Reaction Paper

Readings In Philippine History Ge 2

(8:30-9:30)

Submitted to:
Ma’am Josie Tatoy
Instructor

Submitted by:
Cristel Isa Opada
Student
Social, Political, Economics, and Cultural Issues in Philippine History (Reaction paper)

The activities of the government, members of law-making organizations, or people who

try to influence the way a country is governed, relating to society and the way people live
together. The system of trade and industry by which the wealth of a country or region is made
and used the way of life of a particular people.

The politics of the Philippines take place in an organized framework of a

presidential, representative, and democratic republic whereby the president is both the head of
state and the head of government within a multi-party system. This system revolves
around three separate and sovereign yet interdependent branches: the legislative branch,
the executive branch, and the judicial branch. Executive power is exercised by the
government under the leadership of the president. Legislative power is vested in both the
government and the bicameral Congress: The Senate (the upper house) and the House of
Representatives (the lower house). Judicial power is vested in the courts with the Supreme
Court of the Philippines as the highest judicial body. Local government is produced by
local government units from the provinces, cities, municipalities, and barangays.

Constitution of Biak-na-Bato Republic is one of the forms of de facto government that

were established in the Philippines during the Spanish period. It was declared a national park in
1937 by President Manuel Luis Quezon. Two years later the president decreed the creation of the
Malolos Constitution. This time the United States also fighting against Spain for its sovereignty.
Nov 28 2016 In an interview with a Spanish correspondent in 1897 after the signing of the Pact
of Biak na Bato Aguinaldo had this to say of Bonifacio. A later meeting of the revolutionary
government established there held on November 1 1897 at Biak-na-Bato in the town of San
Miguel de Mayumo in Bulacn established the Republic of Biak-na-Bato. Mar 04 2021 A huge
split boulder which is the mountain hideout of the revolutionary forces during the Spanish
regime and the place where the Malolos Constitution was signed by Gen. A new central
government was set up with executive legislative and judiciary branches. The 1996 Final Peace
Agreement. Biak Na Bato is located about 100kms from Makati and takes about 35 hours via the
NLEX. Emilio Aguinaldo on the 1st of November in the year 1897. General llanera who was in.
Feb 11 2019 Finally after several battles between the Spanish and Philippine Revolutionary
Army a truce was signed called the Pact of Biak-na-Bato in 1897. Raymond Biak- na- Bato was
once a two thousand and one hundred and seventeen hectares land but because of mining permits
of a private company and parts of the park was distributed to the locals for housing projects the
national park is. Emilio Aguinaldo and other revolutionary leaders accepted a payment from
Spain and went into exile in Hong Kong. There is signage for San Miguel and there is also
signage for Biak Na Bato.
 Malolos Constitution, the first Philippine Constitution the first republican constitution in
Asia was drafted and adopted by the First Philippine Republic, which lasted from 1899 to 1901.
During the American Occupation, the Philippines was governed by the laws of the United States
of America. Organic Acts were passed by the United States Congress for the administration of
the Government of the Philippine Islands. The first was the Philippine Organic Act of 1902,
which provided for a Philippine Assembly composed of Filipino citizens. The second was the
Philippine Autonomy Act of 1916, which included the first pledge of Philippine independence.
These laws served as constitutions of the Philippines from 1902 to 1935. In 1934, the United
States Congress passed the Philippine Independence Act, which set the parameters for the
creation of a constitution for the Philippines. The Act mandated the Philippine Legislature to call
for an election of delegates to a Constitutional Convention to draft a Constitution for the
Philippines.

This Constitution The Filipino people, imploring the aid of Divine Providence, in order to
establish a government that shall embody their ideals, conserve and develop the patrimony of the
nation, promote the general welfare, and secure to themselves and their posterity the blessings of
independence under a régime of justice, liberty, and democracy, do ordain and promulgate this
Constitution. The 1935 Constitution, which featured a political system virtually identical to the
American one, became operative. The system called for a President to be elected at large for a 4-
year term (subject to one re-election), a bicameral Congress, and an independent Judiciary. From
the moment of independence, Filipino politics have been plagued by the twin demons of
corruption and scandal. Notwithstanding, Presidents Ramon Magsaysay (1953-57), Carlos
Garcia (1957-61), and Diosdado Macapagal (1961-65) managed to stabilize the country,
implement domestic reforms, diversify the economy, and build Philippine ties not only to the
United States, but also to its Asian neighbours.

