User:Team R&W

The main identity of Filipinos and the Philippines as a whole is referenced in Quezon's speech. The Philippines were a Spanish province for over 300 years, and were called after King Philip II of Spain (1556-1598). 7,000 islands make up the Philippines today. Filipinos began trading with China in the 10th century AD, and Arab merchants arrived in the 12th century AD, bringing Islam with them. Ferdinand Magellan crossed the Pacific Ocean in 1521.He went in the Philippines to claim the islands for Spain. Magellan baptized a chief named Humabon with the intention of turning him into a puppet ruler for the Spanish crown. Other chiefs were forced to submit to Humabon by Magellan, but one in particular, Lapu Lapu, refused. Magellan was in charge of a troop that was sent to smash him. The Spanish forces, on the other hand, were dispersed, and Magellan died.

The Spaniards did not arrive in the Philippines until 1565, when Miguel Lopez de Legazpi led an expedition to Cebu and erected a fort. The Spaniards finally arrived in Luzon in 1571. The city of Intramuros (later known as Manila) was created here, and it became the Philippines' capital. Luzon was captured by Spanish conquistadors marching inland. A feudal regime was established. Spaniards possessed large estates that Filipinos toiled on. The Spanish colony in the Philippines was prosperous — at least for the higher classes! Silk, porcelain, and lacquer are among the Chinese exports to the Philippines every year. They were then shipped back to Mexico.

However, the Filipinos witnessed the corruptive principles and treatment that the Spanish imposed on the Filipino people, particularly the poor and those who were not from the upper classes, during the period of Spanish rule. An insurrection sprang out in Cavite in 1872, but it was promptly put down. However, with the assistance of a writer called Jose Rizal, nationalist sentiments continued to rise (1861-1896). He fueled the embers of nationalism with his works Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) and El Filibusterismo (The Reign of Greed).

Jose Rizal formed the Liga Filipina movement in 1892, which advocated for change rather than revolt. The Spanish, on the other hand, had a negative reaction to this. Rizal was imprisoned and deported to Dapitan, Mindanao, as a result. Meanwhile, Andres Bonifacio founded the Katipunan, a more radical group, and became its Supreme Leader. They started a revolt in August 1896. Although Jose Rizal was never personally involved in the revolution, he was accused of supporting it. Despite this, he was charged with and hanged by the Spanish on December 30, 1896. Nonetheless, his death inflamed Filipino sentiment, and the revolt escalated, lasting over three bloody years.

The conflict between the United States and Spain broke out in 1898. The Spanish fleet was defeated in Manila Bay on April 30, 1898, by the Americans. Meanwhile, revolutionaries from the Philippines surrounded Manila. On June 12, Emilio Aguinaldo, the Philippines' leader, declared the country independence. The Philippines, however, were handed to the United States as part of the peace settlement. The plan was for the Americans to take over. On February 4, 1899, a conflict broke out between American and Filipino forces in Manila. When Aguinaldo was captured in 1902, the Filipino-American War came to an end.

The Philippines had a paternalistic American rule. 'Benevolent Assimilation' was their policy's name. They attempted but failed to 'Americanize' the Filipinos. They did, however, help others. Many American teachers were dispatched to the Philippines on the Thomas, and they were successful in raising reading levels.

The Philippines became a commonwealth and became semi-independent in 1935. President Manuel Quezon was elected as the first president of the Commonwealth government. In 1945, the United States guaranteed the Philippines complete independence.

In December 1941, however, Japan launched an attack on the US Navy at Pearl Harbor. On December 10, 1941, Japanese troops invaded the Philippines. They conquered Manila on January 2, 1941. By May 6, 1942, Japan had completely occupied the Philippines. However, American soldiers returned to the Philippines in October 1944. They retook Manila in February 1945. The Philippines gained independence on July 4, 1946. Manuel Roxas served as the country's last Commonwealth president and the country's first president following independence.

In the mid-nineteenth century, in the year 1965, Ferdinand E. Marcos (1917-1989) was elected president of the Philippines. In 1969, he was re-elected. However, poverty and inequality plagued the Philippines. A land reform effort began in the 1960s. Many peasants, however, were dissatisfied with its sluggish development, and a Communist insurrection erupted in the countryside. Marcos imposed martial law on September 21, 1972. He put a curfew in place, suspended Congress, and imprisoned opposition leaders. Marcos and his associates profited themselves under the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.

The opposition leader Benigno Aquino was exiled to the United States in 1980. He was shot when he returned on August 21, 1983. Aquino became a martyr, and his assassination infuriated Filipinos.

Marcos called an immediate election in February 1986. Cory Aquino, Benigno's widow, brought the opposition together. Marcos won (a clear case of electoral fraud). Ordinary folks flocked to the streets to show their support for Cory Aquino. Marcos' supporters deserted him, and he was forced into exile.

Corazon Aquino's time in office was not easy. (Seven coup attempts were made against her.) Furthermore, many Filipinos believed that they should leave because of the American bases in the Philippines (Subic Bay Naval Base and Clark Air Base). Mount Pinatubo erupted in 1992, engulfing Clark in volcanic ash and forcing him to flee. In 1993, they moved away from Subic Bay.

Fidel Ramos became president when Corazon Aquino's tenure expired in 1992. He enhanced the Philippines' infrastructure, notably the electrical supply. The economy began to expand more quickly when the sector was privatized. However, the Philippine economy collapsed by the end of the 1990s. Meanwhile, Joseph Estrada, a former actor known as ERAP, was elected president in 1998. Estrada was impeached in November 2000 after being accused of corruption. Estrada was found not guilty. Despite this, protests took place against him, and the military withdrew its backing. In 2001, Estrada was forced to resign and was succeeded by Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. She was re-elected in 2004 and served as president until 2010, when she was replaced by Benigno S. Aquino III, Corazon Aquino's sole son, and then succeeded by Rodrigo Duterte in 2016, where the infamous “war on drugs” of the 71-year old President Duterte began.

Nowadays, in the year 2022, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will step down to let a new successor to the throne take his place. The country, up until the time of this writing, is still running its elections. But whatever the outcome would turn out, the Filipinos always expect a new change every time a new leader emerges; a change in society, technology, economy, and in overall life.