Center for Quezon City Studies

On February 15, 1889, the first issue of the newspaper La Solidaridad was released in Barcelona, Spain. As the official organ of the Filipino reformist organization in Spain with the same name, this fortnightly-published newspaper served as the avenue for the peaceful and intellectual call for reforms in the Philippines.

Socio-political situations in the Philippines began to take an interesting turn in the second half of the 19th century, particularly after the ex*****on of three priests Mariano Gomes, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora which led to the exile of many liberal intellectuals, mostly from educated middle-class families, to Europe. Initially fleeing to escape persecution from authorities, these exiles later mixed with the young students from the colony sent to Europe for education. They later emerged collectively as the Propaganda Movement which made use of the opportunity of being physically close to the seat of the “mother country” (Spain) to lobby for reforms for the Philippines. Some of its prominent members include Jose Rizal, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Marcelo del Pilar, Jose Ma. Panganiban, Mariano Ponce, Antonio Ma. Regidor, Jose Ma. Basa, Galicano Apacible, Pedro Paterno, Jose Alejandrino, Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, and brothers Juan and Antonio Luna. The movement also managed to gain the support of European intellectuals like Miguel Morayta and Ferdinand Blumentritt. The increase in the movement’s numbers and further developments in the Philippines saw the need to reach a wider audience and formalize its campaigns which led to the establishment of the organization La Solidaridad which they founded in December 1888. The newspaper came out the following year.

The paper, informally called “La Sol” (the sun) and “Soli”, featured some of the fiery editorials from Lopez Jaena, its first editor, and later on Del Pilar, calling for the reinstatement of Filipino representation to the Spanish Cortes, freedom of speech and assembly, the abolition of government censorship, equal legal treatment and social opportunities for Spaniards and Filipinos, and the regulation of the activities of the religious orders and the secularization of parishes in the Philippines. Among the famous articles which had its debut in La Solidaridad are Rizal’s serialized article “Filipinas Dentro Cien Años” (The Philippines A Century Within) and his sociocultural essay “Sobre la Indolencia de los Filipinos” (On The Indolence of the Filipinos). The Soli also became the instrument for showcasing the journalistic and creative writing prowess of many Filipino members of the reform movement.

After seven years, with the Filipino reform movement in Spain losing its financial capabilities and many of the members having disagreements on how to run the group and the paper, La Solidaridad ceased publication, with its last issue coming out on November 15, 1895.

On this day 24 years ago, February 10, 1998, then President Fidel V. Ramos signed the Republic Act. No. 8479 into law. Officially known as the “Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998”, the law deregulated the downstream oil industry by revoking government control on the price movements of petroleum products, which consequently provided more leeway for the private sector to manage and operate the industry.

After the stringent regulatory policies of the Marcos regime and in the course of democratization, the Philippines has maintained an upward trend in oil consumption and production. From 158,300 barrels per day (B/d) in 1986, it reached its peak in 1998, the year the deregulation law was enacted, hitting 382,00 B/d. This trend in consumption and production has relative implications in the stability and cost-effectiveness of oil prices, most especially considering the limited capacity of State resources. Hence, deregulating the oil industry became a notable feature of the Ramos’ administration’s economic liberalization framework, and was also said to be one of the conditions for a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during that time.

Initially, the creation of the Department of Energy (DOE) by virtue of RA 7638 during the first year of the Ramos administration paved the way for eventual deregulation in the oil industry, since a section in the said act manifests deregulating processes to be implemented after four years of the department’s creation. In March 1996, the very first legislation aimed to deregulate the downstream oil industry was enacted as RA 8180. However, in November 1997, the Supreme Court declared the unconstitutionality of RA 8180 due to some of its provisions which impedes on the law’s very essence of free and fair competition.

These circumstances have led to the creation of Senate Bill No. 2388 and House Bill No. 10363, which was eventually consolidated as RA 8479. Some of the law’s features are the inclusion of a uniformed tariff duty for imported oil products, elimination of technical barriers for freer competition, and provision of more precise safeguards.

In his delivered speech during its enactment at the Malacañang Ceremonial Hall, President Ramos praised the law as a guarantee that "our people will not suffer from a lack of supply," and that it "prevents collusion and price-fixing and supply-manipulation" among oil companies.

More than two decades later, the Oil Deregulation Law’s legacy in the country’s economic history is still a matter of debate, with the DOE itself pushing for its amendment in October last year.

On January 14, 1899, Carlos Peña Romulo was born in Camiling, Tarlac. He was a general, diplomat, and journalist who became known for helping Allies during World War II and for contributing to key activities of the United Nations.

