Official Government Documents Refer to The Philippines as Ophir and Maniloas

Contrary to what many including Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture teach the Philippines is not Ophir. The lack of any archeological evidence to support this claim speaks volumes. That has not prevented the spread of this claim among the gullible. Surprisingly the false assertion that the Philippines is Ophir has made it into official government documents.

Here is a paragraph from a Philippine textbook on how to teach Social Studies.  

Using Important Concepts in Social and Human Sciences to Improve Learning Content and Processes in SOCIAL STUDIES

Long before the coming of the Spaniards, the Philippines was known among ancient geographers as Ophir or the land that supplied King Solomon with gold. The place name of Maniolas appeared in Magini's edition of the geographical works of Claudius Ptolemy in 105 AD. Ancient Chinese records referred to the Philippine islands as Ma-I (Land of the Barbarians), Chin-San (Mountain of Gold), Liu-Sung (Land Adjacent to the Mainland), and San-Tao (Three Islands) (NSO 1989).

This book was published in 2002 in partnership with UNESCO and the Philippine government. 

A Study Prepared by the

Social and Human Sciences Committee of UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines and the

Philippine Social Science Council

2002

This same claim, word for word, is also found in the1979 and 1994 Philippine Yearbook.

Philippine Yearbook 1979

Philippine Yearbook 1994

The year book is published by the National Census and Statistics Office. 

This claim also shows up in a book from 1977 word for word but with no footnotes or attribution as to its source. 

The New Jersey Ethnic Experience, 1977

This claim also appears word for word in a health report about the Philippines.

https://openjicareport.jica.go.jp/pdf/10461416_02.pdf

It appears that the origin of this quote is from a book by Gregorio Zaide in 1957.

Philippine political and cultural history, pg 3, 1957

But as you can see there are no footnotes on this page. Which ancient geographers and navigators long before Magellan called the Philippines Ophir? None. Josephus was very clear that Ophir was India. Ptolemy's geography does not extend past the Malay peninsula which makes the claim that his reference to Maniolas is the Philippines abusrd.

It appears the Jesuit Padre Colin was the first to posit that Maniolas is a reference to Manila. Here is his testimony.

What these Islands were called before the Spaniards arrived there is not easy to determine. Master Grijalva says that Archipelago of the Celibates; but it does not give us an Author, and those that we have read put the Celibates to the West of the Maluccas: a repugnant situation to the Philippines. Morga, Argensola, and others in their reports, suppose that they were called the Islands of the Luzones, all taking (like the Canary Islands, and others similar) the name of the main island, which, as we will see, has that of Luzon as its own. The Crownist of Felipe Segundo adds that they are also called the Manilas; and it is thus that many of the Portuguese, and other Nations in Eastern India, still title them in this way. But this surname from the Manilas gives us reason to reason that its antiquity in Eastern India is greater than that of the Portuguese themselves, since Claudius Ptolemy, who flourished only one hundred and sixty years after the Birth of Christ, and would make the Tables of his Geographia touching these parts, for information from the Persians, and Arabs, Vesines, and merchants from India, making a catalog of the Islands of these extra seas Gangem, puts in last place ten, called Maniolas, and their natives Manoilos: that considering all the circumstances, I do not see that they can be other than the Manilas. Let us hear his words: 

They are focused and here there are continuously other islands, ten in number, called Maniolae, in which they say that ships that have iron nails are detained, and with this idea they combine them with wooden ones, lest at any time the Herculean Stone, which is born around them, should attract them: and for this reason they asserted that they were fixed on the beams in the dry place. But they are said to hold the Anthropophagi, said to the Manioli. 

It is said that at this same height, and continuously after the said three Islands (of the Satyros) there are ten others called Maniolas, in which they are known to make ships with wooden dowels, and not with iron nails, because of the Lodestone, which grows nearby, and stops them. And out of this same respect, when the natives lower the boats onto land, they support them on large poles, or beams. The inhabitants of these Islands are said to be Anthropophagos, and their name is the Manolos. So much for Ptolemy.

The name of Maniolas is clearly the name of Manila, which our conquerors left it in veneration of its great antiquity: and because it is this, Even then, the most noble, and main population that they found in the Islands. 

Padre Colin, Labor Evangelica, pgs. 2-3

That is Padre Colin's thoughts on the matter but he is most certainly wrong. He begins by admitting that it "is not easy to determine" what the Philippines were called before the Spanish arrived. Then he latches on to Ptolemy's Maniolae and says that must mean Manila because they sound the same. Manila was not even established until the 13th century which is long after Ptolemy. His solution is that the City of Manila was named after the Maniolas but that etymology is wrong. 

