On June 5, 1898, Emilio Aguinaldo issued a decree at his house located in what was then known as Cavite El Viejo, proclaiming June 12, 1898 as the day of independence. The 21-page declaration was signed by 98 Filipinos, appointed by Aguinaldo, and one retired American artillery officer, Colonel L. M. Johnson.
The Philippine flag was officially unfurled for the first time at about 4:30 p.m., as the Marcha Nacional Filipina was played by the band.
The proclamation was promulgated by 190 municipal presidents from the 16 provinces controlled by the revolutionary army on August 1, and was officially ratified on September 29, 1898, by the Malolos Congress.
The Philippines however failed to win international recognition of its independence, specifically the United States of America or Spain, as the latter would later cede the archipelago to the former in the 1898 Treaty of Paris. And since the revolutionary government did not recognize the treaty, the Philippine-American War broke out.
The US government finally recognized the independence of the Philippines on July 4, 1946, which was observed as our Independence Day until 1962, when President Diosdado Macapagal issued Presidential Proclamation No. 28, which declared June 12 a special holiday “in commemoration of our people’s declaration of their inherent and inalienable right to freedom and independence.”
Today, we celebrate Independence Day, regardless of whether we earned it on June 12, 1898, or July 4, 1946, let us still remember what our forebears fought for, both on the battlefield and on the negotiating table, so today we may live free from foreign rule. As we commemorate and vow to defend the freedom that they won for us, let us also continue working together and with renewed determination to free our country and its people from the shackles of poverty, ignorance, discrimination, and mediocrity, which continue to weigh our country down, preventing us from reaching our full potential, both as a nation and a people.
Every Independence Day gives us an opportunity to reassess the freedoms we have kept, gained, and lost as time goes by, so we can redirect our attention towards ensuring that the Filipino people grow in freedom and everything that comes with it, as time goes by.*
