AMERICAN & JAPANESE VENTURE

COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

UNIVERSTIY OF THE PHILIPPINES MINDANAO

PAPER AS PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS IN

KASAYSAYAN 1

ENALISAN, CHLOE JO S.

Bachelor of Arts in English-1

Submitted to: EMMANUEL S. NABAYRA

December 2019
AMERICAN VENTURE

Intervention of the Americans: The Americans attacked and defeated

Spanish Troops as if they are helping the Filipinos fight the revolution for

Independence. But, after attacking the Spaniards, the Americans or the U.S.A

troops treacherously attacked the Filipino soldiers and the Filipinos were defeated

and the Americans then occupied and colonize the Philippines and ruled the nation

for 50 years (Nabayra 2019).

President McKinley said after the guns had won “there was nothing

for us to do but to educate the Filipinos, uplift and civilize and Christianized them,

and by God’s gracedo the very best for them, as our fellowmen for whom Christ

also died” (Joaquin, 1988). This tells that the President just wanted to teach the

Filipinos in a Christian way.

No step in American empire-building in 1998 was as significant as the resulting

global territorial expansion involving Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, Hawaii, and the islands

of the Philippines archipelago and the Washington’s war with Spain in 1898. America’s

war with Spain exploded within a larger wave of European and Japanese global

expansion, sometimes called the “new imperialism.” What became a hurry for territorial

acquisition sprang from many different motivations, ranging from economic, missionary,

and moral imperatives to a policy of pure “realpolitik”—a raw, competitive drive for

national power and prestige (Nash and Olivas, nd.).

The Americans colonize the Philippines because they were planning to control

trade in china by building a railroad system like the success they have done in the U.S

mainland. In order to do these, they need a Capital City so they can operate their
business, just as the Portuguese had Macau, The British have Hongkong and the

Japanese had Shanghai. The Americans lose Manila to hold their offices there. They

need to go to Manila (Philippines) from the Spaniards by pretending to help the

Philippines and Cuba in their war for Independence. The Americans gains Cuba, Puerto

Rico and even the Philippines for 20 million dollars for a bargain (Nabayra. 2019).

“Historian Stuart Creighton Miller, author of Benevolent Assimilation: The

American Conquest of the Philippines, 1899-1903, states bluntly that “the driving force

10 behind the expansion across the continent and out into the Pacific was, and still is,

capitalist greed”. The five years preceding the Spanish-American War were depression

years, which puts the desire for global expansion into an economic context. The 1893

depression strengthened an idea developing within the political and financial elite of the

country that overseas markets for American goods would not only ease the domestic

economic crisis but would also deflate strike and protest movements and unite the

government and people; viewed in this light, the United States had no choice but to

enter into a contest to maintain its economic supremacy. The United States had long

had a “keen interest in foreign markets and a determination to conquer them for the

good of the country” (Jacobson 22). Economists and industrialists such as Andrew

Carnegie agreed that global expansion and foreign markets were necessary to alleviate

the domestic production surplus. Senator Lodge argued: “We must have new markets

unless we would be visited by declines in wages and by great industrial disturbances, of

which signs have not been lacking” (Jacobson 22)” (Holm,2013)

The United States defeated Spain in Cuba and Manila Bay and the Philippine

Islands were suddenly free of colonial tyranny, in 1898. the Filipino people found
themselves in the position of exchanging one colonial power for another instead of

independence. This conflict gained the United States a foothold in the Pacific, but it

came at great expense to both nations. Until 1946, the United States maintained control

of the island (Holm, 2013).

American soldiers volunteered to join teaching English (Thomasites) or start

plantations about coconut and abaca in Davao. Many Americans found employment in

the newly organized colonial government. They were harsh to the Newly organized

colonial government. They dared to go to Davao, clear the forest to plant abaca, or

plantation for coconuts and they were cruel to the African Slaves. Just some plantations

survived. One is owned by Joyce and is in Jose Abad Santos town in Davao Occidental.

He married with several Manobo and had children with them. There is also a Mayo

Plantation in Mati City; it was the Odell Plantation in Hijo. Most plantations failed

because the Americans could not get workers, especially lumad workers, because they

had a tendency to be cruel to their workers in the same manner as American cotton field

planters in south of the United States were cruel to their African slaves. They were

obliged to sell their farms to Japanese cultivators who were patient and kind to their

workers, especially because these indigenous workers, were close relatives of their

Bagobo wives (Nabayra. 2019).

