This article presents a timeline of Philippine political history focused on governmental transitions of the Philippine archipelago, major polities, invasion attempts, and insurgency movements from the pre-Hispanic period to the present.[nb 1] The information presented here is highly summarized, and more complete information can be found in more detailed articles linked below.
The Cordillera region was unified after the long clan wars between the Clans and tribes of Ifugao and Kalinga warlords because of land resources. This unification established the culturally homogeneous society which led to the building of the Banaue Rice Terraces.
In 1529, Spain claimed dominion over the Philippine archipelago on the basis of Magellan's discovery, a valid mode of acquisition at the time.[3] Various local revolts erupted throughout Spanish rule.[g]
The Ilustrados "enlightened ones" constituted the Filipino educated class during the Spanish colonial period in the late 19th century. Mostly based outside the Philippines, they helped mold the flame of a united Filipino nationalism and identity in the islands. Almost all previous insurgencies were tribal, provincial and regional in nature.
The Katipunan secret revolutionary society, formed in 1892, became an insurgent government in August when armed conflict against Spain breaks out upon its discovery.[4] This begins what is generally called the Philippine Revolution.
January 1895 – Andrés Bonifacio assumes Supreme Presidency of the Katipunan.
August 1896 – Upon the Katipunan's discovery, the Katipunan Supreme Council was reorganised into a "cabinet" of an insurgent revolutionary government. Andrés Bonifacio is re-elected Kataastaasang Pangulo or Presidente Supremo, Supreme President of the Katipunan. The Katipunan and its successor insurgent movements regarded themselves as legitimate governments from this point onwards.[5][6] Bonifacio referred to the Katipunan-based insurgent government as the "Republic of the Tagalog Nation/People" (Tagalog: Republika ng Katagalugan) and to the insurgent "Philippine nation" as the "Sovereign Nation of the Tagalog People" (Haring-Bayang Katagalugan), with "republic" and "sovereign nation" effectively being synonyms, and "Tagalog" used in place of "Filipino" but referred to the whole Philippines and its people.[7][8][9]
March 22, 1897 – Emilio Aguinaldo is elected president of a government meant to replace the prior Katipunan insurgent government by attendees of the Tejeros Convention. He was sworn in the day after and fully assumed the office by April despite Bonifacio having annulled the convention proceedings.[10]
Established as an insurgent constitutional republic on November 2, 1897, with Aguinaldo as President. This insurgent government had a constitution, President, Vice President, etc.
December 14, 1897 – Signing of the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, suspending the insurgency. Aguinaldo and other insurgent leaders went into voluntary overseas exile. Armed activities temporarily officially halted by the Filipino revolutionary forces.
April 1898 – General Francisco Makabulos forms the insurgent General Executive Committee of Northern Luzon, intended to be a provisional government "until a general government of the Republic in these islands shall again be established." This insurgent government had a constitution, President, Vice President, etc.[11][12]
19 May – Aguinaldo returns to the Philippines.[14]
24 May – Aguinaldo announces in Cavite, "... I return to assume command of all the forces for the attainment of our lofty aspirations, establishing a dictatorial government which will set forth decrees under my sole responsibility, ..."[15]
June 12, 1898 – Independence is proclaimed in Kawit by the Dictatorial Government of the Philippines.[16]
June 18 – Aguinaldo proclaims dictatorial government.[17][18]
June 23, 1899 – Aguinaldo issues proclamation replacing his dictatorial government with a revolutionary one.[19][20]
January 22, 1899 – Promulgation of the Malolos Constitution. Replaces Aguinaldo's insurgent revolutionary government with the Malolos Republic, also known as the First Philippine Republic, with Aguinaldo as president.[21] Although the republic never received foreign recognition, Filipinos consider Aguinaldo to be the first president based on this.[22]
Gen. Miguel Malvar, successor of Aguinaldo continued the fight until he surrendered in 1902. Clashes with Moro rebels continued in the south.
Several groups collectively known as Irreconcilables continued fighting the United States military, the Philippine Scouts, or the Philippine Constabulary. These included remnants of the Katipunan and other resistance groups.
In 1902, General Macario Sakay, a veteran Katipunan member, revived Bonifacio's Republika ng Katagalugan (simplified to "Tagalog Republic" by Americans), and held the presidency with Francisco Carreón as vice president. In April 1904, Sakay issued a manifesto declaring Filipino right to self-determination at a time when support for independence was considered a crime by the American occupation forces in the Philippines.[23]
The republic ended in 1906 when Sakay and his leading followers surrendered upon being promised amnesty. Instead they were arrested, and in the following year were executed as bandits.[24]
Until 1913 scattered resistance to U.S. rule continued based on the First Republic's or the Katipunan's platforms.
From then until 1935 there was no organized mass resistance, but small pockets of defiance still persisted coming mostly from various religious sects, sakdalistas and die-hard republikanos.
Small segments of opposition continued from a new front, mainly from the legal nationalist and labor groups.
Following the end of World War II, there was resistance from the Hukbalahap and the short lived/progressive political party, Democratic Alliance (DA).
