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the First Philippine Republic which between 1898 and 1902 aspired to rule an independent Philippines.
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So in today's video, let's learn more and dig deeper about the history
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and the legacy of Asia's very first independent constitutional republic.
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Welcome back to another history video. It's me Kabeer Arroyo, your friendly Pinoy historian.
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And in this channel, if you're new to my channel, I make videos about our people's history,
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culture, and everything in between. So if you like learning about the Philippines,
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Southeast Asia, and beyond, don't forget to like, share this video, comment down below,
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and please, please subscribe. But before we begin today's topic, here's a few reminders.
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Today's video is just an introduction to this topic, so check out the links below for a list
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of sources and recommended readings. And this video is actually an updated version of an older
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video I made about this topic many years ago. So if you would like to support my channel and
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my research, please be my patron on Patreon, be a member of my YouTube channel, or get copies of
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any of my books, coloring books and ebooks, or any of the merch linked down below. Maraming salamat po.
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So what exactly was the first Philippine Republic? I mean, what is it all about? Let's find out.
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So the first Philippine Republic was a short-lived republic that was established
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in the Philippines following the Filipino Declaration of Independence back in June 1898.
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And after many years of fighting for their freedom, the Filipino Revolution was victorious
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in liberating the Filipino people from 300 years of Spanish rule. The Filipinos formally
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proclaimed their independence on June 12, 1898. And by August, the Filipino revolutionaries
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effectively controlled most of their country. By this time, Emilio Aguinaldo ruled by decree
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as the first officially recognized president of the republic. And it was practically a
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dictatorship until a democratic constitution was put in place. And so elections were held
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between the rainy months of June and September in 1898. And the plan was to elect representatives
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for seats in the Revolutionary Congress, which was meant to be the country's first
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national legislature. And so on September 15, 1898, this congress representing the different
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provinces of the Philippines met in the quiet town of Malolos, Bulacan. And the first item on
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their agenda was to write a constitution for the independent Philippines. And by September
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29, the so-called Malolos Congress ratified the Declaration of Philippine Independence,
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reaffirming the proclamation that was made in Cavite back on June 12. And then by January
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of 1899, the new constitution was ratified and put into effect. This constitution, also
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known as the Malolos Constitution, or more accurately the Constitución PolÃtica de 1899,
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became the basic law of an independent Philippines. It established a democratic
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republic and placed the sovereignty of the islands back to the Filipino people.
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It guaranteed the civil liberties of the people and the separation of church and state. It also
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included the protection of what we would now call civil human rights against the abuses of
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those in power. And as such, the first Philippine Republic was inaugurated with much celebration
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and fanfare. After all, it is considered to be the first constitutional republic in Asia.
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But don't get me wrong, there have been many other earlier states in Asia that can practically
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be considered republics in a broader sense. But in terms of a modern-day constitutional
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republic that most of us are familiar with today, the first Philippine Republic is widely
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considered by experts to be the very first modern-day democratic constitutional republic
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in Asia. So back to 1898, Emilio Guinaldo was quoted expressing his dream for the nation
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to live under the democratic regime of the Philippine Republic, free from the yoke of
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any foreign domination. However, these hopes and dreams of an independent republic would
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soon be challenged. Sadly, merely a month before the constitution was officially ratified,
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the Spaniards formally sold the Philippines to the United States on December 10, 1898.
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The Americans, who were once the allies of the Filipino people in their fight for independence,
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were by now the invaders threatening to take away the very freedom they earned with their
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blood. By February of 1899, the Philippine-American War would erupt between the first Philippine
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Republic and the United States. The war would prove to be a prolonged agony for the Filipino
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people, the ghosts of which still haunt the islands and its people to this day. It was
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a bloody war that resulted in a violent occupation of the Philippines and what we would consider
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a merciless genocide of its people. Formally, the first Philippine Republic ended towards
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the end of 1901, after the capture of Emilio Guinaldo in March of the same year. And by
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1902, the United States would officially declare an end to the war, or what they called the
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Filipino Insurrection. However, the fight against US imperialism in the Philippines
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would continue on for at least another decade. And if you think about it, in many ways, the
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struggle continues to this day. But what exactly led to the establishment of Asia's very first
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constitutional republic in the Philippines? You know, what was happening in the Philippines?