The Americans adopted the 1860 Spanish division of Mindanao into five

politico-military districts”. the 1st is the District of Zamboanga, the 2nd is the District of

Misamis (includes Lake Lanao), the 3rd is the District of Surigao (includes the towns &

village aling the Pacific coast & the Agusan Valley), the 4th is the District of Davao

(includes the Davao Gulf and the Sigaboy peninsula (Punta San Agustin), the 5th is the
District of Cotabato (includes the valley of Rio Grande and the ancient Sultanate of

Buayan) and the last is the 6th the District of Basilan and Sulu under the commandant-

general of Mindanao (Nabayra. 2019).

The Americans had been in occupation of Davao for over five years during this

time. Davao was one of five districts of the Moro Province, which also included

Cotabato, Lanao, Zamboanga, and Sulu. Unlike in other areas, where resistance to

American aggression was fierce, Davao’s inhabitants from the elite to the various

tribes, received the Americans peacefully. However, when the Americans begun to

enforce their domination by changing the traditional political structure and transforming

vast tracts of land into abaca and coconut plantations, social unrest began to sweep

among the natives of the Davao Gulf region. (Nabayra. 2019).

The lumad (indigenous) peoples were enjoying a bountiful life in Compostela

Valley; they were not hungry. But that was before the arrival of the Spaniards, the

Americans, the Japanese, the Westernized Luzon and Visayan migrants, the forests

were packed with different wild animals, and these rivers and swamps provide the

lumad of Compostela Valley Province with abundant supply of protein from all kinds

of river fish, weeds, and waterfowls. The aborigines (Lumads) of Mindanao were

animists, They believed that only their Labaw na Magbabaya (God) created and owns

the Universe, including the lands, the forests, the wild and domesticated animals, the

trees and plants, the non-living things, the winds, the sky, the water, the soil –

everything. The soil was fertile and there was no need for intensive land cultivation

and fertilization which was being introduced by the missionaries, by the American

soldiers, the Japanese abaca planters and the westernized migrants from Luzon and
the Visayan provinces (Nabayra, 2019). It was then before the colonizers offered their

dirty hands to help.

Slavery, and Abuse of the Environment

Americans made Business venture in Davao and the reaction of the Lumad is

represented by Mangulayon who is according to Professor Macario D. Tiu in Davao,

Reconstucting History from Text and Memory (Ateneo de Davao University, 2005), “the

greatest Manobo hero (sic) was Mangulayon who killed the first American district

governor of Davao, Lt. Edward C. Bolton, on 6 June 1906 near Malita. Massive military

operations ensued in the Malalag area, with reports of massacres of natives. The

military operations would only stop when Mangulayon was reported killed on 3 August

1906. However, the natives conspired to protect Mangulayon and made the Americans

believe that he died in the assault on his kuta. So, while American documents record

his death, Mangulayon lived to a ripe old age in Lupon (Unless otherwise stated, all

information about Mangulayon comes from my book Davao 1890-1910: Conquest and

resistance in the garden of the gods. UP-CIDS, Quezon City, 2003, 161-221)”

(Nabayra, 2019).

Mangulayon was believed to be possibly the greatest of Davao heroes. He

was a Manobo who earned the distinction of being the only Lumad who succeeded in

killing the American official who was the Davao district Governor Lt. Edward C. Bolton

who was assassinated in Lacaron, Malita on 6 June 1906.” - from page 193 to page

201 written by Prof. Macario Tiu (Nabayra, 2019).

 The land conflict between the American planters and the natives, and the

abuses that the planters committed against the natives are the most important reasons

for the unrest. The loudest rumors of a rebellion emanated from Davao which was the

focus of American land claims. American settlers had already begun to squat on the

lands of the Lumads even before a public land law could be made operational in

Mindanao. They made the Lumads stay within the plantation so they could be used for

plantation labor because Americans followed the reduction policy for there was a

severe scarcity of employment (Nabayra, 2019).

The plantation’s opening was a backbreaking work, the Lumads were made to

fell trees and uproot the stumps of these trees, though they don’t want it because this

is where they get their livelihoods and that they are the owners of the lands. As they

were unused to this type of labor, they naturally did not like to work in the plantation.

