Timeline of Philippine political history

• Philippine Organic Act (1902)
• Philippine Autonomy Act (1916)
• Tydings–McDuffie Act

• Manila (1942–1945)
• Baguio (1945)

• Manila (1946–1948)
• Quezon City (1948–1965)

• Quezon City (1965–1976)
• Manila (1976–1986)

• Queen Regent of Spain
• King of Spain

• Andres Bonifacio

• Emilio Aguinaldo (1897)

• Emilio Aguinaldo (1897)

• Emilio Aguinaldo

• Emilio Aguinaldo

• Emilio Aguinaldo (1899–1901)
• Miguel Malvar (1901–1902) (unofficial)

• Macario Sakay

• William McKinley (1898–1901)
• Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1902)

• Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909)
• William H. Taft (1909–1913)
• Woodrow Wilson (1913–1921)
• Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1935)

• Manuel L. Quezon (1935–1944)
• Sergio Osmeña (1944–1946)
• Manuel Roxas (1946)

• Jose P. Laurel (1943–1945)

• Manuel Roxas (1946–1948)
• Elpidio Quirino (1948–1953)
• Ramon Magsaysay (1953–1957)
• Carlos P. Garcia (1957–1961)
• Diosdado Macapagal (1961-1965)

• Ferdinand Marcos Sr. (1965–1986)
• Corazon Aquino (1986)

• Corazon Aquino (1986–1992)
• Fidel V. Ramos (1992–1998)
• Joseph Estrada (1998–2001)
• Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (2001–2010)
• Benigno Aquino III (2010–2016)
• Rodrigo Duterte (2016–2022)
• Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (2022–)

• Apolinario Mabini (1898–1899)

• Wesley Merritt (1898)
• Elwell S. Otis (1898–1900)
• Arthur MacArthur Jr. (1900–1901)
• Adna Chaffee (1901–1902)

• William H. Taft (1901–1904)
• Francis B. Harrison (1913–1921)
• Leonard Wood (1921–1927)
• Frank Murphy (1933–1935)

• Shigenori Kuroda (1943–1944)
• Tomoyuki Yamashita (1944–1945)

• Ferdinand Marcos (1978–1981)
• Cesar Virata (1981–1986)
• Salvador Laurel (1986)

• Consejo de Indias (1565–1821)
• Cortes Generales (1821–1898)

• Martial law (1898–1900)
• Philippine Commission (1900–1902)

• National Assembly (1935–1941)
• Congress (1945–1946)

• Interim Assembly (1978–1984)
• Regular Natioanal Assembly (1984–1986)

• Council of Elders as Jurors

• Qualified members of the Barangay as soldiers

• Real de a Ocho
• Peso Fuerte

• The Cordillera region was unified after the long clan wars between the Clans and tribes of Ifugao and Kalinga warlords because of land resources. This unification established the culturally homogeneous society which led to the building of the Banaue Rice Terraces.
• Sri Lumay conducted a Rebellion against the Maharajah of the Chola Dynasty and established the Rajahnate of Cebu.
• In 1500, Bruneian Empire attacked Palawan, Kingdom of Ma-i (the island of Mindoro) and Kingdom of Tondo. Tondo was defeated in 1500 and Brunei deposed the Senapati Lakan Sukwu, establishing Kota Seludong and installing Rajah Sulayman as its puppet ruler.

In 1529, Spain claimed dominion over the Philippine archipelago on the basis of Magellan's discovery, a valid mode of acquisition at the time.[3] Various local revolts erupted throughout Spanish rule.[lower-alpha 7]

Battles of La Naval de Manila, a series of five naval battles between Spanish and Dutch forces in 1646.

The Ilustrados "enlightened ones" constituted the Filipino educated class during the Spanish colonial period in the late 19th century. Mostly based outside the Philippines, they helped mold the flame of a united Filipino nationalism and identity in the islands. Almost all previous insurgencies were tribal, provincial and regional in nature.

• The Katipunan secret revolutionary society, formed in 1892, became an insurgent government in August when armed conflict against Spain breaks out upon its discovery.[4] This begins what is generally called the Philippine Revolution.
• January 1895 – Andrés Bonifacio assumes Supreme Presidency of the Katipunan.
• August 1896 – Upon the Katipunan's discovery, the Katipunan Supreme Council was reorganised into a "cabinet" of an insurgent revolutionary government. Andrés Bonifacio is re-elected Kataastaasang Pangulo or Presidente Supremo, Supreme President of the Katipunan. The Katipunan and its successor insurgent movements regarded themselves as legitimate governments from this point onwards.[5][6] Bonifacio referred to the Katipunan-based insurgent government as the "Republic of the Tagalog Nation/People" (Tagalog: Republika ng Katagalugan) and to the insurgent "Philippine nation" as the "Sovereign Nation of the Tagalog People" (Haring-Bayang Katagalugan), with "republic" and "sovereign nation" effectively being synonyms, and "Tagalog" used in place of "Filipino" but referred to the whole Philippines and its people.[7][8][9]

December 14, 1897 – Signing of the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, suspending the insurgency. Aguinaldo and other insurgent leaders went into voluntary overseas exile. Armed activities temporarily officially halted by the Filipino revolutionary forces.

