The sovereignty of the Philippines today rests with the independent Republic of the Philippines, established in 1987 by the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines. Prior, the Philippines was ruled as an unincorporated U.S. insular area since the suppression of the First Philippine Republic by the United States by virtue of the Treaty of Paris ratified in 1899 and which marked the end of the Spanish-American War. Prior to the cession as well as the establishment of the Philippine Republic, the Philippines had been a colony of Spain since the numerous kingdoms and sultanates in the Philippine archipelago were unified under the Spanish Empire in the 1560s.
In August 1898, the Katipunan society initiated the Philippine Revolution, placing liberated towns under its administration. The society as a whole was led by Andres Bonifacio, but the leaders of the liberated towns in the province of Cavite chose to form a new revolutionary government, with Emilio Aguinaldo voted its president. During the course of the revolution. Aguinaldo was again elected as president at Biak-na-Bato in November 1897, leading the Biak-na-Bato Republic. Exiled in Hong Kong in accordance with the terms of the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, he returned to the Philippines during the Spanish–American War to renew revolutionary activities and, in May 1898, proclaimed a dictatorial government. On June 12, 1898, Aguinaldo's nascent government proclaimed independence from Spain. This proclamation was adhered to following the succeeding liberations of Philippine territory, which by the end of 1898 had freed almost the entire archipelago from Spanish rule. The Dictatorial Government was replaced by a Revolutionary Government, under which civil government and a representative legislature was established. This legislature drafted a democratic republican constitution promulgated in January 1899, establishing the First Philippine Republic.
Spanish nominal sovereignty was passed onto the United States by the Treaty of Paris, and the United States asserted the treaty by suppressing the Philippine Republic. American civil government was installed in the Philippines in 1902 and the Philippines continued as a U.S. territory until July 4, 1946, when the U.S. relinquished sovereignty and recognized the independence of the Republic of the Philippines. The current Philippine state traces its succession to the First Republic and considers Emilio Aguinaldo to have been the first President of the Philippines.Philippine Presidents, The Official Government Portal of the Republic of the Philippines.
Definition of sovereignty
As a practical matter, the question of sovereignty for the Philippines did not arise until near the end of the 19th century. The constitutive theory of statehood was developed in the 19th century to define what is and is not a state. With this theory, statehood depends on an entity's recognition by other countries. According to the theory's framework, the Philippines would still be considered Spanish or American territory in spite of the fact that an independent Philippine government had been established and effectively ruled the country until the American armed assertion of sovereignty.
The declarative theory of statehood, on the other hand, was developed long after the events of the Philippine-Spanish-American wars, but when applied to those events accounts for the fact that the sovereignty of Spain and the United States was merely nominal and would recognize the control that the Philippine Republic had in the islands as sovereignty.
Sovereignty over the Philippines as a whole ceased to be a contentious issue upon American recognition of Philippine independence via the Treaty of Manila, the first such recognition granted to the Philippines.
Spanish period
Early contact The first well documented arrival of western Europeans in the archipelago was the Spanish expedition led by Portuguese-born Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan, which first sighted the mountains of Samar at dawn on 16 March 1521 (Spanish calendar). Magellan sought friendship among the natives beginning with Humabon, the chieftain of Sugbu (now Cebu), and took special pride in converting them to Catholicism. His involvement with the native tribes eventually led to his death on 27 April 1521 in the Battle of Mactan.
After Magellan's voyage, subsequent Spanish expeditions were dispatched to the islands and, in 1543, Ruy López de Villalobos named the islands of Leyte and Samar Las Islas Filipinas after Philip II of Spain. The single surviving vessel from Magellan's fleet, the Victoria, returned to Spain in 1522, after which Spain claimed dominion over the Philippine archipelago on the basis of discovery, a valid mode of acquisition at the time.
Spanish conquest On April 27, 1565, Spanish conquistadores attacked the defiant Rajah Tupas, who had succeeded Rajah Humabon as king of Cebu.Jovito Abellana, Aginid, Bayok sa Atong Tawarik, 1952 Tupas was defeated and made to sign an agreement after his defeat, effectively placing the Philippines under Spain. On February 8, 1597, King Philip II, near the end of his 42-year reign, issued a Royal Cedula instructing to Francisco de Tello de Guzmán, then Governor-General of the Philippines in severe terms to fulfill the laws of tributes and to provide for restitution of ill-gotten taxes imposed on the natives. The Cedula also decreed an undertaking by which the natives (referred to as Indians), "... freely render to me submission."
The decree was published in Manila on August 5, 1598. King Philip died on September 13, forty days after the publication of the decree. His death was not known in the Philippines until middle of 1599, by which time a referendum by which the natives would acknowledge Spanish rule was underway. With the completion of the Philippine referendum of 1599, Spain could be said to have established legitimate sovereignty over the Philippines.
