Editorials
Thursday, June 11, 1998

Filipinos celebrate 1898
birth of their nation

ONE hundred years ago, Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed the Philippines independent of Spain after more than 300 years of colonial rule. Aguinaldo, leader of the Filipino revolutionary forces, had gone into exile in Hong Kong after the failure of the initial attempt to overthrow the Spanish colonial regime in 1896. Commodore George Dewey, commander of the U.S. naval force that destroyed the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay, brought Aguinaldo back to the Philippines to resume the struggle against Spain.

This time the Filipinos, in alliance with the United States, fared better, defeating isolated Spanish garrisons in much of the archipelago except for Manila. When American troops arrived, their commander accepted the surrender of the Manila garrison and the Spanish governor and prevented the Filipino troops from entering the capital.

Fighting soon broke out between the erstwhile allies and the war known in American history as the Philippine Insurrection followed. The Filipinos were soon forced to resort to guerrilla tactics. The war dragged on for five years under conditions some have compared to the American experience in Vietnam.

The victorious Americans governed the Philippines until the Japanese invasion in 1942. Independence was finally achieved in 1946 as promised by the United States.

The independence proclaimed by Aguinaldo from the balcony of his rural home was short-lived, but his declaration is considered the true birth of the Filipino nation. Aguinaldo believed Dewey had promised him that the United States would support independence, which Dewey denied. In any event, President William McKinley decided to occupy the Philippines as a prize of the Spanish-American War. The fledgling republic fell victim to American imperialism and what many consider an act of treachery.

For years Philippine independence was celebrated on July 4, the anniversary of the 1946 grant of independence. But nationalists preferred the anniversary of Aguinaldo's declaration, and understandably so. The revolution, although only briefly successful, was the key event in Philippine history. President Diosdado Macapagal ordered the change in the annual observance in the early 1960s.

Hawaii's fate was irreversibly altered during the same period by the 1893 overthrow of the monarchy and the 1898 annexation. One consequence was the introduction of Filipino workers on the sugar and pineapple plantations, the foundation of the Filipino community in Hawaii.

Since those events a century ago, Hawaii has become a state and the Philippines an independent nation. The thousands of Filipinos who emigrated to Hawaii and their descendants have enriched the lives of all of us.

Today Filipinos comprise 15 percent of the state population and are the fastest growing ethnic group, with 4,000 to 5,000 immigrants arriving annually. Ben Cayetano is the nation's first governor of Filipino ancestry.

Hawaii joins Filipino Americans and Filipinos everywhere in celebrating the centennial of Philippine independence.

Auto insurance

HAWAII motorists, who once paid the highest auto insurance premiums in the nation, are getting some relief. Two major insurance companies have announced measures to ease the financial burden here.

State Farm, Hawaii's largest auto insurer, announced it will pay a $11.3 million dividend to its 119,000 auto insurance customers in Hawaii. That works out to an average of $95 to each policyholder or 20 percent of the average six-month premium. The Hawaii payment is part of a $891 million dividend to be paid to drivers in 35 states and the District of Columbia.

Last November State Farm returned $11.6 million in dividends to local policyholders. At the start of the year it reduced its auto insurance rates by an average 15.2 percent.

State Insurance Commissioner Rey Graulty said the dividend could lead to another round of rate reductions. Competitors could face pressure to reduce their premiums, he explained.

No sooner had Graulty spoken than Allstate Insurance Co. announced cuts in its rates. Reductions will vary depending on coverage but will bring overall cuts to 15 percent since last September, when a reduction of 5.4 percent was announced.

Allstate also announced cuts in rates covering homeowners, condominiums and renters policies. Customers with auto and home or renters policies will receive a 10 percent discount. Those with auto and condo policies will get a 5 percent reduction.

Auto insurance premiums here formerly averaged more than $1,000 per driver. The average is now down to about $959, leaving Hawaii with still the fourth highest rates in the country but presumably heading lower.

What's behind the cuts? A State Farm spokeswoman credited fewer accidents, tougher drunken-driving laws and safer automobiles. She added that reforms in the state's auto insurance law were a small factor.

Robert Quigley, Allstate's underwriting manager, said his company's reductions reflect a change in the Hawaii law allowing insurance companies to drop customers with poor driving records. Those drivers don't qualify for the rate cuts. He added that home insurance rates are falling because Hawaii has not been hit by a hurricane since 1992.

The Legislature's recent tinkering with the auto insurance system seems to have figured into the lower rates only marginally if at all. Perhaps this welcome news will dissuade the lawmakers from pursuing the governor's misguided proposal to abolish the no-fault system, which would mainly benefit the trial lawyers and drive up litigation costs.

To belabor the obvious, the best way to reduce auto insurance costs is to have fewer accidents.

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Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited Partnership

Rupert E. Phillips, CEO

John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher

David Shapiro, Managing Editor

Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor

Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors

A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor