Americans React to How The US Stole The Philippines 

Fun fact: the US spent ungodly amount of money rebuilding Japan and Europe after World War II, but spent so little in reparations to the Philippines, it’s former colony. In fact, most of the “money” spent were old military equipments used in the war that is costly to bring back to the US. The US promised pension and citizenship to Filipinos who would fight for America during the war, but broke that promise soon after the war.

There are some factual errors made by Mr Harris the vlog creator. History professor Kirby Araullo posted his own reaction video that corrects those errors.

Philippines was not formerly called Mai. Mai is just one kingdom that existed within precolonial Philippines. The Mai kingdom existed along with other kingdoms such as Tondo and Sulu Sultanates.

GUAM was part of the Philippine island chain under Spain (Spaniard map and documents shows Guam as a PH island), but the US kept Guam when it gave PH it's independence. Historically, Guam is part of Philippines.

Its good thing that he tackled the history and culture that we had in pre colonial past. Most of the people, including some filipinos only knew about the history after spanish arrived. Kudos to him!

A Filipino historian reacted to the video. The guy in this video got several minor mistakes but it is understandable. You guys can check his reaction. He corrected some information and talked more about history.

My apologies, but the US has been doing this for a long time. Afghanistan is a perfect example of when they recently pulled out. Cambodia, was another country in the middle of a conflict when the US also pulled out. They can't even win battles in our country fairly. Sorry, US pick fights where they can see they can gain something. You said your country has a dark past. Hmmm... Nope, they continue doing it. Again Afghanistan is one of the countries they invaded... Legally by saying they are helping the country, then pull out when there is no gain on the horizon. And this is true. Check out the Treaty of Paris, where Spain sold the Philippines to the US.

According to someone "the pen is mightier tha the sword" and i would say " by a pen you can break or make someone's reputation". That is how media works.

There was a Hollywood movie titled "Amigo" which boldly depicts the real story of Philippine-American War. A "Hollywood movie" where Americans are not heroes. It personally opened my eyes to see the American occupation in the Philippines on a different light. When I was a child, Filipino here by the way, I used love reading elementary history textbooks stored into our shelves as my mother taught history too to 4th to 6th graders. There I had the impressions that Spanish occupation was a total nightmare for our ancestors, while American occupation was mostly liberal and benevolent bringing democracy, modern technology, and more efficient education to the country, and that the occupation ended through a peaceful taking over of powers when they saw Filipinos are already prepared and equipped to govern on their own. The story, of course, as I later found out is way more and complex than that. Incredibly enough, it would take "one hollywood movie" to make me doubt what I used to read from the books and further research for more truths. The movie even came first before Filipino movies like Heneral Luna and Goyo were produced which also meticulously depicted the situation at that time.

We were "sold" for 20M dollars. Filipinos were denied participation in the negotiation. The Americans demanded the whole archipelago, as it would be troublesome for them if Spain would sell the rest of the islands to other countries. This was never taught in schools. Textbooks only mentioned Treaty of Paris but not its full details. So sad

MA'I was not a country it's just one of the kingdoms that exist during that time.

Please react to "Henerel Luna" trailer it's all about the story of Heneral luna and about the philippine-American war

The reason the Philippines was bombed and invaded by Japan is because it is under the US rule so don't justify why Americans ignored the Philippines when it was being invaded by Japan because US responded immediately to the calls of European countries that time. They sent thousands of soldiers to Europe but ignored the cries of Filipinos.

Fact: The US cut the oil supply of Japan. Because they are alarmed by the aggressive advancing of Japanese through South East Asia. Japanese want their hands on the rich oil reserves in the South East Asia to advance their troops. They're planning on liberating the Philippines but it was under American territory. Their plan was to bomb Pearl Harbor, making the US unable to counterattack as they liberate the Philippines, then secure the oil supply in the region. Btw, Philippines was under US (Commonwealth Government), not Philippines having own government and US checking like what Phezz said. Philippines was never independent.

