Revolutionary Government of the Philippines (1898–1899)

The Revolutionary Government of the Philippines (Filipino: Pamahalaang Panghimagsikan ng Pilipinas) was an insurgent government established in the Spanish East Indies on June 23, 1898, during the Spanish–American War, by Emilio Aguinaldo, its initial and only President.[1] The government succeeded a dictatorial government which had been established by Aguinaldo on June 18,[2] and which was dissolved and replaced by this government upon its establishment.[3][4] This government endured until January 23, 1899, when the proclamation of the Malolos Constitution established an insurgent Philippine Republic government which replaced it.[5][6]

Revolutionary Government of the Philippines Pamahalaang Panghimagsikan ng Pilipinas
1898–1899
Flag Emblem
Anthem: Marcha Nacional Filipina
Territory claimed by the Revolutionary Government of the Philippines in Asia
Status	Unrecognized state
Capital	Bacoor (June 1898 – Aug 1898) Malolos (Aug 1898 – Jan 1899)
Common languages	Tagalog, Spanish
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Government	Revolutionary republic
President
• 1898	Emilio Aguinaldo
President of the Cabinet
• 1898	Apolinario Mabini
Legislature	The Revolutionary Congress of the Revolutionary Government of the Philippines
Historical era	Philippine Revolution
• Established	June 23, 1898
• Mock Battle of Manila	August 13, 1898
• Spanish cession	December 10, 1898
• Republic proclaimed	January 23, 1899
Area
1898	300,000 km^2 (120,000 sq mi)
Currency	Philippine Peso
Preceded by Succeeded by Spanish East Indies Dictatorial Government Military Government of the Philippine Islands First Philippine Republic

Four governmental departments were initially created, each having several bureaus: foreign relations, marine and commerce; war and public works; police, justice, instruction and hygiene; finance, agriculture, and industry.[7] A Revolutionary Congress was established with power "[t]o watch over the general interest of the Philippine people, and carrying out of the revolutionary laws; to discuss and vote upon said laws; to discuss and approve, prior to their ratification, treaties and loans; to examine and approve the accounts presented annually by the secretary of finance, as well as extraordinary and other taxes which may hereafter be imposed."[8]

On August 14, 1898, two days after the Battle of Manila of the Spanish–American War and about two months after Aguinaldo's proclamation of this revolutionary government, the United States established a military government in the Philippines, with General Merritt acting as military governor.[9]

The Revolutionary Cabinet

Aguinaldo appointed his first Cabinet on June 15, consisting of Baldomero Aguinaldo as Secretary of War and Public Works, Leanardo Ibarra as Secretary of the Interior and Mariano Trias as Secretary of Finance; the secretaryship of Foreign Relations, Marine, and Commerce was provisionally left in the charge of the Presidency. On September 23, the cabinet was reorganized to six departments.:[10]

On January 2, 1899, when it became certain that Cayetano Arellano would not accept the role of secretary of foreign relations, the role fell to Apolinario Mabini. Mabini had to that time been Aguinaldo's principal advisor and he was also named the president of the Cabinet[11]

Cabinet of the Revolutionary Government of the Philippines[10]

Department	Secretary	Term
President of the Cabinet	Apolinario Mabini	January 2, 1899 – May 7, 1899
Secretary of War and Public Works	Baldomero Aguinaldo	June 15, 1898 – May 7, 1899
Secretary of Interior	Leonardo Ibarra	June 15, 1898 – January 2, 1899
Secretary of Foreign Affairs	Cayetano Arellano	September 23, 1898 – January 2, 1899
	Apolinario Mabini	January 2, 1899 – May 7, 1899
Secretary of Treasury/Finance	Mariano Trias	June 15, 1898 – May 7, 1899
Secretary of Justice	Gregorio Araneta	September 23, 1898 – May 7, 1899
Secretary of Fomento (Welfare) including Public Instruction, Public Works, Communications, Agriculture, Industry and Commerce	Fernando Canon	September 23, 1898 – January 2, 1899
	Gracio Gonzaga	January 2, 1899 – May 7, 1899

The Malolos Revolutionary Congress

Opening of the Malolos Congress in 1898

The legislative body of the Revolutionary government was called the National Assembly. Members (Representatives) were chosen in Philippine Malolos Congress elections held from June 23 to September 10, 1898. The Assembly consisted of elected delegates chosen by balloting in provincial assemblies and appointed delegates chosen by the president to represent regions under unstable military and civilian conditions. The Revolutionary Congress was opened on September 15, 1898 in Barasoain Church, Malolos, Bulacan. President Emilio Aguinaldo presided the opening session of the assembly.

