PinoyBuilt — Stories of Filipino America

Jolo, Sulu, Philippines • August 1899. The Bates Agreement: How the U.S. Bought Moro Neutrality to Crush a Republic. bates agreement, kiram-bates treaty, sultanate of sulu, philippine-american war, moro history, decolonization, bangsamoro autonomy, jamalul kiram ii, general john bates. Philippine-American War • August 1899 The Bates Agreement: How the U.S. Bought Moro Neutrality to Crush a Republic On August 20, 1899, an American general and the Sultan of Sulu signed a treaty that kept the Moro south out of the war in the north — and set the terms for a century of broken promises. PinoyBuilt illustration — not an archival photograph. I grew up in Marikina reading about Rizal and Bonifacio before I ever left the Philippines. The Katipunan's story was the first anti-colonial history I ever knew, and it stayed with me through Chicago, through Vallejo, through everything since. What nobody handed me — not in Marikina, no...

Vallejo, CA • August 2026. The Cable Was Cut: What Manila Didn't Know on August 16, 1898. 8/16 1898, peace protocol manila, mock battle of manila, emilio aguinaldo locked out, wesley merritt, george dewey, fermin jaudenes, spanish american war philippines, philippine-american war origins, american annexation philippines, treaty of paris 1898, rizal act ra 1425, claro m recto, board of national education, filipino american history, decolonization, 8/16 Manila • August 1898 The Cable Was Cut: What Manila Didn't Know on August 16, 1898 Four days after the empires made peace in Washington, the news finally reached a city that had already changed hands — in a battle arranged in advance to keep Filipino soldiers outside the walls. The locked gate, August 1898. PinoyBuilt illustration over period documents — for four days, the men on both sides of that wall fought a war that had already ended. There is a particular kind of cruelty in be...

Philippines/USA • August 1898. On This Day: The U.S. Military Government That Began Without Filipino Consent. wesley merritt, mock battle of manila, philippine-american war, spanish-american war, us nationals, fil-am history, decolonization. On This Day • August 1898 August 14, 1898: The U.S. Military Government That Began Without Filipino Consent One day after a staged battle shut Filipino revolutionary forces out of their own capital, Major General Wesley Merritt declared a U.S. Military Government over the Philippines — the hinge point where American "liberation" became American colonization. Manila, August 1898 — the week the Philippines changed colonizers without ever being asked. I left the Philippines in 1976, but I didn't leave with a blank slate. I grew up in Marikina reading Rizal and Bonifacio off my titas/titos' bookshelf in #34. So when I sit with a date like August 14, 1898, I don't read it as a paragraph in ...

Manila, Philippines • August 1898. On This Day: The Mock Battle of Manila — how a staged surrender ended 330 years of Spanish rule, locked Filipino revolutionaries out of their own capital, and what that colonial playbook still looks like in the world powers of 2026. mock battle of manila, spanish-american war, philippine-american war, decolonization, fil-am history, emilio aguinaldo, fermin jaudenes. ON THIS DAY • AUGUST 13, 1898 The Mock Battle of Manila: How a Staged Surrender Ended 330 Years of Spanish Rule — and Locked Filipinos Out of Their Own Capital On this date in 1898, American and Spanish commanders scripted a fake battle so Spain could surrender Manila without dishonor. The one detail they didn't script was Filipino participation — and that exclusion still echoes in how world powers negotiate over smaller nations today. Intramuros, the walled heart of Spanish Manila — the prize both empires quietly agreed to trade without asking the F...