Remember and celebrate July 4

Why is it important to study history? Despite the obvious simplicity of this question, I still had the internet provide me with an answer that is better than what I can best come up with. Studying history, accordingly, “is essential because it decodes the present and guides the future xx” kind of link the past, the present and the future. “It provides the context needed to understand current societal structures, political climates and cultural traditions. It also develops critical thinking by teaching us to analyze evidence, recognize biases, and evaluate the causes of change.”

I had to ask that simple question of the importance of knowing our past because it seems to me that we are forgetting an important part of Philippine history. This is the Philippine-American Friendship Day and before that, our independence day. We were supposed to celebrate it on July 4, just few days ago. But, like what happened in the past many years, the date passed without any celebration. Nobody seemed to remember that July 4 holds a significant part of our national identity.

In my elementary years before I entered Grade 6, the fourth of July was a festive day, the day we were granted our independence by the United States of America. It would always start with a parade where heavily decorated floats or carriages were drawn between groups of interestingly clad school children, honorable government officials wearing impressively pressed barong tagalog and patadyong, that indigenous rectangular or tube-like wraparound skirt worn mostly by women of known social standing and followed by brass bands playing alternately military sounding marches and nationalistic musical compositions. The parade would always be routed thru the main town streets and ended at the municipal plaza where programs held sway around artistically structured booths housing native crafts and interesting agricultural products. If I appear to be trying to write a somewhat detailed description of the July 4 celebration of decades ago, it is because in my young mind then it was a very important occasion.

Former President Diosdado Macapagal, in an act which many of our countrymen hailed as true display of Filipinism, issued on May 12, 1962, Presidential Proclamation No. 28, which temporarily marked June 12 as a special public holiday. This was followed by Republic Act 4166 which Macapagal signed into law on August 4, 1964. This enactment became the legal basis for changing Philippine Independence Day from July 4 to June 12.

We need to remember that General Emilio Aguinaldo, on June 12, 1898, proclaimed Philippine independence from his mansion wave-window in Cavite el Viejo (now Kawit, Cavite). It was our freedom from Spanish colonial rule which lasted for about 333 years. In that proclamation, the Philippine flag was officially unfurled and the national anthem (Lupang Hinirang) was played publicly for the first time.

We also need to recall, however, that in the early morning hours of May 1, 1898, the Americans effectively began to colonize us with Admiral George Dewey, commanding officer of the US Asiatic Squadron, quickly crushing Spanish Admiral Patricio Montojo in the one sided Battle of Manila Bay. The entry of America was formalized by the Treaty of Paris signed on December 10, 1898 by Spain and USA where the latter paid (what a sad term) the former twenty million dollars.

The fact is quite significant that while Aguinaldo was considered our first president, the Americans continued to rule over us until the passage of two enactments. The first was the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act of 1933 which set a specific date for Philippine independence. The second piece of American legislation was the Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1934, better known as the Philippine Independence Act which established the framework for the creation of the Philippine Commonwealth and the drafting of a constitution. This law set a definitive independence date of July 4, 1946.

July 4, is a diamond in our historical calendar even in its name as the Philippine-American Friendship Day written in Proclamation No. 2364, Series of 1964, issued by the unlamented former President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos. Let the Filipino nation not lose its significance. It must always be heartily remembered and festively celebrated.