21 JANUARY

First Philippine Constitution is signed

1899 - The Malolos Constitution, the charter of the fledgling Philippine  Republic under Gen. Emilio F. Aguinaldo, is proclaimed to be in effect more than seven months after the declaration of independence and less than two weeks before the bloody Filipino-American War (1899-1914); considered Asia's first republican constitution, the Malolos Charter was framed by the  revolutionary Malolos Congress that was also responsible for ratifying  Philippine Independence on September 29, 1899; it is said tht despite the  elitist background of the Malolos Congress delegates who were mostly appointed and who almost exclusively came from the politico-economic elite class, the resulting  Malolos Charter embodied democratic and pluralist ideals as would be described  by American scholar Joseph R. Hayden as a "a free expression of the type of  the state [that was] democratic and  liberal"; the Constitucion Politica (Malolos Constitution), based or inspired by different constitutions including those of Belgium, France,  the United States, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Brazil, was principally authored by Felipe G. Calderon who was under the influence of early American collaborator Cayetano L. Arellano.

1899 - Fledgling Philippine Republic President Emilio F. Aguinaldo orders the Filipino soldiers in Intramuros to deceptively remain friendly with imperialist United States soldiers in anticipation of looming hostilities, less than two weeks before the outbreak of the bloody and protracted Philippine-American War (1899-1914) ; earlier conned into believing the imperialist Bald Eagle nation was Filipinos' ally against colonial Spain, Aguinaldo stupidly allowed the free entry of future enemy American soldiers into the Southeast Asian archipelago, enabling the U.S. to stage the infamous Mock Battle of Manila and to position their troops for the eventual invasion of the Philippines;  the imperialist Americans had begun to lay down the framework of colonial civil government in Manila in August 1898 a few days after the Peace Protocol and the corollary Mock Battle that struck the most reprehensible deal of 'ceding' the Philippines despite the fact that the Filipino revolutionaries had already wrested control of practically the entire archipelago from the former Spanish masters. 



Photo credit:

(Diorama found in Pulilan, Bulacan) http://flickr.com/photos/coolaux/624883734/