Politics and Government

Over the centuries, the Philippine political and government system has changed several times. During the Spanish colonial period, the Philippines was ruled by an appointed Spanish governor-general who served a three-year term. On June 12, 1898, the General Emilio Aguinaldo, revolutionary government president, proclaimed independence from Spain and in 1899, the Malolos Constitution was adopted. This was short-lived as the US chose to ignore Philippine independence and decided to keep hold of the archipelago. War was inevitable and the US eventually won. The Philippines was ruled initially by a military government but later by a civil government as hostilities ceased and Filipinos were subjugated. In the years to come, the Philippines was governed by the Philippine Commission (1900 - 1916), Philippine Assembly (1907 - 1916) and Philippine Legislature (1916 - 1935). Finally, in 1935, self-government and self-rule was mostly achieved with the establishment of the Commonwealth. The framework for the Commonwealth government was the 1935 Constitution which was very much based on the US Constitution (democratic unitary republic). The Commonwealth was interrupted by the Japanese occupation in WWII. During this time, the Philippines was mostly under the control of the Japanese military although Japan proclaimed the Philippines an independent republic (with independence being very little if there was any at all) in 1943. With the end of WWII, the Philippines was granted independence by the US in 1946. In 1972, Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law. Congress was abolished and Marcos assumed legislative powers. The 1973 Constitution provided for a parliamentary system with the separation of head of state and head of government in the form of a president and prime minister. With the downfall of Marcos in 1986, the new government reverted back to the old presidential system. Currently, the government is in the process of trying to amend the current 1987 Constitution to establish a federal republic.

A brief summary is given below of each political period including type of government, the capital / seat of government including any places that served briefly or temporarily as seat of government. The nature of the executive and those who held office and the type of legislative is also given.

Spanish Administration (1565 - 1898)

British Administration (1762 - 1764)

Real de Kakarong de Sili Republic (1896)

The Revolutionary Government (1897)

Biak-na-Bato Republic (1897)

Dictatorship (1898)

The Revolutionary Government (1898 - 1899)

First Republic (1899 - 1901)

Republika ng Katagalugan (Tagalog Republic) (1902 - 1906)

American Administration (1898 - 1935)

Commonwealth Under the US (1935 - 1946)

Japanese Administration (1942 - 1945)

Second Republic (1943 - 1945)

Third Republic (1946 - 1972)

Martial Law Period (1972 - 1981)

Fourth Republic (1981 - 1987)

Fifth Republic (1987 - Present)

Proposed Federal System

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