Emilio Aguinaldo, (born March 22/23, 1869, nearCavite, Luzon, Philippines
died February 6, 1964, Quezon City), Filipino leader and politician who fought first
against Spain and later against the United States for the independence of
the Philippines.
Aguinaldo was of Chinese and Tagalog parentage. He completed his education at the
University of Santo Toms in Manila. In August 1896 he was mayor of Cavite Viejo
(present-day Kawit; adjacent to Cavitecity) and was the local leader of the Katipunan, a
revolutionary society that fought bitterly and successfully against the Spanish. In
December 1897 he signed an agreement called the Pact of Biac-na-Bat with the
Spanish governor general. Aguinaldo agreed to leave the Philippines and to remain
permanently in exile on condition of a substantial financial reward from Spain coupled
with the promise of liberal reforms. While first in Hong Kong and then inSingapore, he
made arrangements with representatives of the American consulates and of
Commodore George Dewey to return to the Philippines to assist the United States in the
war against Spain.
Aguinaldo returned to the Philippines May 19, 1898, and announced renewal of the
struggle with Spain. The Filipinos, who declared their independence of Spain on June
12, 1898, proclaimed a provisional republic, of which Aguinaldo was to become
president; and in September a revolutionary assembly met and ratified Filipino
independence. However, the Philippines, along with Puerto Rico and Guam, were
ceded by Spain to the United States by the Treaty of Paris, which was signed on
December 10, 1898.
Relations between the Americans and the Filipinos were unfriendly and grew steadily
worse. On January 23, 1899, the Malolos Constitutionby virtue of which the
Philippines was declared a republic and which had been approved by the assembly and
by Aguinaldowas proclaimed. Aguinaldo, who had been president of the provisional
government, was elected president.
On the night of February 4 the inevitable conflict between the Americans and Filipinos
surrounding Manila was precipitated. By the morning of February 5 the Filipinos, who
had fought bravely, had been defeated at all points. While the fighting was in progress,
Aguinaldo issued a proclamation of war against the United States, which immediately
sent reinforcements to the Philippines. The Filipino government fled northward. In
November 1899 the Filipinos resorted to guerrilla warfare.
After three years of costly fighting the insurrection was finally brought to an end when, in
a daring operation on March 23, 1901, led by Gen. Frederick Funston, Aguinaldo was
captured in his secret headquarters at Palanan in northern Luzon. Aguinaldo took an
oath of allegiance to the United States, was granted a pension from the U.S.
government, and retired to private life.
In 1935 the commonwealth government of the Philippines was established in
preparation for independence. Aguinaldo ran for president, but he was decisively
beaten. He returned to private life until the Japanese invaded the Philippines in
December 1941. The Japanese used Aguinaldo as an anti-American tool. He made
speeches and signed articles. In early 1942 he addressed a radio appeal to U.S.
Gen.Douglas MacArthurwho at that time was with the U.S. garrison holding out
against the Japanese on Corregidor Islandto surrender (the troops there did
surrender in May 1942, but MacArthur had already been evacuated).
The Americans returned to the Philippines in late 1944, and, after they had retaken
Manila in 1945, Aguinaldo was arrested. He and others accused of collaboration with
the Japanese were imprisoned for some months before they were released by
presidential amnesty. In 1950 Aguinaldo was appointed by Pres. Elpidio Quirino as a
member of the Council of State. In his later years he devoted much attention to
veterans affairs, the promotion of nationalism and democracy in the Philippines, and the
improvement of relations between the Philippines and the United States.
Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy was the seventh of eight children born to a wealthy mestizo family in
Cavite on March 22, 1869. His father, Carlos Aguinaldo y Jamir, was the town mayor
or gobernadorcillo of Old Cavite. Emilio's mother was Trinidad Famy y Valero.
The boy went to elementary school and attended secondary school at the Colegio de San Juan de
Letran, but had to drop out before earning his high school diploma when his father passed away
in 1883. Emilio stayed home to assist his mother with the family agricultural holdings.
On January 1, 1895, Emilio Aguinaldo made his first foray into politics with an appointment as
Cavite's capitan municipal. Like fellow anti-colonial leader Andres Bonifacio, he also joined the
Masons.
Katipunan and the Philippine Revolution:
In 1894, Andres Bonifacio himself inducted Emilio Aguinaldo into the Katipunan, a secret anticolonial organization. The Katipunan called for the ouster of Spain from the Philippines, by
armed force if necessary.
