Philippine Declaration of Independence

History

Main article: Philippine Revolution, History of the Philippines (1898–1946)

In 1896, the Philippine Revolution began. In December 1897, the Spanish government and the revolutionaries signed a truce, the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, requiring that the Spaniards pay the revolutionaries $MXN800,000 and that Aguinaldo and other leaders go into exile in Hong Kong. In April 1898, shortly after the beginning of the Spanish–American War, Commodore George Dewey, aboard the USS Olympia, sailed into Manila Bay, leading the Asiatic Squadron of the US Navy. On May 1, 1898, the US defeated the Spaniards in the Battle of Manila Bay. Emilio Aguinaldo decided to return to the Philippines to help American forces defeat the Spaniards. The US Navy agreed to transport him back aboard the USS McCulloch, and on May 19, he arrived in Cavite.

The Proclamation on June 12

Independence was proclaimed on June 12, 1898, between four and five in the afternoon in Cavite at the ancestral home of General Emilio Aguinaldo in Cavite el Viejo (present-day Kawit), Cavite, some 30 km south of Manila. The event saw the unfurling of the flag of the Philippines, made in Hong Kong by Marcela Agoncillo, Lorenza Agoncillo, and Delfina Herboza, and the performance of the Marcha Filipina Magdalo, as the national anthem, now known as Lupang Hinirang, which was composed by Julián Felipe and played by the San Francisco de Malabon marching band.

The Act of the Declaration of Independence was prepared, written, and read by Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista in Spanish. The Declaration was signed by 98 people, among them a United States Army officer who witnessed the proclamation. The final paragraph states that there was a "stranger" (stranger in English translation—extranjero in the original Spanish, meaning foreigner) who attended the proceedings, Mr. L. M. Johnson, described as "a citizen of the U.S.A., a Colonel of Artillery".Dean Conant Worcester, in his 1914 book The Philippines: Past and Present , says: :"Invitations to the ceremony of the declaration of independence were sent to Admiral Dewey; but neither he nor any of his officers were present. It was, however, important to Aguinaldo that some American should be there whom the assembled people would consider a representative of the United States. 'Colonel' Johnson, ex-hotel keeper of Shanghai, who was in the Philippines exhibiting a cinematograph, kindly consented to appear on this occasion as Aguinaldo's Chief of Artillery and the representative of the North American nation. His name does not appear subsequently among the papers of Aguinaldo. It is possible that his position as a colonel and chief of artillery was a merely temporary one which enabled him to appear in a uniform which would befit the character of the representative of a great people upon so solemn an occasion!" Worcester attributes this to "Taylor, 26 A J.", referring to Major J. R. M. Taylor, who translated and compiled insurgent records Despite his prior military experience, Johnson had no official role in the Philippines.

Ratification

The proclamation of Philippine independence was promulgated on August 1, when many towns had already been organized under the rules laid down by the dictatorial government of General Aguinaldo. There were 190 municipal presidents from different towns in 16 provinces—Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Bulacan, Bataan, Infanta, Morong, Tayabas, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Mindoro, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, La Union, and Zambales—who ratified the Proclamation of Independence in Bacoor, Cavite.

Later, at Malolos, Bulacan, the Malolos Congress modified the declaration upon the insistence of Apolinario Mabini, who objected to the original proclamation, which essentially placed the Philippines under the protection of the US.

Struggle for independence

The declaration was never recognized by either the US or Spain. Instead, Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States in the 1898 Treaty of Paris that took effect afer the exchange of ratifications on April 11, 1899, marking the end of the Spanish–American War. The Philippine revolutionary government had been constituted as a democratic republic on January 23, 1899 and did not recognize the treaty or American sovereignty.

American assertion of sovereignty led to the outbreak of the Philippine–American War on February 4, 1899. President Aguinaldo was captured by US forces on March 23, 1901, and issued a statement acknowledging and accepting the sovereignty of the US over the Philippines. On July 2, 1902, US Secretary of War Elihu Root telegraphed that the fighting had come to an end, and provincial civil governments had been established everywhere except those areas inhabited by Moro tribes, notwithstanding the existing civil governments instituted by the Filipinos. Pockets of resistance continued for several years.

