The "unincorporated territory"
A fake battle in Manila, why the Pearl Harbor bombings happened, and its impacts in modern Philippines, let's uncover the grey area of the Philippine-American history.
As Columbus Day lingers this week, or as it should be known as Indigenous People’s Day, I wanted to bring to light parts of history that are not included in history books or curriculums in schools and discuss the imperialistic influence the US has had over the course of history - from Puerto Rico and Cuba, to the Pacific Ocean territories such as Guam and the Philippines. After reading academic texts, watching Johnny Harris explanation videos, and listening to the reactions, I am going to tell you what I learned about the history of the Philippines and America and my take on it.
It hasn’t been long since the Philippines claimed their independence and became free from colonial rule. If you’re not familiar with the Philippine history yet, the country was under Spanish rule for over three centuries and their culture and language significantly influenced Filipino culture and language - hence the Spanish last names, Hispanic-esque cuisine, and prominent Catholicism in majority of the Philippines. Aside from Spain, the Philippines has been influenced by other countries - China, Indonesia and Malaysia, Japan and, in the beginning of the 19th century, the United States.
When the Spanish empire began to crumble as revolutionaries from their colonial territories fought for their freedoms, the US saw this as a golden opportunity to take these colonies off of Spain’s hands. They started a fight with the Spanish Empire, justifying their wars in Cuba and the Philippines with the intention of “liberating” the people from colonial rule and, using propaganda, portrayed Spain as a cruel empire committing atrocities such as enslavement and genocide. But, as Kirby Araullo (a Filipino-American historian) highlighted in his analysis of Harris’s explanatory video, America committed these same atrocities when they came to these colonies.
“The Spanish Commander was ‘willing to surrender to white people, but not to the Filipinos.’”
As the people of the Philippines, one of the last territories of the Spanish empire, fought the Spaniards in an effort to finally gain their freedoms, the US swooped in with their naval ships and the intention to liberate. However, as Harris explained in his video, the US did not actually join the revolutionaries in the battle. Spain was losing this war but did not want to lose to the colored people that is the Filipino revolters, so they arranged a fake battle with the US in which they pretended to lose and were paid USD $20 million by the Americans. Harris said a quote that the Spanish commander was “willing to surrender to white people, but not to the Filipinos.”
Aaaaaaaaand the white savior strikes again. For years, the Filipinos have been fighting for their freedom, only for a bunch of white men to meddle with a conflict that isn’t theirs - sound familiar? The US has this common ideology that they can “save” non-white people, using this as a justification to cast their influence and forward their capitalist agendas. Rudyard Kipling, a British novelist and poet, euphemises this in a poem titled “The White Man’s Burden” in which he argues for America’s conquest to colonize the Philippines. According to the website History Matters, Theodore Roosevelt (one of the main dudes who told George Dewey on an unofficial conquest) sent this poem to his Senator friend, Henry Cabot Lodge, adding “rather poor poetry, but good sense from the expansion point of view.”
When the Spanish backed away from the Philippine islands, finalizing the blow that ended the Spanish empire, the Philippines became an unofficial part of the United States - or, as the law sees it, became an “unincorporated territory”. The definition, as defined by the US Department of Interior (DOI), is that it is an “insular area in which the United States Congress has determined that only selected parts of the United States Constitution apply.” Modern day examples of unincorporated territories include Guam and Puerto Rico. So after America “liberated” the Philippines from the Spanish empire, the US claimed the Philippines as theirs but did not include them in their laws and constitution. So, despite the Philippines being part of the US and considered as one of its territories, Filipinos have no voting power or representation in the federal government - they did not hold the same rights as Americans. Liberation my ass.
“It was a way for the US to exploit the people for cheap labor.”
So what’s the point, aside from the expansion of American influence? As Araullo had outlined, there was more than just the commercial opportunities that the colonies of Cuba and the Philippines presented (both countries produced the most profitable crop in the world at the time: sugar), but it was a way for the US to exploit the people for cheap labor. Araullo explained that, because of the anti-Asian laws that prohibited the migration of people from Asia, the US government found a loophole in which they can import labor workers from the Philippines to work in plantations in Hawai’i and California whilst maintaining control of immigration.
*Side note: The imports of cheap labor is still happening, as what happened to my parents who were delivered as nurses to the NHS in the UK.
It wasn’t until 1941 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. But Japan didn’t just bomb Pearl Harbor, but they also bombed parts of the Philippines and Guam. Harris and Araullo claimed that, in a speech draft to address the Pearl Harbor bombings, they had originally written the Philippines and Guam, but crossed it out. Because who cares about these brown non-Americans and their lives? But it is more than that - Araullo claimed that the Pearl Harbor bombings was to distract the American and weaken the American Navy so they can invade the Philippines. Hence, the Japanese Occupation that started in 1941.
The Japanese Occupation was another dark episode of Philippine history, but that’s another story to embark on another time. As Japan was planning to expand their power and resources to South East Asia, invading the Philippines was the first step in moving towards South East Asia. The occupation lasted until the end of the war in 1946, in which the Philippines finally gained their independence - after many colonizers and tumultuous battles.
Despite the Philippines having gained independence, the influence of the colonizers still have a lingering impact on Filipinos today. Araullo even mentioned the “white savior trope” of Harris, of how this part of Philippine history has been written about and shared for generations until a white journalist makes the video and suddenly everyone is listening. There is still the colonized mindset, as we see with the shame towards indigenous roots and being morena, favoring mixed Filipinos that look white. The slow but prominent integration of English in the Tagalog language which is seen in modern teleseryes and broadcast news. People migrating to the US because it is seen as “the land of opportunity”. This mindset of wanting to step away from our roots, to go towards the “lighter corners of the world”, and into a space to which our history has been erased or forgotten, is still here and present.
From what I’ve gathered in my research for, not only this story, but for all the other stories and pieces I’ve written in this newsletter, I believe that the Philippines is not truly independent. The basic structure of the government and politics is mirrored from the Americans and the Eurocentric beauty standard is still in place and sought after. Labor export became a government policy, to which the Philippine economy relies on people working abroad and sending money home - it is, in fact, encouraged and ingrained in our culture. What is wrong with working in the Philippines? Is it not so profitable that people have to go to where the white people work to feel validated?
As Filipino-Heritage month continues, we see many Filipinos and Filipino-Americans reconnecting with their roots and coming into terms with their indigeniety. In my first episode of my podcast that came out last Friday, I sat down with Paul Jochico who runs a yoga studio and practices yoga through a decolonized approached, using yoga to reconnect with our Filipino roots. And as I continue my work in The Kultura, I am finding more and more people who are trying to revive and remember our Philippine history.
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