Sovereignty of the Philippines

The sovereignty of the Philippines today rests with the independent Republic of the Philippines, established in 1987 by the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines. Prior, the Philippines was ruled as an unincorporated U.S. insular area since the suppression of the First Philippine Republic by the United States by virtue of the Treaty of Paris ratified in 1899 and which marked the end of the Spanish-American War. Prior to the cession as well as the establishment of the Philippine Republic, the Philippines had been a colony of Spain since the numerous kingdoms and sultanates in the Philippine archipelago were unified under the Spanish Empire in the 1560s.

In August 1898, the Katipunan society initiated the Philippine Revolution, placing liberated towns under its administration. The society as a whole was led by Andres Bonifacio, but the leaders of the liberated towns in the province of Cavite chose to form a new revolutionary government, with Emilio Aguinaldo voted its president. During the course of the revolution. Aguinaldo was again elected as president at Biak-na-Bato in November 1897, leading the Biak-na-Bato Republic. Exiled in Hong Kong in accordance with the terms of the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, he returned to the Philippines during the Spanish–American War to renew revolutionary activities and, in May 1898, proclaimed a dictatorial government. On June 12, 1898, Aguinaldo's nascent government proclaimed independence from Spain. This proclamation was adhered to following the succeeding liberations of Philippine territory, which by the end of 1898 had freed almost the entire archipelago from Spanish rule. The Dictatorial Government was replaced by a Revolutionary Government, under which civil government and a representative legislature was established. This legislature drafted a democratic republican constitution promulgated in January 1899, establishing the First Philippine Republic.

Spanish nominal sovereignty was passed onto the United States by the Treaty of Paris, and the United States asserted the treaty by suppressing the Philippine Republic. American civil government was installed in the Philippines in 1902 and the Philippines continued as a U.S. territory until July 4, 1946, when the U.S. relinquished sovereignty and recognized the independence of the Republic of the Philippines. The current Philippine state traces its succession to the First Republic and considers Emilio Aguinaldo to have been the first President of the Philippines.