Philippines Independence Day (1898): June 12, 2023 (2024)

FAQs

What happened on June 12 1898 in the Philippines? ›

Independence was proclaimed on June 12, 1898, between four and five in the afternoon in Cavite at the ancestral home of General Emilio Aguinaldo in Cavite el Viejo (present-day Kawit), Cavite, some 30 kilometers (19 mi) south of Manila.

In his words, Macapagal has stated that it is only correct to recognise 12 June as the day of independence, as the Philippines was “the first successful national revolution in Asia since the coming of the West, and the Republic to which it gave birth was the first democratic Republic outside the Western hemisphere.”

On June 10, 1898, U.S. Marines landed at Guantánamo Bay. For the next month, American troops fought a land war in Cuba that resulted in the end of Spanish colonial rule in the Western Hemisphere. Cuban rebels had gained the sympathy of the American public while the explosion and sinking of the U.S.S.

Philippines Independence Day is the world's biggest celebration of Filipino culture. Manila, a dense metropolis, hosts the largest celebrations; with lively parades and street food festivals taking place on both the 12th, and in the week leading up to the occasion.

In his proclamation, President Macapagal cited “the establishment of the Philippine Republic by the Revolutionary Government under General Emilio Aguinaldo on June 12, 1898, marked our people's declaration and exercise of their right to self-determination, liberty and independence.”

Americans who advocated annexation evinced a variety of motivations: desire for commercial opportunities in Asia, concern that the Filipinos were incapable of self-rule, and fear that if the United States did not take control of the islands, another power (such as Germany or Japan) might do so.

The period of American colonialization of the Philippines was 48 years. It began with the cession of the Philippines to the U.S. by Spain in 1898 and lasted until the U.S. recognition of Philippine independence in 1946.

The Republic of the Philippines formally achieved its independence from the U.S. on July 4, 1946.

In 1942 the islands fell under Japanese occupation during World War II, and US forces and Filipinos fought together during 1944-45 to regain control. On 4 July 1946 the Republic of the Philippines attained its independence.”

The U.S. government granted independence to the Philippines on July 4, 1946. In accordance with the Philippine Independence Act (more popularly known as the "Tydings–McDuffie Act"), President Harry S. Truman issued Proclamation 2695 of July 4, 1946 officially recognizing the independence of the Philippines.

Why is the year 1898 important? ›

The Spanish-American War of 1898 ended Spain's colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere and secured the position of the United States as a Pacific power.

The Philippines were claimed in the name of Spain in 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer sailing for Spain, who named the islands after King Philip II of Spain.

Spain would rule the Philippines for over 333 years. The Spanish goals for colonizing the Philippines were both economic and spiritual. Spain wanted to find an alternative route to the Moluccas that would circumvent the Portuguese.

The history of the Philippines from 1565 to 1898 is known as the Spanish colonial period, during which the Philippine Islands were ruled as the Captaincy General of the Philippines within the Spanish East Indies, initially under the Viceroyalty of New Spain, based in Mexico City, until the independence of the Mexican ...

Philippines Independence Day (1898): June 12, 2023

The first in a series of decisive U.S. victories occurred on May 1, 1898, when the U.S. Asiatic Squadron under Commodore George Dewey annihilated the Spanish Pacific fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay in the Philippines.

The Battle of Manila Bay took place on May 1, 1898, with American victory being achieved in a matter of hours. The unexpected rapidity and completeness of Dewey's victory in the first engagement of the war prompted the McKinley administration to make the decision to capture Manila from the Spanish.

1964 – Anti-apartheid activist and ANC leader Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life in prison for sabotage in South Africa. 1967 – The United States Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia declares all U.S. state laws which prohibit interracial marriage to be unconstitutional.

Abletez wrote that President Aguinaldo issued on June 18, 1898 a decree providing for the election of representatives to a "republican assembly" to constitute the national lawmaking body to be known later as the Malolos Congress.