Celebrating Rizal on my Birthday!

Alaska (><) Philippines Connection 6

Having a birthday on July 2 has always meant a big celebration as it is two days before American Independence Day (July 4). That meant I was always dubbed a FIRECRACKER! But this year is different because July 4 is no longer celebrated as Philippine Independence Day, as the American Overlords had declared it to be in 1946 after WWII

My Birthday at the Birthplace of

Philippine National Hero, Jose Rizal

*This statute of* ***Jose Rizal*** *is in a park dedicated to the National Hero and moral leader of Philippines at his birthplace in Calamba, Laguna, Philippines*

***Kuya Nap*** works the fruit picker from a ladder leaned against an avocado tree. The picker has a comb of metal teeth to separate the fruit from the vine with a tug. The collected avocados were offerings to friends in Laguna Province later in the day.

Kuya Nap doesn’t speak English very well but he is very openly kind and accommodating to me. He planted this tree many years ago and now avocados were hanging like green goose eggs overhead. I brought a sturdy bag to put them in and Nap brought the ladder and a picking net. Together we filled the bag to be used for trading stock in Calamba, where I wanted to visit the birthplace of Jose Rizal.

[1]My previous story: Jose Rizal: PH National Hero for Independence

This is what I wanted to do for my birthday and it was a glorious day!

Philippines’ Taste of Independence

July 4, 1946: In ceremonies held in the temporary Independence Grandstand (built in front of the Rizal Monument in Manila), the Philippine flag is raised while the U.S. flag is lowered. The flagpole in front of the Rizal Monument is thus known as the Independence Flagpole, commemorating the culmination of the quest for national independence.

1946 was also an interesting year for Alaska as the Legislature there voted to place the issue of USA Statehood on the ballot. A majority of Alaskans wanted Uncle Sam to take care of them with more federal spending after the war. Alaskans in the Territory of Alaska voted 9,630 to 6,822 in favor of statehood but the US Congress would fail to agree for some years to come.

We were a Poor State with Mostly Native

Population

[2]100 Years of Alaska’s Legislature, 1945-1946

From one of my favorite books about Philippines:

The United States relinquished its titular and tutelary hold on the country choosing the same date of its own independence to do so. The Stars and Stripes was lowered, and the Philippine flag, with its golden-rayed sun, raised in its place The population of a still bleeding nation stood at 18 million. With Manuel L. Roxas and Elpidio Quirino as its president and vice president respectively, the Republic of the Philippines was finally independent of the United States, its colonial master the past half-century.

National flag of the Philippines

Many Filipinos asked: Was this truly independence?

Since Roxas and Quirino presided over transference of sovereignty from the USA to the newly formed republic they were thus the last president/vice president of the commonwealth, and the first president/vice president under the postcolonial Republic of Philippines.

[3]History of the Philippines

How USA got Alaska

Russian explorer Vitus Bering is credited with discovering Alaska and mapping it during the Great Northern Expedition lasting roughly from 1733 to 1743 under commission by Emperor Peter the Great. The Russia-American Company exploited Alaska furs until sea otters were almost extinct and then sold Alaska to USA for $7.2 million in 1867.

One of the most important achievements of the expedition was the mapping of the north east part of Asia. The geography department of the St. Petersburg Academy of Science published in 1754 a map with the title Nouvelle Carte des Découvertes faites par des Vaisseaux Russiens, which also depicted Vitus Bering’s and Aleksei Chirikov’s sea route. The new geographic information was quickly diffused and received widespread attention in all of Europe. The above is an English map entitled The Russian Discoveries prepared by the London cartographer Thomas Jefferys (this is a reprint published by Robert Sayer in the American Atlas of 1776)..

[4]Great Northern Expedition

Independence of the Philippines—and the inauguration of its Third Republic—was marked by Roxas re-taking his oath, eliminating the pledge of allegiance to the United States of America which was required prior to independence, this time as the first President of the Republic. The Congress of the Commonwealth then became the First Congress of the Republic, and international recognition was finally achieved as governments entered into treaties with the new republic.