Here's something I found: The Philippines is made up of the Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao group of islands. Spain has yet to conquer Mindanao due to the fierce resistance of the Moro. But when Spain "lost" the war, they included Mindanao as part of the deal despite the fact they never got Mindanao in the first place. It was weird when Spain exiled Jose Rizal to Dapitan. Like, how do you exile a person to a place that's still within the country? Dapitan is in the Philippines. Unless...Dapitan, which is in Mindanao, was not part of the country in the first place.

Iam glad that the truth in the Philippine history is getting revealed.

Yes, I agree. Please watch "Heneral Luna", this is very good narrative about this. This is very painful past of our nation and as a Filipino, when I am watching this, I can help myself but to cry because I am thinking about what if Spaniards and American did not do this, for sure, we have our own culture, political system, educational system, colonizers kill our nation's soul perhaps. 🇵🇭😥

nah, there was no centralized government prior to Spanish colonization in 1565. Filipinos are very regionalistic, or tribal that's why we have many different languages and customs. It is also because we are an archipelago so travelling from one island to another is not easy. Watch Kirby Araullo's vlog on clearing some of the errors in this video.

The american-filipino war was more bloody than vietnam war that the americans covered up. It was a war riddled with warcrimes.

No MA'I is the name of the kingdom from our province MINDORO but not the name of the entire island.

Its funny that the Philippine Revolutionary Army already occupied more than 80% of the country, and the only reason the US Navy entered Intramuros because a captain asked permission from the occupying forces officer to at least land a few soldiers...and we complied. Then they declared they occupied the Philippines, while they didnt even occupied 10% of Intramuros And from what I learned from other sources, the US justified they establishment of a government in the Phils. because "there was no existing government structure to destroy", even thought there was a working government in place...which the US destroyed. That's why its being taught in the US, until now, as "The Philippine Insurrection". . Edit: the Philippines was granted independence, not because the people were too proud for hand out or be included in a foreign empire, but because the US senate wanted to stop the influx of Filipinos to the US. I grew up learning that they Tydings McDuffie Act was a benevolent cause to give the Phils. freedom, but it was actually fueled by hate.

This is a good video. You heard it right a fake battle, staged and orchestrated for 20 Million dollars between US and Spain. It was not a submarine but a cruiser (USS Maine). The famous five star Gen. Douglas McArthur and his father, Arthur, his first posting after graduating from West Point and once stationed in the Philippines which had been an American colony.

As a Filipino, This was taught to us but not in an elaborate way.

Pinoy here I love that they're putting on a spotlight on part of history that isn't normally getting attention. especially that it is about my country -- BUT NOT ALL he said true though (majority of what he said is "part" of the story but not the whole)

I love how you said part 1 but you got so immersed in the story you continued on lol

Did you guys know that Americans suffered 3x more casualties in the Philippine-American War than the Spanish-American War??

23:23-25:00 I get your point Phezz, except it is not another country, the Philippines (and Guam) are an American territories. They are under the US which is precisely why they were attacked. If they really wanted to sell it to the American people, wouldn't it be better to include these other US territories, which also suffered from the bombings, and say that multiple American territories were attacked in order to convince these people about going into war with Japan?

This is legit...so true...thank you!!!!!

Yes, my grandfather was shot by the American Soldier. We move on and they fought along side against the evils. I’m proud Filipino/American and will defend the constitution of America 🇺🇸🇵🇭🙏💪🏻

Philippines is full of history.

Whats ironic is residents of Guam, PR, American Samoa and others dont get the full benefits of being a US Citizen yet they are the places wherein there is a high recruitment rate for the US military and most of their citizens are employed by the Military.

Thank you for watching this! Even us Filipinos are not taught these things.

He said he would love to see (the Philippines and other territories) become part of the states if they (the Filipinos) are willing.. First and foremost who said that Filipinos then wanted to be part of the states and rejoice over their so-called liberation... The Filipinos from the start knew what they want that's why they fought for their freedom. If the US that time really valued the islands, they should have given equal treatment as what they did to hawaii after they were bombed.

