Significant Events in March in Filipino History

On March 15, 1956, US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, announced in Manila that the Philippines had been selected as site for the projected Asian Nuclear Research Center, this was followed by a statement in Washington, issued by the International Cooperation Administration (ICA), which ran, in part:

On March 15, 1901, General Mariano Trias along with his subordinate officers and men surrendered to Lieutenant Colonel Frank D. Baldwin in San Francisco de Malabon (now named after him), Cavite. Trias who had been prominent in the Philippine revolution since 1896, held important positions in the revolutionary government. He was considered the most influential man in the southern Luzon after General Aguinaldo.

The historical trajectory of General Mariano Noriel serves as a complex case study of the Philippine revolutionary era and the subsequent transition to American colonial rule. While many figures of the 1896 Revolution are remembered primarily for their battlefield exploits, Noriel's life is defined by a series of high-stakes decisions in military councils and a controversial legal battle that eventually reached the Supreme Court of the United States.

On Saturday, March 16, 1521, after a grueling three‑month crossing of the Pacific Ocean, Ferdinand Magellan and the remnants of his fleet finally sighted land: a "high island" which his chronicler Antonio Pigafetta recorded under the name Zamal, corresponding to present‑day Samar in the eastern Visayas.

On March 16, 1960, a landmark moment unfolded in Quezon City as the Araneta Coliseum, dubbed "The Big Dome," was officially inaugurated. This architectural marvel, envisioned by business tycoon J. Amado Araneta, quickly became a cornerstone of Philippine entertainment and sports culture.

On March 17, 1957, President Ramon F. Magsaysay, often referred to as champion of the Filipino masses, died at the age of 49 in a plane crash in Cebu.

The birth of Fidel Valdez Ramos on March 18, 1928, in the coastal municipality of Lingayen, Pangasinan, occurred at a significant juncture in both Philippine and global history. While the Philippines remained a colonial territory under the United States, the year 1928 was marked by a series of global shifts that would eventually shape the geopolitical landscape of the twentieth century.

On March 18, 2001, Mark Welson Chua, a Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) cadet at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) and a Mechanical Engineering student, was found lifeless in Pasig River. Chua died after exposing practices of corruption, bribery, and extortion in the UST ROTC unit to the university's official student publication, the Varsitarian in January 2001.

On March 19, 1923, Jose "Peping" Alvarez Roño was born in Calbayog (now a city), Samar. He pursued his legal education at the University of Santo Tomas, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1948. In 1949, he successfully passed the Bar examination with an impressive average score of 90 percent.

On March 19, 1974, President Ferdinand E. Marcos issued Presidential Decree 415, authorizing the Secretary of National Defense to enter into defense contracts to implement projects under the Self-Reliant Defense Posture Program (SRDP).