A day to celebrate our freedom

The Philippines holds many stories of striving for freedom — before and even after the public reading of the “Act of the Proclamation of Independence of the Filipino People” on June 12, 1898.

In fact, July 4 was once the date recognized by Filipinos as the country’s Independence Day, which was granted by the United States after almost 50 years of colonization. But in 1962, former Philippine President Diosdado Macapagal officially moved the country’s Independence Day to June 12, through Proclamation No. 28 and confirmed through the Republic Act No. 4166.

“The irrefutable claim of June 12 as our day of freedom is bolstered by the fact that it is the culmination of many acts of patriotism and nationalism beginning with Lapu-Lapu’s defiance of the Spanish conquistador, Ferdinand Magellan, who died in battle in Mactan in 1521,” Mr. Macapagal said during his address at Luneta on June 12, 1962.

He recounted several instances when Filipinos battled, protested, or revolted against the colonial rule. Among others, he recognized Rajah Soliman’s heroism in 1571; the Pampanga revolt in 1660; the bravery of Diego and Gabriela Silang during the 1700s; the deaths of Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora in 1872; and finally on 1898, the freedom of the Philippines as formally declared by General Emilio Aguinaldo.

Such proclamation of independence, according to Mr. Macapagal, was “the first successful national revolution in Asia since the coming of the West, and the Republic to which it gave birth was the first democractic Republic outside of the Western hemisphere.”

“June 12, 1898 is pregnant with meaning not only for our people as the birthday of their sovereign nation but also for the world, since it was our Filipino patriots and leaders [Jose] Rizal, [Emilio] Aguinaldo, and [Andres] Bonifacio who led the nations of Asia in breaking the chains of colonialism in order that they may breathe the fresh air of individual liberty and national dignity,” he said.

“A nation is born into freedom on the day when such a people, molded into a nation by a process of cultural evolution and a sense of oneness born of common struggle and suffering, announces to the world that it asserts its natural right to liberty and is ready to defend it with blood, life, and honor,” Mr. Macapagal explained why he moved the date of the Philippine independence.

However, as mentioned, after General Aguinaldo’s declaration of the country’s freedom from Spain, the Philippines became an American colony, hence the commemoration of independence on July 4, 1946.

The initiative to acknowledge June 12 as the Philippine Independence Day originated from Gabriel F. Fabella, a historian and academician from the University of the Philippines (UP).

According to an article from UP’s Philippine Social Sciences Review, Mr. Fabella submitted a resolution at the Philippine Historical Commission in 1959, also sharing his four arguments to change the date of independence.

He stated that the Philippines could imitate how the United States claimed its own independence on July 4, 1776 instead of September 3, 1783 which was recognized by Britain. Commemorating July 4 as the day of Philippine independence, moreover, might be overshadowed by the celebration of United States from the world’s view.

It would also be timely if the Philippines’ insistence of its sovereignty and freedom as a nation would correspond to the moment it chose its own day of independence. Furthermore, celebrating the same date of independence might result to a negative outlook that the Philippines was still part or not truly free from the United States.

In this initiative, Mr. Fabella soon received support from prominent individuals like Alejandro Roces who was then the Secretary of Department of Education, and even General Aguinaldo himself. He finally attained his objective when Mr. Macapagal signed a proclamation on May 12, 1962, followed by its legislation on August 4, 1964.

Afterwards, Mr. Fabella is dubbed as the “Father of June 12”, the date now recognized as the Philippine Independence Day.

At present, 123 years after the reading of “Act of the Proclamation of Independence of the Filipino People” in 1898, the Philippines continues to honor June 12 as its day of freedom, remembering the long, difficult fight of Filipinos against oppression before and after the first day of Philippine independence.

Leading the celebration this year, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines themed the 123rd anniversary of the country’s Independence Day with “Spirit of Freedom in Unity and National Healing.” — Chelsey Keith P. Ignacio