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So the background to the advent of the first Philippine Republic was over 300 years of
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Spanish colonial rule across the Philippines. The Spaniards first began colonizing the
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archipelago in the late 1500s. But it had been a fraught process. In fact, the major
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northern island of Luzon was only brought firmly under Spanish rule by the end of the
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17th century. And the island, which dominates the south of the archipelago, aka Mindanao,
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proved to be a major challenge. In Sulu and Mindanao, the Muslim sultanates held out and
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indeed brought the war to Spain over control of the many islands of the Visayas, aka Central
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Philippines. It is also worth mentioning that within the 300 years, the three centuries of
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Spanish rule in the Philippines, there were over 200 revolts and anti-colonial uprisings that were
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recorded throughout the islands. But eventually, over time, the Spaniards cemented their control
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over many parts of their archipelago. But by the 1700s, the colonial community itself,
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the Spaniards living in the Philippines, had begun to view themselves as distinct
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from the Spaniards in Spain. And this was compounded in the early 19th century
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by the many wars of independence across the Spanish empire in the Americas.
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So long story short, by the mid-1800s, there was a growing movement amongst native Filipinos,
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along with the colonial community of Spanish descent and those of mixed heritage, to try to
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establish an independent Philippines, one which could benefit from its own resources rather than
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being robbed of its wealth by the colonial power in Madrid. So by the 1890s, a growing number of
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independence movements had emerged in the Philippines, most notably the Katipunan,
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a revolutionary anti-colonial movement led by Andres Bonifacio and inspired by the writings
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of José Rizal. And so in August of 1896, when the Spanish government learned of the existence
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of the Katipunan movement, Bonifacio called his fellow Katipuneros to attack the colonial
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seat of government in Manila. And the rebellion spread quickly across the archipelago, led by
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the followers of the Katipunan, along with the other revolutionary groups that emerged elsewhere.
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So by the end of autumn of 1896, the Spanish colonial government in Manila was facing armed
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insurrections in most of the provinces it controlled. So by the spring of 1897, the
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Katipunan movement and the Philippine Revolution had reached a sufficient point that presidential
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elections were held for an independent Philippine government. And the war with the Spaniards
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continued on with different parts of the archipelago held by the Filipino revolutionaries
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while the areas under Spanish control continued to dwindle. Emilio Aguinaldo served as its first
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head of state between 1898 and 1901. Although many would argue that this honor should have
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been given to the father of the revolution, Andres Bonifacio. But anyway, following Aguinaldo's
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capture and eventual surrender to the Americans, Miguel Malvar would become the unofficial
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president of the first republic. And he held this position for several months between 1901 and 1902.
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And as mentioned, the Malolos constitution was also promulgated and came into effect on the 22nd
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of January 1899, with the Republican Congress, the Malolos Congress, convening in the town of
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Malolos in Central Luzon. So how exactly did it fall? Why did the first Philippine Republic
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cease to exist within just a few years? On the 15th of February 1898, the USS Maine,
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a U.S. Navy ship, was sunk in Havana, Cuba. The incident, which was a byproduct of the Cuban
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Revolution against Spanish rule on the Caribbean island, was taken as an excuse by the government
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of the United States to declare war on Spain. In one of the most naked acts of imperialism ever
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practiced by the U.S., the Spanish-American War was fought for the U.S. to effectively
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seize control of Spain's few remaining colonies. Over the next several months,
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the United States sent troops to seize control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.
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And thus, just as the Philippine Revolution was developing into an independent Philippines,
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the revolution became entangled with the conflict between Spain and the United States. The
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revolutionary government in the Philippines now viewed the U.S. as naturally an ally against the
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Spaniards. But in the process of accepting American aid, the Filipino revolutionaries
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would effectively simply swap one imperial overlord for another. And the Treaty of Paris,
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which was signed on December 10 of 1898, brought the Spanish-American War to an end after just
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over six months of fighting, in which the Spaniards had been widely and roundly defeated
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by the United States. However, rather than ensuring the success of the Philippine Revolution,
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the Treaty of Paris effectively ceded the Philippines from Spain to the U.S. Rather
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than acquiring independence, the Filipino revolutionaries now face a much more powerful
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colonial overlord. For some weeks after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, the revolutionaries
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held out some hope that the United States government would grant a large amount of
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independence to the archipelago. But it was soon realized that this would not be the case.
