Significant Events in November in Filipino History

Eulogio Despujol

On November 17, 1891, Eulogio Despujol became governor-general of the Philippines. A native of Cataluña, Spain, Despujol was born on March 11, 1834.

On November 18, 2024, the Philippines and the United States signed a significant military intelligence-sharing agreement, marking a deepening of security ties between the two nations. The agreement, known as the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), allows both countries to securely share classified military information.

On November 18, 1928, Salvador "Doy" Laurel, Cory Aquino's Vice President, was born in Paco, Manila. Laurel was the youngest son of Jose P. Laurel, president of the Japanese occupied Philippines and a justice of the Supreme Court during the American colonial period, and Paciencia Hidalgo, both came from Tanauan, Batangas.

(Maximo Inocencio, photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)

On November 18, 1833, Maximo Inocencio, a contractor, ship-builder, lumberman and one of the 13 martyrs of Cavite was born in Cavite. He was the oldest of the 13 martyrs.

Inocencio was first implicated in the Cavite Mutiny of 1872 and was subsequently exiled to Cartagena, Spain for 10 years. After his pardon, he returned to his hometown but was again implicated in the 1896 revolt and was subsequently executed on September 12, 1896 as one of the Thirteen Martyrs of Cavite.

On November 18, 1848, Trinidad Tecson, popularly known as the "Mother of Biak-na-Bato", was born in San Miguel de Mayumo, Bulacan.

On November 19, 1850, Isabelo Tampinco, one of the greatest Filipino wood sculptors who carved numerous religious wood sculptures in Manila and elsewhere, was born in Binondo, Manila.

(Colonel Francisco Olive)

On November 20, 1896, Dr. Jose Rizal appeared before Judge Advocate Colonel Francisco Olive to answer the charges that have been pressed against him.

On November 20, 1645, Colegio de Nuestra Señora del Santissimo Rosario, present day University of Santo Tomas (UST), one of the existing and oldest universities in Asia, was elevated to university status by Pope Innocent X.

On November 21, 1849, Spanish Governor-General Narciso Clavería y Zaldúa issued one of the most consequential administrative decrees in Philippine colonial history - a mandate that would fundamentally reshape Filipino identity and genealogical records for centuries to come. The Claveria Decree represented a transformative moment when the Spanish colonial government formally standardized the naming system for Filipinos across the entire archipelago, establishing a practice whose effects persist in Filipino surnames to this day.

On November 21, 1898, the American Commissioners presented an ultimatum, in which they demanded the cession of the entire Philippine Archipelago while on the other hand they offered to pay Spain $20,000,000, and to insert in the treaty of peace a mutual relinquishment of claims.