, both of Aguinaldo's men were caught and taken to the mountains of Maragondon in Cavite, where they were executed on May 10, 1897.
Biak-na-Bato
The fight against the Spaniards then continued. It can be assumed that the intensifying Spanish pressure forced Aguinaldo's troops to withdraw into the mountains. Emilio Aguinaldo holed up together with Pedro Paterno and other followers in the caves of Biak-na-Bato and proclaimed the first provisional republic of the Philippines on November 1, 1897, the republic of Biak-na-Bato . In view of the deteriorating situation on the one hand and the desire for calm and stability on the other, the Biak-na-Bato Pact was concluded on December 14, 1897 at the Filipino headquarters in San Miguel . With this agreement Aguinaldo undertook to end the hostilities against the Spaniards, to go into exile and to cede the leadership of the revolution. In exchange for this he was offered an amnesty and was to receive an amount of 800,000 pesos . Aguinaldo took the offered money and went, along with 34 other leaders of the revolution, into exile in Hong Kong , where they founded the Hong Kong Committee .
Despite this, thousands of other katipuneros continued the revolt against the Spanish colonial power and continued to fight for the sovereignty of their nation. In contrast to Aguinaldo, who came from a privileged environment, the majority of the men had grown up as farmers and laborers and were not prepared to give up their ideals for “compensation” and relocate.
The Supreme Council officials ignored this pact and continued to regard Emilio Aguinaldo as president and Mariano Trias as vice-president at his side. Other officials in the cabinet included Antonio Montenegro as foreign minister, Isabelo Artacho in charge of the interior, Baldomero Aguinaldo as treasurer and Emiliano Riego de Dios as war minister.
When war broke out between Spain and the United States in the spring of 1898 , Aguinaldo took the chance and returned to the Philippines in May 1898. After his return he immediately began to resume his revolutionary activities against the Spaniards. This time, however, he was verbally encouraged to do so by the USA.
Filipino-American War
On the night of February 4, 1899, an American guard shot and killed a Filipino officer while he was crossing the San Juan Bridge in Manila. This incident marked the beginning of the Filipino-American War . Fighting erupted between American troops and Filipinos fighting for independence. The superior firepower of the Americans soon pushed the Filipino fighters out of the city area and the Malolos government, the government of the First Republic, had to be relocated from one place to the next.
Aguinaldo led the resistance against the new enemies, initially retreating to northern Luzón with the Americans in tow . In Antonio Luna , an arrogant but brilliant general, Aguinaldo saw an emerging adversary in the military hierarchy and so he very likely decided to rid himself of this new threat to his power. In any case, Luna received a telegram from Aguinaldo on June 2, 1899. In it he was asked to travel to Nueva Ecija and meet with him in the monastery church of Cabanatuan. When Luna arrived at the meeting point three days later, on June 5th, he found that Aguinaldo was not there. General Luna was about to leave the place when he was shot and stabbed by Aguinaldo's men. Luna was later buried in the church cemetery. Aguinaldo himself made no sign of punishing or at least reprimanding the murderers of Luna.
Less than two years later, immediately after the famous battle of Tirad Pass and the death of the last and most trusted general Gregorio del Pilar , Emilio Aguinaldo was captured on March 23, 1901 in Palanan in the province of Isabela by the US general Frederick Funston . Funston received support from some Filipinos (called Macabebe Scouts after their homeland ), who viewed Aguinaldo as a greater threat than the Americans. The American task force gained access to Aguinaldo's camp by posing as captured prisoners.
Funston later described Aguinaldo's "dignified demeanor", his "outstanding qualities" and "human instincts". Of course, Funston wrote this down after Aguinaldo agreed to swear allegiance to the United States if you spared your life for it. So he pledged his loyalty to the Americans on April 1, 1901, formally ending the First Republic and recognizing the sovereignty of the United States over the Philippines. Even so, many others, such as Miguel Malvar and Macario Sakay, continued to oppose the American occupation.
Presidency of the First Republic of the Philippines
Aguinaldo appointed two prime ministers during his tenure: Apolinario Mabini and Pedro Paterno.
