Lesson 6.0 The Act of Proclamation of Independence of The Filipino People

Republic of the Philippines
CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE

F. Pimentel Avenue, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines
College of Arts and Sciences
GEC 2 – READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY Period: 1st Semester AY 2020-2021

Subject Instructor: RENATO T. PANCHO,PhD Course, Yr & Block: AB History1A&B
Learning Material: Unit 2 Understanding Perspective Time Allotment: Week 10
References: BATIS Sources in Philippine History, Jose Victor Torres
Philippine History, Aimee A. Dizon et al
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Lesson 6.0 THE ACT OF PROCLAMATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF

THE FILIPINO PEOPLE
Outline of Topics
1. Historical Context
2. About the Author
3. About the Text
4. The Act of Proclamation of Independence of the Filipino People
5. Relevance
Specific Intended Learning Outcome/s (SILOs)
Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. Discuss the context and perspective of the document
2. Explain how the Philippines achieved its independence from Spanish colonial
rule
3. Examine the state of Philippine independence today
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Historical Context
The first phase of the Philippine Revolution ended in a stalemate between the Spaniards and the
Filipino rebels. In December 1897, a truce was declared between the two forces with the Filipino leaders, led
by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, agreeing to be exiled to Hong Kong while the Spaniards paid an indemnity for
the damages caused as a result of the conflict. The truce however, lasted for only a few months before it
collapsed. The renewed conflict would have been disastrous for the Filipinos if not for the deteriorating
diplomatic relations between Spain and the United States over another revolution in Cuba. This eventually
led to the Spanish-American War in 1898 and the arrival of a new colonizer to the Philippines – the
Americans.
Ven before the Battle of Manila in 1898, Aguinaldo had already been meeting with the Americans in
Singapore. He talked with consul E. Spencer Pratt regarding US-Filipino collaboration against the Spaniards
before he went back to Hong Kong to meet up with Commodore George Dewey, commander of the Asiatic
Fleet. Unfortunately, Dewey had already left for the Philippines to attack the Spanish fleet following
America’s declaration of war against Spain in April.
Aguinaldo remained in Hong Kong and met with the American consul general Rounseville Wildman.
He paid Wildman a total of PhP.117,00 to purchase rifles and ammunition. A first shipment worth
PhP50,000 was made but the other half was never delivered. Wildman never returned the money given to
him.
GEC 2 – Readings in Philippine History Page 1 of 7

On May 19, 1898, Aguinaldo finally returned to the Philippines on board the US cruiser McCulloch.
Aguinaldo conferred with Dewey on Philippine conditions and was suppliedwith arms captured from the
Spaniards. From his headquarters in Cavite, Aguinaldo announced the resumption of the revolution against
the Spaniards, thus the beginning the second phase of the revolution. The Filipinos immediately flocked to
the province to join the army. By the end of May, Aguinaldo was in command of an army of 12,000 troops.
On May 28, the Filipino forces won their first victory in Alapan, Imus. The newly-made Filipino flag
was hoisted in Alapan then later unfurled at the Teatro Caviteno in Cavite Nuevo (now Cavite City) in front
of the Filipinos and captured Spanish soldiers. A group of American officers and soldiers also witnessed the
ceremony.
Earlier, on May 24, Aguinaldo announced the creation of the dictatorial government. The formation
of this type of rule was a necessity when the growing nation needed a strong leader. He emphasized that the
dictatorship was only temporary as it would be prelude to the establishment of a republican form of
government.
On June 12, 1898, Aguinaldo declared Philippine independence from Spanish rule at a ceremony in
his house in Kawit, Cavite. Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista read the declaration that was later signed by 177
persons, including an American military officer. The Philippine National Anthem, then known as “Marcha
Nacional Filipina,” composed by Julian felipe, was played by the Banda de San Francisco de Malabon and
the Philippine flag was again unfurled.
About the Author

