history of philippines essay

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A Brief History of The Philippines

By Tim Lambert

The Early Philippines

The Philippines was named after King Philip II of Spain (1556-1598) and was a Spanish colony for over 300 years. Today the Philippines is an archipelago of 7,000 islands. However, it is believed that during the last ice age, they were joined to mainland Asia by a land bridge, enabling human beings to walk from there.

The first people in the Philippines were hunter-gatherers. However, between 3,000 BC and 2,000 BC, people learned to farm. They grew rice and domesticated animals. From the 10th century AD Filipinos traded with China and by the 12th Century AD Arab merchants reached the Philippines and introduced Islam.

Then in 1521, Ferdinand Magellan sailed across the Pacific. He landed in the Philippines and claimed them for Spain . Magellan baptized a chief called Humabon and hoped to make him a puppet ruler on behalf of the Spanish crown. Magellan demanded that other chiefs submit to Humabon but one chief named Lapu Lapu refused. Magellan led a force to crush him. However, the Spanish soldiers were scattered and Magellan was killed.

The Spaniards did not gain a foothold in the Philippines until 1565 when Miguel Lopez de Legazpi led an expedition, which built a fort in Cebu. Later, in 1571 the Spaniards landed in Luzon. Here they built the city of Intramuros (later called Manila), which became the capital of the Philippines. Spanish conquistadors marched inland and conquered Luzon. They created a feudal system. Spaniards owned vast estates worked by Filipinos.

Along with conquistadors went friars who converted the Filipinos to Catholicism. The friars also built schools and universities.

The Spanish colony in the Philippines brought prosperity – for the upper class anyway! Each year the Chinese exported goods such as silk, porcelain, and lacquer to the Philippines. From there they were re-exported to Mexico.

The years passed uneventfully in the Philippines until in 1762 the British captured Manila. They held it for two years but they handed it back in 1764 under the terms of the Treaty of Paris, signed in 1763.

The Philippines in the 19th Century

In 1872 there was a rebellion in Cavite but it was quickly crushed. However nationalist feelings continued to grow helped by a writer named Jose Rizal (1861-1896). He wrote two novels Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) and El Filibusterismo (The Filibusterer) which stoked the fires of nationalism.

In 1892 Jose Rizal founded a movement called Liga Filipina, which called for reform rather than revolution. As a result, Rizal was arrested and exiled to Dapitan on Mindanao.

Meanwhile, Andres Bonifacio formed a more extreme organization called the Katipunan. In August 1896 they began a revolution. Jose Rizal was accused of supporting the revolution, although he did not and he was executed on 30 December 1896. Yet his execution merely inflamed Filipino opinion and the revolution grew.

Then in 1898 came the war between the USA and Spain. On 30 April 1898, the Americans defeated the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay. Meanwhile, Filipino revolutionaries surrounded Manila. Their leader, Emilio Aguinaldo declared the Philippines independent on 12 June. However, as part of the peace treaty, Spain ceded the Philippines to the USA. The Americans planned to take over.

The war between American forces in Manila and the Filipinos began on 4 February 1899. The Filipino-American War lasted until 1902 when Aguinaldo was captured.

The Philippines in the 20th Century

American rule in the Philippines was paternalistic. They called their policy ‘Benevolent Assimilation. They wanted to ‘Americanize’ the Filipinos but they never quite succeeded. However, they did do some good. Many American teachers were sent to the Philippines in a ship called the Thomas and they did increase literacy.

In 1935 the Philippines were made a commonwealth and were semi-independent. Manuel Quezon became president. The USA promised that the Philippines would become completely independent in 1945.

However, in December 1941, Japan attacked the US fleet at Pearl Harbor. On 10 December 1941, Japanese troops invaded the Philippines. They captured Manila on 2 January 1941. By 6 May 1942, all of the Philippines were in Japanese hands.

However American troops returned to the Philippines in October 1944. They recaptured Manila in February 1945.

The Philippines became independent on 4 July 1946. Manuel Roxas was the first president of the newly independent nation.

Ferdinand Marcos (1917-1989) was elected president in 1965. He was re-elected in 1969. However, the Philippines was dogged by poverty and inequality. In the 1960s a land reform program began. However many peasants were frustrated by its slow progress and a Communist insurgency began in the countryside.

On 21 September 1972 Marcos declared martial law. He imposed a curfew, suspended Congress, and arrested opposition leaders.

The Marcos dictatorship was exceedingly corrupt and Marcos and his cronies enriched themselves.

Then, in 1980 opposition leader Benigno Aquino went into exile in the USA. When he returned on 21 August 1983 he was shot. Aquino became a martyr and Filipinos were enraged by his murder.

In February 1986 Marcos called an election. The opposition united behind Cory Aquino the widow of Benigno. Marcos claimed victory (a clear case of electoral fraud). Cory Aquino also claimed victory and ordinary people took to the streets to show their support for her. The followers of Marcos deserted him and he bowed to the inevitable and went into exile.

Things did not go smoothly for Corazon Aquino. (She survived 7 coup attempts). Furthermore, the American bases in the Philippines (Subic Bay Naval Base and Clark Air Base) were unpopular with many Filipinos who felt they should go. In 1992 Mount Pinatubo erupted and covered Clark in volcanic ash forcing the Americans to leave. They left Subic Bay in 1993.

In 1992 Fidel Ramos became president. He improved the infrastructure in the Philippines including the electricity supply. Industry was privatized and the economy began to grow more rapidly.

However, at the end of the 1990s, the Philippine economy entered a crisis. Meanwhile, in 1998 Joseph Estrada, known as Erap became president. Estrada was accused of corruption and he was impeached in November 2000. Estrada was not convicted. Nevertheless, people demonstrated against him and the military withdrew its support. Estrada was forced to leave office and Vice-president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo replaced him. She was re-elected in 2004.

