Philippine Revolution[edit]

Main article: Philippine Revolution

Andrés Bonifacio was a warehouseman and clerk from Manila. On July 7, 1892, he
established the Katipunan—a revolutionary organization formed to gain independence
from Spanish colonial rule by armed revolt. In August 1896, the Katipunan was
discovered by the Spanish authorities and thus launched its revolution. Fighters
in Cavite province won early victories. One of the most influential and popular leaders
from Cavite was Emilio Aguinaldo, mayor of Cavite El Viejo (modern-day Kawit), who
gained control of much of the eastern portion of Cavite province. Eventually, Aguinaldo
and his faction gained control of the leadership of the Philippine revolution. After
Aguinaldo was elected president of a revolutionary government superseding the
Katipunan at the Tejeros Convention on March 22, 1897, his government had
Bonifacio executed for treason after a show trial on May 10, 1897.[34]
Aguinaldo's exile and return[edit]
Main article: Hong Kong Junta
By late 1897, after a succession of defeats for the revolutionary forces, the Spanish had
regained control over most of the Philippine territory the rebels had taken. Aguinaldo and
Spanish Governor-General Fernando Primo de Rivera entered into armistice negotiations
while Spanish forces surrounded Aguinaldo's hideout and base in Biak-na-
Bato in Bulacan province, and Aguinaldo reorganized his "Republic of the Philippines" in
the meantime. On December 14, 1897, an agreement was reached in which the Spanish
colonial government would pay Aguinaldo $MXN800,000[a] in Manila—in three
installments if Aguinaldo would go into exile outside of the Philippines.[36][37]
Upon receiving the first of the installments, Aguinaldo and 25 of his closest associates
left their headquarters at Biak-na-Bato and made their way to Hong Kong, according to
the terms of the agreement. Before his departure, Aguinaldo denounced the Philippine
Revolution, exhorted Filipino rebel combatants to disarm, and declared those who
continued hostilities and waging war to be bandits. [38] Despite Aguinaldo's denunciation,
some of the revolutionaries continued their armed revolt against the Spanish colonial
government.[39][40][41][42] According to Aguinaldo, the Spanish never paid the second and
third installments of the agreed-upon sum.[43]
On April 22, 1898, while in exile, Aguinaldo had a private meeting in Singapore with
United States Consul E. Spencer Pratt, after which he decided to again take up the
mantle of leadership in the Philippine Revolution.[44] According to Aguinaldo, Pratt had
communicated with Commodore George Dewey (commander of the Asiatic Squadron of
the United States Navy) by telegram, and passed assurances from Dewey to Aguinaldo
that the United States would recognize the independence of the Philippines under the
protection of the United States Navy. Pratt reportedly stated that there was no necessity
for entering into a formal written agreement because the word of the Admiral and of the
United States Consul were equivalent to the official word of the United States
government.[45] With these assurances, Aguinaldo agreed to return to the Philippines.
Pratt later contested Aguinaldo's account of these events, and denied any "dealings of a
political character" with the leader.[46] Admiral Dewey also refuted Aguinaldo's account,
stating that he had promised nothing regarding the future:
From my observation of Aguinaldo and his advisers I decided that it would
be unwise to co-operate with him or his adherents in an official manner. ...
In short, my policy was to avoid any entangling alliance with the
insurgents, while I appreciated that, pending the arrival of our troops, they
might be of service.[41]
Filipino historian Teodoro Agoncillo writes of "American apostasy", saying that it was the
Americans who first approached Aguinaldo in Hong Kong and Singapore to persuade
him to cooperate with Dewey in wresting power from the Spanish. Conceding that Dewey
may not have promised Aguinaldo American recognition and Philippine independence
(Dewey had no authority to make such promises), he writes that Dewey and Aguinaldo
had an informal alliance to fight a common enemy, that Dewey breached that alliance by
making secret arrangements for a Spanish surrender to American forces, and that he
treated Aguinaldo badly after the surrender was secured. Agoncillo concludes that the
American attitude towards Aguinaldo "... showed that they came to the Philippines not as
a friend, but as an enemy masking as a friend." [47]