Spanish rule During Spain's 333-year rule in the Philippines, the colonists had to fight off Chinese pirates (who lay siege to Manila, the most famous of which was Limahong in 1574), Dutch forces, and Portuguese forces. Muslim Moros from western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago constantly raided the coastal Christian areas of Luzon and the Visayas and occasionally brought home loot and abducted women. They often sold their captives as slaves.
A British conquest of the Spanish Philippines occurred during the Seven Years' War, with British occupation of Manila between 1762 and 1764. There were also a number of failed Philippine revolts during Spanish rule.
The Katipunan On July 7, 1892, the day that Filipino leader José Rizal was exiled to Dapitan, Andrés Bonifacio, Teodoro Plata, Ladislao Diwa, and others founded the Katipunan, a secret organization whose goal was to forcibly end Spanish rule. Its discovery in 1896 by the Spanish colonial government led to the outbreak of Philippine Revolution.
Upon the outbreak of the Revolution, the Katipunan established early independent governments in the country, with its branches assuming the powers of local government in liberated towns.Andres Bonifacio and the 1896 Revolution, Philippine National Commission on culture and the Arts..
Upon the complete liberation of the province of Cavite, the Tejeros Convention was held by the two dominant Katipunan branches, the Magdiwang and Magdalo to establish a new revolutionary government. Emilio Aguinaldo was elected to the office of President.. Bonifacio, as chairman of the convention and President of the Katipunan, voided the convention proceedings, but Aguinaldo (who had not been present at the convention) took his oath of office as president the next day in Santa Cruz de Malabon (present-day Tanza) in Cavite. A leadership conflict ensued, culminating in the arrest and execution of Bonifacio. Aguinaldo continued revolutionary operations through the new government. A Spanish offensive that had recaptured Cavite forced Aguinaldo northward to Biak-na-Bato, where, on November 1, 1897, a constitution written by Felix Ferrer and Isabelo Archero established the Republic of Biak-na-Bato, with Aguinaldo as president..
On December 14–15, 1897, the Pact of Biak-na-Bato suspended the revolution, with Aguinaldo and other Katipunan leaders agreeing to go into voluntary exile abroad. General Francisco Makabulos of Tarlac, a Katipunan leader who did not go into exile, established the Central Executive Committee, which was intended to be a provisional government "until a general government in these islands shall again be established." This rebel government had a constitution, popularly called the constitution of Makabulos, which provided for an executive committee composed of a President, Vice President and Secretary of the Interior.
Spanish–American War period
American hostilities, Aguinaldo's return, Dictatorial government
After the Philippines became a theater of operations in the Spanish–American War, with hostilities commencing on May 1, 1898, with the Battle of Manila Bay, Aguinaldo and others returned from exile to the Philippines in order to resume their revolution against the Spanish colonial government. On May 24, in the wake of his military victories, Aguinaldo announced that he was assuming "command of all the troops in the struggle for the attainment of our lofty aspirations, inaugurating a dictatorial government to be administered by decrees promulgated under my sole responsibility..."., citing
On June 18, he issued a decree formally establishing a Dictatorial Government. This was done under the authority of the Biak-na-Bato republic, nullifying orders issued prior to the signing of the Pact of Biak-na-Bato and asserting that the Dictatorial Government was temporary in nature, "... so that, when peace shall have been reestablished and our legitimate aspiration for unrestricted liberty attained, it may be modified by the nation, in which rests the principle of authority."
U.S. military government
On August 14, 1898, following the August 12 capture of Manila, the U.S. had established a military government in the Philippines under General Merritt as military governor. During military rule (1898–1901), the U.S. military commander governed the Philippines under the authority of the U.S. president as commander-in-chief of the U.S. armed forces. General Otis succeeded General Merritt as military governor, governing from 1898 to 1900. General Otis was succeeded by General MacArthur, who governed from 1900 to 1901. Ch.21
On July 24, 1898, the Spanish Peninsular Government had replaced Governor-General Basilio Augustín with Fermín Jáudens (acting). On August 13, 1898, Jáudens was replaced by Francisco Rizzo (acting), who was replaced in September 1898 by Diego de los Ríos (acting)..
On August 13, with American commanders unaware that a peace protocol had been signed between Spain and the United States on the previous day in Washington, D.C., American forces captured the city of Manila from the Spanish. The next day, August 14, U.S. military government was established with Major General Wesley Merritt as the first military governor. General Merritt received news of the August 12 peace protocol on August 16, three days after the surrender of Manila. Ch.10 In early December 1898, General Rios moved the Spanish Philippine capital from Manila to Iloilo. On December 24, Rios and the Spanish garrison departed Iloilo after being driven out by revolutionaries..
Philippine declaration of independence, Revolutionary government