Balangiga remembered

October 27, 2007  --  Got something to say?
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BALANGIGA, Eastern Samar The history of the Filipino-American War remains largely unwritten, especially its Visayan and Mindanao phases. And what was written and published about the war was not from the Filipino point-of-view. One of these neglected events in the history of the Filipino-American War was the Filipino victory against the American forces at Balangiga, Samar, on September 28, 1901.

On this date, Filipino forces under General Vicente Lukban and led by Major Eugenio Daza inflicted a crushing defeat on Company C of the 9th US Infantry Battalion, killing 48 and wounding 22 of the 74 members of the company, and capturing 125 rifles and 50,000 cartridges. American accounts called this event the Balangiga massacre and described it as the worst single defeat experienced by the American forces during their entire campaign in the Philippines.

The American press rated it as equal to the Alamo and Custer defeats. In response to the Balangiga defeat, US General Jacob Smith issued an order to make the interior of Samar a howling wilderness. In succeeding months, the Filipino forces suffered defeat after defeat, Filipino leaders were killed, captured, or forced to surrender. Balangiga was one of the few places where the Filipinos successfully blunted the American military juggernaut. Congress recently passed Republic Act No. 6692 declaring September 28 of every year as Balangiga Encounter Day in Eastern Samar.


Posted by News Team | Filed Under Philippine News 

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