There was nothing to gain from plantation work as they got all they wanted from the

forest. Oral tradition suggests many American planters acted like kings and abused

many of their Lumad workers. They were rounded up and brought back to the

plantations where they were punished when they tried to escape. Beatings were

apparently common, with one report of an American using ikog sa pagi (tail of a manta

ray) to make his workers work better. One oral narrative tells of the Lumad being

imprisoned in chicken coops with the chicken shit. (Nabayra, 2019). These are the

things we don’t want to hear, the hidden cruelty of the Americans. It was even hidden

in the internet therefore I couldn’t find much sources about the slavery in the Philippines

by Americans.
 The American planters were alarmed because of rumors that the natives were

planning to kill American planters in the first months of 1906, a strange “fanatical

dance” was spreading around the Gulf. The propagators were identified as Datu

Tomaros and Datu Compao of Lupon, who taught that a new god called Labi would

liberate the natives from the white men and enslave the Bisayans. As the local police

were afraid to touch the two datus, Bolton himself went to Lupon, arrested them, and

brought them to Davao. “A few days after arresting the Lupon datus, Bolton went to

Malalag to patch up differences between the American planters and the natives. It was

while Bolton was drinking the butong that Mangulayon struck Bolton with his kampilan

(big moro sword). Kalibay pierced Christian with a lance. This must have been done

simultaneously to prevent the Americans from helping each other. Their bodies were

badly mutilated showing the extreme anger of the natives that the rebels committed

ritual cannibalism. From the American reports we learn that Bolton stayed overnight in

Mangulayon’s place and died. In the killing of Bolton, only Mangulayon’s role was

emphasized by the natives. This was what Mangulayon wanted so that the Americans

would not have to punish a lot of people. In reality, when Bolton and Christian were

killed in Lacaron, Mangulayon had many companions other than his brothers. Many

American planters immediately went to Malalag to control the rebellion. In their

investigation, they advanced several reasons for Mangulayon’s rebellion. The

Americans put much weight on the report of the Manobo fisherman who quoted

Mangulayon as saying: “I now feel like a man again. I have killed those two Americans.”

Natives in Davao del Sur still recount many vivid stories about this huwes de kutsilyo.

They say the Americans killed all that they saw, man, woman, young or old and even
animals. This atrocity in Davao del Sur has never been exposed. The American

documents are silent, except to say there were military operations, and the Americans

instituted “stringent measure” in Davao del Sur. These were euphemistic terms for the

massacre of natives in Davao del Sur” (Nabayra, 2019).

Some legends today that talks of Mangulayon in Davao del Sur paint him as a

cruel leader. That is how he is viewed by the dominant culture. His exploits are

unknown. But Then Again Mangulayon is possibly the greatest of the Lumad hero. He

chose to fight the Americans who were grabbing their lands and forcing them to work

in the plantations rejecting the privileges that his position offered him. He showed

courage, cunning, and nobility of character – traits of greatness. Mangulayon is not

only a hero of the Lumads but a hero all Filipinos can be proud of (Nabayra, 2019).

Because of too much abuse and exploitation of the Lumad workers, a man

named Mangulayon stepped forward and showed threat to the Americans. The

Americans have gone too far; they think of these Indigenous groups lowly not thinking

that theses people have the capability to live without their help and their Christianity

thing.

On the time being, they find a new place within their ancestral domain when to

open a new kaingin in respecting nature and environment. They could not understand

the western agricultural practice, they do not understand monocropping, or the western

practice of reforesting because in their forest the Magbabaya had planted all kinds of

trees. The lumads see floods, drought, soil erosion, absence of deer, wild pigs and

chicken, mercury and cyanide poisoned rivers and streams, famine, sickness and
deaths as gaba (balloy, curse for disrespects, abuse, misuse and destruction of the

environment (Nabayra, 2019).

Owning a piece of land privately is a Western Concept, therefore it is foreign

to the ears and minds of the lumads. Firstly, introduced by Miguel Lopez de Legaspi in

1565 when he declared that the lands belong to the Spain and anybody who wanted

to own a piece of land privately could get a “title of ownership” from the King or his

representatives. The few who believed in the new order of things – that land could be

privately owned – took advantage of the situation. They got themselves as much land

as possible, leaving nothing for their relatives but the lumads of Mindanao are bountiful

and not greedy that every member has equal rights in using the land “owned by” (or

entrusted by God to) the tribe, the clan or the family. Every member may clear a kaingin

inside the communal forest to anything. That is why migrants who befriended the

lumads and requested for a piece of land to farm, were given. The migrant believed

that he was buying the land with the gifts he gave but the lumads believed that they

only lent the land to cultivate food crops for his family. They were surprised after several

years when the migrant would refuse to leave and that he paid for it and had obtained

the title of ownership for it. Most of the flat lands in Compostela Valley were fraudulently

acquired in this manner. The landless migrants from Luzon and the Visayas obtained

lands at the expense of the hospitality and ignorance of the lumads of Mindanao.

Because of their migration to Mindanao, The lumads who used to owned all the vast

forests were minoritized, marginalized and peasanttized (Nabayra, 2019).

