Episode 003: Touch Me Not

## Introduction

The Philippine Islands are an archipelago that have been occupied since pre-historic times and have always had strong trading relations with neighboring nations like China, Japan, and the rest of Southeast Asia. In the 16th century the Philippines fell under Spanish control, and now, at the turn of the new century they have a new colonial master, the United States. This experience was described as "300 years in a convent and 50 years in Hollywood".

## Episode Summary

After a brief history of the impetus of Spanish colonization of the New World and islands in the Pacific, and loss of much of these colonies in the revolutionary fervor of the early 1800s we find Spain the colonial masters of a few African colonies, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. The Philippines by this point was a Catholic country, but the Spanish language did not take root to the same extent that it had in other Spanish colonies.

After an 1872 mutiny at a Spanish arsenal in Cavite on the southern shore of Manila bay, blame was put on three priests: Mariano Gómez, José Burgosand Jacinto Zamora. Collectively known as Gomburza. This execution made a marked impression on the young Jose Rizal. Rizal was a very bright child. He studied medicine in Spain, dabbled in other sciences and wrote a novel "Noli Me Tangere" or "Touch me Not" about the brutal Spanish colonial rule. Upon returning to the Philippines he took up the cause of Filipino nationalism and founded "The Philippine League". Also a member of this League was a man Andres Bonifacio, who went on to found his own movement, "The Exalted and Most Honorable Society of the Sons of the People", better known by it's perhaps unfortunate initials as "The KKK".

In 1895 the Cubans revolted against Spanish rule, Bonifacio took advantage and led the KKK and the Philippines in revolution against Spain the next year in 1896. After the Cuban revolt broke out, Rizal volunteered to serve as a doctor, though on arrival he was executed, and charged with treason. He was returned to the Philippines where he was executed by firing squad on December 30, 1896 at the age of 35 years old.

Emilio Aguinaldo was another prominent figure of the Philippine revolt. He was able to organize resistance to Spanish forces at Cavite. A power struggle soon emerged between Aguinaldo and Bonifacio. Aguinaldo declared himself the president of a new Philippine republic on March 1897, though he was soon driven to capitulate to the Spanish later that year. He fled the Philippines for Hong Kong in order to reorganize, and it was in Hong Kong that Emilio Aguinaldo met Commodore George Dewey. Aguinaldo becomes convinced that he has the American's support, though the Americans have made no commitment toward Philippine independence. Meanwhile Aguinaldo left Hong Kong for Singapore due to legal troubles.

## One More Thing

Before the Spanish colonized the Philippines there was no uniting feature of the residents of the islands. Jose Rizal became something of a martyr for Philippine nationalism, and became a symbol for the nation. He is called "the first Filipino" and is still required reading in Philippine high schools.

## Mentioned in this episode

### People

* Christopher Columbus
* Washington Irving
* King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile
* Ferdinand Magellan
* King Humabon and King Lapu-Lapu
* King Philip II of Spain and Queen Mary of England
* Mariano Gómez, José Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora (GomBurZa)
* Jose Rizal
* Harriet Beecher Stowe
* Andres Bonifacio
* Emilio Aguinaldo
* Commodore George Dewey

### Works of Art

* Touch Me Not
* Uncle Tom's Cabin