Are those among us, charged by GMA, to be indeed punished, or rewarded, as...

                   MUTINEERS  OR  HEROES? 

There were soldiers among us filipinos who resisted the GMA government which is a group with a military force which: collaborated with foreigners to continue their control of our defense, political, and economic systems; handed over to foreigners our territories like Sabah and Spratlys; prevented the investigation of reports regarding the involvement of the AFP Chain of Command in the tampering of the 2004 Presidential Election results and; thereafter collaborated with the chinese in having access to the communication and information network of our nation thru the ZTE broadband deal.  The GMA government however charged these soldiers among us with what they termed as "mutiny".  These actions of GMA which were being resisted by soldiers among us who were charged, are national security issues.  But more fundamentally, these are issues concerning the damage of our national developmental code included in which, the moral ethics of a generation after generation of us, filipinos.  Who among us then, could have put up a resistance against such acts against such group?

These soldiers among us who have been charged, were just providing the needed support and starter for us filipinos to continue and reciprocate the lives our forefathers offered resisting the foreign invaders against grabbing our inherited sovereignty, excellence, and dignity as a newly born nation then.  These invasions which have been collaborated by many filipinos among us from one generation to the next, have been continued by the same foreigners and collaborated by GMA of this generation.  The summarized details of these information can be read in:  http://jmgpatria.blogspot.com/2013/03/u-s-invasion-of-philippines-stage-3.html; and http://jmgpatria.blogspot.com/2009/06/chinese-invasion-continues.html . 

These soldiers among us who were charged in court by the GMA government with what they termed as “mutiny”, were actually continuing the tradition of nationalism, bravery, excellence, independence, justice, and responsiveness to society lived by General Artemio Ricarte, General Antonio Luna, General Macario Sakay, Maj Torres Bugallón, and many of our warriors ahead of us.  How could it be that the loftiest traditions of our heroes then, would become a crime today?

It was not a crime then to resist injustices in whatever form.  It was heroism.  Is it right today for anybody to determine an act to be a crime based on failure to achieve the objective for that act by the person?  Is this today our principle of justice? 

For the sacrifices of these soldiers among us in defending our nation, honor and reward is the only deserving compensation. The very least that should come from our efforts is the working for reinstatements. These soldiers among us should also be compensated for damages to be appropriated from GMA, Esperon, Senga, Yano who dismissed the enlisted personnel, Garci, Mayuga for hiding the evidences, Puno, and many others involved in the crime of treason.

When will this reign of injustices of the strongest, exploiting the weakest among us, go on?  We should set a precedent by considering crimes as unacceptable and defense of helpless victims of such crimes as the norm that is valued in our nation.  We should set a precedent by considering the taking advantage of the imperfections of the laws made by man, and of the physical weaknesses as well as weaknesses of judgement of a person in order to gain a personal benefit at the expense of another, as a crime.  We should set a precedent that justice does prevail.

José Miguel García

To the Children of the Prisoners of War & the Hunted Under the GMA Assumed Government

YOUR HEROES ARE OUR HEROES TOO

Your heroes are not mutineers—a deception concocted by an intruding government. Who is the lawful authority they rebelled against? Is it the one whose only claim to legitimacy is the prevention of presentation of evidences of the GMA involvement in the tampering of the 2004 presidential election results in an investigation?

