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In the 1880s, the writings of Jose Rizal helped spur Filipino demands for reform. Rizal’s execution made him a national hero and sparked an unsuccessful revolution led by Emilio Aguinaldo. On June 12, 1989, Aguinaldo declared the Philippines independent in the mistaken belief that the United States supported his struggle. Instead, Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States. From 1989 to 1901, Aguinaldo led a war against his country’s new colonial rulers.

Although U.S. business interests applauded the seizure of the Philippines, the U.S. government declared that it would prepare the islands for independence. In 1935, the Philippines became a self-governing commonwealth under President Manuel Luis Quezon but World War II delayed full independence.

Japan attacked the Philippines on December 8, 1941 defeating U.S. and Filipino forces in Bataan and Corregidor in 1942. The struggle against Japan, culminating in Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s return in 1944, came to symbolize U.S.-Philippine solidarity. On July 4, 1946, the Philippines gained full independence with Manuel A. Roxas as president.

After World War II the infrastructure of the Philippines was in shambles. Inadequate land distribution and unequal taxation led the Hukbalahap guerrilla revolt against the government which was defused in the early 1950s by a resettlement and amnesty program devised by Ramon Magsaysay, who succeeded Elpidio Quirino as president in 1953.

The late 1960s and early 1970 saw the rise of student activism and anti-American demonstrations. A constitutional convention drafted a new constitution to replace the American-approved 1935 Commonwealth constitution. This period was marred by civil unrest and exposes on corruption. On September 21, 1972 President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law. The new constitution was subsequently enforced through somewhat questionable means, as the propriety of its ratification was challenged in the Supreme Court.

In the People Power Revolution of 1986, Marcos and his family were exiled to Hawaii as Corazon Aquino, widow of assassinated Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., assumed the reigns of government in the aftermath of a hotly contested snap election. Following this revolution, in 1987 the current Constitution of the Philippines was adopted.

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