Maynilà, the Filipino name for the city, comes from the phrase may-nilà, meaning "where indigo is found". Nilà is derived from the Sanskrit word nīla (नील), which refers to indigo dye and, by extension, to several plant species from which this natural dye can be extracted. The name Maynilà was probably bestowed because of the indigo-yielding plants that grow in the area surrounding the settlement rather than because it was known as a settlement that traded in indigo dye. Indigo dye extraction only became an important economic activity in the area in the 18th century, several hundred years after Maynila settlement was founded and named. Maynilà eventually underwent a process of Hispanicization and adopted the Spanish name Manila.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila#Etymology

What's curious here is how references to the Philippines as Ophir and Maniola made their way not only into official government documents but also into school textbooks promoted by UNESCO. Not only did the writer appropriate the history of Gregorio Zaide but he plagiarized it. 

Presidential Remarks on Philippine Independence From 1946 - 2024

On May 2nd, 1962 President Diosdado Macapagal, after not receiving a $73 million payment from the US government, issued a proclamation changing the date of Philippine Independence from July 4th to June 12th. While seemingly a patriotic move this change has gradually erased Philippine history so that everyone now thinks the Philippines has been an independent sovereign nation for 126 years. What I'd like to do in this article is trace this slow change through Presidential speeches commemorating Independence Day. 

First is President Roxas:

One year ago today we achieved our national independence and established the Republic of the Philippines. On this same spot, hallowed by the blood of Rizal and consecrated to his memory, the American flag was lowered and our flag, that glorious flag of our forefathers, was raised upon yonder masthead to wave thenceforth alone and unshadowed over all this land we love. (Applause)

It is well that on each anniversary of that historic event we recall the significance of that symbolic ceremony, to remind us of the magnanimity of America and to awaken in our hearts a renewed devotion to freedom, a fresh determination to defend it with our lives.

We won our independence through the processes of democracy, by the will of a free people. We will scan the pages of history in vain for another such example. In the past no star ever fell from an imperial diadem except through force and at the cost of torrents of human blood. It is to the undying credit of Americans and Filipinos that by trusting each other and having faith in one another, they cleared the way for the fullest cooperation in the consummation of the historic act we now commemorate—a priceless flowering of Christian civilization.

We Filipinos can feel proud that we were actors in that historic drama that ushered in this new age. We are grateful to America for having kept faith with us and for pointing the way for other nations to follow in the trusteeship of the peoples under their flags.

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1947/07/04/address-of-president-roxas-on-the-first-anniversary-of-the-philippine-independence/

President Quirino:

Two nations celebrate today their anniversary of freedom. With the United States of America, this celebration is one of the many she has observed annually in her long and successful life as a republic. With our Republic, it is only the second in its young but promising life. To the Philippines, Fourth of July signifies both freedom to the Filipinos and gratitude to America. To America, aside from being also the historic clay of her freedom, it is now properly a continuous source of justifiable pride for the liberty she made possible for us to enjoy. To both countries it should likewise signify from now on the periodic reaffirmation of faith, friendship, and confidence in one another, based on their solemn covenants and mutual commitments.

To be sure, the Filipino people celebrate this memorable day with perhaps greater rejoicing. I shall tell you why. The recentness of our birth as a republic makes our part in this observance like that of proud parents watching fondly their child grow up. You—I—every Filipino, dead or alive, are the proud parents. Dig deep into the past or scour the present and you will find that our libertarian achievements have no parallel in the history of the world. Every man, woman and child in this vast congregation, specially those who suffered in the recent war, know how we won our independence. Our emergence as a nation has been a most painful process. We can truthfully say that this Republic is the child of storm and stress—of fire and famine. Strange as it may seem, although we are only two years old today, we have shown clear signs of amazing strength and vitality, both physical and spiritual, which surely will endure the hardest test.

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1948/07/04/address-of-president-quirino-on-independence-day-july-4-1948/

President Magsaysay:

TEN years ago today, by the grace of God, we realized a dream for which Filipinos had fought and died for hundred of years. On that day was born the Republic of the Philippines, a sovereign nation of free and independent Filipinos. The road we traveled to reach that goal was long and hard. On that road our fathers and their fathers before them fought and died. During the past half century the end of that hard road came in sight. The marks of our struggle changed from blood and steel to persuasion and principle. Our final victory was won with reason rather than violence.

At the turn of the century, we shook off the grip of one foreign country only to come under the sovereignty of another. Fortunately, the new sovereign was a nation which held and still holds the freedom and dignity of man among its most cherished traditions. Within the framework of this tradition we developed our case for self-determination and independence. Our case prospered. And on July 4, 1946, in an atmosphere of mutual respect and warm friendship, the stars and stripes of America were lowered; and the flag of our Republic proclaimed to the world that we stood at last as a free and sovereign people in the community of nations.

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1956/07/04/speech-of-president-magsaysay-on-independence-day/

President Garcia:

THE vast throng which we Filipinos comprise in this park is but the nucleus of an entire nation 27 million strong in joyous observance throughout the country of the Great Day of Independence.

