My People in the Philippines

Race and sexual orientation denote very sensitive topics in todays society. With that

being said, it should come as no surprise that the United States is promoting equality and

inclusiveness now more than ever. The efforts and initiatives that have been put forth to bring

awareness to these ideologies have been nothing short of extraordinary. Being an advocate of

equality, I support the need for such programs. I am also a white male. And when considering

American history, the Caucasian man has not exactly been the victim of oppression or

subjugation like other groups. While this may seem ideal, I can assure you that it is quite the

opposite.

Think about the history of the United States and the role of the white man in just the past

two hundred years. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries of America denote times in the U.S.

largely characterized by slavery. Where humans were auctioned and treated like property, the

United States employed a distinct caste system completely defined on race and gender. And at

the top of this system was the white male. When considering this, who do you think was on the

receiving end of human auctions? Who do you think purchased the dark-skinned people

everyone knew as slaves? My people. My people whipped and beat their labor force to the

extent to where children learn about it in school. My people actually believed that another piece

of human life was nothing more than a representation of ownership. To my misfortune, the

actions and decisions of Caucasian men before me put me in a line of history from which I would

rather be excluded. I certainly look like the typical nineteenth century slave-owner, but that does

not mean I am him. When first learning about the timeline of slavery in the United States, I

failed to recognize the connection between myself and slave-owners. With every Black Lives

Matter flyer, poster, or march that I see, I know my connection to such a topic is scarred by
oppression in a way in which my people are the oppressors. The most tragic and thought-

provoking aspect of being a white, American male, however, deals not with slavery, but rather

the Philippines.

The U.S. first became involved with the island country following the Spanish-American

War. As a result of the Treaty of Paris of 1898, the United States acquired Cuba, Puerto Rico,

Guam and the Philippines from Spain for $20m. This was the extent of my knowledge regarding

U.S.-Philippine relations prior to this year. So up until 2017, I assumed that the United States

colonized the Philippines relatively peacefully and that everyone was better off as a result of

American occupation. Sadly, I could not have been more wrong.

The year 1899 marks the beginning of the Philippine-American War, a war that may be

documented as having lasted three years, but arguably lasted fourteen. And it was these fourteen

years that forced me to realize that the United States is not as welcoming and open-minded as I

had previously thought. While the near decade and a half contains dozens of battles, there are a

few that truly highlight Americas brutality in the Philippines. For instance, consider the

Balangiga Massacre. In September of 1901, revolutionaries in the Balangiga village of Samar

decided to attack the American troops occupying their village.1 The attack was rather successful,

with the rebels killing thirty-six of the seventy-four American soldiers and injuring twenty-two.2

The U.S.s retaliation reveals the cruelty and savagery evident in the its military. General Jacob

H. Smith told his men, I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn; the more you kill and

burn, the better it will please me. The interior of Samar must be made a howling wilderness.

General Smith certainly has justification to seek vengeance, but the quote the more you kill and

burn, the better it will please me exposes the mans true desire to massacre. The Army General

1 The Balangiga Massacre, University of Hawaii at Manoa, accessed April 7 th

, 2017, http://opmanong.ssc.hawaii.edu/filipino/balangiga.html.
2 The Balangiga Massacre, University of Hawaii at Manoa, accessed April 7 th
, 2017, http://opmanong.ssc.hawaii.edu/filipino/balangiga.html.
also ordered his troops to kill and burn anybody capable of carrying arms including boys over

ten years old.3 Ending the lives of armed, militant men is one thing, but taking the lives of

children requires madness and insanity. While the exact death toll of the Balangiga Massacre

remains unknown, British writer Bob Couttie, who completed a decades long study of the event,

puts the figure at 2,500.4 David Fritz, author of The Philippine Question: American

Civil/Military Policy in the Philippines suggests over 2,000 men died in combat.5 Some

Filipino historians, however, believe the toll to be around 50,000. 6

Undoubtedly, thousands of innocent Filipinos lost their lives at the hands of the United

States military in this massacre. The Declaration of Independence, one of the U.S.s founding

documents, states that all men are created equal and are granted certain unalienable rights such as

life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The level of hypocrisy demonstrated by the actions of

the United States brings me a feeling of shame. The American military literally stripped their

Filipino victims of all of these rights. And the individuals doing this life-stripping were white,

American men, like me. I am part of a group known to have decimated Filipinos. This

realization was a very rude awakening to say the least. Knowing the American man at one point

in time possessed the barbarity and depravity needed to end the lives of thousands of innocent

people scares the hell out of me. I wish the Balangiga Massacre was the only instance of

American brutality in the Philippine-American War.

