Emily+S.+-+PA+-+SP10

**Emilio Aguinaldo**

 * __Occupation__:** I started out my political career as the "capitan municipal" of Cavite El Viejo. Meanwhile I joined the secret organization known as the Katipunan and became the local leader of the group. Then I became "cabeza de Barangay of Binakayan" in which I was involved in shipping. Next I was mayor of Cavite Viejo, which gave me the experience I needed to later become "president" of the Philippines under the Malolos Constitution. Through it all I was known as the leader of the Filipino independence movement.

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 * __Position on Is____sue__:** I believe that the Filipinos have the right to be their own independent country. This being said I do not agree with the United States not giving us our freedom, which is why I an anti-imperialism and anti-annexation of the Philippines.======


 * __Reasons for interest__:** I have been involved with the idea of freedom for the Philippines from the beginning. Around the time I was 30 I had joined the secret organization known as the Katipunan. We fought for Spanish expulsion and Filipino independence. I also helped the Americans to fight the Spanish. After the war I figured now we would finally have our freedom, but the United States did not want us to be independent. All of these events made me feel betrayed by the American people. I thought they stood for independence, but apparently only they are allowed to be happy. They called me "the George Washington of the Philippines" but they would not let me be to my country what he was to theirs. Because of this injustice, I had to take up arms again and help my countrymen fight for our right to be our own country. This is why I am interested in the annexation of the Philippines, and why I am against it.

__The New York Times:__ In the beginning, American press gave me the benefit of the doubt and supported my reasoning for independence and I thank them for their acceptance. The New York Times printed this: "It is his [Aguinaldo's] avowed ambition to set up a native Government for the Philippines under the protection of the United States. The advisability of that proposition would depend first of all on the character and ability of Aguinaldo. If he is a man capable of ruling his people and if his people are not altogether lawless we might not be accused of shirking our just responsibilities if in time we turned the islands over to be administered by their own people."
 * __References__:**

__Mark Twain:__ Twain was known to support me and my cause of Filipino independence. He said this about me "From Spain he got everything for his people, nothing for himself. Except banishment. He consented to that. He had broken that heartless tyranny of three hundred years, and set his people free. That was enough. Washington, Joan of Arc, or any of that great breed, would have gone happy into banishment on the same terms."

__**Sources:**__
"American Imperialism." //Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts WWW//. Web. 29 Mar. 2010. .

Arguelles, Randolf. "Saint of National Liberation or Prancing Fool?" //SFSU WWW Home Page//. Web. 29 Mar. 2010. .

"Biography of Emilio Aguinaldo." //Biography Archive//. Web. 29 Mar. 2010. .