Aguinaldo's Government and the First Republic[edit]

In March 1897, Emilio Aguinaldo was elected president of the revolutionary government at
the Tejeros Convention.[15] The new government was meant to replace the Katipunan, though the
latter was not formally abolished until 1899. Aguinaldo was again elected President at Biak-na-Bato
in November, leading the Republic of Biak-na-Bato. Unfortunately his revolutionary government was
not winning Philippine Revolution against Spain. Aquinaldo therefore signed the Pact of Biak-naBato and went into exile in Hong Kong at the end of 1897.
In April 1898, the Spanish-American War broke out, and the Asiatic Squadron of the United States
Navy sailed for the Philippines. At the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1, 1898 the American Navy
decisively defeated the Spanish Navy effectively ending Spanish rule in the Philippines.[16] Aquinaldo
subsequently returned to the Philippines aboard a U.S. Navy vessel and renewed the revolution. He
formed a dictatorial government on May 24, 1898 and issued the Philippine Declaration of
Independence on June 12, 1898. On June 23, 1898, Aguinaldo transformed his dictatorial
government into a revolutionary government. On January 23, 1899, he was then elected President of
the First Philippine Republic, a government constituted by the Malolos Congress under the Malolos
Constitution. Thus, this government is also called the Malolos Republic.
The First Philippine Republic was short-lived and never internationally recognized. The Philippines
was transferred from Spanish to American control in the Treaty of Paris of 1898, signed in December
of that year.[17] The Philippine-American War broke out between the United States and Aguinaldo's
government. His government effectively ceased to exist on April 1, 1901, after he pledged allegiance
to the United States following his capture by U.S. forces in March.
The current Philippine government, called the Republic of the Philippines, considers Emilio
Aguinaldo to be the first President of the Philippines and the Malolos Republic as the First Philippine
Republic.[18]