never odd or even

Seeing itself reduced to this condition, the people clamored for justice. It begged the mother country to recognize and restore its immemorial rights by means of reforms which would bring about a gradual and progressive assimilation. But its cries were quickly smothered, and its sons received as the rewards of their selfless service deportation, martyrdom and death. The religious orders, whose interests, always opposed to those of the Filipino people, were adopted as its own by the Spanish government, laughed at these petitions and countered them by saying, with the knowledge and approval of the government, that Spanish liberties had been won only by the shedding of Spanish blood.

If such was indeed the case, what choice was left for the people in its struggle to recover the rights that had been taken away from it? Force was the only choice left; and once this was made clear, the people took up arms in a revolution. With this difference: that it now no longer seeks integration with Spain under her political constitution, but a definitive separation from her. It is now fighting for independence, relying fully on the conviction that time has come when it can, and must, govern itself.