Manila StandardbyManila Standard July 4,
2023, 12:15 am in Editorial, Opinion Reading Time: 3
mins read
The Philippines and the United States celebrate today their Friendship Day, an erstwhile official
holiday titled Independence Day.
It commemorates the Treaty of Manila,
signed in 1946 liberating the Philippines from American rule—that time the Philippine tricolors was pulled
up as the Stars and Stripes was lowered at the bayside Quirino Grandstand.
It marked the end of more than 48 years of
American rule lasting from 1898 to 1946.
In 1955, then President Ramon Magsaysay
established the observance of Philippine American
Day.
In 1984, under President Ferdinand Marcos,
July 4 was designated as a non-working holiday to
celebrate Filipino-American Friendship Day – which
shows the first official celebration of Filipino-American Friendship Day under the name it is known began
that year.
The celebration of Filipino-American Friendship Day follows more than 100 years of shared history between the two nations, which fought alongside
each other during the second world war in the 1940s.
Many say the beginning of a good relationship between the two countries could be said to have
started in 1946 when the Philippines regained complete independence from the United States.
To show appreciation for the assistance offered to them when Japan attacked, the Philippine
government designated July 4 as Independence Day
and also Filipino-American Friendship Day.
It was also on July 4, 1946, following Japan’s defeat in World War ll, that the United States
restored independence to the Philippines, a US possession since 1898.
Today, the 4th of July is observed in the Philippines as a day that pays tribute to the long partnership between the two countries, and particularly
at a time of rising tensions in the South China Sea,
home to hundreds of islands, atolls and coral reefs,
plus abundant reserves of oil and natural gas, fisheries and some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
For decades, neighboring countries have
had struggles over territory in the area, but recently
tensions have been bubbling over as China has been
accused of interfering in the rights of coastal states’
Exclusive Economic Zones, and claiming land through
dredging and building up atolls and islands from
where, according to analysts, it can launch military exercises.
The United States immediately reassured its
allies it has been stepping up military maneuvers in
the South China Sea, generating concerns the area is
becoming a geopolitical flash point.
US Ambassasdor to the Philippines MaryKay
Carlson herself said Washington is marking Philippine-American Friendship Day “doubly special – a
time to celebrate all that the Philippines and the United States have accomplished together as steadfast
friends, partners in prosperity, and ironclad allies.”
This year’s highlight in the bilateral ties was the successful visit to Washington, D.C. by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. last May.
During President Marcos’s Oval Office meeting with President Biden, the two discussed the full
spectrum of Manila-Washington ties as friends, partners, and allies.
Carlson said President Biden reaffirmed
Washington’s “ironclad commitment to the Alliance
and announced a first-of-its-kind Presidential Trade
and Investment Mission to the Philippines.”
DFA Office of American Affairs Assistant Secretary Jose Victor Chan-Gonzaga earlier on described
Philippine-US ties as in a very good place as the US
Embassy in Manila marked the 247th US Independence Day a few days ahead of the Fourth of July celebration.
And the two countries celebrate.