Fourteen years ago today, from the holocaust of war our freedom rose like the Phoenix from the ashes—and with it sovereign statehood. This Republic of the Philippines is the capstone achievement of four centuries of libertarian heroic struggle.

Today we begin our fifteenth year of independence. July 4, 1946, indeed was a day to become unforgotten ever. Here at the Luneta hundreds of thousands of us watched with throbbing hearts the ceremony marking the birth of the Republic. This edifice of stone from, which I speak was not here then; nor the imposing skyline of modern buildings that we now see around us. But at the time of the proclamation of independence, it did not matter that the ceremonial grandstand was a makeshift affair, that all around were the debris of war, that the whole country was prostrate and bleeding.

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1960/07/04/speech-of-president-garcia-on-the-observance-of-the-14th-anniversary-of-the-independence-day-july-4-1960/

Indeed July 4th, 1946 is a day that no Filipino should ever forget. But, because President Diosdado Macapagal changed the date of independence from July 4th to June 12th, that date has been long forgotten and most Filipinos operate under the delusion that the Philippines has been an independent sovereign nation since 1898. 

Presidents Roxas, Quirino, Magsaysay, and Garcia all recognize the fact the Philippines became independent on July 4th, 1946.  None of them mention the declaration of 1898. Three of them mention the fact that Philippine independence is unique in the history of the world because it came by the will of the people rather than by a violent uprising and war. Today no one mentions that history when commemorating independence day. 

Even though President Macapagal changed the date of independence from July 4th to June 12th he still recognized that the Philippines became independent on July 4th. 

President Macapagal. 

THREE years ago today, we commenced the celebration of our day of freedom on the 12th day of June. We made the change not out of a diminution of esteem for America but out of a sense of fidelity to the verities of history. We have since commemorated the 4th of July as American-Philippine Friendship Day, also out of a sense of reality and truth. For it is a reality and a truth, indeed, one of the marvels in the annals of colonialism that after the ties of sovereignty were torn asunder between the United States and the Philippines on July 4, 1946, following forty-eight years of colonial association, instead of the relations between the two countries since then suffering a loosening, the bonds of friendship and partnership between the United States and the Philippines in defense of their security and in support of common ideals have become firmer and stronger with the passing of time.

Finally succumbing to the power of superior arms and brought under the rule of the Spanish crown, the people revolted intermittently and incessantly during the whole period of the one hundred and seventy-seven years of Spanish rule until finally a nationwide revolution led by General Emilio Aguinaldo and the founder of the secret revolutionary society, the Katipunan, Andres Bonifacio, under the inspiration of the Filipino hero and martyr, Dr. Jose Rizal, exploded and succeeded, resulting in the proclamation of Philippine independence in Kawit, Cavite, on June the 12, 1898, by General Aguinaldo and in the establishment of the Philippine Republic under a Constitution adopted in Malolos, Bulacan, with Aguinaldo as President of the Republic.

At about this time, war broke out between the United States and Spain. Defeated in the war, Spain ceded in the Treaty of Peace to the United States the Philippines over which it had lost physical control. Again, the Filipino people resisted the implantation of American rule but were subdued by superior arms with the capture of Aguinaldo in Palanan, Isabela, in 1901. Despite the magnanimity of American rule, the Filipino people continued the struggle for freedom for forty-eight years on the battlefield of peace under a new triumvirate of great Filipino political leaders, Manuel Quezon, Sergio Osmeña, and Manuel Roxas, until on July 4, 1946, the United States proclaimed, restored, and recognized the independence of the Filipino people as a free and sovereign nation.

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1964/06/12/address-of-president-macapagal-on-independence-day-june-12-1964/

President Ferdinand Marcos:

And we of all peoples are perhaps most aware of the costs and the perils of freedom because we know and we remember that our very First Republic that was born in Kawit, Cavite 86 years ago died soon after its founding, the victim of yet another colonial power.

We know and we remember how long it took and what sacrifices were required before we could recover our National Independence on July 4, 1946.

And we know and we remember the labors that we had to bear decade after decade thereafter, in order to preserve our right to be an independent nation and to make authentic and life-giving this blessing for our people.

To celebrate therefore, Independence Day in our country is not simply to mark by ceremony and ritual the history beginnings of our Republic; it is as ever a moment to renew those purposes upon which our nation stands and to review the difficult stages of our evolution into the nation we are today.

We are a nation today of 52 million people that is fully 26 times larger than the nation that came to birth 86 years ago.

In both the growth in size and in the time that has elapsed are vividly marked every trial that we have lived through, and every lesson that we have learned about the challenges that a free and independent nation must face.

As we learned long ago that National Independence is not won after one demonstration of the valor of our arms, so have we also known that the achievement of authentic national freedom involves many forms of struggle and effort. And it is thus the task of every generation of our people to show by deed how it can preserve, protect and promote that freedom,

In many ways the last decade and a half has been such a critical time for our country. For this has been a period when, by choice, we faced up to the many constraints on National Independence since 1946; and this has been a time too when we have had to confront grave challenges to the very life of our republic. 