Japanese Venture

The Japanese Venture started in 1903 when a Japanese man named Oshiro

came to Davao, studied abaca culture from the lumads and acquired a piece of land

in Bago, and planted abaca plants on his own. He invited jobless Japanese men to

migrate to Davao, work for him, marry Bagobo women to get their lands and cultivate

abaca plants, extract abaca hemp for export (Nabayra, 2019).

Bagobos during the American Occupation in the 1900's.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ab/53/53/ab5353abdfae99f632ee52623dc3c4ac.jpg

Colonialism is dead, but the goals which nations seek to attain through

securing trade items, markets, financial and technological resources have largely

remained the same. This is true both from the industrialized and developing countries'

perspectives. The goals of development and economic primacy need more than

friendly ties (Palongpalong,p.127). This explains that it needs more than friendly ties

that’s why the Japanese are smart enough to marry the women of the Bagobo tribe.
 Two other men named Forukawa and Ohta joined his abaca business. And

the lands with abaca gets vaster and extended from south bank of Davao river to the

southern barrio of Sta. Cruz of the town of Digos from the seashores of Talomo, Daliao

and Sirawan to the foothills of Mt. Apo and the mountain of Calinan. Also there are

abaca plantations located north of the Davao River, in Panabo, Tagum, Mabini,

Pantukan, Lupon, Nabunturan, and Moncayo and in the coastal towns of Cotabato

(Nabayra, 2019).

Because the Americans could not get lumad workers they maltreated like

black slaves in South Unified State, gave up their dream of being rich coconut and

abaca planters and sold their farms to the Japanese. The Japanese were kind to their

Bagobo in-laws whom they patiently trained to work, day in day out, in the abaca

Plantations of their Japanese in-law. The family got share in the profit of their

hacienda. Those who could not adopt to the rigid workman’s schedule moved uphills

to the foothills of Mt. Apo and the hilly country of Calinan to continue their hunting and

food foraging activities. The Japanese also cultivated coconuts, banana, rice, corn,

spices, coffee and cacao plants and they raised cattles, pigs and poultry; fished inside

the Davao Gulf. Their half-bred children were studying in Nikkei Genkai school in

Calinan. There can be found in Mintal the Japanese’ houses and hospitals (Nabayra,

2019).

Because of the growing power and people of Japanese in 1935 in Davao City,

the authority of Filipino politicians of Davao City were threatened because it seemed

like the Japanese already controlled the city. They built and maintained the roads;

they supplied running water and electricity to the city. The Japanese maintained a
large rest and recreation center along Bolton St. in Davao City. The Japanese were

calling Davao City as “Davaokuo”. Mintal was called “the litle Tokyo”. City officials like

Pelayo and Quimpo prepared a city charter for Davao City which curtailed Japanese

influence by including the vast Japanese plantations inside Davao City area and the

resolution was approved by President Manuel L. Quezon (Nabayra, 2019).

The Japanese are smart enough to have that strategy in conquering other

lands by marrying the daughters of the owners of the lands. The business venture in

Davao was very profitable, not for the Philippine Government, but for the Japanese

entrepreneurs. After World War II the lands planted with abaca were awarded and

titled by Philippine Bureau of Lands Office to soldiers, and to migrants from Luzon and

the Visayas, not to the Bagobo owners from whom Japanese farmers borrowed the

lands. I don’t know how the Philippine Government can justify the 1946 (or so) decision

of their Bureau of Land Office. But those lands are not already distinguished as the

Bagobo’s but by the Japanese because it was them that made the idea and made the

business possible. (Nabayra, 2019).

 REFERENCES

Holm, E. F. (2013, December). The Philippine-American War. Retrieved December 7, 2019,

fromhttps://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/162537/Holm,Elizabeth_ML

S_Thesis.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.

Https://www.mtholyoke.edu/wmtholyoke.edu. (n.d.). William McKinley: The Acquisition of the

Philippines. Retrieved December 8, 2019, fromhttps://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel

/mkinly3.htm.

Joaquin, Nick. “Culture and History.” Anvil History, 1988, Anvil Publishing Inc., pp. 315-323

Nabayra, Emmanuel S. “Readings on Mindanao.” University of the Philippines, January 31,

2019. pp. 34-50.

Nash, G., & Olivas, M. K. (n.d.). The Philippine-American Philippine-American Philippine-

American War. Retrieved December 7, 2019, from

https://www.learner.org/courses/amerhistory/pdf/Philippine-War_L-One.pdf.

Palongpalong , A. (n.d.). PHILIPPINE-JAPAN CULTURAL RELATIONS: A FILIPINO

VIEW*. Retrieved December 7, 2019, from

https://www.asj.upd.edu.ph/mediabox/archive/ASJ-29-1991/palongpalong.pdf.