Indefense Day
It was on June 12, 1898, when the “Act of the Proclamation of Independence of the Filipino People” was read at General Emilio Aguinaldo’s ancestral house in Kawit, Cavite. The country’s independence, however, was not achieved quickly. Through the Treaty of Paris, the Spaniards ceded its control of the islands to the Americans, causing the Philippine-American War and, consequently, United States’ rule of the country. It was only on July 4, 1946, when independence was totally granted to the Philippines. Since then, Independence Day was celebrated on July 4. Then in 1962, the country’s ninth President, Diosdado Macapagal, proclaimed June 12 a public holiday “in commemoration of our people’s declaration of their inherent and inalienable right to freedom and independence.” The change was confirmed through Republic Act No. 4166 in 1964. President Macapagal explained why such a move is appropriate in a speech he delivered on June 12, 1962. ...