Aguinaldo's cabinet
President Aguinaldo had two cabinets in 1899 . Due to the war situation, his decisions were ordered and not democratically debated.
| task | Surname | Term of office |
| president | Emilio Aguinaldo | 1899-1901 |
| Prime Minister of the Philippines | Apolinario Mabini | January 21 - May 7, 1899 |
| Pedro Paterno | May 7th - November 13th 1899 | |
| Finance minister | Mariano Triassic | January 21 - May 7, 1899 |
| Hugo Ilagan | May 7th - November 13th 1899 | |
| Interior minister | Teodoro Sandico | January 21 - May 7, 1899 |
| Severino de las Alas | May 7th - November 13th 1899 | |
| Minister of War | Baldomero Aguinaldo | January 21 - May 7, 1899 |
| Mariano Triassic | May 7th - November 13th 1899 | |
| Minister of Social Affairs | Gracio Gonzaga | January 21 - May 7, 1899 |
| Foreign minister | Apolinario Mabini | January 21 - May 7, 1899 |
| Felipe Buencamino | May 7th - November 13th 1899 | |
| Minister for Public Orders | Aguedo Velarde | 1899 |
| Minister for Public Relations and Communication | Maximo Paterno | 1899 |
| Minister of Agriculture, Industry and Trade | Leon Ma. Guerrero | May 7th - November 13th 1899 |
US occupation
During the American occupation, Aguinaldo organized the Asociación de los Veteranos de la Revolución ("Association of Veterans of the Revolution"), which worked to secure the pensions of its members, as well as made agreements to acquire land, with the down payments being taken over by the government .
When the American government finally legalized the raising of the Philippine flag in 1919 , Aguinaldo converted his home in Kawit into a memorial in honor of the flag, the revolution and the declaration of independence. His house is still known today as the Aguinaldo Shrine and can be viewed in his hometown.
Aguinaldo subsequently withdrew from public life for many years. In 1935, when the Commonwealth of the Philippines was set up in preparation for Filipino independence, he ran again for the presidency, but lost heavily to the Spanish mestizo Manuel Quezon . The two men formally reconciled in 1941 when President Quezon rescheduled the national holiday to June 12 to proclaim Filipino independence on that day, although this could only come into effect in 1946.
After the election failure, Aguinaldo withdrew again into private life and remained out of the public eye until the Japanese invasion of the Philippines at the beginning of the Second World War . During the time of the Japanese occupation he cooperated with the Japanese, gave speeches, published articles and gave notorious radio lectures in support of the Japanese occupation forces - for example a radio roll call to General Douglas MacArthur on Corregidor asking him to do his job in order to protect the innocent life of the to spare Filipino youth.
After the Americans retook the Philippines, Aguinaldo was imprisoned along with various other collaborators. He was imprisoned in Bilibid Prison for a few months before being released by a presidential pardon. During his trial, it was suspected that his cooperation with the Japanese occupation forces might have been under duress, after which he was acquitted.
After independence
On July 4, 1946, the independence of the Philippines was officially granted and the full restoration and recognition of Philippine sovereignty was accepted by the United States government. In 1950 President Elpidio Quirino appointed Aguinaldo a member of the Council of State and served a full term in that capacity. He then returned to retirement, devoting his time and attention to the interests of veterans and welfare.
In 1962, the United States rejected Filipino claims for compensation to be offset against destruction by American forces during World War II. That year, President Diosdado Macapagal changed the national holiday date from July 4th to June 12th. A date that Aguinaldo always considered the true Independence Day. Activated by this decision, he got up from his sick bed at the age of 93 and attended the independence celebrations, exactly 64 years to the day after he himself proclaimed it.
Emilio Aguinaldo died of coronary thrombosis on February 6, 1964, at the age of 94, at the Veterans Memorial Hospital in Quezon City . His remains are interred on his estate in Kawit, Cavite Province .
Additional information
Emilio Aguinaldo's face is depicted on the front of the Filipino 5 peso note.
See also
- Philippines
- Flag of the Philippines (design by Aguinaldo)
- History of the Philippines
- Filipino Revolution
- Katipunan
- Spanish-American War
- Filipino-American War
- President of the Philippines
Web links
- The Projects of the Philippine Presidency
- CAUTUSAN: Gobierno Revolucionario nang Filipinas ( Memento of February 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) A decree of January 2, 1899, signed by Emilio Aguinaldo, establishing a government body. An online document issued by filipiniana.net
- Aguinaldo: A Narrative of Filipino Ambitions ( February 13, 2008 memento on the Internet Archive ) A book by the American Consul Wildman of Hong Kong in honor of Emilio Aguinaldo and the Filipino-American War during the early 1900s. An online publication by filipiniana.net
- Filipinos of History - Emilio Aguinaldo ( Memento of February 19, 2002 in the Internet Archive )
credentials
- Aguinaldo, Emilio: Mga Gunita ng Himagsikan 1964.
- Zaide, Gregorio F .: Philippine History and Government . National Bookstore Printing Press, 1984.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The history of the first Philippine Republic (English)
- ^ The Hong Kong Junta on the National Historical Institute website. National Historical Institute
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Aguinaldo, Emilio |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Aguinaldo y Famy, Emilio |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Filipino general, national hero and independence leader within the Katipunan |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 22, 1869 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Cavite El Viejo (now Kawit ) |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 6, 1964 |
| Place of death | Quezon City |