In 1962, Ninth PH President Diosdado Macapagal issued Proclamation No. 28, effectively moving the date of Philippine independence from July 4 to June 12—the date independence from Spain was proclaimed in First President Emilio Aguinaldo’s home in Kawit, Cavite. In his proclamation, President Macapagal cited the establishment of the Philippine Republic by the Revolutionary Government under General Emilio Aguinaldo on June 12, 1898, marked our people’s declaration and exercise of their right to self-determination, liberty and independence.

[5]Alaska (><) Philippines Connection 3

*Philippines President Macapagal December 30, 1961 – December 30, 1965*

Macapagal adopted the view of historians and many political leaders, that the foundation date of the nation should be June 12, since July 4 was the restoration of that original independence.

Moreover, the move was made in the context of the rejection of the U.S. House of Representatives on the proposed $73 million additional war reparation bill for the Philippines on May 28, 1962. The rejection, according to President Macapagal, caused indignation among the Filipinos and a loss of American good will in the Philippines.

[6]Official Gazette of the Philippines

Macapagal further explained that he deemed it the right time to push the change of the independence date, a political move he was planning even before his ascent to the presidency.

[7]Memoirs of Presdent Macapagal

Flag of Alaska

Decline of a once Hopeful Territory of Alaska

World War II had dramatically changed Alaska. Between 1939 and 1945, the population had doubled as large military installations were built and provisioned. As the end of the war drew near, the territorial economy boomed with federal spending; however, this did not translate into significantly increased revenue for the territorial government. Therefore, although the cost of the general operations bill increased substantially to roughly $5.63 million, or about 30 percent over the previous biennial budget, that increase was less than what one might expect given population increases. Further, this budget needed to cover the costs of the newly formed Departments of Agriculture, Health, Labor, and Taxation. To help cover these costs, the Legislature adopted a one cent per gallon tax on motor fuel and increased alcohol taxes.

When federal mandates were imposed–and short-changed–big talking Alaskans went fishing.

Alaskans wanted USA to Provide More US Government Support!

The 17th Territorial Legislature sought to expand and protect rights. First, it granted to Alaskans aged 18 and over the right to vote. Until the 1971 approval of the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the federal voting age was 21, and only a few states allowed anyone younger to vote in state elections. (Territorial Alaskans were still unable to cast votes for federal offices or even for their own governor.) Second, following dramatic and highly regarded testimony by Elizabeth Peratrovich, a Tlingit woman hailing from Petersburg, Alaska became the first state or U.S. possession to pass a broad anti-discrimination law nearly two decades before passage of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964. Under the Alaska law, anyone discriminating based on race, or posting signs that sought to enforce separate accommodations based on race, became subject to punishment of up to 30 days in jail and/or a $250 fine.

[8]100 Years of Alaska’s Legislature 1945-46

Imagine if We the People of Alaska had stood up the the United States of America and demanded independence. Instead, as Topcover for America our Alaska lands have largely been turned into public parks, unavailable for natural resource development, and our parks turned into homeless camps too dangerous for public use. What if courageous Alaskans and Alaska Native leaders had embraced a new standard for civilization for Alaska? Instead, as the USA is today being overrun by open border policies to create Democrats, Alaska has a despicable Ranked Choice Voting system in which votes cast for Republicans are reassigned to Democrats over weeks of vote-counting and the candidate coming in last eventually becomes our U.S. Congress Representative.

[9]Shame of Alaska: Jungle Primary>Ranked Choice Voting

Alaskans will soon face the reality of USA Policies bringing undocumented immigrants seeking refuge here to further taxing our woefully inadequate public education and health and social services infrastructures. Our Alaska Legislature doesn’t even honor laws regarding payment of Permanent Fund Dividends IT established and worked for 40 years!

[10]When Legislators Cared about Alaskans; Hugh Malone’s Permanent Fund Legacy

By contrast, anyone coming to visit Philippines must have a round-trip ticket.

In short, the state is being run as might be expected in 3^rd World Countries while Philippines stands independent with its Asian neighbors in defiance of BOTH China and USA. Having witnessed what a majority of misguided Alaska Elected officials have done in Alaska since statehood, this writer regrets the likely future of an Alaska spending beyond its means and beholding to Uncle Sam for our security.