31th, 1521 Ferdinand Magellan celebrated the first Easter Mass on the island of Limasawa and claims the Philippines for Spain naming it, the Islands of St. Lazarus.
22d 1897 Aguinaldo rises to prominence in the revolution against Spain at the Tejeros Convention, when Bonifacio was unseated as supreme leader of the Katipunan.
23th , 1901 General Emilio Aguinaldo, 1st Filipino president, was captured by American forces with the help of Filipino turncoats.
17th 1957 Ramon ?the guy? Magsaysay, seventh president of the Philippines dies in a plane crash in Mt. Manunggal, Cebu.

March, the third month in the Philippine calendar used to be the holiest month of the year being the month when Holy Week is observed. For many centuries observing Christ?s life and death (pasyon) was serious business and set the tone for social conduct during the week. There was the Angelus, a moment of silence was observed when the bells ring at 6:00 pm, effectively serving as curfew for the children. Fridays were meat-less, and the wearing of muted clothes during Holy Week or Cuaresma were vestiges of Roman Catholicism adopted from Spain. All this began in the last day of March, 1521 when Ferdinand Magellan celebrated the first Easter Mass on Limasawa. Magellan, a Portuguese soldier-of-fortune serving under the king of a newly unified Iberian kingdom eager for expansion, initiated the most momentous undertaking in global history when he reached the islands of what will be later known as the Philippines. Globalization for the Philippines began this early, linking the islands as it were to the fortunes and misfortunes of the West. Magellan?s monumental accomplishment was witnessed, ironically by a Malay named Enrique, who served as a slave/interpreter for Magellan and, an Italian scribe Pigafetta, who recorded the first ever western observation of the people who will become Filipinos. Magellan was being literal by naming the islands he discovered after St. Lazarus, the man Jesus raised from the dead in the Bible. It marked the end of a uniquely Asian history and the birth of a country that for many centuries was the outpost of western Catholicism and European culture. in southeast Asia. Magellan?s expedition returned to Spain without him but history accorded him as one of the great navigators.. His passage back to the Spain, via Mexico laid the route for the galleon trade, a trade of Mexican silver for Chinese silk and porcelain by ships built in the Philippines and manned by native Filipinos. Thus began unbeknownst to the Filipinos as they passed along the California coast, their introduction to America.

It might be pointless to speculate how the Philippines would had been had the British decided to hunker down for good in the Philippines after capturing Manila as a legitimate prize in its war with Spain during the Seven Years War. But in March 31, 1762, after occupying Manila for over a year, the British left the Philippines as decreed by the same treaty that ceded Canada to France and Louisiana to Spain. It was in Spanish Louisiana, that ?Manila-men? founded the earliest known Filipino community in America. Meanwhile, in the Ilokos region, north of Manila, Diego Silang, sensing opportunity in a weakened Spanish rule waged a rebellion. Fearing a collusion with the British, Silang was assassinated by Spanish agents. The rebellion was continued by his widow, Gabriela Silang, an early example of the heroic tradition of widows rising from the ashes of their martyred husbands.

March also marked the death of Emilio Aguinaldo?s First Philippine Republic. Unable to mount an effective defense against the United State?s war machine, Aguinaldo retreated with his cabinet at a secret encampment in the hinterlands of northern Philippines. Enlisting native mercernaries who knew the secret routes, U.S. soldiers led by Major Frederick Funston, broke through the encampment and captured Aguinaldo. It was the day after his 32nd birthday, almost four years to the day when Aguinaldo and his Katipunan faction unseated Bonifacio as the leader of the revolution against Spain. Aguinaldo did not meet the same fate as his compatriot Bonifacio, who he had executed for treason. Aguinaldo lived on to a full life after making his peace with the Americans.

The country mourned when they heard that President Magsaysay?s plane crashed that March 17th of 1957. Billed as the ?Man of the Masses? he represented a shift in political leadership away from the traditional pool of elite families towards populist leaders. Unlettered and unlike the scions of wealthy political families, cynics ridiculed Magsaysay?s lack of education but the common people identified with him as one of their own. His inauguration in 1953 was attended by record crowds unheard of before. Emerging from the destruction wrought by World War II and weakened by a debilitating post-war HUK communist insurgency, the people pinned their hopes on this common man to lead their Philippines into resurrection and reconstruction.

Suggested Readings:
Cecilia Brainard, ?Another Look at Magellan?s Voyage Around the World?. In Journey of 100 Years: Reflections on the Centennial of Philippine Independence, edited by Cecilia Brainard and Edward Litton. Santa Monica, California, 1999.
Renato Constantino and Leticia Constantino, The Philippines: The Continuing Past. Foundation for Nationalist Studies. Quezon City, 1978.
Teodoro Kalaw, The Philippine Revolution. Jorge B. Vargas Foundation. Mandaluyong, Rizal, 1969.

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