Watching this again as this appeared on my feed since I am watching US military in Asia and China being the issue. The Filipinos have actually moved on from this. But it would be good if the US side acknowledged this to put things in perspective. Those were the faults of the past and we learn from it. The present realities are much different. Somehow, the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty between the US and Philippines has become useful to both countries (and if I may say, to the benefit of the whole of Asia and to the world) in 2023. US military is back in my home country.

To Joseph Ian, Ma-i or Maidh (also spelled Ma'I, Mai, Ma-yi or Mayi; Baybayin: ᜋᜁ; Hanunuo; Chinese: 麻逸; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: má it) was an ancient sovereign state located in what is now the Philippines. Its existence was first documented in 971 AD, in the Song Dynasty documents known as the History of Song, and it was also mentioned in the 10th century records of the Sultanate of Brunei.

This history about my homelands still hard to Swallow and hard to deal with up to now. yet alone to face this fact. Believe me, still feel heavy about this.

I remember President Duterte mentioned about this stuff on quote 'gaining fat on our lands' that is why is he is disgusted on how the American politicians looks on our other countries as if they are not equal except if you are member of G7 countries. This guys do his research well, though I'm not sure about Ma'i since there are other states existing along Ma'i during that time such as Sultanate of Sulu and the Kingdoms of Tondo and Butuan.

Hawaii was not yet a US State on that "Day of Infamy" (not until 1959). Why were American soldiers at Pearl Harbor (Hawaii) deemed more important than American soldiers in Clark Field and Subic Naval Base (Philippines)? 🤔

BTW I got a little emotional on the last few parts of the video. Realizing how my country able to recover from the darkest part of our history.

There was actually some false information in this video. Maybe some information was misinterpreted or maybe it's because of the sources, but there is this Pinoy historian who reacted to this and clarified some of the wrong information. An example was it wasn't actually used to be called Ma'i/. Ma'i was just one of the many kingdoms that were established in what is now known as the Philippines. Although, I am really glad Johnny Harris made the video as it sheds light on most of us, even filipinos

Read the article in Wikipedia, " American war crimes in the Philippines", The Philippino's never learned it from their history book. It was conveniently left out. Nor is it ever mentioned in American history.

Actually MA-I is just one of the kingdoms in the philippines. It is located in Mindoro (Now). And mindoro is just an island in the philippines. There’s a lot of kingdom here in the philippines way before spanish arrived. There’s Kingdom of tondo, rajahnate of manila, rajahnate of sulu, chiefdom of taytay ect. And in 1521 magellan arrived and lost. And dacades (1543) after that Villalobos arrived and he named the Las Islas Filipinas in honor to of King Philip II of Spain. And the philippines never conquered by Spanish. The mindanao island is never been conquered.

That "unincorporated territory" was the "Common Wealth" to remove those tariffs. So it's a territory of the United States and they guide the emerging government of the locals (but that's just a front). The main thing about common wealth is to get as much resources from that country like export products. Gold was one of the main products of the Philippines in the early 20th century. The Benguet Corporation was listed in the NYSE for it's gold and silver mining. Until they were forced to only get minority shares after the independence and total removal of control in the 80's, giving back ownership of the company back to the Philippines but it was too late. Out of the minable deposits when the company started, only 5% was left for the Filipinos to mine.

if you can find any clips/story or documentary about the Balangiga Bells it is related here (Philippine-American War)

Please react to Pinoy Historian reaction to this video.Some of the information in this video is incorrect.thank you and more power to your channel..God bless you both🙏🙏🙏

The regular, ordinary American citizen didn't know about it what was going on. Th'ey're not to blame, of course not, the leaders were😁

At that time the word Filipino pertained exclusively to people of Spanish descent living in the Philippines. The locals were called “Indios” or native brown people. Same as latin america. However, indio also had a deragatory meaning like uneducated or lower class. Sometime after the Spanish left, everyone living in the Philippines were called Filipinos.