Your heroes are not coup plotters—a deception concocted by an intruding government. What has a coup got to do with our being continuously occupied by the Americans today since 1899 when they begun to invade us? The Americans have poured their toxic wastes in the Subic, Zambales area which resulted to rare diseases to our children there. They raped our Filipinas freely. They continue to conduct military exercises in our terrain to familiarize in an area strategically valuable to them. This makes us Filipinos, even more militarily vulnerable to the Americans. What has a coup got to do with the continued subtle invasion of the Chinese of our economic areas from the 1900s till now also as a result of that American invasion of 1899. There are Americans like Capt David Fagen, Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie and many others who defected on our side or have fought for the rights of nations which their own nation have abused. There are Chinese or Chinese meztizos in the Philippines such as Herman Tiu Laurel, Alejandro Lichauco and Gen Danilo Lim in the Philippines who: came here with legitimate purpose; fought for the cause of our liberation as a Filipino nation-- they are more Filipinos than the collaborator GMA, the congressmen for sale or Filipino mercenaries in the Armed Forces. They are either assets or added treasures of our nation. In the past, the Spanish blood in the veins of our heroes like Andrés Bonifacio and Fr. José Burgos did not deter them from confronting the Spaniards by having organized an independence movement for us and upheld our status and rights. For details and references of this information, see my post at http://jmgpatria.blogspot.com/2009/06/developmental-basis.html and http://jmgpatria.blogspot.com/2009/06/chinese-invasion-continues.html.

Thru all these invasion, GMA has been collaborating. Is this not treason? What has a coup got to do with arresting the perpetration of the acts of treason? Is this not the duty of every soldier of a nation? Is defending the nation against foreign invasion not the essence of the profession of a soldier?

In more healthy and civilized nations like France, Israel, Japan and Vietnam, their soldiers professional as they are, would have spontaneously mounted a fierce resistance against foreign invaders and their collaborators. Gen Charles de Gaulle of France is one example of having led the resistance against the German invasion and the French puppet government of the Germans, Petain. A few years after that, he had the US base in France removed.

But we Filipinos also have a tradition of warriors who resisted the American invaders of 1899. To name a few, Gen Ricarte, Gen Antonio Luna, Gen Alejandrino, Gen Tino, Gen Lukban, Gen Malvar, Gen Sakay, and Maj Torres Bugallon. They offered their lives to leave as a nation born in 1898 and one we can come home to as our own. This is the fine tradition inherited by professional filipino soldiers among us today. They are, as all of us filipinos should be, continuing that unfinished fight to recover our inherited nation.

Your heroes are continuing that fight, so that we can all soon come, to our own home.

Your heroes are our heroes too! Please tell your classmates.

José Miguel García

National Historical Institute: José Alejandrino

JOSÉ ALEJANDRINO
(1870-1951)
General, Philippine Army

Jose Alejandrino proved his love of country and great heroism as an engineer and general in the revolutionary army of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo. Considered an early Filipino chemical engineer, he was born to a wealthy couple from Arayat, Pampanga on December 1, 1870 in Binondo, Manila. His brother, Col. Joaquin Alejandrino, also rendered military service during the Philippine Revolution, assisting Gen. Manuel Tinio.

General Alejandrino obtained his education both here and abroad, initially at the Ateneo Municipal and, thereafter, at the University of Santo Tomas, where he acquired a Bachelor of Arts degree. He pursued his studies in Spain and at the University of Ghent in Belgium, where he distinguished himself and brought honor to his country through his superior academic performance. Edilberto Evangelista, another Filipino engineer who served in the revolutionary army, was his schoolmate in Ghent. In July 1895, he graduated with a degree in chemical engineering.

While in Spain, Alejandrino became an active member of the Propaganda Movement, which strove to secure political reforms in the Philippines from the Spanish government. Together with Eduardo Lete and Dominador Gomez, he joined the editorial staff of La Solidaridad, the mouthpiece of the Propagandists. When the Propagandists decided to hold an election for the leadership of the Filipino community in Spain, two partisan groups emerged. One, in support of Marcelo H. del Pilar, was led by Antonio Luna and included Dominador Gomez, Salvador V. del Rosario and Mariano Ponce. The other group, composed of M. Salvador, Galicano Apacible, B. Roxas and Alejandrino himself, supported Rizal, who eventually won the presidency but gave it up in favor of Del Pilar. Alejandrino and Rizal, who were close friends, were together when the latter had El Filibusterismo, his great sequel to Noli Me Tangere, published. It was Alejandrino bought the manuscript to the printing press.