The Philippines in the 21st Century

Today the Philippines is still poor but things are changing rapidly. After 2010 the Philippine economy grew at about 6% a year. It is rapidly industrializing and growing more prosperous. Meanwhile, In 2016 the Philippines launched its first satellite. It was called Diwata-1. In 2024 the population of the Philippines was 114 million.

Last Revised 2024

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The Philippines: Historical Overview

Map of the Philippines from 1898.

Source: History of the Spanish-American War , (New York: the Company, 1898), 2. 

The Philippines is an archipelago made up of over 7,000 islands located in Southeast Asia. There are more than 175 ethnolinguistic groups, and over 100 dialects and languages spoken. One of the difficulties of writing a history of the Philippines is that prior to the arrival of the Spanish in the sixteenth century, the people that inhabited the archipelago did not see themselves as a unified political or cultural group. In fact, it was not until the late nineteenth century that a sense of a Philippine nation began to develop. 

The first peoples to inhabit the Philippines migrated more than 4,000 years ago from what is today southern China. These peoples did not just populate the Philippines but dispersed throughout Southeast Asia. Historians and anthropologists have been able to trace their early migrations by examining linguistic patterns and have noted the Austronesian origin of most of the languages spoken in the precolonial Philippines and Southeast Asia. Indigenous languages spoken in Indonesia and Malaysia, for example, also share Austronesian roots.[1] 

Early settlements of the Philippine archipelago occurred along rivers which kept populations somewhat isolated from one another. Rivers provided natural resources (water and protein via seafood) to sustain small communities. While these settlements were scattered along rivers, they did not develop a political center. Instead, early settlers saw themselves in relation to smaller communities and developed local alliances and allegiances. People were linked to one another through kinship, both biological and fictive, and followed a leader whom they called a datu. Datus emerged as protectors of the group. They used their skills in negotiation and warfare to demand tribute from merchants and maintain their clans. Eventually, these small communities ranging from 30 to 100 households became known as barangays, meaning “boat” in Tagalog, a Philippine language that originates in central Luzon.[2] 

When Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrived in the archipelago, specifically to the Visayas region in 1521, he encountered a large network of barangays connected to a broader maritime world in Southeast Asia. Precolonial communities were in contact with other ethnolinguistic groups across the archipelago and beyond through trade and religious exchange. Goods such as rice, spices, aromatics, and other forest products attracted foreign merchants as far as India and China and richly rewarded the datus.[3] In terms of religion, historical evidence shows that precolonial Philippine peoples practiced “animism,” or beliefs and practices that held spirits as immanent to the surrounding world. These religious practices developed through trade networks, which also paved the way for the spread of Islam. Well before the arrival of Christianity, Islam reached the archipelago in the fourteenth century.[4]

It was the Spanish expedition led by Magellan in 1521 that laid the foundations for imagining a Spanish colony in the Philippines. Over the next 50 years, the Spanish crown sent more expeditions to the islands in search of spices and other goods. They named the islands after King Felipe II and aimed to have every datu follow him.[5] In 1565, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi arrived and brought the datu of Cebu in the Visayas to swear allegiance to the Spanish crown. His power over the region was insecure, however. Legaspi then gathered his followers and an army to travel to Maynilad (today known as Manila) to capture the port town from the son of a Luzon datu.[6]

Securing power over local settlements was a long and difficult process occurring over the next century that required both coaxing and coercion. By 1576, the Spanish created many settlements and the population of Spanish men in the region reached over 250.[7] One of their main challenges entailed bringing the indigenous people, who were still living in scattered settlements, under a centralized authority. 

Bringing the indigenous population under Spanish rule took many decades of cajoling and relied on different tactics including developing alliances and enticing people through gifts and promises of salvation. Central to this process were the missionary friars who were a part of four main Catholic orders: Augustinians, Franciscans, Jesuits, and Dominicans. These missionary friars were sent to convert the native peoples to Christianity with the promise of Spain’s claim to the archipelago. According to historian John Phelan, “Christianization acted as a powerful instrument of societal control over the conquered people.”[8] Religious conversion through what was called conquista espiritual (“spiritual conquest”) became an important means to subjugate indigenous populations and also persuade them to relocate to political centers in order to facilitate a centralized Spanish rule. 

The Spanish friars referred to the relocation process as reducción. As much as reducción was a process of religious conversion, it was also a militarized endeavor that involved violence when the so-called “indios” resisted.[9] A century after the Spanish Reconquista, wherein the Spanish reconquered the Iberian peninsula from Muslim rule, Spanish friars in the Philippines viewed their missionary duty as a continuation of an earlier struggle. The growing presence of Islam in the southern islands of the archipelago proved that the Spanish were destined to provide the natives salvation. They called converts to Islam “Moros” after the Moors they fought in Spain, which discursively connected their religious mission to their previous war of conquest.  

Once areas were under Spanish control, the colonial government established an encomienda system that required the local population to pay tribute and perform labor for the colony.[10] A Spanish governor, who was also a military captain, effectively had the power to make decisions for the colony. This was due to the fact that the Philippine islands were so far away from the metropole. Yet, the governor’s power was still limited. The fact that he was also a military captain signals how, even after 300 years of rule, the Spanish never fully had control over the local population and therefore depended on military leadership [11]. Under the governor, provinces were established with a gobernadorcillo ruling each town. The gobernadorcillo enforced the law established by the colonial governor. Under the gobernadorcillo was the cabeza de barangay or the head of barangay who collected taxes locally. At times, the gobernadorcillo and the cabeza de barangay used force to obtain the funds they required from the local people. The Spanish colonial government depended on the collection of tribute to maintain their operations and control the Philippine population.  

