Today in History : March 18th

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1945: Panay is invaded by the American forces. Panay is located in the western part of the Visayas. Politically, it is divided into five provinces: Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Iloilo, and Guimaras, all in the Western Visayas Region. It is located southeast of the island of Mindoro and northwest of Negros, separated by the Guimaras Strait. Between Negros and Panay Islands lie the island-province of Guimaras. To the north is the Sibuyan Sea and the islands of Romblon; to the southwest is the Sulu Sea and the Panay Gulf.

1957: Vice-President Carlos P. Garcia is sworn in as President of the Philippines. Incumbent President Carlos P. Garcia won his opportunity to get a full term as President after the untimely death of Ramon Magsaysay in a plane crash. His running mate, Senator Jose Laurel, Jr. lost to Pampanga Representative Diosdado Macapagal. This was the first time in Philippine electoral history where a president was elected by a plurality and not majority, and in which the president and vice president came from different parties.

Today in History : March 9th

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1565: Miguel López de Legazpi and his men reach Limasawa, where the young King Bankaw welcomes them. Legazpi, also known as Adelantado|El Adelantado (The Governor) and El Viejo (The Elder), was a Spanish conquistador who established the first colony in the Philippine Islands in 1565.

1837: A bureau called “Inspección General de Minas” is created to develop still unexploited mineral resources of the country. Mines and Geosciences Bureau dates back during the Spanish regime, when it was then known as the “Inspeccion General de Minas”. Under the Philippine Revolutionary Republic, a Mines Section under the Director of Industry and Agriculture of the Departmento de Fomento was formed by a Presidential Decree of 1898.

1849: A royal decree is issued taking away from the seculars seven parishes in Cavite, namely Bacoor, Cavite Viejo, Silang, Santa Cruz de Malabon, San Francisco de Malabon, Naic, and Indang and transferring them to the Dominicians and the Recollects.

1851: Birth of General Paciano Rizal, Revolutionary leader and brother of Jose Rizal, in Calamba, Laguna. Paciano Rizal (full name: Paciano Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda) was a Filipino general and revolutionary, and the older brother of José Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines. Died on April 13, 1930.

1891: Birth in Tanauan, Batangas, of Jose P. Laurel, justice, lawyer, statesman, legislator, administrator, writer, educator, and wartime President of the Philippines. José Paciano Laurel y García was the president of the Japanese-Sponsored Republic of the Philippines during World War II, from 1943 to 1945. Laurel was not subsequently officially recognized as a Philippine president until the administration of Diosdado Macapagal. Died on November 6, 1959.