14 December, 1897
TODAY IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY
The Truce of Biak-na-Bato (Pact of Biak-na-Bato) was signed by General Emilio Aguinaldo and Spanish Governor-General Fernando Primo de Rivera to provisionally stop the armed conflict between the Filipinos and Spaniards. Don Pedro Alejandro Paterno was appointed by the Spanish Governor-General as sole mediator in the discussion of the terms of peace.
In December 1897, Spanish Chief-General Fernando de Polavieja reported eight thousand victims since the previous year, and informed Madrid that the Rebellion could no longer be suppressed because Spain, he said, ‘was not fighting an army, but a united people’. The truce, however, failed due to suspicions on both sides, and fighting resumed in May 1898.
(Ref: True version of the Philippine revolution, by Don Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy, president of the Philippine republic. Author: Aguinaldo, Emilio, 1869-1964. Collection: The United States and its Territories, 1870 – 1925: The Age of Imperialism.)
