Today in History : March 11th

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1565: Miguel López de Legazpi reaches Camiguin from Limasawa. Legaspi, also known as El Adelantado (The Governor) and El Viejo (The Elder), was a Spanish conquistador who established one of the first European settlements in the East Indies and the Pacific Islands in 1565. After obtaining peace with various indigenous tribes, López de Legazpi made the Philippines the capital of the Spanish East Indies in 1571.

1576: Juan de Salcedo, “the Hernan Cortes of the Philippines,” dies at Vigan. Juan de Salcedo was a Spanish conquistador. He was born in Mexico in 1549 and he was the grandson of Miguel López de Legazpi and brother of Felipe de Salcedo. Salcedo was one of the soldiers who accompanied the Spanish colonization of the Philippines in 1565.

1876: A protocol signed by England and Germany recognizes Spanish rights to the Tawi-Tawi group and the chain of islands stretching from Sulu to Borneo.

1876: A Supreme Court is established in the City of Cebu. Cebu is a province in the Philippines, consisting of Cebu island and 167 surrounding islands. It is located to the east of Negros, to the west of Leyte and Bohol islands.

1892: A royal decree is issued creating the Superior Normal School for Women Teachers in Manila under the direction of the Augustinians. University of Wisconsin–Superior is it's name today.

1898: General Emilio Aguinaldo appoints General Ambrosio Flores as quarter master for the armed forces of the Philippine Revolutionary government.

1899: Premier Mabini sends telegrams to the municipal and military chiefs of the provinces along the coasts instructing them to admit foreign merchant ships which might want to take loads of merchandise. --Desultory firing occurs at San Pedro Makati and caloocan. Filipinos are driven from a trench they have begun to construct. A War Department order withraws permission for families of officers and enlisted of officers and enlisted men to accompany troops to Manila.

1942: General Douglas MacArthur and his family leave Corregidor for Australia.

1945: Romblon and Zamboanga are occupied by the Americans in World War II.

1946: Col. Akira Nagahama, terror of Fort Santiago and head of the kempeitai during the latter part of the Japanese occupation, is found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging by the U.S. military tribunal.

1947: The Filipino people, headed by Manuel A. Roxas, ratifies the nation-wide plebiscite on the “Parity Amendment” to the Constitution. This gives the Americans and Filipinos equal rights in the exploitation of the natural resources of the Philippines.

1988: To counteract the threat of war in Mindanao, the government creates the Regional Consultative Commission. The commission is given the task to draft a charter for an autonomous region in Mindanao. The body is composed of 55 members, 27 from electoral districts in Mindanao and 28 others chosen by President Aquino. The secretariat is based in Zamboanga City.

Today in History : March 10th

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1583: Death of Governor-General Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peñalosa, founder of Nueva Caceres in 1582. His first official action was to order Manila to become Philippines's political and economic capital in 1582. That same year, he established the Palacio del Gobernador (Governor's Palace) in Intramuros, Manila to integrate all governmental activities in the Philippines.

1785: The Real Compañia de Filipinas is established with a capital stock of P8,000,000 in 32,000 shares of P250 each. Its chief objective is to open commercial relations among the different colonies of Spain.

1820: King Ferdinand VII issues his famous manifesto proclaiming the re-establishment of the Cortes and the restoration of the Constitution of 1812.

1869: Birth of Macario Adriatico, lawyer, legislator, orator, scholar, journalist, and editor of La Independencia, in Calapan, Mindoro. He also helped liberate Romblon from the colonizers, and became Comandante de Estado Mayor of the Filipino Army in Panay at the dawn of the Filipino-American War until 1901. As a writer, Adriatico had contributed many of his works to several publications, and edited the Partido Conservador's Diario de Filipinos in 1907. Died on April 14, 1919.

1892: The lodge Nilad, which was established by Pedro Serrano Laktaw and Antonio Luna, is recognized by the Gran Oriente Español, the Spanish mother lodge.

1899: The U.S. transport Grant, with Major-General Henry Lawton, the Fourth Infantry, and a battalion of the Seventeenth Infantry aboard, arrives in Manila. The Council of Government agrees with the Permanent Commission of Congress to establish a Supreme Court in the capital of the Republic “because the cases are pilling up for lack of judges to try them.”

1900: President Emilio Aguinaldo issues a proclamation making it “a grave crime against the sovereignty of the Philippine Republic” for friars and other foreign priests, illegally holding ecclesiastical office of the Philippines, to ask the government of the U.S., at war with the Philippine Republic, to re-establish the ecclesiastical order that existed in the country before the Revolution.

1901: Don Isabelo de los Reyes’ periodical, Filipinas Ante Europa, publishes General Emilio Aguinaldo’s general order regulating the exchange of prisoners of war with the Americans and treating as traitors the partisans of the Federal party.

1917: Batangas was formally founded as one of the Philippines's earliest encomiendas. Batangas is one of the most popular tourist destinations near Metro Manila. The province has many beaches and famous for excellent diving spots only a few hours away from Manila. Some of the more notable ones are Anilao in the Municipality of Mabini, Matabungkay in the Municipality of Lian, Punta Fuego in the Municipality of Nasugbu, the Municipality of Calatagan and Laiya in the Municipality of San Juan.

1947: President Manuel A. Roxas narrowly escapes death during a “Parity” rally at Plaza Miranda, Quiapo, Manila. Julio C. Guillen, a barber, hurls a hand grenade on the platform immediately after the President delivers a speech.

Today in History : January 1st

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1892: Manuel Acuña Roxas was the first president of the independent Republic of the Philippines(third republic). He served as president from the granting of independence in 1946 until his abrupt death in 1948. His term as Philippine president is also the shortest; 1 year 10 months and 18 days.

1899: Emilio Aguinaldo was declared the President of the Philippines - the only president of what would be later called the First Philippine Republic. He later organized a Congress at Malolos, Bulacan to draft a constitution.

2001: MTV Asia becomes MTV Philippines, a localized version of the all time favorite cable channel, through NBC UHF Channel 41. It was the only MTV channel being localized and aired for free in an Asian country.