In our history, the US straight up bought the Philippines from Spain. We learned about our history in highschool and it made me weep for my ancestors who fought so hard. 😢

As an Asian really so sad American really like to dig hole and involved in other country business

It was a good thing those Filipino HEROES we had they called revolutianaries and what's left of them after the civil wars, didn't just accepted the PH to be a mere American territory. Up until the 2nd world war they exhausted everything until we wete granted independence😁😊

People will now understand what made President Duterte to call on the former POTUS saying “Mr. Obama, you can Go to hell!”

This is just too funny. I mean historically it's true, Americans butt in when the Philippines is about to win its war against the spanish regime. But the way the guy in the video delivers the story is too funny for me. He could have a career in comedy acting.

During those times, america give us sardines, but they took our gold, haha

in the philippines we study early in school about other countries history not just our own history

The Maine which exploded in Cuba wasn't a submarine - it was a battleship. It was touted as Spanish treachery and led to war, but it is currently believed it exploded by accident due to inflammable coal dust in the fuel bunkers forming a highly explosive mixture.

Ma’i is only the Mindoro Island where the Chinese trades with , this was recorded in Chinese History Books.It’s true that there’s no actual war because Spain was already conquered by the Eagle Empire( UK) and was handed over to the second head of the Eagle (US)

It's a good narrative but there is one correction : The Spanish-American War was triggered by the apparent bombing of the battleship Maine and not a submarine. However, new evidence showed that it wasn't even bombed ... but an explosion inside the armory... inside job perhaps...

Thank you for accepting my request for the reaction video of "How the US stole the Philippines" made by johnny harris

Brilliant & honest reactions & comments. Pls. react to the debate of exchange students fr. the Philippines & other Countries at the United Nation yrs. 1954 & 1956 about prejudice & communism. Same thing is happening even today. Thanks fr. Manila.

I think inspite of these maneuvers and machination by the Americans of yore in the life of every Filipino , the Filipino people still continued to show gratitude by fighting side by side with the Americans during World War II. Had it not been for the Filipinos who fought side with the Americans against the Japanese forces, stage in our soil for quite a time, the Japanese forces might have had reached the American capital and annihilate the American people. That is history and America has the duty to recompense the Filipino people for helping them win the war - the second World War. Our veterans are almost all dead except for a few, and America had yet to fulfill its obligation towards the Filipino people. Salamat.

Filipinos are very independent people. They don’t take handouts; they will like to work for it. It is in their culture.

Can you also react to Kirby Araullo (Filipino Historian) reacting to the same video. There's a lot of corrections in his video about this. 💯💯💯

For the US Military/Navy 👉 When it is said to them, ‘Do not cause corruption in the land,’ they say, ‘We are only putting things right,’ Unquestionably, it is they who are the corrupters, but they perceive [it] not. Think about what they did in the 9/11? They used it to attact Iraq with the alibi of wmd 🤔 until now they didn’t find any. HASBIYALLAHU WA NÉE’MAL WAKEEL. THERE’S DAY OF JUDGEMENT for everyone of us.

Palau was supposed to be returned to the Filipinos but hell America wanted to take territories so what else is America stating about liberation?

Always been curious about history of the beautiful country where I live and work. Thanks for this video. ♥️ from India

The US really has eyes on the Philippines aside from Cuba because of the sugar production both of these countries have. Back then, Cuba was #1 in sugar production, Philippines was somewhere in #10 (previously #4 around 1774).

They stole Hawaii too at that time.

We the Filipinos suffer a lot so don't mess with Filipinos coz we will fight back for our country 💕

Viva la hispanidad, No nos olvidamos de vosotros filipinos , se os quiere !!!

We will never want to be an American state, no offense. We are a proud country as you said. We love our independence more than anything😊😁🙂

It's kind of unfair for us because they teach that to us at school so that it does not happen again.

