Noong Hunyo 12, Araw ng Kalayaan, tinanong ng Kodao kung natupad nga ba ni Presidente Rodrigo Duterte ang ipinangako niyang Independent Foreign Policy.
Panoorin ang sagot ng mga dumalo sa rali sa mga konsulada ng Estados Unidos at Tsina.
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/asks-1.png406650Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2019-06-18 08:55:052019-06-18 08:55:07KODAO ASKS : Natupad ba ni Duterte ang ipinangako niyang Independent Foreign Policy?
(Photos by the author and the Philippine-American War Facebook group and filipinoamericanwar.com, used with permission.)
THE MYSTERY of the missing monument to an important episode in the Philippine –American War is finally solved. The memorial marking the spot where one US infantry officer was killed in action in a fierce fire fight between American and Filipino forces on the morning of November 11, 1899, thought to have been lost forever, was finally found in San Jacinto, Pangasinan.
For
years, historians were stumped as to what became of the memorial that was
dedicated to the memory of Major John A. Logan Jr. of the Thirty-third US
Volunteer Infantry. The Logan Memorial Cannon was erected in 1905 to mark the
location where the officer was mortally wounded by a sniper belonging to
Filipino forces under the command of General Manuel Tinio. It featured a
captured cannon mounted on a concrete base.
The memorial was thought to have been swallowed
by the ground and disappeared over time. However, on December 28, 2018 the
place where the Logan Memorial Cannon once stood and some parts of it was
finally located and discovered.
Albeit missing the most integral part, which is the cannon; this
blogger along with several colleagues* were able to locate what remains of the
memorial inside a family yard with piles of firewood stacked above it.
We pinpointed the exact spot where it was erected over
a hundred years ago and was able to find what remains of it in Barangay Macayug
along the San Fabian-San Jacinto Road. Only pieces of the Memorial Cannon’s
original concrete base survived. Locals say the steel plate containing Major
Logan’s information might still be there being kept in a house somewhere in the
village.
We spoke with the Barangay Captain, old folks and
locals in the area and learned that the Logan cannon were unceremoniously
spirited away by armed men who were reportedly in search of treasures of some
sort, one night in the early eighties.
Locals
remember playing at the Logan Memorial Cannon during their childhood days, but
they have apparently lost memory of what transpired there 119 years ago.
When
we narrated to them the events on what happened there on that day, one
middle-aged resident exclaimed: “Tama pala ‘yung kwento ng matatanda. May nabaril dito na
Amerikanong sundalo. Pero ang sabi, sundalong Hapon ang bumaril!”
I
was jolted when the thought struck me. Lost along with the monument is the
memory not only that of Major Logan’s, but more so that of the gallant Filipino
forces under the Tinio Brigade who fought to their deaths in the defense of our
Motherland.
A
moment of eerie silence followed after I explained to them that a total of 134
Filipinos were killed there in that rainy morning of November 11, 1899. I told
them that these brave kababayans of ours, in the face of the enemy’s
Gattling Guns and massive firepower, put up a heroic stand against the
formidable American juggernaut.
Though the Filipinos eventually retreated after a
fierce gun battle which raged for more than two hours, the fighting which came
to be known in the annals of the Philippine-American War History as the “Battle of
San Jacinto,” remains significant to this day. This
pivotal encounter signaled the paradigm shift of the Philippine Army from
conventional warfare to that of guerrilla warfare. Two days after the
battle, a National Council of War held in Bayambang resolved to disband
the Philippine Army and ordered the generals and their men to return to their
own provinces and organize the people for general resistance by means of
guerrilla warfare.
It
was also in this battle that the invading American Forces may have had first
taste of General Manuel Tinio, the legendary Tagalog boy-General of the
Ilocanos, who took them one and a half years and more than 7,000 men to
“civilize.”
Tinio
and his forces were in San Jacinto on orders to block and delay the American
forces pursuing General Emilio Aguinaldo.
The Battle of San Jacinto was dubbed by the American
press as “one of the sharpest engagements of the war.” The
American forces involved were from the Thirty-third Regiment US Volunteer
Infantry under the command of Col. Luther R. Hare and Filipino forces under
General Manuel Tinio numbering to 1,200 to 1,600.
On
the afternoon of November 7, 1899, more than 2,500 American soldiers aboard six
US army cruisers and gun boats descended on the shores of San Fabian in
Pangasinan.
