Through the constitution, the assembly created a new republic (or a new government), which is now known as the Biak-na-Bato Republic. Aguinaldo was again chosen as its president.
The Biak-na-Bato Republic lasted until December 1897, when Aguinaldo concluded a peace treaty with the Spanish colonial government. As a result of that treaty, Aguinaldo and other leaders went into temporary exile in Hong Kong on December 27, 1897. The Tejeros and Biak-na-Bato republics were the two republics ahead of the Malolos Republic.
The fourth republic was the Japanese-sponsored Republic of the Philippines, so-called because it was inaugurated during the Japanese occupation on October 14, 1943, in Manila, with Jose Laurel as president. Based on a new hastily drafted constitution, it remained until August 17, 1945, when Laurel issued his final decree disbanding it after surmising Japan’s defeat in World War II.
The fifth republic was the Republic of the Philippines founded during the proclamation of Philippine independence from American rule on July 4, 1946, in Manila, with Manuel Roxas as first president. This was the republic envisioned by the 1935 Constitution.
On his third presidential inauguration on June 30, 1981, Ferdinand Marcos proclaimed a new republic, which was the presidential-parliamentary government created by the revised 1973 Constitution. It replaced the 1946 Republic and existed until Marcos was deposed in 1986.
A government does not always mean a republic. Aguinaldo’s dictatorial and revolutionary governments in 1898, the American military and civil governments from 1899 to 1901, the country’s governments under the Philippine Bill of 1902 and the 1916 Jones Law, the Philippine Commonwealth of 1935-46, and Corazon Aquino’s makeshift administration in 1986 were transitory governments, not republics or republican governments.
The 1987 Constitution established a presidential government. It is now the country’s current form of government. The new constitution did not declare a new republic, even though its official name is The 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines. The republic it is referring to must be the one established in 1946.
Since March 22, 1897, the country has already had six republics, six constitutions, and fifteen forms of government. Of these fifteen, six were proclaimed as republics and hence were republican governments: the Tejeros, Biak-na-Bato, Malolos, 1943, 1946, and 1981 republics. Of these six, five were created by constitutions; only the Tejeros Republic was not.
If a new fundamental law is to be adopted, its framers should clarify that the government it is creating is a new republic, so that we will have a clearly existing Republic of the Philippines. The most appropriate date to inaugurate it is June 12, Philippine Independence Day; and the place: Quirino Grandstand, Rizal Park, Manila – the birthplace of the 1946 and 1981 republics. If realized, it will be our seventh republic.
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