On November 21,1896, several months after the Philippine Revolution broke out, Alejandrino accompanied by Feliciano Jocson, journeyed to Kawit , Cavite to seek a meeting with General Aguinaldo. Evangelista his old schoolmate at the University of Ghent, had proposed that he acquired the much-needed arms for the revolutionaries from either China or Japan. Alejandrino offered to undertake the dangerous mission. When Aguinaldo accepted his offer, he proceeded to Hong Kong, where he help organized the Revolutionary Council along with Felipe Agoncillo, Jose Basa, and Mariano Ponce. Much later he became part of the group in Hong Kong Committee, which included Agoncillo and Galicano Apacible who staunchly advocated independence, as opposed to the circle led by Jose Basa and Doroteo Cortes, who were for annexing the country to the United States.

From Hong Kong, however, was able to dispatch to the revolutionaries in the Philippines only dynamites and rifle pistons. Thus, in February 1897, he left Hong Kong for Japan, to try to aquifer more weapons and supplies.

In 1898, he served in the Malolos Congress that was first convoked on September 15 by the revolutionary government. He became a member of two crucial committees - the committee on budget, and the committee to draft the Constitution. On September 26, he was given the position of director of agriculture and industry of the revolutionary administration. Later, he was designated chief of the engineers of the army by President Aguinaldo.

When the Philippine-American War erupted, he affiliated with Gen. Antonio Luna and his troops. Subsequently, as chief engineer, he directed the building of trenches in several areas, including Bulacan and Caloocan.

He rose to the position of brigadier-general, and served as acting Secretary of War. He was also appointed commanding general of the military operations in Central Luzon (in place of Gen. Pantaleon Garcia), and military governor of Pampanga, replacing Gen. Maximino Hizon, who had earlier been caught by the enemy. By then the beleaguered government of Aguinaldo had been continuously hounded by the pursuing American forces and pushed backed to Tarlac.

In September 1899, he headed the three- man commission charged with releasing 13 American prisoners and holding talks with General Otis, the commanding general of the American army in the Philippines, on the suspension of hostilities. Lt. Col. Ramon Soriano and Maj. Evaristo Ortiz assisted General Alejandrino. Later he also conferred with Gen. Arthur McArthur, who had replaced Otis as chief of the American forces. The two talked on the brutal, dehumanizing abuse of Filipino civilians by American soldiers. Meanwhile, the revolutionaries' struggle was being debilitated by cowardly Filipinos whom Alejandrino excoriated for treacherously collaborating with the Americans.

In May 1901, after much suffering and the tragic loss of countless comrades in the field, General Alejandrino surrendered, in Arayat, to General Funston. The latter initially refused his offer to surrender and, instead, had him placed under arrest, demanding that he present a certain American Negro, named Fagan, who was wanted for desertion. Although he resisted Funston's demand, Alejandrino was released the next day.

In August of the same year, Alejandrino accepted from Gov. William H. Taft the position of second city engineer of Manila, but discharged his duties for not more than a year. He retired to lead a farmer's life until 1923, when he was designated senator for Sulu and Mindanao by Gov. Gen, Leonard Wood. In 1934, he was elected representative of Pampanga's second district to the Constitutional Convention. He was a member of the Partido Democrata Nacional, which counted among its members Claro M. Recto and Juan Sumulong. He was also one of the founders of the Pan-Orientalist Society.

La Senda del Sacrificio, General Alejandrino's account of the Philippine Revolution against Spain and the Philippine-American War, tells of the noble revolutionaries and the lonely wars, both great and small, that they fought in order to attain the ever-elusive but exalted goal of national freedom. General Alejandrino was among those noble revolutionaries. He died on June 1, 1951.

References:

Larkin, John A. The Pampangans, Colonial Society in a Philippine Province, University of California Press, 1972.

Gwekoh, Sol. “Hall of Fame,” Manila Times, 1965-1966.

Cornejo, M.R. Commonwealth Directory of the Philippines, 1939.

Wikipedia: Battle of Mabitac

Our tactical victory over our American invaders which all of us Filipinos must remember.

National Historical Institute: AGUEDA ESTEBAN

Philippine History Group of Los Angeles: MIGUEL MALVAR