Hong Kong Committee

The members of the Hong Kong committees, including Gregorio del Pilar and Agustín de la Rosa

The Hong Kong Committee ( English Hong Kong Junta ) was an organization of exiled Filipinos that existed from 1898 to 1903. The members saw their task in supporting the Philippine Revolution from 1896 to 1898 and the struggle for independence of the First Philippine Republic during the Philippine-American War (1899 to 1902). The committee was founded on May 4, 1898 in Hong Kong in support of Emilio Aguinaldo , who went into exile in Hong Kong with 35 other revolutionaries after the Treaty of Biak-na-Bato and the dissolution of the Republic of Biak-na-Bato . The organization was dissolved on July 31, 1903 after the death of Apolinario Mabini .

history

The organization had various predecessors that had been brought into being by Filipinos in exile after the execution of the Gomburza trio in 1872. Many members of the Illostrados movement left the Philippines at that time. One of them was Jose Maria Basa, who settled in Hong Kong in 1874. In December 1896, together with Esteban De Ocampo and Felipe Agoncillo, he founded the Filipino Revolutionary Committee , which set itself the task of supporting the revolution in the Philippines. They collected money, materials and also weapons. When Aguinaldo arrived on the British steamer Uranus on December 31, 1897, they contacted him and offered appropriate help for their stay. When it became clear in February 1898 that the Spaniards would not abide by the Biak-na-Bato Agreement, a document was drafted called “La Junta Patriotica” , this time calling for independence from Spain. This was passed by the revolutionaries in April and contact was made with the representatives of the United States in Hong Kong and Singapore . An agreement was reached that the US would support the revolution and an independent republic of the Philippines could emerge.

After Aguinaldo's meeting with the American ambassador in Singapore on May 7th, the general returned to the Philippines, where he declared independence of the Philippines from Spain on June 12th, which, however, was again not recognized by the USA. The task of the Hong Kong Committee was to disseminate publications about the situation in the Philippines, to establish international contacts and to raise money and weapons for the struggle for independence. There were links between the Hong Kong Committee and the American Anti-Imperialist League in the United States, the most famous representative of which was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, alias Mark Twain . He supported the Filipinos' struggle for independence in the USA with media. After the establishment of the first Philippine Republic , the committee also tried to send Esteban de Ocampo to the US Congress, but was not received there. The Filipinos' struggle for independence was only viewed internationally as an uprising against the now new colonial power, the USA, and was therefore mostly not noticed.

Dissolution of the committee

The USA sent William Howard Taft to the Philippines in 1901, and they were recolonized, this time by the USA. The Hong Kong Committee continued to act despite the defeats of 1899/1900 and the capture of Aguinaldo in Palanan in 1901 and supported the continuation of the struggle of the remaining Philippine armed forces. After the resignation of General Malvar in 1902, the Hong Kong Committee informed the world about the atrocities of the US Army, but the committee was officially dissolved on July 31, 1903.

Trivia

On Morrison Hill, near Queen Elizabeth Stadium , on Queens Road East, in the district of Wan Chai , a plaque was erected by the Hong Kong City Monuments Administration for the important role of the city. The first flag of the Philippines was also created in Hong Kong . It was sewn by Doña Marcela Marino de Agoncillo, wife of Felipe Agoncillo , who made it with the help of her daughter Lorenza and with the support of Doña Delfina Herbosa de Natividad, a niece of the Reformation leader José Rizal . She was hoisted on June 12, 1898 in Kawit during the proclamation of independence.

Web links

literature

Bernard A. Weisberger: Reaching for Empire. New York: Time, 1964. (The Life History of the United States, Vol 8: 1890–1901), p. 138 (English)

SV Epistola: The Hongkong Junta UP Press 176 pages ISBN 9715421075 (English)