On March 29, 1942, peasant leaders determined to oppose the Japanese invasion met in a forest clearing at the junction of the provinces of Tarlac, Pampanga, and Nueva Ecija to organize a resistance movement against the Japanese invaders. The movement was designated Hukbó ng Bayan Laban sa Hapón (People's Army Against Japan) or Hukbalahap.[25]
Resistance from Hukbalahap continued.[26] Hukbalahap later changed its name to "Hukbong Magpapalaya ng Bayan" (People's Liberation Army) or simply "Huks".
On May 17, 1954, Luis Taruc, leader of the Hukbalahap/Huk movement, surrendered unconditionally and announced that he "unreservedly recognized the authority of president Magsaysay and the sovereignty of the republic of the Philippines."[27]
From Cebu, Legaspi expanded Spanish rule across the Philippines, taking possession of Manila for Spain in 1571.[31]
Referendum of 1599 legitimised Spain's sovereignty.[32]
The British Occupation happened between 1762 and 1764 during the Seven Years' War. Only the colonial capital of Manila and the nearby principal port of Cavite were taken by the British.
August 14, 1898 – The day after the surrender of Manila to their forces, General Wesley Merritt established a military government over portions of the country under American control.[33]
December 10, 1898 – Spain cedes the Philippines to the United States.[34]
January 4 – U.S. General Elwell Otis issues proclamation announcing the United States as having obtained possession and control of all of the Philippines from the Spanish.[36]
On June 2, 1899, undeclared general hostilities between U.S. and Philippine forces having been ongoing since February 4, the Malolos Republic promulgated a Declaration of War against the United States,[38] thereby officially beginning the Philippine–American War.
Emilio Aguinaldo, President of the Malolos Republic, was captured by U.S. Forces on March 23, 1901.
Aguinaldo signed a formal surrender document on April 19, 1901, acknowledging and accepting the sovereignty of the United States throughout the entire archipelago. The war was officially declared over by the United States government in July 1902.[39]
However, military resistance continued for several years and was labelled as mere banditry and brigandage (Spanish: bandolerismo) by the American authorities. One example was the resistance of Macario Sakay, who revived Bonifacio's Katipunan government as opposed to Aguinaldo's.
Following the American forces taking control of Jolo on May 18, 1899, and at Zamboanga in December 1899, Moros resisted the Americans as they had the Spanish in what is termed the Moro Rebellion.
The Commonwealth of the Philippines, still under U.S. sovereignty, was inaugurated on November 15, 1935. The enabling legislation, the Tydings–McDuffie Act, provided for a ten-year period of transition to full independence.
On July 4, 1946, the United States recognized the independence of the Republic of the Philippines as a separate self-governing nation.[41]
On October 16, 1947, the United Kingdom transferred the administration of the Mangsee Islands and the seven Philippine Turtle Islands to the Philippines. Before that the islands were under Philippine sovereignty but United Kingdom administration.[42]
Notes
^Date ranges are approximate, and are generally drawn from the Establishment and Disestablishment dates of individual polities in the Polities ros.
^On January 23, 1899, Philippine revolutionary forces promulgated the First Philippine Republic and, unrecognized by the international community, proclaimed its sovereignty over the Philippines. This occurred while the Spanish–American War was ongoing, with an active theater of combat in the Philippines. Negotiations to end that war began on September 26, 1898 and, ended on December 10 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, Article III of that treaty transferred sovereignty over the Philippines from Spain to the United States.
^During the period from May to December 1898 Spanish sovereignty over the Philippines was not in dispute but, after the Philippines became a theater of combat in the Spanish–American War in May 1898, the Philippine Revolution was renewed with American support. Philippine revolutionary forces declared independence from Spain on June 12, 1898, in the midst of continuing engagement. Negotiations in Paris to end the war concluded on December 10, 1898 with the Treaty of Paris, in which Spain agreed to cede the Philippines and other territories to the U.S.
^Guerrero, Milagros; Schumacher, S.J., John (1998). Reform and Revolution. Kasaysayan: The History of the Filipino People. Vol. 5. Asia Publishing Company Limited. ISBN962-258-228-1.
^Guerrero, Milagros; Encarnación, Emmanuel; Villegas, Ramón (1996). "Andrés Bonifacio and the 1896 Revolution". Sulyap Kultura. 1 (2). National Commission for Culture and the Arts: 3–12. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved August 2, 2009.
^Richardson, Jim (2013). The Light of Liberty: Documents and Studies on the Katipunan, 1892-1897. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press. ISBN9789715506755.
Kalaw, Maximo Manguiat (1921), The Present Government of the Philippines, Oriental commercial (published 2007), ISBN1-4067-4636-3. (Note: 1. The book cover incorrectly lists author as "Maximo M Lalaw", 2. Originally published in 1921 by The McCullough Printing Co., Manila.)
Ricarte, Artemio (1926), The Hispano-Philippine Revolution, Yokohama{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) This book was published by Ricarte himself, includes his memoirs on the Philippine Revolution.
