10 Reasons Many Filipinos Do Not Like Emilio Aguinaldo

Submitted by admin on Tue, 08/06/2013 - 05:11
 

 

Emilio Aguinaldo became the first president of the Philippines at age 28. He is the face of 5 peso coin and, well, a general who fought for the Philippine independence way back Spanish and American eras. He was born on March 22, 1869 and died on February 6, 1964 at the age of 94. Having long life, he is the only president who had outlived the most number of successors.
But are you seriously sure that you know everything about this guy? Maybe you have heard some people calling this hero not so good names. The following are 10 reasons Emilio Aguinaldo is not that well loved.
 
1. He is a traitor. While in Katipunan, he was the parasite that slowly ate the integrity of the organization by making few treachery attempts: ranging from declaring his own government inside Katipunan itself to not aiding Bonifacio’s half in the battle. (wikipedia.org)
2. He killed Andres Bonifacio. You know, Andres? – Rizal’s rival for the title of Philippine National Hero, leader of Katipunan and the main reason for start of the Philippine Revolution. Well, your dear general ordered his death. (‘Philippines, A Unique Nation’ by Sonia M. Zaide)
 
3. He is an embodiment of discrimination. The fact that Daniel discriminated Bonifacio while Aguinaldo was there doing nothing, well that’s corruption and discrimination. And yeah, Aguinaldo is Tirona’s leader. (‘History of Filipino People In English’ by Teodoro Andal Agoncillo)
 
4. He’s the reason why Katipunan was broken in half. He’s the reason why the Magdalo and Magdiwang were born. These two run under the banner “Katipunan” but no, they are two separate groups. (‘Kasaysayan: The Story of the Filipino People’ by Milagros Guerrero)
 
5. He might be the root for the political war in the Philippines. Despite being his leader, he “outmaneuvered” Andres to effectively overthrow him and become the leader of both of Katipunan factions, and therefore the whole Katipunan. (‘History of Filipino People In English’ by Teodoro Andal Agoncillo)
 
6. He sold the Philippines to the Spanish for $800,000. He agreed for a self-exile to Hong Kong and for the dissolving of his government to Fernando Primo de Rivera in the famous Pact of Biak-na-Bato. This is in exchange for an insanely huge $800,000 bribe. (‘Philippines, A Unique Nation’ by Sonia M. Zaide)
 
7. He led the Americans to colonize the Philippines. His return to Philippines through Admiral Dewey’s help gave the Spanish reasons to sell the Philippines to the Americans. This gave the Americans a foothold and leverage to start the flames of their colonization. (‘The Story of the Philippines’ by Murat Halstead)
 
8. He incited the conflict between the Philippines and America. His ruling by decree grew out the conflict with the Americans in military situation. (wikipedia.org)
 
9. He put lives of four (4) innocent men in danger. Without the Americans’ knowledge, he smuggled four innocent foreign reporters to investigate the murder by Pvt. Greyson and therefore officially putting them in the middle of American-Filipino conflict. (wikipedia.org)
 
10. He surrendered the Philippines to the Japanese. He cooperated with the Japanese by making speeches in favor of the Japanese. In one speech, he asked General Douglas MacArthur to surrender to the Japanese. (‘Cousins of Color’ by William Schroder)
 
Despite all of these snake-attitudes that Aguinaldo has staged, let’s not forget that he’s still one of the brave generals in the history of the Philippines; he even made the Spanish generals shake on their knees at one time. But we cannot take out the fact that the political cold war happening in the present time was first showcased by our dear general. Therefore, yeah, he’s done a lot of great things for the Philippines but still, he is, for me, a snake and a coward.
 
DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in this article exclusively belong to the contributor. Since the copyright of the contributions belongs to the authors, OurHappySchool.com is not liable to any infraction that the contribution/s may commit.
 
Paulo Dignos, the contributor, was a student of Rizal Technological University – Laboratory High School. He joined a debate team when he was in first year. Though not an official member, he contributed to the official paper of the Laboratory High School. He became a constant officer in Computer Homeroom. He also became a one-time officer in the Computer Student Council on fourth year, where he proposed computer-gaming competition, programming competition and computer miscellaneous software competitions. All of which were not implemented despite the support of an advising faculty, due to lack of support from the higher positioned officers. He also entered a computer software competition in Laboratory High School where he finished 1st place. He enrolled in the same school as a Bachelor of Science in Information and Communications Technology student. He joined the extemporaneous speech competition last 2012 and finished at 2nd place behind a College of Education student. However, these “accomplishments” aren’t really that great. His debate team fell at semi-finals, his contribution to the paper was only a single entry and the computer student council position wasn’t that high. He is currently a 4th year student in RTU. (E-mail: thepowlow@gmail.com)
 
Question for Discussion:
Do you think Emilio Aguinaldo deserves to be called a national hero? If yes, then justify the answer in terms of Marcos. Marcos, like Aguinaldo, also did a lot of helpful things in Philippines despite all of the long-term effects of his wrong-doings.
 

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TAGS: Jose Rizal, The Collaboration between Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio, History, Philippine Studies, Filipino Heroes;  Sociology, History, Philippine History, Araling Panlipunan, Philippine Culture, Filipino, Kasaysayan; 10 Reasons Many Filipinos Do Not Like Emilio Aguinaldo
 

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