(Although the actual author of the proclamation was Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista, the initiator of Philippine independence that
led to the making of the proclamation was Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo)
Emilio Aguinaldo was born on March 22, 1869 in Kawit, Cavite (Cavite el Viejo), the second to the
youngest of eight children of Carlos Aguinaldo and Trinidad Famy. The Aguinaldos were a wealthy and
influential family with Carlos being gobernadorcillo for several terms. Following his father’s death in 1883,
Emilio assisted his mother in the family business and worked to help earn the family income.
Aguinaldo followed in his father’s footsteps and was chosen capitan municipal of Kawit in 1894.
Months later, je joined the Katipunan choosing the name Magdalo, a name that was also given to another
branch of the Katipunan (the other was the Magdiwang) which he set up in his province.
When the revolution began in 1896, the Katipunan in Cavite succeeded in driving away the
Spaniards from the province. But territorial and logistical problems between the two grous soon forced
Aguinaldo to ask for help from Supremo Andres Bonifacio in settling the conflict. Bonicaio’s intervention,
however, only worsened the situation and the only solution the two factions saw was to create a
revolutionary government.
Elections for a pamahalaang panghihimagsik were held in Barrio Tejeros, San Francisco de Malabon
(now General Trias) on March 22, 1897. Aguinaldo was elected President with Mariano Trias (vice
President), Artemio Ricarte (Captain General), Emiliano Riego de Dios (Director of War), and Andres
Bonifacio (Director of the Interior). But the elections were disrupted following a protest over Bonifacio’s
educational qualification for such a position. Bonifacio angrily declared the result of the elections null and
void and walked out. The Magdalos, however, considered the election binding and the new government was
founded. When Bonifacio tried to put up his own government with an armed group, he was arrested and
tried for sedition. Found guilty, the Supremo and his brother Procopio were executed on May 10, 1897.
The internal dissent cause by Bonifacio’s death weakened the Katipunan further. The Spanis troops
regained Cavite and Aguinaldo was forced to retreat to the mountains of Biak-na-Bato. But the Spaniards
soon realized that going after the rebels in their mountain hideout was futile. A stalemate ensued broken
only by a truce proposal to which the rebels agreed. In exchange for an indemnity, amnesty, and colonial
reform, Aguinaldo and his officers went into exile in Hong Kong in December 1897.
The Spanish – American War in 1898 eventually changed Philippine history. After the Americans
won the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898, Aguinaldo returned to the Philippines with their help and announced
the resumption of the revolution against Spain. After winning of several victories against the Spaniards, he
declared Philippine independence on June 12, 1898.
But the Filipinos soon realized that the Americans were to become their new colonizers. After the
Spanish defeat in 1898, the United States began to send fresh troops to the Philippines. In 1899, Aguinaldo
convened a Congress in Malolos, Bulacan in which the delegates wrote a Constitution and established the
Philippine Republic with Aguinaldo as President in January 1899
Three weeks later, the continuing friction with the Americans erupted into a conflict in February
1899. The Philippine-American War eventually ended in 1901 with the capture of Aguinaldo. Soon after, he
pledged allegiance to the United States and returned to private life on his family farm. He briefly hugged the
limelight when he ran for the presidency of the Philippine Commonwealth but lost to Manuel L. Quezon.
Aguinaldo was charged with collaboration by the Americans for helping the Japanese during World
War II but was later freed in a general amnesty. As a private citizen, he devoted his time to the cause of
veteran revolucionaries until his death at the age of 94 on February 6, 1964.
About the Text
On June 10,1896, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo issued a one sentence decree appointing his Auditor
General of War, Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista, as a “special commissioner” to write the Act of the
Declaration of the Independence. The result was a sixteen-page document that contained the aspirations of
freedom from Spanish rule, the sacrifices made, and the revolution that resulted from it. It was the text of
this declaration that was read in Kawit, Cavite in the afternoon of the celebration of the declaration of
independence. Copies of the document were made and distributed. However, there was a problem in
determining how many witnesses really signed the declaration. The copies classified under Philippine
Revolutionary Papers (PRP) in the National Library had varying numbers. Later research by historian-writer
Jim Richardson placed the total number of signees at 177.
The Act of Proclamation of Independence of the Filipino People
In the town of Cavite-Viejo, Province of Cavite, this 12th day of June 1898:
Before me, Ambrosio Rianzares Baustista, War Counselor and Special Delegate designated to
proclaim and solemnize this Declaration of Independence by the Dictatorial Government of the Philippines,
pursuant to, and by virtue of, a Decree issued by the Egregious Dictator Don Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy.