Born to a prosperous family, Romulo finished his college education at the University of the Philippines. He pursued further studies at Columbia University, New York and at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. He became a close friend of President Manuel Quezon, and became active in charting the Philippines' political future. From 1921 to 1937, he met with U.S. officials six times to discuss the independence of the Philippines.

He dabbled in journalism at the age of 16, working as a junior reporter for the Manila Times. In 1931, he became editor-in-chief of Taliba-La Vanguardia-Tribune Publications. Six years later, he became publisher of Debate-Mabuhay-Herald-Monday Mail publications. In 1941, he won the Pulitzer Prize in Correspondence for his prewar evaluations of the military situation in the Pacific region; thus, predicting the outbreak of World War II in the region.

When World War II broke out in the Philippines, he served as an aide-de-camp to General Douglas MacArthur. His broadcasts from Corregidor Island came to be known as the "Voice of Freedom." When the Philippines fell to Japan, he joined President Quezon and his government-in-exile in Washington, D.C. as secretary of public instruction. Following the resignation of Resident Commissioner Joaquin Elizalde, he was appointed Resident Commissioner by President Sergio Osmeña. He would be the last Resident Commissioner of the Philippines as the office would be eliminated upon the U.S.' recognition of the independence of the Philippines in 1946. When American forces captured Leyte in 1944, he acted as a liaison officer between General MacArthur and President Osmeña. He also accompanied MacArthur in the famous Leyte Landing. The U.S. government awarded him with the Silver Star, Purple Heart, Legion of Merit, and Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Returning to the U.S. after the war, he led a public education campaign to inform the U.S. Congress about the living conditions of the people in the Philippines. As a member of the Philippine Rehabilitation Commission, he pushed the U.S. government to assist the Philippines in repairing war damage, reinforcing its military and naval resources, and maintaining a healthy economy. His efforts led to the enactment of the Philippine Rehabilitation Act, the Republic of the Philippines Military Assistance Act, and the Philippine Trade Act of 1946. He also served as ambassador to the U.S. in 1952.

He served as president of the U.N. Conference on Freedom of Information in 1948. The following year, he became president of the General Assembly of the U.N., the first Asian to hold that position. In 1957, he served as chairman of the United Nations Security Council, the first of three times he would hold that position.

During the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos, he served as secretary of education (1966-1968). He was also the secretary of foreign affairs (1968-1978), and later became the minister of foreign affairs (1978-1984). In his later years, he was criticized for supporting Marcos' dictatorial policies. A champion of free press in his early years, he eventually supported Marcos' imposition of martial law and the idea of a controlled media. However, an opinion piece written by Richard Holbrooke, former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and published in The New York Times on January 24, 1986 revealed that Romulo had lost trust in Marcos. He named Marcos, Imelda Marcos and Kokoy Romualdez as the "three people ruining my country."

He was one of the founders of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines in 1936. He also served as the president of U.P. from 1962 to 1968. He wrote and published 18 books, including his autobiography, I Walked With Heroes; his war-time memoirs, I See the Philippines Rise; and his novel, The United. In 1982, he was named National Artist for Literature.

He died on December 15, 1985 and was buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. In his honor, the National Historical Institute (now the National Historical Commission of the Philippines) installed a historical marker in his birthplace. The Foreign Service Institute named its Library and its School of Diplomacy after him. In 1996, the Carlos P. Romulo Foundation was founded as an organization committed to promoting peace and development in the Asia-Pacific region.

by Indio Historian

This day in 1890, Elpidio Quirino, the sixth President of the Philippines, was born in Vigan, Ilocos Sur. While his administration was challenged by agrarian unrest after World War II, he sought to restore the public's trust in government.

The third child of Don Mariano Quebral Quirino and Doña Gregoria Mendoza Rivera, Elpidio was born in prison premises, as his father then served as warden of the Vigan town jail six years before the Philippine Revolution erupted.

He worked as a tutor, then as a clerk in the Philippine Constabulary, while completing his secondary education. He entered the UP College of Law and passed the Bar in 1916. He tried campaigning for a seat in the House of Representatives in 1919 and won as a representative for Ilocos Sur's First District.

Quirino married Doña Alicia Syquia in 1921 and had five children—Tomas, Armando, Norma, Victoria, and Fe Angela. Three years later, he was elected Senator. He was very much involved in the Independence Missions that campaigned for Philippine independence in the US Congress. It succeeded in 1934.

Under the Commonwealth, Quirino served as Pres. Manuel Quezon's Interior Secretary until 1938. He again ran for a Senate seat, winning in 1941, but wasn't able to serve due to the invasion of Japan.

During the Battle of Manila in February 1945, while trying to leave their house, his wife, including three of his five children, were killed by the Japanese while crossing a street in Ermita to escape the conflict. Quirino had to carry the corpses on foot to Paco.