Central Executive Committee

April 1898 – General Francisco Makabulos forms the insurgent General Executive Committee of Northern Luzon, intended to be a provisional government "until a general government of the Republic in these islands shall again be established." This insurgent government had a constitution, President, Vice President, etc.[11][12]

• 19 May – Aguinaldo returns to the Philippines.[14]
• 24 May – Aguinaldo announces in Cavite, "... I return to assume command of all the forces for the attainment of our lofty aspirations, establishing a dictatorial government which will set forth decrees under my sole responsibility, ..."[15]
• June 12, 1898 – Independence is proclaimed in Kawit by the Dictatorial Government of the Philippines.[16]
• June 18 – Aguinaldo proclaims dictatorial government.[17][18]

Gen. Miguel Malvar, successor of Aguinaldo continued the fight until he surrendered in 1902. Clashes with Moro rebels continued in the south.

• Several groups collectively known as Irreconcilables continued fighting the United States military, the Philippine Scouts, or the Philippine Constabulary. These included remnants of the Katipunan and other resistance groups.

• In 1902, General Macario Sakay, a veteran Katipunan member, revived Bonifacio's Republika ng Katagalugan (simplified to "Tagalog Republic" by Americans), and held the presidency with Francisco Carreón as vice president. In April 1904, Sakay issued a manifesto declaring Filipino right to self-determination at a time when support for independence was considered a crime by the American occupation forces in the Philippines.[23]
• The republic ended in 1906 when Sakay and his leading followers surrendered upon being promised amnesty. Instead they were arrested, and in the following year were executed as bandits.[24]

From then until 1935 there was no organized mass resistance, but small pockets of defiance still persisted coming mostly from various religious sects, sakdalistas and die-hard republikanos.

Following the end of World War II, there was resistance from the Hukbalahap and the short lived/progressive political party, Democratic Alliance (DA).

• On March 29, 1942, peasant leaders determined to oppose the Japanese invasion met in a forest clearing at the junction of the provinces of Tarlac, Pampanga, and Nueva Ecija to organize a resistance movement against the Japanese invaders. The movement was designated Hukbó ng Bayan Laban sa Hapón (People's Army Against Japan) or Hukbalahap.[25]

• On May 17, 1954, Luis Taruc, leader of the Hukbalahap/Huk movement, surrendered unconditionally and announced that he "unreservedly recognized the authority of president Magsaysay and the sovereignty of the republic of the Philippines."[27]

Considered by Western nations as territorium nullius (an expression deriving from Roman Law meaning "empty land," or "land belonging to no one").[28]

• In 1521, explorer Ferdinand Magellan landed in the Philippines and claimed the islands for Spain[29]
• Miguel López de Legazpi forced the Treaty of Cebu on Rajah Tupas, which effectively gave Spain suzerainty over Cebu.[30]
• From Cebu, Legaspi expanded Spanish rule across the Philippines, taking possession of Manila for Spain in 1571.[31]
• Referendum of 1599 legitimised Spain's sovereignty.[32]
• The British Occupation happened between 1762 and 1764 during the Seven Years' War. Only the colonial capital of Manila and the nearby principal port of Cavite were taken by the British.

• August 14, 1898 – The day after the surrender of Manila to their forces, General Wesley Merritt established a military government over portions of the country under American control.[33]
• December 10, 1898 – Spain cedes the Philippines to the United States.[34]
• January 1/2, 1899 – Acting Spanish Governor-General Diego de los Ríos returns to Manila from Zamboanga.[35]
• January 4 – U.S. General Elwell Otis issues proclamation announcing the United States as having obtained possession and control of all of the Philippines from the Spanish.[36]
• February 6, 1899 – Treaty of Paris is ratified by the U.S. Senate.[37]
• March 19 – Treaty of Paris is ratified by the Queen-Regent of Spain.[37]
• April 11 – Following exchange of treaty ratifications between the U.S. and Spain, the Philippines became an Unincorporated Territory of the United States.[37]
• On June 2, 1899, undeclared general hostilities between U.S. and Philippine forces having been ongoing since February 4, the Malolos Republic promulgated a Declaration of War against the United States,[38] thereby officially beginning the Philippine–American War.
• Emilio Aguinaldo, President of the Malolos Republic, was captured by U.S. Forces on March 23, 1901.
• Aguinaldo signed a formal surrender document on April 19, 1901, acknowledging and accepting the sovereignty of the United States throughout the entire archipelago. The war was officially declared over by the United States government in July 1902.[39]
• However, military resistance continued for several years and was labelled as mere banditry and brigandage (Spanish: bandolerismo) by the American authorities. One example was the resistance of Macario Sakay, who revived Bonifacio's Katipunan government as opposed to Aguinaldo's.
• Following the American forces taking control of Jolo on May 18, 1899, and at Zamboanga in December 1899, Moros resisted the Americans as they had the Spanish in what is termed the Moro Rebellion.

• Japan invaded the Philippines on December 8, 1941.
• Philippine Executive Commission, provisional government
• Japanese forces occupied the country between 1942 and 1945.
• During the occupation period, the Philippines Commonwealth maintained a Government in Exile in Australia and, later, in Washington, D.C.[40]
• There was a Second Philippine Republic, which was declared independent in 1942.
• An Allied campaign to defeat Japanese forces commenced on October 20, 1944, and hostilities continued until the war's end with the Japanese surrender in August 1945.On September 2, 1945, representatives of the Empire of Japan signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender. The instrument contained language explicitly accepting the Potsdam Declaration, which contained language limiting Japanese sovereignty to the four main Japanese islands and other minor islands as might be determined.

• On July 4, 1946, the United States recognized the independence of the Republic of the Philippines as a separate self-governing nation.[41]
• On October 16, 1947, the United Kingdom transferred the administration of the Mangsee Islands and the seven Philippine Turtle Islands to the Philippines. Before that the islands were under Philippine sovereignty but United Kingdom administration.[42]