Leadership

• President of the Revolutionary Congress

Pedro Paterno

• Vice President/Deputy

Benito Legarda

• Secretary

Gregorio S. Araneta and Pablo Ocampo

Members (Representatives)

Soldiers of the Philippine Revolutionary Army during a session of the congress.

Emilio Aguinaldo (seated, center) and ten of the delegates to the first Assembly of Representatives.

National Assembly Representatives (members) by province as of July 7, 1899.[12][13]

Province	Elected	Appointed
Manila	Teodoro Gonzalez Leano
	Fellix Ferrer
	Arsenio Cruz Herrera
	Mariano Limjap
Batangas	Mariano Lopez
	Gregorio Aguilera
	Eduardo Guiterez
	Ambrosio Flores
Bulacan	Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista
	Mariano Crisostomo
	Pedro Serrano
	Trinidad Iscasiano
Cavite	Jose Basa
	Hugo Ilagan
	Jose Salamanca
	Severino De Las Alas
Camarines	Justo Lucban
	Tomas Arejola
	Valeriano Velarde
	Mariano
Ilocos Sur	Mariano Fos	Mario Crisologo
	Ignacio Villamor
	Fransisco Tongson
Ilocos Norte	Gregorio Aglipay
	Martin Garcia
	Pio Romero
	Jose Luna
	Primitivo Donato
	Pedro Paterno
Laguna	Higinio Benitez
	Graciano Cordero
	Manuel Sityar
	Mauricio Ilagan
Pampanga	Joaquin Gonzales
	Jose Infante
	Ramon Henson
	Enrique Macapinlac
Pangasinan	Vicente Del Prado	Sebastian De Castro
	Antonio Feliciano	Adriano Garces
Iloilo		Esteban de la Rama
		Melecio Figueroa
		Venancio Concepcion
		Tiburcio Hilario
Cebu		Ariston Bautista
		Trinidad Pardo de Tavera
		Felix David
		Francisco Macabulos
Leyte		Simplicio Del Rosario
		Rafael Guerrero
		Marciano Zamora-Concepcion
		Lucio Navarro
Albay	Salvador Del Rosario	Aguedo Velarde
	Marcial Calleja
	Pantaleon Garcia
	Honorato Agrava
Cagayan	Vicente Guzman Pagulayan	Pablo Tecson
		Anastacio Fransisco
Bataan	Jose Tuazon
	Pedro Teopaco
	Hermogenes Marco
Isabela	Eustacio Del Rosario	Raymundo Alindada
	Abelardo Guzman
La Union	Joaquin Luna	Mateo Del Rosario
		Miguel Paterno
Nueva Ecija	Jose Santiago
	Epifanio de los Santos
	Gregorio Macapinlac
Tarlac	Juan Nepomuceno
	Victoriano Tanedo
	Julian Carpio
Tayabas	Sofio Alandy	Basilo Teodoro
		Jose Espinosa
Zambales	Juan Manday Gabriel	Felix Bautista
	Alejandro Albert
Sorsogon		Manuel Xerex Burgos
		Pedro Lipana
		Maximo Hizon
Negros Occidental		Jose De La Vina
		Antonio Montenegro
		Juan Benson
Negros Oriental		Pío del Pilar
		Luciano San Miguel
		Mariano Oirola
Samar		Javier Gonzalez Salvador
		Servillano Aquino
		Juan Tongco
Capiz		Miguel Zaragoza
		Mariano Bacani
		Juan Baltazar
Antigua**		Ariston Gella
		Vicente Lopez
		Eusebio Natividad
Bohol		Pedro Liongson
		Tranquillano Aquino
		Labio
Zamboanga		Felipe Buencamino
		Tomás Mascardo
		Lazaro Tanedo
Misamis		Teodoro Sandico
		Apolonio Mercado
		Gracio Gonzaga
Calamianes***		Narciso Hidalgo Resureccion
		Norberto Cruz Herrera
		S. Isidro
Masbate		Alberto Barretto
		Maximo Cabigting
Mindoro	Antonio Constantino	Perfecto Gabriel
		Arturo Dancel
Morong	Jose Oliveros
	Marcelo Mesina
Lepanto	Reymundo Jeciel
	Antonio Rebello
	Leon Apacible
Batanes Islands	Daniel Tirona	Vito Belarmino
Nueva Vizcaya	Evaristo Panganiban	Hipolito Magsalin
Abra	Isidro Paredes
	Juan Villamor
Padre Burgos (Benguet)	Joaquin Baltazar	Sixto Zandueta
		Ceferino De Leon
Catanduanes		Marcelino Santos
		Jose Alejandrino
Paragua***		Felipe Calderon
		Domingo Colmenar
Palaos*		Isidro Tiongco
Totals	68	68
	136****

