Declaration of Independence Day in the Philippines

(Content and Context Analysis)

 occurred in Kawit, Cavite on 12 June 1898 where Filipino

revolutionary forces under General Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed the
sovereignty and independence of the Philippine islands from Spanish
colonization.

 declared after the latter was defeated at the Battle of Manila Bay on
1 May 1898 during the Spanish-American War.

 signed by ninety-eight persons, among them an American army

officer who witnessed the proclamation.

 The Philippines’ flag was raised and its national anthem was played for
the first time in 1898.

 the Act declared that the Filipinos “are and have the right to be free
and independent,” and that the nation from ”this day commences to
have a life of its own, with every political tie between Filipinas and
Spain severed and annulled”.

 Declaration was not recognized by the United States or Spain, as the

Spanish government ceded the Philippines to the United States in the
1898 Treaty of Paris signed on 10 December 1898 in
consideration for an indemnity for Spanish expenses and assets lost.

Context Analysis about the Declaration of Independence

Day in the Philippines
Independence: declared, taken away, given back.

June 12 and July 4 commemorate the same Independence Day—the first, its
founding; the second, its return.  Attribute it to Filipino pride. We have
refused to recognize and accept the truth of our history: Philippine
independence was declared by Gen. Emilio Aquinaldo on June 12, 1898; the
Americans, instead of recognizing it, took it away; Filipino nationalists
worked for the return of independence, which was finally given back on July
4, 1946. The date where full independence was granted to the Republic
of the Philippines by the United States.

Fictional Independence

According to Mr. Bobby Reyes, there are many Filipinos and Filipino
Americans who think that Independence Day celebrations are
commemorations of a fictional independence. He even said that we should
celebrate only what is real and factual. We cannot distort historical facts. We
cannot celebrate an event that only ‘resembles the truth.’ It was only on July
4, 1946, when the United States granted it independence that the Philippines
became politically free as a country.

According also to getrealphilippines.com July 12 was a mere occasion for

Aguinaldo’s “flag-waving” and was meaningless. But on the other hand,
although both are justified in their scorn for Filipino “leadership.” Neither
June 12 nor July 4 is the authentic marker of Philippine independence for
one simple reason: Philippine independence has been mostly myth than
reality in the past, but has become even more of an illusion during the
Aquino administration.