The
expeditionary force commanded by Brigadier-General Loyd Wheaton was composed of
Thirteenth US Infantry; Thirty-third US Infantry Volunteers; Sixth US
Artillery; detachment of US Engineers; detachment of US Signal Corps and two
Gattling Guns; one hundred thousand rations and a supply of 1.2 million rounds
of ammunition.
It left Manila Bay on November 6th and sailed towards
the Lingayen Gulf and landed on San Fabian on orders to block and prevent the
Northward retreat of Emilio Aguinaldo and his army.
Wheaton’s
command was part of the “three-pronged” strategy of the US army to trap
Aguinaldo with Major General Henry W. Lawton leading the charge towards the
Northeast to prevent the insurgent leader from escaping through the mountains
and General Arthur Mac Arthur’s forces who were well on its way advancing along
the Manila-Dagupan railroad (from Angeles to Dagupan) in a frantic bid to trap
Aguinaldo into the pocket created by Lawton’s and Wheaton’s forces.
At
this time, Aguinaldo is in the town of Bayambang in Southern Pangasinan.
In
the morning of November 11, Major Logan led the troops in the advance towards
San Jacinto. During the intense fire fight which broke out along muddy fields,
heavy underbrush and bamboo thickets, he was fatally shot in the head by a
sharpshooter positioned atop a coconut tree. Including Logan, seven American
soldiers were killed in that encounter.
Col.
Hare in his field report after the battle, wrote of Logan’s death: “Volumes
might be written, but in the end could add nothing which would more clearly
establish the gallantry of this officer.”
Brig.
Gen. Wheaton also extolled Logan, saying that his conduct “was most gallant and
worthy of his name,” and that “his death comes as a personal bereavement to the
many in this command who knew him well.”
US
President McKinley also paid tribute to the fallen soldier. In his telegram to
Major Logan’s widow, he wrote: “his splendid qualities as a soldier and high
courage on the fighting line have given him place among the heroic men of the
war and it will be some consolation to know that he died for his country on the
field of honor.”
On
May 3, 1902, Major John A. Logan Jr. was posthumously awarded the Medal of
Honor “for most distinguished gallantry in leading his battalion upon the
entrenchments of the enemy, on which ocassion he fell mortally wounded.”
Logan was the son of Senator and Civil War Hero Major
General John Alexander “Black Jack” Logan. Apart from his illustrious military
career and distinguished service as a statesman, the elder Logan came to be
known as the Father of Memorial Day in America. It was his idea to decorate
with flowers the graves of American soldiers who died for their country. The US
Congress formalized this observance as Memorial Day in 1871.
The General would surely turn in his grave if he knew
that his own son’s memorial went missing!
The Phil-Am War
Memorial Cannons
Major
Logan’s Memorial Cannon in San Jacinto was among the only four (4) known
Memorial Cannons erected in the country to memorialize US army officers who
were killed in action at the height of the Philippine-American War.
The
Memorial Cannons include that of Major General Henry W. Lawton’s, erected at
San Mateo on the spot where the American General was killed by Filipino
marksmen under legendary General Licerio Geronimo’s Tiradores de
la Muerte on December 19, 1899. The monument was dedicated on
January 24, 1903 and had a captured cannon mounted downward on a five-foot
concrete base surrounded at the corners by artillery shells. The monument stands
to this day at the Barangay Hall of Barangay Bagong Silangan in Quezon City,
then part of San Mateo.
Another is that of Col. John
Stotsenburg’s. He was the Commander of the 1st Nebraska Volunteer Infantry
killed in action on April 23, 1899 at the Battle of Quingua, present day
Plaridel in Bulacan. General Gregorio del Pilar commanded the Filipino forces
in that historic battle that is being commemorated annually as a holiday in
Plaridel. It also had an inverted cannon mounted on a concrete base, surrounded
by four iron cannon balls placed at the corners. It still exists to this day,
and in 1999, a huge mural was commissioned by the local government of Plaridel
framed around the Stotsenburg memorial as a lasting tribute to the unsung
Filipino fighters who were killed in that battle. The
third memorial cannon was erected by the American colonial government in
Malinta to honor Col. Harry Clay Egbert of the 22nd US Army “who was mortally
wounded on this spot while leading his regiment, the 22nd US Infantry in an
encounter in Manila on March 26, 1899.”
The
Egbert Memorial Cannon was located originally inside a one hectare tract of
land proclaimed in January 12, 1906 as the Egbert Momument Reserve by then
Acting US Governor General Henry C. Ide. It featured a massive cannon mounted
in the center, and flanked by large caliber artillery shells, all set on a
concrete base.