The First Battle of Bud Dajo, also known as the Bud Dajo Massacre, serves as another example

of American iniquity in the Philippines. The First Battle of Bud Dajo was a counter insurgency

action fought between the U.S. Army and Filipino Muslims known as Moros in 1906, during the

3 The Balangiga Massacre, University of Hawaii at Manoa, accessed April 7 , 2017, http://opmanong.ssc.hawaii.edu/filipino/balangiga.html.
th

4 Bob Couttie, Hang the Dogs, The True and Tragic History of the Balangiga Massacre, New Day Publishers, 2004, accessed April 8 , 2017.
th

5 The Balangiga Massacre, Sam Houston State University, accessed April 8 , 2017, http://shsu.edu/his_rtc/2014_FALL/Balangiga_massacre.
th

6 The Balangiga Massacre, Sam Houston State University, accessed April 8 , 2017, http://shsu.edu/his_rtc/2014_FALL/Balangiga_massacre.
th
Moro Rebellion period of the Philippine-American War.7 After the U.S. revoked the Bates Treaty

in March of 1904, the Moros renewed their resistance to the Americans, mainly through violence

and a refusal to pay taxes.8 So, in response to talk about the American military planning to

exterminate Filipino Muslims, several hundred Moros fled to Bud Dajo, the location in which

many of them would ultimately lose their lives. Over 1,000 Moros were killed, with many being

women and children.9 The most tragic aspect of this occurrence, in my opinion, relates to the

possibility of an extermination. The mere mentioning of extermination as a possible solution

infuriates me. Extermination translates to mass killing. Knowing that the country in which I

associate my nationality briefly referenced extermination as a potential resolution is very

troubling. The lack of value given to human life by the American military is quite evident upon

learning of their possible extermination of the Moros. How much more immoral can a solution

get? Unfortunately, Americas bloody reign in the Philippines does not end here.

The Battle of Lonoy denotes yet another instance of American savagery in the island country.

The Lonoy Massacre occurred in the Jagna municipality of Bohol in March of 1901. In this

battle, the U.S. Army launched a surprise attack on Bohol revolutionaries, in which two platoons

swarmed the masses of rebels from each side of the groups location.10 With no route to escape,

four hundred and six Filipinos wound up being killed.11 While the victims of the massacre were

revolutionaries, the American military still carried out its execution unprovoked. Murdering four

hundred people without instigation brings to light Americas sadistic intentions in the

Philippines.

7 US Solders Pose With Bodies of Moro Insurgents, Philippines, 1906, Rare Historical Photos, accessed April 8, 2017,
http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/moro-insurgents-1906/.
8 US Solders Pose With Bodies of Moro Insurgents, Philippines, 1906, Rare Historical Photos, accessed April 8, 2017,
http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/moro-insurgents-1906/.
9 US Solders Pose With Bodies of Moro Insurgents, Philippines, 1906, Rare Historical Photos, accessed April 8, 2017,
http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/moro-insurgents-1906/.
10 Battle of Lonoy, World Heritage Encyclopedia, 2017, accessed April 10, 2017.
11 Battle of Lonoy, World Heritage Encyclopedia, 2017, accessed April 10, 2017.
 All of these events were part of the larger, yet hardly-known conflict known as the Philippine-

American War. As I stated previously, it was this war that revealed Americas dark side to me.

Over the course of fourteen years, more than half a million Filipinos were killed. Some

estimates suggest the death toll resulting from the Philippine-American War reaches north of a

million. And it was the United States who was largely responsible for such a number. When

further analyzing the Philippine-American War and the number of Filipinos killed in this

conflict, one could argue that the United States committed war crimes, given its behavior is

indicative of genocide. When thinking about genocide, Nazi, Germany and Rwanda come to

mind, not the United States. Never once did I think that I would write about the United States in

association with mass killing.

Nevertheless, history does not lie. My people were the perpetrators of war crimes in the

Philippines. My race and lineage put me in line with men guilty of nation-wide massacre. If I

were in the Philippines in the early 1900s, I could easily be mistaken for one of the men

contributing to the genocide. And this is what is incredibly bothersome. I carry the crimes and

immorality of men before me. Ultimately, this leads me to wonder what it means to be an

American man. Several months ago, I encountered a Vietnam War veteran at Mama Steves

Pancake House in Williamsburg, Virginia. We spoke for a while, and the last words he said to

me were you are a young, white, American man, that is powerful. Today, I am not so sure of

that. When thinking about the white man and his history the past couple of centuries, I do not

feel powerful. I feel quite troubled and confused. The reasoning behind my feelings I would

hope are quite clear by now. The freedom and equality our country promotes lack validity. The

inhabitants of the Philippines during the early twentieth century were robbed not only of equality

and freedom, but life as well. Given prior instances between the two countries, you would think
that the U.S. and Philippines do not have much of a relationship. Surprisingly, that is not the

case.

