[Music] the history of the philippines is one of colonization resistance and attempts to create a democratic state that could improve the lot of all filipinos but which has often failed to see why join me in this brief look at the history and politics of the philippines spanish colonization the philippines did not exist and i don't mean the name which was given to the islands to honor the then heir to the spanish throne philip ii rather before the spanish there was no unified archipelago instead the islands were divided into dozens of independent polities known as barangays which were ruled by dhatus competed with each other and occasionally went to war some of the more important ones were manila tondo namayan cebu etc this distinctiveness meant different cultures and influences across the archipelago with islam being especially prevalent in the south in the island of mindanao while hinduism and chinese influence were more likely in trading hubs like manila and further north in the highlands of the luzon islands there were the ifugao people famous for their rice terraces and rich oral literary traditions and whose ancestors historians think originated in china and or vietnam thousands of years before and all throughout the future country there were the negritos or ita people the original inhabitants of the islands who had a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle and anonymistic religion into this cultural landscape stepped into spanish when on march 1521 fernando magellan had ride with his men magellan's expedition had been looking for a way to the malukas the famed spice islands and after surviving hunger and disease in a harrowing journey that lasted just short of four months across the pacific they finally came across guam an island where they could get water and provisions they then proceeded west to the philippines where things were going quite well for the spanish until magellan took it upon himself to forcibly convert the natives into catholicism [Music] under the leadership of lapu lapu did not take kindly to his advances especially after he ordered his homes burned and on april 27 1521 they killed him in battle and exposed the spanish temporarily from the archipelago emphasis is on temporary however one of magellan's captains sebastian elcano made it back to spain with a spice cargo that only made the spanish more eager to return especially when it became apparent they had to compete with the portuguese for the claim determined to maintain authority over the islands the spanish crown sent several expeditions to the area in the following decades the most important was that of hui lopez who in 1547 sailed from jalisco into spain to cebu where he established the first permanent spanish settlement in the country and named the island's philippines at the time philip was not yet king but rather the heir to the throne when he did gain the crown however he sent a fresh fleet with explicit orders to colonize and christianize the islands under the command of miguel lopez de legaspi the expedition consisted of five ships and 500 soldiers it returned to cebu in 1565 the place magellan had been killed and quickly overran the locals realizing that no single authority ruled over the islands and individual pacts with 1.2 was meaningless to the others lopez de legaspi then proceeded to conquer them one by one he first set a spanish stronghold in pannai in 1569 and later with the help of local allies conquered manila in 1571. the control of the archipelago coupled with the newly discovered manila acapulco trade route ensured that the islands would become a permanent colony officially the spanish east indies the new colony was run by a spanish governor who reported to mexico at least in theory because in practice his ability to appoint his own civil and military governors made him extremely powerful outside of manila however authority was divided between native leaders who held govern known as the principalia and the catholic friars who held the most power there were lots of reasons for this two big ones were that the fires outnumbered civil officials in the provinces and also they had a command of local languages a rarity among the lay spanish the other was that the friars moved people from the barangays into larger more centralized pueblos or towns where they built imposing stone churches in the center of each and acted as sole rulers over what was essentially rural fiefdoms spain grew weaker as the fries grew more repressive and the natives started to resist several minor peasant revolts easily quashed marked the end of the 18th century but in the 19th century the face of the resistance would change as wealthy class of european educated mestizos filipinos of mixed spanish or chinese blood with nationalist tendencies began to emerge known as illustratos the greatest and best known of the lot was dr jose sal doctor of medicine poet novelist sculptor painter linguist naturalist and fencing enthusiast executed by the spanish in 1896 rizal epitomized the filipinos dignified struggle for personal and national freedom by killing such figures the spanish were creating martyrs andres bonifacio led an aggressive movement known as the katipunan or kkk which secretly built a revolutionary government in manila with a network of equally clandestine provincial councils complete with passwords masks and colored sashes denoting rank the katipunan membership both men and women peaked at an estimated 30 000 in mid 1896. in august the spanish got win of the coming revolution and the katipunan leaders were forced to flee the capital depleted frustrated and poorly armed the katipuneros took stock in nearby balintawak a barangay of kalukan and voted to launch the revolution regardless with the cry of mabuhayan pilipinas long live the philippines the philippine revolution lurched into life following the incident that is now known as a cryo balintoboc after 18 months of bloodshed most of it filipino blood a spanish filipino peace act was signed and the revolutionary leader general emilio aguinaldo agreed to go into exile in hong kong in december 1897. predictably the pax demand satisfied nobody promises of reform by the spanish were broken as were promises by the filipinos to stop the revolutionary plotting meanwhile spain and the us became embroiled in a dispute over another one of spain's colonial trouble spots cuba this led to a war in april 1898 which drew the philippines as a colony of spain into the conflict in august an american fleet under commodore george dewey sailed into manila bay and routed the spanish ships keen to gain filipino support dewey welcomed the return of exiled revolutionary general aguinaldo and oversaw the philippine revolution phase 2 which installed aguinaldo's