| Philippine Declaration of Independence | |
|---|---|
 Official draft copy of the Declaration of Independence | |
| Created | May–June 1898 |
| Presented | June 12, 1898, inCavite el Viejo,Cavite |
| Ratified | August 1, 1898 (first ratification inBacoor,Cavite) September 29, 1898 (official ratification by theMalolos Congress) |
| Location | National Library of the Philippines[1] |
| Commissioned by | DictatorEmilio Aguinaldo |
| Author | Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista |
| Signatories | 98 delegates |
| Purpose | To proclaim the sovereignty and independence of thePhilippines from the colonial rule of theSpanish Empire |
ThePhilippine Declaration of Independence (Filipino:Pagpapahayag ng Kasarinlan ng Pilipinas;Spanish:Declaración de Independencia de Filipinas)[a] was proclaimed by Filipino revolutionary forces generalEmilio Aguinaldo on June 12, 1898, in Cavite el Viejo (present-dayKawit,Cavite),Philippines. It asserted thesovereignty andindependence of the Philippine islands from the 300 years ofcolonial rule bySpain.
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In 1896, thePhilippine Revolution began. In December 1897, the Spanish government and the revolutionaries signed a truce, thePact of Biak-na-Bato, requiring that the Spaniards pay the revolutionaries $MXN800,000[b] and that Aguinaldo and other leaders go into exile inHong Kong. In April 1898, shortly after the beginning of theSpanish–American War, CommodoreGeorge Dewey, aboard theUSSOlympia, sailed intoManila Bay, leading theAsiatic Squadron of theUS Navy. On May 1, 1898, the US defeated the Spaniards in theBattle 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 theUSSMcCulloch, and on May 19, he arrived in Cavite.[3]
Independence was proclaimed on June 12, 1898, between four and five in the afternoon in Cavite at theancestral home of GeneralEmilio Aguinaldo in Cavite el Viejo (present-dayKawit),Cavite, some 30 kilometers (19 mi) south ofManila. The event saw the unfurling of theflag of the Philippines, made in Hong Kong by Marcela Agoncillo, Lorenza Agoncillo, and Delfina Herboza, and the performance of theMarcha Filipina Magdalo, as thenational anthem, now known asLupang Hinirang, which was composed by Julián Felipe and played by theSan Francisco de Malabon marching band.
The Act of the Declaration of Independence was prepared, written, and read byAmbrosio Rianzares Bautista in Spanish.[4] The Declaration was signed by 98 people,[5] among them aUnited 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, meaningforeigner) who attended the proceedings, Mr. L. M. Johnson, described as "a citizen of the U.S.A., a Colonel of Artillery".[6] Despite his prior military experience, Johnson had no official role in the Philippines.[7]
The proclamation of Philippine independence was promulgated on August 1, when many towns had already been organized under the rules laid down by thedictatorial government of General Aguinaldo.[8][9] 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, andZambales—who ratified the Proclamation of Independence inBacoor,Cavite.
Later, atMalolos, Bulacan, theMalolos Congress modified the declaration upon the insistence ofApolinario Mabini, who objected to the original proclamation, which essentially placed the Philippines under the protection of the US.
The declaration was never recognized by either the US or Spain. Instead, Spainceded the Philippines to the United States in the1898 Treaty of Paris that took effect afer the exchange of ratifications on April 11, 1899, marking the end of the Spanish–American War. ThePhilippine revolutionary government had been constituted as ademocratic republic on January 23, 1899 and did not recognize the treaty or American sovereignty.
American assertion of sovereignty led to the outbreak of thePhilippine–American War on February 4, 1899. President Aguinaldo was captured by US forces on March 23, 1901,[10][failed verification][dead link] and issued a statement acknowledging and accepting the sovereignty of the US over the Philippines.[11][failed verification][dead link] On July 2, 1902,US Secretary of WarElihu Root telegraphed that the fighting had come to an end, and provincial civil governments had been established everywhere except those areas inhabited byMoro tribes, notwithstanding the existing civil governments instituted by the Filipinos.[12][13] 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 theTreaty of Manila.[14] July 4 was observed in the Philippines asIndependence Day until August 4, 1964, when, upon the advice of historians and the urging of nationalists, PresidentDiosdado Macapagal signed into law Republic Act No. 4166, designating June 12 as the country'sIndependence Day.[15] June 12 was previously observed asFlag Day, and many government buildings are urged to display the Philippine flag in their offices.
The Declaration is currently housed in theNational Library of the Philippines.[1] It has been put on public display since August 9, 2024.[16]
During the Philippine–American War, the American government captured and sent to the US about 400,000 historical documents.[17] 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.[17]
The Declaration was stolen from the National Library sometime in the 1980s or 1990s.[1] 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 andUniversity of the Philippines professor Milagros Guerrero, who mediated the return of the documents.
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.[18][19]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(June 2012) |
The Act of the Proclamation of Independence of the Filipino People (Spanish:Acta de la proclamación de independencia del pueblo Filipino;Filipino:Katitikan ng Pagpapahayag ng Kasarinlan ng Sambayanang Pilipino) is part of a long line ofdeclarations of independence, including theUS Declaration of Independence. It includes a list of grievances against the Spanish government stretching back toFerdinand 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."[20]
Around 8,183 documents, mostly classified as Philippine Revolutionary Papers, were returned to the National Library. One University of the Philippines professor returned more than 6,000 documents. Among the retrieved documents were the manuscript of Andres Bonifacio's trial, the Declaration of Independence, the Pact of Biac-na-Bato and Leonor Rivera's letter to Rizal's parents dated Dec. 10,1893.
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