Significant Events in March in Filipino History

María Josefa Gabriela Cariño de Silang was a prominent Filipina military leader best known for leading the Ilocano independence movement against Spain after the assassination of her husband, Diego Silang. She was born on March 19, 1731, in Caniogan, Santa, Ilocos Sur.

On March 20, 1990, the trial of racketeering charges against Imelda Marcos and her co-defendant, Adnan Khashoggi, began in New York City. Her attorney, Gerald Spence, defended national sovereignty against the "Thornburgh Doctrine" which holds that the United States may seize foreign nationals at its whim.

On March 20, 1843, Ambrocio Flores, a general of the Philippine Revolutionary Army who succeeded General Antonio Luna as secretary of war after his assassination, was born in Manila.

Marcela Marcelo stands as one of the most significant yet historically marginalized figures of the Philippine Revolution - a woman whose journey from the agrarian elite of Malibay to the rank of General in the Katipunan reveals the totalizing reach of the anti‑colonial struggle. Known as Selang Bagsik (Fierce Sela), she embodied a rare convergence of gendered defiance, battlefield leadership, and maternal sacrifice, challenging the limits imposed on women in both colonial and revolutionary contexts.

Noli Me Tangere, the groundbreaking novel by Filipino writer and national hero José Rizal, is one of the most influential literary works in Philippine history. Published in 1887 in Berlin, Germany, this powerful social commentary exposed the injustices of Spanish colonial rule and helped spark the Filipino national consciousness that would eventually lead to revolution.

On March 21, 1947, a significant chapter in Philippine-American military relations began with the establishment of the Joint United States Military Advisory Group to the Republic of the Philippines, commonly known as JUSMAG. This organization was formed under the Military Assistance Agreement signed between the Philippines and the United States on March 21, 1947, marking a pivotal moment in the post-World War II era for both nations.

The history of the Philippine nation finds one of its most complex and enduring anchors in the life of Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy. Born on March 22, 1869, in Cavite el Viejo (modern-day Kawit), Aguinaldo's life was not merely a sequence of political and military events but a transformation of the Filipino identity from colonial subjects to the citizens of the first constitutional republic in Asia. His trajectory reflects the broader socio-political shifts of the late 19th century, where the localized authority of the principalia class began to challenge the four-century hegemony of the Spanish Empire.

(Sultan of Sulu, Hadji Mohammad Jamalul Kiram)

On March 22, 1915, the Sultan of Sulu, Hadji Mohammad Jamalul Kiram, in behalf of his adherents and people of the Sulu Archipelago, signed in Zamboanga, a mutual agreement with the Governor General, represented by the governor of the Department of Mindano and Sulu, Frank W. Carpenter, renouncing his sovereignty over the Sulu archipelago.

The Sultan agreed "without any reservation and limitation whatsoever, ratifies and confirms his recognition of the sovereignty of the United States of America, and the exercise by his excellency the Governor General and the representatives of the government in Mindanao and Sulu".

On March 23, 1895, Encarnacion Alzona was born in Biñan, Laguna and grew up in the province of Tayabas. Her father was a trial court judge and a distant relative of Jose Rizal. Both her parents were voracious readers, a circumstance that fostered her academic inclinations.

On March 23, 1901, General Emilio Aguinaldo was captured by the American forces led by General Frederick Funston with the help of Macabebe Scouts, in Palanan, Isabela.