The Philippines had long been used as a trading port in Asia, and this led to their
colonization by the Spanish and later by the Americans. The Spanish converted most of the
population to Catholicism and the religion remains the dominant one in the country. During the
later part of more than 300 years of Spanish rule, nationalist sentiment began to grow among
groups of Indios (which was how the Spanish referred to the Filipinos), fuelled in large measure
by the writings of national hero Jose Rizal (later executed by the Spanish authorities) and other
ilustrados (the Filipino intellegensia). A revolution was launched against Spain and the
revolutionaries declared Philippine independence in Kawit, Cavite on June 12, 1898. What
became known as the Malolos Congress was convened on September 15, 1898 and the first
Philippine Constitution, called the Malolos Constitution, was approved on January 20, 1899,
ushering what is called the First Philippine Republic. In the Spanish-American War of 1898, the
revolutionaries sided with the Americans, hoping that, with the defeat of Spain, independence
would be granted by the US to the Philippines. This, however, did not happen. After Spain ceded
(or sold) the islands to the United States in the Treaty of Paris, the US immediately proceeded to
brutally suppress the Philippine independence movement.
 This is what happen in 1916, the US passed the Jones Act which specified that
independence would only be granted upon the formation of a stable democratic government
modelled on the American model, not the French model as the previous constitution had been.
The US approved a ten-year transition plan in 1934 and drafted a new constitution in 1935.
World War II and the Japanese invasion on December 8, 1941, however, interrupted that plan.
After heroic Filipino resistance against overwhelming odds finally ended with the fall of Bataan
and Corregidor in 1942, a Japanese “republic” was established, in reality, a period of military
rule by the Japanese Imperial Army. A new constitution was ratified in 1943 by Filipino
collaborators who were called the Kapisanan sa Paglilingkod ng Bagong Pilipinas (Kalibapi). An
active guerilla movement continued to resist the Japanese occupation. The Japanese forces were
finally defeated by the Allies in 1944 and this sorry chapter came to a close. Philippine
independence was eventually achieved on July 4, 1946. The 1935 Constitution, which featured a
political system virtually identical to the American one, became operative. The system called for
a President to be elected at large for a 4-year term (subject to one re-election), a bicameral
Congress, and an independent Judiciary.

The 1987 constitution Aquino began her term by repealing many of the Marcos-era
regulations that had repressed the people for so long. In March, she issued a unilateral
proclamation establishing a provisional constitution. This constitution gave the President broad
powers and great authority, but Aquino promised to use them only to restore democracy under a
new constitution. This new constitution was drafted in 133 days by an appointed Constitutional
Commission of 48 members and ratified by the people in a plebiscite held on February 2, 1987.
It was largely modelled on the American Constitution which had so greatly influenced the 1935
Constitution, but it also incorporated Roman, Spanish, and Anglo law. he 1987 Constitution
established a representative democracy with power divided among three separate and
independent branches of government: the Executive, a bicameral Legislature, and the Judiciary.
There were three independent constitutional commissions as well: the Commission on Audit, the
Civil Service Commission, and the Commission on Elections. Integrated into the Constitution
was a full Bill of Rights, which guaranteed fundamental civil and and political rights, and it
provided for free, fair, and periodic elections. In comparison with the weak document that had
given Marcos a legal fiction behind which to hide, this Constitution seemed ideal to many
Filipinos emerging from 20 years of political repression and oppression.

This Constitution, whether written or unwritten is recognized as the supreme law of the
land as it serves as the basis for the legitimacy of any governmental acts necessary for its
existence.  It is a codified law that determines the powers and duties of a government and it
embodies certain rights of the people. Right after the signing of the Treaty of Paris in
Washington D.C in 1898 that ceded the Philippines to the US paying the amount of $20, 000,
000 to Spain in the process, and the eruption of Filipino-American War in 1899, our country was
placed under a military government until 1901 with the passing of the Spooner Amendment,
putting an end to the military rule in the Philippines and replacing it with a civil government with