Philippine Independence

• May 19, 1898. Aguinaldo finally returned to the Philippines together with the US cruiser McCulloch. Aguinaldo and Dewey discussed the Philippine Conditions and he was supplied with arms captured from Spain.
• Bautista was born in Biñan, Laguna to Gregorio Enriquez and Bautista Silvestra Altamira.
• While practicing law, Bautista, on his way to Malolos, Bulacan, was captured by a group of bandits, who subsequently learned that he had saved many of their friends as a defender of the poor in court case against rich Filipinos and Spaniards. These bandits apologized to Bautista and set him free.
• The declaration, however, was not recognized by the United States or Spain as the Spanish government ceded the Philippines (and other Spanish colonial territories) to the United States in the 1898 Treaty of Paris signed on December 10, 1898 in consideration for an indemnity for Spanish expenses and assets loss
• The act of the declaration of independence was prepared and written by Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista in Spanish who also read the said declaration. A passage in the declaration reminds one of another passage in the American declaration of independence.
• The event saw the National Flag of the Philippines, designed by General Aguinaldo and made in Hongkong by Mrs. Marcela Agoncillo, Lorenza Agoncillo, and Delfina Herboza unfurled for the first time.