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And thus, on the 4th of February, 1899, the First Battle of the Philippine-American War
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erupted between the First Philippine Republic and the United States. A battle that pitted
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15,000 Filipino soldiers against 19,000 American troops. This fierce battle, however,
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only lasted till the end of the following day, before the Americans emerged victorious. However,
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it was also just the beginning of a much longer war between the Filipinos and the Americans.
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The Philippine-American War would drag on for three years, before the revolutionaries were
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largely defeated by the American imperial regime. The Philippine-American War was the
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first major colonial war that catapulted the United States as a world power. You know,
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it became a template for U.S. expansion and imperialism from the Vietnam War to Iraq and
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even Afghanistan today. Indeed, the Philippine-American War was oftentimes referred to
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as the First Vietnam. It was indeed a bloodier war that immediately followed the much-romanticized
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Spanish-American War. And you know, because of the massive number of casualties and the
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atrocities that followed the war, the Philippine-American War is also considered a genocide.
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Now, the exact number of casualties has been debated in the past century. But according to
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the official numbers, 4,200 American soldiers and more than 20,000 Filipino fighters were killed in
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combat. But the violence was not confined within the limits of the battlefields. You know, despite
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the conservative claims that only 200,000 Filipino civilians lost their lives during the war,
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the total number of victims, you know, this is far bigger. In fact, multiple sources, historians,
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even U.S. military officials and oral traditions acknowledge that by 1902, on the island of Luzon
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alone, about 600,000 Filipino people were killed in the slaughter. And this alone is three times
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the conservative number recognized by the United States. Now, Filipino historians also believe that
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at the very least, the number of civilian casualties in the Philippines actually reached
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1.4 million people. And given that at the beginning of the war, only about 9 million people lived in
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the Philippines, if we think about it, 1.4 million Filipinos killed was about one-sixth of the total
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population of the archipelago. And on paper, the war may have officially ended in 1902. But the
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merciless violence and the conflict continued on for almost two decades. And within these decades
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of darkness and violence, scholars also believe that up to 3 million Filipinos lost their lives
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as a result of America's imperial ambitions in the Philippines. Three million people! That is
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about a third of the archipelago's population before the war. But sadly, most people today
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have forgotten about this. Most Filipinos are not even aware of this bloodshed. In the end,
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you know, officially on paper, the conflict was somewhat brought to an end when the United States
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made some concessions through the Philippine Organic Act of 1902, through which a Philippine
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assembly was created, granting the archipelago a limited, a very limited amount of self-determination.
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And with this, one might say that the first Philippine Republic came to an end as the
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revolutionaries of 1896 laid down their arms in 1902. But as mentioned earlier, the war and the
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merciless violence and conflict and genocide continued on for almost two decades. And it was
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only on November 15, 1935 that the Commonwealth of the Philippines was inaugurated. And this
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basically allowed for a certain degree of self-government while still being a colony of
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the United States. So basically, it was like how Puerto Rico is today minus the US citizenship.
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And in the end, though direct US rule over the Philippines would prove to be somewhat short-lived
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compared to the Spaniards, much like the Spaniards, the United States faced a bloody war against
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Muslims in Sulu and Mindanao for decades to come. While the islands were eventually also occupied
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by the Japanese during the Second World War, a period that also saw the establishment of the
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Second Philippine Republic on October 14, 1943. Now on paper, the Second Republic was supposed
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to fulfill the promises of the First Philippine Republic and independent Philippines free from
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Western imperialism. However, in reality, the Second Philippine Republic was not truly independent.
