American Geopolitics Rewrites Philippine History

The United States, as the world's most powerful country plays a major role in writing global history. This nation puts pressures on how world events are written, to favor its geopolitical aims and purposes supported by its vast infrastructures in media and communications, diplomatic clout, economic prowess, military might and other advantages. For instance, since the 1898 Treaty of Paris, the US has done a great deal in influencing how Philippines history was recorded.

It is more familiar that the Philippines became a US colony by virtue of the 1898 Treaty of Paris ending the Spanish-American War. But its just the icing on the cake. Truth is the Philippines became a US colony by conquest of the Filipinos by the Americans. Note that the Treaty of Paris was signed while the Philippine Revolution against Spain was ongoing where the former was winning. Very few are aware of the fact that the Americans were actually attracted by the commercial and future political values of the Philippine Islands, that after the Treaty of Paris, the US tricked General Emilio Aguinaldo into believing that the Americans are coming only as an end to Spanish-American War. In other words, the May 1, 1898 Battle of Manila Bay between the US and Spanish fleets was a prearranged quasi duel between the attacking Americans and withdrawing Spaniards to dupe the Filipino revolutionaries and let the Americans land in Manila. By later treachery that surprised the Filipinos, the Americans started the conquest of the Philippines and the subsequent Filipino-American War at Pinaglabanan Bridge that separated the Philippine revolutionaries from their American guests. From then, the Americans had to employ more double talks to appease the Filipinos, end the Fil-Am War, colonize and exploit the Philippines.

Fast forward to the present , American geopolitics is still blurring how Philippine events are presented to the world. Having been used to meddling in Philippine affairs, the US felt threatened when President Duterte announced the pursuit of a more independent foreign policy. To counter the evolving risks to US pivot to Asia, the Americans applied pressure to Duterte by condemning alleged human rights violations in his anti illegal drug campaigns. This meddling angered Duterte who retaliated by bad mouthing his critics and threatening his alliance with the US. Truly hurt, Duterte would not stop his tirades, but what is surprising now is how the US succeeds in slowly making it appear that the continuing spat arises from Duterte's stated intention to break alliance with the Americans, and not because of the US meddling with his anti illegal drug campaign!

The US next increased pressure to Duterte by threatening to cut military and developmental aids at which Duterte replied by daring the Americans to do as they wish. These days, what is being written is Duterte's being ungrateful to Western aids when in fact his anger is towards the US carrot and stick policy!


The list of twisted story telling of history will continue as long as the geopolitical agendas of powerful nations are served. When the smoke of the contention settles, falsehood may be written as truth and vice versa. But sometime, the story must end and the protagonists must either win or lose.
And perhaps,

US geopolitics must not underestimate in writing the Philippines and Duterte's history.