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History: Timeline

2011 JUN 12 - Today marks the 113th year anniversary the Philippines gained independence from Spain.


2010 JUN 30 - Benigno Aquino III (50-year-old bachelor) was sworn in Wednesday as the Philippines' 15th president, leading a Southeast Asian nation his late parents helped liberate from dictatorship and which he promises to deliver from poverty and pervasive corruption; a third of the nation's 90 million people live in slums. He is the son of democracy heroes Benigno and Corazon Aquino, who remain revered for their efforts to overthrow dictator Ferdinand Marcos.


"Our foremost duty is to lift the nation from poverty through honest and effective governance," said Aquino, an economics graduate who spent the past 12 years as a member of parliament.


2010 MAY 10 - Philippine presidential election. This election shall also be the first time that the Commission of Elections will implement full automation of elections, pursuant to Republic Act 9369.


2009 DEC 17 - Mayon volcano (Albay Province, Luzon) eruptions continue with evacuation of more than 20,000 people. Mayon last erupted in 2006, when about 30,000 people were moved. An eruption in 1993 killed 79 people.


2009 SEP 26 - Philippine Typhoon created flooding and fatalities. By 24 OCT 2009, there were at least 464 official deaths. Gilberto Teodoro (National Disaster Coordinating Council chairman) declared an overall state of calamity in Metro Manila nad other 25 provinces hit by the typhoon, allowing officials to utilize emergency funds for relief and rescue.


2009 AUG 1 - Corazon Aquino (January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009), dead at age 76. She was the 11th president of the Philippines, serving from 1986 to 1992. She was the first female president of the Philippines and the first female president of any country in Asia.


2009 JAN 15 - Three International Committee of the Red Cross volunteers were kidnapped by the rebel group Abu Sayyaf.


2007 NOV 29 - The Manila Peninsula rebellion occurred at The Peninsula Manila hotel in Makati City, Philippines. The mutineers called for the ousting of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.


2007 SEP 12 - Philippine ex-president Joseph Estrada gets life in prison.


2007 MAY 14 - Philippine general election were held; these positions were representatives, senators, governor, vice governor, provincial board seats and mayoral, vice mayoral and city/municipal council seats.


2006 JUL 14 - The Mayon volcano erupted, a day after ejecting ash amid swarms of earthquakes, the Philippines' chief volcanologist said. Mayon, one of the country's 22 active volcanos, last came to life in a series of eruptions in 2001, forcing the evacuation of about 50,000 people. It has erupted about 50 times since 1616.


2006 FEB - A mudslide in February leveled the town of Guinsaugon and killed about 1,800 of its 1,857 residents.


2005 - In March, police kill three top members of Abu Sayyaf while quelling a prison uprising in Manila. In all, 22 people, including 20 prisoners and two guards, die in the violence. A week after the operation, police arrest a suspected Islamic militant who they believe was planning a retaliatory bomb attack on Manila over Easter weekend.


Members of the opposition call for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in June, after she admitted to calling an election official during 2004's presidential race. A taped phone conversation between Arroyo and an election commisisoner seems to suggest that she had tried to use her power to influence the outcome. The opposition filed an impeachment motion in July.


2004 MAY 10 - Presidential election takes place on May 10; Arroyo's closest rival is film star Fernando Poe, Jr., a friend of Estrada. President Arroyo narrowly defeated Poe, taking 39.5% of the vote to his 36.6%, according to the unofficial count.


Angelo dela Cruz, a truck driver kidnapped by Iraqi insurgents, released on July 10 after Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo accedes to kidnappers' demands and pulls troops from Iraq. He had been held for two weeks.


2004 FEB - A bomb on a ferry causes a fire, killing 116 people, Abu Sayyaf claims responsibility.


2003 - Ceasefire with Moro Islamic Liberation Front breaks down, then reinstated; hundreds of mutinous soldiers demonstrate against the regime.


Dozens of mutinous soldiers took over a Manila shopping complex, protesting low pay and demanding the resignation of President Arroyo and the defense secretary. The demonstration ended peacefully.


2002 - U.S. government provides training to Philippine troops fighting the guerilla group Abu Sayyaf, which is believed to have ties to Osama bin Laden; the group's leader, Abu Sabaya, is killed.


2001 MAY - 20 people, including Americans Martin and Garcia Burnham, are abducted by the Islamist group Abu Sayyaf. After 376 days, Martin is killed in a battle between the terrorists nad Philippine forces; Garcia is rescued.


2001 JAN - Public outrage forces Estrada to step down; Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumes the presidency; Estrada indicted for corruption; rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front agrees to a ceasefire. Later, Gloria Arroyo is reelected for a six-year term in 2004.


2000 - Legislature begins impeachment hearings against Estrada on corruption charges. The hearings are never completed.


1998 - Former movie star Joseph Estrada elected president.


1997 - Philippines escape Asian financial crisis despite series of currency devaluations.


1996 - Philippine government agrees to greater autonomy for southernmost island of Mindanao, where Islamic separatists called Moro National Liberation Front wage guerrilla war.


1994 JUN - President Fidel Ramos grants amnesty to indigenous rebel groups. Two years later, his government signs a peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front.