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It was effectively a puppet state controlled by the imperial government in Tokyo. Now following
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the end of World War II, US President Harry S. Truman issued Proclamation 2695 on the 4th of July
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1946. And this finally granted independence to the Philippines. And thus, 50 years after the
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First Philippine Revolution set in a chain of events that ushered in the establishment of the
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First Philippine Republic, the Third Philippine Republic finally and officially achieved independence
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for the nation. And today, the world recognizes the Fifth Philippine Republic as an independent
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nation-state, with its sovereignty resting upon its diverse multi-ethnic people. However, many
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experts and activists today would argue that the Philippines today is not truly independent.
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Because historically speaking, the relationship between the Philippines and the United States
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has been criticized by many as a form of neo-colonialism, a new form of imperialism
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in which the Philippines continues to be subservient to the whims of the superpowers
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like China and the United States. And thus, one can say that the promises of the First Philippine
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Republic of a genuinely independent Philippines are yet to be fully achieved. Okay, so was the
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First Philippine Republic really a failure? I mean, was it an epic fail at creating Asia's
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very first modern democratic republic, you know, back in the 1800s? Not exactly. And here's why.
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The First Philippine Republic may have only lasted for a few years, but its legacy survives
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to this day. It has proven to the world that the people of what is now the Philippines have
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always been capable of self-determination. They've always been fit for self-rule. Indeed,
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it was evidence of the Filipino people's triumphant victory against three centuries
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of colonialism and their determination to fend off foreign domination and imperialism.
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And although it was not perfect, I mean, let's be honest. No republic in history has ever been
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perfect. Definitely not the Philippines today, nor the United States, and not even ancient Rome
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where the word republic comes from. And honestly, we can even make a separate future video just about
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the failures and the weaknesses of the First Philippine Republic. So let me know in the
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comments if that is something you would like to see on this channel. But yes, although it
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was not perfect, the First Philippine Republic had many of the fundamental elements of modern-day
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nation-states and present-day democracies. For example, it had a strong executive branch,
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a congress to balance it out, an independent judiciary, and its own army. I mean, it even
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included the establishment of a public university for the people. And this was back in the 1800s.
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But perhaps more importantly, it guaranteed the protection of the rights of the people.
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The Monolos Constitution of the First Philippine Republic was a testament to the aspirations and
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the capabilities of the Filipino people for democracy, liberty, and justice. Indeed,
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it was a beautiful reminder that the diverse multi-ethnic people of the Philippines are
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capable of building their own modern democratic nation, capable of their own greatness,
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capable of envisioning a free Philippines, and thus laying the foundations for a brighter future
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for the Filipino people, for our people. You know, as opposed to being seen as uncivilized
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and savages by both the Spanish Empire and the United States. In fact, along with the
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Philippine Revolution, the First Philippine Republic was a beacon of hope for many colonized
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and occupied people in Asia. Now, unknown to many, many independence movements were inspired
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by the Philippine Revolution and the First Philippine Republic. An anti-colonial revolution
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would soon spring all across Asia in the century that followed. Indeed, from China to Malaysia,
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from India to Indonesia, and many more, the lessons of the Philippine Revolution and the
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First Philippine Republic were an inspiration for many in the region across Asia and the Pacific
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to fight for their freedom and to establish their own modern and democratic societies.
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Now again, this video is just an introduction into this fascinating topic. So if you want to
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learn more and dig deeper, make sure to check out my series of videos and my playlist about
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the Philippine Revolution and independence. And I also wrote an entire book about these topics
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and the solidarity between Filipinos and African Americans in the events surrounding the Philippine
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American War. So make sure to check them out, my videos and playlist, and my book in the links
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down below. And that is it for me today. So let me know what you think about today's topic in the
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comments below. And if you like this video or learn a thing or two, don't forget to like, share
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this video, comment down below, and please, please subscribe. But of course, before we go, today's
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shout-out goes to Mike Legaspi of New York City, Hello Short from India, Bernie Mac of Cavite,
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Aisha from Malaysia, and Bella of Canada. And of course, special thanks and special shout-out to my
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patron Brian from San Francisco. You know, this video would not be possible, this channel would
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not exist without the love and the support of all my patrons, subscribers, and viewers like you
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throughout these years. Kaya naman, maraming maraming salamat po, daghang salamat, dakalpong salamat, at yaman na.
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See you next time! Or in Tagalog, kita kits! And in Kapampangan, miki tits! And in Binisaya, kita aita!