By the 1850s, the economic prosperity of the native-born population, especially of Chinese mestizos, began to develop into an elite class that rivaled the peninsulares, or the “pure blooded” Spanish in the archipelago (also sometimes known as criollos). By the 1870s, this new elite sent their sons to Manila and Europe for a liberal education and they became known as ilustrados, or “enlightened ones.”[12] Ilustrados began to question the authority of the Spanish friars and publicly critique the poor administration of the Philippine colony. It was this group of elite men that established the Propaganda Movement, based in Manila and Spain, calling for reforms centered on equality between Filipinos, mestizos, and the Spanish.[13] The writings of propagandists, especially that of Jose Rizal, the most famous of the group, inspired the Filipino masses. The views of the majority, however, diverged from those of the elites who advocated mainly for modest reform and representation. The politics of the elite was ultimately considered too moderate from the perspective of a majority who became inspired to revolt against Spain and fight for independence. In 1896, the Philippine revolution began as a radical fight for emancipation from Spanish colonialism and the right to Filipino self-governance.[14] 

In 1898, a major event on the other side of the globe stymied the efforts of the Filipino  revolutionaries. In April of 1898, the US sent the battleship USS Maine to Havana Harbor, Cuba, in support of Cuban revolutionaries. When the ship exploded killing over 200 Americans, the US government assumed the Spanish were responsible and used the event as a pretext for war. US president William McKinley declared war with Spain in August of 1898, and US troops were shipped to the remaining Spanish possessions, including the Philippines, just two days later.[15] The Filipino revolutionaries could not have predicted such a turn of events that would ultimately affect the outcome of their fight for an independent Philippines.

By the time the American military arrived in April of 1898, the Filipino revolutionaries had successfully gained control over all major cities in the archipelago except for the capital city of Manila. There, the Spanish were protected by a fortress constructed for military protection against outside invaders called Intramuros. Knowing that they were losing the war against the Filipinos, Spanish and US military officers pre-arranged a battle in Manila which excluded Filipino soldiers in order to stage the Spanish defeat. The Spanish orchestrated a mock battle in order to save face and lose the war to the Americans rather than to the Filipinos, whom they believed to be an inferior race.[16] The 1898 Treaty of Paris ended the Spanish-American War and officially transferred ownership of Spain’s remaining colonies to the US.[17]

Filipino revolutionaries continued their fight for independence against the US in the Philippine-American war. Over the next several decades of US rule, the US military and colonial officials attempted to establish control, pacify the local populations, and justify US imperialism in the Philippines. This is where our exhibit begins.   

[1] Patricio N. Abinales and Donna J. Amoroso, State and Society in the Philippines, (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005), 20.

[2] Patricio N. Abinales and Donna J. Amoroso, State and Society in the Philippines, 27. 

[3] Patricio N. Abinales and Donna J. Amoroso, State and Society in the Philippines, 23.

[4] James Francis Warren, The Sulu Zone, 1768-1898: The Dynamics of External Trade, Slavery, and Ethnicity in the Transformation of a Southeast Asian Maritime State, (Singapore: Singapore University Press, 1981).

[5] José S. Arcilla, An Introduction to Philippine History, (Manila: Ateneo Publications, 1971), 11. 

[6] Ibid. 

[7] Patricio N. Abinales and Donna J. Amoroso, State and Society in the Philippines, 53. 

[8] John Leddy Phelan, The Hispanization of the Philippines: Spanish Aims and Filipino Responses, 1565-1700, (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1959), 93.

[9] John Leddy Phelan, The Hispanization of the Philippines, 44-45.

[10] John Leddy Phelan, The Hispanization of the Philippines, 95.

[11] José S. Arcilla, An Introduction to Philippine History, 28. 

[12] Edgar Wickberg, The Chinese in Philippine Life, 1850-1898, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965). 

[13] John N. Schumacher, The Propaganda Movement, 1880-1895: The Creators of a Filipino Consciousness, the Makers of Revolution, (Manila: Solidaridad Pub. House, 1973).

[14] Patricio N. Abinales and Donna J. Amoroso, State and Society in the Philippines, 104.

[15] Paul Kramer, The Blood of Government: Race, Empire, the United States, and the Philippines, (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2006), 78.

[16] Paul Kramer, The Blood of Government, 90.

Introduction

The Republic of the Philippines sits on an archipelago in Southeast Asia and consists of 7,107 islands with a total area of 300,000 square kilometres. It is located at the intersection of several bodies of water: it is bounded by the Pacific Ocean in the north, the South China Sea in the west, the Sulu and Celebes Seas in the south, and the Philippine Sea in the east. Over 90 million people live on the islands, some 12 million of whom live in the capital region, Metro Manila. Most of the people on the islands are of the same racial stock as the Malays and the Indonesians, but a Chinese minority (around 1.5%) make up an influential part of the Philippine economy. There are eight major languages and close to a hundred dialects.

Constitutional history

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.

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.

Independence to martial law

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.

Ferdinand Marcos was elected president in 1965 and was re-elected in 1969, the first president to be so re-elected. Desirous of remaining in power beyond his legal tenure, he declared martial law in 1972, just before the end of his second and last term, citing a growing communist insurgency as its justification. He then manipulated an ongoing Constitutional Convention and caused the drafting of a new constitution – the 1973 Constitution – which allowed him to rule by decree until 1978 when the presidential system of the 1935 Constitution was replaced with a parliamentary one. Under this new system, Marcos held on to power and continued to govern by decree, suppressing democratic institutions and restricting civil freedoms. In 1981, martial law was officially lifted, but Marcos continued to rule by the expedient of being “re-elected” in a farce of an election to a new 6-year term. He continued to suppress dissent and thousands of vocal objectors to his rule either mysteriously disappeared or were incarcerated. Despite economic decline, corruption allowed Marcos and his wife Imelda to live extravagantly, causing resentment domestically and criticism internationally.

