Timeline Photos Independence Day is a significant occasion well celebrated by Filipinos every year and it is one of the most noteworthy events in the Philippine history. It denotes the country's freedom from the centuries rule of the Spaniards on 12 June 1898.
The yearly 12th of June recognition of Philippines' Independence Day became effective after the former President Diosdado Macapagal signed the Republic Act No. 4166 on 4 August 1964. This Act authorized the holiday which was based from the Declaration of Independence on 12 June 1898, achieved by General Emilio Aguinaldo and the Filipino revolutionary forces against the Spanish colonization.
The Philippine flag and its national anthem were raised and played respectively for the very first time in 1898. However, freedom was temporary in light of the fact that Spain and the United States did not recognize the declaration.
The 1898 Treaty of Paris halted the war between Spain and the United States. Spain surrendered the entire islands of the Philippines to the United States. The Philippines began the resistance against the United States in 1899 and only achieved national sovereignty decades after, on 4 July 1946, in accordance with the Treaty of Manila.
With that, Independence Day was officially observed on the 4th of July until the Republic Act No. 4166, which embarked to move the holiday to the 12th of June, and this was legally affirmed on 4 August 1964.
The Filipinos believe that the honor of celebrating the event belongs to the deeds and struggle of those revolutionary heroes who spent their lives seeking to end the tyranny and suffering that the Philippines experienced from the long reign of foreign forces in the country.
The UP Diliman Reserve Officers' Training Corps is one with the commemoration of the Philippine Independence Day.
Mabuhay, Pilipinas! ... See more
UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES RESERVE OFFICERS' TRAINING CORPS