I think you guys may want to find out what the USA did to the people in the Marshall Islands and the Bikini atoll. Incidentally, that was where the skimpy apparel got its name from.

During WWII, American Military Top Brass wanted to bypass the Philippines and go straight to Southern Japan, because casualties were mounting from their previous island campaigns like Pelalu, etc. so the risk-reward wasn't worht it. The thinking was if they could make Japan surrender faster, by invading their homeland then the liberation of the Philippines would be much easier as the war would be technically over and the Japanese occupying force in the Philippines would surrender and return to Japan. But Gen. McArthur pushed hard for the liberation of the Philippines mainly because he lost it at the start of the war and made a promise that he "shall return".

The US will not be dragged into war with Japan, unless the enemy attacks its territory. What if the Japan merely attacked the Philippines, would US been dragged into war with Japan?

It is a fact that 600,000 Filipinos died during the Spanish colonization, during the American colonization 10% of the population perished that is around 700,000 (War Related Deaths in the Philippines by John M. Gates). You can also read The Filipino Genocide by Andrew Clem.

I do not know how but this appeared on my suggested videos (and I was not logged in and obviously I had to log in to post this comment). I am Filipino born, raised and worked in the Philippines. I am a US resident now. Just for perspective, my parents and grandparents in their elementary years during the (American) Commonwealth period, they say that in school, they would sing the Philippine National Anthem and then the Star Spangled banner. Since Philippines was a US colony, though there was exploitation, the US sent missionaries as teachers in schools, that is what my parents told me. US also introduced governance and standards. That is why most of our code of professional ethics and standards (i.e. doctors, nurse, accountants, law, etc), are patterned to the US. What was discussed in this video, we learned them in school, especially the fake war between US and Spain and that US paid $20 million to Spain. As a US resident now, it baffles me that most Americans' knowledge of history is "Euro-centric" when a significant part of US history includes engagements with Asia.

21:48 Yes it did. I read about it in World History, but it wasn't part of the curriculum so it wasn't formally taught, but it was in my high school books.

Mandarin is the most spoken 1st language in the world with a billion native speaker. English is the most spoken 2nd language of people in the world

something that was never taught in school or in our philippine history for that matter... knowing this now Im not sure how to react anymore :( somewhat upset if this did happen !!!!!

Yup, that happened. But for some context though: 1. There was no 'Philippines' before Spain. We were a collection of kingdoms, with wars or alliances with each other. When we say Filipinos, we're still 100 unique ethnic groups with our languages and cultures. Being people of the sea, we had economic and political engagements spanning from Burma to Hawaii. 2. There is probably no country today that was not formed by conquest or mass immigration. If not for Spain or the US, we're probably more Islamic like Malaysia and Indonesia. So here we are today. We are Asians (and Pacific Islanders?) with Spanish names, speak English, and love Hollywood. Good or bad, we just need to embrace the good parts of Western cultures brought about their conquest and colonization. As culture is fluid, we are still navigating in defining who we are. Now, with the new geopolitical landscape of a growing China and a 'weaker' America, whether that's perceived or real, it's high time we look to ourselves in defining who we are and where we should be. Because since American colonization, our leaders just follow the directions of our old colonial masters.

Ma’i was name given by the Chinese traders ( as reference) in Mindoro during the pre colonial kingdoms in different islands We have to be careful as it’s sensitive topic as we were never under China before. Ma’i was not the name of the entire Philippines.

Do the Gen. Luna trailer. It's a great historical movie in the Philippines.

Ma'i is just one of d kingdoms in d Philippines that time...they dont used as d whole country's name....Las islas Filipinas is d 1st name

most Filipinos love america than any other nations in the world and the most renowned american during world war II being teaches in our history class is Gen. Douglas Mc Arthur who is very famous for his line "i shall return" his promised to the filipino people he has a monument in leyte as a commemoration when he comes back on October 20,1944.