The people’s choice

When opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr. was assassinated upon returning from exile in 1983, widespread outrage forced Marcos to hold “snap” elections a year early. The election was marked by fraud on the part of Marcos and his supporters but Marcos had himself declared the winner constitutionally, amidst international condemnation and nationwide domestic protests. A small band of military rebels tried to mount a coup, which failed because of its discovery, but this triggered what became internationally celebrated as the “People Power” revolution, when droves of people spilled out onto the streets to protect the rebels, eventually numbering well over a million. Under pressure from the United States, Marcos and his family fled into exile. His election opponent, Benigno Aquino Jr.’s widow Corazon, was installed as president on February 25, 1986.

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.

The 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.

Executive branch

The Executive branch is headed by the President and his appointed Cabinet. The President is the head of the state and the chief executive, but he is subject to significant checks from the other branches, especially in times of emergency, which, given the history of the country, was obviously intended to be a safeguard against a repeat of Marcos’ martial law despotism. For example, in cases of national emergency, the President can still declare martial law, but not for a period longer than 60 days. Congress can revoke this decision by a majority vote, or it can also extend it for a period to be determined by the Congress. Additionally, the Supreme Court can review the declaration to decide if there were sufficient facts to justify martial law. The President can grant pardons and amnesty. He is also empowered to make or accept foreign loans. He cannot, however, enter into treaties without the consent of the Senate. The President and Vice-President are elected at large by a direct vote, but the President may only serve one 6-year term. The Cabinet, consisting of the President’s advisers and heads of departments, is appointed by the President and it assists him in his governance functions.

Legislative branch

The legislative power is vested in a Congress which is divided into two Houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The 24 members of the Senate are elected at large by a popular vote and can serve no more than two consecutive 6-year terms. The House is composed of 250 elected members. Most of these Representatives are elected by district for 3-year terms, but 20% of the total membership is chosen in proportion to party representation. Besides the exclusive power to legislate, one of the most important powers of Congress is the ability to declare war, which it can through a two-thirds vote in both houses. Even the power to legislate, however, is subject to an executive check. The President retains the power to veto a bill passed by both houses, and Congress may override this veto only with a two-thirds vote in both houses.

Judicial branch

The Court system in the Philippines exercises the judicial power of government and it is made up of a Supreme Court and lower courts created by law. The Supreme Court is a 15-member court appointed by the President without need for confirmation by Congress. Appointment, however, is limited to a list of nominees presented to the President by a constitutionally-specified Judicial and Bar Council. This Council consists of 7 members: the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Secretary of Justice, a representative from Congress, a representative of the Integrated Bar, a professor of law, a retired member of the Supreme Court, and a representative of the private sector. The first four serve for four years, the law professor for three, the retired Justice for two, and the private sector representative for one year. The Supreme Court Justices may hear, on appeal, any cases dealing with the constitutionality of any law, treaty, or decree of the government, cases where questions of jurisdiction or judicial error are concerned, or cases where the penalty is sufficiently grave. It may also exercise original jurisdiction over cases involving government or international officials. The Supreme Court also is charged with overseeing the functioning and administration of the lower courts and their personnel.

Government oversight bodies

The Constitution also establishes three independent Constitutional Commissions. The Civil Service Commission acts as a central agency in charge of government personnel. The Commission on Elections enforces and administers all election laws and regulations to ensure that they are free and fair for all involved. Finally, the Commission on Audit examines all funds, transactions, and property accounts of the government and its agencies. Each of these Commissions is given governing and financial autonomy from the other branches of government to ensure unbiased decision-making. All decisions made by these Commissions are reviewable by the Supreme Court. To further ensure the ethical and lawful functioning of the government, the Constitution also creates an Office of the Ombudsman to investigate complaints regarding public corruption, unlawful behaviour of public officials, and other public misconduct. The Ombudsman can then charge such misbehaving public officials before a special court called the Sandiganbayan. The Ombudsman is also independent administratively and financially from the other branches of government, although the President is vested with the power to appoint the Ombudsman and his Deputies (from a list also prepared by the Judicial and Bar Council) for single 7-year terms. Only the House has the power to initiate impeachment of the President, the members of the Supreme Court, and a few other constitutionally protected public officials like the Ombudsman. The Senate is then supposed to try the impeachment case. Each of these aforementioned independent agencies was created for the purpose of promoting moral and ethical conduct in government.

System of Government under 1987 Constitution

Issues and Challenges

*Developed with input from Dr Florangel Braid (former member of the Constitutional Commission) and Rene Azurin

Bibliography

• United States. CIA World Factbook: Philippines. , 2011. Web. 27 Jun 2011.
• "Philippines Country Profile." 22/04/2011. BBC News. Web. 27 Jun 2011.
• United States Department of State. Background Note: Philippines. , 2011. Web. 27 Jun 2011.
• United States Library of Congress. A Country Study: Philippines. , 2011. Web. 27 Jun 2011.
• 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines. 1987. Web. 27 Jun 2011.
• Maddex, Robert L. Constitutions of the World. 3rd ed. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2008. Print.
• Bacani, Benedicto. Presidential System in the Philippines: Some Issues and Concerns. Web. 8 Jul. 2011.

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Essay on History Of The Philippines

Students are often asked to write an essay on History Of The Philippines in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on History Of The Philippines

Early inhabitants.

Long ago, before books and countries, people arrived in the Philippines by walking on land bridges from other places in Asia. These first Filipinos lived by hunting animals and gathering plants. Over time, they learned to farm and built small villages.

