Alternate Philippine History 1898 (Hiatus)

2 - Defenses

It's been over a month since the peace negotiations started.

At this time, the government tried to send a representative, Felipe Agoncillo, to Washington to be a representative for the peace negotiations, but wasn't recognized as such leading to the revolutionary leaders expecting war with the United States anytime soon.

General Aguinaldo, and General Luna are pushing all their forces to finish the defenses as soon as possible before the negotiations between Spain and the United States are finalized.

For the east, the defenses are mostly finished and small camps dotted the mountain. These camps are close, yet hidden from the nearest villages making them very ideal for harassing enemy forces.

In the north, General Luna is overseeing the construction of a base being setup in the Mountain Province, the series of trenches in every town starting from Caloocan to Angles in Pampanga, and various camps around the Cordillera mountains where they would launch guerilla attacks from.

General Luna was actually questioned about the importance of the base, but he explained that it was just in case the war dragged on and the Americans break through their defense lines. This will be the where they will make their last stand as the geography heavily favors the defenders, especially well prepared ones.

Although some questioned if it's still necessary amidst the numerous defenses being laid out all over the archipelago. 

Meanwhile in the south, Cavite, Batangas, most of Laguna, and the area now known as Quezon are decided to be left undefended as the plains and its vicinity to Manila Bay will make it impossible to defend against a large better equipped army.

Instead they opted to focused on the mountains and block access to the Bicol region while the soldiers under General Vicente Lukban will fortify the town of Legzapi and secure the area around the bay of Sorsogon, the Albay gulf, and Lagonoy gulf.

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Elsewhere in the archipelago, the same plans are being rolled out. All revolutionary forces whether or not supportive of Aguinaldo's government all moved to prevent their respective regions from being subjugated by another foreign power.

In the island of Mindoro, about 100km south west of Manila, rebel forces from Batangas and Cavite heavily assisted the local population in training and building defenses in the towns and hideouts in the mountains. They also helped in building traps all over the island.

In the Visayas, namely the islands of Panay, Romblon, Bohol, Negros, and Cebu, the forces in the region moved to fortify the towns near the mountains, and made preparations to destroy the ports to prevent any invader from bringing in equipment.

In addition, they created small hidden piers so each island can still communicate with each other, and the neighboring regions.

The same type of defenses are being implemented in the islands of Samar and Leyte also under the command of General Lukban.

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In Mindanao, the low levels of communication with the leadership in Luzon resolved all groups in the island to work together. 

Moro soldiers infiltrated British Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies through Borneo, and Sulawesi respectively. They are ordered to report back any signs of mobilization of these European colonizers.

The other groups, together with the indigenous tribes secured, and fortified port towns, and created defenses around the towns and villages near the mountains and jungles. They prioritized protecting the Surigao Province, or the area encompassing Surigao del Sur, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, parts of Compostela Valley, Misamis Oriental, Davao del Norte and Davao Oriental.

Though they didn't take orders from Luzon, they still want to make sure they can communicate with their northern compatriots through Dinagat, Samar, and Leyte.