Check this link in relation to this video that you're reacting guys. The link is to validate the trueness and falseness coming from a historian. Disclaimer: There's no intention to make a clash but to share and validate what really happened within the Philippine history under both regimes ( American and Spanish). To cut it short, there were some errors mentioned in this video and the answers to that errors is being explained by the link provided below. Thank you Note: Video link credit to Professor and Historian Mr. Kirby Araullo. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PctdUtse6f8.html

There are A LOT of historical inaccuracies in the video featured. It's a good watch but to get things right one should look for other sources as well, yes including books.

You guys should react to Kirby Araullo who also reacted to Harris video, on how US stole philippines from Spanish to find out what was really happened cause i am a bit iritated about some falls information on his pesentation. And as a filipino i studied in the philippines and we had a subject where we can learn about history of our nation.

America never apologie to the Philippines ,makes me very sad😥🙏

The Philippines is no longer a US possesion, it is an independent country now.

The massacre in Ballangiga Eastern Samar is triggered among filipinos to fight back against american (they take out the balangiga bell and sail it back to US Teritory and display on the american Museum) filipino then restback and wipe out almost of american infantry with bolo and knives vs guns from then we are not allowed to dress jacket, longsleeve shirt during this colonial period, thats why today we use barong tagalog as national dress now the balangiga bell has finally return in ph samar in 2018 after 117 years of appeal and in 1946 we got liberated from the US

Thank you for showing this, i'd forgotten about this after that story was told in my youth.

war in the Philippines🙄Senator Augustus Bacon was against the Anexation of the Philippines (Islas Filipinas) on February 6, 1899 because it already had a functional government called "Republika Filipina". This was established after the start of the 1896 revolutionary war by the Katipunero of Andress Bonifacio. Spain recognized the 1899 PH Republic of the entire Archipelago except Manila were the last stand of the Spaniards. Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao leaders recognized Aguinaldo as the President. PH Republic and US entered into a negotiation to take over Intramuros, Manila against Spain. The PH heroes now, also known as Illustrados provided $20Million to the broken US economy (due to the American-British/Spain war in the late 17th century) to pay Spain to purchase the Philippines during the Treaty of Paris and avoid more bloodshed. The $20Million used by the US is the money of Filipino Illustrados. The 1899 Philippine Republic was not recognized by America until now because McKinley Dewey, Roosevelt Root & Worcester, lied to American people that the Philippines during that time is incapable of creating a Republic and the PH people are just illiterate. The US Dewey, Root & Worcester even showcases the native igorots to gain support by bringing them to the US zoo so, the US citizens can see how the Philippines people look and need education, counselling and guidance to form a government. The igorots were mocked and laughed at by the citizens. The US lies before and keeps lying at the present time. It is in the nature of the US government to lie to its citizens. the US tried to erase these events particularly in PH history books, but the truth was revealed by scholars who made extensive research and found some war records and very old US newspapers still intact during the research. Betrayed by the US, it started the Philippines and US war. The war was triggered by an american soldier shooting and killing one uniform Philippines Republic soldier.

Please react to Meriam Santiago in court and meriam santiago Achievements "She is the president that we never had" Please use that term to her as she offer herself to the country.

For a better understanding between Spanish/American war in the Philippines please check the « Treaty of Paris » where the Filipino leaders were not included. Treaty of Paris were Spain sold the Philippines without the Filipinos knowledge. Not before the war. This leads to the Filipino/ American War.

Hawaii became a state on 21 August 1959. That means that Hawaii and the Philippines were on the same footing insofar as the US during the surprise attack of Japan in 1941 is concerned.

The Philippines: 👁️👄👁️ we dealt with so much shit from the US that the toilet is jealous of us

Wag kayo maniwala sa matatamis na salita ng mga amerikano -HENERAL LUNA

Thanks for that video, interesting history, first time I heard of that. Like to see more history videos.

The Fact that the US doesnt teach this dark stain on their history tells you alot about the US.

Who is the guy who did the video? Where he got his facts? In the history of Philippines its different history. They didnt stole but bought Philippines.