Colonial Times

In 1521, a Spanish explorer named Ferdinand Magellan found the islands. Spain took control and ruled for over 300 years. They brought Christianity and new ways of living. The Philippines was named after a Spanish king, Philip II.

Struggle for Independence

Filipinos wanted to rule themselves and not be under Spain. Heroes like Jose Rizal spoke out. In 1898, with help from America, they fought Spain and became free. But then, America took over, which led to another war for freedom.

World War II and Independence

During World War II, Japan occupied the Philippines. Filipinos and Americans fought together to free the islands. In 1946, the Philippines finally became an independent country, able to make its own decisions and laws.

Modern Times

250 words essay on history of the philippines, early times.

Long ago, the Philippines was not a single country but a group of islands with different tribes. People from nearby places like Taiwan moved there by boat. These first Filipinos traded with China and other Asian countries. They were skilled in farming, fishing, and making things from bamboo and other materials.

Spanish Rule

In 1521, a European explorer named Ferdinand Magellan arrived and claimed the islands for Spain. The Spanish ruled for over 300 years. During this time, they brought their language, culture, and religion, Christianity, to the Philippines. Many Filipinos became Christians, and the country’s many islands were united under Spanish control.

American Period

Spain lost the Philippines to the United States in 1898 after a war. The Americans brought new ways of education and government. English became an important language, and the Philippines moved towards self-rule.

During World War II, Japan took over the Philippines, but the United States helped free it. After the war, on July 4, 1946, the Philippines became an independent country. This meant that they could make their own laws and have their own government.

Today, the Philippines is known for its beautiful islands and friendly people. It is a country with a rich mix of cultures from its history. The people are proud of their independence and work together to build a better future.

500 Words Essay on History Of The Philippines

Early inhabitants and trading, spanish colonization.

In 1521, a new chapter began when the explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrived. He claimed the islands for Spain, and that was the start of over 300 years of Spanish rule. The Spanish brought their language, their religion, and new ways of life to the Philippines. Many towns and cities were founded during this time, and Christianity spread throughout the islands.

Revolution and Independence

Not everyone was happy with being ruled by Spain. By the late 1800s, Filipinos started to want their freedom. Heroes like Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio inspired people to fight for their rights. In 1898, after a long struggle, the Filipinos, with the help of the United States, finally forced Spain to leave. But the joy was short-lived because the United States decided to take over as the new rulers of the Philippines.

American Period and World War II

Independence and modern times.

After World War II, the Philippines finally became an independent nation on July 4, 1946. It was a time to rebuild and grow as a country. The Philippines faced many challenges, like leaders who didn’t always do what was best for the people and natural disasters like typhoons and earthquakes. But through it all, the Filipino spirit remained strong.

The history of the Philippines is a tale of people who have faced many challenges but have always worked to overcome them. From the early days of trading to the struggles for freedom and the rebuilding after the war, the Philippines has a rich and diverse history. It’s a story of different cultures coming together and a nation’s continuous journey towards a better future.

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

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Philippine Revolution: Essay & Important Notes

Beginning of the revolution.

The beginning of the revolution is attributed to a secret organization, called the Katipunan. Andres Bonifacio was the head of the organization and the head as well as his followers were influenced by the literary works that exposed the cruelties of Spanish colonizers. The organization was able to attract people from the lower as well as middle classes to revolt against Spain. The organization continued to carry out its activities in a secret manner, but the Spanish authorities were able to find them in August 1896. This is what started the revolution.

Progression of Revolution

After the discovery of the Katipunan, the Spanish authorities conducted several searches to identify and arrest the members of the organization. At this time, Bonifacio and his followers were planning a nationwide revolt and this led to the “Cry of Pugad Lawin” wherein several revolutionaries took part. In this movement, the tax certificates were torn apart by the revolutionaries to symbolize their fight against Spain.

The head of the Katipunan also planned an attack on Milan, but he and his followers were defeated because of the large number of Spanish authorities as well as the arms they possessed. However, Bonifacio continued with his revolt and the revolt also flared up in neighboring provinces.

Problems During the Revolution

One of the major problems of the revolution was that the members of the Katipunan also fought amongst themselves. The organization got divided into two councils; Magdiwang and Magdalo and this gave rise to leadership disputes. To settle the leadership disputes, the Tejeros Convention was established. In the makeshift election, Bonifacio lost to Aguinaldo.

In Naic, Cavite, Bonifacio established a rival government and planned a coup. He was arrested and later executed. Aguinaldo proposed an end to revolution by surrendering the weapons to revolutionaries, an exile for leaders, and payment to the revolutionaries. While the movement came to an end, the Philippines was still not independent.

Declaration of Independence

The year 1898 marked the second phase of the Philippine Revolution. The Americans declared war against Spain after a U.S. Navy warship exploded and sunk in Havana harbor. U.S. Navy was able to defeat Spain in Manila and the United States gained control of the capital of the Philippines.

Aguinaldo became friendly with the Americans and on June 12, 1898, the Philippines was declared independent. In December of the same year, Spain conceded the Philippines to the Americans and the Philippines again had not exactly become independent.

Important Notes

• The Philippine Revolution was started to gain independence for the Philippines.
• The Spanish authorities controlled the Philippines and their defeat by the United States led to the concession of the Philippines to the United States, thereby not making the Philippines independent.
• The revolution started when a secret organization of revolutionaries, called Katipunan was discovered by the Spanish authorities.

The revolution was weak majorly because the leaders of the organization did not think on the same lines and there were disputes associated with the leadership of the organization

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Renee Karunungan

A History of the Philippines’ official languages

This was part of my essay for a class on Language Policy and Planning. The essay was marked with a distinction. I’m publishing a part of the essay for Buwan ng Wika.