Photos from the date of the dedication showed the
original monument containing a sculptured bust of Col. Egbert. It is still not
certain if the bust was part of the original monument or if it was only added
for photographic or ceremonial purposes. If indeed it was, then it must have
disappeared over time.
The
Egbert Cannon was only found six years ago partly buried in the middle of a
dirt basketball court inside a slum area on Flaviano street at the boundary of
Barangays Karuhatan and Malinta.
News
reports said the monument fell into neglect through the years. And in the
1990s, the cannon ended up being “swallowed” by the earth after treasure hunters
dug a tunnel beneath it.
In 2013, the local government of Valenzuela and
the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) had the massive
cannon unearthed and restored and unveiled it at the New Valenzuela City
Government Complex for people to see and appreciate.
The local government of Valenzuela also passed an
ordinance in 2011 recognizing March 26 of every year as Battle of Malinta Day,
which it said was “a notable point in the history of Valenzuela City and a
celebration of the heroism of its people.”
We
must not forget
With the recent discovery of what remains of the
Logan Memorial, the local government of San Jacinto in Pangasinan and the
National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) must undertake steps
to rebuild and restore this very important monument in our history not only for
the memory of Major Logan but more importantly, to the memory of 134 Filipinos
who were killed in San Jacinto on November 11, 1899.
The Battle of San Jacinto and the 134 nameless, unsung Filipinos who perished in that fateful encounter must not be forgotten. We owe it to them. We owe it our children. We owe it to our country. #
[When taking time off as a Commission on Elections employee where he serves as the national president of the Comelec Employees Union, the author is an amateur historian who says he indulges in his other passion “only when he is in the mood (Kapag ginaganahan lang.)]
Sources:
Report
of an Expedition to San Fabian, San Jacinto and Vicinity, November 5 to
November 30, 1899 by Brig. Gen. Loyd Wheaton, USV, Commanding
* The Search Party included myself, Mac Ramirez;
Gel Gerardino; Rodel Realubin and Edward Macasu. Atty. Reddy Balarbar, a native
of San Fabian a town near San Jacinto, was not able to join us that day, but he
was able to provide in advance a significant lead towards locating it.
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/mac1-2.jpg513750Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2019-01-03 15:03:472019-01-03 15:06:36MYSTERY SOLVED: Spot where missing Fil-Am war memorial once stood finally found
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/pia.png679960Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2018-05-11 08:12:142018-05-11 08:12:14'Palayasin ang mga tropa ng 'Kano'
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and other groups, together with Central Luzon organizations, held protest actions against the 34th Balikatan exercises in Clark and Basa air bases last May 8.
The protesters said it is a violation of Philippine sovereignty that foreign military forces continue to exercise power in the country through agreements such as the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.
They also demanded that the US military clean up toxic wastes left in their former military bases in Central Luzon.
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/balikatan.jpg640960Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2018-05-10 10:22:052018-05-10 10:36:41Activists protest RP-US military exercises
On the 25th anniversary of the Philippine Senate rejection of the extension of the US-Philippine Military Bases Agreement, nationalist groups marched to the US Embassy in Manila Friday to protest what they say is the increasing American intervention in the Duterte regime.
The rally ended with the first-ever burning of a Duterte effigy by activists.
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Hundreds of activists held a rally in front of the United Embassy in Manila on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration as US President.
Calling Trump as racist and anti-immigrant, the activists demanded that US pull out its soldiers in the Philippines and respect migrant Filipinos in the US.
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Philippine National Artist Bienvenido “Bien” Lumbera pays tribute to Fidel Castro as a great anti-imperialist and socialist leader at the offering of candles and flowers in Quezon City on the eve of Castro’s interment.
Rita Baua of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) led the ceremonies attended by progressive leaders from the working class, health and education sectors. Read more
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/bien.jpg5301000Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2016-12-05 02:05:312016-12-05 02:05:31Philippine National Artist pays tribute to Fidel Castro
Filipino activists signed a Book of Condolence as tribute to the late Cuban revolutionary and long-time president Fidel Castro in a special event at the University of the Philippines last December 1.
Louis Jalandoni of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), other peace consultants and progressive leaders led the special program, also participated in by Venezuelan Ambassador Capaya Rodriguez Gonzalez.
It was organized by the Philippines-Cuba Friendship Association (Amistad), the Philippines Chapter of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS-Phils), the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), the All U.P. Academic Employees Union and the Center for International Studies of the University of the Philippines.
Regarded as an exemplary socialist and revolutionary by the Philippine Left, Castro succumbed due to old age last week.