DESTINY DENIED
A Chronological Summary of Events Leading To
The June 12, 1898 Declaration of Philippine Independence
by Peter V. Uckung

    It was a treaty on paper, serving only as a respite for the Spanish colonial government and the Filipino revolutionists. Neither party ever fully complied with the conditions in the Pact of Biak-Na-Bato. The Filipinos did not surrender all their arms; most of the officers of the revolutionary army retained their command and soon resumed harassing the colonial government. The Spaniards, on the other hand, did not pay the full amount of the agreed settlement with Aguinaldo and continued to treat the rebels who surrendered harshly. Worse, the Spaniards never really carried out the promised reforms. The Philippines by 1898 was a powder keg waiting for a spark.

Independence in the Eyes of the Filipinos
by Mona Lisa H. Quizon

    According to historian Esteban de Ocampo the “Filipinos are by nature and tradition a liberty-loving people”. Proofs are the various struggles, uprisings, mutinies, revolts, and insurrections of our forefathers from the time the Spaniards landed in our soil till the occupation of the Imperial Japanese. Filipinos had shed their life and blood for our freedom.