After the Japanese occupation, Manuel Roxas was elected as President, and Quirino as Vice President, in the 1946 elections. However, Roxas’ sudden death in 1948 made Quirino assume the presidency, completing Roxas' term. He was elected as President in 1949.

During his administration in 1948, Quirino made peace for the first time with the Hukbalahap. Negotiations would however collapse. Certain Quirino policies made peace possible in the next administration, especially with his appointment of Ramon Magsaysay as Defense Secretary.

Quirino was also the first Philippine president who had no wife to stand in as First Lady. His daughter, Victoria, fulfilled this role, serving as the sixth Philippine First Lady, the official hostess of the Malacañan Palace, and the youngest Philippine First Lady in history, at age 16.

Photos:
- Quirino takes his oath as President after attending his predecessor's funeral, 1948, from Presidential Museum & Library
- Quirino, his wife Alicia Syquia, and their first child, undated, from Presidential Museum & Library
- Quirino weeps as Roxas was laid in state, from Presidential Museum & Library
- Victoria Quirino in Philippines Free Press, May 1, 1948

On November 6, 1959, President José P. Laurel died at the age of 68. He was born on March 9, 1891, in Tanauan, Batangas.

A jurist, legislator, and educator, Laurel was the only Philippine president who served in three branches of the government (Senator from 1925-1931, Supreme Court Associate Justice in 1936). He was also among the authors of the Philippine Constitutions of 1935 and 1943. When World War II broke out, President Manuel Quezon tasked him to remain in Manila with Executive Secretary Jorge Vargas. During the Japanese occupation in 1942, he joined the Philippine Executive Commission composed of Filipino officials. As promised by the Japanese, the Philippines became a republic in 1943. Laurel was elected by the National Assembly as a Philippine President.

During his incumbency, he was treated with suspicion by the Japanese. He was not swayed by the Japanese pressure to declare war with the U.S. His policies were to preserve peace and to protect the country from any destruction. Even though it was antagonistic to the Japanese invaders, his Administrative Order No. 1, issued on October 23, 1943, was the conduct of a memorial service for the war dead at Camp O’Donnell, Capas, Tarlac on November 2, 1943. He also did not agree with the conscription of Filipino men to join the Japanese forces in combating the Allied Forces in 1944.

After the war, he was imprisoned on charges of treason, but was later granted amnesty. He ran for the presidency in 1949, but lost to Elpidio Quirino. He was re-elected to the Senate in 1951 and led the Philippine delegation that secured the 1953 Laurel-Langley agreement. The agreement decelerated the influx of U.S. products to the Philippines and accelerated the influx of Philippine products to the U.S. duty-free. It also allowed Filipinos to exploit U.S. natural resources, while the Americans maintained their rights in the Philippines, too. This was effective until the 1970s.

Laurel retired from politics in 1957, and spent his last years in the development of the Lyceum of the Philippines (now a university), which he established in 1952. In recognition of his distinguished public service, the Philippine Government bestowed on him the Philippine Legion of Honor with the rank of Chief Commander. The Calle Conde de Aviles in front of the presidential residence was later named after him.

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On October 28, 1971, military aviator and World War II hero Colonel Jesus Villamor died at the age of 56 in Washington, D.C. A recipient of the Philippines' highest military award, the Medal of Valor, he was one of the few Filipino pilots who shot down an enemy aircraft in an air-to-air combat.

Born on November 9, 1914, he was the son of Supreme Court justice and former U.P. President Ignacio Villamor. In pursit of his childhood dream of becoming a pilot, he took aviation courses in the Philippines and in the U.S. To comply with the commissionship requirements of the Philippine Army Air Corps (now Philippine Air Force), he returned to his high school alma mater, the De La Salle College (now a university), to take an Associate of Arts in Commerce. In 1936, upon receiving his commission as PAAC Third Lieutenant, he was sent to the U.S. for advanced flight training. Two years later, he returned to the country and assisted in the training of other PAAC aviation cadets.

Villamor was the commander of the PAAC's 6th Pursuit Squadron when World War II broke out in the Philippines on December 8, 1941. Despite being equipped with the obsolete Boeing P-26 Peashooters, Villamor led his unit in engaging the numerically and technologically superior Japanese air forces on December 10 (over Pasig and Quezon City) and on December 12 (over Batangas). In those two sorties, Villamor was able to shoot down two enemy aircrafts, prompting General Douglas MacArthur to award him twice the second highest military award of the U.S. Army, the Distinguished Service Cross. He also did infantry and air reconnaissance missions during the Bataan Campaign before joining MacArthur in the latter's evacuation to Australia in March 1942. Villamor would then join the Allied Intelligence Bureau, and in December 1942, he returned briefly to the Philippines to lead a daring intelligence mission. The information he gathered was soon used by the AIB for their military plans. After this, he was reassigned to the U.S. for the rest of the war.