1993 AUG - Ferdinand Marcos' body was moved from Hawaii to his birth town of Batac, Ilocos Norte Province, on the Philippines Island of Luzon, where it will be buried. His body was moved from the air-conditioned refrigeration in which it has lain since his death in exile in September 1989, and be placed in a mortuary.


Ferdinand Marcos' body lies in a glass viewing case inside a refrigerated crypt. He is on perpetual view and a constant entourage of mourners and viewers come to pay their respects.


1992 - Former Gen. Fidel Ramos wins presidential election with Aquino's support; U.S. turns Subic Bay naval base to Philippine government, ending American military presence in the country.


1991 JUN 15 - Mount Pinatubo erupts, leaving 100,000 people homeless and prompting the evacuation and closing of U.S. leased Clark Air Force Base. Mount Pinatubo eruption, the second largest volcanic eruption of the twentieth century*, took place on the island of Luzon.


Up to 800 people were killed and 100,000 became homeless following the eruptions, which climaxed with nine hours of eruption on June 15, 1991. On June 15, millions of tons of sulfur dioxide were discharged into the atmosphere, resulting in a decrease in the temperature worldwide over the next few years.


*The largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century was the 1912 eruption of Katmai-Novarupta (Alaska).


1990 JUL 16 - At 4:26 PM local time, a severe earthquake registering 7.7 struck the northern Philippines. Over 5,000 people were reported dead or injured and in excess of 2300 infrastructures were either destroyed or seriously damaged.


1989 SEP 28 - Ferdinand Marcos, the former dictator of the Philippines, died at age 72 in exile. He was President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986.


He was married to Imelda Romualdez-Marcos, with four children: Maria Imelda Marcos, Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., Irene Marcos and Aimee Marcos (adopted). President Marcos declared martial law on 21 SEP 1972 to 1981.


1986 - Marcos defeats Aquino in a presidential election amid charges of fraud; riots erupt; Marcos flees into exile; Aquino forms new government. After ruling for 20 years, strongman Ferdinand Marcos is forced into exile. President Corazon Aquino restores democracy but fails to control rebels and teh military; she's voted out in 1992.


1983 - Opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino returns from exile, is slain on arrival at Manila Airport; Benigno's widow Corazon Aguino leads "People Power" protest movement.


1979 - Jurisdiction over U.S. military bases passes to the Philippine government.


1972 - Marcos establishes martial law.


1965 - Ferdinand E. Marcos becomes president.


1946 JULY - Philippines becomes independent nation; Manuel Roxas y Acuña elected first president.


1945 - MacArthur liberates Manila; Osmeña establishes government.


1944 OCT - Quezon dies; Vice President Sergio Osmeña takes presidency; MacArthur reinvades Philippines. General Douglas "I Shall Return" MacArthur does just that.


1941 DEC - Japanese invade Philippines, and defeat Gen. Douglas MacArthur at Bataan and Corregidor; Quezon establishes government in exile.


1935 NOV - By U.S. decree, the Philippines becomes a self-governing commonwealth.


1935 - Filipino people approve constitution creating Commonwealth of the Philippines with Manuel Quezon y Molina as president.


1934 - U.S. approves Tydings-McDuffie Act promising Philippine independence in 1946; transition to independence begins.


1916 - U.S. government passes Jones Law establishing elected Filipino legislature with house and senate.


1902 - Insurrection ends; Taft improves economic conditions, settles disputes over church ownership of land, establishes pensionado program, allowing Filipinos to study in U.S., which helped modernize and westernize the country.


1901 - U.S. captures Aquinaldo; William Howard Taft arrives as first U.S. governor of Philippines.


1899 - Treaty of Paris ends Spanish-American War, cedes Philippines to U.S. Filipinos declare their independence; Emilio Aguinaldo leads guerrilla war against U.S.


1899 FEB - Filipino leaders reject U.S. sovereignty and launch a (failed) rebellion that lasts four years, costing tens of thousands of Filipino and thousands of U.S. lives.


1898 DEC - The U.S. Navy defeats the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War and drafts a treaty that ensures U.S. control fo the Philippines.


1896 - Spanish execute Rizal for instigating insurrection; public outrage spawns rebellion.


1886 - José Rizal publishes anti-Spanish novel, Noli Me Tangere (The Lost Eden); popularizes independence sentiment.


1830 - The first Ilocano families from the Paoay area of Ilocos Norte arrived in 1830 and founded the first settlement that grew into what is now the town, San Antonio, Zambales, Philippines.


1542 - Spanish military party claims islands for Spain; names them "Philippines" after Prince Philip, later King Philip II of Spain; Philippines becomes part of Spanish Empire.


1521 - Ferdinand Magellan explores the islands now known as the Philippines.


1300s A.D. - Extensive trade is being conducted with India, Indonesia, China, and Japan. Arab traders from Indonesia introduce Islam to the Filipinos.


About 200 B.C. - The first of several waves of Malayan settlers arrives from South China.


About 3000 B.C. - New inhabitants come from Indonesia. This is repeated around 1000 B.C.


About 25,000 B.C. - The ancestors of the Philippines' aboriginal inhabitants—the Negritos or Aeta—come from the Asian mainland, crossing shallow seas and land bridges. (Archaeological evidence suggests that the Philippines may have been inhabited many thousands of years before then, but that can't be stated with certainty. The oldest human fossil found so far is 22,000 years old.)







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