president of the first philippine republic the philippine flag was flown for the first time during aguinaldo's proclamation of philippine independence in cavite on june 12 1898 with the signing of the treaty of paris in 1898 the spanish-american war ended and the u.s effectively bought the philippines along with guam and puerto rico for 20 million dollars a fierce debate raged in the u.s over what to do with its newly acquired territory hawks on the right clamor to hold onto the islands while anti-imperialist liberals attacked the subjugation of a foreign people as morally wrong and warned about the cost of occupation american president mckinley originally opposed colonization before caving into hawks and his republican party and agreeing to take over the islands echoing the imperialists mckinley opined that because filipinos were unfit for self-government he had no choice but to take over the islands and quote unquote civilize them filipinos led by aguinaldo had other ideas they set up a makeshift capital in malolos outside of manila in open defiance the americans in turn antagonized the filipinos and war broke out in february 1899. the guerrilla campaign launched by aguinaldo and rebels who included gregorio del pilar and apolinario mavini proved remarkably effective at neutralizing american military superiority aguinaldo was captured in march 1901 but still the war dragged on as it did and as casualties on both sides mounted the american public's opposition to the war grew resentment peaked in september 1901 in the aftermath of the battle of balangiga when 54 american soldiers were killed by irregular forces this in turn led to retaliation by the americans who killed indiscriminately 2 000 to 2500 people in the island of samar eventually the u.s declared victory on july 4th 1902 although the pockets of guerrilla resistance continued for several more years in the end some 200 000 filipino civilians 20 000 filipino soldiers and more than 4 000 american troops died in the war from combat or disease the americans tried to gain the approval of the filipinos after the war they began instituting reforms like the complete overhaul of the education system whereas the spanish had attempted to keep filipinos illiterate and ignorant of the spanish language the americans imported hundreds of teachers to the country to teach reading writing arithmetic and english within 35 years the literacy rate among filipinos had risen from a miniscule percentage to almost 50 percent and 27 percent of the population could speak english besides schools the americans built bridges roads and sewage systems they neutralized their recalcitrant morals in mindanao and christianized the cordillera tribes of the north two groups the spanish had tried and failed to influence they also instituted an american-style political system that gradually gave more and more power to filipinos and openly promised the eventual independence for the country their economic policy however entrenched the dominance of the landed elite as the free flow of u.s imports was a powerful deterrent to philippine industrial growth while those who explored sugar prospered this would have serious consequences later on critics describe american benevolence during this period as a thinly veiled carrot disguising america's true goal of establishing economic hegemony over the islands whatever the motive the u.s endorsed the commonwealth of the philippines in 1935 along with the drafting of a u.s style constitution and the first national election on paper at least democracy and freedom had at least come to the philippines unfortunately world war ii would ensure that they would be short-lived when japan bombed hawaii's pearl harbor in 1941 other forces attacked clark field where general douglas macarthur was caught napping despite many hours warning sitting off a string of events that would lead to the japanese occupying the philippines from 1942 to 1945. in 1944 macarthur honored his now famous pledge to return landing a late determined to dislodge the japanese the main battleground in this onslaught was manila where defenseless residents suffered horrifically in ensuing crossfire during february 1945. by the time macarthur marched into the city the combination of japanese atrocities and american shelling had killed at least 150 000 civilians and the city that had been one of the finest in asia was destroyed a fierce debate rages to this day about who was to blame for the destruction of manila the vast majority of civilian casualties resulted from us artillery fire but many argue that by failing to abandon manila and declaring it an open city the japanese gave macarthur a little choice whatever the truth manila belongs in the category with warsaw hiroshima and hamburg as cities that suffer the most damage in world war ii the impact of the war led to a weaker civil service and a reduction in the dominance of manila with provincial politicians gaining power and in some cases the fact of autonomy universal suffrage saw an expansion of voter participation although power remained concentrated in the hands of a small elite despite the landed elite continuing to dominate the legislature a diversifying post-war economy saw politicians who are not primarily from agricultural backgrounds come to executive power the post-war period until 1965 known to filipinos as the third republic was a competition between the nationalists and liberal parties and the strong personalities that led them men such as elpido quirino ramon magsaysai and diosdado macapagal in fits and starts they tried reforming and liberalizing the economy and the philippines seemed to be slowly moving in the right direction but things were about to change in 1965 fernand marcos a dashing former lawyer from a prominent ilocos political family was elected the philippines fourth post-world war ii president under the seductive slogan this nation can be great again at first it indeed was a new era and marcos and his even more charismatic wife imelda went about trying to bring back some of manila's pre-war energy by 1970 widespread poverty rising inflation pitiful public funding and blatant corruption triggered a wave of protests in manila when several demonstrators were killed by police outside the presidential malacanang palace marco's image as a political savior died with them citing the rise of leftist student groups in the communist new people's army or npa marcos imposed martial law on the entire country in 1972. i signed proclamation number 1081 placing entire philippines under martial law normally a constitutional last resort decided to protect the masses martial law was declared by marcos to keep himself in power since the constitution prevented him from running for a third