Happy Philippine Independence Day!

Oddly enough, there was really not much happening. I was expecting to see parades down the streets of Manila and fireworks going off illegally in the gutter--but no. Filipinos were going around their business as usual. All Karl, Mick-Mick, and I could find was an army band playing and this fireworks show:

According to Karl's lolo (grandfather), we had missed the celebrations by not going out until later at night. Karl's lolo was a soldier in the American army following WWII and then the Philippine army for 28 years afterwards, and that morning, he marched as part of the independence day parade.

Philippine Independence Day (Araw ng Kasarinlan) has an interesting story behind it. The Philippines declared independence from Spain following the Spanish-American War on June 12th, 1898. US occupation followed, and the Philippines would not be recognized as officially independent until 1946; however, the US would only recognize Philippine independence on July 4th. Independence was thenceforth observed on this date until 1962, when the Philippine government switched back to June 12th. (Source: Wikipedia - Independence Day (Philippines))