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1984/06/12/address-of-president-marcos-on-independence-day-2/

President Marcos made these comments in 1984, 22 years after Macapagal changed the date of independence. This is the last time any Philippine President will mention July 4th, 1946 in their Independence Day remarks.

President Cory Aquino:

We first took the road to nationhood and democracy 90 years ago. It did not take long for us to lose our way. Those who tried to pick up the trail of true nationhood again, found only martyrdom.

There is no easy road to nationhood and enduring democracy. And the road signs have been erased or confused by those who do not want us to complete the journey.

Today, we recall those who sacrificed to help us find our way and rededicate ourselves to continue their search and undertake their sacrifices. We cherish their memory and acknowledge with gratitude the sacrifices they made on the altar of country and democracy.

This year, we begin the decade of nationalism, in hopes that we may celebrate June 12, 1998, the Centennial of Independence, as a nation fully free at last. Free from the threat of renewed tyranny, free from poverty, disease, ignorance, homelessness, and conflict.

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1988/06/12/speech-of-president-corazon-aquino-on-independence-day/

President Fidel Ramos:

To whoever may ask what exactly it is we celebrate today, we have this to say:

We Filipinos are rejoicing in our coming of age—in the final proof of our ability to understand, to use and to protect the liberty our heroes won for us a century ago.

Today we mark a hundred years of learning what it takes to rise from a diverse mix of language-groups, islands and regions into a self-conscious unity—into what Rizal called “one Filipino nation”—ang sambayanang Pilipino.

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1998/06/12/speech-of-president-ramos-during-the-centennial-of-the-proclamation-of-philippine-independence-june-12-1998/

This quote is interesting because just two years prior in 1996 President Ramos declared July 4th to  be a special day for the commemoration of 50 years of independence. 

WHEREAS, July 4, 1996 marks the 50th Anniversary of the Philippine-American Friendship Day which ushered the beginning of Philippine political independence from the American colonial rule;

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1996/06/17/proclamation-no-811-s-1996-2/

Yet, despite this admission, Ramos continued to spout the lie that the Philippines gained its liberty in 1898.

President Joseph Estrada:

One hundred years after Kawit, fifty years after independence, twelve years after Edsa, and seven years after the rejection of foreign bases, it is now the turn of the masses to experience liberation.

We stand in the shadow of those who fought to make us free—free from foreign domination, free from domestic tyranny, free from superpower dictation, free from economic backwardness. We acknowledge a debt of gratitude to Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Aguinaldo, Manuel Quezon, Ramon Magsaysay, Cory Aquino, Fidel Ramos, and the magnificent twelve of the 1991 senate who voted for Filipino sovereignty and honor.

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1998/06/30/inaugural-address-of-president-estrada-official-english-translation-june-30-1998/

This speech is from his inaugural address. There are no Independence Day speeches recorded in the Official Gazette. 

President Arroyo:

Today we remember once again those historic events of a hundred and eleven years ago when a band of patriots announced to the whole world the birth of a new and sovereign nation, one with full rights to dream its own dreams, choose its own leaders, and work towards its own goals and aspirations.

Our freedom, paid for by the blood of heroes, has been challenged several times since. But our people rose to the occasion at every turn, defending their liberty with everything they had, prepared to render the ultimate sacrifice if asked to do so.

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2009/06/12/speech-of-president-arroyo-at-the-independence-day-reception/

President Benigno Aquino:

It has been one hundred and sixteen years since our national anthem was formally played and our national flag was unfurled in Kawit, Cavite, as symbols of a free and unified Philippines. On that day as well, the Philippines declared its independence: a country unshackled from foreign chains, composed of citizens who had control of their own destinies.

This is what we commemorate today. For us, the 12th of June is a culmination of all the sacrifices, the battles, and the triumphs our ancestors underwent to achieve independence from Spain. We are all aware: The goals of our heroes were not fulfilled overnight. It was the result of facing and overcoming multiple setbacks and challenges, and of the cooperation of several people united by one purpose: to live dignified lives, free from oppression. There was the Propaganda Movement, which planted the seeds of change in the minds of Filipinos; the Katipunan, which grew to become a refuge to many of our heroes; the many encounters between Filipino guerrillas and Spanish forces; the publication of two novels by Gat Jose Rizal, and his martyrdom in Bagumbayan on the 30th of December 1896.

In the course of history, we continue to defend and uphold the dreams of our forefathers: After the fall of the First Republic founded in Malolos, we fought off those who invaded our lands. We rose up from the ravages of war. 

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2014/06/12/english-speech-of-president-aquino-at-the-116th-anniversary-of-the-proclamation-of-philippine-independence/

President Duterte:

I join all Filipinos in celebrating the 122nd Anniversary of the Proclamation of Philippine Independence.

One hundred and twenty-two years ago, our forefathers proudly proclaimed the birth of the Filipino nation. Today we honor them for their bravery, heroism and sacrifice as well as we thank them for the gifts of democracy and freedom.

https://pco.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/20200912-MESSAGE-OF-PRESIDENT-RODRIGO-ROA-DUTERTE-FOR-THE-2020-INDEPENDENCE-DAY-CELEBRATION.docx.pdf

President Marcos Jr.:

One hundred and twenty-five years since the Declaration of Independence in Cavite, it is appropriate to pause, to reflect on how far we have come from that profound transformative event in our history.

The heroes of our liberation would be proud to know that we have thrown off the “ominous yoke of domination”; never again to be subservient to any external force that directs or determines our destiny.

We have stayed the course and adhered to their ideals for our free and independent country: popular, representative, and responsible.

We have evolved into a healthy and vibrant Republic, with a stable government, supported by growing institutions and mechanisms, all of whose mandate and authority ultimately emanate from and are owed to the Filipino people. Then as now, it remains an unassailable, self- evident principle that sovereignty resides in our people.

Our independence was not the end, but merely the principal means to achieve full development of the Filipino. Our success and the pursuit of happiness are not just the ultimate goals of our independence; these are to be seen as the expanded notions of human freedom.

We subscribe to this; for after all, it is the “blessings of independence and democracy” that we have avowed to secure for ourselves and for our posterity.

A hundred twenty-five years on, we will view our Nation’s “development as freedom”, with more focus and determination.

We owe this to our national heroes, who had won for us this freedom that we now enjoy. We owe this to the next generations of Filipinos to whom we swear to bequeath a stronger and genuinely free Republic.

https://pbbm.com.ph/speeches/speech-by-president-ferdinand-r-marcos-jr-at-the-125th-anniversary-of-philippine-independence-and-nationhood-kalayaan-kinabukasan-kasaysayan/

Beginning with President Cory Aquino every single President makes the claim that the Philippines became sovereign on June 12th, 1898 and ignores the actual date of independence, July 4th. It is not clear why this is the case. One could recognize the significance of both dates but, except for Ramos, that is not what any of these Presidents do.

President Arroyo, the daughter of President Macapagal, offered some insight into her thought process when she praised her father for moving the date of independence.

https://politiko.com.ph/2019/06/12/proud-daughter-arroyo-hails-father-dadong-macapagal-for-moving-independence-day-to-june-12/headlines/

In her speech during the 121st Independence Day celebration at the historic Barasoain Church in, Malolos City, Bulacan, Arroyo said she was proud about the achievement of her father for standing ground and believing that it was wrong to commemorate the country's freedom and sovereignty on the same date with the former colonial masters—the Americans.

"It is a great honor for my family that the one who set Independence Day on the right date of June twelfth was none other than my father, President Diosdado Macapagal," said Arroyo.

On May 12, 1962, Macapagal, barely five months into his presidency, issued Presidential Proclamation No. 28. moving the Philippine Independence Day celebration from July 4 to June 12, nearly two decades after the United States formally set the country free from its colonial rule.

Arroyo explained that her father strongly believed that July 4 was not the right day for Filipinos to celebrate their independence since it somehow connoted dependence on the United States.

"He (Macapagal) is still a congressman, he already thought that it is not right to commemorate our liberation on the fourth of July, the old date of celebration... every time we hold our Independence Day on the fourth of July, we join the country that used to be conquer us. And it seems that we are still tied to America and continue to rely on his help and defense," Mrs. Arroyo stressed.

Mrs. Arroyo said her father stood ground during his time and initiated the first step to further enhance nationalism among Filipinos.

"It is appropriate to move Independence Day to the twelfth of June — the date when General Emilio Aguinaldo announced in Kawit, Kabite, in 1898, that we are a free country, with our own stand, goals, and rights like others another free country," said Arroyo.

According to Arroyo it is not right to celebrate independence on July 4th because the United States celebrates its independence on the same date. To continue celebrating Philippine independence on July 4th "seems that we are still tied to America and continue to rely on his help and defense." 

This is as stupid as if one shared a birthday with a friend and decided to celebrate the day of his conception instead just so he could have his very own special day. It is a straight out denial of history due to an ill-conceived notion of pride. 

Arroyo is wrong because the Philippines continues to depend on the USA for "help and defense." The USA gives the Philippines millions of dollars in aid every single year for projects of every kind. The US military trains with the AFP. The USA and the Philippines have also signed a Mutual Defense Treaty in which the USA will come to the aid of the Philippines if they are attacked. 

It would be interesting to hear what Presidents Roxas, Quirino, Magsaysay, and Garcia have to say about this issue but they are all dead. President Garcia is the only one who survived after Macapgal changed the date of independence but his thoughts on the issue are either not recorded or are not readily available. 