The Department of Education now has 17 designated languages that qualify for mother-language based education. The current Philippine constitution (1987) states that the national language is Filipino and as it evolves, “shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages.” Further, the Philippine constitution (1987) has mandated the Government to “take steps to initiate and sustain the use of Filipino as a medium of official communication and as language of instruction in the educational system.”

However, this current policy on language has changed over the century, largely due to the Spanish, American, and Japanese colonisation, the liberation, and changes in the constitution post-dictatorship. There also remains to be contentions on whether Filipino, based on the Tagalog language, should be the national language of the Philippines. These contentions come from the non-Tagalog speaking region that have called the current language policy as “Tagalog imperialism.”

Given the rich history of the country and controversies regarding its language planning and policy throughout the century, this essay aims to explore the history of language policy and planning in the Philippines and the impacts it has had on its people, especially the non-Tagalog/Filipino speaking population. Secondary research and analysis will be used as a method of research.

History of LPP in the Philippines

The Philippines’ national language is Filipino. As mentioned earlier, de jure, it is a language that will be enriched from other languages in the Philippines. De facto , it is structurally based on Tagalog, the language of Manila and the CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Quezon) region (Gonzalez, 2006).

SPANISH COLONISATION

What was the language policy and planning like during the Spanish colonisation? According to Rodriguez (2013), the Spanish Crown issued several contradictory laws on language: missionaries were asked to learn the vernacular but were then required to teach Spanish. The friars continued to learn the local languages for evangelisation which turned out to be a success (Gonzalez, 2006). Thus, teaching Spanish teaching remained limited for the elites and wealthy Filipinos ready to conform to Spanish colonial agendas (Martin, 1999).

This was a way for the Spanish to control the country, and as Mahboob and Cruz (2013) suggest, a means to divide the rich and the poor. Arguably, this can also be the reason why the ilustrados (Filipinos educated in Spain) supported Philippine independence. Gonzalez (2006) writes,

In spite of repeated language instructions From the Crown on teaching the natives the Spanish language, there was only a little compliance. Instead the friars using common sense, kept employing the local languages, so much that in the period of intense nationalism in the nineteenth century, the failure of the Spanish friars to teach Spanish was used by some of the ilustrados (Filipinos educated in Spain) as a reason to accuse the friars of deliberately keeping Spanish away from the natives so as to prevent them from advancing themselves. Gonzales, 2006

AMERICAN COLONISATION

Shortly after the independence from Spain, the Philippines came under the American rule from 1898-1946. In the beginning Filipinos saw Americans as allies against Spain. The Americans saw the perfect opportunity for colonisation that Spain did not: education. While the Spanish eventually established schools through the Royal Decree of 1863, these were literacy schools teaching reading and writing in Spanish, religious studies, and numeracy not leading to any degrees (Gonzalez, 2006). Martin (1999) notes that the Americans, on the other hand, saw education as a powerful weapon and in the Philippines they found subjects receptive to the opportunities given by the English language. Gonzalez (1980, p.27-28) writes, “the positive attitude of Filipinos towards Americans; and the incentives given to Filipinos to learn English in terms of career opportunities, government service, and politics.”

American policy allowed for compulsory education for all Filipinos in English but was hostile to local languages. Although President McKinley ordered the use of English as well as mother tongue languages in education, the Americans found Philippine languages too many and too difficult to learn thus creating a monolingual system in English (Gonzalez, 2006). Manhit (1980) notes that during this time, students who used their mother tongue while in school premises were imposed with penalties. Media of instruction were in English, teachers were trained to teach English, and instructional materials were all in English. Local languages were used as “auxiliary languages to teach character education, good manners, and right conduct” (Martin, 1999, p.133). Ricento (2000 p. 198) argues that LPP during American colonisation led to a “stable digglosia” where English became the language of higher education, socioeconomic, and political opportunities still visible today.

Constantino (2002, p. 181) writes about how the acceptance of the English language eventually allowed Filipinos to embrace colonialism:

The first and perhaps the masterstroke in the plan to use education as an instrument of colonial policy was the decision to use English as the medium of instruction. English became the wedge that separate Filipinos from their past and later was to separate educated Filipinos from the masses of their countrymen… With American textbooks, Filipinos started learning not only a new language but also a new way of life, alien to their traditions and yet a caricature of their model. This was the beginning of their education. At the same time, it was the beginning of their miseducation, for they learned no longer as Filipinos but as colonials. Constantino, 2002

INDEPENDENCE

With the Commonwealth constitution being drafted, then Camarines Norte representative Wenceslao Vinzons proposed to include an article on the adoption of a national language. Article XIII section 3 of the 1935 Commonwealth Constitution directed the National Assembly to “take steps toward the development and adoption of a common national language based on one of the existing native languages.” In 1936, the Institute of National Language (INL) was founded to study existing languages and select one of them as the basis of the national language. In 1937, the INL recommended Tagalog as the basis of the national language because it was found to be widely spoken and was accepted by Filipinos and it had a large literary tradition. By 1939, it was officially proclaimed and ordered to be disseminated in schools and by 1940 was taught as a subject in high schools across the country.

There was resistance to Tagalog , especially among speakers of Cebuano (Baumgartner, 1989). Baumgartner (1989, p.169) summarises the sentiments of other ethnic groups and asks, “With what right could the language of one ethnic group, even if that ethnic group lived in the national capital, be imposed on others?” Hau and Tinio (2003), however, point out that this opposition to Tagalog was not a manifestation of an ethnic conflict but rather reflects battles over resource allocations parceled out by regions. This has led for anti- Tagalog forces to ally themselves with the pro-English lobby (Lorente, 2013).

