On this day, on May 3, 1898, American forces under Commodore George Dewey’s command occupied Fort San Felipe Neri, the Spanish arsenal at Cavite Nuevo (present-day Cavite City).
He used the arsenal’s shipyard to repair his fleet, including the Spanish ships captured in the Battle of Manila Bay.
On the same day, a small Spanish force garrisoned in Corregidor Island surrendered to American forces onboard the protected cruiser USS Baltimore, one of the ships in the US Asiatic Squadron under Dewey’s command.
On this day, in 2016, Domingo Siazon Jr., former Secretary of Foreign Affairs, died in Tokyo, Japan.
Siazon served as Foreign Affairs Secretary from May 1995 to January 2001. He was also the UNIDO Director General from 1985 to 1992.
On this day, in 2001, the Philippines established formal diplomatic relations with Malawi. Today, we celebrate 18 years of diplomatic relations.
There are around 41 Filipinos in Malawi as of June 2018.