Egregiously False Philippine Independence Day Remarks

It is an indisputable fact of history that the Philippines did not become an independent and sovereign nation until July 4th, 1946. This fact of history was erased by President Diosdado Macapagal when he issued a proclamation declaring June 12th, 1898 to be the real independence day which was done in response to the US government's failure to pay a $73 million debt. 

The effects of that proclamation have been far reaching. In effect Macapagal erased a large part of Philippine history. At least it is erased every June 12th when Filipinos around the world pretend the Philippines has been independent since 1898. It does not help that the international community assists in this delusion by offering their congratulations each year on June 12th. This denial of history is heard clearly in the independence day speeches of politicians across the country. Here are three samples.

First from President Marcos. 

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2024/06/12/2362292/true-freedom-lies-filipinos-who-fight-squarely-every-day-marcos

Marcos recounted the declaration of Philippine independence that took place in Kawit, Cavite 126 years ago.

“It heralded the birth of the Philippines and declared to the world the untiring resolve of the Filipinos to chart their own destiny as a sovereign nation,” Marcos said.

“A century and a quarter has passed since we unshackled the chains of subjugation yet the fervor of nationalism persistently burns brightly in each of us today. We stand united as ever, upholding with pride the hard-earned liberty bequeathed to us by our forebears,” he added.

125 years "has passed since we unshackled the chains of subjugation?" Did Marcos forget about the Philippine-American war? Did he forget about the American Colonial period? That is a rather blatant denial of history and those who lived through it. Of course his remarks could be interpreted to mean it has been 125 years since the Spanish yoke was thrown off and there is a direct line between the declaration of the First Philippine Republic and the current one. But it is very doubtful that is what he means because he makes no caveats to indicate that is the case. 

Vice President Sara Duterte's remarks cannot be interpreted so generously. Her remarks are a flat out lie. 

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/909818/vp-sara-on-independence-day-remember-the-ideals-we-fight-for/story/

Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday urged the public to remember the heroism of the country's forefathers as the Philippines marked its 126 years of independence.

Speaking in a ceremony in Davao City for the Independence Day celebration, Duterte said that the freedom that Filipinos experience now is a result of the efforts of the country's ancestors to reclaim their rights and to govern the country as a sovereign nation. 

“Today we are gathered to commemorate 126 years of sovereignty, as well as to honor this great legacy left to us by our forefathers who displayed true courage, bravery, and patriotism,” she said in her speech.

“On Independence Day, we do not only celebrate our liberation but also place emphasis on the importance of remembering the adversities we have overcome and the ideals we fight for.” 

126 years of sovereignty!? What!? No. Absolutely not. The Philippines has not been sovereign for 126 years. Like Marcos she is denying the Philippine-American war and the subsequent American occupation. And she wants "to honor this great legacy left to us by our forefathers who displayed true courage, bravery, and patriotism?" You cannot do that by denying history. 

Learning from history is, ironically, a mainstay of Philippine Independence Day speeches which emphatically deny the true history of the Philippines. Listen to the governor of Mayor of Puerto Princessa.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1950898/let-history-serve-as-inspiration-of-today-puerto-princesa-mayor

Mayor Lucilo Bayron of this city urged locals to draw inspiration from history in facing present challenges at the celebration of the 126th Independence Day of the country from Spanish rule at the Rizal Park on Wednesday morning (June 12).

Bayron said Independence Day is celebrated “in honor of the heroic deeds of the past generation that paved the way to the birth of the country’s freedom that was attained through sacrifices of blood, sweat and tears.”

He told the crowd in his speech that the celebration is also commemoration of a united journey and cause that binds Filipinos as one.

“Let us darw strength from our history and let our ancestor’s bravery serve as our inspiration to face the present challenges with the same passion,” Bayron said.

Like Marcos these remarks can be generously interpreted to mean, not that the Philippines actually obtained independence, but that the path was set towards independence. However, even that interpretation is wrong. 

President Diosdado Macapagal, in his very first June 12th Independence Day speech, has some interesting remarks to say about learning from history. 

It is noteworthy that no one among the half-dozen great heroes of our history, Rizal, Aguinaldo, Bonifacio, Lapu-Lapu, Abad Santos and Quezon, has played a role in the Republic that we administer today. This fact emphasizes the responsibility which devolves upon us to whom they bequeathed the fruits of their heroic labors to fashion this Republic as an instrument for the welfare and happiness of our people.

http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1962/06/12/address-of-president-macapagal-on-independence-day/

Thus, the very man who set the nation on a path to denying its past admitted that the heroes of the past have NO CONNECTION to the current Philippine Republic, the one born in 1946. He was able to say that because he did not have 48 years of indoctrination and erasure of history to contend with. Unless the date of independence is reverted to July 4th, 1946 and Filipinos are forced to deal with the real history of the Philippines these lies will continue to the detriment of everyone. 