The undersigned assemblage of military chiefs and others of the army who could not attend, as well
as the representatives of the various towns. Taking into account the fact the people of this country are
already tired of bearing the ominous yoke of Spanish domination,
Because of arbitrary arrests and abuses of the Civil Guards who cause death in connivance with and
even under the express orders of their superior officers who at times would order the shooting of those
placed under arrest under the pretext that they attempted to escape in violation of known Rules and
Regulations, which abuses were left unpunished, and because of unjust deportations of illustrious Filipinos,
especially those decreed by General Blanco at the instigation of the Archbishop and the friars interested in
keeping them in ignorance for egoistic and selfish ends, which deportations were carried out through
processes more execrable than those of the Inquisition which every civilized nation repudiates as trial
without hearing,
Had resolved to start a revolution in August 1896 in order to regain the independence and
sovereignty of which the people had been deprived by Spain through Governor Miguel Lopez de Legaspi
who, continuing the course followed by his predecessor Ferdinand Magellan who landed on the shores of
Cebu and occupied said Island by means of a Pact of Friendship with Chief Tupas, although he was killed
in battle that took place in said shores to which battle he was provoked by Chief Kalipulako of Mactan who
suspected his evil designs, landed on the Island of Bohol by entering also into a Blood Compact with its
chiefs Sikatuna, with the purpose of later taking bu force the Island of Cebu, and because his successor
Tupas did not allow him to occupy it, he went to Manila, the capital, winning likewise the friendship of its
Chiefs Soliman and Lakandula, later taking possession of the city and the whole Archipelago in the name of
Spain by virtue of an order of King Philip II, and with these historical precedents and because in
international law the prescription established by law to legalize the vicious acquisition of private property
is not recognized, the legitimacy of such revolution cannot be put in doubt which was calmed but not
completely stifled by the pacification proposed by Don Pedro A. Paterno with Don Emilio Aguinaldo as
President of the Republic established in Biak-na-Bato and accepted by Governor-General Don Fernando
Primo de Rivera under terms, both written and oral, among them being a general amnesty for all deported
and convicted persons; that by reason of the non-fulfillment of some of the terms, after the destruction of the
Spanish Squadron by the North American Navy, and bombardment of the plaza of Cavite, Don Emilio
Aguinaldo returned in order to initiate a new revolution and no sooner had he given the order to rise on the
31st of last month when several towns anticipating the revolution, rose in revolt on the 28th, such that a
Spanish contingent of 178 men, between Imus and Cavite Viejo, under the command of a major of the
Marine Infantry capitulated, the revolutionary movement spreading like wild fire to other towns of Cavite
and the other provinces of Bataan, Pampanga, Batangas, Bulacan, Laguna, and Morong, some of them with
seaports and such was the success of the victory of our arms, truly marvelous and without equal in the
history of colonial revolutions that in the first mentioned province only the Detachments in Naic and Indang
remained to surrender; in the second, all Detachments had been wiped out; in the third, the resistance of the
Spanish forces was localized in the town of San Fernando where the greater part of them are concentrated,
the remainder in Macabebe, Sexmoan, and Guagua; in the fourth, in the town of Lipa; in the fifth, in the
capital and in Calumpit; and in the last two remaining provinces, only in their respective capitals, and the
city of Manila will soon be besieged by our forces as well as the provinces of Nueva Ecija, Tarlac,
Pangasinan, La Union, Zambales, and some others in the Visayas where the revolution at the time of the
pacification and others even before, so that the independence of our country and the revindication of our
sovereignty is assured.