He resigned from military service after the war and returned to the United States to be a consultant with the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board (now abolished). He later served with the U.S. Air Force as part of the Military Assistance Advisory Group in Vietnam. In 1954, he received the Medal of Valor for his heroism during the Second World War. He was buried with full military honors at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. The PAF renamed their headquarters in Pasay City after him, and the DLSU Office for Student Affairs annually confers its Gawad Col. Jesus Villamor to the most outstanding ROTC cadet of their university.

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| October 20, 1944

As part of the Allied Liberation campaign to liberate the areas under the control of the Japanese Imperial Army, General Douglas MacArthur and the Allied forces laid out a plan to launch a full-scale assault on the Philippines. While an assault in Mindanao was initially planned, the prior American bombing raids near Leyte exposed its weaker defenses which encouraged the commanders of the American forces to launch an attack in the province instead. During the liberation campaign, the Allied Forces received crucial assistance from the Filipino guerrillas stationed in Leyte. Contacted by Ruperto Kangleon, the Filipinos, who had staged various guerrilla operations against the Japanese before the Liberation Period, offered their assistance by preparing Leyte for the landing of the Allied forces. The Filipino guerrillas cleared the landing area of mines, neutralized Japanese opposition, and gathered further intelligence on the enemy deployments. At around 4:00 PM of October 20, 1944, General Douglas MacArthur, together with then President Sergio Osmenia and then General Carlos P. Romulo, landed on the shores of Red Beach, Palo Leyte. With their landing on Philippine soil, the government-in-exile was once against established. Today,

On October 14, 1943, the Second Philippine Republic was inaugurated in a ceremony held in front of the Legislative Building (now National Museum of Fine Arts) in Manila. On this occasion, Jose P. Laurel was sworn in as President after his election by the National Assembly. The republic was supported by Japan in fulfillment of the desire of the Filipinos to be free and independent, preempting the US-scheduled Philippine Republic by 1946. It was part of the plan of Japan to "free" Asia from Western domination. The country, however, remained under Japanese control but Laurel did his earnest best to outsmart the system to prevent any destruction and loss of lives (even supporting the guerrilla movement).

When the Japanese Imperial Army controlled the Philippines in 1942, Japanese Premier Hideki Tojo promised independence to the Filipinos. The Japanese established the Kapisanan ng Paglilingkod sa Bagong Pilipinas, popularly known as KALIBAPI as the sole legal political organization and formed the Preparatory Committee on Philippine Independence (PCPI) and drafted a Philippine constitution. KALIBAPI elected among its members those who would form the National Assembly. They elected Benigno Aquino, Sr. as its Speaker and Jose P. Laurel as President of the Philippines. The inauguration of the Second Philippine Republic was attended by several officials of the Japanese government. One highlight of the event was the raising of the Philippine flag led by Emilio Aguinaldo and Artemio Ricarte, two renowned figures of the Philippine Revolution and war against the U.S. One must understand that in the imagination of the living revolutionaries at the time, the Japanese were allies of the Philippine independence who clandestinely supported the Katipunan and eventually the war of the First Philippine Republic against the U.S.

When the American forces returned to the Philippines, the Japanese forcibly relocated Laurel and his government to Baguio and eventually to Japan. On October 23, 1944, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, in his capacity as military commander of the restored Commonwealth Government, nullified all the acts of the PCPI and the Second Republic. Laurel proclaimed the dissolution of the Second Republic on August 17, 1945, two days after Japan surrendered to the Allied Forces. On a landmark decision by the Supreme Court promulgated exactly a month later, it reiterated the nullification of the acts of the Second Republic but recognized its existence as the de facto government of the Philippines. This led to the recognition of the validity of selected judicial and administrative acts by the Second Republic, mostly those which were non-political in nature. Laurel was also recognized in the official roster of Philippine presidents.

This October, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), through its Subcommission on Cultural Communities and Traditional Arts (SCCTA), is celebrating the National Indigenous Peoples (IP) Month pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 1906 signed in 2009 wherein the constitution mandates the “recognition and protection of the rights of Indigenous Cultural Communities/ Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs).” Various agencies namely the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), Office of the Muslim Affairs (OMA), Commission on Higher Education-Philippines (CHED), and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) are among the agencies celebrating the annual celebration.

The theme of this year’s Dayaw, “Katutubong Filipino: Atin ang Tagumpay!” highlights the ways in which Philippine Indigenous Peoples firmly manifest their optimistic views and practices or their “strategies of prevailing” in the midst of adversities.

Read more about the celebration here: https://ncca.gov.ph/2021/10/01/indigenous-peoples-month-2021/

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