In 1896, after the Spanish executed the voice of Filipino independence,Jose Rizal, the Katipunan
started their revolution. Meanwhile, Aguinaldo married his first wife - Hilaria del Rosario, who
would tend to wounded soldiers through her Hijas de la Revolucion (Daughters of the
Revolution) organization.
While many of the Katipunan rebel bands were ill-trained and had to retreat in the face of
Spanish forces, Aguinaldo's troops were able to out-fight the colonial troops even in pitched
battle. Aguinaldo's men drove the Spanish from Cavite. However, they came into conflict with
Bonifacio, who had declared himself president of the Philippine Republic, and his supporters.
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In March of 1897, the two Katipunan factions met in Tejeros for an election. The assembly
elected Aguinaldo president in a possibly fraudulent poll, much to the irritation of Andres
Bonifacio. He refused to recognize Aguinaldo's government; in response, Aguinaldo had him
arrested two months later. Bonifacio and his younger brother were charged with sedition and
treason, and were executed on May 10, 1897 on Aguinaldo's orders.
This internal dissent seems to have weakened the Cavite Katipunan movement. In June of 1897,
Spanish troops defeated Aguinaldo's forces and retook Cavite. The rebel government regrouped
in Biyak na Bato, a mountain town in Bulacan Province, central Luzon, to the northeast of
Manila.
Aguinaldo and his rebels came under intense pressure from the Spanish, and had to negotiate a
surrender later that same year. In mid-December, 1897, Aguinaldo and his government ministers
agreed to dissolve the rebel government and go into exile in Hong Kong. In return, they received
legal amnesty and an indemnity of 800,000 Mexican dollars (the standard currency of the
Spanish Empire).
An additional $900,000 would indemnify the revolutionaries who stayed in the Philippines; in
return for surrendering their weapons, they were granted amnesty and the Spanish government
promised reforms.
On December 23, Emilio Aguinaldo and other rebel officials arrived in British Hong Kong,
where the first indemnity payment of $400,000 was waiting for them. Despite the amnesty
agreement, the Spanish authorities began to arrest real or suspected Katipunan supporters in the
Philippines, prompting a renewal of rebel activity.
The Spanish-American War:
In the spring of 1898, events half a world away overtook Aguinaldo and the Filipino rebels. The
United States naval vessel USS Maine exploded and sank in Havana Harbor, Cuba in February.
Public outrage at Spain's supposed role in the incident, fanned by sensationalist journalism,
providing the US with a pretext to start the Spanish-American War on April 25, 1898.
Aguinaldo sailed back to Manila with the US Asian Squadron, which defeated the Spanish
Pacific Squadron in the May 1 Battle of Manila Bay. By May 19, 1898, Aguinaldo was back on
his home soil. On the 12th of June, 1898, the revolutionary leader declared the Philippines
independent, with himself as the unelected President. He commanded Filipino troops in the battle
against the Spanish. Meanwhile, close to 11,000 American troops cleared Manila and other
Spanish bases of colonial troops and officers. On December 10, Spain surrendered its remaining
colonial possessions (including the Philippines) to the US in the Treaty of Paris.
Aguinaldo as President:
Emilio Aguinaldo was officially inaugurated as the first president and dictator of the Philippine
Republic in January of 1899. Prime Minister Apolinario Mabini headed the new cabinet.
However, the United States did not recognize this new independent Filipino government.
President William McKinley offered as one reason the specious American goal of
"Christianizing" the (largely Roman Catholic) people of the Philippines.
Indeed, although Aguinaldo and other Filipino leaders were unaware of it initially, Spain had
handed over direct control of the Philippines to the United States in return for $20 million, as
agreed in the Treaty of Paris. Despite rumored promises of independence made by US military
officers eager for Filipino help in the war, the Philippine Republic was not to be a free state. It
had simply acquired a new colonial master.
To commemorate the United States's most substantial foray into the imperial game, in 1899 the
British author Rudyard Kipling wrote "The White Man's Burden," a poem extolling American
power over "Your new-caught, sullen peoples / Half-devil and half-child."
Resistance to American Occupation:
Obviously, Aguinaldo and the victorious Filipino revolutionaries did not see themselves as halfdevil or half-child. Once they realized that they had been tricked and were indeed "new-caught,"
the people of the Philippines reacted with outrage far beyond the "sullen," as well.
