TIMELINE: Efforts to make the Philippines a US state

Rappler blog ^ | Loren Bustos and Vanessa Cabacungan

[2ndDivisionVet]

None of the attempts to make the Philippines a US state have been successful, or taken seriously, so far.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Did you know that there have been attempts to make the Philippines a state of the United States of America?

Since the Philippines came under US rule in 1898, some ilustrados (upper class Filipinos) advocated the annexation of the Philippines to the US, but didn’t succeed.

Pro-US statehood movements persisted even after the US granted independence to the Philippines in 1946.

Several organizations have lobbied for US annexation, and even made it a campaign platform. None of these efforts succeeded or were ever taken seriously.

Let’s trace some of the movements that pushed for the Philippines’ US statehood. These accounts are based on news clippings from local and foreign publications.

September 19, 1971 - Former congressman Rufino Antonio launches via a newspaper advertisement the Philippine Statehood USA movement, which claims 1.25 million supporters. Its target is to reach 10 million members by 1973 to enable a plebiscite that will vote on the country’s statehood. The annexation to the US is believed to save the Philippines from "disasters" such as graft and corruption.

May 8, 1972 - Congressman Joaquin Roces moves for a congressional investigation on the movement, which most legislators dismiss as a joke.

May 14, 1972 - The Statehood Philippines Movement registers as an official political party. This move is said to be a step toward fulfiling a claim that the group will field candidates in the next elections if the planned 1973 plebiscite does not materialize. (No plebiscite or elections are held because of the imposition of Martial law in September 1972.)

1981 - Banking on a campaign platform of US annexation of the Philippines, the Federalist Party’s Bartolome Cabangbang runs for president against then reelectionist Ferdinand Marcos. He obtains 4% of total votes; Marcos gets 88%.

August 30, 1986 - The first International Statehood Conference is held in Arizona, USA, where Philippine and Puerto Rican delegates push for 51st and 52nd statehood. The conference aims to develop a process that will expedite both country's statehood dreams.

January 30, 1988 - The New Philippine Movement for US Statehood (or Statehood Movement), composed of Filipino-American members, formally petitions the US Congress to declare the Philippines as the 51st Federal State. The group informs the US Congress of its plan to submit a petition with 15 million signatures.

July 4, 1988 - Statehood Movement supporters meet in an international convention in New York City to formalize the link up of all groups supporting the annexation of the Philippines as a US state.

October 18, 2003 - Members of United Supporters of America (USA), a group that seeks to make all Filipinos US citizens, march to the US Embassy in Manila in support of US President George W Bush who is in the country for a state visit. The group is blocked by the police.

December 5, 2003 - USA leader Elly Pamatong declares his intention to run for president in the 2004 elections, and promises to make the Philippines a part of the US if he wins. He is declared a nuisance candidate.

March 2004 - The Third Option Proponents (TOP) Party, another organization that advocates the Philippines' US statehood, is founded.

January 17, 2007 - TOP chairman Brigido Asuncion Buenafe files his candidacy for the 2007 senatorial elections using the nickname "Mr RP-statehood-USA." Like Pamatong in 2003, he is declared a nuisance candidate.

November 27, 2009 - Pamatong again files his candidacy for the 2010 presidential elections using the same platform. He is again declared a nuisance candidate.

November 25, 2013 - Philippine Statehood USA publishes an online petition calling for supporters of the country's US statehood. The petition runs until December 1, 2016.

[Wingy]

There were several reasons that we were "kicked out" of Subic and Clark. The politicians were getting pressure from local religious leaders who were increasingly shocked at the lack of morality of Olongapo and Angeles City. The Philippines is 90 odd percent Catholic (A gift the Spanish left them after ruling for 400 years or so.) and the areas around Clark and Subic Bay were very poor. Decades of 19 year old sailors with money in their pockets, and a long way from home, turned loose on the local population was rapidly undoing the good works of the church. Even today, if you google Olongapo or Angeles City, the third or forth listing is a description of the bars in town.

The Mount Pinatubo eruption only served to stir the pot, as the US was openly pondering whether the costs to clean up and reopen the two bases was worth it. This amped up the pressure from the locals and the population from other areas joined in the call to ask the US to leave. The chance to get all the free infrastructure left behind had quite a lot of influence with the not too religious factions. So those local politicians were under a TON of pressure from their voters to 'ask us to leave'.

[ExCTCitizen]

Jeez...only the 51st state...? I thought they were 57 already....

[Zhang Fei]

Decades of 19 year old sailors with money in their pockets, and a long way from home, turned loose on the local population was rapidly undoing the good works of the church. Even today, if you google Olongapo or Angeles City, the third or forth listing is a description of the bars in town.

These people were thinking with something other than their noggins. Any low-income country is gonna have a big red-light district. In the region, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea were, in their time, known for their versions of Olongapo and Angeles City.

[Joe Boucher]

At least we share some commonality with much of Canada.
Puerto Rico or the Manilla.
Not so much.

[jmaroneps37]

Two more Democrat Senators a bunch more of Democrat Congressmen/women and an open sore for illegals to sneak in? No thanks!