Today in Labor History April 27, 1521: On this day, Philippine Natives fought the battle of Mactan against Ferdinand Magellan. Lapulapu’s warriors ambushed him and overpowered the Spanish forces. They killed Magellan with a poison arrow. Their victory delayed Spanish colonization of the Philippines by forty-four years. For centuries, native Muslim Filipinos fought wars against their Spanish rulers. The Spanish saw these as a continuation of the Reconquista of Spain from the Moors. They brought in conscripts from Mexico and Latin America, including many Native Americans. Mortality was high on both sides. Many conscripts fled into the countryside, or joined with the Filipino forces. Yet, despite all the slaughter and repression of Native Filipinos, the colony was never profitable to Spain. During the 1800s, Filipino immigrants fought alongside Latin Americans in their wars for independence from Spain. In 1896, Filipinos fought their own war for independence from Spain.
When the U.S. initially landed in the Philippines, in 1898, they supported Filipinos in their uprising against Spain. However, by August, 1898, the U.S. had ended their collaboration with Native Filipinos and soon annexed the country. American rule was brutal. In 1899, American went to war against their colonial subjects. The war was far deadlier and more costly than their war against Spain. 4,200 American soldiers, up to 20,000 Philippine soldiers, and at least 200,000 civilians died.
The Japanese occupation during World War II was also brutal. In the most infamous example, 10,000 Filipino and 1,200 U.S. soldiers died in the Bataan Death March. However, during the occupation, Filipino guerillas fought an insurgency against the Japanese. Consequently, the Philippines became the costliest theatre of war for the Japanese. Nearly 500,000 Japanese died fighting in the Philippines. But it was much worse for Filipinos, with over 1 million dying during World War II. The Battle of Leyte Gulf, toward the end of World War II, was the largest naval battle in history.
Mark Twain, who was vice-president of the American Anti-Imperialist League from 1901 until his death in 1910 said “I have read carefully the treaty of Paris and I have seen that we do not intend to free, but to subjugate the people of the Philippines. We have gone there to conquer, not to redeem… And so I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.”
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