Aguinaldo responded to the American "Benevolent Assimilation Proclamation" as follows: "My
nation cannot remain indifferent in view of such violent and aggressive seizure of a portion of its
territory by a nation which has arrogated to itself the title 'Champion of Oppressed Nations.' Thus
it is that my government is disposed to open hostilities if the American troops attempt to take
forcible possession. I denounce these acts before the world in order that the conscience of
mankind may pronounce its infallible verdict as to who are the oppressors of nations and the
oppressors of mankind. Upon their heads be all the blood which may be shed!"
In February of 1899, the first Philippines Commission from the US arrived in Manila to find
15,000 American troops holding the city, facing off from trenches against 13,000 of Aguinaldo's
men, who were arrayed all around Manila. By November, Aguinaldo was once again running for
the mountains, his troops in disarray. However, the Filipinos fought on against this new imperial
power, turning to guerrilla war when conventional fighting failed them.
For two years, Aguinaldo and a shrinking band of followers evaded concerted American efforts
to locate and capture the rebel leadership. On March 23, 1901, however, American special forces
disguised as prisoners of war infiltrated Aguinaldo's camp at Palanan, on the north-east coast of
Luzon. Local scouts dressed in Philippine Army uniforms led General Frederick Funston and
other Americans into Aguinaldo's headquarters, where they quickly overwhelmed the guards
and seized the president.
April 1, 1901. Emilio Aguinaldo formally surrendered, swearing allegience to the United States
of America. He then retired to his family farm in Cavite. His defeat marked the end of the First
Philippine Republic, but not the end of the guerrilla resistance.
World War II and Collaboration:
Emilio Aguinaldo continued to be an outspoken advocate of independence for the Philippines.
His organization, the Asociacion de los Veteranos de la Revolucion (Association of
Revolutionary Veterans), worked to ensure that former rebel fighters had access to land and
pensions.
His first wife, Hilario, died in 1921. Aguinaldo married for a second time in 1930 at the age of
61. His new bride was the 49-year-old Maria Agoncillo, niece of a prominent diplomat.
In 1935, the Philippine Commonwealth held its first elections after decades of American rule.
Then aged 66, Aguinaldo ran for president, but was soundly defeated by Manuel Quezon.
When Japan seized the Philippines during World War II, Aguinaldo cooperated with the
occupation. He joined the Japanese-sponsored Council of State, and made speeches urging an
end to Filipino and American opposition to the Japanese occupiers. After the US recaptured the
Philippines in 1945, the septugenarian Emilio Aguinaldo was arrested and imprisoned as a
collaborator. However, he was quickly pardoned and released, and his reputation was not too
severely tarnished by this war-time indiscretion.
Post-World War II Era:
Aguinaldo was appointed to the Council of State again in 1950, this time by President Elpidio
Quirino. He served one term before returning to his work on behalf of veterans.
In 1962, President Diosdado Macapagal asserted pride in Philippine independence from the
United States in a highly symbolic gesture; he moved the celebration of Independence Day from
July 4 to June 12, the date of Aguinaldo's declaration of the First Philippine Republic. Aguinaldo
himself joined in the festivities, although he was 92 years old and rather frail. The following
year, before his final hospitalization, Aguinaldo donated his home to the government as a
museum.
Emilio Aguinaldo's Death and Legacy:
On February 6, 1964, the 94-year-old first president of the Philippines passed away due to a
coronary thrombosis. He left behind a complicated legacy. To his credit, Emilio Aguinaldo
fought long and hard for independence for the Philippines, and worked tirelessly to secure
veterans' rights. On the other hand, he ordered the execution of rivals including Andres
Bonifacio, and collaborated with the brutal Japanese occupation of the Philippines.
Although today Aguinaldo is often heralded as a symbol of the democratic and independent spirit
of the Philippines, he was a self-proclaimed dictator during his short period of rule. Other
members of the Chinese/Tagalog elite, such as Ferdinand Marcos, later would wield that power
more successfully.
Sources:
Library of Congress. "Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy," The World of 1898: The Spanish-American
War, accessed Dec. 10, 2011.
Ooi, Keat Gin, ed. Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia from Angkor Wat to East Timor,
Vol. 2, ABC-Clio, 2004.
Silbey, David. A War of Frontier and Empire: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902, New
York: MacMillan, 2008.
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