Revolutionary Government of the Philippines (1898–1899)
The Revolutionary Government of the Philippines 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. The government succeeded a dictatorial government which had been established by Aguinaldo on June 18, and which was dissolve and replaced by this government upon its establishment. This government endured until January 23, 1899, when the proclamation of the Malolos Constitution established an insurgent Philippine Republic government which replaced it. 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. A Revolutionary Congress was established with power "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." 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.
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.: On January 2, 1899, when it became certain that Cayetano Arellano would not accept the secretaryship of foreign relations, that secretaryship fell to Apolinario Mabini. Mabini had to that time been Aguinaldo's principal advisor and he was also named the president of the Cabinet
The Malolos Revolutionary Congress
The legislative body of the Revolutionary government was called the National Assembly. Members 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
In 2006, it was asserted by the president of the Bulacan Historical Society, engineer Marcial Aniag, asserted 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. Five of the 85 delegates did not have a college degree.
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., 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. Its proclamation resulted in the creation of the First Philippine Republic, which replaced the Revolutionary Government.