Out of all the countries in the world, the United States was most favorably rated by the

Philippines. 92% of Filipinos who participated in the Pew Research Centers 2015 study on the

United States global image held positive opinions of the U.S.12 Quite surprising right? A

country who committed war crimes received its highest ratings from the very country it

mutilated. This does not make any sense. How could the Philippines really view America so

positively after what took place in the early 1900s? Perhaps, Filipinos are a forgiving people.

Poverty has denoted a critical social problem in the Philippines for decades13, and so instead of

refusing to accept the United States helping hand, maybe Filipinos view the U.S. as a power with

the ability to help their struggling country. Another possible answer to the question posed above

may deal with relatability. During the American occupation, approximately six hundred

American teachers traveled to the Philippines to teach children English as well as American

values, customs, and history.14 With the United States controlling the country until 1946,

Filipino children were raised in an educational system similar to that of the United States. Even

today, most Filipino teachers speak at least half English and half Filipino to their students.15 So,

because the Philippines feels it relates to the United States more than any other country may be

one of the reasons as to why it views America so highly. The American military also provides a

compelling answer as to why Filipinos love the United States; citizenship. Since 1947 when the

U.S. signed an agreement with the Republic of the Philippines specifying it could recruit citizens

12 Americas Global Image, Pew Research Center, 2015, accessed April 15, 2017, http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/06/23/1-americas-global-
image/.
13 One in Every Ten Families Gives Money, Gift, or Favor to Facilitate Availing of a Service from Government Office, Philippine Statistic
Authority, 2010, accessed April 15, 2017, https://psa.gov.ph/tags/poverty.
14 Alethea Florida, Educational Profile of the Philippines and Best Practices in Filipino Schools and Classrooms, Univeristy of North
Carolina, 2006, accessed April 16, 2017, http://www.unc.edu/world/2006_K12Symp/Pres&HOs/Florido_Handout1.pdf.
15 Why do Filipinos Speak English So Well, Philippines Redcat, 2017, accessed April 16, 2017, http://www.philippinesredcat.com/why-do-
filipinos-speak-english-so-well/
for voluntary enlistment into the United States Armed Services, Filipinos have been flocking to

the U.S. with the intention of becoming citizens. So, the fact that the United States military

provides an escape route from the corrupt, dangerous, poverty-stricken Philippines may

contribute to Filipinos high opinion of America. While the reason the Philippines has such a

positive view of America may be a combination of all of these considerations, I believe the

countrys opinion relies heavily on its inhabitants being a very forgiving people. The Philippine

Government is currently fighting an intense drug war that has cost the lives of over seven

thousand people in just nine months.16 With violence, corruption, and poverty as rampant social

problems, Filipinos may, as mentioned previously, see the United States as a country with the

resources and ability to provide some sort of help. I see Filipinos being less concerned about the

past and more about the life ahead of them. Filipinos are focused on survival, not the early

twentieth century.

Despite the current status of U.S.-Philippine relations, I find it incredibly difficult to dismiss the

past. War crimes, genocide, the deaths of approximately one million Filipinos, all point to men

of whom I bear striking resemblance. So when thinking about what it means to be a white,

American male, Id say it means more bad than good.

16 Kate Lamb, Thousands dead: the Philippine President death squad allegations and a brutal drugs war, The Guardian, 2017, accessed April
16, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/02/philippines-president-duterte-drugs-war-death-squads.
 Bibliography

Americas Global Image. Pew Research Center, 2015. Accessed April 15, 2017.
http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/06/23/1-americas-global-image/.

Battle of Lonoy, World Heritage Encyclopedia, 2017, Accessed April 10, 2017.
http://www.sonyebooklibrary.com/articles/battle_of_lonoy.

Couttie, Bob. Hang the Dogs, The True and Tragic History of the Balangiga Massacre. New
Day Publishers (2004). Accessed April 8, 2017. Print.

Florida, Alethea. Educational Profile of the Philippines and Best Practices in Filipino Schools
and Classrooms. University of North Carolina (2006). Accessed April 16, 2017.

Lamb, Kate. Thousands dead: the Philippine President death squad allegation and a brutal drug
war. The Guardian (2017). Accessed April 16, 2017.

One in Every Ten Families Gives Money, Gift, or Favor to Facilities Availing of a Service from
Government Office. Philippine Statistic Authority (2010). Accessed April 15, 2017.

US Soldiers Pose With Bodies of Moro Insurgents, Philippines, 1906. Rare Historical
Photographs. Accessed April 8, 2017.

The Balangiga Massacre. Sam Houston State University. Accessed April 8, 2017.

The Balangiga Massacre. University of Hawaii at Manoa. Accessed April 7, 2017.

Why do Filipinos Speak English So Well? Philippines Statistic Authority (2017). Accessed
April 16, 2017.