And having as witness to the rectitude of our intentions the Supreme Judge of the Universe, and
under the protection of the powerful and Humanitarian Nation, the United States of America, we do hereby
proclaim and declare solemnly in the name and by authority of the people of these Philippine Islands,
That they are and have the right to be free and independence; that they have ceased to have any
allegiance to the crown of Spain; that all political ties between them are and should be completely severed
and annulled; and that, like other free and independent states, they enjoy the full power to make War and
Peace, conclude commercial treaties, enter into alliance, regulate commerce, and do all other acts and
things which an Independent State has right to do,
And imbued with firm confidence in Divine Providence, we hereby mutually bind ourselves to
support this Declaration with our lives, our fortunes, and with our most sacred possession, our honor.
We recognize, approve, and ratify, with all the orders emanating from the same, the Dictatorship
established by Don Emilio Aguinaldo whom we revere as the Supreme Head of this Nation, which today
begins to have a life of its own, in the conviction that he has been the instrument chosen by God, in spite of
his humble origin, to effectuate the redemption of this unfortunate country as foretold by Dr. Don Jose Rizal
in his magnificent verses which he composed in his prison cell prior to his execution, liberating it from the
Yoke of Spanish domination,
And in punishment for the impunity with which the Government sanctioned the commission of abuses
by its officials, and for the unjust execution of Rizal and others who were sacrificed in order to please the
insatiable friars in their hydropical thirst for vengeance against and extermination of all those who oppose
their Macchiavellian ends, trampling upon the Penal Code of these Islands, and of those suspected persons
arrested by the Chiefs of Detachments at the instigation of the friars, without any form nor semblance of
trial and without any spiritual aid of our sacred Religion; and likewise, and for the same ends, eminent
Filipino priest, Doctor Don Jose Burgos, Don Mariano Gomez, and Don Jacinto Zamora were hanged
whose innocent blood was shed due to the intrigues of these so-called Religious corporations which made
the authorities to believe that the military uprising at the fort of San Felipe in Cavite on the night of January
21, 1872 was instigated by those Filipino martyrs, thereby impeding the execution of the decree-sentence
issued by the Council of State in the appeal in the administrative case interposed by the secular clergy
against the Royal Orders that directed that the parishes under them within the jurisdiction of this Bishopric
be turned over to the Recollects in exchange for those controlled by them in Mindanao which were to be
transferred to the Jesuits, thus revoking them completely and ordering the return of those parishes, all of
which proceedings are on file with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to which they are sent last month of last
year for the issuance of the proper Royal Decree which, in return, caused the growth of the tree of liberty in
this our dear land that grew more and more through the iniquitous measures of oppression, until the last
drop from our chalice of suffering having been drained, the first spark of revolution broke out in Caloocan,
spread out to Santa Mesa and continued its course to the adjoining regions of the province where the
unequalled heroism of its inhabitants fought a one sided battle against superior forces of General Blanco
and General Polavieja for a period of three months, without proper arms nor ammunitions, except bolos,
pointed bamboos, and arrows.
Moreover, we confer 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.

And, lastly, it was resolved unanimously that this Nation, already free and independent as of this
day, must use the same flag which up to now is being used, whose design and colors are found described in
the attached drawing, the white triangle signifying the distinctive emblem of the famous society of the
“Katipunan” which means of its blood compact inspired the masses to rise in revolution; the three stars,
signifying the three principal Islands of this Archipelago – Luzon, Mindanao, and Panay where this
revolutionary movement started; the sun representing the gigantic steps made by the sons of the country
along the path of Progress and Civilization; the eight rays, signifying provinces – Manila, Cavite, Bulacan,
Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Bataan, Laguna, and Batangas- which declared themselves in a state of war as
soon as the first revolt was initiated; and the colors of Blue, Red, and White, commemorating the flag of the
United States of North America, as a manifestation of our profound gratitude towards this Great Nation for
its disinterested protection which it lent us and continues lending us.
And holding up this flag of ours, I present it to the gentlemen here assembled:
(the text is followed by the Signatures of the Witnesses)
Relevance
Nothing is more relevant to the Philippine history than the declaration of independence from
colonial rule. The declaration is of course, that sole document that proves the value Filipinos place
on their freedom. At present, our independence has been questioned especially in relation to our
dealings with the United States (which colonized us for almost half century and later recognized our
independence in 1946), however, it must be understood the independence we attained in 1898 was
freedom that was fought for with the lives of Filipinos. The goal or objective of this independence,
however, is something that we might have failed to achieve and protect properly. It in this context
that the Acta must be studied again.
Learning Activity
Answer the following questions
1. Who is Emilio Aguinaldo? How did he end up as the leader of the revolution?
2. According to the declaration, how did the Spanish colonization begin?
3. Who were the inspirations of the revolution?
4. What role did the Americans play in the narrative?
5. Considering the American and Japanese occupants as well as the current state of the Philippines, how
important is the 1898 Declaration of Independence?
Activity 1
Rewrite a portion or a condensed version of the Kartilyang Katipunan in a way that it can encourage
millennials like you to read and practice its teachings. Post it on your Facebook account and see how your friends will
respond to it.

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Republic of the Philippines

CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE

College of Arts and Sciences

GEC 2 – READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY Period: 1st Semester AY 2020-2021