term and to protect his foreign business interests under martial law a curfew was imposed the media was silenced or taken over by the military international travel was manned and thousands of anti-government suspects were rounded up and put into military camps an estimated 50 000 of marco's opponents were jailed exiled or killed marcos would not lift martial law until 1981. his end was brought about by people power a movement born in the streets of manila in 1986 as the whole world watched millions of filipinos armed only with courage and religious faith poured onto the streets to defy the military might of the michael's regime despite marcos on popularity in the mid-1980s people powered by never have happened were it not for the assassination of immensely popular opposition figure ninoy aquino aquino had been a political prisoner and then got into exile in the united states he was murdered on the tarmac of the manila airport as he came back to the philippines to face the dictator with his death filipinos felt they had lost their hope for a peaceful return to democracy the decline and fall of the marcos dictatorship came swiftly after that by 1986 even the u.s which had backed marcos against communism in southeast asia began to withdraw its support in the face of mountain criticism abroad and rising unrest at home marcos called for snap elections on february 7 1986 corazon corey aquino the noise widow became the reluctant at first standard bearer of the opposition at the instigation of the roman catholic church marcos came out the winner of the election but the people knew corey had been cheated and they were no longer to be silenced on february 26th a massive sea of humanity gathered around two camps along epifanio de los santos avenue better known as edsa where two of marcos's former ministers juan fonsen riley and fidel ramos had taken refuge after defecting to the side of the people they sang chanted prayed and shared food and drink both among themselves and with government troops who refused to fire into crowds and eventually went over to the side of the people by nightfall the restless crowds were threatening to storm the palace at this point the u.s stepped in and advised marcos to let go hurriedly the marcosus boarded a u.s aircraft and flew to hawaii and into exile the filipino people had staged the world's first successful bloodless revolution inspiring others to do the same across the world fernand marcos died in exile in 1989 and his happy wife imelda soon returned to the philippines despite evidence that she and her husband helped themselves to billions of dollars from the treasury imelda lives freely in manila and was later elected to her fourth term in congress in 2016 but once for leyte and thrice for locos norte politics since the fall of marcos has been tumultuous largely because the stable party system that existed before marcos never returned instead today the country has weak political parties that tend to coalesce not around sets of policies which stir little debate but around leaders with vivid personalities who win elections in the 1990s the country aggressively privatized and liberalized the economy under fidel ramos but the 1998 asian crisis left it in bad shape and the president elected to clean up the mess joseph estrada failed badly soon he would face an impeachment trial over corruption allegations this would see millions of filipinos take to the streets to support his removal and he was forced to resign the country's second people power revolution in 15 years estrada gave way to his vice president gloria macapagalarroyo daughter of the former president whose nearly 10 years in office were also talked by scandals including election proprieties in her 2004 re-election and in 2007 congressional elections misuse of public funds and well general plunder and corruption in the 2010 presidential elections the country found the fresh face it was looking for in the form of benigno noinoy aquino iii the previously squeaky clean son of corazon aquino hero of the first people power revolution in 1986 riding a wave of natural grief after his mother's death in 2009 aquino won a landslide victory with 42 percent of the votes emerging from a pack of candidates which included former president estrada even while the philippines economy grew quickly still nearly 10 percent was based on remittances talk of impeaching president aquino was banded about after he instituted the disbursement acceleration program or dap essentially a way for aquino to bypass the legislature and according to him fast track a much needed stimulus package in a discouraging tip for tat aquino threatened to impeach the supreme court justices who ruled that unconstitutional the aquino administration made progress in ending several decades of armed conflict in parts of the southern islands of mindanao and the sulu archipelago in the summer of 2014 the government and the mortal islamic liberation front or milf one of the major rebel groups seeking an autonomous muslim homeland agreed to the basic framework for this entity called the bangsamoto the splinter groups objected however and periodic violence still surfaces leading up to the presidential election of 2016 confidence in aquino and traditional politics was diminishing there was the attack on farm workers at hacienda visita the zamboanga siege the manila hostage crisis cuts in social services and a lack of progress improving the transportation and power infrastructure aquino however was hardly alone in his shrinking political fortunes the ongoing police investigation in which an influential businesswoman was accused of channeling kickbacks to prominent opposition leaders was a smorgasbord of wrongdoing promising to end corruption crime and reset relations with china rodrigo duterte the former long-time mayor of the southern city of davao beat his closest rival by more than 6 million votes in the 2016 presidential elections he immediately implemented a war on drugs that led to thousands of deaths the opposition outraged insisted these were human rights abuses and a breakdown of the rule of law criticism that was echoed abroad but at home it made no difference duterte was and continues to be one of the most popular filipino presidents ever in part this was because of the roaring economic growth the philippines was experiencing until 2019 still even after covet put an end to that duterte retains majority approval because of that it is still unclear whether his influence will persist even after his term is over in june 2022 for now he's announced he will run for the vice presidency but there's also the option to support his daughter for president whatever happens the philippines will continue to face enormous challenges for quite a while yet