In the Philippines – where Spanish and later US colonial rule persisted for nearly four centuries – June 12 is the true Independence Day. That date, in 1898, was the pivotal moment when the island nation first made a bold move toward autonomy.
Ahead of this year’s holiday in Manila, the country’s capital, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called on Filipinos in a video message to display the country’s flag everywhere “as we continue to fight for independence. Independence in different aspects of our Filipino being, but more than this independence in our territory, our sovereignty.”
Since 2023, the Philippines increasingly faces tense territorial clashes with Beijing in the South China Sea.
The much-awaited annual celebration will be festive with a series of activities, which kicked off Monday at the capital’s historic Rizal Park, Marcos said. There is a bazaar along with government stalls offering services to the public. Festivities include a cooking competition, a pepper-eating contest, free screenings of films about Filipino heroes, free evening concerts and an obstacle course. A parade of 22 floats representing different provinces will be held on Independence Day and will be crowned by a musical concert, he said.
The revelry surrounding Philippine Independence Day extends far beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago, from the United Kingdom to the United Arab Emirates. Millions of Filipinos in cities across the US, Europe and Australia will be able to find parades, street fairs, galas and other gatherings close to home. Some are even bringing in well-known talent from the Philippines. The growing reach and inclusive spirit of the occasion demonstrate how the Filipino diaspora continues to assert cultural pride and flourish across the world.
The fight for independence dates back to 1565, when Spain colonized the Philippines, naming it in honor of King Philip II. It was only in 1896 that talk of revolution catalyzed action. Andrés Bonifacio, leader of the Katipunan, a brotherhood of anti-Spain revolutionaries, and others tore up their “cedulas,” residential tax certificates for people considered Spanish subjects.
“It’s like tearing up your passport or whatever identifies you as a citizen of a nation,” said Richard Chu, a history professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who was born in the Philippines. “So they tore it up symbolically as a rupture and declared independence – or at least (were) fighting for independence from Spain.”
Emilio Aguinaldo, also a member of the Katipunan, saw an opportunity for liberation when the US declared war on Spain on April 25, 1898, due to its treatment of Cuba. On June 12, he proclaimed independence, and a year later he became the first president of the Republic of the Philippines. But the US refused to recognize the country as an autonomous territory, triggering the Philippine-American War, which lasted until April 1902.
The Philippines finally became independent on July 4, 1946. Thus, July 4 was the traditional holiday until President Diosdado Macapagal changed it in 1964 to June 12.
As a child in the 1970s, Chu remembers watching the preparations in Rizal Park. The festivities began in the morning with the senior Marcos raising the flag as cabinet and military officials looked on. The parade was more of a “military parade followed by people from different government agencies.”
“It’s supposed to be a festive celebration and every other city or big city would have their own Independence Day celebrations,” Chu said.
Independence Day can evoke mixed feelings for some who do not have the same nationalist fervor or agree with their government’s policies. That’s one reason Chu doesn’t feel an urgent need to celebrate the holiday. At the same time, he enjoys being with other Filipinos in his community.
“If I lived in Boston, I would probably participate just because of the festivities, like the food vendors and maybe some Filipino-American folk scene,” Chu said. “I’m proud to be a Filipino, for sure.”
New York City held a parade and street fair along Madison Avenue on June 2. The same weekend in Seattle there was a two-day Filipino Pagdiriwang Festival. There were large parties and smaller picnics in Texas, California and Colorado, among other states.
In Phoenix, the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team will hold its first celebration of Filipino heritage at Tuesday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels.
Amilyn Pierce, part Filipino and vice president of government affairs for the Diamondbacks, credits a team business consultant who is also Filipino, Hunter Fitton, with launching the Independence Day event. He highlighted the large presence of Filipinos in the state. He also recruited local Filipino dance groups and food trucks. Diamondbacks caps with the Philippine flag were also sold out.
“I was surprised to find out there was such a large Filipino community,” Pierce said. “I really love that the team has prioritized going beyond what perhaps someone might think is the normal or stereotypical demographic.”
In every country in Europe there are large meetings with long-standing reputations. Given that the Filipino diaspora is one of the largest diaspora populations in the world, it’s not surprising how many celebrations there are, said Chu, the Amherst professor.
In the Netherlands, the Kalayann Fiesta Netherlands Foundation held an Independence Day picnic over the weekend. Ice Seguerra, a popular Filipino actor and singer-songwriter who is transgender, was the guest artist.
Journey Torres, who immigrated to the Netherlands from the Philippines in 1999 when she was 8 years old, remembers going to a Philippine Independence Day event in Amsterdam two years later. He described the event as having the atmosphere of a small “family barbecue party.” There weren’t many other Filipinos at that time. But in the 2010s, jobs and cultural exchange programs brought more. The event gained more notoriety with Filipinos coming from Germany and Belgium.
“Now there are also buses that go from Belgium to the Netherlands,” said Torres. “I believe it is one of the first Philippine Independence Day celebrations organized here in continental Europe.”
The Philippine Independence Day Association in Rome has been organizing events for over 15 years in hotels, parks and plazas. They seem to get bigger and bigger and attract Filipinos from all over Italy, said Jaiane Morales, the event’s vice president of programming.
This year’s party, which lasted through Sunday, took place inside a concert hall, but with Pinoy food stalls outside that, among other foods, served the traditional Filipino ice cream dessert of halo halo as well as the classic Italian ice cream . The goal is to have a feast of food and “Filipino costumes,” Morales said.
The event’s talent show theme, “Balik Saya” or “joy of return,” aims to foster meaningful connections abroad. Millions of Filipinos have left the Philippines, a major source of global labor, in search of jobs and better opportunities to earn and support the loved ones they left behind.
“If they miss their families at home, this is a way to alleviate that loneliness,” Morales said.
___ Associated Press writer Jim Gomez in Manila contributed to this report.
___
Terry Tang is a member of AP’s Race and Ethnicity team based in Phoenix. You can follow her on X at @ttangAP.
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