Like the rest of the Philippines Bohol would have a new invader, the Americans. In 1899 an American by the name Major Hale landed on the shores of Bohol with the three officers and a small band of men. from Bohol's shore these offices and men walked into Tagbilaran City.
The Boholano's had great respect and love for Emilio Aguinaldo but were ordered that all allegiance to Aguinaldo must be renounced, they were forbidden to honor, or help further Aguinaldo and no flag could be flown except for the Flag of the United States.
[ Note: Emilio Aguinaldo headed the revolt and later defeated Spanish forces in Manila, other parts of Luzon and the Visayas. On June 12, 1898, he proclaimed Independence from Spain. On January 23, 1899 he was elected as the first President of the Republic of the Philippines, and he convened the Philippine Congress which ratified the country's Constitution it's was not long after he would be fighting the United States. Pres. Aguinaldo sent Felipe Agoncillo to Treaty of Paris to plead the cause of the Filipino people at the Paris peace negotiations that would end the Spanish-American War. Felipe Agoncillo was not permitted to attend the conference. Felipe Agoncillo went to Washington where he tried to work against the ratification of the treaty by the US senate. The United States decided that it would still annex the Philippines. And so Aguinaldo once again took up arms to fight for his people and country and we enter the American occupation of the Philippines.]
Major Hale stated;
"The American troops had have come under my command Major Hale as representative of the Government of the United States to take possession of the island and to protect the people; we come as friends and not as enemies; but that all allegiance to Aguinaldo must be renounced, all contributions cease. Henceforth Bohol was to become a part of the U.S. forever."
During the occupation of Bohol by the Americans much of the same injustices that befell other Filipino's in other areas of the Philippines befell the Boholano's. In intresting note is that the first aggressions by Filipino patriots actually took place in the Visayas, However I don't know how much of them took place on Bohol.
Because of abuses and injustices by American troops warfare between the American forces and over 100 Boholano's lead by Pedro Samson, broke out in the hills near the village of Carmen on August 31, the Americans defeated and killed most of poorly armed Boholano's who were armed only with bolo's and old percussion and flint lock firearms. Pedro Samson, escaped with a small band of men and was able to raise a new group of patriots. This time Pedro Samson would not under estimate the Americans and would start battling the Americans using guerrilla type warfare, Pedro Samson and his ban of patriots would do battle and then disappear into the mountains and jungle. Because of this additional American forces were requested by Major Hale.
Capt. Andrew S. Rowan and almost two hundred men of the 19th U.S. Infantry, were dispatched and landed on Bohol. For a time Pedro Samson and his men controlled the interior of the island. But at the expense of the people who lived there. Abuses of the people by the Americans in Bohol continued and worsened.
The barrio of Jagna was burned by the 19th Infantry on 14th of May, the same day an infantryman of that command raped a women, the Infantryman was found and killed by the woman’s finance. The rape enraged the boholano's and resistance towards the Americans heighten.
The men of the 19th Infantry continued to burn villages, towns and execute innocent civilians thought the rest of the war. At one point General Hughes and his Army of me burned so many villages and town the smoke could be seen and smelt all the way to Manila. The more the Boholano's resisted the more restrictive the Americans became. Bohol was cut off from the rest of the Philippines, their trade was stopped, and they endured forced starvation due to lack of trades in food goods from adjoining islands and their trade with other countries. Pedro Samson and his men surrendered to the American forces on December 23. But Americans never the less continued to torture the people of Bohol. The war ended, the 19th Infantry left Bohol, April 3, 1902 and the Philippines turned over to the people.
As the Americans were forced out a new era of peace and trade would begin. This would last only a few years until the WWII and the Japanese. Although the United States preformed unspeakable acts of aggression and murder upon the Filipino people, none was as bad as the Japanese.