The God Culture: The Philippines Is Not Ophir

Have you heard the chatter across the internet that the Philippines is actually the Biblical land of Ophir? It sounds good but once the evidence is sifted the claims turn out to be completely false. Let's take a look at several important reasons why the Philippines is most certainly not Ophir. All of these points have been discussed in my articles debunking Timothy Jay Schwab of The God Culture. 

1. Josephus says India is Ophir

If we want to know where the land of Ophir is why would we not go back to the oldest sources? In the first century AD Josephus wrote an extensive history of the Jewish nation. He tells us in no uncertain terms that Ophir is the Golden Chersonesus which belongs to India. 

4. Moreover the King built many ships in the Egyptian bay of the Red Sea; in a certain place called Ezion-geber. It is now called Berenice; and is not far from the city Eloth. This countrey belonged formerly to the Jews; and became useful for shipping, from the donations of Hiram King of Tyre. For he sent a sufficient number of men thither for pilots, and such as were skilfull in navigation: to whom Solomon gave this command, that they should go along with his own stewards to the land that was of old called Ophir, but now the Aurea Chersonesus: which belongs to India: to fetch him gold. And when they had gathered four hundred talents together, they returned to the King again.

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/ant-8.html

There is only one place in the entire world which is called the Golden Chersonesus and that is the Malay Peninsula. Therefore the Philippines is not Ophir. 

2. Timothy Jay Schwab agrees India has all the resources attributed to Ophir

In his testing the resources of Ophir The God Culture admits that India has all the resources attributed to Ophir. 

#33: Is India Ophir? 100 Clues The Philippines Is Ophir

2:29 One such claim is that India must be Ophir. Now we will give them that India does in fact have the resources on Solomon's list. Yes it does.

In his book The Search for King Solomon's Treasure he says the same thing. 

The only other coherent claim as far as resources are concerned is India yet it’s own history says it had a source of ancient gold and silver, isles to the East thus none of these make any sense except the Philippines. 

 Every resource of Solomon tests as native to the Philippines and all other claims fail in this chapter except India whose claim already failed the test of it’s own history. 

Solomon's Treasure, pgs. 110 and 115

Notice how in the same sentence Tim contradicts himself by saying India's claim does not fail but also fails the test of history despite Josephus claiming India is Ophir. What is important to note is that Tim admits India has all the resources of Ophir which affirms the historical claim of Josephus that Ophir is in India. 

3. No Ancient Map Shows the Philippines

If the Philippines is actually Ophir then why do all ancient geographies omit the Philippines? 

Because no ancient Romans or Greeks ever sailed to the Philippines. If they did then these expert cartographers would have included it in their descriptions of the world. As it is Ptolemy's map, which is the pinnacle of ancient geography, ends with the Golden Chersonesus and an enclosed Indian Ocean. There is no room for any islands east of the Malay Peninsula because no one had sailed that far east. Yet The God Culture claims Filipinos and Greeks were circumnavigating Africa to trade with one another until the time of Jesus Christ. That is ridiculous and there is simply no getting around this fact no matter how many hoops The God Culture jumps through.

4. Roman artifacts have been found in Mainland Asia but not in the Philippines

If the ancient Romans and Greeks had been sailing to the Philippines to trade then why is there no record of their presence? Roman coins have been found as far east as Vietnam.

Óc Eo (Vietnamese) is an archaeological site in modern-day Óc Eo commune of Thoại Sơn District in An Giang Province of southern Vietnam. Located in the Mekong Delta, Óc Eo was a busy port of the kingdom of Funan between the 2nd century BC and 12th century AD and it may have been the port known to the Romans as Cattigara.

The remains found at Óc Eo include pottery, tools, jewelry, casts for making jewelry, coins, and religious statues. Among the finds are gold jewellery imitating coins from the Roman Empire of the Antonine period. Roman golden medallions from the reign of Antoninus Pius, and possibly his successor Marcus Aurelius, have been discovered at Óc Eo, which was near Chinese-controlled Jiaozhou and the region where Chinese historical texts claim the Romans first landed before venturing further into China to conduct diplomacy in 166. Many of the remains have been collected and are on exhibition in Museum of Vietnamese History in Ho Chi Minh City.

Funan was part of the region of Southeast Asia referred to in ancient Indian texts as Suvarnabhumi, and may have been the part to which the term was first applied.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattigara

There have been plenty of archaeological digs and finds across the Philippines but no ancient Roman or Greek artifacts have ever been found in the Philippines. That is because they never sailed to or traded with the Philippines.

5. Ophir is Never Described as a Group of Islands

One thing The God Culture is fond of saying is that in the Bible Ophir is called "the isles in the east at the ends of the earth." 