*Modern-day Republic of Palau.
**Renamed to Antique.
***Currently parts of Palawan, Paragua corresponding to mainland Palawan.
****Filipino historian Teodoro Agoncillo, in his book Malolos, numbered the delegates as of July 7, 1899 at 193 (42 elected and 151 appointed).[14]

In 2006, it was asserted by the president of the Bulacan Historical Society, engineer Marcial Aniag, that among the 85 delegates who convened in Malolos there were 43 lawyers, 17 doctors, five pharmacists, three educators, seven businessmen, four painters, three military men, a priest and four farmers.[15] Five of the 85 delegates did not have a college degree.[15]

Ratification of the Declaration of Independence

One of the first acts of the Revolutionary Congress was the ratification on September 29, 1898 of the Philippine Declaration of Independence against Spain which had been proclaimed on June 12, 1898.[16]

The Malolos Constitution

Mabini had planned for the Revolutionary Congress to act only as an advisory body to the president and submitted a draft of Constitutional Program of the Philippine Republic .,[17] while Paterno submitted a constitutional draft based on Spanish Constitution of 1869. The Congress, however, began work to draft a constitution. The resulting document, the Malolos Constitution, was promulgated on January 21, 1899.[18] Its proclamation resulted in the creation of the First Philippine Republic, which replaced the Revolutionary Government.

Citations

1. Duka 2008, pp. 167–174
2. Elliott 1917, pp. 491–493 (Appendix E: Aguinaldo's Proclamation of June 18, 1898, Establishing the Dictatorial Government)
3. Kalaw 1927, pp. 423–429 (Appendix C.)
4. Guevara 1972, p. 35
5. Guevara 1972, pp. 120–122 (items 28, 28a and 28b)).
6. Elliott 1917, pp. 493–497 (Appendix F: Aguinaldo's Proclamation of June 23, Establishing the Revolutionary Government)
7. Elliott 1917, pp. 493–494 (Appendix F, Chapter I : Of the Revolutionary Government)
8. Elliott 1917, pp. 495–496 (Appendix F, Chapter II : Of the Revolutionary Congress)
9. Halstead 1898, pp. 110–112
10. Kalaw 1927, pp. 117–118
11. Kalaw 1927, p. 118
12. Kalaw 1927, p. 121 (citing Volume II, Galley 2 of Major J. R. M. Taylor's translation and compilation of captured insurgent records (Taylor 1907))
13. • War Department, Bureau of Insular Affairs (1907). "I. Telegraphic Correspondence of Emilio Aguinaldo, July 15, 1898 to February 28, 1899, Annotated" (PDF). In Taylor, John R.M. (ed.). Compilation of Philippine Insurgent Records (archived from the original on 2008-10-03). Combined Arms Research Library. Retrieved March 10, 2008.
14. Teodoro A. Agoncillo (1897), Malolos: The Crisis of the Republic, University of the Philippines Press, pp. 224 and Appendix F (pp, 658–663), ISBN 978-971-542-096-9
15. Balabo, Dino (December 10, 2006). "Historians: Malolos Congress produced best RP Constitution". Philippine Star. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
16. Kalaw 1927, p. 125
17. Kalaw 1927, p. 125
18. Kalaw 1927, pp. 125–132

References

• Duka, Cecilio D. (2008). Struggle for Freedom' 2008 Ed. Rex Bookstore, Inc. ISBN 978-971-23-5045-0.
• Elliott, Charles Burke (1917). The Philippines: To the End of the Commission Government, a Study in Tropical Democracy (pdf).
• Guevara, Sulpico ed. 1972. The Laws of the First Philippine Republic (The Laws of Malalos). National Historical Institute, Manila., (published online 2005, University of Michigan Library)
• Halstead, Murat (1898). The Story of the Philippines and Our New Possessions, Including the Ladrones, Hawaii, Cuba and Porto Rico.
• Kalaw, Maximo Manguiat (1927). The Development of Philippine Politics. Oriental commercial.