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	Sunday, July 03, 2005

Happy Fourth of July  (mycebu)   It is the fourth of July, and Americans are celebrating their independence day. The Philippines gained independence from the United States ( it was an American controlled territory from around 1900 to 1946) on July 4, 1946.  For a while, it was also our independence day. Just to give a backgrounder, the President of the Philippines have declared independence on June 12, 1898.  That was during the Philippine's war for independence from Spain.  Of course, during that time the United States was battling Spain also over Cuba, and in the Treaty of Paris, when Spain was defeated, Spain ceded to the United States its territories, among them, the Philippines. So instead of having independence, the Filipinos later had to fight the Americans.  They lost, and for almost 50 years, except for the Second World War when Philippines was briefly under Japanese control, it was under American rule. Immediately after World War II, the Philippines was among the first countries to be granted independence  ( though I thought it was stupid to have asked for independence right after when Manila, its capital city was purportedly the second most destroyed city in the world after Warsaw). At any rate, it was also our independence day for a time, before some Philippine politician decided that our true independence day was really on June 12, 1898, which made the Philippines Asia' first republic. So July 4 is now Filipino - American Friendship Day....  But nevertheless it is something that we all celebrate, though no longer a holiday.  Last July 2, the American Chamber of the Philippines, Cebu had a great party.  Everybody was in red, white and blue, and over 500 people partied and danced the night. Long live friendship.... After all, why be enemies when you can be friends? And why not party?   7:03:41 PM     comment []   trackback []