60’s and 70’s

The 60’s and the 70’s saw nationalist movements critical of the English language (Mahboob and Cruz, 2013). However, English remained a dominant language even at the peak of linguistic nationalism and height of student activism in the 70’s  (Hau and Tinio, 2003).  In 1974, a Bilingual Education Policy (BEP) was formally introduced, using English for Science and Mathematics and Filipino for all other subjects taught in school (Lorente, 2013). Gonzalez (1998) notes that this was a compromise to the demands of both nationalism and internationalism: English would ensure that Filipinos stay connected to the world while Filipino would help in the strengthening of the Filipino identity. This had little success, with English still dominant and Filipinos feared an “English deprived future.”

The year 1974 saw the start of the Philippines adhering to neoliberal policies, where the government started to promote cheap labour to other countries, advertising Filipinos’ ability to speak English. This was the year the first batch of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) was deployed to the Middle Least. An advertisement in The New York Times said: “We like multinationals … Local staff? Clerks with a college education start at $35 … accountants come for $67, executive secretaries for $148 … Our labor force speaks your language” (Lorente, 2013).

The 70’s, which was also the time of the dictatorship in the Philippines, saw changes in the education system, restructured to answer to export-oriented industrialisation (Lorente, 2013).  With cheap export labour in mind, then President Ferdinand Marcos had a strong support for English and shifted English education to vocational and technical English training (Tollefson, 1991).

POST-DICTATORSHIP

After the dictatorship, the 1987 Constitution was written. Tagalog was changed to Pilipino and then Filipino for it to be less regionalistic, or less connected to the Tagalog region. According to this Constitution, Filipino was to be developed from all local languages of the Philippines.

According to this new BEP, Filipino and English shall be used as the medium of instruction while regional languages shall be used as auxiliary media of instruction and as initial language for literacy. Filipino was mandated to be the language of literacy and scholarly discourse while English, the “international language” of science and technology. However, nothing changed and implementation of the policy failed at most levels of education (Bernardo, 2004).

In 1991, the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (Commission on the Filipino Language) was established. They have led the celebration of Buwan ng Wika (National Language Month) every August. It is a regulating body whose job includes developing, preserving, and promoting the various local Philippine languages. The commission has published dictionaries, manuals, guides, and collection of literature in Filipino and other Philippine languages.

Both English and Filipino have dominated the education system in the Philippines. English is seen as the language of opportunities, and have been used by Filipinos to work abroad and find opportunities in the age of globalisation. Filipino , on the other hand, is seen as the language that can give identity to Filipinos, although not everyone agrees.

Will English and Filipino continue to dominate the country? With the current ideologies and policies put in place, it will. However, as other language speakers continue to fight for their identity and the right to be taught in their mother tongue, we might be able to see some changes, allowing for recognition of other languages in the country, and maybe even be given the same status as English and Filipino.

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This Day In History : June 12

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Philippine independence declared

During the Spanish-American War , Filipino rebels led by Emilio Aguinaldo proclaim the independence of the Philippines after 300 years of Spanish rule. By mid-August, Filipino rebels and U.S. troops had ousted the Spanish, but Aguinaldo’s hopes for independence were dashed when the United States formally annexed the Philippines as part of its peace treaty with Spain.

The Philippines, a large island archipelago situated off Southeast Asia, was colonized by the Spanish in the latter part of the 16th century. Opposition to Spanish rule began among Filipino priests, who resented Spanish domination of the Roman Catholic churches in the islands. In the late 19th century, Filipino intellectuals and the middle class began calling for independence. In 1892, the Katipunan, a secret revolutionary society, was formed in Manila, the Philippine capital on the island of Luzon. Membership grew dramatically, and in August 1896 the Spanish uncovered the Katipunan’s plans for rebellion, forcing premature action from the rebels. Revolts broke out across Luzon, and in March 1897, 28-year-old Emilio Aguinaldo became leader of the rebellion.

By late 1897, the revolutionaries had been driven into the hills southeast of Manila, and Aguinaldo negotiated an agreement with the Spanish. In exchange for financial compensation and a promise of reform in the Philippines, Aguinaldo and his generals would accept exile in Hong Kong. The rebel leaders departed, and the Philippine Revolution temporarily was at an end.

In April 1898, the Spanish-American War broke out over Spain’s brutal suppression of a rebellion in Cuba. 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. From his exile, Aguinaldo made arrangements with U.S. authorities to return to the Philippines and assist the United States in the war against Spain. He landed on May 19, rallied his revolutionaries, and began liberating towns south of Manila. On June 12, he proclaimed Philippine independence and established a provincial government, of which he subsequently became head.

His rebels, meanwhile, had encircled the Spanish in Manila and, with the support of Dewey’s squadron in Manila Bay, would surely have conquered the Spanish. Dewey, however, was waiting for U.S. ground troops, which began landing in July and took over the Filipino positions surrounding Manila. On August 8, the Spanish commander informed the United States that he would surrender the city under two conditions: The United States was to make the advance into the capital look like a battle, and under no conditions were the Filipino rebels to be allowed into the city. On August 13, the mock Battle of Manila was staged, and the Americans kept their promise to keep the Filipinos out after the city passed into their hands.

While the Americans occupied Manila and planned peace negotiations with Spain, Aguinaldo convened a revolutionary assembly, the Malolos, in September. They drew up a democratic constitution, the first ever in Asia, and a government was formed with Aguinaldo as president in January 1899. On February 4, what became known as the Philippine Insurrection began when Filipino rebels and U.S. troops skirmished inside American lines in Manila. Two days later, the U.S. Senate voted by one vote to ratify the Treaty of Paris with Spain. The Philippines were now a U.S. territory, acquired in exchange for $20 million in compensation to the Spanish.

