The CADIZ

CONSTITUTION
BY: KRISTINE JOY PRADO
BSTM A2-2AM
Creoles and the Philippine
Representatives
•In the first few months of the Cortes de
Cadiz, the Philippines first delegates who
took the oath of office of Madrid.
•One was Pedro Perez de Tagle (a career
soldier from distinguished creole family)
•Second was Jose Manuel Couto (who was
born in New Spain)
•It was the first Constitution in
Europe and one of the earliest
constitutions in world history.
Established on 19 March 1812 by
the Cortes of Cádiz.
•Deals with national sovereignty,
recognizing sovereignty as coming
from people not from the king.
•Manuel Gonzalez de Aguilar on July 1810
announced to be the new Governor General of
the Philippines and appointed Ventura de los
Reyes in Spain to represent the Philippines to
the Cortes of Cadiz.
•Ventura de los Reyes, a 71-year-old Filipino-
Spanish merchant from Vigan, Ilocos Sur,
began his term as the only elected
representative of the Philippines in the
Spanish Cortes, which convened in Cadiz on
Sept. 24, 1810 to draft a new constitution for
Spain.
•As a member of the Cortes, De los Reyes
proposed a number of provisions in the
constitution that benefitted Filipinos such as:

1. The abolition of the government monopoly in

the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade.
2. He also proposed a unique system of suffrage in
the Philippines which employed a form of an
electoral college system.
3. He was one of the signatories of the Cadiz
Constitution of 1812, which created a
constitutional monarchy and ushered in liberalism
and democracy in Spain.