malolos

• The Malolos Constitution was approved by the Malolos Congress
• The Malolos Congress


  • Composed of eighty-five Filipinos who were considered as the most intelligent men in the country
  • Met in a revolutionary congress at Barasoain Church
  • Approved the independence of the Philippines
  • Started drafting the constitution
• The committee that drafted the Malolos Constitution


  • Headed by Felipe Calderon
  • Aided by Cayetano Arellano
  • Drafted the first republican constitution in Asia
• The Malolos Constitution was inspired by the constitutions of Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Brazil, Belgium and France
• Approval of the Malolos Constitution


  1. Approved by the Malolos Congress on November 29, 1898

  2. Presented to President Aguinaldo

  3. Returned to Congress for amendments on December 1, 1898

  4. Approved by President Aguinaldo and formally adopted by the Malolos Congress on January 20, 1899
• The Malolos Constitution


  • First Philippine Constitution
  • First republican constitution in Asia
  • Inaugurated on January 21, 1899
  • Ended on March 23, 1901 when Aguinaldo was captured by the Americans
• The first Philippine Republic, also called Malolos Republic, was inaugurated on January 23, 1899 at Barasoain Church, Malolos, Bulacan
• Emilio Aguinaldo took his oath of office as President after being proclaimed president, then the constitution was read article by article and followed by a military parade
• Cabinet of the Malolos Republic

  • Apolinario Mabini as Prime Minister
  • Teodoro Sandico as Interior
  • Baldomero Aguinaldo as War
  • Gen. Mariano Trias as Finance
  • Apolinario Mabini as Foreign Affairs
  • Gracio Gonzaga for Welfare
  • Aguedo Velarde as Public Instruction
  • Maximo Paterno as Public Works & Communication
  • Leon María Guerrero for Agriculture, Trade & Commerce
• The Malolos Republic had a free press, with Antonio Luna and other Filipinos running an independent newspaper called "La Independencia", and the official newspaper of the government was called "El Heraldo de la Revolution"
• The Malolos Republic had diplomats abroad, with Felipe Agoncillo as the first Filipino diplomat who was sent to Paris and Washington to work for the recognition of the Philippine independence, and there were also diplomats in Japan, England, France and Australia
• The Malolos Republic


  • Had a democratic government with three branches - the Executive, Legislative and the Judicial branches
  • The executive powers were to be exercised by the president of the republic with the help of his cabinet
  • Judicial powers were given to the Supreme Court and other lower courts to be created by law
  • The Chief justice of the Supreme Court was to be elected by the legislature with the concurrence of the President and his Cabinet
• The First Philippine Assembly composed of educated Filipinos from illustrious clans such as Sergio Osmeña and Manuel L. Quezon, convened on October 16, 1907 to revived the issue of immediate independence for the Filipinos and this was expressed by sending political missions to the US Congress
• The Hare-Hawes-Cutting Bill brought home by Osmeña-Roxas mission from the US Congress in 1931, which provided for a 10-year transition period before the granting of Philippine independence, was rejected after a debate between PRO and ANTI whether to accept or to reject
• Manuel L. Quezon and other Filipinos brought home the Tydings-McDuffie Act (Public Law 73-127) authored by Sen. Millard Tydings and Rep. John McDuffie, a slightly amended version of the Hare-Hawes-Cutting bill signed by President Franklin Roosevelt on March 24, 1934
• The Tydings-McDuffie Act set July 4 after the tenth year of the commonwealth as date of Philippine independence, and one of its salient provisions was the organization of constitutional Convention that would draw up the fundamental law of the land based on the American model
• Salient features of the 1935 Constitution


  • Under Article VI, Section 1 a bicameral legislature composed of a senate and House of Representatives
  • The Senate composed of 24 Elected Senator and not more than one hundred twenty members who shall be appointed among the several provinces
  • The president is to be elected to a four-year term together with the Vice-President chosen for the same term and shall be elected by direct vote of the people
  • The executive power shall be vested in a President of the Philippines
  • The Rights of suffrage by male citizens of the Philippines who are twenty-one years of age or over and are able to read and write who shall have resided in the Philippine for one year and six months in the municipality wherein they propose to vote
  • The right of Suffrage was under Article V, Section 1 extend of the right of suffrage to women within two years after the adoption of the constitution
• The draft of the 1935 Constitution was approved by the convention on February 8, 1935 and ratified by Pres. Roosevelt in Washington D.C on March 25, 1935
• The 1935 Constitution provided the legal basis of the Commonwealth Government which was considered a transition government before the granting of the Philippine independence with American-inspired constitution