Last of two partsFirst wordI TURN next to another grave error that survived multiple presidential administrations and cries out for rectification to this day.This was the decision to designate June 12, 1898, as the precise date of Filipino Independence Day and accept as authentic the proclamation read in Kawit, Cavite, as the official proclamation of Filipino independence.On this matter, there is debate.Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista, who was serving at the time in Emilio Aguinaldo's headquarters, was assigned to write the text of the proclamation.'The historic proclamation was written by hand in beautiful Castilian script,' wrote historian Onofre D. Corpuz. 'It was prolix, and it rambled. Only two brief clauses show literary eloquence beyond rhetoric. The first stated that 'the Filipino nation begins on this day to have a life of its own.' The second affirmed that 'the iniquitous measures employed by Spain to suppress the flowering of the tree of liberty in our land only caused it to flourish more and more until the last drop having been drained from the cup of our afflictions,' the revolution began.'Bautista's text contained major flaws. It stated that the Filipino government was a dictatorial government.Worse, it declared that the Filipino people, in proclaiming their independence, were 'under the protection of the powerful and humanitarian nation, the United States of America.'After the Kawit ceremonies were over, the document of the proclamation was passed out for signing. Among the 100 or so signatures, there is at the bottom of the document the signature of L.M. Johnson, a spurious character who appeared in the uniform of a US Army artillery colonel.Upon the recovery of Filipino independence on July 4, 1946, the new Filipino government adopted July 4 as National Independence Day to coincide with America Freedom Day.And so it went on until the accession to office of President Diosdado Macapagal. With the backing of Filipino historians, nationalists and other political leaders, Macapagal lobbied and won from Congress a law designating June 12, 1898, as the date of the proclamation of Filipino independence.Nothing was said at the time about the fact that the June 12 proclamation had been fully rewritten and replaced by another text that was approved by an assembly of town leaders.Corpuz, in his book 'Saga and Triumph: The Filipino Revolution Against Spain' (University of the Philippines Press, Quezon City, 2002), narrates the story of the Aug. 1 independence declaration that was written and approved to replace the June 12 proclamation.Around 200 town heads traveled from their provinces to Cavite in late July 1898 in response to the summons to discuss 'a solemn declaration of Filipino independence.'The assembly unanimously adopted an independence declaration, which now bore the writing of Apolinario Mabini, who excised all reference to protection by a great American nation.The assembly unanimously proclaimed the independence of Filipinas. The closing sentence of the declaration read: 'Given in Cavite province on the first day of August in the year of our Lord 1898, in the first day of Filipino independence.'An attested true copy of the original, dated Bacoor, Aug. 6, 1898, carried the signatures of 21 town heads of Cavite province; 23 town heads from Pampanga; 12 from Manila; 23 from Bulacan; 12 from Bataan; 27 from Nueva Ecija; 21 from Laguna; 13 from Morong; 17 from Tarlac; 21 from Batangas; followed by a note that town heads from Mindoro, Tayabas, Infanta, Zambales, Pangasinan and La Union also signed the declaration.One of the effects of the August 1 declaration was to relegate the proclamation of June 12 to the back files of the revolution. The latter was an embarrassing instrument for the objective of obtaining recognition from foreign powers.On Aug.7, 1898, Aguinaldo sent copies of the August 1 declaration to Felipe Agoncillo in Hong Kong, directing him to have it published in the crown colony.Judgment of historyThe change in the date of the nation's Independence Day, from July 4, 1946, to June 12, 1898, was made in the 1960s during the term of President Diosdado Macapagal (1961-1965).The date change took place quickly and smoothly. On May 12, 1962, President Macapagal issued Presidential Proclamation 28, which declared June 12 as Philippine Independence Day.The Congress followed suit by enacting on Aug. 4, 1964 Republic Act 4166, which changed the date of Philippine Independence Day from July 4, 1946 to June 12, 1898. From then on, our people have marked Independence Day every year on the 12th of June.Now, it will be asked: When should we celebrate Filipino Independence Day, Aug. 1 or June 12?And which should we Filipinos embrace as our authentic declaration of independence — the flawed Bautista text or the text of the approved Aug. 1 independence declaration?Each must pass or fail the judgment of history.yenobserver@gmail.com
