WHY RIZAL PARTICIPATED IN STREET FIGHTS BETWEEN FELLOW FILIPINO STUDENTS AND SPANISH STUDENTS?
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The Philippine Revolution (Filipino: Himagsikang Pilipino; Spanish: Revolución Filipina), called the Tagalog War (Filipino: Digmaang Tagalog; Spanish: Guerra Tagala) by the Spanish,[2] was a revolution and subsequent conflict fought between the people and insurgents of the Philippines and the Spanish colonial authorities of the Spanish East Indies, under the Spanish Empire (Kingdom of Spain).
The Philippine Revolution began in August 1896, when the Spanish authorities discovered the Katipunan, an anti-colonial secret organization. The Katipunan, led by Andrés Bonifacio, began to influence much of the Philippines. During a mass gathering in Caloocan, the leaders of the Katipunan organized themselves into a revolutionary government, named the newly established government "Haring Bayang Katagalugan", and openly declared a nationwide armed revolution.[3] Bonifacio called for an attack on the capital city of Manila. This attack failed; however, the surrounding provinces began to revolt. In particular, rebels in Cavite led by Mariano Álvarez and Emilio Aguinaldo (who were from two different factions of the Katipunan) won early major victories. A power struggle among the revolutionaries led to Bonifacio's death in 1897, with command shifting to Aguinaldo, who led the newly formed revolutionary government. That year, the revolutionaries and the Spanish signed the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, which temporarily reduced hostilities. Aguinaldo and other Filipino officers exiled themselves as the in the British colony of Hong Kong in southern China. However, the hostilities never completely ceased.[4]
On April 21, 1898, after the sinking of USS Maine in Havana Harbor and prior to its declaration of war on April 25, the United States launched a naval blockade of the Spanish colonial island of Cuba, off its southern coast of the peninsula of Florida. This was the first military action of the Spanish–American War of 1898.[5] On May 1, the U.S. Navy's Asiatic Squadron, under Commodore George Dewey, decisively defeated the Spanish Navy in the Battle of Manila Bay, effectively seizing control of Manila. On May 19, Aguinaldo, unofficially allied with the United States, returned to the Philippines and resumed attacks against the Spaniards. By June, the rebels had gained control of nearly all of the Philippines, with the exception of Manila. On June 12, Aguinaldo issued the Philippine Declaration of Independence.[6] Although this signified the end date of the revolution, neither Spain nor the United States recognized Philippine independence.[7]
The Spanish rule of the Philippines officially ended with the Treaty of Paris of 1898, which also ended the Spanish–American War. In the treaty, Spain ceded control of the Philippines and other territories to the United States.[4] There was an uneasy peace around Manila, with the American forces controlling the city and the weaker Philippines forces surrounding them.
The fact that Jose Rizal was bullied at the age of nine in Bian's town school is well known because of the outcome: Rizal defeated the bigger, older child and was never bullied again. The youngster then grew up to face a much bigger bully, the Spanish colonisation of the Philippines, which he conquered through his life and struggle to earn freedom and the birth of the Filipino people, according to the national storey. In the aftermath of the viral film on bullying taken at the Ateneo de Manila University junior high school, which brought into public dialogue what has been silently endured by many, Rizal's experience over a century ago takes on modern resonance.