• BB69@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    There was a war prior to that that the US won and caused the Philippines to be considered an “unincorporated territory” then a “commonwealth”.

    In 1898, the US was already determining what to do with the islands, noting that there was a strong desire for independence. There was a lack of a “Philippine nation” that stopped President McKinley from pushing for release.

    By 1934, congress passed the Tydings-McDuffie Act that started the process of Philippine independence after 10 years to assist in a transition to a functioning government. WWII slowed this down after Japanese occupation.

    This is just a (very) quick summary, there’s a lot more to the story, including the scorched earth campaign the US employed during the rebellion. But no, the US did not “lose” a war and the Philippines did not “win” independence in the same way the US did.

    As a tidbit, Philippine independence is observed on June 12th, because that’s when independence from Spain occurred.