Member Since: 1/1/2014
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Filipino-American friendship day
THIS IS AN EDITORIAL
Quote:
Today, July 4, is Philippine-American Friendship Day. The Fourth of July is better known in the world as the Independence Day of the United States of America. For a while, starting in 1946, it was also our Independence Day, as it was on July 4, 1946, that the US, after having governed the islands since the turn of the century, finally recognized Philippine independence.
In 1962, President Diosdado Macapagal and the nation’s other leaders decided to honor June 12 as the true founding date of the Philippine Republic – the day President Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed independence in 1898 — and July 4 as the date of the restoration of that independence.
But July 4 remains an important date in our national history. The Americans had come in 1898, fought the Spanish colonial government in Manila as part of the global conflict between the two world powers of the time. The US pledged eventual recognition of Philippine independence in the Jones Law of 1916; the Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1933 set a ten-year transition period which, however, was interrupted by World War II. Thus it was only in 1946, after the end of the war, that the American flag was lowered at the Luneta and the Philippine flag, alone, was raised.
Much of what the Philippines is today is due to a large part to the years with America. Our political institutions are patterned after those of the US and our economic growth continues to be tied to the US economy. Filipinos fought with Americans in Bataan and Corregidor, on through the Japanese Occupation, and in the fight for liberation.
While Filipino culture, with its Malay foundations, owes a great deal to the 350 years of Spanish colonial period, many of our social values today reflect a strong American influence. The US continues to attract Filipino migrants like a magnet; there is hardly any Filipino family without some relative now living or working in the US.
July 4 was designated Philippine-American Friendship Day after we decided by presidential proclamation in 1962 and by act of Congress in 1964 to celebrate our own Independence Day on June 12. But we don’t really need to designate a Friendship Day with the US. More than in any official declaration, that friendship is a fact of life among the people of this country.
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Source: Manila Bulletin
Also, (advanced) happy independence day to all Americans out there. 
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FIL-AMS HAPPY Friendship Day