In response, Aguinaldo formally launched a new revolt–this time against the United States. The rebels, consistently defeated in the open field, turned to guerrilla warfare, and the U.S. Congress authorized the deployment of 60,000 troops to subdue them. By the end of 1899, there were 65,000 U.S. troops in the Philippines, but the war dragged on. Many anti-imperialists in the United States, such as Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan , opposed U.S. annexation of the Philippines, but in November 1900 Republican incumbent William McKinley was reelected, and the war continued.

On March 23, 1901, in a daring operation, U.S. General Frederick Funston and a group of officers, pretending to be prisoners, surprised Aguinaldo in his stronghold in the Luzon village of Palanan and captured the rebel leader. Aguinaldo took an oath of allegiance to the United States and called for an end to the rebellion, but many of his followers fought on. During the next year, U.S. forces gradually pacified the Philippines. In an infamous episode, U.S. forces on the island of Samar retaliated against the massacre of a U.S. garrison by killing all men on the island above the age of 10. Many women and young children were also butchered. General Jacob Smith, who directed the atrocities, was court-martialed and forced to retire for turning Samar, in his words, into a “howling wilderness.”

In 1902, an American civil government took over administration of the Philippines, and the three-year Philippine insurrection was declared to be at an end. Scattered resistance, however, persisted for several years.

More than 4,000 Americans perished suppressing the Philippines–more than 10 times the number killed in the Spanish-American War. More than 20,000 Filipino insurgents were killed, and an unknown number of civilians perished.

In 1935, the Commonwealth of the Philippines was established with U.S. approval, and Manuel Quezon was elected the country’s first president. On July 4, 1946, full independence was granted to the Republic of the Philippines by the United States.

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Spanish colonial motives were not, however, strictly commercial. The Spanish at first viewed the Philippines as a stepping-stone to the riches of the East Indies (Spice Islands), but, even after the Portuguese and Dutch had foreclosed that possibility, the Spanish still maintained their presence in the archipelago.

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The Portuguese navigator and explorer Ferdinand Magellan headed the first Spanish foray to the Philippines when he made landfall on Cebu in March 1521; a short time later he met an untimely death on the nearby island of Mactan . After King Philip II (for whom the islands are named) had dispatched three further expeditions that ended in disaster, he sent out Miguel López de Legazpi , who established the first permanent Spanish settlement, in Cebu, in 1565. The Spanish city of Manila was founded in 1571, and by the end of the 16th century most of the coastal and lowland areas from Luzon to northern Mindanao were under Spanish control. Friars marched with soldiers and soon accomplished the nominal conversion to Roman Catholicism of all the local people under Spanish administration. But the Muslims of Mindanao and Sulu, whom the Spanish called Moros , were never completely subdued by Spain .

Spanish rule for the first 100 years was exercised in most areas through a type of tax farming imported from the Americas and known as the encomienda . But abusive treatment of the local tribute payers and neglect of religious instruction by encomenderos (collectors of the tribute), as well as frequent withholding of revenues from the crown, caused the Spanish to abandon the system by the end of the 17th century. The governor-general, himself appointed by the king, began to appoint his own civil and military governors to rule directly.

Central government in Manila retained a medieval cast until the 19th century, and the governor-general was so powerful that he was often likened to an independent monarch. He dominated the Audiencia , or high court, was captain-general of the armed forces, and enjoyed the privilege of engaging in commerce for private profit.

Manila dominated the islands not only as the political capital. The galleon trade with Acapulco , Mex., assured Manila’s commercial primacy as well. The exchange of Chinese silks for Mexican silver not only kept in Manila those Spanish who were seeking quick profit, but it also attracted a large Chinese community . The Chinese, despite being the victims of periodic massacres at the hands of suspicious Spanish, persisted and soon established a dominance of commerce that survived through the centuries.

Manila was also the ecclesiastical capital of the Philippines. The governor-general was civil head of the church in the islands, but the archbishop vied with him for political supremacy. In the late 17th and 18th centuries the archbishop, who also had the legal status of lieutenant governor, frequently won. Augmenting their political power, religious orders, Roman Catholic hospitals and schools, and bishops acquired great wealth, mostly in land. Royal grants and devises formed the core of their holdings, but many arbitrary extensions were made beyond the boundaries of the original grants.

The power of the church derived not simply from wealth and official status. The priests and friars had a command of local languages rare among the lay Spanish, and in the provinces they outnumbered civil officials. Thus, they were an invaluable source of information to the colonial government. The cultural goal of the Spanish clergy was nothing less than the full Christianization and Hispanization of the Filipino. In the first decades of missionary work, local religions were vigorously suppressed; old practices were not tolerated. But as the Christian laity grew in number and the zeal of the clergy waned, it became increasingly difficult to prevent the preservation of ancient beliefs and customs under Roman Catholic garb. Thus, even in the area of religion, pre-Spanish Filipino culture was not entirely destroyed.

Economic and political institutions were also altered under Spanish impact but perhaps less thoroughly than in the religious realm. The priests tried to move all the people into pueblos, or villages, surrounding the great stone churches. But the dispersed demographic patterns of the old barangay s largely persisted. Nevertheless, the datu ’s once hereditary position became subject to Spanish appointment.

Agricultural technology changed very slowly until the late 18th century, as shifting cultivation gradually gave way to more intensive sedentary farming, partly under the guidance of the friars. The socioeconomic consequences of the Spanish policies that accompanied this shift reinforced class differences. The datu s and other representatives of the old noble class took advantage of the introduction of the Western concept of absolute ownership of land to claim as their own fields cultivated by their various retainers, even though traditional land rights had been limited to usufruct. These heirs of pre-Spanish nobility were known as the principalia and played an important role in the friar-dominated local government.