The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, pg. 89

These isles are East at the ends of the Earth and they are identified as Tarshish, Ophir and Sheba.

The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, pg. 93

However, the Bible never mentions Isles in the East or At the Ends of the Earth. 

https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/search.php?hs=1&q=%22isles+in+the+east%22

https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/search.php?hs=1&q=%22at+the+ends+of+the+earth%22

Chapter 8 in his book is a very convoluted misinterpretation of Scripture but unravelling Tim's ridiculous Bible interpretation is beyond the scope of this article. Here is every mention of Ophir in the Bible. At no time is Ophir ever described as a group of islands.

https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/search.php?hs=1&q=ophir

What the Bible has to say about Ophir is very limited. All we know about Ophir geographically is that it is in the east from the Red Sea port of Ezion-geber. Other than that and the list of resources brought back nothing is known about Ophir.  Neither Ophir, Tarshish, or Sheba are ever described as being islands and to twist the Bible to make it say otherwise is bad hermeneutics. 

6. The God Culture Lies Too Much to be Trusted About Anything

The above five reasons are more than enough to reject any claim that the Philippines is Ophir. But The God Culture has gone a step further and produced a series of videos and a book full of convoluted, byzantine, and in some cases fabricated evidence to prove the Philippines is Ophir. Here are just a few of those claims:

Antonio Pigafetta saw elephants in the Philippines.

Fernando Pinto shipwrecked in the Philippines and placed them at 9N20.

Filipinos and Greeks regularly circumnavigated Africa to trade with one another. 

The Lequios Islands are Luzon Island in the Philippines.

Antonio Pigafetta's journal is the only eyewitness source to Magellan's landing in the Philippines.

Antonio Pigafetta claimed Samar Island is Cattigara. 

The Philippines is Antillia.

The City of Manila is mentioned on a 1492 map.

The Behaim map is Portuguese when it is really German. 

And the list goes on. 

Over the past few years I have meticulously dismantled and exposed the nonsense of Timothy Jay Schwab. He lies when he says no one has disproved him in seven years. I have done that a multitude of times and I will continue to do so. 

Conclusion

This is just a brief list of the many reasons the Philippines is not Ophir. I believe they are the strongest reasons. The oldest testimony as to where Ophir is locates it in India in the Golden Chersonesus. Ancient maps prove that no one knew anything past the Golden Chersonesus. The Bible never describes Ophir as islands in the east at the ends of the earth. Those facts cannot be overcome and with that Timothy Jay Schwab's case for the Philippines as Ophir is untenable ab initio.

Sara Duterte Does Not Understand the History of the Philippines

Recently Vice President Sara Duterte celebrated the 124th anniversary of the Malolos Congress and even gave a speech.

https://mb.com.ph/2022/09/15/vp-duterte-hails-malolos-as-bedrock-of-democracy/

Vice President Sara Duterte on Thursday, Sept. 15, highlighted the importance of democracy and freedom the country enjoys today as she celebrated with Bulakenyos the 124th anniversary of Malolos Congress.

She joined the commemoration of the Malolos Congress at the historical Barasoain Church this morning.

In her 12-minute speech, Duterte noted that the historical opening of the Malolos Congress became the foundation of the country’s democracy.

“This democracy is the most important inheritance from our forefathers—that we freely enjoy until today,” Duterte said.

She greeted the province and people of Malolos in the celebration and emphasized the important chapter of the country’s history that happened in Barasoain.

“This celebration is important to our history because the opening of the Congress of Malolos on Sept. 15, 1898 became the signal that birthed a free republic—the Republic of the Philippines,” Duterte added.

Malolos Constitution was the constitution of the First Philippine Republic which made the country the first-ever free republic in Asia.

This is ALL WRONG. I get it though. Sara Duterte, like every other Filipino, has been fooled into believing June 12th is Independence Day and that everything related to that date, including the Malolos Congress matters. It does not. Hear the words of President Diosdado Macapagal who changed Independence Day from July 4th to June 12th.

It is noteworthy that no one among the half-dozen great heroes of our history, Rizal, Aguinaldo, Bonifacio, Lapu-Lapu, Abad Santos and Quezon, has played a role in the Republic that we administer today. This fact emphasizes the responsibility which devolves upon us to whom they bequeathed the fruits of their heroic labors to fashion this Republic as an instrument for the welfare and happiness of our people.

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2018/06/june-12th-as-independence-day-is-lie.html 

The current Republic of the Philippines has no relation to the one represented by the Malolos Congress. True independence was not obtained until 1946 and it was brought about by the hard work of Manuel Quezon. The question of independence was put to a vote which means the current Republic of the Philippines is a manifestation of the people's will rather than a Masonic conspiracy such as happened in 1898.

It's really a shame that Macapagal changed the Independence Day because of a $73 million dollar payment that the USA initially declined to give. Now, no Filipino knows their real history. Not even Vice President Sara Duterte.