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Photo by Tom Murphy VII (as posted in WikiMedia)
The sometimes contentious topic that is Philippine literature in English may perhaps be traced back to the American military's pacification campaign in the late 19th century.

As John M. Gates points out, in his Schoolbooks and Krags: The United States Army in the Philippines, 1898-1902 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1973), General Arthur MacArthur, then military commander in the Philippine Islands, sought to divide the civilian population from the revolutionaries who had continued their struggle for independence from the Spanish and later American forces. 

Gen. MacArthur used unconventional strategies, employing American soldiers to teach civilians the three Rs (reading, 'riting, and reckoning or 'rithmetic) with English as the medium of instruction. This was perhaps the first successful case of America's pacification campaign to "win the hearts and minds" of a people.
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