Philippine
Daily Inquirer
BATANGAS
CITY-President Macapagal-Arroyo is leaving it up to Congress to decide whether
to declare Gen. Miguel Malvar as the second President of the Philippines.
The President, who
was at the commemorative ceremonies here to mark the end of the
Filipino-American war 100 years ago on Tuesday, said she had sought the opinion
of Justice Secretary Hernando Perez, himself a Batangueno, and this was what he
advised.
Though she cited her
long association with Malvar's descendants from Batangas, Ms Macapagal said
that it was not in her power to declare their distinguished ancestor as the second
president of the country.
She said one of the
Malvar relatives was her language teacher, another a geography instructor, and
still another was her history teacher at the Assumption.
Her dentist is also
a Malvar from Batangas.
On April 3, the
members of the Batangas provincial council approved a resolution asking Ms
Macapagal to declare the Batangueno general as the second Philippine president.
Malvar is cited in
history texts as the last Filipino general to surrender to the Americans on
April 16, 1902, which marked the close of the Philippine-American War and ended
hostilities between the Philippines and the United States.
Malvar took over the
revolutionary government after Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, the first President of
the Republic, was captured the previous March and exiled to Hong Kong by the
Americans.
This was attested to
by the Philippine Revolutionary Junta in Hong Kong that was then headed by Galicano
Apacible.
Historian Teodoro Agoncillo has also stated that Malvar
"took over the leadership of the Filipino government, or what remained of
it, and harassed the Americans by his guerrilla tactics." Mei Magsino,
PDI Southern Luzon Bureau
Walang komento:
Mag-post ng isang Komento