Following the end of World War II, the US recognized Philippine independence and withdrew from the country on July 4, 1946, via the Treaty of Manila. July 4 was observed in the Philippines as Independence Day until August 4, 1964, when, upon the advice of historians and the urging of nationalists, President Diosdado Macapagal signed into law Republic Act No. 4166, designating June 12 as the country's Independence Day. June 12 was previously observed as Flag Day, and many government buildings are urged to display the Philippine flag in their offices.

Current location of the Declaration

The Declaration is currently housed in the National Library of the Philippines.

During the Philippine–American War, the American government captured and sent to the US about 400,000 historical documents. In 1958, the documents were given to the Philippine government along with two sets of microfilm of the entire collection, with the US federal government keeping one set.

The Declaration was stolen from the National Library sometime in the 1980s or 1990s. As part of a larger investigation into the widespread theft of historical documents and a subsequent public appeal for the return of stolen documents, the Declaration was returned to the National Library in 1994 by historian and University of the Philippines professor Milagros Guerrero, who mediated the return of the documents.

In 2025, the Declaration was proclaimed as a national cultural treasure by the National Library.

A contemporary handwritten copy of the Declaration, handwritten by Lt. Col. Jose Bañuelo, was sold for ₱11.4 million at a Leon Gallery auction on September 14, 2024.

The text of the "Act of the Proclamation of Independence of the Filipino People"

The Act of the Proclamation of Independence of the Filipino People (; ) is part of a long line of declarations of independence, including the US Declaration of Independence. It includes a list of grievances against the Spanish government stretching back to Ferdinand Magellan's arrival in 1521. It confers upon "our famous Dictator Don Emilio Aguinaldo all the powers necessary to enable him to discharge the duties of Government, including the prerogatives of granting pardon and amnesty."

Notes

References

• History of the Filipino People. Teodoro A. Agoncillo
• National Library of the Philippines
• Philippine History Group of Los Angeles

References

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2. Halstead, Murat. (1898). "The Story of the Philippines and Our New Possessions".
3. Agoncillo, page 157
4. Sagmit, E. A.. "The Filipino Moving Onward 5' 2007 Ed.". Rex Bookstore, Inc..
5. (2009). "Honoring the 111th Anniversary of the Independence of the Philippines: Markup Before the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Eleventh Congress, First Session, on H. Con. Res. 153, October 14, 2009". U.S. Government Printing Office.
6. Nakpil, Lisa Guerrero. (September 17, 2024). "Copy of declaration of Philippines independence sold for P11.4 million". [[The Philippine Star]].
7. (1972). "The Laws of the First Philippine Republic (The Laws of Malolos) 1898-1899". National Historical Commission.
8. (1972). "The Laws of the First Philippine Republic (The Laws of Malolos) 1898-1899.". National Historical Commission.
9. {{Harvnb. Worcester. 1914
10. {{Harvnb. Worcester. 1914
11. {{Harvnb. Worcester. 1914
12. Agoncillo, Teodoro. (1997). "Malolos: the Crisis of the Republic". University of the Philippines Press.
13. "TREATY OF GENERAL RELATIONS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES. SIGNED AT MANILA, ON 4 JULY 1946". United Nations.
14. (August 4, 1964). "REPUBLIC ACT NO. 4166 - AN ACT CHANGING THE DATE OF PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE DAY FROM JULY FOUR TO JUNE TWELVE, AND DECLARING JULY FOUR AS PHILIPPINE REPUBLIC DAY, FURTHER AMENDING FOR PURPOSE SECTION TWENTY-NINE OF THE REVISED ADMINISTRATIVE CODE". Chan Robles Virtual Law Library.
15. "#𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗟𝗶𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗿𝘆𝗣𝗛 𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗚𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝟴𝟬 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 – National Library of the Philippines".
16. (August 31, 1999). "Asiaweek". CNN.
17. Layno, Karen Flores. (December 12, 2025). "Murillo Velarde map a national cultural treasure". [[Manila Standard]].
18. JADE VERONIQUE YAP. (2024-09-11). "How Leon Gallery got a hold of the copy of declaration of Philippine independence for auction".
19. Nakpil, Lisa Guerrero. "Copy of declaration of Philippines independence sold for P11.4 million".
20. [[Wikisource:Philippine Declaration of Independence]]